2 Samuel 12 The consequences of sin

The year before this chapter begins, David had sinned against the Lord. He's seen Bathsheba naked and did not take his thoughts or imagination captive. Instead he dwelled on the thoughts of lust and let his imagination run wild with them. Next, he used his position of authority to get Bathsheba into his house and have sex with her. When she became pregnant and his scheme began to fall apart, he then used his authority (which the Lord had given him) to have her husband killed. During all this time he was also sinning by not taking his sinful thoughts captive and replacing them with God's truth. Plus he was continually trying to hide his sin instead of confessing it and repenting because he didn't want to stop. He now had a false god and idol. He had placed fulfilling his lust above God, showing that he loved himself, more then he loved God.

David must have been happy during that past year though right? I mean after all he got to play with Bathsheba during that time and that's what he'd wanted, right? Wrong! Psalm 32 and 51 tell us a little of how he felt during that year: Psalm 32:3–4 —When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. *For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. Selah * He was being disciplined by the Lord during that year as the Lord wanted to bring him to repentance and that discipline began as soon as he refused to take that first thought captive! He eventually became sick and weak, unable to do the things he normally did due to his illness. He was sick at heart as well as his body for he knew he was living in sin. Yet, he still wouldn't give it up or confess it, and he still continued to sin, to hide it and then to sin more by having her husband killed. He lost his joy, he was no longer a good witness for the Lord, and his power. The Lord wasn't going to answer his prayers when he was doing this, that's for sure! He probably became short with people, snapping at the least little thing, as well as grumpy until he became downright depressed.

Strange isn't it. He got what he wanted, even though he knew it was a sin, and yet instead of being happy, he winds up depressed! We see that the Lord gave David more then enough time to confess and repent of his sin on his own...over a year, but still he refused, so the Lord sent the prophet Nathan to him with a message.

Nathan pretended he was telling David about a case that needed to be judged, though he never said that. He just let David think so, and told him about a rich man who had badly used a poor man by taking the poor man's one and only ewe. David got very angry when he heard what the man had done and said that the man should be put to death for it, and should have to pay back what he'd taken 4 times over. Although angry, he was still being fair because that's what God's law calls for in such a situation. Isn't it funny how easy it is to see other people's sins and judge them, but how hard it is to see our own at times?

It was then that Nathan revealed to David that he was the man he had been talking about. Nathan then told him what God said about it: that He'd given David all he had, made him King, given him power and authority and all the women and servants he had, made him victorious over all his enemies, etc. and still David took another man's only wife and then had him killed. He then told David what his sin would cost him. I'm sure David was totally stunned, but to his credit, he finally stopped hiding, didn't try to make any excuses, and immediately confessed, agreeing that he had indeed sinned against the Lord.

At that point, Nathan assured David that the Lord would allow him to live even though the death sentence was what the law called for for what he'd done. However, there were severe consequences for his sin which would still come to pass. Those consequences, all of which the Lord had told him, began as soon as Nathan left that day. One of my commentaries explains this better then I can so I'll simply quote what it says:

God was ready to forgive David’s sins, but He could not prevent those sins from “bringing forth death” (James 1:15). God’s grace forgives, but God’s government must allow sinners to reap what they sow. Psalm 99:8: "you were to Israel a forgiving God, though you punished their misdeeds." “He shall restore fourfold!” David had declared punishment concerning the man in Nathan’s story, so God accepted his sentence. The sword never did depart from David’s household: the baby died; Absalomkilled Amnon, who had ruined Tamar (both men are David's sons and Tamar is his daughter); then Joab killed Absalom (2 Sam 18:9–17); and Adonijah (David's son) was slain by Benaiah (1 Kings 2:24–25). Fourfold! Add to these trials the awful ruin of Tamar, the shameful treatment of David’s wives by his son Absalom (2 Sam 12:11; 2 Sam 16:20–23), plus the rebellion of Absalom, and you can see that David paid dearly for a few moments of lustful pleasure. He sowed lust and reaped the same; he sowed murder and reaped murders, for “whatever a man sows, that he will also reap” (Gal. 6:7). Wiersbe’s Expository Outlines

We often console ourselves thinking, "Well, David's sins were awful so that's probably why there were such terrible consequences". The problem with that kind of thinking is that God considers all sin the same. It doesn't matter if it's telling a little white lie, not studying His Word, cheating, or killing someone. The consequences of all sin is death. I'm not saying that if we tell a little white lie that someone in our family is going to die-not at all! God is always just. What I'm saying though is that we tend to make our own sins seem very little, especially in comparison to what David did. Yet David's first sin was that he simply didn't take his thoughts captive and replace them with God's Truth. How often do we do that??? And we usually think we get away with it too, don't we? But we never do. Never. Not because God is mean - far from it! But because God is righteous and just and fair and mostly because He loves us and wants what is best for us. It's always easy for us to say the way we've been treated isn't fair, but if someone were to do the same thing to us, we certainly wouldn't want them to get off the hook.

