But God...
Two words that change everything!
Often times, it looks like a situation is going one way. But God chooses to step into the situation, changes the direction (and the outcome) drastically as only He can. Often He does this to show us how much He cares and loves people. Often he does it to bring glory to Himself. Often He does it to get our attention. Here are some examples from the Bible.
Genesis 8:1But God remembered Noah and all the animals and all the livestock that were with him in the ark; and God caused a wind to pass over the earth, and the water subsided.
God locked Noah, his wife, three sons and three daughter-in-laws and thousands of animals (seven pairs of most and two pairs of some) in the ark and then flooded the entire earth for 150 days killing all life on the planet. All together, they were in the ark for just over a year.My family of four plus our dog stayed in a 475 sq ft suite in a hotel for 8 months in 2021 as we couldn’t find an affordable rental. That was a really good time for our family as we grew closer due to the fact that we were living in close quarters. We ate together at a coffee table everyday, shared one bathroom and were generally within close proximity of each other when not at work or school.We would sometimes play hide and seek in the hotel which is similar to the size of the ark. Obviously we couldn’t go into other guests’ rooms but there was a lot of places to hide nevertheless. Often the hotel would feel empty as we wouldn’t be able to see or hear other people. I imagine that the ark never felt empty with the noises, sights and smells of thousands of animals from elephants to ants.We knew that God had prepared the hotel for us as a temporary shelter just as He had the temporary shelter before that and the one we’re in now. We saw how His hand guided us to each one. He is the One who provides what we need, when we need it. He is a good Father who loves His children.God has also prepared two final destinations for all of humanity; Heaven and Hell. Heaven will feature God Himself as He will illuminate it with His presence and He will be the focus there for eternity. It is a place of joy, peace, hope and love. Those who, in their earthly life, believe that Jesus paid the price for their bad choices (sins) will be there celebrating God for all that He has done.Hell is also known about but by the total absence of God. It’s described as a dark place filled with pain and sadness. A place of eternal torment for those who decided not to trust in Jesus’s sacrifice on their behalf in their earthly life. So they will pay the price themselves. There will be no celebrating here, only regret.This is part of why Christians should be engaging those who do not yet believe in Christ and His sacrifice on their behalf. He has called us to lovingly share Him with the people around us so that they may also come to believe.
Genesis 19:29So it came about, when God destroyed the cities of the surrounding area, that God remembered Abraham, and sent Lot out of the midst of the destruction, when He overthrew the cities in which Lot had lived.
Lot, Abraham's nephew, was living in the city of Sodom. God came to Abraham and told him that He was going to see if Sodom and Gomorrah were as bad as He had heard. Abraham, knowing that Lot lived there, asked numerous times to spare any righteous people there and God agreed. The next morning Abraham woke up and saw the utter destruction.But God’s angels had gotten Lot, his wife and two daughters out before God destroyed the cities. God knew that Lot was important to Abraham, also God considered Lot as righteous. God was patient with Lot and held off on His plans until Lot and those with him were safely out of the way before He rained down fire on most of the valley that the two cities were in.God is also patient with us. He’s holding off on His plans now until all that will put their trust in the sacrifice that Jesus made for them do so. He is giving each one the time needed to make this life-changing decision.
Genesis 20:3But God came to Abimelech in a dream of the night, and said to him, “Behold, you are a dead man because of the woman whom you have taken, for she is married.”
Abraham was afraid that people would kill him to have his wife, Sarah, so he said that she was his sister instead. The king, Abimelech, then took Sarah. Thankfully, God stepped into the situation and warned him. God also told him that if he gave Sarah back to Abraham then Abraham would pray for Abimelech. Abimelech went to Abraham and gave him Sarah back and also gave him livestock, servants, land and silver. Then Abraham prayed and God healed Abimelech and his household of the infertility that He had placed on them when Abimelech took Sarah.It’s interesting that God actively kept Abimelech from touching Sarah so that He wouldn’t have to kill Abimelech. It really shows God’s mercy. It also shows what God thinks of a man taking another man’s wife.As we read in Genesis 2:24, God designed marriage to be between one man and one woman for life. But mankind wasn’t satisfied with that and twisted marriage to be temporary, between the same genders, multiple spouses (usually wives) and even optional for serious relationships.Thankfully, God keeps His promises, even when we don’t. He promises to never leave us or forsake us. If there is a break in our relationship with God, it is not caused by Him. He is faithful.
Genesis 21:17God heard the boy crying; and the angel of God called to Hagar from heaven and said to her, “What is the matter with you, Hagar? Do not fear, for God has heard the voice of the boy where he is.
Abraham agreed to have a baby, Ishmael, with Sarah's servant, Hagar, as Sarah couldn't have a baby herself. Then God let Abraham and Sarah have a baby, Isaac. Sarah didn't want Hagar and Ishmael around anymore so she told Abraham to send them away which he did. After their water was gone, Hagar left Ismael under a bush and went around 100-200 feet away as she didn’t want to watch him die. God heard baby Ishmael crying in the desert and had an angel encourage her and provide water. God promised to make a nation of Ishmael's descendants and took care of him as he grew up.This is one section of scripture that give us one of God’s names - El-roi which means the God who sees me. Hagar came to know the God saw her. That He cared about her. She was just a servant and I’m sure she didn’t feel at all in control of her life and yet she knew that God was watching her.God sees each of us. He may not send an angel to talk to us when we are in distress but we can be sure that He sees us, He cares about us and He has a plan for us. Plans that He made long before we were born.
Genesis 22:11Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the lad, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only son, from Me.”
