Do we provoke God?

Elijah confronts Ahab - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: 1 Kings 14-16; Psalm 98

TO CHEW ON: "Ahab did more to provoke the LORD God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel who were before him. " 1 Kings 16:33

Provoking God? It sounds serious!

A brief survey of Bible passages that speak of provocation tell us some of the things that provoke God.

God is provoked by:

• Unbelief and refusal to act in faith—what the Israelites did when they balked at entering the Promised Land despite all the miracles along the way - Numbers 14:11.

• Rejecting His appointed leaders—the way Korah, Dathan and Abiram challenged the leadership of Moses and Aaron - Numbers 16:30.

• Rebellion—the way the Israelites often acted during their wilderness trek - Deuteronomy 9:7,8,22; Psalm 106:7.

• Idol worship - Deuteronomy 31:20,29; 1 Kings 14:9; 16:26,33 (our focus verse); Jeremiah 7:18.

• Scoffing at God's work—what Sanballat and Tobiah did over Nehemiah's wall - Nehemiah 4:6.

• Breaking covenant with Him and refusing to keep His law ("testimonies") - Deuteronomy 31:29; Psalm 78:56.

• Words against Him - Isaiah 3:8.

• Sacrilegious things in a holy place - Ezekiel 8:3.

The results of provoking God throughout Israel's history were serious:

• The Israelites were doomed to wander for 38 more years in the wilderness - Number 14:23

• Korah, Dathan, and Abiram and their families were destroyed for challenging God's appointed leaders - Numbers 16:31,32.

• Ahab's provocative ways led to three years of drought- 1 Kings 17:1.

• Nehemiah seemed concerned that the scorn of his detractors would lead to discouragement of the workers - Nehemiah 4:5.

• Israel's idol worship led to the temple's destruction by a foreign power - Ezra 5:12.

• Provoking God also led to Israel's exile - Jeremiah 8:19.

Though it's easy for us to look down our noses at the fearful and rebellious Israelites or idolatrous Ahab, another read-through of the list of things that provoke God in relation to our setting may demolish some of that smugness.

- Are we ever guilty of unbelief and refusing to act in faith?

- Have we ever rebelled against the leaders God has placed over us?

- Do we have idols? Not silver and gold images, perhaps, but other things like work, people's praise, money, etc. that compete with God for first place in our hearts?

- Have we ever scoffed at what others report as God's work?

- Have we ever been disdainful of sacred things—by what we've said?  By what we've done?

Yes, God is long-suffering and merciful. Jesus has paid for these sins with His death. But still our provocations may have consequences.  What a shame to miss out on His best, to assign ourselves, by our attitudes, words, and actions, to seasons of wilderness wanderings, drought, and exile.

PRAYER: Dear Father, help me to be sensitive to what pleases and what provokes You. I have been guilty of unbelief, rebellion, idolatry and more. Help me to see these things that provoke, grieve and displease you—as sin. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 98

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Witness stone

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Joshua 22-24; Psalm 69

TO CHEW ON: "And Joshua said to all the people, 'Behold, this stone shall be a witness to us, for it has heard all the words of the Lord which He spoke to us. It shall therefore be a witness to you, lest you deny your God.' " Joshua 24:27


Joshua had lived a long good life. At 110 years no doubt he sensed the end was near. Here we have his last words to the people he had led into the Promised Land. They are not instructions on how to be materially successful or remain militarily strong. Rather, they are words of spiritual advice that, if followed, will help them be successful in all areas.

He challenges them:
- To choose Yahweh above the idols of the land they now live in (Joshua 24:16).
- To demonstrate their choice by putting away every vestige of the idol-worshiping life and serve God only (Joshua 24:23).

The people covenant wholeheartedly to do this (Joshua 24:24).

Then Joshua, obviously aware of their fickle tendencies, writes their promise in the Book of the Law of God and sets up a memorial stone beside the "church" as a reminder to the people of this covenant day. I'm sure his whimsical depiction of that stone hearing their promise (Joshua 24:27) arrests their attention later when they enter the sanctuary.

If their consciences are clear, that stone will remind them of Joshua and God's miracles when they conquered the land. If they are again flirting with idols (and they do) that stone will prick their consciences about their broken covenant and be a warning of the dangers of two-timing God (Joshua 24:19).

Like the Israelites, it is easy for us to make promises to God in the heat of emotion. I know I've made pledges and covenants at the height of spiritual fervor that, when reviewed later, seem unreal. Did that really happen? Did I really say that?

Joshua's idea of setting up a memorial stone to remind the people of their promise may be something we should adopt too. A stone, a wall hanging, a fridge magnet, a key fob, a table ornament designed to help us recall our covenant may help to pull us back to spiritual reality from the apparent reality of this world and its idols.

PRAYER: Dear God, this story reminds me of my own wayward tendencies. Help me to not only promise to be loyal to You but to make good on that promise. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 69

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Failure to consult with God

Joshua and the Gibeonites - from FreeBibleImages.org

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Joshua 9-12; Psalm 67

TO CHEW ON: “Then the men of Israel took some of their provisions; but they did not ask the counsel of the LORD.” Joshua 9:14

The Hivites, people who lived in the Canaanite city of Gibeon about six miles northwest of Jerusalem, were terrified of Israel—scared not witless but witty. They organized a trip to Joshua and the marauding Israeltes that involved worn out wine skins, tattered clothes, and moldy bread. Their story: the wine skins had been new when they began their journey, the bread hot out of the oven, the new clothes completely worn out on the long long trip from their home to where Israel was camped. They came to request a peace treaty with Israel.

(Perhaps they knew of the stipulation God had given Moses. Israel was to utterly destroy all the Canaanites but was allowed to make peace with distant peoples - Deuteronomy 7:2; 20:10-16.)

Joshua and other leaders looked at the worn out skins and the tattered clothes. They tasted the moldly bread. It all convinced them of the truth of the Hivites’ tale and so they made a covenant of peace with them (Joshua 9:15).

But one thing they neglected to do: “… they did not ask the counsel of the LORD.” Big oops!

I feel convicted by this story as I think of how often I make decisions on my own, without asking for the “counsel of the Lord”—convinced by how things look or what seems obvious. Like the Israelites I know so little, am naïve, easily duped, and unaware of what is transpiring in the unseen spiritual realm. Do you ever do the same?