The consequences of David's sins lasted the for the rest of his life and the lives of his children. Again, not because God's mean, but simply because that's what sin does. It's done that since the very first sin. Look at how long the consequences of Adam's sin has lasted... it's still going on! I have looked back on my own life and can honestly say that I can see how my own sins, even "little sins" have affected my children and are still affecting them. It's another aspect of sin that we often choose to ignore and not think about. Especially if the sin is something we want to do like David did. But our sins affect our children and other people as well. It is not just us that is affected by them. Everyone pays when someone sins. That's why God hates sin so much. He hates to see us hurt. He loves us. Think how we as parents feel when we know someone or something is hurting our child - we'll do anything to stop it! We hate it! Well, that's a small taste of how God feels toward all sin because He knows far better then we do, just how horribly sin hurts us, His children whom He loves.

He knows we are enslaved to and by sin and because He loves us and hates how it hurts us, He was even willing to come and die so we could finally be free from it. And so we are, just as David was freed when God forgave his sins. Yet the consequences of those sin continued just as ours do. God will not stop the law of gravity because someone was stupid enough to think they could fly off their roof. Nor will he stop the consequences of our sins because if He did, there would be nothing to stop us from continuing to sin. God's grace forgives us, but His government must allow us to reap what we have sown, even though it hurts Him as much as us.

The Lord shows us something else that's very important in this story that we often overlook. Often when we sin, especially if we think it's a "terrible sin" like I'm sure David did, we then decide that He can no longer use us, that we're no good to Him anymore. We'll spend hours, days, months, sometimes years, thinking about what a horrible thing we did and how bad we were and "now God can't use us". But that too is a lie that needs to be taken captive and replaced with the truth God shows us here. Because after David confessed and repented, God did indeed use him and bless him. He even sent Nathan back to him to assure him that he was being blessed.

After the child that had been conceived in sin had died, God caused Bathsheba to become pregnant again, with another son. This time she gave birth to a boy they named Solomon. The Lord sent Nathan to tell David that He loved this child and of course David knew that the child had been given him by the Lord as all children are. Next the Lord gave David yet another victory over his enemies and another crown.

We see that as soon as David had confessed and repented of his sin, although there would be consequences from the sin, his relationship with the Lord was completely restored. This is shown in more detail in psalms 32 and 51. It's very true of all of us as well. When we're forgiven, God promises to never bring our sin up to us or anyone else, not even Himself, ever again, and to never use it against us. What an awesome God we serve! When we're forgiven, God restores us to our previous place of service and our relationship with Him is repaired. We once again have the joy of our salvation. So we must never allow Satan to trick us into thinking that we've gone too far or that we can't be used by the Lord anymore etc. Where sin abounds, grace abounds more!

Of course there's much much more in this chapter then what I've shown here, but this will have to do for now. Please read 2 Samuel 12 and then read psalm 32 and psalm 51. When reading the psalms see if you can see what David lost and how he felt during his year of sin and what he gained and how he felt when he finally confessed and repented of his sin. The reason being that his experience is one we all share when we sin, regardless of what our sin is. If there's any portion of the psalms or of 2 Samuel 12 that you'd like to discuss, I'll be happy to do so.

 

LiveJournal Tags: 2 Samuel 12,Confession,consequences of sin,forgiveness,grace,guilt,mercy,psalm 32,psalm 51,reaping and sowing,repentance,sowing and reaping

A relationship with God 2

Even after realizing that God was always with me, I remember how at 1st I badly wanted someone to teach me His Word. I read and studied it on my own every day, but I was just sure I was missing more then I was getting. I'd read the verses that tell us that God is our teacher, but felt that I just wasn't smart enough or something for Him to be able to get through to me. I told myself that I didn't doubt God, but instead doubted myself. I didn't realize at the time just how sinful that thought was, as I didn't follow it through to it's logical conclusion - I'm more powerful then God and smarter then He is since I can prevent Him from doing what He says He will. Praise God that He is a merciful, loving God and understands us much better then we understand ourselves and doesn't treat us as our sins deserve.

