Psalm 23 says God restores our souls (sets back to the original condition). He prepares a table before us in the presence of our enemies.
Psalm 53 says God despises our enemies
Psalm 83 says the enemies take counsel together against God’s people. The psalmist asks for their shame and destruction.
The Church is the house of faith, it is the set of believers. Some conspire to rid themselves of the Church. For those of us in the Church, the conspirators are the enemies. Yet God will preserve us an provide for us in the face of our enemies. He will restore things we may have lost, some through our own fault as well as those that are the fault of others.
Who are my enemies? Some, like Edom and Moab, are related. Perhaps these are they who are in the church but not of the church. Others would be those who do not want God's principles to govern. These days they could be those on the extreme liberal or those on the extreme conservative margins. These are the ones who want to do away with God's order. It is not enough to throw off restraint, they must also eradicate the old system and the people (God's people) who uphold it. These are the ones who God despises. In front of these God prepares us a table. These are the ones for whom we may request destruction.
TV or Facebook or the Internet can be an official voice of the enemy if we are not careful about how we listen. They do not teach, they impress. They can leave isolated thoughts and feelings. They leave the unprepared viewer with the emotion of the enemy worldview, but not the rational back up. Viewers may have vague opinions about the proposed worldview, and they may have strong emotion about it, but they may not have been provided the reasoning behind it.
The unmovable proponents of a destructive worldview are the ones who say, “there is no God” AND would thrust believers aside to powerlessness or destruction.
We who believe, have read the Bible, and who have reasoned out our view, could reason with them but we cannot know if they would listen to our views, or even want to.
Thursday, July 11, 2019
Monday, July 8, 2019
THE SEEKING OF SIGNS
The Pharisees asked for a sign. Jesus says no sign will be given but that of Jonah.
The Pharisees’ generation was wicked because they asked for a sign. They wanted Jesus to prove himself to them. They would get no sign to prove who Jesus was other then his resurrection, which they would not believe anyway. Are there things about Jesus that we would not believe even though he demonstrates them to us? Are there things we are asking Jesus to prove to us by showing a sign? We might think: “you say you are this or that, Jesus; prove it by doing [fill in the blank]”. How about that thing where we have decided that he will not do it, or he is incapable, or his nature his of another sort? Are there ways we want Jesus to be and we will not accept any other way? Are we like the Pharisees, and we already have made up our minds?
Jesus gives examples showing people who did respond. The city Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. The queen of the Sheba traveled to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Neither one of these had a sign, but responded to what God was doing, and the way God was doing it. The Ninevites did not have a sign and responded to Jonah’s preaching; the Queen did not have a sign yet she traveled to seek the wisdom.
The pharisees seemed to want a sign before they did something. Do what? Jesus spoke of an evil spirit who goes out of a man and comes back bringing other, more evil spirits. The spirit leaves and while he is gone the house is cleaned up. When he comes back, he finds it clean and goes out to gather other spirits to the house. The state of the house is worse than it was the first time. How might this story of the spirit relate to the Pharisees? Leaving the house to seek rest equals "give us a sign to make us comfortable with you" . Finding no rest equals "nothing you do satisfies us" . Gathering others equals "let's commiserate with others who also do not except Jesus" . The house equals physical bodies in which they live, the organization which they run.
The wickedness of “this generation” must be in the attitude that is seeking Jesus to perform a sign. They might say “Jesus you really need to conform to the way we conceive of you, and you need to prove that you do conform. Until you do, we have no use for you.“ The wickedness is in the attitude of “we are right, Jesus has to prove himself to us.”
The Pharisees’ generation was wicked because they asked for a sign. They wanted Jesus to prove himself to them. They would get no sign to prove who Jesus was other then his resurrection, which they would not believe anyway. Are there things about Jesus that we would not believe even though he demonstrates them to us? Are there things we are asking Jesus to prove to us by showing a sign? We might think: “you say you are this or that, Jesus; prove it by doing [fill in the blank]”. How about that thing where we have decided that he will not do it, or he is incapable, or his nature his of another sort? Are there ways we want Jesus to be and we will not accept any other way? Are we like the Pharisees, and we already have made up our minds?
Jesus gives examples showing people who did respond. The city Nineveh repented at the preaching of Jonah. The queen of the Sheba traveled to hear the wisdom of Solomon. Neither one of these had a sign, but responded to what God was doing, and the way God was doing it. The Ninevites did not have a sign and responded to Jonah’s preaching; the Queen did not have a sign yet she traveled to seek the wisdom.
The pharisees seemed to want a sign before they did something. Do what? Jesus spoke of an evil spirit who goes out of a man and comes back bringing other, more evil spirits. The spirit leaves and while he is gone the house is cleaned up. When he comes back, he finds it clean and goes out to gather other spirits to the house. The state of the house is worse than it was the first time. How might this story of the spirit relate to the Pharisees? Leaving the house to seek rest equals "give us a sign to make us comfortable with you" . Finding no rest equals "nothing you do satisfies us" . Gathering others equals "let's commiserate with others who also do not except Jesus" . The house equals physical bodies in which they live, the organization which they run.
The wickedness of “this generation” must be in the attitude that is seeking Jesus to perform a sign. They might say “Jesus you really need to conform to the way we conceive of you, and you need to prove that you do conform. Until you do, we have no use for you.“ The wickedness is in the attitude of “we are right, Jesus has to prove himself to us.”
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)