The Silent Treatment

Judges 2:10 - Eventually that entire generation died and was buried. Then another generation grew up that didn’t know anything of God or the work he had done for Israel.

Imagine that! Once the generation of Israelites that crossed the Jordan, drove out the inhabitants of the land, conquered Jericho and followed God whole-heartedly died, the next generation didn't know anything of God or the miracles He had done. Wow.

Can you imagine NOT telling your children about what God had done in your life? Well, I don't think it was a conscious decision to keep quiet. Look, they had driven out the people, they had taken over the cities of their enemies, they had reaped the benefits of fields already planted, vineyards already cultivated. They had lots of stuff to do! It wasn't that they didn't want to tell their children, they just got too busy. They didn't make it a priority. They reminisced together but didn't take the time to sit the family down and tell them how God had told Joshua to send the Chest (which represented God's presence among them) with the priests into the Jordan river and just when the priests feet got wet in the water it dried up! Or how God told Joshua to have the priests and the singers and the assembly march around Jericho 7 times and then they watched in Awe as God broke the walls down from the inside out! They didn't stop to tell them that the huge 12 stoned altar on the Western edge of the Jordan river signified the arrival of God's people to the promised land and commemorated the drying up of the Jordan river. It wasn't that they didn't want them to know... they just got busy.

They weren't fighting anymore. Nothing to conquer. No fear. God had given them peace on all sides. So they got busy living. There was no longer any immediate need to seek God, call out to Him in fear or even think much about Him. They had everything they had been promised! Life was great! So they went about their lives with out much thought of God. He'd done His part. He'd fulfilled His part of the covenant. They were home. Safe and sound.

But one generation later God is extinct from their vocabulary. They are worshiping the idols of the native people and are about to suffer the discipline of a Holy God. Because Mom and Dad kept silent.

Want to instill a healthy view of God in your kids? Want to keep them from suffering from disobedience? Want to help them carry their faith to their own children? Make a conscious effort to tell them what God has done in YOUR life. How he brought you and your spouse together. How He showed up in the bottom of the ninth and came through to provide you with just what was needed at just the right time. If you forget, your children could suffer at the hands of an angry God. Take the time to tell them what God is doing in your life... I think I'll start tonight!

Not One Word...

I am amazed at our God. I continue to stand in awe of Him who created everything. You alone are the One True God, there is no one else like You.

I am loving the Old Testament reading plan from youversion.com that I'm doing this year! I have been reading in both Genesis and Joshua every day and the parallels are incredible. I'm seeing the call of Abraham and his life following God in Genesis. And I'm seeing part of the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham, through the people of Israel, under the leadership of Joshua as they take possession of the land (that God promised to Abraham) in the book of Joshua! It really is cool to see both the promise and fulfillment in each of these books every day! It's like looking backwards and forwards in time all at once!

Anyway, today's read was pretty neat and inspiring. Both books were in chapter 21. Genesis 21 starts out this way, "God visited Sarah exactly as He said He would; God did to Sarah what He promised: Sarah became pregnant and gave Abraham a son in his old age, and at the very time God had set."

Wow! Do you see God's incredible provision and promise there?! Everything happened, EXACTLY as He said it would! What He PROMISED came true! And at the very time God had SET! I like the use of that word, set. God didn't just tell Sarah what was going to happen, like he read it in some book of the future. He planned this date and time out before she was born. He knew it was going to happen because He planned it! He SET it in time! He controlled it! How awesome is that! Our God doesn't just know things because He was told, He knows them because He SET it in motion! Before Sarah was born God already knew her whole life story. He knew the year, month, day, minute and second she would give birth to Isaac. She had been barren and frustrated and angry and heart-sick all those years (she was an old, old lady!) and all along God had His plan in motion.

But don't get too excited yet! Look at how Joshua 21 ends: "Not one word failed from all the good words God spoke to the house of Israel. Everything came out right."

Couldn't you just swap these two stories one for the other?! With Israel not ONE WORD failed! Everything came out RIGHT! Why? Because the same God who knew Sarah's whole life story before she was born and SET the date for Isaac's birth makes sure that His WORD never fails! He's in control! He's got it all planned out and nothing or no one can interrupt, stop or twist His plan! He's GOD!

Sometimes I have to be reminded who God is and when I am, wow. It's incredible to think that the God who controlled the events of Sarah's life and knew her before she was... the same God who sees to it that not ONE WORD of His is left unfulfilled, the God who makes everything come out right, not only KNOWS me but LOVES me and wants what is best for me.

Whatever you are going through today, right now, know this. God's plan can not, will not, be left undone in your life. Not One Word of His is taken lightly. Your father may have lied to you, your boyfriend, your mother may not be there anymore, but God never fails. In Him, everything can come out right, even your life, if you let Him take control.

Notice one last thing, both in the lives of Abraham, Sarah and the Israelite nation, they were not perfect. Abraham lied, Sarah laughed at God's promise, and the Israelites could not stay on course. But God is not limited or controlled by the people who follow Him. Your life, your sin, to this point and in the future will not keep God from loving you anymore than it will keep God from using you if you give yourself to Him. Everything will work out exactly as He says and not One WORD of His will fail. You can count on that.