Joshua and the his fellow leaders then experienced the consequences of their rash decision. Their own people were upset with them but now there was no way out but to let these people live (Joshua 9:18,19). And there was more bloodshed later. When King Saul violated the covenant, killed the Gibeonites, and God sent a famine to punish this broken promise. In order to break the famine, more lives—Israelite lives—were required (2 Samuel 21:1,6).

Similarly, we should not be surprised when our impetuous, self-inspired moves result in consequences to us and those around us.

PRAYER: Dear Father, please help me to pause and pray, to really consult You and await Your answer, when I face decisions. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 67

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading! This year we are using The Bible Project "Timeless Reading Plan" to read through the Bible in 2018. If you'd like to read along in your own Bible, you can download a pdf of the reading plan HERE.

Does God discipline us with illness?

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Leviticus 26,27; Psalm 39

 
TO CHEW ON: “But if you do not obey me, and do not observe all these commandments… I will do this to you: I will even appoint terror over you, wasting disease and fever which shall consume the eyes and cause sorrow of heart” - Leviticus 26:14,16

“Remove your plague from me;
I am consumed by the blow of Your hand.
Deliver me from all my transgression;
Do not make me the reproach of the foolish.
I was mute. I did not open my mouth,
Because it was You who did it.” Psalm 39:8-10

Was David (the writer of Psalm 39) right in connecting his sickness to God’s hand of discipline? Reading Leviticus and Psalm 39 together, it’s hard not to make that connection.

In fact, the consequence of sickness as a result of sin is a connection made in other places in the Bible.

In the New Testament, when Jesus and His disciples were confronted by a man born blind, the disciples asked Jesus, was it the man’s sin or his parents’ that was the cause of his blindness. Jesus replied, neither, but this blindness occurred so God’s works should be shown in him (John 9:1,3).

However, Paul connected the ill health of the Corinthians with the careless way they were participating in the Lord’s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:30). And James, when speaking of prayers for the sick, mentioned confession and forgiveness of sins (James 5:13-16) as integral to healing.

Exactly how God is involved in / causes / allows / disciplines with our sicknesses we probably won’t know until eternity. But one thing is certain—our repentance from sin resets our relationship with God. Even harsh Leviticus 26 bears this out:

“But if they confess their iniquity … then I will remember My covenant with Jacob, and My covenant with Isaac, and My covenant with Abraham I will remember…” Leviticus 26:40,42.

I love how my Bible’s study notes sum this up:

“Re: “Then I will remember My covenant” (Leviticus 26:42): The theme that God remembers His promise and never goes back on His word is emphasized in the covenant relationship. The community of the covenant is never without hope. God is always ready to receive His people in repentance even after they have failed and abandoned Him” - Brad H. Young, New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 167.

PRAYER: Dear Father, please convict me of sins in my life that make me vulnerable to sickness. May I be quick to repent and turn from them. Amen.
 
PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 39

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Thanks for reading! This year we are using The Bible Project "Timeless Reading Plan" to read through the Bible in 2018. If you'd like to read along in your own Bible, you can download a pdf of the reading plan HERE.

Promises never claimed

Israel at Mt. Sinai - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Exodus 23:20-35

TO CHEW ON: "'And I will send My fear before you, I will cause confusion among all the people to whom you come and will make all your enemies turn their backs to you.'" Exodus 23:27.

In exchange for obedience and a thoroughness in destroying idol worship in Canaan, God made a covenant with Israel at the foot of Sinai to:

• Lead them with His Angel (the cloud by day, pillar of fire by night) to the land He had promised them (Exodus 23:23).

• Bless their food and water (Exodus 23:25).

• Take sickness away (Exodus 23:25).

• Keep them from miscarrying (Exodus 23:26).

• Cause the people in the land to which they were going to be filled with fear and confusion (Exodus 23:27).

• Drive the inhabitants out before them, though slowly and in manageable amounts (Exodus 23:29,30).

What an exciting future of possibilities God painted for them. And they eagerly signed on:

"So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments. And all the people answered with one voice and said, 'All the words which the Lord has said we will do'" - Exodus 24:3.

How sad to read then, perhaps a year or so later, the reaction of these same people to the report of the spies Moses had sent out to view Canaan before they began to enter it. The first ones who failed the faith test were ten of the spies themselves. They reported back what they tasted, heard, and saw but without taking into account any part of God's earlier promise. After talking about the land's agricultural wealth the conclusion of ten of the spies was:

"'Nevertheless the people who dwell in the land are strong, the cities fortified and very large …'" - Number 13:28.

When Caleb, one of the two spies who saw things differently, said, "'Let us go up at once and take possession for we are well able to overcome it,'" the others argued him down with negativity, fear and doubt: "'The land … is a land that devours its inhabitants. … and we were like grasshoppers in our own sight, and so we were in their sight'" - Numbers 13: 30-33.

But men, what did God tell you? Just the opposite—that these people are full of fear and confusion over you, not confidence. They are conquerable. Didn't you hear? Didn't you believe?

What a tragic consequence these Israelites were about to suffer. Because of their unbelief, they were doomed to spend forty more years wandering in the wilderness.

Let's remember this tragic example of unbelief next time we're tempted to face a life challenge with fear and negativity. In their places, let's review God's promises and put our faith in Him—not ourselves and what we see.


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to have a long memory for Your promises and the wisdom to apply them to the challenges of my life. Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 24

The Bible Project VIDEO: Exodus 19-40 (Torah Series)
 


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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

You shall not covet

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Exodus19-21

TO CHEW ON: "You shall not covet your neighbour's house; you shall not covet your neighbour's wife, or his male servant, or his female servant or his ox or his donkey, or anything that is your neighbour's." Exodus 20:17 ESV

A modern version of this verse might read: You shall not covet your neighbor's magazine cover house, her granite counter tops, or her chef-quality stainless steel kitchen. You shall not covet your neighbor's wife, his home theater system, his SUV, or anything else that is your neighbor's.

Think what serious trouble the advertising industry would be in if everyone suddenly started obeying this. For isn't stimulating the desire to possess what we don't have behind most advertising whether in print, online, or TV? 

On the surface the sin of coveting may seem insignificant when compared to the other sins on this list We are tempted to ask, is covetousness—a sin so endemic to our culture we hardly notice it in ourselves or others—really as serious as murder, or stealing, or adultery? It's not even an action, just an attitude.

