Micah 7:7-8

But as for me, I will look to the Lord;
I will wait for the God of my salvation;
my God will hear me.
Rejoice not over me, O my enemy;
when I fall, I shall rise;
when I sit in darkness, the Lord will be a light to me.

He is Jealous for you!

You adulterous people! Do you not know that friendship with the world is enmity with God? Therefore whoever wishes to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. Or do you suppose it is to no purpose that the Scripture says, "He yearns jealously over the spirit that he has made to dwell in us"? But he gives more grace. Therefore it says, "God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble."

I feel heavily the adulterous longings of the old man still in me today. I feel wretched and hopeless, but I remembered that he who is in me is greater than he who is in the world, and that it doesn't depend on the man who runs or wills, but on God who has mercy.

He yearns jealously over the spirit he made to dwell in me. I take this to mean he will not let me utterly slip away to ruin. He made a spirit to dwell in me, and he's jealous over it. He will go head to head with my opponents for me, just like I will take out anyone or anything that stands in the way of me and my wife and children.

Our right standing with God is not dependent on how well the day goes, but on how well Jesus lived, which was perfectly. We have been filled with Jesus, therefore our days are well, forever!

A line from one of my favorite hymns, "I am his, and he is mine!" This is true and worthy of rememberance when I feel my heart pull toward things that are but a shadow of a thought of satisfaction.

Suffering

As I spend time reading the new testament concerning suffering, it seems to me that it is in fact a central concept. I have heard mentioned a few times in the past few weeks at small group that BBC focus on suffering, while other churches focus on etc, etc, etc...

This morning I realized perhaps what is going on. The new testament talks about it in a way that's like this, "and after you have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, confirm, strengthen, and establish you!" This is encouraging right?! At BBC it seems to be more like this, "you're going to suffer if you're a Christian, this life isn't easy, deal with it!" Not really encouraging to me.

(I'm making a point here so I'm being drastic about it...)

But I think the real difference is that the NT talks about it in a way that focus more on the end result of the suffering, namely your reward in heaven, and BBC talks about it in a way that mainly combats the American, fluffy, desire to be happy and have everything handed to us on a platter, complaining spirit (which I'm never guilty of). I don't thing BBC has a wrong view, I think they're probably just trying to not foster a "lazy" spirit.

What do you think? I think I'm on to something here. Realizing this will help me hear it now and deal with it more healthily.

Stinkin English (Language)!

"And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh." Ez 36: 26-27

"My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest." Ex 33:14

"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Matt 11:28

"Be faithful unto death, and I will give you the crown of life." Rev 2:10

"And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever..." John 14:16

"Think over what I say, for the Lord will give you understanding in everything." 2 Tim 2:7

"...and he will give you the desires of your heart." Ps 37: 4b

So, do you think the Psalm 37 reference should be taken literally like the above texts, or do you think they should have translated it "fulfill"?

How have you always understood this text? This text has always confused me. I hear people reference it like it means he will "fulfill" the desires you have, but it reads like he will "put the desires in you."

It seems recently that I'm really baffled by the word choices they use in Bible translations. I suppose they just want to be consistent and translate a word the same every time it's used.

Someone should make a translation for white, middle class, 30 year-olds who were raised in a rural setting but now live in the metro as a carpenter.

Thoughts?

From Faith For Faith

“The righteous shall live by his faith” Habakkuk 2:4

I was reading in Habakkuk this morning and wanted to pass on some encouragement. Paul quotes the verse above twice in his epistles. He writes that in the Gospel the righteousness of God is revealed “from faith for faith." (Rom 1:17) What does this mean?

In Galatians 3:11-14 says “it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law… Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us… so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the nations, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.” No one is justified before God by their own works of righteousness according to the law, because this is not reliant on the faithfulness of God, but on the faithfulness of humans. The life of faith is built upon the faithfulness of God!


Application for me this morning (simple yet hard for me to grasp): the life of faith is NOT based on my own faithfulness to God!! It is based on His faithfulness to me, as one who He has grafted in to the faithful remnant of His people. We are being made faithful because He IS faithful!!

From faith (His faithfulness to us) for faith (the life of faith in Him)

(See also Micah 7:18-20)

-B

luke 9:23-27

What do you think Jesus means when he says, "...there are some standing here who will not taste death until they see the Kingdom of God."