Study-Grow-Know Ministries

I've been doing a good deal of thinking lately about why God seems to delay in meting out justice at times, yet at other times, He seems to move fairly quickly to resolve something. There are many examples in Scripture where God's patience seems to have no end in sight, then He finally moves. In other examples, it only takes a person one misstep and God reaches out to deal with it. Why is that?

We are responsible to "put off" and "put on" with the help of the Spirit within us. We must make the active decision here. Tim notes that when we angrily react to something, we are not using faith at all. We are simply being pushed by our feelings. If we consider the state of much of society, we see large portions of the population devoid of self-control. They simply react to whatever circumstance they encounter, usually in anger. Reacting like this is not loving.

The problem though is God always sees through our charades and caricatures. He wants us to stop doing that and by faith, cease from self-effort and simply live His will in His strength. This is probably the most difficult lesson of Christianity to learn and it is fully tied to our sanctification. We must learn to enter into His rest and that only comes when we stop trying to get things done using our own power.

In Jeremiah 33, we see that the prophet Jeremiah was still in prison but received another message from the Lord. God promises to fight for Judah and announces that her enemies would end up dead. None of this is based on Israel's response to God because they continued in their rebellion and disobedience, which is why God needed to purge once again rebels in that nation. However, He was also looking forward to a time when another Israelite generation would exist, a generation that would be obedient to Him. Because of this, the Lord would bring about Judah's healing and prosperity.

The book of Hebrews contains warnings to its readers in Hebrews 2, 4, 6, 10 and 12. It is extremely easy to miss the point of the warnings by taking from them meaning that doesn't belong if people fail to comprehend the background and context of the situation. I don't have time or space to go over each chapter and every verse. Suffice it to say that Hebrews opens with the writer expressing the fact that Jesus is supreme and His supremacy is over all things and all religious systems, including the Mosaic sacrificial system. This point is brought out in various ways throughout Hebrews and we need to take note of it.

Regardless of what you might believe about a Christian and self-defense, I still insist that being aware of your surroundings is the first and best alternative to being oblivious to what is going on around you. I contend that if a person is fully aware of what is going on around them, the chances of them being the victim are slimmer. Too many people walk through life clueless. They are lost in thought, lost on their phones or simply unaware of what might be transpiring around them. People who are aware do not often become victims. If you do not believe Christians have the right to defend themselves, then at least be willing to be thoroughly focused on what is going on around you. This alone is likely to make you much less of a victim.

Jeremiah had been imprisoned at this time by King Zedekiah for preaching against Jerusalem saying Babylon would destroy the city. It's also interesting that God prompted Jeremiah to purchase land from his cousin while in prison. This was a test by God because the land was already in possession by Nebuchadnezzar. God commanded Jeremiah to take the Land even though Nebuchadnezzar was ready to take Jerusalem! (v25) Kind of weird but if we consider that God was essentially telling Jeremiah that He would be victorious over Nebuchadnezzar after He finished using the king for His purposes for Israel. In essence God is saying that the Land would come back to Israel eventually.

If we are not careful, we believers can easily become legalistic in our approach to living for God. I've attended churches in the past who were right on doctrinally. I could go down the list and go, "Yep, yep, yes, that's right" etc., but in numerous cases, the people themselves were somewhat cold, legalistic in their approach to service and to God. Why? I believe it's because they failed to recognize the connection between having a heart of flesh (created by God), which more naturally prompts a person to live accordingly versus doing things with little to no desire but doing them because you should. There is a world of difference between these two things.

We've already begun to see God moving. Aside from our time spent with Erich, just hanging out with him and helping him through situations, his neighbor and her son really care about Erich. They are Christians and have invited him to their church. We've encouraged them to keep doing that and we've encouraged Erich to go. She loves Erich because he reminds her of her younger son. She is such a major help to us and suggested Silvia take power of attorney over Erich's medical situation if Erich approves. We discussed it to Erich and he is fine with it so we've begun the process. This will be a load off his mind as Silvia can keep up to date with his medical situation, make appointments for him and stay in touch with doctors who oversee his care. This is also a tangible way to love Erich because he is clueless about this situation. He didn't even know how to set up his voice mail so we got that set up for him.

I asked my wife if she ever felt as though she was kind of hovering between earth and heaven; not fully here in this life, but not yet in heaven? The reason I asked was because that's the way I've felt and I thought that was a bit strange. Her answer surprised me. She stated without hesitation that she certainly did feel as though she wasn't fully grounded in this life anymore because of the fact that she looked forward to being with our Lord in heaven. This does not mean (for me or her), that we do not like this life. It simply means that we both understand there is a higher calling on our lives and it will only find its full meaning when this life ends and we are both safely and permanently with our Lord. While we see tremendous evil occurring throughout society, we also know it has not reached its zenith yet, but will one day. This is certainly part of the reason that we both feel somewhat of a disassociation between life here on earth and what it so to come in eternity.