As a father, this is a difficult section of the Bible but as a Christian this a powerful section with so many details to look at! God had given Abraham and Sarah a son after decades of waiting. Then God tells Abraham “Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."You may remember that Abraham had a son, Ishmael, with Sarah’s servant, Hagar around 14 years before Isaac was born. But Ishmael wasn’t the son that God had planned for Abraham. Ishmael was the result of Sarah’s (and Abraham’s) lack of faith and patience. Even though it can be difficult, we must trust God even when it doesn’t seem to make sense. God will always make a way and with God anything is possible. He doesn’t miss details and His plans are the best plans for us. God had told Abraham a few times that He would make a great nation from him and that his descendants would be as numerous as the stars.So it’s wonderful to see that in time, Abraham’s faith had grown enough to trust God with the life of the very son that he had been desiring for so long. In Hebrews 11, we read that Abraham considered that God is able raise people, even from the dead. He remembered the promises that God had made to provide many descendants through Isaac so he knew that God would do something, like bring Isaac back from the dead.Instead though, God stopped Abraham and provided a ram for the sacrifice. Similar to how He would provide His only Son, Jesus, as a sacrifice so that all of mankind could experience eternity with God in Heaven. Another similarity is that Isaac carried the wood to burn the sacrifice which reminds me of a Jesus carrying His cross.
Genesis 31:7Yet your father has cheated me and changed my wages ten times; however, God did not allow him to do me harm.
Jacob had agreed to work for his uncle, Laban, for seven years in order to marry Laban's daughter, Rachel. Laban tricked Jacob and instead gave him his other daughter, Leah. Laban then offered to give Rachel to Jacob if he would work for him another seven years. Laban didn’t want Jacob to leave as he knew that God had blessed him because of Jacob. We also read in verse 31:8 how Laban changed Jacob's wages. But God was (and is) in control and still made Jacob prosperous by transferring Laban’s livestock to Jacob.Jacob say how God allowed Laban to take advantage of him but didn’t allow Laban to hurt Jacob. There are a few instances in the bible of God allowing certain things to happen to someone but He always puts a limit in place. Take in the book of Job for instance. God allowed Satan to harm everything and everyone in Job’s life but not touch Job himself. Then God let Satan harm Job but not kill him.Similarly, in 1st Corinthians 10:13 we read how God will not allow us to be tempted beyond what we’re able to resist but that He will provide for us in that time of testing so that we can endure it. It might feel like He’s abandoned us or that the circumstances are to much to bear but He is there, He has a plan and if we seek Him earnestly, we will come through the situation by His grace.
Genesis 50:20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about this present result, to keep many people alive.
Joseph's brothers were jealous of him because their father, Jacob, loved Joseph more than his brothers. So the brothers plotted to kill him but one brother, Reuben, talked them out of it so instead they sold Joseph into slavery. Eventually Joseph became the second most powerful man in Egypt, after Pharaoh. God revealed the future to Joseph which let Joseph prepare for a future famine. Joseph's father sent the brothers to Egypt to get some food during the famine and Joseph finally let them know that he was alive and helped them. When Jacob died, the brothers feared that Joseph would kill them but he let them know that God was in control the whole time and forgave them.Just as God brought good out of Joseph’s brothers’ evil plans, He can (and does) do the same for us. We just need to be seeking His kingdom first. We need to always be thinking “what is God going to accomplish through this situation?” It can be difficult when we’re being treated unfairly or even mistreated but God is always in control and nothing slips past Him.
Exodus 10:20But the Lord hardened Pharaoh’s heart, and he did not let the sons of Israel go.
God had a plan to bring His people out of bondage in Egypt. He had ensured that Moses, the person He was going to use to bring His people out, was already familiar with Pharaoh. Moses grew up in the royal palace as Pharaoh’s daughter took him in and made him her son.Likewise, God was at work in Pharaoh to ensure that God would achieve His purposes of:
1. Getting His people out of Egypt and into the land and had designated for them - Israel.
2. Making sure that Egypt, and the rest of the world, would fear Him and know that He is the one true God.
3. Showing His people, and the rest of the world, that He loves, and cares for, His people.When the bible is talking about our heart, it’s talking about our mind, where our thoughts and feelings come from. In Jeremiah 17:9 we read about how the heart is, above all things, deceitful and desperately sick. This is because we have what the bible calls a sin nature; it’s natural for us to sin, or go against God. Our sin nature guides our heart.There are a couple of places in scripture where we read about God working on people’s hearts. We have the verse above and verses like Roman 1:18-32 with verse 21 being key. Here God darkens the hearts of those who know Him but don’t honour or give thanks to Him.Then we have verses like Ezekiel 36:25-27, Romans 12:1-2 and Philippians 4:7 that tell us that God will replace the stone heart of His people with a flesh heart, renew their minds so they can better see His will, and that He will guard the hearts and minds of His people.So let us ask our Heavenly Father to soften our hearts, renew our minds and help us to not only see His will, but follow it as well. We know that with God all things are possible. He is, after all, in the business of making miracles happen. Let’s seek Him out today and spend some time worshipping the one true God.
Numbers 22:22But God was angry because he was going, and the angel of the Lord took his stand in the way as an adversary against him. Now he was riding on his donkey and his two servants were with him.
