The Chapter-A-Day thread. (3)

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Another note regarding Genesis.

Soooooooo when Satan approached Eve as a serpent, he had "legs".

Now that's a study in itself. The stickler and most fascinating thing here for me, is that when God cursed Satan, who was in the form of a serpent, God said that on his belly he would crawl all the days of his life, and dust he would eat. Apparently, before the curse, he didn't crawl on his belly.

He lost his legs because of the curse.

Can you imagine this creature with legs?

 

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....or this one?

 

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2 Samuel 23:

David's heart for God.

Ok, back on track...i left off (in February) at 2 Samuel 22, and then didn't get back to it. Don't ask me why....

David is very dear to my heart and always has been. It's a puzzle to me why i've procrastinated all these many months.

Soooooo....back to David. Now here in 2 Samuel 23, we see what are called David's "last words". They are not the actual "last words" but rather David's testimony of the righteousness of God, and the utter necessity of the "fear of the Lord" in order to be anointed by God to be king.

David is glorifying God in all of this. He had ALWAYS had a "heart for God", or what God has repeatedly described throughout His Word, David was "wise-hearted", which is the epitome of an "un-divided" heart.

The bottom line is, that a heart cannot possibly be "wise-hearted" unless the "fear of the Lord" is what takes precedence in the heart. For there is NO "wisdom" without the "fear of the Lord", and that is because the "fear of the Lord" is the BEGINNING of "wisdom".

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom: and the knowledge of the holy is understanding." ~Pr 9:10

 

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On a side note:

What's Satan's favorite question?

 

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Just a note regarding David.

So i'm listening to one of my fav'rite Bible teachers (not that i ALWAYS agree with him, but he sure does love the Bible, and really enjoys teaching it, and the crucial things are in sync with the Bible.

i'm listening to him teach on David and when David danced before the Lord, and on to when God told David that he could not build God's House because David's hands were "bloody".

Ok, we can sweep over what this might mean without examining it, and without bringing into account David's "heart" for God, and how he danced before the Lord with all of his might, and how God Himself described David as the "apple of His eye" and a "man after His own heart".

Taking it a bit further, the only "blood" that is abominable to God is the shedding of "innocent" blood.

Now David DID shed "innocent" blood. It wasn't Goliath's, was it? Or any of the many others that were killed during all those wars, was it?

In addition, for the sake of God and to honor God, he didn't shed king Saul's blood, when he had the opportunity, at least twice, even as king Saul sought David's very life with a vengeance and without cause.

No, it was the horrific abomination he did when he sent his loyal soldier, who would've given his very life for David, to his death after he essentially had "raped" this man's wife Bathsheba and she became pregnant. He had this loyal soldier murdered in cold blood. He shed innocent blood.

THIS is an abomination to the living God, and is amongst the seven abominations that God abhors.

THIS is what stained David's hands rendering them "bloody", at least in God's eyes.

THIS is why he was unable to build God's House.

(The bottom line, is that David done lost his mind here. He sent Uriah the Hittite to his own death, plotting this honorable and gallant man's death in cold blood. Despicable.)

THIS is the innocent blood on his hands. So is David's son who Bathsheba gave birth to later, who died because of David's sin.

 

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Another question....

When Lucifer (re-named Satan) rebelled against God, did it "surprise" God?

Does ANYTHING "surprise" God?

 

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2 Samuel 24:

The Pestilence.
AKA: David sins again.
AKA: Willful pride.

David decided to "number" the people (against the advice of his own men of wisdom and without consulting God, and that was because his "motives" were the antithesis of God's will. It was "pride".) Here's the stickler, he did so WITHOUT the unction and/or direction of God. It was his OWN "will" that he was heeding, and not God's. He "willfully" sinned (and this is not the first time he'd done so.)

In response, God sends Gad, the prophet, to David to tell him that God is going to punish him for his sin.

Here's the shedding of innocent blood again: God sends a pestilence to Israel, and 70,000 die from this pestilence because of David's sin.

Pestilence = a contagious or infectious epidemic disease that is virulent and devastating.

In the end, David built an altar unto the Lord and repented, and God shortened the plague, but those 70,000 lives could not be given back. Their innocent blood was still on David's hands because of his sin.

 

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Noah.

So i'm listening to a speaker, speak on Noah. And as i'm listening, i realize that i'm not "hatin' on Noah". Noah was just as human and frail as you or me. His worst nightmare was to go anywhere NEAR Nineveh. Yet that's the VERY THING that God told him to do. Yes, He reacted in horror, and recoiled from the very idea of it. And thus, he rannnnnnnn. Yup, he did. No he didn't give it much thought about the fact that we CAN NOT "run" from God. I'm suspecting that he "panicked".

Now the dear dear thing about God, is that He STILL used Noah, in spite of everything. He chastised him quite severely, but still used him.

