Isaiah 2

Still intense . . ..

"The lofty looks of man shall be humbled,
the haughtines of men shall be bowed down,
And the LORD alone shall be exalted in that day."

Isaiah 2:11 NKJV

My friend and I were talking about social climbers the other day . . . this verse reminds me of that conversation. 

How do I hear the voice?

Isaiah 30:21 (NIV) says "Whether you turn to the right or to the left, your ears will hear a voice behind you, saying "This is the way; walk in it."

I'm saying, where's the voice . . . and how do I hear it. I believe there will be one because I trust God and the Bible but I'm just wondering at what point do the verses turn into real-time action.

This book and I spent some quality time together this morning.

I'm debating changing my major from journalism to something else . . . that something else, I'm not sure about. I woke up at 4 this morning so my dad and I could take my friend Jonathan to the airport and after coming home, instead of going back to sleep, I read the university catalog!

Yup . . . I went through almost every single department or school trying to figure out what I could do in the least amount of time . . . I honestly just want out . . . I'm done here . . . I love it to death . . . but oh, so badly want to march down that aisle with a cap and gown and walk across the stage, shake the president's hand, and wish everyone 'so long.'

One day . . . I'm just really wanting that one day to be next spring or winter . . . because right now, I can't see the light at the end of my school tunnel.

Perhaps this is all bugging me because winter graduation was last night and/or because almost every second person was asking me when I graduate. Or perhaps because most of the people I came in with are now gone.

Who knows??? . . . All I know is that while I long to graduate . . . I don't know what degree I want to get me there. It's a sad predicament to be in. Journalism seems like the right answer but somehow, to me, it doesn't seem right . . . I feel like there's something else out there that I'm missing. Something else out there that I'm supposed to follow. I don't want to be a journalist . . . no matter how good people tell me that I am.

In May I will be walking with one degree, Lord willing—an associate's degree in graphic design. I've loved that degree from start to finish. Now to decide on a bachelor's degree. Further graphic design? Stay with journalism? Or do something completely different . . .  that is the question . . . oh, and where is that voice that's supposed to tell me which way to go?

Isaiah

This book is seriously intense . . . at least chapter one is.

Love, love, love this verse!

"You were to them God-Who-Forgives,
Though You took vengeance on their deeds."

Righteousness In Moderation?

We've all met them . . . perhaps we are one of them . . . those people who strive for perfection in terms of godliness. The ones that make you feel like you're a bad person because you watched a movie last weekend. OK, now we're totally judging them . . . lol. It's good to want to be righteous though, right? It's good to strive to perfection in this life . . . isn't it? Yes . . . quite clearly life works better when you do the right things. But is there a point when doing the right things crosses a line from doing to impractically demanding things which one cannot deliver on? I think so. And I'm wondering what Solomon meant when he wrote:

"Do not be overly righteous, nor be overly wise." (Ecc. 7:16)

Perhaps the answer is found in the follow up verse . . .

"For there is not a just man on earth who does good and does not sin." (Ecc. 7:21)

I don't think Solomon put this out here to discourage us but to let us know that, "hey, you can't do perfection . . . you can't make yourself perfect or righteous . . . that's impossible to do" (and annoying to be around).

Righteousness is a gift from God . . . that we can ONLY get when we accept Jesus as our Savious . . . that's pretty much it . . . no strings or laws attached. After that since we have chosen Jesus, that gives Him permission to work in our life . . . and that's where He starts working to correct all those crappy habits that we hold on to. If we continue to choose Him and His will for our life then we will see a difference because we will also choose to do what He asks . . . this isn't about going out and finding the perfect formula for Holiness . . . this is about letting Jesus mix a personal formula just for you . . . that works JUST for you and no one else (you're not supposed to feed your formula to anyone else! God can make one for them if they even want one.)

This is called sanctification. When God perfects us . . . it's not about us being overly righteous . . . that's works. Allowing God to guide your life and doing what He asks even when it doesn't make sence . . . that's faith. (And obviously since you're allowing Him to work in your life . . . you will have good works too . . . but they don't come first . . . the faith does.)

Just do what you need to do

That's kinda what I got out of Ecclesiastes chapter 5. Just do what you need to do to live and don't try to work for everything your eye sees that you want because you're just headed back out of this world as you came . . . naked. Can't take anything with you, so might as well not burden yourself down with more worries than you need to while alive.

It's kinda a simplicity gospel. I really like that. Simplicity is very much the way to go . . . in my opinion.

Politics

Yesterday I was confronted with a lot of politics . . . in the ministry. It's always annoying to see that—politics in the Church. People who are both trying to reach someone yet believing they first have to fight their brother who is also trying to reach that person only a SLIGHTLY different way. Oh well.

Sometimes you just want to walk away and say forget it . . . and then you think of that person caught in the middle who probably is thinking the same thing you are and then . . . that's when I get upset . . . angry actually . . . that because of two differing views on the same thing, we . . . the Church . . . are pushing people away who are able to think and see above the politics. We just think our position is so important.

So . . . I'm still reading Ecclesiastes . . . haha . . . it's kinda nice actually because it's all the emotions I'm feeling . . . this whole charade is just vanity . . . grasping for the wind . . . while getting nothing . . . barely the people you try to reach . . .

So the verse that struck my chord today was Ecc. 2:17:

"Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind."

Yeah . . . distressing.

Wisdom = Grief & Knowledge = Sorrow

I never thought I would like Ecclesiastes. I thought that the book would just be about how much the world is "all vanity," and I didn't want to hear that because . . . well . . . for me . . . I was kinda enjoying my life here with all the stuff I had and saw and wanted.

But something has changed . . . it's called knowledge. Not that I'm any smarter . . . hardly. I just have seen another side to life on this world that isn't all about "stuff." And not only seen it . . . but been affected by it.

So today when I read the last verse in Ecclesiastes chapter one . . . I was like, This book is awesome . . . cause I totally feel like this . . . 

"For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow." 

Sorry for the bummed-out post . . . but it's true.

How do you read the Bible?

Yes . . . uh . . . so I've been reading it most of my life and have kept this blog for the past four months (or was it five?) and yes, I'm still opening my Bible and not sure where to start. But that's OK . . . because somehow, even when I have no clue what I'm doing . . . God makes sure I find just the right verse. Thank You so much, Jesus.

My Life: A Spring of Water?

I sat there on the rock next to the babbling creek not sure what I was going to discover. Pastor Brennon sent us out to find our own spot to read and pray and see what God would say to us.

As I opened up my Bible, I didn't really know what to look for or what to read. It was more of the "just flip it open and read" moment. But what I found was amazing to me.

I found myself reading in Isaiah 35. The chapter was about a desert land becoming a paradise.

"Water will gush forth in the wilderness and streams in the desert. The burning sand will become a pool and the thirsty ground bubbling springs." (Isaiah 35:6b-7.)

Every other verse seemed to be talking about water and not only just water but water coming from a parched land!

I read and read and read . . . chapter after chapter in Isaiah with this same theme . . . it was almost like a drink of water for me . . . as if I was dying of thirst. Because in a way I was.

My summer was really intense, especially toward the end of it. If you kept up with the blog you'd notice there were less posts through the end of July and all of August. There just wasn't a lot for me to say. I was pretty parched—spiritually and emotionally.

And then I went on the Campus Ministries retreat . . . and it was like my life . . . my parched land . . . was now experiencing its first downpour in months. Finally some flowers began to grow and bloom again.

"Gladness and joy with overtake them, and sorrow and sighing will flee away." (Isaiah 35: 10b).

Life is by no means suddenly perfect . . . ha . . . that would be cool but real life doesn't work like that! But I know that it's for real when God says He won't give us more than we can handle and He will be always with us.

Man, Psalm 73 Is Deep

So yesterday as I was browsing my Facebook news feed I read a post from one of my friends that said, "Man Psalm 73 is deep."

I was, "huh?" I've read that one before . . . back in 9th grade. But couldn't remember anything standing out to me so I went back and read it again and to see what my friend was talking about.

