Fear is a good thing. But we say that we do not want our children growing up, fearing the Lord. We want them to fear hot stoves, bad influences, and other harmful things, but not to fear taking the Lord’s name in vain.
Everywhere one turns, there are lies and deception. In the modern age, we call it spinning the truth, and thereby, we even lie about lying. People claim to no longer lie, but to simply spin the truth.
Wickedness exists because people want things their way. They want what belongs to another, or they want but will not work. They want their own will be done, not, “Thy will be done.”
Have you ever noticed in the Old Testament the convention of capitalizing the word “Lord,” or sometimes “God”? These indicate a place where the consonantal name of God, YHWH...
Name-calling, threats, imprisonment, and murder are bad enough but when they are done under the cover of religion, these things are contemptible.
Micah stole a great sum of money from his mother, then returned it because he feared her curse. She then dedicated it to the Lord, evidently hoping to amend the curse that ended up being upon her son.
Among the crowds was a royal official who believed Jesus. While he took Jesus at his word, the rest seemed to need a show of it: signs and miracles.
As one would imagine, there are stark differences between Samson and Jesus. Samson took whatever his flesh desired. Jesus wanted what his Father willed. Samson killed to get what would not come to him naturally.
See how near the Samaritan woman was to missing the grace of God. Old wounds and deep pride kept her from speaking the truth.
If the apostles had promised to teach no longer about Jesus, but did so anyway, they would have taken the Lord’s name in vain. They would have lied in the name of God.
The keeping of the commandments, so far as it depends upon us, begins with controlling the tongue. The Apostle James said that the tongue is a restless evil, so we must try to give it a rest.
Conversely, when the First Commandment is not observed, the other commandments will be broken. See how quickly, even after Gideon says God will rule the people, they put their trust in an object.
It needs saying again, that a particular idol is always lurking nearby. We need to be aware of it so that we may give it a good kick behind us.
Look to the lowly apostles. None of them was high or mighty in the ways of the world. They were mostly fishermen, but because they put their trust in the Lord, God made them fishers of men.
If you would trust anything in this life, trust that which has been from the beginning, that truth which continues to flow down to us today.
Gathering together, likely for prayer and the latest word from the apostles, those earliest disciples were probably considered fools by those in the streets of Jerusalem.
Just as Joshua exhorted the Israelites to choose whom they would serve, Deborah pressed Barak to trust the one God, fearing him more than Jaban, the Canaanite king, and his commander Sisera, with all his troops.
It may seem, at first, that God’s offer is not so friendly, for we see readily enough in the commandment, the threat of his wrath if we disobey. And how can we not disobey?
Because the Israelites lived with the evil in the land, instead of driving it out as God commanded, God allowed to happen what would, of course, transpire. The same thing has happened in our own country.
Because God is a loving Father who cares for those who believe in him, we owe it to him to esteem him above all else. Yet, even those who do not believe are obliged to honor him, simply because he is God.
The news had traveled throughout the land, how God had fought Israel’s battles. Country after country, and city after city were terrified of Israel’s approach. Still, the king of Jerusalem dared defy God’s will by asking four other kings to help him with their armies at their sides.
First, let us deal with the common misconception that because my father or mother sinned, I and my children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren will pay for their transgression.
If you have ever watched someone incise a single letter into slate, you can imagine how long it took Joshua to engrave the whole law on the altar at Mt. Ebal.
We want it, and we want it now. Furthermore, we want what we want, not that which is given. This is a depiction of children, but when adults act that way, it is an indictment.
Lest we lose sight of our theme, we are considering how all good gifts come from God. We do not take them; we receive them. Some of the Israelites snatched blessings from Jericho’s dead.