I even prayed, asking God to send me a teacher, but He didn't - at least not for quite awhile. Instead, He showed me that He really was teaching me. I thought the way He reassured me was pretty neat too as it combined another thing I was unsure of still. Since I was still getting to know Him, I was also struggling with how to tell the difference between His Voice and my own thoughts.

Each day I spent time reading His Word and talking to Him about what I was reading. I'd comment on it, ask Him questions about it etc. When I asked Him questions, sometimes it would make me think of another verse, either right away, or later on. When that happened, just in case it was the Lord leading me, I'd go to that scripture and read there for a bit. What amazed me was that it always pertained to whatever it was He was teaching me about, even when I didn't think so at first. Being stubborn however, I thought maybe it was just a coincidence. Then other things would happen. When I was able to go to church, it was as though someone had been spying on my time with the Lord each day and had told the Pastor what I'd learned from the Lord, and especially anything I was questioning whether or not it was from the Lord! It was like the pastor was talking directly to me!

By the way, when I studied with Him, all I had at the time was my bible. Bruce did buy me a Strong's Concordance but I couldn't use it as it was too heavy for me to hold due to my disability and the surgery I'd had. So I had no commentaries or anything at all except my Bible and my God.

Other weird things started happening besides seeming like the pastor was talking to me. Someone might call or stop by and out of the blue, they'd bring up the very subject or scriptures I was studying and tell me that their pastor had told them something neat about it and then proceed to tell me exactly what the Lord had been teaching me that week!

As time went by and I became more and more used to strange things like that happening to confirm that the Lord was indeed teaching me. I would like to point out though that I knew the Lord was causing them to happen because I'd prayed about it and He knew I needed reassurance. He was answering my prayers. That was another area of my life that had changed. Instead of having a time of prayer and then not praying again unless there was an emergency or something like that, until the next days prayer time came, I was now praying all the time. Not "formal" prayers, but simply talking to Him. It just grew out of our study time. Since I talked to Him while I was studying, it just seemed natural to continue to talk to Him throughout the rest of the day, so I did.

What truly amazed me was that I seemed to be somehow more in tune with the Lord, and as time went by, that seemed to get stronger and stronger. Often the Lord would warn me before something happened so I could pray about it before hand. It was actually kind of spooky the first few times it happened, but eventually just felt normal. It didn't even occur to me that anything different was happening until I overheard Bruce tell one of his friends that he should ask me to pray about it for him because God always answered my prayers right away. I heard the friend start to laugh and then Bruce told him that He was really serious and began to give him examples. I hadn't even been aware that Bruce had paid any attention to those things, but he had. Hearing him tell his friend about them is what made me realize just how much had changed in my life.

I no longer doubted that God was teaching me. I knew He was! I talked to Him constantly and it didn't occur to me to doubt if He was listening, not after all the times He'd shown me He was by having the pastor talk about something there was no way He could have known about! And because I talked to Him all the time and listened for Him too, it didn't occur to me to wonder when He'd answer anything I prayed about. I simply knew He would answer me. If the answer wasn't immediate, then I knew there was a good reason for that and He'd answer when the time was right. I realized too that the Lord had somehow become my friend. A real friend. Yet there was a difference between our friendship and say my friendship with another person. In our friendship, there was never any doubt about who was in charge or who was Lord and who was servant. At the same time though, there was a love there that filled and still fills every part of me. God has continued to show me ever since then, that there is no area of my life that He doesn't want to be an intimate part of; there's nothing I can't talk to Him about.

I've discovered that God is the greatest teacher anyone can have. Since that beginning, the Lord has blessed me with a huge bible library full of commentaries, and every kind of theological book you can think of. It's truly awesome! There is no one He cannot teach! It's really wonderful to have a living, growing relationship with Him too. Another great thing about it is that He wants to have this kind of relationship with everyone. There's nothing magical about it either. All you have to do is ask!

Job 36:22 —“God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him? *

A Relationship With God

When I first got hurt and became disabled, I had no idea just how much my life would change. When I found out that I wasn't going to get better, I fought it. When I was told I couldn't work anymore, I fought it. I failed at both anyway, as my doctors knew I would and more importantly, as the Lord knew I would. See, I didn't just turn to doctors, I turned to the Lord as well, and even He had told me that part of my life was over. Done. Finished. He had something new planned for me. Well, I didn't want something new. I liked my life the way it was, thank you very much. So I alternately fought with Him and repented, making myself even more miserable. Finally, I came to accept it. I grieved for a time, which is normal, and then got about trying to discover what my new life would be.