Yes, it is only an attitude, but what an attitude!

• It whispers to us that what we have is not enough or good enough and plants a seed of dissatisfaction with God and His provision in our lives.

• It can be a gateway sin—the first step down the road to committing a more "serious" sin, such as stealing or adultery.

• Covetousness was the active ingredient in Satan's temptation of Eve (Genesis 3:1-6) and continues to appear first on the ingredient list of temptation through the centuries (James 1:13-15).

What is the best way to overcome covetousness? Perhaps it's not a head-on offensive at all but the oblique defense of distraction and replacement. Today let's  distract our covetous tendencies with an attitude of thankfulness, and replace the list of things we want with the things we have. Instead of covetousness, let's nurture contentment,

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for highlighting the dangerous attitude of covetousness. Help me to detect it and then defeat it with gratitude and contentment. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 23


The Bible Project VIDEO: Exodus 19-40 (Read Scripture Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

The Zipporah spirit

Moses, Zipporah and her sisters
by James Tissot

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Exodus 4-6

TO CHEW ON: "Then Zipporah took a sharp stone and cut off the foreskin of her son and cast it at Moses' feet, and said, 'Surely you are a husband of blood to me!'" Exodus 4:25


In a curious little side story we read of Moses, his wife Zipporah, and their two sons Gershom and Eliezer on their way to Egypt. But something serious happened to Moses along the way. He was at death's door, having apparently roused God's wrath. Zipporah remedied the situation by circumcising their son.

Male circumcision was the sign of God's covenant. We don't know why Moses omitted doing this when Eliezer was a baby (it was to be done at eight days old - Genesis 17:10-12). Herbert Lockyer, author of  All the Women of the Bible* suggests: "Zipporah as a woman of Midian, did not share the spiritual values of her notable husband who found himself acting against the sacred tradition of Israel. … To keep the peace, Moses compromised with his unbelieving wife and withheld circumcision, the sign of God's covenant, from Eliezer."

However, Zipporah was not gracious about this, as she exclaimed (in abhorrence, anger?) "You are a husband of blood!" It would seem at that point relations between them were so strained, Zipporah and the boys turned around and went home to dad (Jethro) while Moses traveled on alone.

Zipporah appears only one more time in the Bible when she, her sons, and father meet Moses during the Israelites' wanderings (Exodus 18:2-5). After that "She disappears without comment from the history of the Jewish people in which her husband figured so prominently. … Neither as the wife of her husband nor as the mother of her children did she leave behind her a legacy of spiritual riches" - Ibid.

I take this as a cautionary tale. We too can become infected with the Zipporah spirit that would resist spiritual expression, growth, and obedience in our husbands. Rather than doing that, let's support and encourage them in their biblical role as the head of the home (Ephesians 5:23).

PRAYER: Dear God, help me to uphold Your pattern in marriage and in supporting and encouraging my husband in spiritual things. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 18

The Bible Project VIDEO: Exodus 1-18 (Torah Series)




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*  All the Women of the Bible  by Herbert Lockyer, Zondervan, 1988, one of the Related Resources available for this passage on BibleGateway.com

Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Plot points in God's story

Image: Pixabay

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 16-18

TO CHEW ON: "And you shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between Me and you." Genesis 17:11


You probably own a few things that signify watershed moments in your life — the Bible you were given at your baptism perhaps, a wedding ring, maybe the clothes your daughter wore when she was dedicated. As people we benefit from such tangible reminders of our history, the things we've experienced, and the promises we've made.

God has sealed His dealings with humanity with signs and markers too. Here are some of them:

1. Rainbow — a sign marking God's promise to never again destroy all humanity by flood (Genesis 9:12-15).

2. Circumcision — "... a sign to identify the people of the Abrahamic covenant for it literally touches the male at his point of propagating life" - R. Russell Bixler, Genesis study notes, New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p.27.

3. Blood, painted on the lintel and door frames of the house — a sign that the death angel should pass over that house (Exodus 12:13).

4. Unleavened bread — to remind the Israelites that God had brought them out of Egypt (Exodus 13:6-10).

5. Sacrifice of firstborn animals —  a reminder of God sparing Israel's firstborn sons the night the death angel visited (Exodus 13:16).

6. Scarlet cord draped from the window of a house —  a sign that marked Rahab and her family for rescue from Jericho (Joshua 2:12, 17-18).

7. Altar of 12 stones — a sign to remind the Israelites of how God helped them cross the Jordan River to Canaan (Joshua 4:1-7).

8. Dove as the Holy Spirit, ascending and alighting on Jesus at His baptism — a sign of God's favour on Him (Matthew 3:16).


Henry Blackaby, in his book Experiencing God, says this about the way God works—the actions behind the list of signs, above:

"God works in sequence to accomplish His divine purpose. What He did in the past was accomplished with a kingdom purpose in mind. What He is doing in the present is in sequence with the past and with the same kingdom purpose. Every act of God builds on the past, with a view toward the future" Experiencing God Workbook, p. 124.

If you look back over the signs I've listed (and there are many more), can you see a thread? Are they not all part of God's history of salvation—from God's promise to never again destroy all humanity by flood, to His establishing His covenant of nationhood with Abraham, to His keeping of that nation through Egypt's slavery and their wilderness wanderings to, finally, the coming of Jesus, the lamb that would save us all?

God's message of love to us through these markers and signs is a reason for awe, worship, and making our lives available to God, to carry news of that salvation thread to our contemporaries.  

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for Your plan of salvation and how you have threaded signs of it through the Bible story. Help me to be alert to the signs of Your working in my life. I pray, with David, "Show me a sign for good...." Amen. 

PSALM TO PRAY: - Psalm 5

MORE: Personal markers

It is good to reflect on the signs, objects or markers that tell the story of God at work in our lives. For me those include significant Bible verses, certain books, a special song...

If we read the accounts of God giving His people signs, one of the reasons He gave the sign, in almost every case, was to help parents explain God's ways their children and grandchildren.

Could you use the signs, objects or markers you recalled to tell to your children and grandchildren the story of how God has worked in your life?

