Weekly Bible Verse – Preparing for Blessing
And he said, “This is what the LORD says: Make this valley full of ditches. For this is what the LORD says: You will see neither wind nor rain, yet this valley will be filled with water, and you, your cattle and your other animals will drink. 2 Kings 3:16-17 (NIV)
The armies of Judah and Israel were out in the middle of the desert with no water and they were getting scared. They were on their way to Moab but now they were concerned that they were not even going to make it to the battle. They inquired of Elisha the prophet and this was the word passed to them from God through Elisha. Obediently, they dug the trenches and one morning they looked and mysteriously saw water coming from Edom and filling up their trenches such that they and their animals had plenty of water to drink.
And just what does this verse have to do with personal finances, you ask? It’s a verse about “blessing” so bear with me here! The armies needed to be blessed by God and they were, miraculously. I’d venture that each of us would welcome a blessing from God (I know I would) whether it be in the area of finances or whatever. So, let’s examine this passage in more detail.
First we see that the armies were concerned. They had a big problem and didn’t know how to solve it. Plus this problem was spilling over into other areas of their lives as they were worried they would be unsuccessful in their battle with their enemy. Are they any big problems in your life that you don’t know how to solve? Let’s look at the steps they followed in this story:
1. Go to God: Note what they did with their problem – they went down to a prophet of God, Elisha, to find out what God was going to do in this situation. I think that was definitely the correct decision. If you’re facing a giant of a problem, remember that God is the biggest giant of them all.
2. Prepare for the blessing: Now the prophet told them to do something strange; he told them to dig a bunch of ditches in the middle of the desert. This might seem like a pointless exercise to you and it might have seen pointless to them, too….but they did it. They were obedient to God and dug the ditches. They had to believe that God was going to give them the blessing and they had to put in some hard work to prepare for it.
The armies dug the ditches and the water came. There is a bit more to the story though. When the Moabites woke up they saw reflections off of the water from the early morning sun. It reflected red so they thought they armies of Judah and Israel and Edom had attacked and killed each other. The Moabites then rushed out to take the spoil only to be surprised and quickly defeated by the armies.
If you think about it, their biggest concern of having no water and thus losing the battle to Moab actually led to their victory! They went to God and were obedient to Him. As a result, their immediate need for water was taken care of and their ultimate need for victory was facilitated through the blessing. Amazing!
So what exactly does this mean for each of us? How exactly should we prepare for the blessing from God? Well, that’s a hard question to answer. I would guess it would be a very individualized answer for each one of us. What I do know is that we need to take our concerns to God with the assurance that he cares for us and will bless us.
God bless (prepare for it!) and have a great week…
Weekly Bible Verse – Church on Sunday and Cheating on Monday
Listen to this, you who rob the poor and trample down the needy! You can’t wait for the Sabbath day to be over and the religious festivals to end so you can get back to cheating the helpless. You measure out grain with dishonest measures and cheat the buyer with dishonest scales. And you mix the grain you sell with chaff swept from the floor. Then you enslave poor people for one piece of silver or a pair of sandals. Now the Lord has sworn this oath by his own name, the Pride of Israel: “I will never forget the wicked things you have done!” Amos 8:4-7 (NLT)
Wow, this is a pretty harsh word from God today (Amos is not exactly the cheeriest book in the Bible) – He will never forget the “wicked things” being done. Of course, it is quite obvious that this is not the proper way to act – robbing the poor, trampling down the needy, cheating the buyer, enslaving the poor – yeah, not a great way to get on God’s good side.
What really struck me about this passage, however, is what is found in the beginning of verse 5. The people couldn’t wait for the Sabbath to end or the religious festivals to conclude so they could get back to lying, cheating, and stealing. That means that they were observing the Sabbath and the religious festivals! They cared so little about their fellow man, yet they observed God’s commandments regarding the Sabbath and the festivals. Certainly God saw right through this charade to their true character and, as it says, He would “never forget” their wickedness.
I think this is a cautionary tale relevant for our lives today as well. This is yet another example from the Bible where the desire for monetary gain leads to sin. Does that desire for money drive us to do things we know we should not? Are we compartmentalizing our lives to such an extent that we could be guilty of attending church on Sunday morning and Wednesday evening but spending the remainder of the week cheating those around us for financial gain? If so, God is not impressed by our feeble attempts to placate him by doing the whole church thing. Remember, God doesn’t want us to “do church” He wants to us to “be the church.” God’s church is not a building – it’s His people.
