Monthly Archives: February 2022

Full Sap

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Psalm 92

Have you read it lately? I urge you to do so.

Are you able with an earnest heart to say verse 4 (or 5 depending on your translation) and mean it?

“For, ADONAI, what you do makes me happy;
I take joy in what your hands have made,”
source 

Does GOD make you happy?
I mean I know it is His Will to make us Holy; but does He also make you happy?

Do you have aught against Him?
Has He allowed some hurts into your life that brought you to a place of doubt; doubting His love for you and even His Goodness?

Psalm 92 also reads this way:

“How great are your deeds, ADONAI!
How very deep your thoughts!” 
source

Are you displeased with His Deeds? (See Psalm 145: 17-18)
Some years ago these two verses saved my sanity and my trust in Him.
Hurts happen. Perhaps even more often than we can admit to ourselves.
But there is GREAT NEWS — He forgives. He restores. He makes new over and over when we ask. 

One more:

“15(14) Even in old age they will be vigorous, still full of sap, still bearing fruit,
16 (15) proclaiming that ADONAI is upright, my Rock, in whom there is no wrong.”
source

Is that your testimony?
If we with an open and honest heart will always say He is my Rock, in whom there is no wrong, I think our sap will be full and our fruit delicious even when we are older than I am now. 🙂

What do you say? 

Chariots and Horsemen

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2 Kings 2

Elijah. 
Obviously, a Prophet of The LORD.
Obviously, also a man with feet of clay. 
Not perfect.
And yet he did not die. 
He left this earth but he did NOT die. 

Elijah mentored Elisha.
Elisha refused to leave Elijah.
Elisha stayed to see; stayed with Elijah to learn and receive all that would come to him.
A double portion; that was his request. 
His request was granted. 
And Elijah died. (See 2 Kings 13:20)

GOD loves all His children.
He loves each and every one of us BUT our relationship with Him is individual.
No two of us are the same; in other words, each one of us who are His Children is each perfectly loved and individually cared for by Him in individual ways. 

Not that I understand it but I noticed in 2 Kings 2 Elisha said to Elijah as Elijah was leaving: 

12 Elisha saw it and cried out, “My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Isra’el!” .  .  .   source 

And in 2 Kings 13 Joash, King of Israel said to Elisha as Elisha was dying: 

14 .  .  . Joash the king of Israel .  .  .   said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!”  source

Perhaps, Prophets of GOD are more important to our defense than chariots and horsemen.
Perhaps, this is something for us to ponder.

 

Gutsy?

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1 Kings 18

I love, love, love the boldness of Elijah in this chapter 18!

Let me share why with you.
Ahab is king and a bad king he is. In my humble opinion mean and scared as a snake. 
But nonetheless king  – with all the powers of the office. 
And he’s shall we say so upset with Elijah that he wants him dead — graveyard dead.

Elijah knows this. 
Does that stop him from confronting Ahab? 
Nope.

Read with me.

15 Elijah said, “As the Lord of hosts lives, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself to him today.” 
16 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him; and Ahab went to meet Elijah.
17 When Ahab saw Elijah, Ahab said to him, “Is this you, you troubler of Israel?” 
18 He said, “I have not troubled Israel, but you and your father’s house have, because you have forsaken the commandments of the Lord and you have followed the Baals. 
19 Now then send and gather to me all Israel at Mount Carmel, together with 450 prophets of Baal and 400 prophets of the Asherah, who eat at Jezebel’s table.”
source

Pretty gutsy, don’t you think? 
I’d like to be that gutsy! 

But I am also mindful gutsy can fail. 
Gutsy can get full of gutsy and crumble. 
The Bible puts it take heed lest you fall — I think. 
Let me look that up. 
1 Corinthians 10:12 

Perhaps you will use the link and read the verse in context.

GOD responded to Elijah. 
Do you know the story? 
Elijah vs the prophets of Baal. 
I hope you will read the Chapter — GOD was faithful! 

GOD also brings rain by the chapter’s end too.

If you read on into Chapter 19, Elijah keeps saying he’s the only prophet left. 
His gutsy didn’t last. 
And by the way, he was not the only Prophet left. 
1 Kings 19:18 tells how many others had not bowed the knee to Baal. 

Take heed lest we fall. 
We are not alone. 
GOD always has a People. 
Let us pray for one another and seek each other out as the days grow darker — amen?

Camp Rephidim

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In part Exodus 17: 3 reads: ” . . .  “For what did you bring us up from Egypt? . . . “  source 


Again, in this passage, the Hebrews are complaining. This time they are thirsty. They want water. 
We can’t blame them for that, can we? Three days with no water and we die. Right? 

Lack.  Let’s define it. 

an insufficiency, shortage, or absence of something required or desired
something that is required but is absent or in short supply  
source 

A lack of water is serious. That I dare not deny.
Neither would you, I figure. 
So what’s the problem with the complaining? 
Good question. 
If you read the Text, I think you will discover the problem with complaining.

Even a secular 21st Century dictionary gives us a clear definition for complaining.

To express feelings of pain, dissatisfaction, or resentment.
To make a formal accusation or bring a formal charge; file a complaint.
source 

 

See that word resentment? 
Read the Exodus Passage and I think you will agree — there was much resentment in the Camp at Rephidim.

Complaining.

Their complaining was not a request for water made in faith,
it was a lack of TRUST in the face of Lack. 

They were accusing Moses and ultimately GOD of wrongdoing, of not caring, of not loving them.  

We don’t want to do that.
When we are without water; rather than complaining, we want to remember GOD is ALWAYS GOOD and we are ALWAYS LOVED. 

Remembering, trusting, relying on these two facts will keep us out of the Camp of Rephidim.

Now I think the foregoing is good. 
I think it will help us when we embrace it; but, it’s not the point I came here to make. 

The Hebrews asked a good question with a wrong attitude. 

” . . .  “For what did you bring us up from Egypt? . . . ”

 

It’s a question we need to ask the Father in humble adoration, seeking His direction for us. 

Why did HE bring us out of Egypt?
Why did HE save us from sin, hell, and the grave? 

To keep on complaining?
Absolutely not! 

So why did HE save you? 
Has HE saved you? 

Now what?