A Legacy of Sin...

Reading the Old Testament can be difficult at times. Even for someone who grew up in the church and now, as a preaching pastor for 14 years I still get a little sick as I read. All the people that were slaughtered at the hands of the Israelites as they took possession of the land God had promised their ancestors. I wonder why they didn't tell the other kingdoms about God? Or why God didn't reveal Himself to them like he did to the ancestors of the Israelites so they didn't have to be destroyed? But today I am reminded of a few things.
1. God is God. I have no right to judge Him (that's a scary proposition anyway!) or His actions or decisions. Who would argue in the court room with a human judge and not expect punishment? He is God. I am not.

2. In my reading plan this year I am reading right now both in Genesis and Joshua. I am reading about God's call on Abram (Abraham) and about Joshua leading Israel in their conquest of the promised land.
This has given me the opportunity to see something that is often forgotten. Remember the story of Cain and Able? Cain killed his brother, the first murder, the first generation after Adam and Eve, THESE PEOPLE STILL TALKED DIRECTLY TO GOD! And yet it didn't help. Cain still took Able's life and was cursed by God for his sin and sent to live in other parts of the country, an outcast. But, God didn't kill him. So, he took his family, moved away and started other cities and people groups. Adam and Eve had Seth and he, like Able, honored God and was blessed by Him. Noah, was a descendant of Seth. After the flood, Noah's son Shem sinned and Noah issued a curse on him. God was with Noah's other two sons but Shem took off and lived a part from God, while building and occupying cities as his own family grew. Then we could talk about Jacob and Esau, Jacob blessed and followed God. Esau doing life his own way.

So when the Israelites begin to take the land, they are taking it from the children of men who decided their way was better than God's. Men, and then families, and eventually whole nations living in opposition to God. That's where they come from. Abram (Abraham) however, Moses, David, etc. could trace their lineage back to men who followed God.

3. In the minds of Old Testament nations military power meant a stronger god. If you were overthrown by another people group you began to worship their god because he was obviously stronger than yours. But that didn't happen with the One True God of the Israelites. They wondered in the desert (and everyone knew it) but survived on "bread from heaven," manna. They were unstoppable on the battle field but these other nations refused to worship their God. They were as stubborn and as their ancestors before them and refused to honor and worship God. Because of their stubbornness they were destroyed. Not because God arbitrarily set them aside for death.

What's the moral of this story? The selfishness or sin of one man, one woman, can set in stone the legacy they leave their children. When you disobey God. Turn your back on Him. Refuse to accept His love and care, you may just be sealing the fate of your offspring for generations! Leaving them a legacy of sin so that even when face to face with the reality of God they refuse to follow, just like you.
But, if you turn to God and give your life to Him you are setting the table for your children to know what real life is as they follow God themselves. Choose for yourself. A life for your children that leads to life eternal? Or a legacy of sin? It may just be up to you.

Two Stupid Decisions...

You've heard the saying, two wrongs don't make a right? I wonder if we (humankind) will ever really figure that out? In Life Group last night one of the men, who is reading through the Old Testament, says something about how man has been on the earth for thousands of years and we're still doing the same dumb stuff. We refuse to trust the God of the universe and we insist on going our own way and doing our own thing. Even though time after time that's been proven to be the wrong lifestyle choice.

God gives us a little success when we call on Him and seek Him and then we're like, "Okay God, I can take it from here." It's like being on the ice and every time you get up you fall down. As soon as someone helps you up you jerk your hand back and say, "I can do it mysel..." and you need a hand again. Up. Down. Up. Down. I'm all for stick-to-it-iv-ness and gettin' back on the horse but we're not talking about something that you can learn, like riding a bike. We're talking about figuring out the ONLY way we can stand is by holding the hand of God. But as soon as we think we're up we let go...

Joshua and the Israelites have crossed the Jordan river on dry ground, thanks to God. They have finally arrived at their destination, thanks to God, and the manna, which had kept them alive for 40 years, (thanks to God) has stopped. They have marched around the fortified city of Jericho for 7 days and then watched as God caused the walls to fall. Someone stole some of the plunder so when they marched against Ai they failed. After discovering and correcting the sin issue they marched against Ai again, this time totally destroying them, thanks to God's plan of attack which included a detachment of men lying in ambush.

Now as they march to the next place they are stopped by some men who live in the area God had given the Israelites. These men had developed convincing disguises and a clever back story. They figured out a way to get Joshua and the Israelites to enter into an agreement not to kill them or their people. Good idea on their part. But verse 14 of Joshua 9 tells the downfall of the plan, "But they did not ask God about it." Joshua and the others bought the story. They were fooled by the disguises, in fact, the text says they "looked them over" which indicates they thought this decision was a slam dunk. So, they thought they could make it without consulting God.