The chapter talks about what a lot of people who want to serve God go through . . . wondering where He is when the wicked are prospering while His followers are scraping around just to make ends meet. Doesn't seem fair, right . . . the author of this Psalm didn't think so either.

The whole first part of the Psalm is talking about how this guy is basically jealous of the wicked because they have everything they want and more. He's questioning God (which isn't always a bad thing to do . . . because like this guy . . . you usually get answers); he wants to know why he has lived for God all these years and not had half the blessings the wicked have. He starts to think that he had made his way pure for nothing.

"Surely I have cleansed my heart in vain, And washed my hands in innocence." Verse 13

And then he goes to the sanctuary and understands that the wicked may look like they have it all together yet God will not put up with it, and the man writing discovers he hasn't "cleansed his heart in vain."

When he realizes this he feels so stupid for ever doubting God (and I really liked the way he said this . . . it actually made me laugh when I read it because it was so real).

"I was so foolish and ignorant; I was like a beast before You." Verse 22

In the end the psalmist realized that God was the only one he could rely on, and that God would be the one there for him in the end. My favorite verses of the chapter are these . . .

"Whom have I in heaven but You? And there is none upon earth that I desire besides You. My flesh and my heart fail; But God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Verses 25 & 26

So, yeah . . . Psalm 73 is deep . . . it's deep (to me) because it says everything that I've said a million time . . . "God, wheeere are YOU?! Oh . . . that's were . . . stupid me!" haha . . . it's true . . . and I'm so thankful He still sicks me after all that.

Thanks, God. : D

(And thanks, Matt, for the FB post . . . haha . . . otherwise I probably would have never come back to this Psalm!)

II Samuel: first few chapters . . . blood bath.

No, I haven't switched books again . . . I just haven't been sticking with anything for very long. Yesterday I listened to a sermon by Justin McNeilus, president of GYC (Generation of Youth for Christ conference), where he shared the story of David handing the command to build the temple to Solomon. Kinda cool, cause that was just what I was reading about in the Chronicles.

Justin told the story of a couple men who David advised his son to remember. Remember the stories of these men (they were both already dead by then).

One of them was Abner from the first few chapters of II Samuel. So this morning I read a couple chapters (2 and part of 3). Boy-oh-boy . . . there is so much blood and gore in those two chapter and just plain cruelty. I was sooo surprised at some of the atrocities which were committed. I know I've read it before but that was about five years ago and clearly I don't remember much! But, man . . . CRAZY stuff! Blood literally EVERYWHERE! No wonder David wasn't allowed the build the temple! Although it wasn't all his fault, he was indirectly the cause of most of it.

Change In Plans

OK . . . so even though II Chronicles is very much a story and not genealogy . . . I've . . . ah . . . no desire to read it. Yeah . . .

It's kinda funny because I want to read it but just not now . . . I was so conflicted because I thought, OK, so why do I not want to read this . . . ? I felt kinda guilty because I kept skipping around and would end up just reading Psalms (not that there's anything wrong with that . . . but I felt bad because I wasn't sticking to my plan). Then yesterday, I just felt really drawn to read Galatians. I realized II Chronicles wasn't going to work.

Choosing to read Galatians was the best decision I made yesterday ; ). I'm not sure if I've ever read it before but I am now and it's really coming alive for me.

Lately I've been realizing that we are here not for popular approval but to show God to the world. I know, we grow up knowing that in the Church but there's nothing like the moment when a truth you've known all your life becomes personal. Yesterday as I was reading Galatians that point just popped off the pages in verse 10 of chapter one.

"For do I now persuade men, or God? Or do I seek to please men? For if I still pleased men, I would not be a bondservant of Christ." Galatians 1:10 NKJV

I really like how the Message Bible put it also.

"Do you think I speak this strongly in order to manipulate crowds? Or curry favor with God? Or get popular applause? If my goal was popularity, I wouldn't bother being Christ's slave."

So that's it!

Well . . . actually today I read about how we are justified and that it's not by works. But since I'm only making one point per post . . . I'll save that for another time. ; )

And Solomon Named the Pillars

I thought this was an interesting facet of the chapter. In the last verse of chapter three, which is about Solomon building the temple, it says "Then he set up the pillars before the temple, one on the right hand and the other on the left; he called the name of the one on the right hand Jachin and the name of the one on the left Boaz."

Hmmmm . . .

Well, Jachin means whom God strengthens. (Makes sense for that to be the name of a pillar.)

And Boaz means fleetness. (And fleetness . . . for those of you—like me—who have never heard that word before . . . means "fast and nimble in movement." Thank you dock dictionary!)

Back To II Chronicles

So this morning I decided I need to actually start reading the book I said I was reading: II Chronicles. But today, I'm back.

And today Solomon wrote the King of Tyre a letter asking for cedars of Lebanon and a man who was skilled in working with various precious metals and cloths. It was a nice letter. But what really stood out to me was how the King of Tyre started out his letter.

He said, "Because the LORD loves His people, He had made you king over them."

Isn't that the most awesome thing to say to someone?! Because God loves His people, he has made you their leader. Because God loves this company, He has made you the president. Because God loves this school He has made you the principal.

Who says stuff like that? I've never heard that said before. But what an honor!

I mean, it's Romans 13:1b that says, "For there is no authority except from God, and the authorities that exist are appointed by God."

And it's a well known fact that people live up to the expectations others have for them, so why not let them know we expect them to lead as if they are indeed a blessing from God? Hmmm . . . not really sure what this would look like, but it's just a random thought.

Justified

Romans 5:1

"Since we have been justified through faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ."

[I'm still skipping around II Chronicles . . . don't know why, it isn't full of genealogy like the first one was . . . lol]

Awaken the Dawn

Lately I've been wandering around from the actual book I'm supposed to be reading. This morning I read Psalm 108, which has the phrase I have taken for the title of my blog.

It was so encouraging to read this verse to day, and this whole chapter really, because it talks about God just totally being there for you and helping you overcome your enemies. Not that I have enemies that need overcoming, but I do have big projects and deadlines that need overcoming, and I'm glad that God will be there for me the whole way!

"For Your mercy is great above the heavens, and Your truth reaches to the clouds." Psalm 108:4.

Heal the Wound but Leave the Scar

This morning for my devotional time I decided to do something a little different . . . well . . . I didn't really plan it, it just sort of happened. Instead of reading from II Chronicles, I just focused on a song that meant a lot to me and why it meant so much . . . here is the story. : )

When I was a kid, probably about three years old, I remember my parents telling me that when we go to heaven we won't have any scars because Jesus is going to give us new bodies. This should have made me happy but instead I was really sad and upset about it. I didn't want to give up my scars. Those were my bragging rights! I've always loved telling stories and scars were like an automatic story just waiting to happen.

"Hey, where'd you get that?"

"Well, let me tell you about that day . . . "

As I got older my sentiment didn't really change about my physical scars, but instead of making blunders of the klutzy kind, I started making mistakes that didn't leave physical wounds but emotional. Whether that was a fight with a friend or just saying or being or doing things that weren't too smart. Those scars I could do without. Yet I realized that even though these new scars weren't as cool, they still told a story of how I was growing and maturing . . . and how God was working in my life whether I cared or not.

I don't really mind as much today; not being able to take my scars to heaven. That's because I already have scars in heaven. And those scars have a really cool story that go with them. Those are the scars Jesus has in His hands, feet, and side. They were meant for me. But so I could live in heaven with Him forever, He endured the pain that created those scars . . . for me—and you. And forever and ever, I will be able to tell the greatest scar story (which is really the greatest love story)—starting now!

This is the song that brought this all to mind one day . . . Heal the Wound but Leave the Scar by Point of Grace.

Chronicles the Second Time Around

Here we go again . . . I've decided to read II Chronicles for my next book. Actually I've already started. hehe . . . I've been a little worded out lately, but I'll do my best to keep this blog updated regularly with my most recent adventures through . . . not genealogy . . . but the beginning of Solomon's reign and the building of the temple.

In flipping through the book I've not noticed any genealogy yet . . . hmmm . . . we'll see. Perhaps it's all story. That would be cool . . . as much as I do enjoy learning the meaning to those hard-to-pronounce Biblical names. lol. (Btw, I wasn't be sarcastic . . . I do like learning name meanings.)