A king named Balak requested that Balaam come and curse the Israelites as he was afraid that they’d take over his territory. Balaam was a diviner, which was similar to a fortune teller, so he was kind of like a spiritual gun for hire. He inquired of God about this and God told him the Israelites were blessed so not to curse them. And yet Balak wanted to go, likely for the pay. So God put an angel with a sword in front of Balaam and the donkey he was riding.To me, this section of scripture is a reminder to always do what God has said to do. And not just to obey His words but to strive to do His will as well. Balaam knew that God was for the Israelites and that he couldn’t curse them. But that didn’t stop him from telling Balak how to get the Israelites to wander away from God through disobedience. So Balak obeyed God by not cursing them but he went contrary to God’s will by teaching Balak how to separate them from God.We have an enemy, Satan, who wants us separated from God as well. He knows that God will never leave us as He has made that promise (see Hebrews 13:5). But Satan also knows that we can, through the gift of free will that God has given us, walk away from God. So Satan encourages us to put distance between us and God, slowly but steadily. This is why Jesus said to daily pick up our cross and follow Him. Every day we have many choices to make that can either follow God and His will or go contrary to God and His will.So what is God’s will for us? In Matthew 22:37-39 we get the following words from Jesus when He is asked what the greatest commandment is: ‘You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the great and foremost commandment. The second is like it, ‘You shall love your neighbour as yourself.’ Jesus quotes Deuteronomy 6:5 with the first command and Leviticus 19:18 with the second.In Mark 16:15 Jesus gives some final instructions to his disciples. Part of those instructions are “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to all creation.”
1 Samuel 1:5but to Hannah he would give a double portion, for he loved Hannah, but the Lord had closed her womb.
Hannah was one of two wives that a man named Elkanah had. Elkanah believed in God and would travel every year with his family to worship God and offer sacrifices of animals to God. The other wife, Peninnah would often cruelly remind Hannah how God had closed her womb so she had no children. During one trip the family made, Eli, the priest, saw Hannah desperately praying for a son that she could dedicate to God so Eli agreed with her prayer. Hannah soon after got pregnant and delivered Samuel.My favourite part of this piece of history is how Hannah took her pain and anguish to God, in a selfless way. She so wanted a son but she was willing to give that son back to God. As we can see in this case, there was shame and, from the rival wife, taunting and ridicule that often accompanied infertility. This all likely helped Hannah wholeheartedly seek God all the more on the matter.So do we go to God when we desperately want something? Are we willing to somehow give whatever it is that we want back to God? God wants us to seek Him out and he can, and does, direct our lives so that we encounter situations where we can cry out to Him in need, yell at Him in defiance, or run from Him in stubbornness.Reading Hannah’s prayer in verses 10-18 shows us Hannah’s confidence in God and how real she was with God and with Eli. She didn’t mince her words with either of them. We, too, should be just as vulnerable with God and with some trusted friends who we can get council and encouragement from and have them pray for us.This part of scripture also shows us the pain involved with not being able to have children. Thankfully there are options available now that weren’t back in Hannah’s time but many of these options have a substantial price tag. So when we meet someone who wants to have children but can’t, let’s encourage them and lift them up in prayer to the One who created life and can create a life in them.
1 Samuel 16:7But the Lord said to Samuel, “Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.”
God had sent Samuel to anoint one of Jesse’s sons as the new king to replace Saul. God didn’t tell Samuel in advance which of Jesse’s eight sons, instead God said He would tell him which one. When Samuel saw the eldest son he figured that was the one, presumably because he was the eldest or impressive looking. But God said no to him and, instead, chose the youngest one.We, too, often take notice of people based simply on their appearance. God however knows that it’s the character and personality of a person that matters. We even have sayings like “don’t judge a book by its cover”, “it’s what’s inside that counts”, and “appearances can be deceiving”. If you spend some time talking to someone though, you’ll often get a much better idea of what they’re like.And then there’s God. He created each one of us and He knows everything, including everything about us. There is no fooling Him or hiding something from Him. He knows every choice we have made and will make and all of the affects of those choices. He knows our motives, desires, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses… He knows absolutely everything.As a father, I think of my teenage children a lot. I Particularly think of their future relationships and I want who God wants for them. I also encourage them to think about who God wants them to be with. What should they be looking for in a spouse? Obviously there needs to be a physical attraction but there should also be an attraction to the person’s character. Ideally they would be a follower of Jesus. But again, that’s something that only God knows so I remind them to be praying about their future spouse as my wife and I are. They need to be listening for what He tells them. Otherwise they could be in for a difficult time.Since God is our Heavenly Father who wants a relationship with us, we should include Him in all of our decisions, what classes should we take? What jobs we should do? Who our friends should be? As we grow in our relationship with Him we should be able to sense His promptings when we are seeking His counsel on something. It may take time and it could come through various forms but as we grow with Him, we’ll get to know how He “speaks” to us.
1 Chronicles 28:3But God said to me, ‘You shall not build a house for My name because you are a man of war and have shed blood.’
What an interesting section of the Bible this is! David was not perfect by any means. He slept with a woman named Bathsheba who was married to a man named Uriah who was away at war. Bathsheba got pregnant so David summoned Uriah home from battle and tried to get Uriah to sleep with Bathsheba so Uriah wouldn’t know the truth but Uriah wouldn’t sleep with his wife while everyone else were at war. So David had Uriah killed and then married Bathsheba. There’s likely other things that aren’t documented as well but this one incident shows that David made mistakes.On the other hand, David had a repentant heart which means that when he made a bad choice, he did come to recognize it was a bad choice, felt grieved and cried out to God for mercy. He also obviously loved and trusted God and was mostly obedient to Him. He had spent much time with, and knew, God.Most people know about the fight between David and Goliath but David had spent a lot of time at war and had killed many people. One of the issues that David had with Saul, the king before him, was that Saul was jealous as the people would sing how “Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands." David had a lot of blood on his hands but he was following and obeying God.So then David wanted to build a temple for God. And God told him that he couldn’t due to the amount of blood he had shed. God did tell him that he would have a son, with Bathsheba, named Solomon who would be king and enjoy peace and that he would be able to build a temple. This is found in 1st Chronicles 22:6-10. So David spent decades planning the temple, collecting materials such as gold, silver, iron, and wood and finding skilled labourers to help build it.This verse also points to the fact that God is sovereign over everything. God planned David’s life so that if David followed Him, he would be a king who was often at war with various groups. This means that it would not be God’s plan for David to build the temple. But God planned that David’s son would. David would do the difficult work of being at war constantly so that his son could enjoy relative peace.
