Friday Faithfuls 2 - 1 Thessalonians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This week's selection is 100% based on the season.  I did not grow up in a liturgical tradition; Advent wasn't on my radar at all.  When I married a Methodist, Advent became part of my vocabulary, but I still thought it was all about preparing for the baby.  It wasn't until I read Madeleine L'Engle's book The Irrational Season that I discovered that Advent is an eschatological season, preparing for the coming of the Messiah...both the first and second comings. 

You will hear people argue that the word 'rapture' doesn't occur anywhere in Scripture, so people who are looking for such a thing are clearly misguided.

But I would say that the word 'Advent' doesn't appear in Scripture, either (at least, it is not listed in my Exhaustive NIV Concordance).  Advent is a word we have used to describe a scriptural concept:  the expectation of and preparation for the coming of Messiah.  Likewise, 'rapture' is a word used to refer to a concept Paul clearly details:

For the Lord himself will come down from heaven, with a loud command, with the voice of the archangel and with the trumpet call of God, and the dead in Christ will rise first.  After that, we who are still alive and are left will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And so we will be with the Lord forever. -- 1 Thess. 4:16-17, NIV 84

However, I would also point out that the scholars of the day completely missed the first coming of Messiah.  They had studied the scriptures and the prophecies and they really believed they had it figured out;  they knew what was going to happen.  So when it didn't happen the way they expected...they missed it.  I'm not so sure this 'catching up' is a 'missable' event, in that sense, but I do think that we tend to interpret prophecy according to what we know.   Problem is, there is a lot of stuff we don't know that affects that interpretation; things that make sense in hindsight but were totally unexpected at the moment. I believe Paul wrote the truth...we will be all caught up, in some fashion.  But it might be in a way that we don't expect now...that, in hindsight millenia from now, we will see was exactly right.

And...even the unexpectedness of it is repeated in prophecies.  Jesus said it would be unexpected; Paul says it will be unexpected.  We just think we have figured out what the unexpected aspects of it will be.  But...I bet we don't.  Not entirely.  I kinda think the second coming of Messiah will be the same sort of surprise as the first one.  Not exactly what we...expected.

So maybe the theme statement of Advent should be the phrase that was the motto for our children's ministry at church for years:

EXPECT THE UNEXPECTED.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - Colossians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The weekly skim is becoming well, sorta weekly during the holiday season, lol!  But we have arrived at Colossians today, and the passage that caught me on my read through is probably because of the season we're in...

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.  For by him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers of authorities; all things were created by him and for him.  He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  And he is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning and the firstborn from among the dead, so that in everything he might have the supremacy. -- Col. 1: 15-18, NIV 84

Think about his passage when we are singing about the baby in the manger...who has the supremacy in EVERYTHING. It's pretty staggering to think about what he actually did to come and dwell among us.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Philippians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Philippians, y'all.  Paul writing to some of the people he knew well, who had become believers because of his ministry and who had supported him when no one else did.

He loved these folks.

And, because I was specifically reminded of this passage at last night's choir practice, it kind of explains why it seemed highlighted. And the fact that it was the theme passage, repeated almost weekly, of the girls' ministry program I worked in for ten years.  

So... a passage with history, that was highlighted this week.  Yeah.

Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, -- if anything is excellent or praiseworthy --  think about such things. Phil. 4:8, NIV84.

The power of positive thinking, eh?  Paul, writing while imprisoned y'all, writes that folks should think about things that are true, noble, right pure, lovely, admirable, excellent and/or praiseworthy.  That takes some real discipline.

There are times when it's oddly satisfying to wallow in the unfairness, in the victimhood, in the entitlement...kind of like picking at a scab.  It doesn't do any good at all, and can, in fact, make things worse, but there's that weird perverse appetite for such things.

Paul, however, offers an option. An out.  Instead of thinking about all the yuck, think about all the good.  

Picking at a scab keeps it from healing...and can even allow infection to fester.  Focusing on resentment and envy and disappointment and the like can do a similar thing to the spirit.

Actually, the whole book of Philippians talks about keeping a good attitude.  That's just kind of a practical snippet.  It's only 4 chapters...give it a read through whenever you feel like the ol' attitude is beginning to sag.

And think on those things.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Ephesians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our little flying skim through the books of the Bible looking for a verse that particularly resonates each week has brought us to Ephesians.

I may well have studied Ephesians more than any other book, lol.  I teach a class at church on beginning Bible study skills and over the course of that 10 week class we go through Ephesians three times.

So I wondered which verse would stand out to me as I read through it this week, and the one that tripped the wire was this one:

And you also were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation.  Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit. -- Eph. 1:13, NIV 84.