OK, well, let me say a little bit about what I read yesterday in chapter one.

The first chapter of II Chronicles begins with the famous story of God asking Solomon what he would like. Solomon didn't ask for riches or honor, he asked for wisdom. I never knew this before, I don't think any pastor has ever brought this up in a sermon I've listened to, but Solomon was seriously nervous. He didn't know how he was going to lead the nation he had just been made king over.

Just before God asked Solomon to name anything he wanted, Solomon had been seeking God with his assembly of captains and leaders of Israel. They went up to where the ark of God was and Solomon "offered a thousand burnt offerings on" the alter there (1:6).

That night is when God appeared to Solomon said, "Ask! What shall I give you?" (1:7.)

Imagine God asking this? I remember as a kid how my friends and I would always ask each other what we'd say if we were granted one wish.

"I'd ask for a thousand more!" Came our "clever" response each time. Thankfully Solomon was more mature than us.

If you read the chapter you can hear the uneasiness he is feeling at taking up the leadership of Israel.

He said to God, "You have made me king over a people like the dust of the earth in multitude" (1:9).

I'd be overwhelmed too!

And so he asked for the one thing he knew he couldn't survive being king without . . .

"Now give me wisdom and knowledge, that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of Yours?" (1:10.)

Now . . . here's the cool thing. Because he didn't ask for riches or glory, God gave him those as well.

The End of I Chronicles

I really cannot believe that I have finished I Chronicles. I once thought that I would never read this book and that it was probably THE most boring book in the Bible! How wrong I was. I grew to absolutely LOVE this book. I even discovered that my favorite hymn, Amazing Grace, takes a part from I Chronicles 17.

I will admit toward the end of the book I was ready to be done with it, as you might tell from my last post. I really didn't post much because I was mentally, emotionally, and intellectually DONE with any sort of genealogical or lists reading for the time. If you've been following along with my blog you will know that the whole book is not a long list of names or items, but instead does have many stories sprinkled in throughout it and even complete chapters that are all story. However, as I neared the end of the book it came full circle back to some lists mingled in with the story of David preparing to hand over temple plans and materials to Solomon.

Overall this book is a great read and I'm thankful I read it. I learned some really cool things about God, the children of Israel (like what their names meant . . . I'll never forget the dunghill guy from early on in the book . . . ; ) . . . or God marching in the treetops above David's army . . . very cool! And so much more!!).

If you've never read I Chronicles . . . go for it! There are awesome stories hidden in there that you've probably never heard in Sabbath/Sunday school before that will really surprise you. At least they surprised me . . . if you do read it, let me know how it goes. I'd love to compare notes and thoughts. : )

The Last Chapter

David again admonished the people to help his inexperienced son Solomon. Solomon assumed the thrown. David passed away. Everyone followed Solomon. End of story. End of chapter. End of book.

I might write more later but that's all I got for right now. Pretty anticlimactic, huh?

David Gives Solomon Plans for Temple

Note: So I think I'll do this in a news story style again. lol. Try at least.

David called all the leaders of Israel together for an assembly in which he gave his son Solomon the plans to build the temple of the LORD.

David reminded the people that, while he had planned to build the temple, God previously told him that he was unable to because he was "a man of war and . . . shed blood."

God instead promised that David's son Solomon would be the one to build the temple.

In the years leading up to this assembly, David prepared plans for the temple and gathered materials for Solomon to use. David also commanded the leaders his kingdom to support and help Solomon with the constructing of the temple building.

Near the end of the assembly, just before handing the plans and materials for the temple to his son, David gave Solomon some advice.

" . . . know the God of your father, and serve Him with a loyal heart and with a willing mind," David said, "for the LORD searches all hearts and understands all the intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever. Consider now, for the LORD has chosen you to build the house for the sanctuary; be strong, and do it."

P.S. I thought it was neat how David attributed the plans for the temple as being directed by the Spirit of God.

"All this," said David, "the LORD made me understand in writing, by His hand upon me, all the works of these plans" (28:19).

ONLY ONE MORE CHAPTER OF I CHRONICLES!! : ) I've totally enjoyed it though!

I Chronicles 27

Nothing much to report on here . . . it was just a list of David's military divisions, leaders of tribes, and other state officials. I'm sure there is something amazing in this chapter but I'm just not catching it at the moment.

Something that I did find interesting is that it mentioned the census wasn't completed because "wrath came upon Israel" because of it (27:24). And also that the number was never recorded. Aaaand no one age 20 and younger was counted—or rather their number wasn't taken (I think that means the same as they weren't counted . . . )

It was so strange for me to realize that—and this is coming from the whole 20 and younger thing . . . it reminded me of the Israelites spending 40 years in the wilderness—I realized, had I been there, I would have died out there . . . because I am no longer under 20 . . . it was a very sad realization—even though . . . that was so many years ago. It just made me realize that I'm really an adult now. When did that happen?

Reminders of Years Past

When I canvassed in 2007 some of my favorite songs that my team sang were the scripture songs I learned as a child. Today I wasn't really feeling like experiences another list of genealogy (I Chronicles has reverted back to lists of names again) so I decided to read a random Psalm. Psalm 19 is the one I flipped to and I'm so glad I did. This Psalm of David holds a scripture song I used to sing as a child and then again as a canvasser as well as several "famous" Bible verses.

I never realized Psalm 19 was such a well known Psalm before . . . I mean we know about Psalm 23 and Psalm 119 and even Psalm 22 (which is the Psalm Jesus repeated the first verse from while he was dying on the cross—"My God, My God, why have you forsaken me?")

In Psalm 19 are the verses about the heavens declaring the works of the God, and the scripture song starting with "the law of the LORD is perfect, converting the soul . . ."

Finding all of this packed into this relatively short chapter was a nice surprise. : )

All In The Family

Heman had a pretty cool family and job. He had 14 sons and three daughters who were all part of their very own family band/orchestra for the purpose of praising God in the temple. Heman was the "conductor," while his children played cymbols, stringed instruments, and harps. That was their job.

There were many other families who also played instruments and sang for God's glory in the temple but from reading the chapter 25 today it seemed like Heman has the largest family—17 in total.

Heman name means faithful.

Anyway . . . Heman's story is what I found was interesting in chapter 25.

Beno Before And There'll Be No . . .

When I was a kid I had a guy friend who always seemed to have REALLY bad gas! At the ages of 12 and 13 that just seemed to be what guys were majoring in as a whole. I used to tease him about it a lot.

During this time of life my mom would host Friday-night vespers at different homes for the youth to get together and study something in the Bible or play a Bible game. One Bible game we played required us to take a letter of the alphabet and find various items from the Bible that started with that letter.

Say you chose the letter 'B.' You would then need to find a proper name starting with the letter 'B,' as well as a tool, animal, town, and various other items.

Image from beanogas.com

One time my friend selected the letter 'B' and found the proper name Beno tucked away in I Chronicles 24:26. I remember thinking it was the coolest thing (I was like 13). It seemed like the perfect name for him to use! You've probably seen the ads for a gas prevention product named Beano with the slogan "Beano Before And There'll Be No Gas."

Back then when my friend found the name Beno I underlined it in my Bible so I wouldn't forget where it was. But over the years the name and significance has slipped my mind. Until today when I was reading I Chronicles 24 and came across it again. Seeing it made me smile and brought back this funny memory!

My Friend In Abundance

Today I found my friend Zina's name in a long list of genealogy in chapter 23. As you can probably guess from the title of this post, her name is thought to mean abundance.

God: David's son will build temple

An unnamed source reported in chapter 22 of I Chronicles that God told David he is ineligible to build the temple.

According to the source God told David he has "shed much blood and . . . made great wars."

In David's place, God promised a son who would be a man of "rest."

"His name shall be Solomon," God said, "for I will give peace and quietness to Israel in his days."

David said a blessing for his promised son and charged him to only gain wisdom from God as he leads the people of Israel not only in building the temple but in guiding them as their king.

