God's Handful

 

Tuesday, September 6, 2022

This is what the Lord said to me:  “Go and buy a clay jar.  Then ask some of the leaders of the people and of the priests to follow you.  Go out through the Gate of Broken Pots to the garbage dump in the valley of Ben-Hinnom, and give them this message.  Say to them, ‘Listen to this message from the Lord, you kings of Judah and citizens of Jerusalem! This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies, the God of Israel, says:  I will bring a terrible disaster on this place, and the ears of those who hear about it will ring!  “‘For Israel has forsaken me and turned this valley into a place of wickedness.  The people burn incense to foreign gods—idols never before acknowledged by this generation, by their ancestors, or by the kings of Judah.  And they have filled this place with the blood of innocent children.  They have built pagan shrines to Baal, and there they burn their sons as sacrifices to Baal.  I have never commanded such a horrible deed; it never even crossed my mind to command such a thing!  So beware, for the time is coming, says the Lord, when this garbage dump will no longer be called Topheth or the valley of Ben-Hinnom, but the Valley of Slaughter.  “‘For I will upset the careful plans of Judah and Jerusalem.  I will allow the people to be slaughtered by invading armies, and I will leave their dead bodies as food for the vultures and wild animals.  I will reduce Jerusalem to ruins, making it a monument to their stupidity.  All who pass by will be astonished and will gasp at the destruction they see there.  I will see to it that your enemies lay siege to the city until all the food is gone.  Then those trapped inside will eat their own sons and daughters and friends.  They will be driven to utter despair.’  Jeremiah 19:1-9

Jeremiah certainly did not soften his words when he delivered God’s message of doom to Jerusalem’s ruling highbrows.  And why should he?  Jeremiah said the leaders of Judah and Israel’s downward spiral, away from God, would have a ringing-in-their-ears over God’s judgment for gross, eyes-open-wide sin.  That kind of message should never be blunted; a death sentence is a grave matter (literally).

Anyone with even a small portion of decency in their soul who reads or hears these words of Jeremiah’s sermon could not mistake the connection with what is happening in 21^st century culture – particularly in America.  We have earned the name Jeremiah said would be Ben Hinnom’s new legacy:  The Valley of Slaughter.  

Respect for life hangs by the weakest of threads in the land.  Decency and modesty are up for grabs to the highest bidder in Hollywood.  There is so little credence given to decorum, and kindness.  We are a land of selfish entitlement, lasciviousness, and disingenuousness when it comes to even a nod towards God’s sovereignty.  It is surprising to me that our Godless culture is still standing.

Now, this is not to say there are no Godly people left on our planet; the Lord always has a remnant who serve Him well.  That said, we must recognize that the days of Noah are upon us.  Those who faithfully serve God’s will are in a pitiful miniority.  There is coming a time, perhaps in my lifetime, perhaps in the next generation, but certainly a time of God’s own choosing…that the bill for thumbing America’s collective nose at God’s laws from the bedroom to the boardroom and big screen will come due.  The bankruptcy of our unrighteousness will be upon us!

For You Today

If you will serve God’s bidding these days, you’ll be branded a throw-back to Queen Victoria’s day, a prude, or do-gooder.  If you get labeled that way, wear it well; God’s handful of a remnant are the apple of His eye!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO (read by author)

There are about 2,000 devotional posts and 400 sermons in the Rocky Road Devotions library.  To dig deeper on today’s topic, explore some of these: 

Ambush and Consider the Rock

[1] Images:   Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation^©   

Consider the Rock

 

Wednesday, July 1, 2020

Isaiah 51:1-3

“Listen to me, all who hope for deliverance—all who seek the Lord!  Consider the rock from which you were cut, the quarry from which you were mined.  Yes, think about Abraham, your ancestor, and Sarah, who gave birth to your nation.  Abraham was only one man when I called him.  But when I blessed him, he became a great nation.”  The Lord will comfort Israel again and have pity on her ruins.  Her desert will blossom like Eden, her barren wilderness like the garden of the Lord.  Joy and gladness will be found there.  Songs of thanksgiving will fill the air.

Remembering from whence we came is, at once, the greatest blessing and bane humans enjoy and endure.  When we recall our sinfulness, willful and self-destructive, we must endure its shame.  When we recall our humble entrance into this world, small, and totally dependant on the kindness of our parents, we gain the perspective of dust; lowly we began, and we are bound for it again.

God points out to the enslaved nation of Israel, losers in war and captives again, that both their sin and their Savior are attached together.  The God who used Israel’s enemy to awaken them to their sinful ways would also be their Savior, bringing greatness out of brokenness, once again.

This is a thought that occupies my mind and soul these days.  And not just for America; we are only a few days away from the July 4^th anniversary of our nation’s birthday, but this is not patriotic nationalism.  This is about humanity’s survival.

God’s promises are at least two things:

          1.     They are certain…what God promises, God brings to pass

          2.     They are misunderstood, and misrepresented…just turn on the TV and see the commercials during religious programming. 