The Bible Project VIDEO - The Covenants (Theme Series)




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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Fear vs. faith

Image: Pixabay

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Genesis 12-15

TO CHEW ON: “Then He brought him outside and said, ‘Look now toward heaven, and count the stars if you are able to number them.’ And He said to him, ‘So shall your descendants be.’ And he believed in the Lord, and He accounted it to him for righteousness.” Genesis 15:5-6


Abram and his wife Sarai were childless when God came to him with a promise of innumerable descendants. Despite what it looked like, Abram believed this would happen – believed to the extent that God, who saw into his deepest heart, “accounted it to him as righteousness.”

What we believe has everything to do with our thoughts. Here Abram gave mental assent to God’s promise despite how circumstances pointed to the contrary.

Are there things in your life that are at odds with God’s promises to you? Are you reacting to those circumstances with worry, anxiety, fear, and confusion instead of faith? Joyce Meyer in her article “Where the Mind Goes the Man Follows” says:

“I like to think of our inner life as a house made of thoughts that is constantly being built. It is within these ‘walls’ of our thinking that each of us lives. Every thought we accept is like another brick in the wall of the house we are building….

[…] One of the greatest weapons that you and I have is the truth of God’s Word. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians 10:4-5, ‘For the weapons of our warfare are not physical [weapons of flesh and blood] but they are mighty before God for the overthrow and destruction of strongholds, [Inasmuch as we] refute arguments and theories and reasonings and every proud and lofty thing that sets itself up against the [true] knowledge of God; and we lead every thought and purpose away captive into the obedience of Christ.’ If we don’t lead wrong thoughts away captive, the wrong thoughts will lead us away captive.” – Joyce Meyer.

If there is something over which you fret because of the way the situation looks, try this. In one column write down your worry. In a column beside it write what God’s Word says about it. Now every time thoughts of anxiety, fear, worry, and confusion come into your mind about this thing, counter them with God’s promise to you.

Do this with day-to-day worries like:

- Flu is going around and I fear for the safety of my family - versus Psalm 91

to big life-direction issues:

- I’m afraid I’ll miss God’s will for my life – versus Isaiah 30:21


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me establish the discipline of replacing fear and unbelief thoughts with faith thoughts from Your word. Amen.

PSALM TO PRAY: Psalm 4

The Bible Project VIDEO: Genesis Part 2 of 2 (Read Scripture Series)



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Highlight Jesus

Horn or Shofar

TODAY’S SPECIAL: Luke 1:57-80

TO CHEW ON: “‘Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,
For He has visited and redeemed His people,
And has raised up a horn of salvation for us
In the house of His servant David” - Luke 1:69-69

To the wonder of all the onlookers, Zacharias not only regained his speech in an instant of time, but immediately delivered an articulate and beautiful prophecy. Author Luke called it Holy Spirit inspired (Luke 1:67).

The IVP New Testament Commentary says about Zacharias’s utterance:

“This hymn offers a divine commentary on God’s plan. John is the prophet of the most high, pointing to Jesus, the bright Morning Star” - IVP Commentary accessed through Biblegateway.com.

Some of the things Zacharias says about Jesus:

• He calls Him a “horn of salvation” - Luke 1:69.

“Horn” refers to the horn of an animal. Metaphorically to the Jewish people it signified strength and a deliverer or Messiah. Here, combined with the reference to the "house of David" it implies a kingly status. Various translations on this: “… a mighty and valiant Savior” - AMP; “He is sending us a mighty Savior from the royal line of his servant David” - TLB.

• He describes this Savior as powerful and capable, able to keep the covenant made with Abraham and enact what the prophets predicted by delivering Israel from its enemies (Luke 1:70-75).

• He calls Him the “Dayspring from on high.” The Amplified expresses it: “…the Sunrise (the Messiah) from on high will dawn and visit us” - Luke 1:78 AMP.

• He will be a light-bringer and thus dispels the shadow of death - Luke 1:79.

• He will bring peace: He will “…guide our feet into the way of peace” - Luke 1:79.

The IVP commentary concludes: “So Zacharias highlights Jesus just as his son John will” - Ibid.

And so, I suggest, should we. As Jesus Himself said: “‘And I, if I am lifted up from the earth will draw all peoples to Myself'’’ - John 12:32.

How “lifted up”?

Attention drawn to His life for sure, but more important, Jesus was, and needs to be lifted up in His death as the substitutionary atonement for our sins. In this He is the only bridge to a renewed relationship, indeed sonship with God and eternal life - John 12:35,36.


PRAYER: Dear Father, I love how Zacharias’s praise focused on Jesus. Help me to highlight Jesus in my life and words today. Amen. 

MORE: Feast of the Nativity of John the Baptist

Today the church celebrates the Feast of the birth of John the Baptist. The day's liturgy begins with this prayer: 
 

Almighty God, by whose providence your servant John the Baptist was wonderfully born, and sent to prepare the way of your Son our Savior by preaching repentance: Make us so to follow his teaching and holy life, that we may truly repent according to his preaching; and, following his example, constantly speak the truth, boldly rebuke vice, and patiently suffer for the truth's sake; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked Amplified (or AMP) are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Scriptures marked The Living Bible (or TLB) copyright © 1971 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved. The Living Bible, TLB, and the The Living Bible logo are registered trademarks of Tyndale House Publishers.

Table Covenant

Photo: V. Nesdoly

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Matthew 26:1-30

TO CHEW ON: "For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins." Matthew 26:28

Here we have the story of Jesus starting something new or, better said, revealing the next chapter of God's plan that lay within something old.

He and His disciples were celebrating the Passover meal. This was the symbolic meal the Israelites had celebrated since the night before their exodus from Egypt. It is explained in Exodus 12. There Moses instructed the people how to celebrate it. He also told them to eat it yearly from then on, using the various rituals of preparation and menu items as prompts in retelling the story to their children of how God had spared the life of each family's firstborn child the night the Death Angel visited Egypt.

Jesus and His disciples were eating this Passover meal when Jesus took parts of it—the bread and the wine—and gave them new significance. Of the bread He said, "Take, eat, this is My body." Of the wine, "Drink from it all of you. For this is My blood of the new convenient which is shed for many for the remission of sins."

A sidebar article in my Bible explains the significance of what He was doing:

"Jesus used the occasion of the Passover meal to inaugurate the New Covenant. The symbolism of the Passover meal under the Old Covenant was about to be fully satisfied through Christ's crucifixion. In this historic moment, Jesus transformed the meaning of the elements of the Passover meal into New Covenant thought.