"You also were included"...that is balm to my soul right now.  Doesn't matter what happens on any earthly situation...I am included.

And so are you.  All it takes is real belief....the kind that gets deep inside and becomes foundational.  The rock upon which the house is built. When that happens, we are sealed in him.  

In.Clu.Ded.

Friday Faithfuls 2 - Galatians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

If anyone ever needed any proof that Paul could get salty...all they need to do is read Galatians.  Arguing against requiring non-Jewish believers to follow the law of Moses, Paul gets quite...emphatic...in his language.

But the verse that caught my attention today was 2:20 (NIV 84) - 

I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.  The life I live in the body, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.

Y'all.  Just take a selah and ponder that verse for a moment or two.

What RIGHTS do I have, as a believer, if I am crucified in Christ?  If Jesus is living through me?  If everything I do originates in faith in him?

Not from a legalistic standpoint...that's the very thing Paul argues against in the entire letter...but from a standpoint of love and gratefulness for what he has done?

How could I possibly look at the one who loved me and gave himself for me and say, 'I just want to do (fill in the blank) because it will make me happy.'

And, you know, the (fill in the blank) could be anything from, say, reading a bunch of salacious tales on Reddit compilations to  carrying a grudge against someone who caused emotional pain to jumping into an illicit relationship.  Doesn't matter.  If it's not in obedience to him,  how can that action be reconciled with being crucified with Christ?

Definitely worth a selah.

Dem Bones....

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Today we sang Elevation Church's song Rattle!  in worship.  It stirred up all kinds of things in me.

See...there's a lot going on IN me right now. I'm in a changing season, and, like any season of change, my footing feels uncertain, my direction is not clear, and I'm looking at old dreams thinking their time has passed...which makes me grieve a bit.  I was so looking forward to seeing those dreams happen.  But...if they are, they are not going to look anything like I thought.

So we are singing about dry bones coming back to life.  To be honest, I struggled.  I just wasn't feeling it.  So I had a little conversation with Holy Spirit about what was going on.  

While I'm singing, you understand.  Does that happen to anyone else?

What I heard was ...the song is about dry bones.  To quote Ezekiel, very dry bones.  And what the Spirit told me was...your bones still have meat on them.  Old, decaying, smelly meat.  You gotta let it die and fall off.  The bones have to be dry.

That's not to say there's anything bad about what was there.  Or what it accomplished.  Or negating the focus and training that working toward the dream accomplished in its time.  But...the old and the past-its-prime has got to drop away to clear the way for the new and the strong and the vibrant.  The bones get bleached out.  Dry isn't just dry...it's also clean.  Rotting meat attracts flies and repels people;  dry bones do not.

I have been thinking a lot about John the Baptist lately; probably a bit because season 3 of The Chosen is about to start up and, according to the chronology in the synoptic gospels, we are going to lose John the Baptizer in this season. I did a little character study of John back in the Desert series;  my thinking has been along those lines, but especially thinking about those guys who were disciples of John....how they had to make the transition from the ministry of John to the ministry of Jesus, who seemed to come along and push aside their rabbi.   I'm sure it was more than a little tempting to resent Jesus and his disciples for supplanting the ministry of John. Everybody is going over to that guy you baptized, they told him.

John's ministry was good, necessary, and part of the prophesied coming of the Messiah. He was in the progression of ministry of national prophets that had gone back centuries.  But it was done.

This is the sound of dry bones rattling...

Not done.  Transforming.  Into following the one that John and all the prophets before him proclaimed.  Into the thing it was intended to be all along.

But the old has to dry up.

SO I began to sing the song as a declaration that when all the old stuff had fallen off and the dreams were truly down to dry bones...the resurrection will come.  In some way, it will come.

Just ask the stone that was rolled at the tomb of the garden what happens when God says to move...

I'm not there yet.  But I can believe it's coming.

Friday Faithfuls Two: 2 Corinthians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Second Corinthians...Paul's second letter to the church in Corinth, which had some issues.  He wrote them a pretty strong letter earlier...rebuke, instruction on discipline...and in this letter he kinda sorta says, 'Sorry, not sorry'...because he was sorry to have caused them grief, but was rejoicing at the repentance that grief brought about.

Godly sorrow brings repentance that leads to salvation and leaves no regret, but worldly sorrow brings death.  -- 2 Cor 7:10

I wonder if, in our reluctance to offend/ hurt people, we forget that godly sorrow is a good thing.  How can one be brought to repentance without godly sorrow...the recognition that one has done things that need repenting?

