relatonships (Amos 2:1-16) Love's Closeness and Security

(Amos 2:1-16)

1   This is what the Lord says:
     “For three offenses of Moab, and for four,
     I will not revoke its punishment,
     Because he burned the bones of the king of Edom to lime.
2   So I will send fire upon Moab 
     And it will consume the citadels of Kerioth;
     And Moab will die amid the panic of battle,
     Amid war cries and the sound of a trumpet.
3   I will also eliminate the judge from her midst 
     And slay all her leaders with him,” says the Lord.

4   This is what the Lord says:
     “For three offenses of Judah, and for four,
     I will not revoke its punishment,
     Because they rejected the Law of the Lord 
     And have not kept His statutes;
     Their lies also have led them astray,
     Those which their fathers followed.
5   So I will send fire upon Judah,
     And it will consume the citadels of Jerusalem.”

6   This is what the Lord says:
     “For three offenses of Israel, and for four,
     I will not revoke its punishment,
     Because they sell the righteous for money,
     And the needy for a pair of sandals.
7   These who trample the head of the helpless to the dust of the earth 
     Also divert the way of the humble;
     And a man and his father resort to the same girl 
     So as to profane My holy name.
8   And on garments seized as pledges they stretch out beside every altar,
     And in the house of their God they drink the wine of those who have been fined.

9   “Yet it was I who destroyed the Amorite before them,
     Though his height was like the height of cedars 
     And he was as strong as the oaks;
     I also destroyed his fruit above and his roots below.
10 And it was I who brought you up from the land of Egypt,
     And led you in the wilderness for forty years 
     So that you might take possession of the land of the Amorite.
11 Then I raised up some of your sons to be prophets,
     And some of your young men to be Nazirites.
     Is this not so, you sons of Israel?” declares the Lord.
12 “But you made the Nazirites drink wine,
     And you commanded the prophets, saying, ‘You shall not prophesy!’
13 Behold, I am making a rut in the ground beneath you,
     Just as a wagon makes a rut when filled with sheaves.
14 Refuge will be lost from the swift,
     And the strong will not strengthen his power,
     Nor the warrior save his life.
15 The one who grasps the bow will not stand his ground,
     The swift of foot will not escape,
     Nor will the one who rides the horse save his life.
16 Even the bravest among the warriors will flee naked on that day,” declares the Lord.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

The simple answer to avoiding any sort of punishment is to accept the Law of the Lord and His statutes.  And the only way to do this and be in complete obedience, is to be saved through the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only One able to forgive our sins when we humbly repent.  Placing Him first in our lives and believing in Him gives us eternal life and freedom from sin, saving us from punishment and eternal death.  And in all of this, we should know that it is not about do's and don'ts; it is about having a personal relationship with our Lord and Savior.  All He wants is our hearts, and our willingness, and our closeness, everything in His love!

Once we are saved, we have eternal security through God's grace, but this should not be an excuse to sin.  From verses 11 and 12, we can see that our lives can either help to demoralize - or - help to edify even our spiritual leaders.  It only benefits us to strive to live in God's will.  In His wisdom and strength, as we allow, He will work in and through us.  In this way, we be a testimony to those around us, as well as an encouragement to other Christians.

relationships (Ezekiel 41:1-26) Only In a Personal Relationship

(Ezekiel 41:1-26)

Then he brought me to the sanctuary, and he measured the side pillars: six cubits wide on each side was the width of the side pillar. 2 The width of the entrance was ten cubits and the sides of the entrance were five cubits on each side. He also measured the length of the sanctuary, forty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits. 3 Then he went inside and measured each side pillar of the doorway, two cubits, and the doorway, six cubits high; and the width of the doorway, seven cubits. 4 And he measured its length, twenty cubits, and the width, twenty cubits, before the sanctuary; and he said to me, “This is the Most Holy Place.”

5 Then he measured the wall of the temple, six cubits; and the width of the side chambers, four cubits, all around the house on every side. 6 The side chambers were in three stories, one above another, and thirty in each story; and the side chambers extended to the wall which stood on their inward side all around, so that they could be attached, but not be attached to the wall of the temple itself. 7 And the side chambers surrounding the temple were wider at each successive story. Because the structure surrounding the temple went upward by stages on all sides of the temple, for that reason the width of the temple increased as it went higher; and so one went up from the lowest story to the highest by way of the second story. 8 I saw also that the house had a raised platform all around; the foundations of the side chambers were a full rod of six long cubits in height. 9 The thickness of the outer wall of the side chambers was five cubits. But the free space between the side chambers belonging to the temple  10 and the outer chambers was twenty cubits in width around the temple on every side. 11 The doorways of the side chambers toward the free space consisted of one doorway toward the north, and another doorway toward the south; and the width of the free space was five cubits all around.

12 The building that was in front of the separate area at the side toward the west was seventy cubits wide; and the wall of the building was five cubits thick all around, and its length was ninety cubits.

13 Then he measured the temple, a hundred cubits long; the separate area with the building and its walls were also a hundred cubits long. 14 Also the width of the front of the temple and that of the separate areas along the east side totaled a hundred cubits.

