Tag: Old Testament Prophets

Today’s Word is BLAME

Mon-Apr-27-2020

I have ministered to many, many people who are looking for someone or something to blame for the difficulties they are going through. We often want to tell this person the wonderful verse from Jeremiah 29:11 that says, “For I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans for welfare and not for evil, to give you a future and a hope.”

Many people know this verse and are encouraged by it. It sounds like it is especially addressed to someone who is not prospering or has been harmed, or perhaps someone who feels like the future holds no hope. By this verse we are reminded that God is not the one who is the perpetrator of the terrible things that happen in our lives. I am thankful that I did not grow up blaming God for things, but some people have developed the tendency to accuse him of doing them harm. These are the ones who resent this verse. It seems to them to be a false promise.

Perhaps they feel as though they have been lied to. They do not see prosperity or a hopeful future. Rather, based on their terrible lot in life, they have become weary of relying on hope, and now would rather get a secondary satisfaction out of finding someone to blame.

If you are one of those, I suspect it is because you may have had more than your share of difficulties, tragedies, and abusive or harmful circumstances. It seems unfair and maybe you direct the blame toward God simply because you can’t think of anyone else to take it out on. After all, he’s the great “fixer,” isn’t he?

The path to overcoming this resentment involves reinterpreting our expectations of what life is meant to be like. We must admit that no person will escape difficulty at some time. And at those points, would we be willing to let someone comfort us, even though they do not fix the problem? If we cannot release our problem in exchange for warmth and acceptance, this is an admission that all of life is about “me” and essentially a declaration that I cannot be satisfied, since life will never go perfectly for me or anyone. I am thus waiting for the impossible.

Jeremiah 29:11 is not about a formula for success by which we become happy when good things finally start to happen. It is more about a relationship with a loving God who meets us in the middle of the ups and downs of life and walks us through them. The hope and the future of which God speaks is that of being loved and accepted. This is hope … that I will make it. I don’t have to know “how” I will make it, but only that God will never forsake or abandon me. At those times when we may feel disappointed or even abandoned, the Scripture says this,

Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you. You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart. I will be found by you, declares the Lord, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the Lord, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile. (Jeremiah 29:12-14)

This is describing the Captivity of the Jews in Babylon. The great truth is that God heard their cry and came to them. No nation, no evil, no bad thing can keep us in its grasp forever when we belong to God. We keep seeking him “with all our heart.” Notice that the promise to restore their “fortune” is not so much about wealth, but rather he said we would “bring them back” to their original place with God.

Did God put you in the places of difficulty or “captivity”? So it seems, by this Scripture. But remember, the Old Testament is a story of learning what God is like, and we learn by experience. Would reading an explanation of restoration teach us well enough? Not for me. It is by being in the place of captivity, feeling the despair, longing for being home and at rest that I learn by experiencing, internalizing, and claiming the beauty and victory of restoration and peace.

This is God’s plan for a hope and a future, that he goes with us into our wildernesses, allows our pain and struggle to teach us, and then restores that which was lost.

I cannot blame God for letting me learn the hard way. And I thank him that the great gift of his presence is my hope and my future.

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark

Today’s Word Is BELIEVING

Mon-Apr-6-2020

The old phrase, “seeing is believing,” is only half the truth. Do you really have to see something first to believe it, or are you supposed to believe it first before you can see it? In the ministry of Jesus, it happened both ways. Sometimes “believing precedes seeing.”

For instance … And behold, a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years came up behind him and touched the fringe of his garment, for she said to herself, “If I only touch his garment, I will be made well.” Jesus turned, and seeing her he said, “Take heart, daughter; your faith has made you well.” (Matthew 9:20-22) She believed first and as a result received her healing.

On the other hand, after Jesus had chosen his first disciples, he attended a wedding with his mother. It was there that he turned water to wine. “This, the first of his signs, Jesus did at Cana in Galilee, and manifested his glory. And his disciples believed in him.” (John 2:11) They saw first and then believed.

Both of these scenarios happened many times in the ministry of Jesus. Sometimes people believed first and then the miracle came. And as a result of that, many others believed after they saw it.

The reason I raise this question at the beginning of Holy Week is because the day is coming on Easter Sunday when something difficult to believe, from the world’s standpoint, is about to happen … the resurrection of Jesus. It was well-known that Jesus foretold this. Not only did his followers know it, but so did the Pharisees and Temple guards. After Jesus was put in the tomb, the following discussion took place.