If there is no repentance, there is no forgiveness.  Repentance is KEY.    There's a big difference between 'I truly regret that I ever did XYZ; I recognize that it was wrong and I renounce that behavior and will walk away from the lifestyle that produces such things' and 'I'm sorry you caught me/ called me out for XYZ; I'll be more careful in the future,'...which implies that repeat behavior is likely, for whatever reason.

If we confess a thing as sin, and repent...he is faithful and will forgive.  However many times it takes.  But if we just confess it as a 'problem' or a 'habit' or even 'that's just how I am'...there's no repentance.  Somehow our little pet failings don't seem to be sinful.  They don't hurt anyone.  It doesn't even affect anyone else.   But if GOD says it's sin....then, my friend, we must own our sin. Agree with him.  Then we can be forgiven.

And it is quite a sorrowful battle to come to the place to admit that... whatever...is sin.  The thing that separates me from God and his blessing.  Sin cannot come into God's presence.  And, while we might believe we can drop the sin at the last minute, the plain truth is that sin has hooks.  Only repentance and forgiveness can remove those hooks. Ultimately, we don't hold sin...sin holds us. If sin is not forgiven and washed away, the hooks will pull the individual to the place where sin will ultimately end up...outside of God's presence.  The wages of sin is death.  Because sin cannot come into the presence of God any more than darkness can come into a place that's filled with light.

So...how can we, as believers carrying his truth, inspire godly sorrow...and not just plain ol' offense?  What needs to change in me?  In the way I interact with those around me? 

Friday Faithfuls Two: 1 Corinthians

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

At various times in my life, when I questioned whether or not I am a profitable servant of the Most High, a Bible verse has landed in my life from one source or another that spoke right to my insecurity.  On more than one occasion, it was a particular verse from 1 Corinthians.  A verse that, to be honest, I forgot was from 1 Corinthians until I hit it when skimming through.

And once again, I find myself in a need of a little encouragement.

So I got it.

Therefore, my dear brothers, stand firm. Let nothing move you.  Always give yourself fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.  -- 1 Cor. 15:58

Even if you don't see the fruit, even if it seems to be done in a corner, even if it gets wearying, know that your work done in Him is  Not. In. Vain.  

If no one else notices, your work is not in vain.

If nobody appreciates it, your work is not in vain.

If it seems to go nowhere, your work is not in vain.

If it's done out of love and obedience to HIM...HE sees.  So stand firm and don't give up.  It's worth doing.  For Him.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Romans

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

I love Romans.  So much richness.  Such beautiful logical arguments.

I need to spend more time in Romans.

Likely because we were in a conference last weekend about the Jewish origins of the Christian faith, the verse that stood out to me the most (among several that resonated) this week is 1:16

I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes:  first for the Jew, then for the Gentile.  (NIV 84)

All of the folks who spoke at the conference were Messianic Jews, and one of them commented in telling his story:

"When someone would begin to speak to me about Jesus, I would reply, 'Oh, I'm Jewish.'  And they would apologize, saying something like 'Oh, I'm so sorry.  I wouldn't have said anything if I had known.'.  So I definitely felt that Christianity and Judaism were not at all compatible.  If just one had replied something along the lines of, 'Oh, man, that's awesome!  Salvation belongs to you first!' It would have changed everything for me."

I have never understood Christian based antisemitism.  In the beginning, Christianity (the folks back then referred to it as 'The Way'...'Christian' was a derogatory term most akin to 'Jesus Freak' now) was considered a sect of Judaism.  Jesus was Jewish, as were all of his disciples.  The foundation of the Christian faith is Judaism...the radical idea that God is one, and he actually cares about and is involved in the lives of his people. A holy God, who is completely 'other than' humans, not a host of squabbling deities who were just immortal human types with supernatural powers.

People who want to cite the verse about the guilt of Jesus' death falling on the Jews missed the point entirely...it wasn't the Jewish PEOPLE who rejected him...it was their LEADERS.   To blame the Jews of that day would be to blame Andrew, Peter, Mary Magdalene, Joseph of Arimathea, Nicodemus, John the Revelator, John Mark, and all the others who followed him...who had the Jewish leaders so alarmed that they had to turn the execution of Jesus over to the Romans, lest there be a riot...for Jesus' death.  They were not to blame. Nor are their children.  We owe our faith to those very folks who told others who told others who told others; without those Jewish followers of Jesus, non of us non-Jewish folks would have the hope of the gospel.

So what sense does it make for believers to reject, harass, abuse, steal from, marginalize, disenfranchise and ultimately kill folks who are Jewish?   None at all.  

