God Sees It All, so...

Ecclesiastes 12:13 The end of the matter; all has been heard. Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the whole duty of man. 14 For God will bring every deed into judgment, with every secret thing, whether good or evil.
There is nothing new under the sun, that God has not seen. In fact, there is nothing He has never seen or will not see. God sees it all. This is from the pen of a man who did and saw so much: great wealth, powerful and beautiful people, any experience he would like to try.  He had lived life a full as he could, but no experience was beyond God's ability to see, control, and especially, to judge. God made us and made a plan for us. He gave us His instruction manual. He is the only Master Mechanic who is able to fix us.  He's the One we need to face and admit we have not done what the Manual instructs. So, simply put: follow the instructions; we all will face the One who made it all, including us. 

She is Always There, Worthy of Praise

10 An excellent wife who can find?
    She is far more precious than jewels.
11 The heart of her husband trusts in her,
    and he will have no lack of gain.
12 She does him good, and not harm,
    all the days of her life.
13 She seeks wool and flax,
    and works with willing hands.
14 She is like the ships of the merchant;
    she brings her food from afar.
15 She rises while it is yet night
    and provides food for her household
    and portions for her maidens.
16 She considers a field and buys it;
    with the fruit of her hands she plants a vineyard.
17 She dresses herself with strength
    and makes her arms strong.
18 She perceives that her merchandise is profitable.
    Her lamp does not go out at night.
19 She puts her hands to the distaff,
    and her hands hold the spindle.
20 She opens her hand to the poor
    and reaches out her hands to the needy.
21 She is not afraid of snow for her household,
    for all her household are clothed in scarlet.
22 She makes bed coverings for herself;
    her clothing is fine linen and purple.
23 Her husband is known in the gates
    when he sits among the elders of the land.
24 She makes linen garments and sells them;
    she delivers sashes to the merchant.
25 Strength and dignity are her clothing,
    and she laughs at the time to come.
26 She opens her mouth with wisdom,
    and the teaching of kindness is on her tongue.
27 She looks well to the ways of her household
    and does not eat the bread of idleness.
28 Her children rise up and call her blessed;
    her husband also, and he praises her:
29 “Many women have done excellently,
    but you surpass them all.”
30 Charm is deceitful, and beauty is vain,
    but a woman who fears the Lord is to be praised.
31 Give her of the fruit of her hands,    and let her works praise her in the gates.
(Proverbs 31:10-31)
Throughout the book of Proverbs we have all of these calls from a father to his son to live life by wisdom, which is often personified as the soft voice of a woman, calling a boyish man back to his senses. In a sense we find that a lot throughout scripture, as we see patriarchs, men in battle, Kings in their court, and disciples following Jesus. Men seem to have the main parts in the play, but their are always women - many wise, some not so much, there in the scene, providing a stability in an often volitile world. When we get to the final chapter of Proverbs, we are reminded that wisdom is not just for men. Women with wisdom are always making a difference and worthy of recommendation and respect for it. Let the women in your life know how worthwhile they are today. 

On today's menu: Praise!

Praise the Lord!

Praise God in his sanctuary;

    praise him in his mighty heavens!

2 

Praise him for his mighty deeds;

    praise him according to his excellent greatness!

3 

Praise him with trumpet sound;

    praise him with lute and harp!

4 

Praise him with tambourine and dance;

    praise him with strings and pipe!

5 

Praise him with sounding cymbals;

    praise him with loud clashing cymbals!

6 

Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!

Praise the Lord!

(Psalm 150)

What a fitting song to close out this book of Psalms. Praise Him! Praise Him for everything He has done and Who He is, in every situation in life, with everything He has gifted  us with that makes us who we are.  When all is said and done, Praise the LORD!.  May a song of praise go with you today. May each one of us learn more about Who He is and what He can do. May we pause at the end of the day to praise Him for something new. 

Good News Headlines!

10 And the Lord restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the Lord gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the Lord had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

12 And the Lord blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job's daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons' sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days. (Job 42)

Job chapters 1 & 2 look like the headlines of the local newspaper or news site: all sorts of bad news piled on bad news.  It is then followed by all sorts of editorials and advice columns, some "Job" listings and the disassembling of one's life like a garage sale. But the back page has some good news - great news! God blessed Job abundantly, allowing him to live a long and fulfilled life.  But notice how it begins. God restored WHEN Job had prayed for his friends. In all of his loss and misery, Job found the key to joyful living: care about others more than myself. Job did not do it out of obligation - to manipulate God to give him back what he had lost. God had given no such promise. Job did it because he understand and trusted the character and sovereignty of God. When he did, when he stopped wallowing in self-pity, those who had avoided him like the plague started coming around and showing support. Job had moved himself into a position where God could and would bless him. Are you stuck in self-proclaimed misery? Turn your heart and your prayers to others. You will get God's attention, and theirs. Get ready for some good news. 