The next day, that is, after the day of Preparation, the chief priests and the Pharisees gathered before Pilate and said, “Sir, we remember how that impostor said, while he was still alive, ‘After three days I will rise.’ Therefore order the tomb to be made secure until the third day, lest his disciples go and steal him away and tell the people, ‘He has risen from the dead,’ and the last fraud will be worse than the first.” (Matthew 27:62-64)

Jesus had begun his ministry at age 30, and up to that point in Jewish history, several resurrections had already happened that all Jews, especially the Pharisees, would know about. The prophet Elijah raised one. And the prophet Elisha raised one. Plus, there was the guy who, fortunately for him, had his dead body laid down in Elisha’s grave, and then came to life!

And now, here was Jesus, hundreds of years after the prophets, saying publicly, at least indirectly, that he was the Chosen One, and seemingly saying that his death was imminent, and even further, comparing himself to Jonah’s three days in the whale. (See Matthew 12 below.) He was explaining prophecies about the death and resurrection of the Messiah that were not being taught in the synagogues!

So, let’s go to one week before the annual Passover celebration in the third and final year of Jesus’ ministry, when a sad thing happened … Jesus’ good friend Lazarus got sick and died. Then Jesus told [the disciples] plainly, “Lazarus has died, and for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe. But let us go to him.” (John 11:14-15) So, Jesus and the disciples journeyed to Bethany, arriving four days after his burial. This was a personal loss to Jesus, as he often stayed in the home of Lazarus and his two sisters, Mary and Martha.

When Jesus arrived, Martha said to Jesus, “Lord, if you had been here, my brother would not have died.” (John 11:21) And in verse 25, Jesus said to her, “I am the resurrection and the life. Whoever believes in me, though he die, yet shall he live, and everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. Do you believe this?”

I’m sure everyone there, including Martha, knew that Jesus had previously raised two from the dead, a widow’s son and an official’s daughter. But this was her brother. This was personal. That is the moment when we are tested greatly … when it is about “me.”

There are many times that my faith needs strengthening, and sometimes what I must do is relive this moment when Jesus looks Martha in the eye and says, “Do you believe this?” When I think of Jesus standing face-to-face in front of me, I pretty much start melting, and my eyes moisten. He is nothing but pure love. And whatever it is that I am having difficulty with, I can already begin to sense that he knows my struggle and that I am going to be alright.

I believe Jesus wanted Martha, when asked “Do you believe this?’, to immediately say “yes,” even though Lazarus was still dead. He wanted her to believe that there is a resurrection of faith and life about to happen.

What seems impossible to us is altogether possible for him. We don’t have to “see” in order to say, “I believe.”

Blessings,

Chaplain Mark

Matthew 12:38-41

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered him, saying, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from you.” 39 But he answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks for a sign, but no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For just as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something greater than Jonah is here.

Today’s Word Is PARADE

Fri-Apr-3-2020

I am not observing “Friday Humor Day” today or next Friday in deference to the Easter season. The next two Sundays, Palm Sunday and Easter, are the most significant of the year for us as Christians.

Now you may not be used to observing Palm Sunday or putting it up there at the top along with Easter. As Christians, we celebrate the birth of the King on Christmas. On Palm Sunday he declared it. On Easter, he proved it.

Just in case you don’t remember the details of Palm Sunday, I have placed it at the bottom, from Luke 19: 29-44. You scroll down and read it now if you need to.

After three years of Jesus’ ministry, filled with teachings and miracles, the Pharisees and other leaders were in the process of planning how to kill him. They were offended by his teachings in which he was clearly claiming to be the Messiah, the Chosen One of God. And they were losing their hold on the masses of people who followed him, common folks who found hope in him and were amazed at his miracles.

Jesus knew that the Pharisees’ opposition was a signal that the time had come to fulfill his purpose, the sacrifice of his life for the sins of the people. The approaching week was the annual celebration of the passover, a somber festival to remember their escape from bondage in Egypt. The Israelites had suffered as slaves in Egypt for 400 years, but God sent Moses to lead them out. God instructed them to sacrifice a lamb and place the blood on their doorposts, so that when the angel of death came he would “pass over” their houses and they would avoid the 10th and final plague of the killing of the firstborn. Passover was a remembrance of this.

So, as Jesus prepared to enter Jerusalem for this festival, he knew this would be the year of the ultimate Passover, with a capital P, in which the Lamb, with a capital L, would be sacrificed as an all-sufficient, one-time atonement for the past, present, and future sins of all humanity.

Before we proceed with the parade into town, take note that there are two kingdoms throughout history – the Kingdom of God and the kingdom of this world. A Messianic Jewish teacher, whose lessons I am reading, calls them the kingdom of Empire and the kingdom of Shalom (Hebrew for peace). Empire operates by power, wealth, and control. God’s Kingdom of Shalom operates by hospitality, humility, sacrifice, love, faith, and forgiveness.