2 Chronicles 20:15and he said, “Listen, all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: thus says the Lord to you, ‘Do not fear or be dismayed because of this great multitude, for the battle is not yours but God’s.’”
At some point during the reign of Jehoshaphat, king of Judah, a huge army came from the area which is now known as the country of Jordan. The king was very concerned so he, and all of Judah, started praying to God. God spoke through a man named Jahaziel and told them to go and get in position in front of the army and just hold their position and watch Him handle the battle. The next day they did as God said and He caused the other army to fight itself and the entire army died. It took the army of Judah three days to collect the plunder from the dead army.God gave them His promise that He would take care of this battle for them. All they had to do was show up. We, too, can have this promise of lasting life if we just believe in what Jesus did for us by dying for us and rising again defeating death itself. That’s not to say that the rest of our life here on earth will be easy and carefree. We will have difficult times, we will be persecuted for our faith, we may even face death if we keep sharing about Jesus. But we can be sure that as soon as we do die, we will be with God from that moment on into eternity. Our death will then be a very short experience in our past.Just as Jesus told His disciples in Matthew 10:16-25 about how they would face persecution and yet God would give them the words that they were to say, that could apply to us. It does apply to Christians in some countries today who can be killed for their faith. God can use their last moments to open the eyes of even the ones who are about to kill them. He alone knows which nugget of truth will take seed, grow and bear fruit in them, perhaps to even bring them to the same faith that they once persecuted others for.God can be trusted in every situation to do what is best from an eternal perspective. We just need to be focused on that same perspective. Sometimes that means just showing up, sometimes it means letting Him speak through us, and sometimes it means dying a martyr’s death. In every situation, He is the General and we are to be the obedient soldier who follows every instruction from our all-knowing General.Another relevant section of scripture is 2nd Kings 6 where the servant of the prophet Elisha was afraid because of an army from Aram (modern-day Syria) that showed up overnight and surrounded the city they were in. Elisha told him not to worry as there was a bigger army with them than the army from Aram. Then Elisha prayed that God would open his servant’s eyes so he could see. God did and the servant saw the heavenly army around them. We just don’t know what’s happening in the spiritual realm around us. There could be a vast army of angels around us and we simply can’t see them.
Psalms 86:15But You, O Lord, are a God merciful and gracious, Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and truth.
David was in a tough situation as a violent group of men wanted to kill him. So he came before God and asked for Him to deal with the situation. David knew that God could do a much better job in handling things than he ever could. David knew that God could change the groups mind and win them over to Himself even. The best way to deal with an enemy is to make them a friend.We see David’s humility here as he knew that what he could do was nothing compared to what God could do. He gave the situation over to God for Him to deal with as He saw fit. He knew what God had done in his life and knew that He could do great things in the lives of the people who were after him. David knew that God had showed great restraint in dealing with him and wanted that for others, even those who were against him.I’ve experienced God’s mercy, patience and grace in my life as well. He got me through so many situations that should have gone badly and yet didn’t. At the time I took that for granted and attributed it to great luck but now I know that luck had nothing to do with it and God had everything to do with it. That makes it easier to invite God into situations now as I’ve seen, first hand, how He can deal with things.In Isaiah 43 we read about how God makes a way when there is no way. It’s not only talking about our eternal salvation but also obstacles in our daily life. Our best way of dealing with them is to seek out God and His perfect will for us. Pray and ask Him how to navigate whatever is in front of us or chasing us from behind. He knows the best way through each and every situation, the way that honours Him and gives Him the glory.We really see God as a good father in this verse. This is what I aspire to be like in dealing with my own children: merciful, gracious, slow to anger, full of loving kindness and truth. The fact that children are a gift and blessing from God also helps. My job is to show them who He is. When I come up short doing that, then I show them how to repent and go to Jesus for forgiveness. Our life here is about loving God and loving others.
Isaiah 53:10But the Lord desired
To crush Him, causing Him grief;
If He renders Himself as a guilt offering,
He will see His offspring,
He will prolong His days,
And the good pleasure of the Lord will prosper in His hand.
It sounds beyond strange that God would desire to crush His only son, Jesus. Some versions of the bible translate it as God was pleased or delighted.This verse is an old testament pointer to the gospel, or good news, of Jesus Christ. That since God loves mankind so much, He desired a way for each one of us to have our sins, or bad choices, taken away and, in their place, have Christ's perfect righteousness. That's the only way that we could have eternity in Heaven with a holy God.All we have to do is believe and accept that Jesus willingly took the penalty of our sin upon Himself. Jesus, the son of God, who came from Heaven to earth to live a life without a single sin. Who then took the sins of all mankind upon Himself and was killed. Who was then raised from the dead three days later by God. Who is now in Heaven with God, waiting to come back for all who believe in Him.So yes, God was delighted to crush Jesus as that would make the only way for people to be able to be with Him forever. He wants you that much.
Matthew 6:26,30“Look at the birds of the air, that they do not sow, nor reap nor gather into barns, and yet your heavenly Father feeds them. Are you not worth much more than they?
But if God so clothes the grass of the field, which is alive today and tomorrow is thrown into the furnace, will He not much more clothe you? You of little faith!”