When they figured out it was all a lie do you think they asked God what He thought they should do? Nope. They said, "well, we can't go back on our word and kill them, so we'll make them our servants." You would have thought they might learn from the first deception and seek God's decision, but then, you and I probably wouldn't have either.

This group of people is part of the same group who would later lead Israel away from God to follow other gods and worship idols. When will we learn that two stupid decisions don't make things better... you just get twice the trouble.

The moral of the story. Never assume you're smart enough to, "figure this one out on your own" always seek God. I realized I had thought something was obviously from God and had to take a time out this morning and pray that He reveal His decision to me. I'll let you know what He says.

Revelation from Revelation

Okay, you need to know that I'm one of those guys who would rather just leave Revelation alone. Let's face it, it's a difficult book to understand and most super-spiritual people who spend all their time in it only seem to so they can confuse the faith right out of other, less-spiritual people. The fact is, no matter how you slice it, it's hard to figure out. First, you and I don't live during the worst persecution of Christians in the history of the world. Our family members and friends are not being thrown to the lions, sharks, killed in the streets, impaled, cut down by gladiators while completely defenseless just because we believe in Jesus... shall I go on? Second, None of us (most likely) have no real idea what it's like to live under a king, except for what we've read in books or seen in movies. Third, we are separated by almost two thousand years, we can't possibly understand every nuance, and reference.

Having said that, let me share with you a bit of revelation I received while reading Revelation (which was part of my 2010 reading and I just finished it!). FYI - I have never preached from Revelation, don't claim to understand it and anything I say about I have the right to completely change my mind in a moment!

I see two parallel stories going on here.
One is the story of God's great love for his people, those who believe in His Son Jesus Christ - true children of Abraham. It is terrible for Him as He watches the torture of those He loves so much. He wants to show them that their determined and resolute faith will not be forgotten or go unrewarded. So He gives them a picture of two things: His wrath on those who do not believe and have attacked and killed His people. And, the future eternal victory and homecoming of all those who have remained faithful... they will get to stand with Jesus on the sea of glass before the very throne of God!

Second is the story of God's great love for those who refuse to acknowledge Him as God, Ruler, Creator, Sustainer and Master. You may not catch it right off but think about it this way, God has tried for thousands of years to get humanity to recognize Him as God. He has loved, provided, cared for and demonstrated His power and majesty over and over again, but people refuse to see Him for who He is. They worship the created instead of the Creator. So, like a caring, loving parent, God begins to reveal Himself through increasing displays of His power and authority (the horse and riders and terrors) in the hopes that those disciplined will recognize Him and turn to Him as God so that He can save them and love them like He so desperately desires. But, with every increasing display they recognize God and at the same time, harden their hearts against Him. Refusing to turn, to yield, to submit, to love the God who so desperately loves them.

Both stories are about God's love. God's love is ultimate and unending and the star of this story. For those who ultimately refuse to love Him back, there is death. For those who respond to either His love or His power by believing and calling on His Name He gives the right to be present with Him forever. God's love reigns supreme.

I no longer see Revelation as a difficult book or scary kind of story only the super-christian can figure out. I see it as a continuation of the Love Story that started, In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... It's a GREAT story.

Practice, practice, practice...

Been playing racquetball with some friends and loving it! I was getting beat pretty bad but the more we play the better I get, I know, imagine that! I'm really enjoying it because I have to work at it. Think. Fight. Plan. Practice. It's not easy, but it's paying off. I'm getting better. The more I play the less I have to think about it. I'm not perfect, but practicing is making the angles, hits, positioning, and strategy come more easily, which means it's becoming a habit and will soon be permanent (remember learning to ride a bike? Practice turned the moves and balance into habit and it soon became permanent... hence the saying, "like riding a bike")

This year, racquetball isn't the only thing I'm practicing.. I've challenged myself to run a half marathon in May (two months and one day before my 40th birthday!) I've never run 13 miles in my life! Hey, in preparation for the half, I'm running 7 miles this Saturday... I've never run 7 miles in my life! Practicing the little things make the big things possible.

Here are some other things I'm practicing this year:

1. I am reading one book for every month of the year. Starting with Francis Chan's Crazy Love. I'll read chapter 4 tomorrow and am LOVING it! Next on my list is Radical by David Platt.
2. I'm keeping a gratitude journal this year. I forget everything! So, I'm writing the stuff down that God does in my life, my family or the church, every day so I don't forget. Imagine in December of 2011 being able to go back and have a notebook full of the cool and amazing and miraculous things God did!
3. I'm continuing to practice my Bible reading this year. I've chosen to read the Old Testament this year in The Message version. I think I'll do the OT every third year. (you can join me at www.youversion.com. I'll re post my blog posts on youversion and you can keep up with what God is teaching me there by following reallifecc)
4. I'm also gonna continue to journal my prayer time and Bible reading thoughts (and I'll share those on my blog/youversion).

So there you have it, some of the things I'll be practicing this year. Paul told Timothy to, train himself to be godly because it was far better than just physical training. So I'm practicing my faith. Practicing to be more like Jesus. Practicing the things that will benefit me in this life and the life to come. I hope you'll join me!