Isaiah says God promises joy that will replace the ruins of a disgraced superpower.  In so-doing the prophet invites the beleagured nation to consider the rock from which they were cut; he holds up their humble beginnings for examination. 

It was to an old couples’ childless vacuum God promised an heir, the firstborn of a nation, to be numbered as the grains of sand on the beaches.  To Sarah, 90 years old, and her 100 year old husband, Abraham, there was given a birth, and beginning of fulfillment.  What was once the emptiness of no evidence of God’s promised blessing, is now breathing, cooing, nursing, and filling diapers in a geriatric couple’s tent.  Amazement, laughter, and joy have replaced sad resignation.  Singing and dancing are the new order of the day.  Humble beginnings in Abraham’s tent now shows the flower of spring in the garden of hope.

But, it also began a rough ride. 

Abraham’s family has known what every other family on earth has experienced, treachery, jealousy, hypocrisy, poverty, oppression, tears, joy, singing, parched times, and good.  And, eventually, the fruit of God’s promise came to a cradle in Bethlehem, born a child with no earthly father, but nonetheless a part of Abraham’s lineage.  This is the centerpiece of God’s creation, understood from before the foundation of the universe, that the promise of restoration is carved from the bedrock of Yahweh’s strength.

And, here we are, muddled in such deep and abstruse mysteries, such as whether or not to wear a face mask in WalMart.  And we have deep pain over the shortage of toilet paper.  And on, and on, ad nauseum.  We are drowning in the proverbial puddle of plague-concern at the moment, with all sense of normalcy on-hold, except for the incessant droning of the news channels counting the dead. 

All this…and it is substantial…is momentary.  God is forever; and we have been mined from His quarry, not some primordial pond of protoezoa.  We are made in His image, and, blurred and muddied as that image is in 2020, we remain the apple of His eye[1], His crown of creation[2], and as much as we might feel as depressed and forgotten as Abraham and Sarah, the promises of God never fail.

Let’s Pray Together:

Father, we are thankful that the promise of Your word will never return to You unaccomplished.  What You set out to do is already done.  Prime our faith to receive this truth, we pray, in the name of Your holy child, Jesus.

For You Today

If the “virus culture” of this moment has you a little (or a lot) depressed or bewildered, don’t let the mud puddle claim another victim; just lift your head to look at the rock from which you were cut!

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today.  Have a blessed day!

Go to VIDEO                                                                                                                  

Title Image:  Pixabay.com  Unless noted, Scripture quoted from The New Living Translation©

For other posts on God’s Promises see After the Storm – Part 2 and Why God Got Some Ink

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[1] Zechariah 2:8

[2] Genesis 1:28

The Apple of God's Eye

Wednesday, July 9, 2014

For thus said the LORD of hosts (after his glory sent me) regarding the nations that plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye. Zechariah 2:8 (NRSVA)

If that's the way they act down there, I don't want anything to do with that church!  Such is the statement you might hear from a Christian who has grown cold towards the church – or an unbeliever who has come in contact with the humanity of a church member who is less than Christian-like in his actions. 

Churches aren't perfect; but neither are those who judge from without.  Have you heard the poem dedicated to those seeking a perfect church?

I think that I shall never see

a church that's all it ought to be.    

A church whose members never stray

Beyond the straight and narrow way;

A church that has no empty pews,

Whose pastor never has the blues,    

    A church where discouragement cannot speak,

Where Elders "eld", and Deacons "deak";

Such perfect churches there may be,

But none of them are known to me.

So friend, if you find a church that's like I've said,

Don't join it, brother, You'll KILL IT DEAD!

The experience of too many people when it comes to their perception of the church is discouragement, disillusionment and disappointment.  It’s because of the imperfection they find with the saints in church.  People find hypocrisy, duplicity, disloyalty, cut-throat competition and power plays; these are acceptable practices on most reality-based TV shows, but nobody wants to go to church with that kind of person. 

God’s prophet, Zechariah wrote down for us what God thinks of His people, the real church, the Body of Jesus Christ - he calls her the apple of God’s eye.  That’s a great old expression. 

ð    You can see that look in a new father’s eye. 

ð    You can see that look from a Grandmother as her toddler granddaughter waddles across the floor into her arms. 

ð    You can see the apple of a man’s eye when he has just restored a ’32 Roadster. 

The church (New Israel) is considered the apple of his eye.  We are God’s very treasured possession which he will never give up. 

And when it comes to “meddling” you don’t want to mess with the apple of someone’s eye!  Especially God!

The church is God's.  I doubt He is the author of some of the foolishness that goes on in churches when relationships break-down, and programs and attendance crumble; but the real church, God's family of believers, is His for keeps. 

And that makes the real church precious in the sight of God. 

For You, Today…

Pray for your local church. 

Pray for God’s church in every part of the world.

Then, put “feet” to your prayers; be part of your church’s strength to sacrificially reach your neighborhood for Christ.