These two verses point to how God:
1. Is in control of everything.
2. Can and will take care of people.
3. The value of people.When we say that God is in control of everything, there’s a word for that: sovereign. He has authority over everything. Everything was designed and created by Him and belongs to Him. But God has given people free will which means we can make choices that either follow His will or don’t. But even there, God knows what choices we will make and has planned around the plans that we make. Proverbs 16:9 says “The mind of man plans his way, But the LORD directs his steps” which shows us that we make our plans but God is directing us overall.Time and time again in the Bible and in our lives we can see how God takes care of people. How He took care of Hagar and Ishmael, Daniel, Jeremiah, Jonah and so many more. Then with Jesus, he cared for so many people from all walks of life. I think of my own life and can clearly see how God has directed events in my life to point me to Him. How He cared for me when I didn’t care for myself. How he drew me to Himself and has provided for me time and time again.In the verses above we see how God cares for, and provides for, less valuable parts of creation and the question is asked ‘how much more will He care for us’? He loves us and has given up His Son for us. He has knit us together in our mother’s womb. He is not wishing for any to perish but for all to come to repentance. So He wants every single person to choose Him and then He uses people to gather other people to Him. He uses people who have been through certain situations to encourage, sympathize with and guide other people who are going through similar situations.At the very end, Jesus added in “You of little faith!” That made me think of Matthew 17:20 where Jesus says “And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.” So Jesus is saying that even if we have a tiny amount of faith in God, He will do awesome things.I saw this when I finally put my trust in Jesus and His sacrifice for me. I had been struggling with not having enough proof of God to put my trust in Him. Eventually I realized that I never would get that proof and I just needed to take a leap of faith. So I did. Then I felt God’s presence inside of me, warming me, reassuring me and calming me. It was a great and very memorable experience. And the next day when I got to the same point in my drive, the sky and all around me was lit up with this golden light. It was a gift from God showing me that my decision based on a little faith was rewarded by Him giving me what I had given up needing from Him, proof of His existence.
Matthew 19:13-15Then some children were brought to Him so that He might lay His hands on them and pray; and the disciples rebuked them. But Jesus said, “Let the children alone, and do not hinder them from coming to Me; for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these.” After laying His hands on them, He departed from there.
There is something about children that Jesus knows is special. His own disciples looked down on a group of children who were brought to Him for prayer and Jesus corrected them. A related event happened back at the start of Matthew 18 where Jesus’s disciples asked Him “who is greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”. He replied that they “had to converted and become like children if they wanted to enter the kingdom of heaven”. He also said that whomever humbled themselves like a child would be the greatest in the kingdom of heaven.If we take a look of the fruits of the spirit listed in Galatians 5:22-23, we see that quite a few of them are displayed in young children. I challenge you to look at the list and then reflect on your encounters with young children and think of some instances. If you have had children of your own that will likely help. I can think of many times when my girls would (and still do) show me various fruits of the spirit. Well, maybe not self control. Kids can be rather impulsive after all.I find it interesting how in Matthew 18, Jesus warns about the consequence of “causing one of these little ones who believe in Me to stumble”. I take the word stumble to mean to sin. So if we encourage a child who believes in Jesus to sin I believe we will answer for that when we face our Lord Jesus at the judgement. So let’s encourage them to focus on whatever is true, honourable, right, pure, lovely, commendable, excellent and worthy of praise (Philippians 4:8).I also enjoy the verse Psalm 127:3 which says: “Behold, children are a gift of the Lord, The fruit of the womb is a reward.” Children are a gift and a blessing from God and we are to raise them to know Him, the one who “knit them together in their mother’s womb” (Psalm 139:13). It’s sad to know that so many children around the world are not being raised to know and love the God who created them and wants a relationship with them.
Matthew 19:25-26When the disciples heard this, they were very astonished and said, “Then who can be saved?” And looking at them Jesus said to them, “With people this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”
In the verses before these ones, A rich ruler had come to Jesus and wanted to follow Him. Jesus told him to sell all of his possessions and give the money to the poor then he could follow Him. The ruler went away sad as he didn’t want to give away all of his possessions. Jesus then told his disciples that it was almost impossible for a rich person to put their trust in Him.There are two things I see in these verses:
1. All things are possible with God.
2. There is a cost to following Jesus.As the many ‘but God’ verses show us, God can quickly change the direction that a situation is going. He knows everything, is everywhere all the time and is all-powerful. He raises up world leaders and brings them down. He keeps the entire universe running, even parts we don’t know about. With Him, all things are possible.As we read in Matthew 19:16-26, Jesus told the young ruler to sell everything he had and give the proceeds to the poor. He asked something of the young ruler that the young ruler was unwilling to do. Jesus also mentioned in Luke 14:25-35 how there was a cost to following Him. He speaks of counting the cost before we even begin to follow Him. The cost is giving up what we want for what God wants. Often it’s the thing that we’re are most attached to. Just as Jesus knew what the young ruler was most attached to and challenged him on it, God knows what we’re most attached to.It reminds me of a quote from Jim Elliot who was a missionary that was killed by the people group that he went to share Jesus with. The quote is: “He is no fool who gives what he cannot keep to gain what he cannot lose.” We willingly give up our physical life to gain eternal life.
Mark 2:7“Why does this man speak that way? He is blaspheming; who can forgive sins but God alone?”