The bread now represented His body, which would be given, and the cup His blood, which would be shed for the forgiveness of sins The holy requirements of God and the Old Covenant were about to be forever satisfied.


A new and living way into the presence and provision of God was being prepared through Christ, the Lamb of God. A new and eternal bond was being established by the blood of Jesus Christ. God was sovereignly inaugurating the new and ultimate covenant" - Charles Simpson - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1339.

Though a covenant between two people or parties is an agreement by both sides, a God-initiated covenant is solely His idea. We have nothing to bring to it—no bargaining power or clout of any kind. This covenant, to give us life when we deserved death because Someone took our place, is entirely His gift to us.

As we approach Easter, the realization, again, of the hugeness of His gift is reason for nothing but thankfulness and worship.

(Read more about covenant at Rebecca Writes - Theological Term of the Week: "covenant")

PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for this new covenant by which I have life when I deserved death. Help me to respect the Lord's Supper, treating it with the solemnity it has as Your initiative, pledge and seal of undeserved favour. Amen.

MORE: "Come to the Table" by Michael Card



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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved

Speech seasoned with salt

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Colossians 4:2-18

TO CHEW ON: "Let your speech always be with grace, seasoned with salt, that you may know how you ought to answer each one." Colossians 4:6

When Paul told his readers that their speech was to be "seasoned with salt" I don't think he was instructing them to vent rage or sprinkle their conversation with coarse or racy words. So what does it mean to season one's speech with salt (metaphorically, of course)?

We know salt has two main uses:

• Seasoning: As a seasoning agent, just a little is usually enough. Salt enhances other flavours, it doesn't seek to be the star of the food. Too much salt in a dish and we can't eat it.

• Preservative: When we don't have the means to can or freeze, meat or fish is preserved with salt. Apparently salt doesn't burn either.

Salt in the Bible:

• Salt was part of the OT sacrifices and symbolic of Yahweh's covenant with Israel: "And every offering of your grain offering you shall season with salt; you shall not allow the salt of the covenant of your God to be lacking from your grain offering. With all your offerings you shall offer salt."

What did this salt symbolize? Different commenters speak of it in slightly different ways:

• Reformation Study Bible: "Probably because it is indestructible by fire, salt symbolizes the enduring covenant between God and Israel" (accessed through Study Tools on biblegateway.com).

• Asbury Bible Commentary: "Salt of the covenant: emphasizes the binding character of God's covenant with His people" (accessed through Study Tools on biblegateway.com).

• Jesus referred to that salty sacrifice and told the disciples they needed salt in themselves:  “'For everyone will be seasoned with fire, and every sacrifice will be seasoned with salt. Salt is good, but if the salt loses its flavor, how will you season it? Have salt in yourselves, and have peace with one another'” Mark 9:49,50.

• And here Paul tells his readers to season their speech with salt - Colossians 4:6

Matthew Henry's commentary ties these passages together.

"Among the ancients salt was a symbol of friendship. The salt for the sacrifice was not brought by the offerers, but was provided at the public charge, as the wood was, Ezra 7:20-22. And there was a chamber in the court of the temple called the chamber of salt, in which they laid it up. Can that which is unsavoury be eaten without salt? God would hereby intimate to them that their sacrifices in themselves were unsavoury.

"The saints, who are living sacrifices to God, must have salt in themselves, for every sacrifice must be salted with salt (Mark 9:49, 50), and our speech must be always with grace (Col. 4:6), so must all our religious performances be seasoned with that salt. Christianity is the salt of the earth" - Matthew Henry's Commentary (accessed through Study Tools on biblegateway.com).

Applying this salt metaphor to speech, we might say that for the Christ follower, speech seasoned with the salt:

• Reflects the possibility of a relationship with God (covenant).

• Includes the fact that we are His forever (the binding character of that relationship).

• Communicates that this relationship preserves from judgment (preservative).

• Is seasoning—just a bit is enough; it doesn't need to overpower or dominate all we say. But neither should we leave it out.

PRAYER: Dear Father, Help me to learn how to season my speech with the salt of the above, and deliver what I say with grace. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Pay attention to what happens between your ears

Brain image from Pixabay.com

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 8:7-9:10

TO CHEW ON: "… I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts ..." Hebrews 8:10


Here in our reading in Hebrews, the writer explains about the new covenant that resulted from Jesus' death and resurrection. He recalls the prophecy Jeremiah made about a time when obedience to God would no longer be a matter of just outward observance but of deep inner change and compliance as well.

"I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their heart" - Hebrews 8:10 quoting Jeremiah 31:33.

How beautiful and desirable! And this is the new mind and heart covenant under which we live. This thought got me searching for other passages that speak of the spiritual mind (that is "spiritual" as in aligned with the principles of the Bible):

One of the first questions we might ask is, How do we get this mind?

• Paul answers that in 1 Corinthians where he tells us how the Holy Spirit knows and reveals the mind of Christ, we have received that Spirit (at salvation), and can now claim "We have the mind of Christ" - 1 Corinthians 2:19,12,16. See also Philippians 2:5.

Possessing the "mind of Christ" has great benefits:

• It is the basis for deep-rooted peace because we live life in the posture of trust - Isaiah 26:3; Philippians 4:6,7.

• Its end is life (not death) - Romans 8:6.

However, having and maintaining the mind of Christ also involves effort on our part. We don't get saved and find ourselves in the next moment with a mind transplant.

• Peter tells us to "gird up the loins of your mind." In our day we'd say, buckle your belt, or roll up your sleeves. In other words, get your mind dressed and ready for action - 1 Peter 1:13.

• "Set your mind on things above, not on the earth," Paul tells the Colossians - Colossians 3:2.

• "Let us be of the same mind," he encourages the Christians in Philippi in a plea for church unity - Philippians 3:16.

• We need to resign our minds to the fact that suffering is inevitable—and good, in that it purifies, says Peter in 1 Peter 4:1.

• Paul alerts us to the reality that there will be times our minds are downright busy as we "...cast down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God and bring every thought captive to the obedience of Christ' - 2 Corinthians 10:5.

