Special

 

 

Luke 1:13 "But the angel said to him, “Do not be afraid, Zechariah, because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John."  With these words a miracle took place and the one who would be known as John the Baptist was born. John was special and called to a special purpose however, does that mean that the rest of us aren't special? No we all have a place where God wants to use us in His plans. We are all people of great worth that Jesus died for. We are all equally loved by God. Yes, John had a special place in time but so did a lot of others who we are never introduced to in the Bible or in history. 

There are people whom God had given special miracles to that God has called to do great things and there are people who God performed a miracle on and we see nothing obvious as a result. So what is the correct result to being given a miracle or as some may say being a miracle? First, unless there comes a call from God with it (there rarely is in the Bible or now) then all God wants from you is to live faithfully for him, which I may add is what God wants from all of us. 

There is a mindset in the world that if you have been given a miracle then God has to be calling you to do something hard, difficult, or challenging. Sometimes that is the case, I believe Isaiah's vision in chapter 6 of his book isn't his call to ministry he was already in ministry but it was a gift to help him in the challenges he was going to face and a picture of God to us. However, there were a multitude of miracles given to people as I mentioned earlier who after didn't do anything of note in the Scriptures. Miracles aren't a quid pro quo. God gives you this now you have to do something to deserve it. Miracles are just an example of God's grace and love for those he loves. Perhaps were should let them be that and not expect more of others or ourselves. 

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Isaiah 36

 

There are two things that the commander of the Assyrians is incorrect about. First, he assumes that since Hezekiah removed the false places of worship this was going to make God angry. It isn't. God commanded that those places never be built and throughout the history of Israel and Judah God commanded them destroyed. The Assyrians didn't understand the worship of God. It is like today when someone tries to do what is right according to Scripture but someone accuses them of not "showing God's love," "Not judging," or other modern interpretation of what the world thinks the church ought to do. Hezikaih ignored it and so should we. The second is that God has promised to give Assyria victory. This could be an outright lie or it could be that they had heard the prophecy of Isaiah (chapter 7) and took it to mean more than it did. If it's the second then this is also something we see today, people take scriptures and interpret them according to what serves them best. 

The lesson for us is not to make the same mistakes as Assyria did. It didn't end well for them and it won't for us either.

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Job 31

 The question we may need to ask here is are the words of Job in this chapter words that we can say? Not the question of why God is allowing bad things but are we living as Job did? Are we living a righteous life, especially now that we have committed to follow Christ? 

Do we look at others lustfully?

Do we lie?

Do we covet?

Do I commit sexual sins?

Do I cheat/shortchange my employees?

Do I see others as equals?

Do I ignore the needs of the poor?

Do I display selfishness?

Do I take advantage of the less fortunate?

Do I trust in my wealth?

Do I show froth greed?

Do I take bribes?

Do I rejoice when my enemy falls?

Do I curse others?

Do I help the homeless and the foreigners?

Do I hide my sins?

Do I fear the crowd/world?

Am I willing to accept the consequences of my actions?

Job answered these questions honestly are you willing to?

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Acts 11

 

Christian- The believers were first called this in Antioch. It is debated if this was a name of derision or just a nickname given to the group who were following this Jewish Messiah. It was probably given to the believers by the Gentiles as the Jews would not have said that the believers were following the Messiah. Whatever the original intent the believers took this name they were being called and adopted it. For the believer, we indeed follow Christ. We long to live like be identified with Christ. Yes, it may have been a joke or something benign, but either way, it fits and the believers took it as a badge of honor. It should be still today though some have soiled it. 

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Proverbs 7

 

Before Solomon goes into the dangers of being seduced, something he seems to know a lot about though not with married women, Solomon advises his son to keep his words and store up his commands in verses 1-4. When we apply this to God this is great advice. The thing that gets my attention here is that there are only three words about keeping the commands. The rest of the time he talks about why to hold on to them and have them readily available. If I were to say it in modern terms I might say, memorize what I have taught, keep a copy of them close by, fall in love with them. When it comes to Christianity, do you know your Bible? Do you have a method to get to the information you don't have memorized? Do you love God's word? If you do then you will have protection against all sin not just adultery.

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Exodus 24

Okay guys, Keep everyone in line while I'm gone. 

 "He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them'” (verse 14).

Here we see a name that isn't mentioned a lot in the Scriptures, Hur. We see Hur back in chapter 17 holding up the hands of Moses with Aaron until the victory is complete over the Malikites. Later Hur's grandson will be the head artisan in the designing and building of the Tabernacle. Beyond that, there is little to be known about him. He is absent in the story of the golden calf so either he wasn't directly involved, or that wasn't his responsibility. He may have disagreed, but the Scriptures don't speak to this. Some think that Arron may have been the ecclesiastical authority (religious) and Hur the civil authority but Aaron isn't appointed high priest until later so this is just speculation. Hur was by all indications a man that was trusted and respected. He was a man God could use. Though he was a leader we don't see him striving to get more. We see a man willing to hold up the hands of those God was using and willing to do the job given to him. May it be said the same for us. 

What we do see is that Moses left the Children of Israel with leaders, Arron, Hur, and the seventy elders, to keep them until he returned. All of these had just had dinner with God, after physically hearing the Ten Commandments, so one would think they were as ready as they could be for Moses to be gone. Maybe not.

Exodus 23

 

As we will see in other places God demands the people to be just. He tells them in this chapter not to show partiality to the poor but also not to deny the poor justice. God is saying that right is right if you have money or not. If the rich person is correct vote in their favor but if the poor person is right vote in their favor even if the rich person offers a bribe. When it came to law it was to be blind to social class. It is pointed out here (verse 2) and in other places in scripture to not go along with what is popular or profitable but to judge by what is true and right. If you say "I'm in favor of the rich" or "I'm in favor of the poor" you are wrong. We need to be in favor of what is just, fair, and right.  

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