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Proverbs 1:6

February 3, 2009 in Proverbs with 0 Comments

I have never been a big fan of Proverbs in the Bible. I’ve always attributed it to my analytical, linear thought process.

Growing up in church and a Christian school, I’ve memorized lots of one- or two-verse sections from Proverbs. But when I tried to read them in context – with their surrounding verses – I figured out why we learned just one or two at a time.

In a given chapter we might memorize verse 10. But many times it didn’t have a lot to do with verses 9 or 11, much less verses 1 and 25! And that really bother(s/ed) me! It’s too disjointed, too disconnected.

But I finally decided to read through Proverbs for the first time in a very long time – one chapter per day (probably shouldn’t have chosen February!). And, being the (usually) logical person I am, I read chapter one on Sunday.

I had to laugh when I got only six verses in (using the NET Bible). The writer, Solomon, introduced his collection of proverbs with four purpose statements in verses 1-6. Here’s the fourth purpose:

To discern the meaning of a proverb and a parable, the sayings of the wise and their riddles. Proverbs 1:6

Get it? He wrote them the way he did to help us understand old people! No, wait. That’s not right.  : )

He wrote them in a style that would cause us to think and ponder life from a different perspective.

He wrote them to get people like me to think differently – outside the box, if you will.

He wrote them to show us that there is more than one way to look at things and only fools refuse to consider other options.

Ouch!

Looks like I’m behind the ball on this one. It’s way past time for me to dig into this book.

And, yeah, Proverbs will show up in upcoming weekend messages as God talks to me through this book I don’t know as well as I thought I did.

Obadiah

January 19, 2009 in Bible Studies with 0 Comments

Obadiah is the shortest book of the entire Old Testament. At a brief 21 verses, his prophecy is beat out by only 2 John (13 verses) and 3 John (15 verses) in the whole Bible.

It is essentially a prophecy of doom for the nation of Edom (Esau’s descendants). In the first nine verses God starts by railing against them for their pride and arrogance.

Your presumptuous heart has deceived you –
you who reside in the safety of the rocky cliffs,
whose home is high in the mountains.
You think to yourself,
‘No one can bring me down to the ground!’ (verse 3)

He follows that with a litany of the destruction that he would bring against them. He promises things like this and more:

“You will be totally destroyed!” (verse 5)

“Esau will be thoroughly plundered!” (verse 6)

“Your trusted friends will set an ambush for you that will take you by surprise!” (verse 7)

“Everyone will be destroyed from Esau’s mountain!” (verse 9)

Now this seems like a harsh punishment for anyone, but especially Esau’s descendants. Remember that Esau was Abraham’s grandson, Isaac’s son, and Jacob’s twin brother. Shouldn’t that give them some leverage with God?

What could possibly have happened that would cause God to promise this destruction when they had someone like Abraham in their family tree? Here it is:

“Because you violently slaughtered your relatives, the people of Jacob,
shame will cover you, and you will be destroyed forever.” (verse 10)

Verses 10-14 reminds them that they stood by and watched Israel be attacked and didn’t lift one finger to help. Instead, the Edomites actually helped Israel’s enemies! While this almost certainly refers back to the incident when the Israelites were marching toward Canaan after leaving Egypt, it appears that Edom was constantly a pain in Israel’s back side.

The final result, according to God, will be the complete elimination of Edom – “There will not be a single survivor of the descendants of Esau!” (verse 18)

OK, what does this mean for today? Honestly, I don’t know if Esau has any descendants alive today. If so, well, their herd is going to become extinct by the end of the great Judgment Day. Regardless, this isn’t for them.

I’m thinking of the great war that is happening in the Middle East right now. OK, yeah, there’s supposed to be a cease-fire. Big deal – there’s always a cease-fire over there, but people don’t cease firing, so I don’t think one more is going to make a difference.

God has promised that one day – regardless of how big or strong their enemy is – Israel will come out victorious. And the nastier the enemy fought, and the worse they hurt Israel, the harder they will one day fall.