Listed with the Greats

10 King Ahasuerus imposed tax on the land and on the coastlands of the sea. 2 And all the acts of his power and might, and the full account of the high honor of Mordecai, to which the king advanced him, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings of Media and Persia? 3 For Mordecai the Jew was second in rank to King Ahasuerus, and he was great among the Jews and popular with the multitude of his brothers, for he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people. (Esther 10)
Throughout the books of Kings and Chronicles we have epitaphs for each of the kings of Israel and Judah. For most, it is readily apparent what kind of king each was.  Sometimes scripture connects salvation history to international political history and tells us about the kings of Egypt, Babylon, Assyria, Greece & Rome - the great empires of Biblical History as well.  Here we have both, with a contrast: King Ahasuerus was know for his high taxes.  Right under him was Mordecai, the Jew, who, like Daniel and Joseph found himself second only to the emperor.  Like those two, Mordecai is remembered for his greatness in the most positive way: "he sought the welfare of his people and spoke peace to all his people."  What a higher and more noble epitaph to have said of us. We may not be listed with the kings and presidents of history, but may we be listed as those with the qualities of a Mordecai: passionate and compassionate about the needs of those around us.

Restoration and Remembrance

28 And one of the sons of Jehoiada, the son of Eliashib the high priest, was the son-in-law of Sanballat the Horonite. Therefore I chased him from me. 29 Remember them, O my God, because they have desecrated the priesthood and the covenant of the priesthood and the Levites.

30 Thus I cleansed them from everything foreign, and I established the duties of the priests and Levites, each in his work; 31 and I provided for the wood offering at appointed times, and for the firstfruits.

Remember me, O my God, for good. (Nehemiah 13)

Like with the book of Ezra, Nehemiah ends with some major house cleaning - even more so. Once the city was safe and secure within the rebuilt walls, he looked around and saw sin in every corner: pagans in the temple court, rebels given free housing, Levites who were not being provided for, intermarrying with unbelieving spouses, sabbath-breaking. There was major sin going on within the walls that had been built to protect God's people from the enemies outside. So the cleansing began. He remembered the commandments of God and sought to fulfill them.  He believed that when we "remember God", He remembers us. So much of the story of the Bible is about restoration - how God restores His people - individually and collectively, and how He remembers His promises to us, and calls on us to remember Him, His promises, His commandments, and His faithfulness.  May we be faithful as He is faithful. Remember and restore. 

A Mixed up Mess.

16 Then the returned exiles did so. Ezra the priest selected men, heads of fathers' houses, according to their fathers' houses, each of them designated by name. On the first day of the tenth month they sat down to examine the matter; 17 and by the first day of the first month they had come to the end of all the men who had married foreign women. (Ezra 10)
What a mess!  After going though all the red tape, travel, hard work, and times of celebrating the rebuilding of the temple after the exile, the people realized that something was terribly wrong. They were falling back into their old patterns of compromise - marrying those who did not serve the true and living God. It is exactly what happened during the days of the kings that led to the exile. They were on the way to repeating history, in a bad way. It took a month to sort out the mess, and to take painful steps away from it. One thing we often forget about sin is that breaking loose from its web can leave quite a mess to clean up. This is one of the most painful passages in scripture. The emotional, relational and financial fall-out would have been devastating.  But choosing to stay "as is" would only lead deeper down the path of decline.  We live in a world full of mixed-up messes - especially in family relationships. It is hard work to step back, step out, and step up to do the right thing - to clean up the mess.  But that's what it takes if we really want to move forward and obey God. 

Opportunity Provided

22 Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord stirred up the spirit of Cyrus king of Persia, so that he made a proclamation throughout all his kingdom and also put it in writing: 23 “Thus says Cyrus king of Persia, ‘The Lord, the God of heaven, has given me all the kingdoms of the earth, and he has charged me to build him a house at Jerusalem, which is in Judah. Whoever is among you of all his people, may the Lord his God be with him. Let him go up.’” (II Chronicles 36)
As God's story continues to unfold a key thread throughout is "opportunity." the LORD had brought a great nation from an aged, childless couple, had brought that people out of the land of slavery into the promised land, then brought them together under and unlikely king, then allowed them to experience the Exile after their persistent refusal to trust Him and thank Him for all these opportunities He had given them to be a blessing to the nations. Now He was offering them a new opportunity through the decree of Cyrus: go back to the land; rebuild the temple; see what God will do.  Often in our lives we can feel like we have missed our opportunity, blown it, and messed up so badly life is barely worth continuing. The same can be true of a group of God's people gathered together.  But God is the God of opportunity, over and over again. Open your eyes. Open your heart. See what opportunities He is placing before you today.