God bless and have a great week being the church…
Weekly Bible Verse – Unlocking God’s Blessing
You hoped for rich harvests, but they were poor. And when you brought your harvest home, I blew it away. Why? Because my house lies in ruins, says the LORD Almighty, while you are all busy building your own fine houses. Haggai 1:9 (NLT)
Have you ever wondered why some people seem to be blessed financially more than you? Certainly there are myriad possible reasons for this (including maybe you are just greedy and your dearth of blessing is just in your imagination to maybe you are just greedy and God knows you would not be able to properly handle large finances). Seriously, there are a bunch of different possibilities – too many to list in this post. This verse from Haggai, however, might explain one reason for a lack of financial blessing.
Personally, I see the theme of priorities running throughout the Bible. As far as priority number one in our lives, that should belong to God! We see here in this verse from Haggai that the people had gotten their priorities all out of whack. They had been spending time and money building their “paneled houses” while the Lord’s house remained in ruins. As we can see, God did not take kindly to that flipping of priorities and eventually diminished their harvests and blessings in order to get their attention.
Reflect on your own life and your priorities therein. Are you mixing up your list of priorities? Are you devoting too much of your time to pursuing your own selfish desires rather than pursuing God? Are you giving of your firstfruits to God’s kingdom or what little is left at the end of the month? If you don’t feel like you are experiencing God’s “abundant life,” maybe it is because those priorities are not lined up with God’s – just something to ponder.
God bless and have a great week…
Weekly Bible Verse – He is Risen!
For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life through Christ Jesus our Lord. Romans 6:23 (NLT)
A few days ago, we remembered Good Friday, the day Jesus was crucified and died for each of our sins about two-thousand years ago. On that day, I shared with you the first part of Romans 6:23 reminding us all that our sin produces eternal separation from God. Yesterday, we celebrated Easter – the day that Jesus defeated death and actually rose from his grave! Easter enables me to share the rest of the story, as it were. Yes, it is true that sin produces death, but Jesus has overcome this. Now, it is also true that God, though Jesus, has provided for us the free gift of eternal life with God in heaven!
If you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. Romans 10:9 (NLT)
Of course, you have to receive a gift and Romans 10:9 tells us how to do that. While it is true that God provides us this free gift, it is still remarkably hard for some to simply accept it. I think this second verse tells us why – because you have to confess that Jesus is Lord and our pride typically makes is very hard to do this. Dictionary.com shows the definition of lord as “a person who has authority, control, or power over others; a master, chief, or ruler.” It is very difficult for a person to cede that authority and control to someone else, even if it is God. Thus many people end up “doing” stuff to gain God’s favor so that they can earn eternal life. They want the life, they just also want the control. Unfortunately, you can’t have both.
Furthermore, you also have to believe that God raised Jesus from the dead which is certainly a fantastic claim. Getting into the details of all the claims against and evidence for the resurrection is a discussion for another forum. Personally, I do believe that it did occur and that it was an amazing, supernatural, out-of-the-ordinary event. Then again, is a God worthy of worship and praise if He can’t accomplish the fantastic supernatural every once in a while?
I leave you with what I found to be a very profound quote that speaks directly to this topic:
“The evidence for Jesus’ resurrection is so strong that nobody would question it except for two things: First, it is a very unusual event. And second, if you believe it happened, you have to change the way you live.” Wolfhart Pannenberg
God bless, accept the Gift, and have a great week…
Bonus Weekly Bible Verse – The Wages of What?!
For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Romans 3:23 (NLT)
For the wages of sin is death Romans 6:23a (NLT)
If you look at the story painted by these two Bible verses, it is not a pretty one. First, “everyone” sins. Everyone. Not only that guy sitting in prison, but also me. Also you! We all fall short of the standard that God has set for his creation.
So we all sin, so what? So, our just reward for sin is death, that’s what! Everyone dies, so what does “death” mean in this verse. Death means eternal separation from God. You may have heard it referred to as “the second death.” Everyone dies here on earth where we proceed to heavenly judgment. If you fall short of the mark there, then you’re in real trouble and you get to experience the rest of eternity absent from God.
Remember, the earth right now is a fallen place, it is messed up because of Adam’s original sin; this is not the way things were meant to be. That being said, the world still has people in it who love God, people who are imbued by the Holy Spirit. God still works in this world. And if you think our world is bad now, can you imagine what a place would be like that is completely separated from God or any of His influence?
Today we remember the day that Jesus was crucified. It was maybe the darkest day in the history of creation. It happened in part because of the two verses above.
To be continued…
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