The power of God for the salvation of everyone is, first and foremost, for them.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Acts of the Apostles

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This sorta - weekly skim through a book of the Bible has brought us to Acts...the only history book in the New Testament.  The folks who had followed Jesus were figuring out how to follow the leading of Holy Spirit, how to follow Jesus' instructions.  

I thought I knew what verse I would pick before I started reading, but right off the bat I got slapped with something else.

Isn't that always what happens, lol?   That'll preach on it's own...anytime I think I  know what God is going to say/ lead/ whatever...we go a different direction. 

After his suffering , he showed himself to these men [the apostles he had chosen; v. 2] and gave many convincing proofs that he was alive.  He appeared to them over a period of forty days and spoke about the kingdom of God.  - Acts 1:3

Maybe it's because I was teaching a class this week about the validity of the scripture, but the immediacy of this...that Luke had likely spoken to a number of these disciples, the ones who had spent time with Jesus, as he researched the events he wrote about...suddenly hit me.  

I think I have mentioned this before; but, in archaelogical terms, the New Testament is yesterday's newspaper, full of eyewitness accounts.  No other manuscript from antiquity can even come close.

Two of the tests given to ancient texts to validate them are 1) how much time passed between the original manuscript and the oldest existing copy and 2) how many ancient copies or fragments of copies do we have in order to cross - reference the text.  Obviously, the lesser amount of time that has passed between the original writing of a manuscript and the making of the copy that still exists will make it more likely to be accurate, while the larger the number of documents we have to compare to one another the more confident we can be that it has been accurately perserved.

I'm not going to get into the specifics of this here...if you want all the numbers and such you can find them in Josh McDowell's Evidence that Demands a Verdict, in which he goes into all the details of these kinds of studies, but I will say that the New Testament completely blows all the other ancient documents out of the water.  Writings of Aristotle, Pliny the Younger, Caesar, Homer...have hundreds of years between the writing of them and the oldest extant copies.  We also only have a very few...less than 10 for some...ancient copies of the manuscripts. 

The oldest fragment of the New Testament is 50 years away from the original source, and we have over 5, 000 ancient documents...over 25,000 if you count all the tiny fragments...that reproduce the text.

We have a very, very high level of confidence that what we have in our Bibles today is what was written.  

And what was written was written by those who saw, who experienced or, as in the case of Luke, who were closely acquainted with those who were witnesses of the life and resurrection of Jesus and the power that his name had in the years following his ministry. The concept is repeated in Acts.... phrases like 'we have seen' and 'we were witnesses' appear several times in the text.  The original writings were floating around while the folks who lived the events were still  walking around on the planet. 

...many convincing proofs that he was alive

Yes, it is a fantastic story...bizzarre, even.  Hard to wrap one's head around. 

Maybe that's why Romans says we must believe in the heart...

Friday Faithfuls 2 - John

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

John is one of my favorite books.  It is so deep and so rich and so...intense.  I sat down and, instead of doing the normal 'skim through' for this series, I just read it through as if it were a novel.  Try it sometime...ignore the chapter/verse notations and just read.  You'll catch things that you would otherwise miss if you let the chapters and verses break up the text.  

It's hard for us to remember sometimes that those divisions are just there to make referencing the text easier; there's nothing particularly inspired about them.

But, be that as it may, after reading through the whole book I still ended up back at the beginning for this week's choice.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.  He was with God in the beginning.  Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made....and the Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us"  -- John 1: 1-3, 14a  NIV84

I was freshly struck by John's statement that everything was made through the Word...and the realization that God spoke things into being.  Using words.

It could be aruged that God did not speak mankind into being but actually fashioned  man from the dirt, but God did declare the intention to 'make man in our image'...and then created Adam from dirt that had been spoken into existence.  So words were still involved.

That gets really abstract, right from the beginning, but I love that it takes God out of the Michaelangelo- inspired concept of a muscular giant with a flowing beard.  God is the Word He spoke...that became flesh and lived among humanity.

While mankind was made in God's image...God is not an image of mankind.  It doesn't go both ways.  A reflection only shows a semblance of the original.

Status check

 Posted to Beer Lahai Roi by Lisa Laree

And I said September was a crazy month...

My Sweet Babboo had his turn with the shoulder surgery on Thursday last week; he needed a bit more repair than I did...more than the surgeon expected, actually, and he's in the immobilzer brace for 3 more weeks.  So I'm working from home in order to be around when needed, and to get him to his appointments without a crazy amout of back-and-forthing.  And I'm still working on my own rehab.  Um, yeah.  right. 

*insert sheepish face*

So, hence the kind of unplanned hiatus.  But we should be settling into some sort of routine here shortly and I'm hoping to get back on the Friday Faithful track; John is up and I want to give it good consideration.