One of the hardest parts of my new life was loneliness. I was used to being active and being around other people, including friends. Now I couldn't leave the house except occasionally on a weekend if Bruce took me grocery shopping. I guess I expected that I'd still have all my friends, but it didn't work out that way. Oh they came by to see me at first, but their visits got fewer and further between as time went by, until finally they stopped altogether. They still had lives and were busy, I didn't and so I got left behind. That really hurt. I understood they didn't mean to hurt me, but it still hurt, and I was still lonely. Then, one day, the Lord opened my eyes to a scripture as I was studying that morning. It was, Hebrews 13:5–6 —Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, “Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.” *So we say with confidence, “The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?” *

I remember reading it, and it was like a sudden tide of emotions swept over me as I really understood that God was really with me -right then and there, and that He'd never leave me. I remember having a good cry - and it was a good cry because it was joyful tears for a change instead of those from self pity.

He showed me through that scripture and then many more that day as we continued, that He was always there with me and had even promised He wouldn't leave me. That He also lived within me and you can't get much closer then that! He reminded me of what we were doing right then -fellowshipping as some would call it; or simply being friends and having a good time talking with each other like any good friends would.

I suddenly understood that I'd had that all along, but had been so focused on my own self pity for the things I had been focusing on that I didn't have, that I'd missed the most important thing that I did have! The Lord!

I'd also been telling myself that I no longer had any purpose, which of course added to my self pity and feelings of loneliness. The Lord showed me that I was wrong again and I did have purpose but that I was looking in the wrong direction. I was looking at only myself and what pleased me, what I wanted. He gently reminded me that I had been created to do good works which He Himself had already prepared for me. (Ephesians 2:10) I didn't need to go looking for them because He knew what they were and He would lead me to them as I followed Him each day. My job, my purpose, was to bear fruit for Him but again, I didn't need to concern myself with the how's, when's, and where's of it. All I had to concern myself with was making sure that I remained in Him and in His Word each day. (John 15, especially John 15:5–8)

That wasn't a problem since I was now really enjoying my fellowship with Him each day. I used to think of it as my bible study and prayer time, but once I realized that what it was really about was fellowshipping with Him, my whole attitude toward it changed. Really, so did my life, because how could I be lonely when I had my very best friend right there with me all day long to fellowship with?

From that time on I rarely felt lonely again. Oh once in while the old self pity would rise up in my mind, but the Lord taught me to take those thoughts captive and replace them with the Truth that I wasn't alone at all. All I had to do was open my eyes to the truth of His presence and then enjoy it. It was my choice. I could ignore Him or I could start talking to Him and enjoying being with Him. I chose to enjoy being with Him. He's been my constant companion for the last 13 and and a half years now.

I can honestly say that He's never left me and is always ready to listen to whatever I want to talk about or whatever's on my mind. He's also more then ready to talk back to me through His Word and in other ways as well. It really is a two way relationship, not a monologue. It's not pretend. I'm not talking to myself. There have been times that I've asked Him to send me some human company - not because I wasn't enjoying my time with Him, but simply because I also wanted to have contact with others. He understood that as well of course, and always sent someone when I asked. Sometimes He'd even send someone before I got around to asking . I can't imagine going back to living the way I did before, where I just spent X amount of time studying, and X amount of time praying and then went about my business. Now He's always a part of my conscious mind, so I'm always talking to Him and listening to Him, He's part of everything I do. I don't go about my day and try to find time to "spend time with Him" because I spend all my waking hours with Him.

I hope this helps someone else who might be feeling lonely or unsure how to have a relationship with the Lord. It's the most wonderful thing that's ever happened to me, and it gets better every year as I our relationship strengthens and gets closer.

 

LiveJournal Tags: companion,friend,god,Hebrews 13:5–6,holy spirit,jesus,John 15,love,relationship,support

The Hall of Faith part 2

Reading about people in the Hall of Faith is always encouraging. It also helps us because it tells us exactly what faith is. Heb 11:1–2 —Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see. *This is what the ancients were commended for. * Being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don't see..... What do we hope for? Really?