Before David dies he is preparing temple plans to give Solomon. He is also preparing many of the materials needed to build of the temple and has commanded the leaders of Israel to assist Solomon in the construction of the temple.

NOTE: This was written news style as if it were to be printed in a newspaper . . . I just did it for the fun of it. In my News Reporting class we had an assignment like this once where we had to take a portion of scripture and write it into a news story. It was challenging and a lot of fun. 

A Psalm

Psalms are healing. They portray a flood of emotions at times yet are uplifting as well.

"But God will redeem my soul from the power of the grave, for He shall receive me. —Psalm 49:15 NKJV

Taking Ownership

I'm not sure why numbering the poeple was wrong for David to do. But it was and the cost of that mistake cost 70,000 men's lives . . . which I don't understand either. But there are some things that David said in this chapter that I thought were powerful. He realized he was wrong and so when Gad, one of his seers came to him with three options of punishment from God David said something quite profound.

"Please let me fall into the hand of the LORD, for His mercies are very great; but do not let me fall into the hand of man." (21:13)

David also realized that what had been done was his fault and not the peoples' who he served. He prayed, "O LORD my God, be against me and my father's house, but not against your people that they should be plagued." (22:17)

And then the third thing that wowed me was when he was instructed to go and build an alter to God in this one guy's field. David asked the guy if he could buy it to build that alter to God. He was wanted to pay the guy the full price but the guy (Ornan) said he would just give it to David. Blessing, right? You'd think David would say 'Praise God, I don't have to buy the field!' Nope! Not at all and for good reason too. This is what he actually said.

"No, but I will surely buy it for the full prince, for I will not take what is yours for the LORD, nor offer burnt offerings with that which costs me nothing." (22:24)

The last part is what is key to me. How can an offering be an offering if you really aren't offering what is yours? Or a sacrifice be a sacrifice when you really aren't sacrificing in order to give it?

David was wrong, yes, but he wasn't completely dumb. To me David portrays what it is to be a great leader in this chapter because he knew where to turn: God. He knew who's fault it was and took ownership of his sin. And he also knew that God deserved (deserves) the very best with no short cuts.

Like Uncle, Like Nephew

In the last verse of chapter 20 it mentions David's nephew killing a giant who defied Israel. I guess it ran in the family. You know . . . killing arrogant giants.

Sooo . . . uh . . . what's your family known for . . . ? jk . . . haha.

Really?

OK, what the Ammonites did was pretty mean, but did both countries need to make war over it?

The Nahash king of Ammon died and his son took over. Apparently Nahash had shown kindness to David, so David being the kindhearted guy that he was sent some of his servants over with messages of comfort for Hanun, Nahash's son and the new king. However, some rather distrusting princes of Ammon told convinced Hanun that David was actually sending spies to search out the land.

So . . . brilliant Hanun goes and shaves the Israelites beards (which was a shameful thing I believe . . . not sure about the significance there) and turns each man's garment into more of a hospital robe . . . complete with an exposed gluteus maximus!

Understandably the men were pretty embarrassed.

Understandably David was pretty angry. When the Ammonites saw that they'd turned his concern in to repulsion they freaked and called on the Syrians to help them fight the Israelites. Even though the Israelites had not declared war on them or even suited up. Well, the Israelite's did suit up at the word that everyone else was ready for battle. But thankfully they called on God for help and beat both armies. And FINALLY, the Ammonites made peace. The Syrians also refused to help the Ammonites anymore after getting whipped by David's army.

So . . . the Ammonites snubbed David's kindness, then made war against him because they feared retaliation, then finally signed a peace treaty which made them his servants. If they'd just excepted his kindness they could have become allies and remained free.

Peace people, peace.

Why?

Why? Just . . . why?

Why did David (in chapter 18) hamstring most of the chariot horses when he conquered king Hadadezer of Zobah?

I sorta get that he was debilitating their army . . . but I don't get why he didn't just take the horses instead of crippling them. He took some—enough for 100 chariots. But all the rest he hamstrung.

Chapter 17

"For You have made Your people Israel Your very own people forever; and You, LORD, have become their God." 

—I Chronicles 17:22

The Revelation of Jesus Christ

Friday evening I was invited over to the Christiansen's house for a Bible study. There wasn't any particular study that we were going to do. It started out as just a time to share about what we had read the past week and what we might like to study in the future. Someone mentioned they would like to study Revelation and so we started then with reading the first chapter.

Revelation is a complex book with a lot of complex imagery. I read it about four years ago for the first time and haven't really spent any time there since. It honestly didn't really caption my attention because I didn't understand everything that all those Revelation seminars pull out of it. I didn't really expect much out of it Friday night either . . . but boy was I wrong! Revelation is kinda exciting . . . (all the pastors out there are probably saying 'duh' right about now . . . lol).

The one part that stood out to me the most were verses 5 and 6 where the justification and sanctification process is clearly (at least to me it was clear) presented in the first chapter. This blew me away especially since it's been only within the last year that I have fully understood the beauty of justification and sanctification.

"To Him who loved us and washed us from our sins in His own blood, and has made us kings and priests to His God and Father, to Him be glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen."

So in the first part where it says "washed us from our sins in His own blood," that's the justification part. When we come to Christ with all our dirt and choose to follow Him, He sees us as He sees Himself: perfect. That's justification . . . being seen as perfect simply because we choose to believe in Jesus who is perfect.

But it doesn't stop there. Then comes sanctification where Jesus helps us build our characters into ones that can resist the temptation to sin. That's where we become "kings and priests." In order to work as a priest in the temple one had to go through a cleansing process above and beyond the others in the camp before they could do certain tasks (I don't know too much about this process—priest cleansings . . . only that it took place).

After reading this I was pretty excited about what else I might find in Revelation that I actually understood! haha!

Anyway . . . maybe this is far out . . . after all, I'm not a theologian . . . these are just my thoughts.

Marching on the Treetops . . . now that's cool

Every time I read the Bible for myself there are so many neat things that stand out and some just plain not cool things as well. Chapter 14 had both.

Here's a (hopefully) concise list:

Cool: David had the respect of surrounding nations.

Not Cool: David taking more wives once he got back to Jerusalem as king.

Cool: God and David talking with each other clearly and in full sentences.

Cool: God sending His angels to march ahead of David's army to "strike the camp of the Philistines." God told David he would knew that the camp was ready to be driven back to where they came from when he heard marching on top of the mulberry trees. An angel army of God no less marching in the air above the earthly army of David. Very cool! ; )

It's Not Always What We Do, But How We Do It That Matters! or And Here Lies The Promblem

I've learned over the years that it matters how things are done sometimes more than what we are doing. This was the case for David in moving the ark of the covenant—you know, the time that Uzza died. David was supposed to get Levites to move the ark by hand. But instead he moved it on a cart with oxen. When the oxen stumbled Uzza reached out to stable the ark and died instantly.

Even though David and the people were playing their musical instruments along the way to honor God, it didn't matter because like Cain, David did not do what God instructed. Moving the ark wasn't the problem. Playing their heart out on the tambourine, harp, cymbal, or other instruments before God the entire time wasn't a problem either. But not doing what God had specifically asked was a problem.

Men of War

There's a curious verse to me in I Chronicles 12 . . . well actually there were a couple I stopped to read over a few times, but specifically verse 8 caught my attention.

"Some Gadites joined David at the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for battle, who could handle shield and spear, whose faces were like the faces of lions, and were as swift as gazelles on the mountains."

One of the things that caught my attention were the words "could handle shield and spear." I don't know much about ancient Biblical fighting techniques or procedures, but growing up I always heard stories about how Jonathan and his armorbearer beat the Philistines or other stories were armorbearers were included. A couple posts back I wrote about Saul's armorbearer.

Why were there armorbearers? And what did it mean that these guys could handle their own shield and spear? Did only the kings and princes have armorbearers? It's a curious thing to me because it seems like this verse is saying these guys were more skilled because they could handle their weapon and their shield.

Anyone have any ideas on how battles were fought in David's day?

David's Beasts

. . . and these weren't the animals David killed, these were the men under his direction. These guys were virtually fearless and took on the enemy with the same confidence that David took on Goliath when he was a teenager.