In Luke 7:36-50, we read the very tender story of a woman who had the audacity to anoint Jesus with very expensive perfume oil. This was done by her as an act of pure love (in preparation for His death as it turns out). The most amazing thing here? She went into the home of a Pharisee to do this! Her very presence in Simon the Pharisee's home meant it created a huge social problem for him. She would have been considered "unclean" and therefore, his home would have been considered that as well, due to her presence.

God had decreed that King Nebuchadnezzar would reign and any nation that did not willingly come under his rule would be punished "with the sword, the famine, and the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand." This message also summarized the content of chapters 7-10. If the Judahites continued to reject the LORD, and disobey the Mosaic Covenant, He would destroy the temple and Jerusalem completely. The temple would suffer complete destruction, and Jerusalem would become a curse, namely, an object of ridicule and an example of horrible suffering. Jeremiah also warned the people about the false prophets and told them not to listen to them. Theses prophets were lying by saying the people of Judah would not serve Babylon. It's what many wanted to hear (including the king), but it was not the truth.

We should also always let go of and deny the temptation for revenge or vengeance. In truth this can only be done through our willingness to do so and the cooperation or practice of it over time with God's help. This can become easier to do over time. It's not as though people will stop offending us through words or actions, is it? As time progresses, while it's doubtful we will be perfect at forgiving right out of the gate, we need to consciously decide to obey God in forgiving (or forbearing), in each instance, fully leaning on God for His strength and empowerment to do so.

Because of who God is, His great love for us and His willingness to forgive us for all the offences we have committed, are committing and will commit against Him, a great portion of that salvation is the ongoing forgiveness He extends to us. He did not have to do that, yet He did. How can we not offer quick and total forgiveness from the heart to those who harm us in one way or another?

Jeremiah 23, 24 and 25 deliver stern warnings of judgment against corrupt leaders, false prophets, and a disobedient Judah, culminating in the prophecy of a 70-year Babylonian captivity. Interestingly enough, in the midst of these threats, God promises to raise a Righteous Branch (Messiah) from David's line. Further, —God will restore the remnant, while also pronouncing judgment on Babylon itself as well as other nations that set themselves against Israel.

Here's insight that may help. Your love for God and other people will grow to the degree that you understand what you have been saved from. The more we gain understanding and enlightenment on just what God has saved us from, the greater our love and our devotion to God will become. This is what grows our love for Him, resulting in a true desire to be more obedient to Him in all things. This then, in turn, causes us to be greater evangelists for God, presenting the Gospel to people we come in contact with throughout the day. Why? Because of our increasing love for God and them.

Jesus was never captivated and controlled by fear, worry or anxiety. He had a completely different perspective than we often do and He simply continued on, loving people by doing loving things for them in spite of how He might have been tempted to think and feel. I'm quite sure that Jesus was tempted time and time again to give into the fear of many circumstances (real or imagined) as we are today, yet He never followed the urges to protect self (Hebrews 4:15) by giving into fear leading to worry and anxiety. As believers, we need to act in a way that shows our love for God and others. We cannot do that and engage in fear, worry or anxiety. The two - love and fear - are opposed to one another. We can do one or the other, but not both at the same time.

Imagine what it must have been like to see the armies of Babylon gathering outside the walls of Jerusalem? God had warned and warned, yet to no avail. The Babylonians were hardcore soldiers. They not only knew how to fight, defeat and slaughter their opponents, but they knew how to build siege ramps that allowed them to climb over any way. So even though Jerusalem was surrounded by a huge wall, Nebuchadnezzar's armies would gain access over it. So imagine how that felt to the people inside Jerusalem. Daily they heard the noise and saw the effort put in by Babylon's soldiers to build the ramp that would allow them to gain access to Jerusalem. Imagine the terror the people of Jerusalem felt.

Many in Israel wanted Jeremiah dead because of what he said. They wanted to kill him because of words which happened to be truth that they did not like. We see this happening today as well in and outside Christendom as people do not want to hear the truth. Moreover, truth is attacked and negated throughout society because it is inconvenient and people do not want to hear it. In response, Jeremiah offers laments to God and asks that He rebuke the people strongly. Jeremiah was angry at the state of Israel and wanted God to act based on what He promised to do to that nation.

For those Christians who believe that the Christian's job is to change the tone of society by preaching the Gospel to people with the result being conversion, I'd like to respectfully ask that they think again. By being involved in transforming society, the focus shifts from the person of the unbeliever to the condition of society. While theoretically yes, people who become Christians can have a positive effect on society, there is no guarantee that this will happen.