Gideon comes to mind as well. He was scared to death of the enemy. No WONDER he was. They were horrendously brutal and cruel, and stole their crops, etc. Gideon and his people were excruciatingly oppressed and it had been like that for a while.

Gideon wasn't ABOUT to think of himself as one who would even be "seen" by the enemy, let alone think of himself as a "mighty man of valor" as the angel called him when he greeted him twice. (Gideon was "hiding" when he was threshing the wheat when the angel called out to him.)

Here is what is so endearing to me.....God NEVER EVER was impatient or got angry with Gideon. He sooo very patiently "trained" the doubtful Gideon to become that "mighty man of valor" that the angel declared that he was/is.

The bottom line, is that God is a very patient and GOOD Teacher, and that He WILL see to it that we are formed and equipped for our "calling", whatever that might be.

The bottom line, is that we can trust God even with our stumbles.

This comes to mind:

"If we only have the will to walk, then God is pleased with our stumbles." ~C. S. Lewis

 

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Thoughts on the Holocaust.

This question was posed regarding the Holocaust being God's "judgement". My question is, is the "holocaust" of the shedding of innocent blood of millions of pre-born babies ALSO God's "judgement"?

Here's something to "chew one"...

God abhors the shedding of innocent blood. It's listed in the seven things that God abhors/hates.

Here's the quoted question, and following it is my response:

The Holocaust: Was it the wrath and judgment of God?

Achilles6129 said: ↑
This thread is to discuss a relatively controversial subject: whether or not the Holocaust was the wrath and judgment of God upon the Jews. The question is a controversial one. Going into Scripture, we find examples of what God will do to the Jews if they disobey his commands:

"“‘And I will heap disasters upon them; I will spend my arrows on them; 24 they shall be wasted with hunger, and devoured by plague and poisonous pestilence; I will send the teeth of beasts against them, with the venom of things that crawl in the dust. 25 Outdoors the sword shall bereave, and indoors terror, for young man and woman alike, the nursing child with the man of gray hairs." Deut. 32:23-25 (ESV)

We clearly see in Scripture that God is not a God who is incompatible with a Holocaust. The main argument is actually not a Biblical one but rather a moral one: any God who would punish someone with something like the Holocaust is unjust and cruel. This is particularly true when considering the fact that many children died in the Holocaust and they could not have been in conscious rebellion against God.

I guess I could simplify this thread into three questions:

1) Do you believe that the Holocaust is incompatible with the revealed Scripture of the Judaeo-Christian God?

2) Do you believe that any God who would use the Holocaust as punishment is cruel?

3) Is it possible that the Holocaust was the wrath and judgment of God?

I'll leave the rest open. Thoughts?

The Holocaust: Was it the wrath and judgment of God?

Was it?

Was the holocaust utter depravity to the nth degree and thus a declaration and very testimony to a God-less-ness and demonstrates the utter evil of man, and thus why salvation was sooo sorely needed that God sent His only begotten Son to die for man, who is capable of such things.

Was the Holocaust "Godly" then?

Is this what you are asking, if the Holocaust was "Godly"?

Thank you kindly.

 

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1 kings 1:

Solomon Becomes King.

Solomon is king. His father David, being old, and stricken in years, anoints Solomon to be king before he dies, for he knows his time of death is near.

 

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Solomon's Downfall.
AKA: Self-will.
AKA: Pride.

"For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. " ~I Sam 15:23

...just some thoughts...

i'm listening to J Vernon McGee on his commentary on Solomon. Solomon never had an "un-divided" heart for God. Yes, God granted Him wisdom, after he asked for it, but there's a bottom line of what the "origin" of "lasting" and "deep-rooted" wisdom is, and that is the "fear of the Lord". Which his heart did not embrace 100%. It was a "divided" heart, and thus he was not "wise-hearted". THAT is why he "dwindled" in his "heart for God" and was worshiping and building idols to so many other gods in his later years. He never truly honored, nor regarded, nor "feared" the living God in the first place. That is why he not only took on Pagan wives, but why he strove to "please" them by honoring "their" gods.

He never ever loved God with his whole heart in the first place, even when he asked God for wisdom to reign, which God granted, for David's sake, who was the "apple of God's eye" and a "man after His own heart".

What a foolish and tragic figure Solomon became in his later years.

 

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Notes on Solomon.

 

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Some thoughts...

"These six things doth the LORD hate: yea, seven are an abomination unto him: A proud look, a lying tongue, and hands that shed innocent blood, An heart that deviseth wicked imaginations, feet that be swift in running to mischief, A false witness that speaketh lies, and he that soweth discord among brethren." ~Pr 6:16-19

I saw this quote below (at bottom of the page), and as I read it, I realized that it is not accurate, nor a barometer of "goodness".