These two examples from Chapter 11 of I Chronicles show this clearly!

When David "said with longing" that he wanted a drink of water from the well inside Bethlehem, three of his mighty men went and got it for him. Pretty amazing . . . right? Well, it would be if you knew what they went through to get that water. To get to the well those three men had to "break through the camp of the Philistines." Three men up against the entire Philistines army . . . yeah . . . . Pretty amazing that they made it to the well alive not to mention back to David again WITH the water.

Another one of David's men named Benaiah "killed two lion-like heroes of Moab," went into a pit on a snowy day and killed a lion which was in it (the amazing part to me is the snow . . . there was no easy climbing out of that with the added slipperiness of the snow), and killed an Egyptian of "great height, five cubits tall." Now get this, the Egyptian had a spear, and a long one at that, our man Benaiah only had a staff! What happens next is even more amazing them Benaiah attacking the guy with that staff. He goes down to where this Egyptian is, wrestles the very long and heavy spear out of his hand and kills the Egyptian with his own spear!

I wonder how a pastor would preach on this chapter or the topic of David's mighty men in general. I think I would like to hear that sermon and see how the pastor would take the lesson. Let me know if there is one out there and where I can find it.

The Key To Life . . .

There wasn't one bit of genealogy in chapter 10 this morning. Instead it was the horrible story of how Saul and his sons died in battle.

Saul's sons had been killed (including David's best friend Jonathan) by the Philistines in a battle. Saul knew they were going to come after him next and begged his armorbearer, "Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it . . . " 10:4. But the armorbearer refused because he feared killing the king I suppose. The Bible here only says he wouldn't do it because he was "greatly afraid."I mean, his job was to protect the king not harm him. So Saul killed himself by falling on his sword and afterward the armorbearer followed suit and fell on his own sword also.

It was such a tragic death . . . the whole battle. I Chronicles doesn't really go into details here about it but I've heard the story before and the bit of info that's written here is not pretty. Here was a great man who fell from greatness because he chose to stop trusting in God.

It was like those guys a few chapters (and blog posts) back who called on God in the heat of battle and trusted him and were saved, but after the battle they started worshiping the gods of the people God had just conquered for them and He then allowed them to be taken captive. They stopped trusting in God.

So the key to life . . . trust God.

The Singers and the Royals

Today's reading in I Chronicles 9 didn't bring about too much excitement. But there were a couple small things that caught my attention. 

I thought it was really interesting that the singers in the temple were paid to just sing day and night (I hope they were on a shifts system!). They didn't have any other duties.

It's also interesting to note that King Saul's great-grandmother Maacah's name is thought to have meant royal according to my little concordance.

Girl Power

Reading through I Chronicles, I'm not expecting many women to be listed. It's just a fact that the men are the one's usually mentioned. However, chapter 7 has at least four women listed and others alluded to. Now I know four doesn't sound like a lot, but trust me . . . it's a lot.

And the women in this chapter weren't all just baring sons for their husbands, they are mentioned as out there accomplishing things on their own. 

One woman was particularly stunning in what she accomplished. Sheerah (daughter of Beriah) built Lower and Upper Beth Horon and Uzzen Sheerah, towns that are mentioned other places in the Bibles. I found this interesting page about her accomplishment at WomenInChrist.org. Apparently even King Solomon took time to keep up these cities during his reign.

I Like My Food, Mushi

That's right. I like my food, Reader. (Watch the comma.) I like my food to NOT be mushy, but I wasn't saying the opposite of that in the title. Instead I was declaring to Mushi that I like the food I eat. Actually my breakfast was rather mushy this morning . . . oh well.

As most of you will already guess by now, Mushi is the name of another person from the book of I Chronicles. I'm not at home this morning and don't have my amazing little concordance so I looked the name up online and this is what all-babynames.com told me this name meant: he that touches, that withdraws or takes away.

OK . . . not really sure what that's supposed to mean . . . but it's not "bad" . . . I think. 

In other random facts about the chapter, I found the names of two friends: Izhar, which means revelation declaration; and Caleb, which means faithful. (Both of these meanings are also according to all-babynames.com.)

Because the War Was God's

When the sons of Reuben, the Gadites, and half the tribe of Manasseh went to war against the Hagrites, Jetur, Naphish, and Nodab, they won. Why: "Because the war was God's" (5:22).

They realized in the midst of battle that they couldn't win it with their own strength alone and called on God to help them. Because they trusted in Him, He came to their rescue.

If only the story ended there. But it didn't . . . sadly enough.

"They were mighty men of valor, famous men, and heads of their fathers' houses. And they were unfaithful to the God of their fathers, and played the harlot after the gods of the peoples of the land, whom god had destroyed before them" (5:24, 25).

So God allowed them to be conquered and carried away as captives.

It's a hard story to swallow because it's incredibly sad. Imagine, God saving these people and then having them forget Him for the gods of the people He just conquered for them. That's pretty much committing adultery with the enemy your husband just rescued you from.

I can't even begin to imagine the pain that caused God. To see His people run after something He knew would cause them pain right after He delivered them from it—at their own request!

I think I like reading about names better . . .

All (Kinda) Found In Real Life

The names listed below are all names, or slight variations of names, I've heard before (all found in I Chronicles 4).

Carmi: a vine-dresser

Tekoa: sound of  trumpet

Ophrah: fawn

Naam: pleasentness

One of my canvassing buddies married a woman name Carme; there's a girl at my school named Tekoa;  Just remove the first 'h' in Ophrah and you've got the Queen of talk-show TV (it's a well-known fact that Oprah is a misspelling of Orpah from the book of Ruth; and Naam is another friend's wife's maiden name.

By the way, I have heard Anani used as a name before . . . because I know an Anani! . . . granted she's three-years-old (I think) and I don't see her often and when I use to I never pronounced her name correctly. (Thanks, Mrs. Parker for reminding me about her.)

Sounds Normal Enough

I'm still reading through the genealogy of I Chronicles. And I'm actually kinda enjoying it. I love names and meanings so it's probably just the right place for me. 

Today I read a name that I could see actually using: Anani. It has a nice exotic flavor to it yet is still easy enough to pronounce. I feel like I've heard it used as a name before too, but not sure on that.

Anani is found in I Chronicles 3:24 and was the son of Elioenai. Anani is also a shortened form of Ananiah which means whom Jehovah covers. Interesting to note that Anan, a name similar to Anani means cloud which is what God covered the Israelites with by day after they left Egypt.

Anani's father's name, Elioenai, means unto Jehovah my eyes are turned.

Now that sounds more like a descent family to join, rather than the guy we read about yesterday—Madmannah, the dunghill guy. Which I was also told (thanks, Pr. Eric) is the name of a city in Joshua 15:31.

What's In A Name?

Reading through I Chronicles might sound utterly boring with all it's genealogies. But quite frankly . . . it's not too bad. 

Some of these names really crack me up! For example Madmannah. While his name doesn't mean he was a literal mad man, it has a far worse meaning: dunghill. Yeah, about that. Either way I think it's safe to say he should be kept away from.

His name can be found in I Chronicles 2:49, if you're wondering.

And the Sons of ________ Were . . .

I've read I & II Samuel, I've read I & II Kings . . . and now I'm starting I Chronicles.

Unlike the start with Ezra, I'm really looking forward to this book even if the first few chapters are "so-and-so begat so-and-so."

To make the genealogy a bit more interesting I'm going to look up what some of the names mean . . . however I can't do what I did in Nehemiah. That took foooooreeeevvveer!!! But was helpful.

For Nehemiah I wrote the meanings next to the names.

However, my favorite name in all the names found in chapter 1 of Chronicles means destruction. : \ I don't think I'm going to list the name. We'll just leave it at that.

A Psalm

I read a Psalm this morning. Perhaps because I woke up late (because I went to bed late--because I was cleaning! oh well. haha) and have to go to work soon (I start my new job today).

But other than that, it's been a rough week for the project I'm working on. Lots of emotions. Lots of ignoring of feelings and just working.