The battle for our thoughts and the minds that generate them hasn't changed in the 2000+ years since Bible writers penned these words. We still need to give what happens between our two ears our first attention because, as Bible teacher Joyce Meyer reminds us, the rest of our lives proceed from what we think:

"The mind is the leader or forerunner of all actions … Our actions are a direct result of our thoughts" - Joyce Meyer, Battlefield of the Mind, p. 3.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, help me have the mind of Christ today. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

No more daily sacrifices needed

Jesus Lamb of God - Artist unknown

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 7:15-8:16

TO CHEW ON: "For such a High Priest was fitting for us, who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners, and has become higher than the heavens; who does not need daily as those high priests, to offer up sacrifices, first for His own sins and then for the people's , for this He did once for all when He offered up Himself." Hebrews 7:26,27.

Our reading yesterday left us in the middle of a discussion. The writer of Hebrews was addressing Jews who had lived all their lives observing the law of Moses with its rituals, sacrifices, and feasts in order to be accepted by God. He was showing them that now Jesus had superseded that system as a way to God.

In his argument he used the Old Testament character Melchizedek. He was the priest of Salem to whom Abraham gave tithes and who blessed Abraham. David, speaking of Messiah, spoke of Him being in the order of Melchizedek (Psalm 110:4). The author of Hebrews equated Jesus with Melchizedek (yesterday's devo).

In today's reading, he continues his argument by comparing the Levitical priesthood with Jesus's:

• The Levitical priests came under the authority of a "fleshly commandment" versus Jesus who came "according to the power of an endless life" - Hebrews 7:16,17.

• The Levitical priests, even with all their obedience to the law, made no difference to man's basic inability to keep God's law, versus Jesus who made it possible for people to draw near to God - Hebrews 7:19.

• The Levitical priests did not have the oath of God (the "better covenant") behind them as Jesus did - Hebrews 7:20-22.

• The Levitical priests kept dying and having to be replaced versus Jesus who "continues forever, has an unchangeable priesthood" - Hebrews 7:23-24.

 Finally, in the climax of his argument, the Hebrews author tells the readers of his day and us today what we have in and through Jesus:

"Therefore He is able also to save to the uttermost—completely, perfectly, finally and for all time and eternity—those who come to God through Him, since He is always living to make petition to God and intercede with Him and intervene for them" - Hebrews 7:25 AMP.

Jesus was able to complete what the Levitical priesthood only symbolized.

This was so because unlike the Levitical priests Jesus was "holy, blameless, unstained by sin, separated from sinners and exalted higher than the heavens," a priest who didn't have to offer sacrifices for His own sin—because He had never committed any. " … He [met all the requirements] once for all when He brought Himself [as a sacrifice] which He offered up" - Hebrews 7:26,27 AMP.

We who have never been part of the Levitical system can appreciate only with our imaginations what a change this was for devout Jewish believers. But when we're tempted to minimize what Jesus' life, death, and resurrection meant in God's big scheme of things, we have only to look at the system He superseded to be eternally grateful.

PRAYER: Dear Jesus, thank You for making Your "once and for all" offering for my sins and for now interceding and intervening with God the Father on my behalf. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations marked AMP are taken from the Amplified® Bible, Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)

Little foxes

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Song of Solomon 2:8-3:5

TO CHEW ON: "Catch us the foxes

The little foxes that spoil the vines

For our vines have tender grapes." Song of Solomon 2:15

Our reading today is a sample of one of the richest love poems in literature, and the only such writing in the Bible. It is first and foremost a celebration of love between a man and a woman. As such it has a happy lighthearted playfulness that is contagious. It is also sensuous with the colour of flowers, the sound of the dove and of singing, and fragrant with new growth on the vines. However, as is often the case with romantic love, there is also trouble. "Little foxes that spoil the vines."

In marital love it's not hard to imagine what some of those little foxes could be: disagreements over money, a critical spirit toward one's mate that comes out in words and actions that undermine, disunity over how to bring up the children, coldness and lack of receptiveness toward each other...

An introductory paragraph about the Song of Solomon in my Bible comments on how to read this book as a sort of marriage manual:

"The Song is a constant goad to drifting marriages with its challenge to seek for openness, growth, and joyous relationship. It also makes an excellent premarital manual. As biblical archetype it can bring healing to the core of our being with its hope of covenant love as it reshapes our marriages..." - Donald Pickerill,  New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 860.

But the Song of Solomon can also be interpreted as an allegory of Christ and the church. Carrying on with the introductory paragraph above.

"Its portrayal of the covenant relationship also has application to the covenant love relationship enjoyed by God's church. In this regard, the Song can be rich in symbolism but should not be read as an arbitrary allegory with mysterious meanings supplied by the whim of the reader; rather any such personal application of one's love relationship with Christ should be interpreted with solid application, using obvious biblical parallels" - Ibid.

Keeping that last warning to not stretch comparisons in mind, I think it's safe to say that little foxes, seemingly small issues, can also attack our relationship with God. A footnote in my Bible names a few of these: unbelief, resistance, hardness of heart. "Hardness of heart is the great enemy of love, since everything depends on receptivity and openness - Read Numbers 13 and 14)" Op. Cit p. 863.

Let's examine our lives for "little foxes." In our marriages what are the little annoyances that threaten our relationships? As believers in the body of Christ, the church (the Bride of Christ) are we guilty of unbelief, resistance, hardness of heart toward Jesus, our spiritual bridegroom?


PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to be aware of the little issues that so sneakily spoil my relationship with my husband, and the tolerated sin that compromises my relationship with You.

MORE: Just a little...

• laziness leads to poverty (Proverbs 6:10-11).

• foolishness leads to a wrecked reputation (Ecclesiastes 10:1).

• tolerated sin leads to its exponential growth in one's life and in the church (1 Corinthians 5:6).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Signs of God's goodness

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Genesis 9:1-17

TO CHEW ON: "And God said, 'This is the sign of the covenant between me and you and every living creature that is with you, for perpetual generations: I set My rainbow in the clouds, and it shall be for the sign of the covenant between Me and the earth.'" Genesis 9:12,13


Here we read of God giving the rainbow as a sign or token of His promise to never again destroy earth and its creatures in the way He did in the flood. What a genius sign—beautiful, visible at one time or another to everyone on earth, and simple enough for even a child to appreciate. However, this is only one message in the sign language between God and mankind. Here are some others:

• God told Abraham to circumcise all his male offspring. This was the sign of the covenant between God, Abraham, and his descendants - Genesis 17:1, 4-11.