The Circumstances of Life

26 Thus David the son of Jesse reigned over all Israel. 27 The time that he reigned over Israel was forty years. He reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem. 28 Then he died at a good age, full of days, riches, and honor. And Solomon his son reigned in his place.29 Now the acts of King David, from first to last, are written in the Chronicles of Samuel the seer, and in the Chronicles of Nathan the prophet, and in the Chronicles of Gad the seer, 30 with accounts of all his rule and his might and of the circumstances that came upon him and upon Israel and upon all the kingdoms of the countries. (I Chronicles 29)
Experiencing God.  That's what we see in these Chronicles: David experiencing God's hand in his life. Israel experiencing God in their nation. The world feeling what it is like to have people among them who are friends of God.  It's not all soft and warm and cozy.  There are those circumstances - things that happen - which all of the rule and might of David could not change - which we cannot change.  But more impressive are the days, riches, blessings and honor that we can look back and see from God's hand, and the hope we have for those who take over after us to have even more of  a taste of God in their lives. There is this sense of satisfaction and contentment knowing that His hand continues to guide the affairs of men and nations. 

Evidence of the Eternal One in Exile

27 And in the thirty-seventh year of the exile of Jehoiachin king of Judah, in the twelfth month, on the twenty-seventh day of the month, Evil-merodach king of Babylon, in the year that he began to reign, graciously freed Jehoiachin king of Judah from prison. 28 And he spoke kindly to him and gave him a seat above the seats of the kings who were with him in Babylon. 29 So Jehoiachin put off his prison garments. And every day of his life he dined regularly at the king's table, 30 and for his allowance, a regular allowance was given him by the king, according to his daily needs, as long as he lived. (II Kings 25)
The people of Israel had gotten themselves into a seemingly hopeless condition. After generations of turning from God to idols and immorality, He had them removed from the promised land, taken captive as Exiles throughout the Babylonian empire. They were scattered, scared, and sinking deep in despair. But even in those dark days, God demonstrated his mercy and grace in the likes of Daniel and Esther and Nehemiah - and even King Jehoiachin. Dethroned as a young man and taken to Babylon as a trophy of war, Jehoichin spent half of the exile in prison. He had no hope of parole - his life seemingly meaningless. But God moved in the heart of the king of Babylon to release, restore, and bless him. The message is simple. If God has mercy on such a wicked, guilty man as him, there is hope for any of us.  It was not the end of the story. God has done stranger things than we can imagine to bless and restore his people. Jehoiachin was a sign to his people, and to us, that God is not through with us yet. 

Your Life Matters...for Generations to Come

51 Ahaziah the son of Ahab began to reign over Israel in Samaria in the seventeenth year of Jehoshaphat king of Judah, and he reigned two years over Israel. 52 He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord and walked in the way of his father and in the way of his mother and in the way of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin. 53 He served Baal and worshiped him and provoked the Lord, the God of Israel, to anger in every way that his father had done. (I Kings 22)
Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! What in the world has happened? What seemed like an ever-growing, world-impacting society under David and Solomon has come to this: everything Ahaziah did provoked God to anger.  Not a good place to be. But it did not happen overnight. It was a succession of generations of the negative impact parents can have on their children. The core of the issue: people who have received blessing from God living selfishly, never being content with what He has given, always looking for ways to "fulfill" themselves more, instead of thinking about the long-term impact of their decisions and actions on those who are watching them.  Sometimes it seems that all our children ( and grandchildren and great-grandchildren) imitate are our negative characteristics and choices. Your life matters: for evil and for good, by what you do and do not do. Do you want someone to give the epitaph above to someone you love? Pray over every choice you make today. 

Finishing Well...

10 But David's heart struck him after he had numbered the people. And David said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly in what I have done. But now, O Lord, please take away the iniquity of your servant, for I have done very foolishly.” 11 And when David arose in the morning, the word of the Lord came to the prophet Gad, David's seer, saying, 12 “Go and say to David, ‘Thus says the Lord, Three things I offer you. Choose one of them, that I may do it to you.’” 13 So Gad came to David and told him, and said to him, “Shall three years of famine come to you in your land? Or will you flee three months before your foes while they pursue you? Or shall there be three days' pestilence in your land? Now consider, and decide what answer I shall return to him who sent me.” 14 Then David said to Gad, “I am in great distress. Let us fall into the hand of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hand of man.”  (II Samuel 24)
David had become the great king the people of Israel longed for and needed, to keep them united.  But his rule was not without its struggles or sorrows. In what might be called his last offical act before passing the baton to Solomon, David sits back and considers this great nation and "his heart struck him." He realized it had become all about him.  The Lord brings judgment swiftly and powerfully, and David humbly takes full responsibility, paying the price for the altar on which to offer sacrifice for forgiveness.  What a scene to close out the book.  But it will actually offer us a measuring rod for the success of succeeding kings. Will they be men after God's own heart, who humbly depend on God, call out to Him, and take responsibility for their actions - all the way through. Will we?