“For the day of the LORD is approaching for all the nations!
Just as you have done, so it will be done to you.
You will get exactly what your deeds deserve.
For just as you have drunk on my holy mountain,
so all the nations will drink continually.
They will drink, and they will gulp down;
they will be as though they had never been.
But on Mount Zion there will be a remnant of those who escape,
and it will be a holy place once again.
The descendants of Jacob will conquer
those who had conquered them.” (verses 15-17)

I’m not worried about whether Israel makes it out intact. That’s already been confirmed. I just hope that the American government chooses to remain on the side of Israel and not become one of “the nations” that commits suicide by standing against God.

Amos 9:11-15

January 7, 2009 in Amos with 0 Comments

I’m still catching up on posting from my personal reading over the holidays. As I finished Amos I found two sections that are both extremely powerful and timely. I wrote about Amos 8:11-12 here. The second section is found in the last 5 verses of the book, Amos 9:11-15.

“In that day I will rebuild the collapsing hut of David. I will seal its gaps, repair its ruins, and restore it to what it was like in days gone by. As a result they will conquer those left in Edom and all the nations subject to my rule.” The LORD, who is about to do this, is speaking! “Be sure of this, the time is coming,” says the LORD, “when the plowman will catch up to the reaper and the one who stomps the grapes will overtake the planter. Juice will run down the slopes, it will flow down all the hillsides. I will bring back my people, Israel; they will rebuild the cities lying in rubble and settle down. They will plant vineyards and drink the wine they produce; they will grow orchards and eat the fruit they produce. I will plant them on their land and they will never again be uprooted from the land I have given them,” says the LORD your God.

The reason this is so powerful is the fact that the rest of the prophecy is about God’s judgment on Israel should they not return to him. He promised very specific things would happen if they kept going away. And the historical record provides undeniable proof that the destruction that God promised actually happened.

But in these last five verses, God makes another prediction, one that has not yet taken place. Look at the new specifics that will happen “in that day”:

  1. The restoration of David’s throne. “I will rebuild the collapsing hut of David…and restore it to what it was…” – God’s promise to David was that there would be a permanent Davidic royal dynasty (see 2 Samuel 7:8-16). Most of us will remember that Jesus, from the line of David,  will one day return to rule as king over the entire earth (sometimes called his Millennial Kingdom, because it will last for 1,000 years; see ).I also believe that David himself will rule alongside Jesus during that time as the prince over Israel, yet ultimately subject to Jesus as the “king of kings”. Not everyone believes this, but I think there is support in passages like Hosea 3:5; Jeremiah 30:9; and Ezekiel 34:23-24.
  2. The ownership of the entire Promised Land. “They will conquer those left in Edom and all the nations subject to my rule.” Many people mistakenly believe the “Promised Land” is the land of Israel. That’s not true. According to God’s promise to Abraham in Genesis 15:18, the promise actually includes everything “from the river of Egypt to the great river, the Euphrates River.” According to today’s geography, that includes part or all of the countries of Egypt, the Sinai Peninsula, Israel, Palestine, Lebanon, Jordan, Syria, Iraq, Kuwait, and Saudi Arabia.
  3. Unprecendented agricultural prosperity. “The plowman will catch up to the reaper.” There will be so much produce in one year (and probably every year), that when the planters go back out to plant, the harvesters will still be working on collecting the last season’s crop! My (personal) guess is that, during this time, there will be enough food in Israel alone to feed the entire population of the earth (of course, the population will be greatly decreased early on). They will be the exporters rather than importers.
  4. The final return of the Jews. “I will bring back my people, Israel…and they will never again be uprooted from the land…” This is probably the best part of all. Jacob’s family will finally settle down in their promised home, able to marry, raise families, build homes, plant orchards – never having to worry about another Holocaust or terrorist invasion.

Why is this so important, especially the last one? Because until that day comes, Israel will be fighting for her life. Honestly, I’m glad Israel has finally begun to defend herself. She’s well overdue.

But it won’t solve anything. This war between the Jews and the Jew-haters will not end until Jesus strikes the final blow.

In the meantime, pray that those on both sides will realize that it’s not about the land – it’s about the God behind the land. The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. The living God. The one who offers forgiveness of sin only through Jesus Christ.