• The blood on the doorposts of the Israeli homes in Goshen the night before the Israelites left Egypt was a No Admittance sign to the death angel - Exodus 12:13.

• Purging their houses of leaven and eating only unleavened bread for seven days was a sign of the importance of obeying God's instructions (His law) and His abhorrence of sin - Exodus 13:9.

• Redeeming the firstborn was another reminder of God's deliverance of the Israelites from Egypt - Exodus 13:16.

• Aaron's rod budding was a sign to the rebellious Israelites that the Levites were the people God had chosen to lead them - Numbers 17:10.

• A dove descending on Jesus at His baptism was a sign of the Holy Spirit - Matthew 3:16. John the Baptist explained it as a sign of the One who had the ability to baptize others with the Holy Spirit - John 1:33.

I think we can view these signs as clues in the mystery of God's intentions toward humanity.

• The rainbow tells us it's His intention to preserve earth and the humans on it.

• Circumcision shows that God's plan will involve a certain race of people, through whom He will bless all earth's nations.

• The blood on the doorposts and the redemption of the firstborn show that this preservation is costly.

• Cleansing the house of leaven and eating only unleavened bread for seven days shows God's abhorrence of sin. (Leaven is often depicted in the Bible as a symbol of sin - Matthew 16:6; 1 Corinthians 5:6-8.)

• Aaron's budding rod illustrates the importance of following God-appointed leaders.

• The dove descending on Jesus and His ability to baptize with the Spirit is a sign that Jesus is God and that it is through Him we receive new life.

David prays for a sign of God's goodness:

"Show me a sign for good..." -  Psalm 86:17.

Let's make David's prayer our own as we ponder the signs God has given throughout history and the personal signs of His presence and love that He blesses us with in the daily round of life.


PRAYER: Dear God, thank You for these signs and tokens of Your care for us humans  throughout history. Please open my eyes to signs of Your goodness to me as I go through this day. Amen.

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Guises of unbelief

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Psalm 78:40-55

TO CHEW ON: "How often they provoked Him in the wilderness and grieved Him in the desert! Yet again and again they tempted God, and limited the Holy One of Israel" - Psalm 78:40,41

The beginning of today's reading strikes me with its list of ways the Israelites demonstrated their unbelief: "provoked ... grieved ... tempted ... limited." The trouble is we find even more ways than this if we go through the psalm's 72 verses:

• Broke covenant and were lawbreakers (Psalm 78:10).

• Forgot His word and His power (Psalm 78:11, 42).

• Sinned and rebelled (Psalm 78:17).

• Spoke against God (Psalm 78:19).

• Disbelieved God and didn't trust Him (Psalm 78:22,32).

• Were insincere, i.e. flattered and lied to Him (Psalm 78:36).

• Were disloyal and unfaithful (Psalm 78:37).

• Provoked and grieved Him (Psalm 78:40, 56, 58).

• Tempted and limited Him (Psalm 78:41).

• Backslid and turned aside from Him (Psalm 78:57).

Unbelief has many guises. What a checklist for our own lives! Is there any chance we have some of these outfits hanging in the closets of our hearts?

PRAYER: Dear God, please help me to recognize unbelief in my heart, no matter what form it takes. Help me to know You better and experience You at every level, so that it becomes second-nature for me to exchange unbelief for faith. Amen.

MORE: Covenant

The hurt and outraged tone in God's voice—as rendered by Asaph—brings us to the question, what did/does God expect? This passage speaks of the expressions of God's expectation they had violated, calling them covenant and law (vs. 10), salvation (vs. 22), and testimonies (vs. 56).

Wayne Grudem in his Systematic Theology speaks of God's agreements with man in a section titled "The Covenants Between God and Man." This bit from his introduction to that section helps us understand what they were and meant—to the Israelites and to us:

"How does God relate to man? Since the creation of the world, God's relationship to man has been defined by specific requirements and promises. God tells people how he wants them to act and also makes promises about how he will act toward them in various circumstances. The Bible contains several summaries of the provisions that define the different relationships between God and man that occur in Scripture, and it often calls these summaries 'covenants.' With respect to covenants between God and man in Scripture, we may give the following definition: A covenant is an unchangeable divinely imposed legal agreement between God and man that stipulates the conditions of their relationship.

Although this definition includes the word agreement in order to show that there are two parties, God and man, who must enter into the provisions of the relationship, the phrase divinely imposed is also included to show that man can never negotiate with God or change the terms of the covenant obligations or reject them ....

This definition also notes that covenants are unchangeable. They may be superseded or replaced by a different covenant, but they may not be changed once they are established. .... the essential element at the heart of all of them is the promise, 'I will be their God, and they shall be my people' (Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 6:16, et al.)" - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 515, 516 (emphasis added).

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Unless otherwise noted all Scripture quotations are taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Jesus - Mediator

"Advocate" by David Bowman

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 12:18-29

TO CHEW ON: "But you have come to... Jesus, the Mediator of the new convenient, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel." Hebrews 12:24

When I hear the word "mediator" I think of union/management problems. A common way of solving them is by mediation, when an objective person seeks to find middle ground on which the two persons or sides who are at odds can agree.

I believe our sense of needing a mediator spiritually arises out of an accurate view of God. In Hebrews 12 the writer reminds his readers of God's appearance on Mount Sinai and how fearfully awesome and other He is. That's where He gave Moses the law, but told the people not to even touch the mountain where Moses was meeting with Him, certainly not climb it, or they would die (Exodus 19:12-13; 20:18-26). "For God is not an indifferent bystander. He's actively cleaning house, torching all that needs to burn, and he won't quit until it's all cleansed. God himself is Fire!" - Hebrews 12:29 The Message).

Jesus is the go-between, becoming the way to our holy, righteous, can't-stand-one-speck-of-sin God.

• Jesus is our mediator by fulfilling the demand of the first covenant (death for sin — our sin, not His) (Hebrews 9:15).

• He is the only mediator or way to God (1 Timothy 2:5).

• He understood this when He was on earth and clearly taught it (John 14:6).

• His death and resurrection put in place a new covenant which is for more than just the Jews. He has broken down the walls between Jew and Gentile. Now all are welcome to come to God through Jesus (Ephesians 2:14-18).