If we're honest, don't we hope our children will grow up and be productive, responsible citizens that make us proud of them? Don't we hope for grandchildren to love and cherish? Don't we hope for things like enough money to pay the bills or go on vacation, or to buy a car? For food, new clothes, a new computer or Kindle Fire, or maybe a piano or motorcycle? Perhaps a great Christmas for our kids or grandkids, or a godly loving spouse for our child. We hope we can pay our taxes, have a better president, health care, less pain, better health, a good paying job that we actually like, and all kinds of things don't we?

In fact, that very same false teaching we discussed before, the prosperity gospel even encourages us to hope for those things and "claim" them, saying that God will then give them to us. But if we look at the folks in the Hall of fame, what did they hope for? Did they "claim" things like that? No! Does God ever encourage us to? No, He tells us the opposite. Not only did they not hope for or claim things like that, some even left those kind of things behind for God. So once again the Bible shows us how false that kind of teaching is.

We like to know where we're going and what we're going to do, and yet these folks often didn't know those things and some of them that did know, knew they were going into some pretty scary places. What would make someone do that? Only one thing really....love. It reminds me of Ruth who loved her mother in law so much that she gave up literally everything in order to go with her back to Israel. A place she didn't know at all, that was full of strange customs and strange people. Because she loved Naomi though, she went and wound up falling in love with God and Boaz and becoming the ancestor of our Lord.

But how did she learn to love God and how did she know what to be sure of so she could hope for it? In her case, her mother in law, her husband (that died) and later Boaz taught her about Him. Not only did they teach her in words, but their lives taught her as well. Once she got to Israel, I'm sure many of the people she met and became friends with also taught her both with their lives and with words. Naomi would have known the scriptures since childhood as would her sons and of course Boaz, and would have taught her those.

Unfortunately for us though, that's rare to find now days. But then the Lord told us it would be. God warned us it would be like this. That false teachers and false prophets would abound and lead many astray from Him and those who weren't led astray that way, would desire the world more then Him and so would have false teachers that would preach the world's ways instead of His ways. Reading 2 Timothy 3:1-9 gives us a good picture of many Christians in our day. None of them love the Lord. None of them have faith or can be sure of what they hope for, because the things they hope for are like the things I mentioned above. While the people in the hall of fame hoped for the Lord, not to free them from political enemies like the Jew's of Jesus' time, not to give them money or fame or power, or prestige. Not even to get good spouses for their children or whatever. I'm not saying they didn't want their children to marry well or anything like that, I'm saying those weren't things they hoped for. Those were things they did their best about and just went on with their lives because they knew the best was yet to come.

How do we love the Lord with all our hearts, minds and strength, with a love so strong it makes us long to be with Him? I'm afraid that some aren't going to like the answer, but the truth is, it's through studying His Word with Him daily. It's through His Word and talking to Him that we learn about Him; that we learn who He really is, what He's like. It's how our love for Him grows. See, first He loves us and pours His love into our hearts so that we can have the capacity to love Him. Then, as we study His Word with Him, that love for Him grows and expands. It changes us too.

It's similar to a human relationship. If you were to meet someone and fall in love with them and then never see them again, or talk to them or hear from them again, eventually your love would grow cold and die. I've thought of it this way: An abused child rarely knows or understands what love is. They have to be gently and carefully shown and taught about true love for quite a while before they begin to understand it and react to it in any way other then distrust. Aren't we all really abused children? Not by our parents necessarily, but by Satan, our own flesh and the world? Our choice then is to remain abused children, reacting to everyone and everything in our lives out of that abuse; or to latch on to God and His love for us and learn what true love really is; and then eventually to react to everyone and everything in our lives out of that true love.

That's really how the whole world is isn't it? A world full of abused children, continuing to abuse each other, except for the few who've been truly saved and are being gently shown and taught each day by God about His love through His Word. As they learn, they're changed, and become more and more like Him. The more they learn about Him, and His love, the more their love for Him grows. Because they are being taught by Him from His Word, they know that what they're learning is True and that they can be sure of it.

As we learn about Him from the old and new testament, our love becomes so strong that we can even rejoice when going through trials and hard times, just like those in the Hall of faith. This is why Peter says, 1 Peter 1:8–9 —Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy, *for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls. *

Part of the problem in our world is that the world teaches us lies even about love itself, so that we don't even know what love really is until God begins to teach us from His Word. That's also why He wants us to study His Word and not someone else's word. Someone else may teach us what the world says, like the prosperity people do, but if we study His Word daily, we'll discover the truth not only about Him but about love as well. If we're to have faith, then we must study His Word for that's where faith comes from: Rom 10:17 —Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message, and the message is heard through the word of Christ. * and we know too that without faith, we can't please Him, which makes it even more important to do.