I read Psalm 70. I'll be honest . . . I just flipped open my Bible and there it was. I'd read it before . . . I assume . . . because there was a verse highlighted in purple colored pencil (my Bible is purple so I highlight in purple).

It was a good Psalm and talked about deliverance from the enemy. We all need that. I'm not sure how relevant it was to my life at the moment. But it's definitely relevant to life at this moment within the large sphere that I am part of.

The verse I highlighted is especially relevant to me outer sphere at this moment (and all of us really).

"But I am poor and needy;
Make haste to me, O God!
You are my help and my deliverer;
O LORD, do not delay."

Verse 5 (there was only one chapter).

The Desire of All Nations

I'm not really sure what this passage means, perhaps Jesus is talking about Himself as a temple but I just really like it. It's written in a really up-beat way . . . if that makes sense. haha.

"'. . . I will shake all nations and they shall come to the Desire of All Nations, and I will fill this temple with glory,' says the LORD of hosts. 'The silver is MIne, and the gold is Mine,' says the LORD of hosts. 'The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,' says the LORD of hosts. 'And in this place I will give peace,' says the LORD of hosts."

Two Days In Haggai

I'll be honest, I'm not a huge fan of the minor prophets. I prefer stories. And while there's some of that in those smaller books, it's mostly prophesying. But, I'm reading Haggai because he was the prophet during Ezra's time and his whole book (all two chapters of it) are about Zerubbabel and the building of the temple.

OK, so now that my preface is done (haha), I'll write what was actually interesting about chapter 1.

Apparently, the people had some nice homes while the temple laid in ruins. This displeased God. He wanted to get the people's attention so He stopped blessing them as much. "You Looked for much, but indeed it came to little; and when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why?" says the LORD of hosts. "Because of My house that is in ruins, while every one of you runs to his own house" 1:9.

That might sound harsh but, when you think about it and after reading Ezra and Nehemiah, the people didn't really have to pay for the rebuilding of the temple. God had the other nations pay for it plus the king who ruled over them gave back their temple belongings. So, really . . . c'mon people! Why would someone ever think that it wasn't right to provide the very best for the God that takes the very best care of them?

Gotta look at life from above the world's perspective to really see it clearly.

Ezra

Ezra . . . who was he? Well, as I read along I realized that he wasn't exactly like Nehemiah.

When I read the Bible I don't really expect to see the personality of a person. I'm not sure why, I guess it could be that I assume the since the basics are usually what's written that it won't be thought nessesary to express. Now this is clearly a WRONG assumption because obviously David has a strong personality that is expressed in scriptures, as well as Peter, and many others. This is just one of those "first thought" assumptions that I still have even though I know from previous experience that it's wrong.

Nonetheless, I was still amazed to see the differences between Nehemiah and Ezra. Nehemiah seemed more logical (not that Ezra wasn't—he was) in the sense that I didn't really see him display emotions such as mourning. Whereas Ezra tore his garments and wept and pulled out his hair when hearing about the peoples sin. Their sin broke his heart and he responded from the heart.

When Nehemiah had to deal with the sin of the people he displayed more of an anger than bitter sadness. Not that he lost his cool (cause he was very calm, cool, and collected) but it affected him in a different way. He didn't display much personal emotion. He was very no-nonsense and just wouldn't take certain things. He would speak strongly to the people and expected change right away.

Ezra dealt with things with words as well and expected change but first he dealt with his personal emotions. Whereas it seems that Nehemiah dove right into the heart of the matter . . . i.e. the merchants selling things on Sabbath. 

Annnd . . . something I just realized in flipping through Nehemiah just now is that Ezra is in Nehemiah! In chapter 8 he reads the law to the people. I totally didn't even remember him. Ha!

Anyway . . . I'm wondering . . . you know, Ezra was a scribe . . . and writers, I think, tend to be more emotional—it's because we're, in a sense, artists. And Nehemiah was definitely a leader . . . and leaders tend to, I think, look for results quickly and how something can get accomplished in the best, quickest, and easiest way before dealing with how the situation makes them feel.

Hmm . . . just a thought.

It Wasn't His To Take . . .

. . . but he took it anyway.

That this statement could be good or bad depending on what you read into it. For example, 'the car wasn't his to take but he took it anyway.' Or in the case of Jesus, our sin wasn't His to take (meaning he hadn't sinned to cause Him to carry that burden) but He took it anyway. In this particular case Ezra is involved and it's more like the last example.

I like to read a Bible promise before I go to bed each night, it just helps to refocus my mind as I attempt (haha) to drift off to sleep—sometimes easier said than done. Last night I read this amazing verse (Job 16:20, 21) that says, "My intercessor is my friend as my eyes pour out tears to God; on behalf of a man he pleads with God as a man pleads for his friend."

This is what Ezra did for the people he wept for the sins that they had committed. What they did, while he wasn't part of it, rocked him to his core. He loved his nation, he was proud of his nation and the God they served, but not their sin. And the fact that they sinned—this people he loved—ripped his heart.

Chapter 10:6 says "Then Ezra rose up from before the house of God [he had just finished talking with the Levites and preists], and went into the chamber of Jehohanan the son of Eliashib; and when he came there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he mourned because of the guilt of those from the captivity." [Emphasis added by me.]

He felt it so strongly. I really believe that something the Christian church needs more of are people who are willing to take what isn't theirs. haha . . . not thieves, but people who realize that souls are holy to God and are willing to "carry them home" not to the physical city of Jerusalem, but the heavenly city by the same name.

Yeah . . .

I Am Holy?

Apparently. "You are holy to the LORD . . . " 8:28. This is what Ezra told the the people who were carrying the freewill offerings of silver and gold, which the king had given them, when they returned to Jerusalem.

I'm not sure why Ezra tells them this in addition to telling them that what they are carrying is holy also. But it's a neat reminder that we are holy to God. Perhaps he said this to them because he wanted them to know that, yes these articles are holy, but before God you are too. Perhaps it's because these articles, these freewill offerings, wouldn't mean anything without the person's heart also, and so the articles were a type (an example) of what was really holy and sacred to God—the people who were carrying the items.

"He Answered Our Prayer"

I finished Ezra up last night by reading the last three chapters in one sitting. It was nice to read them through without waiting a day. I feel like I got to know Ezra better . . . mainly because he was actually in these three chapters! haha. ; )

So, like a said, I'm going to focus on one or two things that made a difference to me or impacted the way I think. (I'll still blog the different chapters separately, however.)

There is a section of chapter eight, right in the middle, where Ezra has the people fast and pray. Essentially they are humbling themselves before God and asking for his protection as they journey from Babylon to Jerusalem.

Ezra had the people diligently seeking God for protection because he knew they would need it during the 4 month journey back. He and the people had also boldly told the king, "The hand of our God is upon all those for good who seek Him, but His power and His wrath are against all those who forsake Him." And now he felt too ashamed to ask the king for an escort of soldiers as they traveled back. I mean, yeah, I probably would be too. 'Oh, King, our God is big enough to protect us . . . but you know, uh, could we ask you for . . .' Yeah, that just wouldn't fly.

So, what do the people do? They put their trust where their mouth was and humbly asked God to provide the safety they needed. And you know what, "He answered our prayer" 8:23b.

That isn't to say they didn't run into the enemy on the way back. They were almost ambushed on the trip home but read this, "He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambush along the road" 8:31b.

So, here's the old cliche that we probably all know: God may not remove the trouble but He will be there as we go through it. We just gotta trust. Oh, how that's so hard at times. But perhaps if we humbled ourselves more before God, it would become easier.

Or, like a young couple I know of (I went to school with their younger siblings), they knew that to stay strong in God they needed to be in a position where they had to rely on Him 24/7 for their very life. He put them in that position, and they are strong as ever. And . . . more in love than ever before! ; ) Hey, trusting God has it's perks. haha.

To hear their story, click here.

-ITEM OF BUSINESS-

The blog style is going to change a bit. I'm not sure about all the logistics yet but I'm going to stop recapping the entire chapter because I think that's just plain boring to read. haha. Instead I'm going to focus on sharing one or two points that were meaningful to me and why.

