A time to reflect

 This week is a time to reflect on the reading and journaling you have done over the last 25 weeks. Our reading will begin again on July 1, 2024. 

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Isaiah 26

 I have heard it said by someone about their family and others about their employer that they "know where the bodies are buried." Hopefully, the people I was hearing were speaking metaphorically but originally it wasn't that way. A person would have an understood agreement with a criminal element that if they left them alone then they wouldn't tell the authorities where the bodies of the victims were hidden. The thing about it is the earth is normally really good about hiding bodies. I won't go into detail but usually, someone buried isn't going to be seen again. However, there is coming a day when according to the last verse of chapter 26 that won't be the case. There is coming a day when God judges the world that all the bodies are going to be found. The earth, nor anywhere else, will keep the truth from being discovered. 

This is a reminder that though we have never killed a person and hid a body, that no sin will be hidden from God. The solution therefore is to lay it before God and ask for mercy because it's better than way. Like my mom used to say, it's better for you to tell me the truth now than for me to find out the truth later. Mom typically did but not always. God always will find out, because it was never hidden from him in the first place. 

Job 21

 Listen to me. This is the request Job makes to his friends. It is the request secretly said in the hearts of many a person because what is happening in this world is usually that people don't listen. People prepare to answer rather than listen. Not just in political debates but in life. We are so busy trying to prove our point that we aren't listening to others. Job says in the second verse that if his friends would listen that would be the consultation he wants. The question for us, of course, is are we listening? 

Acts 1

 

As I write this I have just started the book Follow the Healer by Stephen Seaman*. In the very beginning, Seaman points out the scripture I had read and I believe preached on before Acts 1:1, but today his words inspired me to write. Seaman pointed out that all the great teachers of the world finished their work or I would add their work is done as they are dead. Jesus' work only began at his death and resurrection. His work continues today in us because He is in us.  We are called to bring the good news, heal the sick, and proclaim deliverance. We are the continuing ministry of the Savior and Healer.  

The question is, of course, Are we following a teacher or a healer? I would say we should be following both. Does this mean miraculous healing? Yes, I think it does, but what is easier healing a body or healing the soul? I think Jesus hinted that the body is easy (Matthew 9:5), which is why perhaps we don't see as many physical healings, but that is a different subject. What I will say is that we are called to bring the entire ministry of Jesus to the world. A ministry of transformations spiritual, mental, and physical. 

*I can't say at this point whether I will agree in part or entirely with his ideas. I suspect I will agree mostly with them. However,  this is my disclaimer. 

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Proverbs 5

 As I read this chapter, I consider the warning that indulging sexual desires outside of God's plan will lead to other people becoming enriched. One might think how is that, but when we consider the amount of money that is being made in the sex trade and pornography, we have to admit the money is coming from somewhere. It is coming from those who have chosen not to follow God's plan. It is coming from the people who are addicted and from the sex slavery that is taking place in the world. This is true about any addiction however, it makes one willing to give our wealth, our time, and actually our lives into the hands of someone else. We give our lives to people who don't care about us. How much wiser is it to put our lives in the hands of God.

    

Exodus 3

Do we send people away free but empty? I noticed at the end of this chapter God promises not just to give freedom but to provide finances for them. God not only gave them freedom but in a very real way a means to start a new life. He didn't just break them out of jail as it were but gave them the money to start living again. Later we will see in the Law that God will command when slaves are set free they are to be given funds to start their new life. Even spiritually Jesus offers the only Spirit to help us once we have been freed from our sins. To put it another way, God doesn't just free us, he gives us what we need to live free. 

Now it's up to us to see how we can apply that to our life and how we treat others. So what are you going to do? 

 

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Exodus 2

This chapter's last verse says God looked at the Israelites and was concerned for them. This sounds a bit like God may have been ignoring them up until now, but as we see the picture of God unfold in the Bible that isn't true. However, from our perspective, it definitely feels, at times, that God isn't paying attention. When God is prepared to move, he moves with knowledge and concern. The second part is what get my attention. God isn't moving just because of the covenant but He is moving because he is concerned. God cares what happens to us. A great picture of this is Jesus weeping over Jerusalem even though he knew they would reject him. God is concerned and that is why He moves. To say it another way, God is moved to help when the time is right and because he loves. 

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