Jesus was preaching God’s word to a gathering of people packed in and around the house He was in. Four men carried a young man suffering from paralysis so that he could be healed by Jesus. They couldn’t get near the door so they carried him onto the roof, ripped open a hole and lowered him down to Jesus. Jesus recognized the faith they had that He would heal the young man so He told him that his sins were forgiven. Some scribes heard Jesus and were thinking to themselves that Jesus shouldn’t have said that as they knew that only God could forgive sins.Scribes were people who would carefully make copies of scriptures. They would study the scriptures as well. They were considered experts when it came to the word of God. So they picked up pretty quickly that Jesus had said something very noteworthy. Jesus was, in their minds, assuming God’s position. They struggled with this as they didn’t see Jesus as God but just as a man who blasphemed or did not show the show the proper respect due to God. This happens countless times everyday in our current world. When someone mocks God or says one of His names without the proper reverence. Back in Jesus’s day, they would stone you (throw rocks at you until you died) for that.As we read in Psalm 51:4, all sin is against God. He is the One who made the law, He is the One who judges, and He is the only One who can forgive sins against Him. So Jesus was claiming to be God, and rightfully so. Christians use the word ‘Trinity’ to try to describe the indescribable fact that God is made up of three distinct entities: God the Father, God the Son and the Holy Spirit.Also, in Romans 2:14-15, it says that God has written His law in our hearts. We each have a conscience that knows what is right and what is wrong. When we are not following our conscience it will even speak up in our mind unless we continue to ignore it. What a gift from God this is. We are never too far gone for God to turn us around out of sin and back to Him. We just need to genuinely seek Him and ignore Satan’s voice which tries to condemn us. Once you put your trust in the sacrifice that Jesus made for you, there is no condemnation for you as He has taken your sins away. You. Are. Forgiven!This story ends with Jesus forgiving and healing the young man so that he could show everyone in and around the house that he was no longer paralyzed thanks to Jesus. Everyone was amazed and glorified God as they had never seen anything like what had happened. This is what can happen every time someone accepts Jesus as their Lord and Saviour. Others can be amazed at the change in that person. Other lives can also be changed through this one person’s example. Whether you encounter Jesus directly or through someone else, you will be able to recognize that there is something amazing happening.
Luke 5:16But Jesus Himself would often slip away to the wilderness and pray.
In this section of scripture it’s talking about how Jesus was really starting to become famous with large crowds coming to see Him, hear Him and be healed by Him. And yet Jesus would often get away from everyone and spend time praying which is spending one-on-one time with God.Jesus was asked by his disciples about how to pray so He gave them what we refer to as the Lord’s prayer in Matthew 6:5-15 and Luke 11:1-13. We get some additional prayer advice, outside of the prayer itself, in both sections. This advice sets the tone for our prayers. It’s God giving us a class on how to talk with Him, and how not to talk with Him - Prayer 101.In Matthew, we are told not to make a show for others out of our prayer time but instead to get alone and privately pray. We’re also told to really think about our words and not just babble or try to impress God with our vocabulary. God is impressed by things like humility, obedience, kindness, honesty, patience, trust and love.In Luke, Jesus tells us to be persistent with our prayers, to go to God often and with boldness. He also told His disciples to ask for the Holy Spirit from God. Since Jesus’s ascension back to Heaven, all who believe in Him receive the Holy Spirit inside of us. So while we don’t need to pray for the Holy Spirit, we can still pray for an increased dependence on Him and various things from Him, such as guidance, wisdom, comfort, courage and strength.The Lord’s Prayer itself shows us how to first focus on who God is and praise Him. Then we move onto seeking His plans and will for us. These parts of the prayer should get us in the right head space for asking things of Him. He knows we have needs and He is willing and capable of providing for those needs. It’s just good for us to put Him and His will before our needs. Then comes the part about asking for God’s forgiveness as we have forgiven others who have wronged us. Later Jesus mentions how God won’t forgive us if we won’t forgive others.Some versions of the Bible then end with a part about asking God to lead us away from temptation and to keep us from evil. We have a way of finding ourselves in trouble if we aren’t keeping our eyes firmly fixed on God so asking Him daily to guide us in His ways is wise. Other versions of the Bible then finish with a reminder that absolutely everything belongs to God, including our praise.
Luke 16:15And He said to them, “You are those who justify yourselves in the sight of men, but God knows your hearts; for that which is highly esteemed among men is detestable in the sight of God.”
Jesus was preaching about the wise use of money and not elevating money above its place. Some Pharisees (religious leaders) were making fun of Him because they loved money. Jesus then pointed out their hypocrisy and how God wasn’t fooled. He is not some false god who is imperfect and flawed. He is a perfect God who knows absolutely everything.I can think of a few times where I was proud of fooling someone or taking advantage of someone. Now it’s difficult to not feel shame at those same situations. I know now that while I may have fooled a person, I did not fool God. He knows my every motive and everything I’ve done and He is the one I will answer to one day. He also knows the consequences of my actions. He knows if those I’ve wronged have found out about it, how it affected them and how they dealt with it. And all of this matters to Him. He loves those people just as He loves me.Part of me would love to go back and correct all those instances and right those wrongs. But I realize that those situations have helped to shape me. I now move forward trying to not repeat those mistakes. Having made those mistakes and thinking about how I’ve hurt people, how it’s affected them and their life. Perhaps I’m giving myself too much credit. Perhaps those people either never found out about it or it didn’t really affect them. But in these cases I often have to think of the worst-case scenario as that helps ensure that I will not repeat this. I can only pray that God helped soften the situations and their hearts as He has done for me.A few times in the Bible Jesus speaks about money and how there is a place for it but to remember not to let it become more important to us than it should be. He tells us in Matthew 19:24 that “it is easier for a camel to go through the eye of a needle, than for a rich man to enter the kingdom of God." This shows us that, while it’s not impossible, wealthy people face a difficult time in putting their trust in Jesus and the sacrifice He made for our eternity instead of depending on their wealth to give them their best life here on earth and forgetting about eternity.If we are focused on Jesus and the kingdom of God then we won’t focus nearly as much on building our own ‘kingdom’ here on earth but instead partnering with God to build His kingdom. We will seek to be useful to God in telling people about Jesus, helping those who need help, standing up for those who can’t stand up for themselves, and seeing people as souls who will end up in one of two places for eternity. Heaven with God or Hell without Him.