Amos 8:11-12

January 6, 2009 in Amos with 1 Comment

There are two very powerful sections of Amos that I read over the holidays but haven’t written about yet. This is what God says in this first one (Amos 8:11-12)

“Be certain of this, the time is coming,” says the sovereign LORD, “when I will send a famine through the land – not a shortage of food or water but an end to divine revelation! People will stagger from sea to sea, and from the north around to the east. They will wander about looking for a revelation from the LORD, but they will not find any.”

There are several things that I find important in these two verses.

God has always been, and will always be, about relationships. The Hebrew phrase translated “divine revelation” is literally “hearing the words of the LORD”. One of the most basic keys to relationship-building is communication.

Israel had left God – they were not communicating with him – and so, as one of his last resort disciplines to bring them back, God decided to withhold communication from them. He had sent them prophets time and time again to keep the channel open, but they did not reciprocate. God’s plan was to “starve” them so they would miss him and return.

Everything God does is to get people who are far from him to come close. If you are a believer, that means that he will go to great lengths to keep you close, even if it means hurting you in some way in the short term while you’re trying to pull away.

The results of starving from no contact from God are big:

  1. It leaves you weak – the people are told they will “stagger”. If you do not have regular communication from God – reading the Bible, listening to good preachers and teachers, listening to godly counsel, listening to the Holy Spirit through prayer – you will be weak. You will stagger from place to place – home to work to wherever – with no spiritual strength.
  2. It leaves you lost – the people are told they will “wander”. If you do not have regular communication with God, you will be lost, especially in the area of making decisions. Your whole life is a journey, and it’s easy to get lost – head in the wrong direction without even knowing it – when you don’t have perfect guidance.

Notice that God didn’t pull his communication until very last. This is not his preference. Israel went for nearly 400 years without any direct communication from God. That’s a long time to be weak and lost.

How is the channel between you and God? Do you hear from him regularly – more than just in church (and my blog, of course)? Is 2009 the year he sends you into a famine or into a bumper crop of growth and maturity? It’s your choice.

(Check out Michael Card’s song “So Many Books” based on this passage.)

Amos 7-9

January 5, 2009 in Amos with 0 Comments

I found several things interesting in these last few chapters of Amos prophecy that I want to point out.

1) Amos uses the Hebrew Adonai YHVH (translated “sovereign LORD” in the NET) 20 times throughout, but I didn’t notice it much until these last three chapters, where 11 of them are found.

Adonai is traditionally translated “Lord” and YHVH as “LORD”, but “Lord LORD” is pretty awkward. “LORD of Lords” would have worked, but I like “sovereign LORD”. (Side note: The NET translators kept this translation for most of the nearly 300 uses of Adonai YHVH throughout the Old Testament.)

2) Chapter seven is a great example of what James calls the “prayer of a righteous person” which “has great effectiveness”. In the first six verses, God tells Amos of two terrible things that he will do in judgment on Israel. To both of them, Amos begged for Israel. And both of them “the sovereign LORD” decided to refrain from doing. (Bonus points if you count the numbers of times “sovereign LORD” is used in these few verses out of 20 in the entire book.)

The sovereign LORD showed me this: I saw him making locusts just as the crops planted late were beginning to sprout. (The crops planted late sprout after the royal harvest.) When they had completely consumed the earth’s vegetation, I said, “Sovereign LORD, forgive Israel! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!” The LORD decided not to do this. “It will not happen,” the LORD said.

The sovereign LORD showed me this: I saw the sovereign LORD summoning a shower of fire. It consumed the great deep and devoured the fields. I said, “Sovereign LORD, stop! How can Jacob survive? He is too weak!” The LORD decided not to do this. The sovereign LORD said, “This will not happen either.” Amos 7:1-6

3) Chapters 8 and 9 are full of judgment by the “sovereign LORD” – things that only he could do. I especially love the reference to the “Sea Serpent” – a creature that many believe to be a mythical creature. But I don’t.

4) Amos 8:11-12 and Amos 9:11-15 are two powerful sections that require separate posts.

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