Hitler himself was reportedly a "vegetarian" and was kind to animals. However, it was Hitler who led the charge to first, campaign to deny the Jewish people of any "humanity", to demonize them, and to hunt them down and exterminate them like vermin.

This comes to mind:

"but the tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." ~Pr 12:10

 

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Jabez.

Yet once again, a preacher gives a message on Jabez. And it's bereft of understanding what/how God Himself had already described Jabez.

Here's the clue, in the very 1st verse about Jabez:

"And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren:" ~1 Chron 4:9

And do you know WHY Jabez (as is described in this verse below) TURNED TO God?:

"And Jabez called on the God of Israel, " ~1 Chron 4:10

Jabez called on the God of Israel BECAUSE he was HONORABLE. Based on all the information on Jabez, it appears that HE was the "only one" in his family, including his mother, who BELIEVED in the God of Israel.

And THIS is why God GRANTED him what he asked for, as it is written here in the last part of verse 10:

"And God granted him that which he requested."

The preacher this morning was "spinning stories" about Jabez. Apparently this preacher ran on "assumptions" and his own "biases" regarding Jabez and brought all of those into his spinning of his stories about Jabez.

He didn't STUDY Jabez nor the verses about Jabez, especially the very first part of verse 9. It ALREADY is WRITTEN (Hello!!!) that Jabez was an "HONORABLE" man, more honorable than his brothers. So..... what IS the problem??!!

What's to wander down the "yellow brick road" about? Conjecture? Myths? Fairy tales?

Once again, Jabez is not given an even half-accurate account of who he was and why he did what he did and why God granted him what he requested within the blink of an eye.

Nothing.

Does this preacher (and so many others) think/believe that his listeners are bereft/ignorant of what the Bible itself says because they don't READ and STUDY God's Word??!!!

NO ONE should get up there and open their mouth about ANYTHING they have not thoroughly read, studied, and used one of these tools below, and prayed about for guidance from God's Holy Spirit before even reading it. (Talk about starving and mis-leading the sheep).

God help us.

We should not have an aversion to one of these when delving into God's Word, As a matter of fact we should never ever open God's Word without one, NOR even listen to, or "give ear" to someone who doesn't:

"

 

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Jabez's Prayer.

This is a more accurate account (see below) of how Jabez must've prayed to the God of Israel. We ALREADY KNOW he was an "honorable" man, as it is already written in the very FIRST verse that speaks about Jabez. What is missed and gotten SOOOO wrong in the many "stories" and "myths" spun about Jabez, is that Jabez was "in PAIN". LOTS of it. HE was NOT the one who CAUSED pain to others. He was the RECIPIENT of it. Can you imagine what it must've been like to be named "Jabez", which literally means "pain". In addition, his brothers were not very "honorable" apparently, and looking a little closer, it is likely that his brothers taunted him about his name. In addition, it was likely that all the people in the village or place where he lived did likewise. He "represented" a "curse" so to speak, and it followed him from birth, and "defined" him. There was no "escape" from it.

But look what Jabez did. He went right to the God of Israel and took it all to HIM. He asked Him to remove pain and to protect him from any further pain, and he asked Him for an "honorable" legacy, along with the blessings of an honorable legacy.

He was asking the God of Israel to raise "BEAUTY" from "ASHES".

Do you see the "wisdom" here? This man, who had suffered sooo much since infancy, yet God called honorable and mentioned him by name in His Word (and did not mention the names of his brothers nor his mother) was granted what he requested.

There's a REASON for that.

What a beautiful testimony this is.

 

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1 Kings 2:

King David Dies.

Solomon becomes King.

"Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Solomon his son, saying, I go the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and shew thyself a man; And keep the charge of the Lord thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his judgments, and his testimonies, as it is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself:" ~I Kings 2:1-3

"So David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David." ~I Kings 2:10

 

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1 Kings 3:

God grants Solomon wisdom.

"Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days." ~I Kings 3:9-14

 

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1 Kings 4:

Solomon's Fame.

News of Solomon's wisdom spread throughout all the lands. People from all over these lands came to hear his wisdom, for there was none else like it. They marveled at it.

"And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom." ~I Kings 4:34

 

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Solomon's Wisdom.

A note (from 1 Kings 3:16-28)

Solomon was faced with a dilemma. Two women came before him, both claiming to be the mother of a small child. One of the mothers child had died. She was claiming that the mother with the living child was lying; that it was her child.

Solomon proposed a solution. He ordered that the child be chopped in two, and that each mother be given half of the child. One of the women agreed. However the other woman begged that it not be done, that she would allow the other woman to take the child.

It was then that King Solomon knew who the true mother was. He ordered that the child be given to the woman who would rather the child be spared and given to the other woman than that the child would be killed.

Thus began Solomon's fame as a very wise king.