###

FINALLY!!!

Ezra FINALLY shows up. Even my Bible titled the first section of chapter 7 "The Arrival of Ezra." haha. 

But most of the chapter was a letter from King Artaxerxes. Ezra had two paragraphs at the end which he wrote—in the personal journal style that I loved about Nehemiah no less! ; )

I was again so impressed by how God worked through the king who was over the Israelite's (Artaxerxes) to provide pretty much all of their needs.

I was thinking, These kings are pagan worshipers, full of themselves, yet they are giving so much and in the name of the God of heaven!

On top of that, there is a certain sense of respect in their words about this.  

They were taking this seriously!

Seeing the pagan kings respond in this way give new meaning to the promise (and I really like how the New Living Translation says it), "The LORD Himself will fight for you. Just stay calm" Exodus 14:14.

Artaxerxes allowed anyone who wanted to return to Israel to go with Ezra. (So tomorrow I get to read unfamiliar Bible names again! haha. ; )

However, unlike Sheshbazzar and Zerubbabel before him and Nehemiah after him, Ezra wasn't going to do any sort of rebuilding, he was returning to teach the people the Law of God—how they should live their lives. In the king's letter to him, Artaxerxes actually commanded Ezra to teach the law even to those who didn't know it. This may seem like a no-brainer but I was impressed simply because Artaxerxes wasn't just including the Israelite's in that category but also the people who lived within the communities who had tattled on the Israelite's. So basically, Ezra was given a command to evangelize other nations under the command of King Artaxerxes (or at least that's how I understand it).

The King also commanded (and I love this part), "Whatever is commanded by the God of heaven, let it diligently [there's that word again!!] be done for the house of the God of heaven" 7:23a.

Artaxerxes sent Ezra with money and a bit of a budget to buy things needed for the temple. Whatever else was needed, he commanded the regions beyond the river to provide . . . diligently!

What I love about this chapter and the last chapter is the no nonsense seriousness of this king. These were people he ruled! Who were they but his servants? Yet who was he but a creation made by God. Reading these two books (and especially Ezra) shows how God works above and beyond where our reasoning stops. I mean, who would have thought that the king would side with the Israelite's with all their different beliefs and oddities. I certainly didn't.

But perhaps that's the beauty in this story . . . it's learning to see life at God's level where anyone can become a blessing no matter who they are. Even the enemies were blessings because if they hadn't tattled, would the king have ever even looked at the records and discovered that a few kings back from him the Israelite's were given a command to rebuild their temple? Eh, who knows? But through that letter of complaint, God provided the means to rebuild and restore their lives on the right track.

"So I was encouraged, as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me . . ." 7:28b. —Ezra

A Happy Ending . . . In th Middle

I feel like the book of Ezra could end right now at chapter 6. Except for the minor detail that Ezra himself hasn't stepped into the picture yet. : \ This amuses me.

This chapter really does have a stereotypical "happy ending" for the children of Israel.

The kings beyond the river tattled to King Darius about the Israelite's rebuilding the temple to God in chapter 5. Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai asked Darius to check the records to see if Cyrus had indeed given the Israelite's permission.

I imagine that Darius must have been a little annoyed by these two guys bothering him about details like this because after he found in the records that Cyrus had indeed given the Israelite's permission, he decreed that their tax money be what paid for the rebuilding of the temple! He also decreed that if the Israelite's needed anything, the two guys from beyond the river were to provide it! And on top of that, if anyone did not go along with this a "timber" from his house was to be removed for the purpose of hanging him. Intense!

Oh, wait, and I love the ending of the decree: "And may the God who causes His name to dwell there destroy any king or people who put their hand to alter it, or to destroy this house of God which is in Jerusalem. I Darius issue a decree; let it be done diligently," 6:12.

The Bible doesn't record how Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai reacted except that they "diligently did according to what King Darius had sent" 6:13b.

So the temple was finished and the money was supplied by the enemies and the people rejoiced and celebrated during the Passover and Feast of Unleavened Bread "for the LORD made them joyful, and turned the heart of the king of Assyria toward them, to strengthen their hands in the work of the house of God, the God of Israel" 6:22b.

What a great ending . . . in the middle of the book! haha . . . I think Ezra enters the picture tomorrow! I'm really looking forward to finally reading about him!

Was I Ever Right!

I was right when I wrote in my first blog post about Ezra that "I'm probably just not an experienced enough Bible scholar yet to understand the intricacies of this magnificent work of historical documentary!" Haha! (Not that I am now . . . but the book has drastically risen on my interest level!)

It's day number 5 (chapter 5 as well) and Ezra has turned around. But not just in chapter 5 . . . this turnaround is retrospective of the previous 4 chapters I've read. Especially the rather "dry" chapter no. 1.

Let me see if I can explain it well. ; )

In chapter 4 the enemies sent a letter to the king basically tattling about what the Israelite's were doing. The same thing happened again in chapter 5. First, however, the enemies (Tattenai and Shethar-Boznai) tried to stop the progress but were unable so they sent the a letter to King Darius in hopes that just as in the past (chapter 4) they could get a king to stop the progress. (Just so you know these weren't the same letter writers from chapter 4.)

The King's response comes tomorrow so I'm not sure what's going to happen . . . but I did find some other interesting things out. ; )

This whole time in Ezra, Ezra hasn't shown up yet. This is probably why I haven't found the book too exhilarating when compared with Nehemiah. In Nehemiah, he was in the picture from the very beginning . . . so there was no waiting for the main character to arrive.

This whole time I'm thinking, this is why the first GYC Eboard mentions wanting to be like Nehemiah in their mission statement and not Ezra! haha.

However, now in chapter 5 of Ezra I realize that the first main character of this book might not be the namesake, but rather a guy named Sheshbazzar, who wasn't just any guy, but a prince of Judah who was in Persia. He was the guy that King Cyrus, sent back with the temple articles which Nebuchadnezzar had confiscated. From chapter 1 you would think that he was the guy in charge of the whole mission back to Jerusalem. But then >BAM< he's not mentioned again, and in chapter 2 this guy Zerubbabel is named as the one people are leaving Persia with. I totally missed all this the first time around . . . I was too board reading all the names of the people leaving! Bible names . . . yeah. (I didn't even blog that day.)

So anyway . . . I get to chapter 5, still plodding along finding little things here and there that are interesting when I read, " . . . King Cyrus issued a decree to build this house of God. Also, the gold and silver articles . . . were given to one named Sheshbazzar, whom he [Cyrus] had made governor" 5:13, 14.

Not overly thrilling, but being one that likes finding out the meaning of names (with my amazing little concordance that I bought at the ABC for 5 cents during the campmeeting sidewalk sale one year), I looked it up . . . but there was NO meaning! Just the reference to where I could find it in the Bible! So I tried Google. This is where I realized I'd read the name at the beginning of the book (they also had references listed) and that it might be a synonym for Zerubbabel. Other sources stated that Zerubbabel might also be a relative of Sheshbazzar and that Sheshbazzar started the work but Zerubbabel finished it. Whatever the case, I was intrigued.

But it doesn't end there.Through checking out the different references for Zerubbabel, discovered that the whole book of Haggai is the prophesy for this event—the building of the temple by Zerubbabel. So . . . that might be my next read.

I think that's it for now . . . and Sheshbazzar (according to birthvillage.com) means: joy in tribulation; joy of the vintage. And according to my concordance, Zerubbable means: scattered in Babylon.

I'll see tomorrow how King Darius responded to those tattle tales! haha. ; )

A Grand Halt (and probably a boring post)

Avery Johnson, coach for the New Jersey Nets, writes in his book Aspire Higher that you have to distance yourself from people who are losers—who don't want to see you succeed and will try to sabotage you.

That's exactly what happened to the Israelite's as they were trying to rebuild their temple and wall in chapter 4 of Ezra. The people around them tried to sabotage their mission. The enemies of Judah and Benjamin came and said, "Let us build with you, for we seek your God as you do; and we have sacrificed to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us here."

