by Alan Taylor | Jun 21, 2021
It’s so easy to be like the disciples in the boat when the storm came up: “Hey Jesus, wake up! Don’t you care that we’re perishing?” When a problem arises why do we think God doesn’t care? The ultimate expression of God’s care for us was His Son hanging on a cross, carrying all of our pains, sorrows, griefs and sicknesses. God’s promise is that He sets a table for us in the midst of our enemies, not in the absence of our enemies. If you want to eat from that table, you’ll find it in the midst of an enemy or two and probably surrounded by slightly more than a strong breeze. The promise is that in all these things we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us (Rom 8:37).
by Alan Taylor | Jun 21, 2021
Psalm 112:3 says that for the person who fears the Lord “wealth and riches are in his house”. God doesn’t say that this supply is outside, elsewhere or distant. No, the abundant supply is already in the house. Whatever we need is close, available, at hand.
When Moses was questioning God about his call God said to him “What’s that in your hand?” referring to his staff or rod. (Ex 4:2). When Elisha encountered a widow with a problem he questioned her saying “What do you have in the house?” (2 Kings 4:2). She replied “Just a jar of oil”. She could have said “a broken toaster” and the resources of heaven would still have been available to her to meet her need.
God’s solution is close – it just needs to be revealed. God is actually clever enough to have foreseen our situation and to have made a provision (probably several!) to meet that need. When we thank God for the resources that are already “in our house” then we set in motion the spiritual mechanism to release those resources to us.
“Thankyou Lord that you have given me everything I need. Your provision is already in my house. Your solution is there waiting. Open my eyes to see my part so that I can release your hand.”
by Alan Taylor | Jun 21, 2021
When Solomon was faced with a task that he knew to be too big for him – that of ruling over Israel – he cried out to God in a particular way. He asked God to give him a “hearing” heart. That’s a literal translation of 1 Kings 3:9 which most versions translate as a “discerning” or “understanding” heart. Solomon asks God “give Your servant a hearing heart to judge Your people to discern between good and evil.”
[The first time that word is used in the Bible is when Adam and Eve HEARD the sound of the Lord God walking in the garden in the cool of the day (Genesis 3:8). So I’m not stretching the meaning of the word here – the Hebrew word simply means “to hear”.]
In Ephesians 1:18 Paul tells his readers that he is praying for the eyes of their heart to be enlightened. So our heart has the capacity to hear and to see. We might otherwise call this hearing and seeing in the spirit, discernment, walking in the spirit, walking by faith and not by sight.
Isaiah prophesies of the Messiah that He will delight in the fear of the Lord and He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear (Isaiah 11:3). Like Jesus, when we delight in the fear of the Lord (reverence for our Father) we will find ourselves giving preference to what the eyes and ears of our heart are picking up and not making an idol of what our natural senses are telling us. The senses of the body must always serve the senses of the spirit.
When Peter was walking on the water (Matthew 14) the reason he moved from walking to wallowing was because he transitioned from regarding the eyes and ears of his heart to giving regard to his natural eyes and ears. In verse 30 when it says that Peter saw the wind we understand that he would have seen the waves and heard the wind – then came that sinking feeling.
In Proverbs 4:20,21 we see again the link between ears, eyes and heart. My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings. Do not let them depart from your sight; Keep them in the midst of your heart.
It’s encouraging that by practice our senses can be trained in discernment (Hebrews 5:14).
by Alan Taylor | Jun 21, 2021
Prov 25:21If your enemy is hungry, give him food to eat;
And if he is thirsty, give him water to drink;
22For you will heap burning coals on his head,
And the LORD will reward you.
It starts in the heart
I’ve noticed there are some wicked men and women in positions of influence in the world. I came across this verse the other day which spoke to my attitude regarding those who might be removed from power either by the direct hand of God or by the processes of justice.
Do not rejoice when your enemy falls,
and let not your heart be glad when he stumbles,
lest the LORD see it and be displeased,
and turn away his anger from him.
Prov 24:17,18
Interesting that God so hates enmity in our hearts that He will even turn His anger away from the wicked because of the wrong attitudes of our heart. To me this speaks of God’s heart for the defenceless – He will, in a sense, rise to defend the wicked from the hatred in our hearts shown when we rejoice at their downfall.
We want God to judge the bad guy, but He will always favour mercy over judgment. (James 2:13)
It’s the same principle that the righteous Job knew:
Have I rejoiced at the extinction of my enemy, or exulted when evil befell him? No, I have not allowed my mouth to sin by asking for his life in a curse. Job 31:29,30
We can rejoice at God’s justice, the display of His character, and His deliverance of us (several examples in scripture) but we should never rejoice at the downfall of the wicked – slight difference. The first is rooted in worship because our focus is on God and what He has done, the second is rooted in arrogance and hatred as our focus is on what has befallen the wicked person. Our hearts are tempted to say of Pharaoh “He got what was coming to him”, but instead we should say “Praise you Lord for your justice and deliverance of Israel.” Beware lest a wrong attitude in your heart delays God’s hand of justice.
Matthew 5:43-45 You have heard that it was said, ‘YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR and hate your enemy.’ But I say to you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.
To paraphrase – God does good to all so you must be like Him and do what he does.
Note: this verse has often been taken out of context to define “rain” as negative life circumstances which seemingly happen equally to the believer and nonbeliever. In an agricultural society rain is a blessing and the majority of references in the bible to rain are as a blessing from God for their crops. Yes sometimes the rain causes damage (as any good thing can and does in a fallen world) but that’s not the meaning here. God is good, His blessings are for everyone and we are to have the same generous and loving heart of our Father.
The rain, it raineth on the just, and also on the unjust fella;
But mostly on the just because the unjust steals the just’s umbrella!
-Ogden Nash