John 14:26But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that I said to you.
This is a special verse in that all three members of the Godhead are mentioned; God the Father, the Spirit of God, and God the Son (the One speaking). Later, in John 16, Jesus explains to the disciples how it is better for them that Jesus goes away and the Holy Spirit comes to them. He goes on to say that the Holy Spirit will:
1. Convict the people of the world (unbelievers) about sin, righteousness, and judgement.
2. Guide believers into all truth and tell believers what God and Jesus tell Him to say, including about the future.The Holy Spirit will convict unbelievers about their sin, first and foremost that they do not believe in Jesus; Half of the whole reason for Jesus’s sacrificial death was to take upon Himself the sins of all mankind, past, present and future. That only applies to those who believe in Him and recognize their utter need of that sacrifice.He will also convict unbelievers of righteousness as Jesus went to God and is no longer visible here; The other half of Jesus’s sacrificial death was to credit any who believe in Him with His righteousness. That way we are acceptable to God. Jesus took all of our sin, paid the price for it, and also gave us His righteousness.Lastly He will convict them of judgement as the ruler of the world, Satan, has been judged. Each person will face judgement at a future time. Jesus will judge us with absolute accuracy and we will either be welcomed in heaven for eternity with God and others who also chose to believe in Jesus. Or we will be destined to a terrifying and lonely eternity without God.For those who make the choice to believe in Jesus, the Holy Spirit will guide us and impress upon us what God and Jesus tell Him to. It makes me think of those movies where you have a secret agent who has an earpiece so that some other person who has access to satellite imagery and other fancy technology can guide the secret agent through a dangerous mission. Except the Holy Spirit guides us perfectly and loves us completely.God has done so much to make one way for us to not just be forgiven for all of the wrongs that we have done, are doing, and will do. But also that we can experience eternity with Him in a perfect place. He has made this world that points in so many ways to an awesome and all-knowing Creator. He has even put people and situations in your life that point to Him. He has ensured that you have caught glimpses of Him if you are just willing to be open-minded. He wants you for eternity with Him and you can trust Him completely. Ask Him to show Himself to you and then pay attention to how He answers you.
Acts 13:30But God raised Him from the dead;
First off, let’s just pause for a minute and think about how awesome and powerful God is that He can raise people from the dead. And we’re not talking about a near death situation as Jesus was dead for three days. And then… He was not dead, in fact He was perfectly healthy even with holes in His hands and His side. He ate, He talked, He walked. Death used to be final but God took away that finality.There are a few other mentions of people being resurrected by God in the Bible:
Elijah asked God to revive a widow’s son and He did (1st Kings 17:17-24).
Elisha asked God to bring back a Shunammite woman’s son and He did (2nd Kings 4:18-37).
A dead man was being buried and was thrown in the grave of Elisha. When the dead man touched the bones of Elisha, the dead man came back to life. (2nd Kings 13:21)
Jesus resurrected Lazarus who was a friend of His who had died four days prior..
When Jesus died on the cross, many of the saints were raised (Matthew 27:52-53).
At some future point, Jesus will come back to earth and all believers, both dead and alive, will join Him (1st Thessalonians 4:15-17).Another interesting point is that Jesus is the only person who predicted His own death as well as His resurrection. And He did it in much detail; He mentioned how it would happen, who would be involved and that He wouldn’t stay dead (Matthew 16:21, Mark 9:30-32, and Luke 18:31-34). Also, hundreds of years before Jesus was born, his death and resurrection was written about in Isaiah 52:13-53:12.Jesus’s death was necessary as we read in Romans 6:23, “the wages of sin is death”. So when Jesus had all of the sins of all mankind placed on Him, He paid the price for them by dying an innocent death. We see in 2nd Corinthians 5:21 that “He made Him who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.” So because of what Jesus did, we can be seen as righteous, or acceptable, to God through Jesus. Its like God then sees us as clothed or covered by Jesus’s righteousness. But we need to accept and believe who Jesus is, what He did on the cross for us and what God then did to Jesus.
Romans 8:26In the same way the Spirit also helps our weakness; for we do not know how to pray as we should, but the Spirit Himself intercedes for us with groanings too deep for words;
We read in Acts 2:38 that if we repent (or turn from our sins), and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins then we will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit. We also read in Ephesians 1:13 how if after we listen to the message of truth, the gospel of our salvation, and if we also believe that message, then we are sealed in Him with the Holy Spirit of promise. Lastly we read in 1st Corinthians 6:19 that, as believers in Jesus Christ, our body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in us, whom we have from God, and that we are not our own.The Spirit of God that lives in a believer of Jesus Christ does a few things for us. The verse we’re focusing on right now tells us that God’s Spirit, that He puts within us, prays for us. What an awesome gift the Holy Spirit within us is! We don't often pray as we should because we’re too busy, too tired, too selfish, too overwhelmed, too weak or other reasons. And yet God’s Spirit is inside us praying perfectly for us. God’s Spirit knows us so intimately as He is God and He is inside our very being.His presence within us is also proof that we belong to God. He teaches us and speaks to us what He hears from God. He strengthens us and gives us power. He makes us more and more loving, joyful, peaceful, patient, kind, good, faithful, gentle and self-controlled. He will give life to our mortal bodies. He will give us wisdom, understanding, counsel, strength, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord.Perhaps you, like me, don’t always feel or sense the Holy Spirit within you even though you’ve come to believe the gospel message of Jesus Christ and have turned from your sinful ways. Well Luke 11:13 has the answer: ask God for more of His Spirit, ask for Him to overflow within you, ask for more of the attributes above, ask that His Spirit would be a deafening roar inside of you. Cry out to him as His child in desperation and be encouraged by knowing that His Spirit inside you is also praying for this as well.The Holy Spirit within us intercedes on our behalf to God with ‘groanings too deep for words’. The only thing from my experience that was too deep for words was when I was overwhelmed with emotion and the result would be a shout or weeping. But that’s not the same as this. I imagine it’s like a language that only God knows. A language that just can’t be put into words. A lot of things relating to God can’t be described with words as Isaiah 55:8-9 alludes to. It’s easier to simply be in utter awe of this infinite, perfect, holy, unique and vast God. But know this: regardless of who you are and what you’ve done, He loves you.