15 And he measured the length of the building along the front of the separate area behind it, with a gallery on each side, a hundred cubits; he also measured the inner sanctuary and the porches of the courtyard. 16 The thresholds, the latticed windows, and the galleries all around their three stories, opposite the threshold, were paneled with wood all around, and from the ground to the windows (but the windows were covered), 17 over the entrance, and to the inner house, and on the outside, and on all the wall all around inside and outside, by measurement. 18 It was carved with cherubim and palm trees; and a palm tree was between cherub and cherub, and every cherub had two faces: 19 a human face toward the palm tree on one side and a young lion’s face toward the palm tree on the other side; they were carved on all the house all around. 20 From the ground to above the entrance cherubim and palm trees were carved, as well as on the wall of the sanctuary.

21 The doorposts of the sanctuary were square; as for the front of the inner sanctuary, the appearance of one doorpost was like that of the other. 22 The altar was of wood, three cubits high, and its length two cubits; its corners, its base, and its sides were of wood. And he said to me, “This is the table that is before the Lord.” 23 The sanctuary and the inner sanctuary each had a double door. 24 Each of the doors had two leaves, two swinging leaves; two leaves for one door and two leaves for the other. 25 Also there were carved on them, on the doors of the main room, cherubim and palm trees like those carved on the walls; and there was a threshold of wood on the front of the porch outside. 26 And there were latticed windows and palm trees on one side and on the other, on the sides of the porch; the same were on the side chambers of the house and the thresholds.

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

In order for anyone to enter the temple's holy of holies, one had to be a priest and he had to be completely cleansed or he would have died instantly.  In fear of this happening, the priests would tie a rope around the waist of the one entering the holy of holies.  That way, if he did die, they could pull him out.  In this vision, we see that the pre-incarnate Lord Jesus Christ brings Ezekiel into the most holy place.  From this we can understand that if one is with Jesus, we are able to enter and live.  

As believers, since our sins are completely forgiven and God chooses to remember them no more, He then sees us through the righteousness of Jesus that covers us.  As well, we receive His indwelling Holy Spirit of promise, who seals us for eternity.   It is only in this way - His way - that we may enter the most holy place and approach the throne of God with humble confidence.  How awesome it is to have a personal relationship with the Lord and be able to call Him our heavenly Father!

relationships (Psalm 144:1-15) Being Equipped and Prepared

(Psalm 144:1-15) 

1   Blessed be the Lord, my rock,
     Who trains my hands for war,
     And my fingers for battle;
2   My faithfulness and my fortress,
     My stronghold and my savior,
     My shield and He in whom I take refuge,
     Who subdues my people under me.
3   Lord, what is man, that You look after him?
     Or a son of man, that You think of him?
4   Man is like the breath;
     His days are like a passing shadow.

5   Bend down Your heavens, Lord, and come down;
     Touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
6   Flash forth lightning and scatter them;
     Send out Your arrows and confuse them.
7   Reach out with Your hand from on high;
     Rescue me and save me from great waters,
     From the hand of foreigners 
8   Whose mouths speak deceit,
     And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

9   God, I will sing a new song to You;
     On a harp of ten strings I will sing praises to You,
10 Who gives salvation to kings,
     Who rescues His servant David from the evil sword.
11 Rescue me and save me from the hand of foreigners,
     Whose mouth speaks deceit 
     And whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.

12 When our sons in their youth are like growing plants,
     And our daughters like corner pillars fashioned for a palace,
13 Our granaries are full, providing every kind of produce,
     And our flocks deliver thousands and ten thousands in our fields;
14 May our cattle be bred 
     Without mishap and without loss,
     May there be no outcry in our streets!
15 Blessed are the people who are so situated;
     Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!

TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:

Even as a trained soldier, David knew that this life is not about depending on our own feeble wisdom and/or physical strength, even when and especially when facing our greatest enemies.  We are fooling ourselves if we think we can go through life without ever having an enemy or coming across a person who will oppose us.  And we are fooling ourselves if we think we can depend on ourselves.  We can only fully depend on God, because only He is sovereign.  And understand that we are unable to reach up to the Lord.  Instead, the Lord reaches down, and comes down to us!

We can look at how David applied these truths in his life, and see how God worked things out for him.  When David faced a literal giant, he relied on the Lord's help, and then gave Him all the glory when Goliath, with a massive spear, was defeated by a small stone.  Then, David was asked to serve the king by playing music to him, as Saul wrestled with spiritual oppression.  Godly songs vs spears of death had the victory.  As David played, Saul would either experience a spiritual sense of peace for that moment, or there were times when he was filled with enough rage to kill.  The Lord protected David in all of these crazy circumstances, and so, David knew to go to the Lord for protection and help in all circumstances.  

This passage echoes Ephesians 6:10-24, regarding the spiritual armor needed.  Because in life, we all face spiritual battles.  First, we have to choose the side that we will be on, and then in the Lord's salvation, we need to allow God to fully equip and prepare us.  This battle is His.  Only He can save us.  Only He can prepare us.  Only He is able to fight for us.  And only in and through Him do we have the victory, because He has the victory!  It is in this way that, as we go through life and its struggles, we are able to experience His strength, peace, joy and blessings.