I guess we should also touch more on what faith really is for there is more then one kind of faith, but there is only one kind that saves. When Jesus tells us to "believe", He's telling us to trust Him. That's what's lacking in other kinds of faith. Demons believe and know He is God and they even submit to His Word when He speaks to them, and do so faster then we do for the most part. When we believe and trust Him though, then and only then, are we changed - our lives are changed. That's the kind of faith that saves. That's why Jesus told us to look and see what kind of fruit the person's life showed to determine if they were saved or not. We're frequently told that we were saved to do good works and that God prepared those works for us before creation even. So we see that the works themselves don't save us, it's our faith that saves us and the works or the "fruit" is the evidence of our salvation. It helped me to understand it by realizing that dead faith only touched the mind or intellect and demonic faith touched the mind and emotions, but true faith involves all of us. It touches our minds, our hearts and our wills. True, saving faith leads to obedience which results in good works. By "good works" I don't mean just helping out in a soup kitchen and feeding the poor, although that's certainly one, but works can include many things. The first thing we do in obedience is start studying His Word with Him regularly. (well, that's usually the first thing) Another is being baptized in obedience to Him. Each sin we repent from (meaning we stop doing it) is a "good work", and so on.

Many people seem to have the wrong idea of what studying with Him daily entails. It does not mean that you have to have commentaries or dictionaries or other theology books. It does not mean that you must spend hours every day studying. ALL you need is God and a bible. That's it. As for time spent, that's best determined by each individual and the Lord. It can be 15 minutes if that's really all you have or a half an hour a day, or more. There simply is no "right amount of time" to spend studying with Him. As far as how to study with Him and what that means, it simply means reading your bible and while you're reading it, talking to Him about what you're reading. Asking Him questions, making comments, etc. Just as though the two of you were sitting and reading together - because, in reality, you are! You'll be amazed at how much and how quickly you're learn that way. There simply is no better teacher then the Lord. After all, it IS His Word I honestly didn't have anything other then the Lord and my bible for many years when I started studying with Him either.

I can guarantee you that if we do that, our love for the Lord will grow and grow until we too will truly long for the Lord. When we get to that point, the unsaved sit up and take notice. Because then we're not concerned so much about the things of this world. They mean very little to us and seem to mean even less with each passing day. We'll no longer grieve as the unsaved do either for we'll be sure of what we hope and long for. And we won't be at all afraid of death, not even of pain before death. We'll be like children who've been promised some fantastic gift if we'll let the doctor give us a shot. Our minds won't be on the injection, we'll be excitedly thinking of finally seeing our Lord! And when someone asks us what we hope for, the very first thing that will come to our minds will be being with our Lord, for we'll know that there simply isn't anything or anyone that could possibly be better then that. We'll realize that His love is so fantastic, so amazing, and so far surpasses anything or even anyone this world could offer, that we can't imagine considering anything else. Yes, Heaven is going to be great and I know that the Lord is preparing things so wonderful for us that we can't even begin to imagine them. But you know what? I know that's true, because I know that's just how my Lord is, and while I know I'll enjoy all He's preparing for us, that's really secondary to finally being with Him.

Knowing Him and His love, has changed me radically and I still have much to learn of both. The way of faith - being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see (trust) - is the way of victory, peace, assurance, joy and endurance.
Yep. I'm homesick. I want my Daddy!

Let me quote the parts from Hebrews that are especially about all this, but I'd also suggest studying the whole chapter with the Lord when you have time. You won't regret it!

Hebrews 11:9–10 —By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. *For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God. *

Hebrews 11:13–16 —All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance. And they admitted that they were aliens and strangers on earth. *People who say such things show that they are looking for a country of their own. *If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. *Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them. *

 

LiveJournal Tags: belief,emotions,faith,god,heart,heaven,jesus,knowledge,love,mind,New Jerusalem,rapture,strength,trust,understanding

The Hall of Faith

Hebrews 11 is often called "the hall of faith" and is one of my favorite chapters, especially when I need encouragement. It reminds me of so very much.