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
“I planted, Apollos watered, but God was causing the growth. So then neither the one who plants nor the one who waters is anything, but God who causes the growth.”
Paul is talking here about how he and Apollos taught and guided people to God through their words and actions. But his focus isn’t on what he and Apollos did but on what God did. Compared to God, he says, they did nothing. God alone is the one who causes us to grow and He will do this for our entire life here on Earth as the Bible says in Philippians 1:6.But what kind of growth can we expect from Him? Galatians 5:22-23 gives us a partial list with the fruits of the spirit - love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. We can pull some more areas for growth from various verses like obedience, humility, trust, contentment, endurance, gratitude, diligence and forgiveness. There are more but you get the idea. We are to grow more and more like Jesus.James 1:2-4 gives us some insight into how God grows us. Various trials (or temptations) test our faith which produces endurance (or patience). As we trust and seek God when we are in a trial, knowing that He knows the best way through that trial and He will gladly guide us through it, we will grow spiritually. God made us so He knows what areas we need growth in and how best to grow us.In Ephesians 2:10 we read about how God created “good works’ for us to do. It’s amazing that before we were even born, God designed our lives, even with specific things that we could do to help others. We still need to choose to do those things but even if we don’t, God knew that too and will have someone else available to help instead. But then we miss out on being a blessing to someone.Lastly, It’s important that we remember that we are dependant on God and that’s the way it should be. The world pushes the idea that we need to be completely independent but the truth is that we need God. The best part about Heaven is that God will be there and the worst part about Hell is that He will not be there. The whole reason He sent His Son, Jesus, to die on the cross was because He wants us to be in Heaven with Him. He does not want us in hell but the choice is up to us.
1 Corinthians 10:13
No temptation has overtaken you but such as is common to man; and God is faithful, who will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you are able, but with the temptation will provide the way of escape also, so that you will be able to endure it.
We learn a few things about temptation here:
1. Regardless of the specific temptation, we are not the only person to experience it. Others will have gone through what we go through, either exactly or similarly.
2. God will prevent us from being tempted past our ability to resist.
3. God will provide way to escape/endure the temptation.I can’t count how many times I’ve told someone about something I’d gone through only to find out that they’d gone through the same or similar thing. Somehow God has made it so that regardless of the situation, there is going to be someone who can share our grief, encourage us or just be an understanding shoulder to cry on. People even make groups based on certain shared experiences like addictions, cancer survivors, parents who have experienced the death of a child, etc. Also, we are able to help those who are going through something that we have gone through.The same God who allows temptations to confront us in order to grow us, knows our limits even better than we know them. But then why do we give in to temptation, if not because the temptation exceeded our ability to resist? Did we put on the full armour of God (Ephesians 6:10-18)? Did we seek God in prayer? Do we have other Christians in our life who we seek Godly counsel from?Lastly, God will provide a way out or through the temptation. We just need to seek Him out in prayer and follow His guidance. The very next verse tells us to flee from idolatry. That’s good advice when we’re facing any temptation. We should flee from it if we’re struggling to not give in to it. Get away from the temptation And don’t go back to it. In Matthew 18:8-9 we’re told to cut off our hand or foot and pluck out our eye if these parts cause us to sin as it’s better to live maimed than to sin. Since the Bible warns us so graphically about temptation, we should listen and run to God.
Ephesians 2:4-7But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
These verses speak about how God made a way for all humans to be with Him in heaven. But why did a way have to be made for people to be with God? God is holy and what that means is that He is special, unique, clean, perfect and awesome. Because of who He is, He can’t be around sin (bad thoughts and choices). We read in Isaiah 59:2 that our sin makes a separation between God and us and that He hides His face from us. And yet He wants to be with us and He loves us with this unique love that He has.He knows that there’s nothing we can do to clean ourselves up and not sin so He had to make a way. Jesus Christ is that way (John 14:6). Jesus left heaven and lived a perfect life here on earth. He was tempted by Satan but did not give in to temptation. Then He took the sins of all people upon Himself and was killed. He was then resurrected three days later by the power of God and eventually went back to Heaven. So anyone who believes in what He did and trusts in Him for saving them from their sin, is considered clean or righteous in God’s eyes. We must remember though that we are clean not because of anything that we have done but only because of what Jesus did for us on the cross.Jesus did two things on the cross.
1. He took all of our sins upon Himself and died for them, paying the price for them once and for all.
2. He gave us His righteousness in the place of our sin so we are now acceptable to a holy God.But we need to accept His sacrifice on our behalf. We need to believe who He was, what He did, why He did it, and what it means for us. If we reject his sacrifice then we remain dirty or stained and God will not accept us. There is no third path, only two. One leads to life forever with God in heaven and the other leads to suffering forever without God in hell.Let’s end with 2nd Peter 3:9 which talks about how God doesn’t want a single person to end up in hell. He wants everyone to choose Him and He is holding off on having Jesus come back to earth so that any who will choose Him have the time to choose Him. But time will run out and only He knows when it will be too late to choose Him. So think about it, reach out to someone who has put their trust in Jesus already and ask them questions. Seek Him out while you can. He loves you.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org