In ancient history, a conquering warrior-king, who returned to his city after victory in battle, rode on a white stallion, a symbol of power. Jesus rode into Jerusalem that Sunday on a donkey, a symbol of humility. He was teaching us: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty. (Zechariah 4:6) As he rode along, crowds lined the roads, shouting his name as King, declaring the wonders of his miracles, and waving palm branches as a message of honor and peace and hope.

The world’s Empire power approach will never defeat the Kingdom of God. And Jesus, as the leader of the parade into Jerusalem, was proclaiming this truth. The Jewish power machine had tried to silence him. Now they were going to kill him. And he was going to allow them to do it.

The crucifixion and the resurrection of Jesus, coming up in the following week, would be the proof that it is God’s Kingdom that is forever. For us, there is a choice – Shalom or Empire – God’s way or the world’s way. If you choose God’s way, you can practice humility and sacrifice and never be defeated. The world’s attempt to kill Jesus was not counting on a resurrection. And that is what we count on.

We can recall the Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem when we need assurance. The people are shouting “king,” but his garment is not a royal robe; it is homespun and simple. He is not on a “warhorse,” but a beast of burden. His “court” is made up of fishermen and hated tax collectors. His “parade” is an array of common people.

Yet no pageant that ever passed through the streets of any city has so set its mark on time as this one. The triumphal entries of the Romans and all other empires have long since been forgotten or become irrelevant. But this one, with Jesus on a donkey, is known and retold in every detail, year after year, century after century.

Blessing you with peace as you follow God’s parade,

Chaplain Mark

NOTE: The Jewish teaching I referred to is called the Bema Podcast, by Marty Solomon, and is worth listening to on your favorite Podcast App.

The Triumphal Entry of Jesus into Jerusalem, which we call Palm Sunday, from Luke 19: 29-44

As he approached Bethphage and Bethany at the hill called the Mount of Olives, he sent two of his disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there, which no one has ever ridden. Untie it and bring it here. If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you untying it?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it.'” Those who were sent ahead went and found it just as he had told them. As they were untying the colt, its owners asked them, “Why are you untying the colt?” They replied, “The Lord needs it.”

They brought it to Jesus, threw their cloaks on the colt and put Jesus on it. As he went along, people spread their cloaks on the road. When he came near the place where the road goes down the Mount of Olives, the whole crowd of disciples began joyfully to praise God in loud voices for all the miracles they had seen: “Blessed is the king who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Peace in heaven and glory in the highest!”

Some of the Pharisees in the crowd said to Jesus, “Teacher, rebuke your disciples!” “I tell you,” he replied, “if they keep quiet, the stones will cry out.” As he approached Jerusalem and saw the city, he wept over it, and said, “If you, even you, had only known on this day what would bring you peace–but now it is hidden from your eyes. The days will come upon you when your enemies will build an embankment against you and encircle you and hem you in on every side. They will dash you to the ground, you and the children within your walls. They will not leave one stone on another, because you did not recognize the time of God’s coming to you.”

Today’s Word Is KNOWLEDGE

Fri-Mar-27-2020
It’s Humor Day!

One day, shortly after the birth of their new baby, the mother had to go out to run some errands. The proud papa stayed home to watch his wonderful new son.

Soon after the mother left, the baby started to cry. The father did everything he could think of doing, but the baby wouldn’t stop crying.

Finally, the dad got so worried that he decided to take the infant to the doctor. After the doctor listened to the father relate all that he had done to get the baby to stop crying, the doctor began to examine the baby’s ears, chest and then down to the diaper area. When he opened the diaper, he found that the diaper was indeed full.

“Here’s the problem,” the doctor said, “He needs to be changed!” The father was very perplexed, “But the diaper package says it is good for up to 10 lbs.!”

I’m pretty sure there are books somewhere about how to raise a child. I’m also sure that there are some parents who don’t know such materials exist, and others who wouldn’t read one even if it were laying on the coffee table. Lack of knowledge is a problem.

My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge. Because you have rejected knowledge, I also will reject you from being My priest. Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children. (Hosea 4:6)

According to research, 5% of Americans would be considered Bible-centered, meaning they interact with the Bible frequently, and it is transforming their relationships and shaping their choices. On the other hand, 46% would be classified as Bible-disengaged, having little or no Bible knowledge or interest. The other 49% lie somewhere in between.

Despite the abundance of biblical study materials and other books about growing in faith, many believers are poorly informed about the Bible or various principles of Christian living. Would it be safe to say about our world today that “my people are destroyed for lack of knowledge”?

And finally, were you astonished by the verse above in which God said, “Since you have forgotten the law of your God, I also will forget your children”? Well, since Hosea’s generation had rejected the knowledge of God, then the next generation’s hopes would seem to be even more bleak. God needed that present generation to wake up and repent so that their children could be taught.

I hope some of this has fanned your flame and encouraged you to dig in a little more. It has for me just in the process of writing this.

Have a blessed weekend,

Chaplain Mark