But the Israelite leaders said 'no.' The surrounding nations couldn't help. In response to that no, the enemies started trying to discourage them. 'Hey, if we can't be part of this, then you better not be able to finish!'

It really stinks because all through the rest of Cyrus' reign and the reign of Darius (which I really don't know how long that whole time was—but it sounds like a long time : \ ) this sort of discouragement was going on. Finally when king Artaxerxes came into power the enemies sent him a letter and persuaded him to have the progress halted on reason's that the people would stop paying taxes to the king if the work was finished and their city was reestablished.

Now, I'm not sure how the whole time line is laid out, but apparently the work was halted until the second year of Darius' reign . . . but I'm not sure if that's the same Darius that was mentioned earlier . . . I'd assume that it is . . . but anyway . . . the writing on that point was a bit out of sync. 

So, over all . . . this book is getting better! : )

Laughter & Tears Mingled Together

Ezra is slowly getting better. LOL. No, it's good, I'm just slowly getting into it. ; ) haha.

Here is something I thought was pretty humorous (not to be sacrilegious—it was just interesting trying to imagine what happened, you know—the scene) from the end of chapter three.

" . . . old men who had seen the first temple, wept with a loud voice when the foundation of this temple was laid before their eyes. Yet many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of the weeping of the people, for the people shouted with a loud shout, and the sound was heard afar off" 3:12,13.

I was trying to imagine what that would have been like; all these older people crying with disappointment while all the younger people were thrilled with the progress—and the whole time the difference of the two distinct emotions could not be distinguished from the collective sound of the crowd.

P.S. I think the title makes this entry sound more philosophical than it really is.
: o

Ezra . . . the adventure begins . . . I hope there's an adventure!

Since I enjoyed Nehemiah sooo much, I decided to stay close by and check out Ezra. I'm moving backward with the whole chain of events to when the Israelite's were told by King Cyrus that they could go back and rebuild their temple. It was a bit odd at first since with Nehemiah I was reading past this part in their history.

So, anyway, yes, as my title evokes, I wasn't too excited about the book. Chapter 1 was a bit dry to me this morning . . . (I'm probably just not an experienced enough Bible scholar yet to understand the intricacies of this magnificent work of historical documentary—lol) but I'm sure it will get better. : )

My favorite part was reading about King Cyrus, who declared that he was commanded by God to build Him a "house in at Jerusalem" 1:2. He sent the Children of Israel back with the temple items which King Nebuchadnezzar had taken when he conquered them.

I thought it was really cool that a Pagan king would declare this. I don't know much about King Cyrus but according to my Bible's "What's it mean" blurb about him, he allowed the nations he conquered to continue worshiping their own gods. I was also sad to read (also in that section) that he died in battle. I thought he deserved to have a more peaceful death. Plus since he seemed so congenial, the world seemed to be a better place with him during that time.

Good-bye, Nehemiah

Today was the last day . . . not forever hopefully, but for a while at least. I'm moving on to another book (not sure which one yet). It was a good last day in the book of Nehemiah, however.

Nehemiah ended up going back to his post as the King's cupbearer in Shushan but when he returned for a visit to Jerusalem he found the people almost back to where they were before. That was the sad part. Yet he didn't give up on them. He fought back in the name of the Lord and cleaned up the city again. This guy was dedicated to something much more than just his own ambitions.

There were merchants selling on the Sabbath, the priest weren't getting their allotted living stipends, and someone had actually moved into the temple to live there. Mercy!

He threw out the merchants, locked the gates from Friday evening to Sabbath evening, and when they camped outside the gates over Sabbath he knew what to do.

"Then I warned them, and said to them, "Why do you spend the night around the wall? If you do so again, I will lay hands on you!" 13:21.

They never returned on the Sabbath again. 

Very much a no-nonsense kind of guy who wasn't afraid to stand up and fight for what he believed in.

That's what's up!

Nehemiah . . . this guy!

Tomorrow is my last day in the book of Nehemiah. I've been reading through it this month and have grown to really love it. I've also grown to admire Nehemiah's leadership (I'm sure somewhere out there is a book about leadership based on this guy . . . or at least there should be!).

Nehemiah was fearless and strong. But not on his own. He was clear about the fact that it was through God that he was fearless.

He had to deal with prophets/secret informants (who were really hired by the enemy) who attempted to get him to sin before God by telling him a false prophesy. As well as neighboring kingdoms who tried to sabotage the rebuilding of the wall by attempting to trick him come to a "meeting" with them where they were planning to hurt him. Then they tried to intimidate him by making up and spreading rumors about him. Pretty intense stuff.

But the whole time, Nehemiah was calm, cool, and collected—because he chose to trust and obey God and stay focused on the work he was doing. He wasn't running around trying to win any popularity contests. He knew he had a job to do and he was going to accomplish it! And do an A+ job at it too!

On top of all of it, he had to be social justice reformer, cleaning up the corruption within the leaders in Jerusalem and relieving the people from their oppression. But he did it without shrinking back. And he succeeded!

Here are some of my favorite verses from Nehemiah (along with some notes I wrote in the margins ; )
 
Random side note I just thought of: A really cool thing about the book of Nehemiah is that he wrote it kinda like a journal. 

"O Lord, I pray, please let Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and to the prayer of Your servants who desire to fear Your name; and let Your servant prosper this day, I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man." For I was the king's cupbearer" 1:11.

—Ok so I didn't actually write this note in my Bible's margin but I did think about this, and that is, I can really relate to Nehemiah's prayer here. I love how he says, "be attentive to the prayer of Your servant . . . who desire to fear Your name." That's me, I have this desire but my actions don't always follow suit. And so I think it's really cool how he prays in such an honest yet humble manner. He's not ashamed to go before God even if he doesn't have it all together. He's just going to choose to trust and rely on God anyway. I think that's awesome.

I also had a big interview for a project I'm working on around the time I read this, so the end of his prayer really spoke to me too, "I pray, and grant him mercy in the sight of this man."

~~

". . . the people had a mind to work" 4:6b. I just love that line! That's all.

~~

"And I became very angry when I heard their outcry and these words. After serious thought, I rebuked the nobles and rulers, and said to them, "Each of you is exacting usury from his brother." So I called a great assembly against them. And I said to them, "According to our ability we have redeemed our Jewish brethren who were sold to the nations. Now indeed, will you even sell your brethren? Or should they be sold to us?" Then they were silenced and found nothing to say" 5:6-8.

He went on to tell them that this what they were doing was wrong [this was when the people came to him about the oppression they were experiences from the leaders] and what he was doing to help the people. He was very strong with them about what they needed to do. They listened and followed his example and he was promoted to governor over Judah.

~~

"Then I perceived that God had not sent him at all, but that he pronounced this prophecy against me because Tobiah and Sanballat had hired him. For this reason he was hired, that I should be afraid and act that way and sin, so that they might have cause for an evil report, that they might reproach me" 6:12, 13.

[The note from my margin]: God will never require you to sin to save your life. //

Also, God does not use fear to motivate us, which is what these false prophets were attempting to use against Nehemiah.

~~

"My God remember Tobiah and Sanballat, according to these their works, and the prophetess Noadiah and the rest of the prophets who would have made me afraid" 6:14.

Same thought at up there ^: God will never use fear to motivate us. Fear is a torture technique for the mind and that's not really what He's into.

[Note from my margin]: Never let anyone cause you to be afraid. //

~~

"So the wall was finished on the twenty-fifth day of Elul, in the fifty-two days. And it happened, when all our enemies heard of it, and all the nations around us saw these things, that they were very disheartened in their own eyes, for they perceived that this work was done by our God" 6:15, 16.

[Note from my margin]: Wow! How powerful is that?! When you persevere despite the odds people will attribute [your success] to God!

~~

There's more, but that's all for now.

Suzanne Ocsai

Amazed by God's Greatness

He who forms the mountains,
creates the wind,
and reviels His thoughts to man,
He who turns dawn to darkness,
and treads the high places of the earth-
the LORD God Almighty is His name.

--Amos 4:13 NIV

This verse portrays to me such an incredible and great God. The fact that God would even care to share His thoughts with man is such a humbling thing for me to contemplate.