One of the first things it reminds me of is that God has set us apart from the rest of this world. It's more then that though. While it's quite true that God has called us to be separate from the world, we obviously still have to live in it. In Hebrews 11:13–16, as in other places, He tells us how we're to do that, what our frame of mind is to be. After all, we grow up used to thinking of this earth as our home and we know that the only way to change a habit is to replace it with a different one. Here God tells us what we're to replace that habit of thinking with.

Instead of thinking of this world as our home, we're to consider Heaven, New Jerusalem, our home. He says that we're not only to think of it as our home, but we're to "long for it". That chapter in Hebrews shows us more then 16 different people who longed for their real home instead of some great mansion on earth, and some of the terrible hardships they suffered while they were here.

Now that doesn't exactly sound comforting does it? The hardships part I mean. But it really is in a couple of ways. First, it confirms for us that people of faith (for that's what these people are commended for) DO go through horrible hardships. It lets us know that the prosperity gospel's teaching that hardships are caused by lack of faith is way off base. Therefore we don't have to wonder or worry that our own faith is lacking because of the hardships we go through. I haven't seen or heard of a single prosperity preacher who's faith was anywhere near that of any of the folks named in this chapter, and yet they hold themselves up as examples. God's Word doesn't lie though, we know we can trust it, and His Word tells us that no matter how much faith you have, hardships, trials, sickness, death, and sorrow, will come your way. It's quite a comfort and very freeing to know that according to God, these things don't happen to us because of lack of faith.

There's another lesson in these hardships they faced for us too. We notice that it wasn't the hardships that caused them to yearn after their heavenly Home. That surprised me at first, but if you read it carefully, and you study the OT that tells about each of them, you find that they all yearned for their real homes before there was any hardship to cause it. So they weren't just longing to escape their troubles here and that's a major thing to consider. If they weren't longing for that, then what were they longing for that Home for?

The only way I know of to determine things like that, besides studying their lives, is to ask myself, why I'd get homesick at times when I was away from home as a child. That was easy...I wasn't longing for the house, or my toys, I wanted my Mom and Dad! And that, my friends, is what these folks were longing for: they longed for their heavenly Father and their Savior. "Home" was where He was!
There is a danger here that we need to be aware of though. I've heard of orphans who would feel "homesick" although they'd never had a real home that they could remember. What they were really homesick for was what for them was an "ideal" of what they thought home would be like-generally the opposite of what they'd experienced and usually not anything like the reality of what even the best homes are like. There are abused women who are heartbroken when their husband who's been abusing them leaves them. They think it's because they love their husband and he doesn't love them anymore, but he never did really love them, so why all of a sudden are the heart broken? It's because they no longer have the chance of the dream of the ideal marriage with them that they wanted. It's the dream or ideal that's gone; the reality certainly isn't worth being heartbroken over. There's a real danger of that with the Lord too.

We need to be sure that we're like those people who are mentioned in the hall of faith, that we truly love the Lord and not just our idea of who He is. You see, our ideas won't hold up under the pressure of severe trials, hardship and disappointment, but the real Lord will. We need to be sure that our faith and love is for the Lord and that we know Him well.

When we look at the people in the hall of faith, we see that they didn't even get what was promised and yet they still loved Him and their faith was still strong. That's the kind of love and faith we need to have. When they longed for their real Home and for the Lord, it wasn't for some pie in the sky made up mansion they'd dreamed up, but they longed to be with the God of Israel, who they knew well and thought of with great love.

It always reminds me of Daniel's 3 friends, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego when the King threatened to throw them in the furnace. They told him that while their God could save them, that they would worship Him and only Him, even if He chose not to save them! Now that's faith! More, that's love! And that's the kind of faith and love all the people mentioned in the hall of faith had. Daniel and his friends were really still kids when this happened. They were perhaps around 18 years old. Can you imagine an 18 year old today that would love the Lord and trust Him that much?

When we compare our lives to those in the Hall of faith, we often don't see the love, faith, joy or hope demonstrated in our own lives. When we look at ourselves and at others at church, we often don't see many who obviously truly long to be with the Lord, and don't know anything about New Jerusalem or Heaven. How can that be when we have an even greater reason for it then they did?

That's actually a sign of the times we live in. I don't say that to excuse it, for it's still inexcusable, but only as a fact that the Lord knew this would happen before He returned. Thankfully there is a "cure" for it though. I'll talk about all this in my next post.

 

LiveJournal Tags: emotions,faith,god,heart,jesus,knowledge,love,mind,strength,understanding