• Jesus mediates this "better" and "new" covenant (Hebrews 8:6; 12:24.  I love the way the New Living Translation puts it: "You have come to Jesus, the one who mediates the new covenant between God and people, and to the sprinkled blood, which speaks of forgiveness instead of crying out for vengeance like the blood of Abel."

• His mediation makes a way that we can come to God in the first place, and can keep our relationship with Him when we sin -- by having Jesus as our "Advocate" with the Father when we sin (1 John 2:1).

• He comes into the very presence of God on our behalf (Hebrews 9:24).

Doesn't all this make you want to say "THANK YOU!" over and over?

PRAYER: Dear Jesus Thank You for coming to earth and taking my death sentence so I can be right with God. Help me to never get blasé about this. Amen.

MORE: Our role as mediators

There is a passage in Jeremiah (Jeremiah 18:18-20) where Jeremiah reminds God about how he has acted as a mediator between God and the people to which he prophesied.

Can we similarly act as mediators between God and other people (of course I'm not talking of us being mediators in the way Jesus is)? One way I can think of is by praying for them. Can you think of other ways?

God's covenant in our DNA

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Hebrews 8:1-9:10

TO CHEW ON: "This is the covenant I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will put My laws in their mind and write them on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be My people." - Hebrews 8:10

The writer to the Hebrews was a living example of someone with God's word in his mind, for here (Hebrews 8:10-12) he quotes straight from Jeremiah 31:33-34.

The idea of God's word close to is, in us, a part of us was not new with Jeremiah. Psalms and Proverbs are full of the same desire and ideal:

• The man who fears God and delights in His commandments is called blessed - Psalm 112:1.

• The blessed man (and woman) delights in God's word and meditates on it day and night - Psalm 1:2; 119:97.

• He keeps those words close, binding them on his fingers, writing them on the 'tablets of his heart,' tying them around his neck, storing them within his heart where they give him 24-hour guidance - Proverbs 7:3; 6:21,22; 4:4.

• He delights to do God's word - Psalm 40:8.

• God's words make him wise and are a means to great peace - Psalm 119:98, 165.

But tell-it-like-it-is Paul lays bare a nasty truth when he says there is also in us something that fights against living this Word-sensitive life. See Romans 7:21-25.

What to do?

Well, it's not what we do but what Christ did. He legally did away with sin's right to us, giving us the practical means to defeat sin in our everyday lives: the Holy Spirit: "For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus has made me free from the law of sin and death .... But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you" - Romans 8:2,9.

And so Guy Duffield, who writes my Bible's study notes on Hebrews has it right when he says, "Jesus' ministry is performed under the covenant of God's grace wrought within the mind and hearts of believers by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus God established a new personal covenant relationship with His people based not on a compelling force from without, but on an impelling power from within" - New Spirit-Filled Life Bible, p. 1738 (emphasis added).

May this covenant be in our DNA as we say "YES" to the Spirit's impelling power within us through all that we think, say, and do today!


PRAYER: Dear God, the expressions grieving the Spirit and quenching the Spirit come to mind. Help me not to hinder the life of Your Spirit  within me in any way but give Him full rights to my mind house, my heart house, and my body house. Amen.

MORE: "In" the Holy Spirit

In his wonderful chapter on the Holy Spirit (Systematic Theology), Wayne Grudem makes these observations:

"It is surprising how many particular activities are said in the New Testament to be done "in" the Holy Spirit: it is possible to rejoice in the Holy Spirit (Luke 10:2), to resolve or decide something in the Holy Spirit (Acts 19:21), to have one's conscience bear witness in the Holy Spirit (Romans 9:1), to have access to God in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 2:18) to pray in the Holy Spirit (Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20), and to love in the Holy Spirit (Colossians 1:8). In the light of these texts, we might ask ourselves, for how many of these activities during each day are we consciously aware of the Holy Spirit's presence and blessing?" - Wayne Grudem, Systematic Theology, p. 649 (emphasis added).

God's writing on our minds and hearts

TODAY'S SPECIAL: Jeremiah 31:23-37

TO CHEW ON: "But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord; I will put my law in their minds, and write it on their hearts; and I will be their God and they shall be my people." Jeremiah 31:33

If you've ever raised kids you'll know how much easier it is to get their cooperation and compliance if they are motivated from within by love, respect, and a desire to please. Such inner motivation is more effective than the threat of punishment.

Here God tells the people of a day when the nation will be in such an inner-motivated state spiritually. The drive to obey will come from within. Pleasing God will be so uppermost that it will be as if His laws are written on their minds and hearts.

Interestingly, the writer of Hebrews quotes this very passage in Hebrews 8:8-12 and again in 10:16,17. He tells us this compliant state comes about as a result of the "new covenant."

This new covenant came about through Jesus. His death in our stead, paying the penalty for our sins, is the transaction with God that brings this it into effect.

How are our minds and hears so radically changed under it? Through the Holy Spirit living inside us. An endnote to my Bible's Hebrew's 8 passage says:

"Jesus' ministry is performed under the covenant of God's grace, wrought within the minds and hearts of believers by the power of the Holy Spirit. Thus God established a new personal covenant relationship with His people, based not on a compelling force from without, but on an impelling power from within." New Spirit Filled Life Bible, p. 1738 (emphasis added).

This is all well and good on paper. But how does it work in practical everyday living? We still have the choice to resist the Holy Spirit or yield to Him (1 Thessalonians 5:19). Even under this new covenant God never takes over life's controls against my will or yours. But He does promise to come to each of us and live in us if we let Him. His presence is that inner drive toward obedience and compliance, stronger than the threat of punishment, proving us His children (Galatians 5:18; Romans 8:14).

PRAYER: Dear God, I love the picture of Your principles and ways written on my mind and heart — so much a part of me that it's easier to obey than not. May it be so. Amen.

MORE: Holy Spirit: more than a guest

The Holy Spirit cannot be located as a Guest in a house, He invades everything. When once I decide that my "old man" (i.e., the heredity of sin) should be identified with the death of Jesus, then the Holy Spirit invades me. He takes charge of everything, my part is to walk in the light and to obey all that He reveals.- Oswald Chambers, My Utmost for His Highest, April 11 reading.

(From the archives)