So...just a wee check in.  We should be done travelling for the rest of the year; I have a LOT of catching up to do.  On lots of levels.  But I haven't forgotten...

September is a crazy month...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So, yeah, been a bit out of pocket this week...

Caught a class reunion amongst the travels, too, so it had a purpose.  Worked the actual job from home today to try and not be so far behind next week; laundry tomorrow and then another full calendar.  Hopefully things will settle down a bit around the middle of October...  will likely be another two weeks before I can jump into John for the Friday Faithfuls.  

Life is definitely not boring...

Friday Faithfuls Two - Luke

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Y'know, I really should have named this series somthing different...to allow for those weeks where I'm, um, a little late posting the selection.

This was Women's Conference weekend...so, yeah, there was stuff going on.  So I'm pretending Sunday is Friday and trying to forget I have to go to work tomorrow morning, lol.

But, the weekly assingment is to skim through one book and take a look a the verse that catches my eye, for whatever reason.

I really thought I was going to use a verse from very early in the book, but as I skimmed through there was another one that was a little more insistent...

"He said to him, 'If they do not listen to Moses and the Prophets, they will not be convinced even if someone rises from the dead.' " -- Lk 16:31

This, of course, is the last bit of the parable of the Rich Man and Lazarus...the 'he' and 'him' in this verse being Abraham and The Rich Man,  as related by Jesus.

What hit me was...wow, this has a serious double meaning.  The immediate application that it would be useless to send Lazarus to warn the Rich Man's brothers of their fate if they don't repent...but also  a rather pointed foreshadowing of the fact that Jesus was soon to rise from the dead, and there would still be folks who didn't believe.

...even if someone rises from the dead.

Friday Faithfuls Two - Mark

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Mark is the most condensed of the Gospels; generally considered to be the first one written down, it may be that the urgency of the task kept his manuscript shorter.  Or maybe Mark just had a get-down-to-basics approach. 

But in cruising through, the verse that struck me was Jesus answering a question during his teaching at the Temple during Passion Week.  'What is the most important of the commandments?'

"The most important one,"  answered Jesus, "Is this: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one.  Love the LORD  your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your strength.'"   - Mark 12:29 -30.   

This is a quote of Deuteronomy 6:4, known as the 'Shema' and is basically the Hebrew statement of faith.

And, I might add, it is, along with what Jesus goes on to describe as the second greatest commandment, to love each other, the framework up on which all the other commandments and statutes of God are built.

Jesus said that the one who loves him is the one who follows his commandments.

It is entirely unique; no other religion in the world hinges on love.  It is a Judeo-Christian distinctive.  He loves us and fulfilled the law on our behalf...for us.  We love him because he first loved us, and because we love him, we do what he instructed.

Right?  Right?

Oh, but those commandments are outdated...it's old fashioned...it's exclusive and bigoted...it doesn't mean what it says it means...God wants me to be happy, right?

Um.

Let's just start with the first one.  Love God.  First, foremost, before anything else.  Love God.  Jesus said it was the most important thing to do if we want to live a life of following God.

Love HIM.  Live for HIS smile.

If that's truly the number one priority...most of the other stuff will fall into place.  Or fall right away.

Faithful Fridays Two - Matthew

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

400 years after Malachi penned his words, Gabriel appeared to Zechariah as he was going about his priestly duties, announcing the coming of John, and the timetable for the most amazing era of all history...when God took on flesh and walked among mankind...was set into motion.

Matthew doesn't record any of that bit, though.  He's not as interested in the forerunner of Jesus as he is in Jesus himself, laying argument after argument that Jesus was the one foretold.  He begins his narrative with an extensive genealogy, starting with Abraham, showing the lineage of Jesus.  

Several passages caught my eye as I read through, but one kicked up the prickles so that is the selection for today:

"At that time, many will turn away from the faith and will betray and hate each other, and many false prophets will appear and deceive many people.  Because of the increase of wickedness, the love of most will grow cold, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Matt. 24:10 - 13

This is, of course, from the Olivet Discourse, which was an answer to the disciples' questions about the end times.  It's all pretty familiar, but this time as I was reading this particular snippet struck me differently than before.

Always before, I had read the  'false prophets will appear and deceive many' as, well, clearly false prophets, with false doctrines...cults and the like.  But this time, it hit me as people who weren't necessarily proclaiming a different gospel...but are, nonetheless, false prophets.  People claiming to have a revelation from God who actually don't. Maybe their objectives are personal...there's money to be had doing that, if you're good at it.  Maybe their objectives are political...and I don't have to go down that rabbit trail; it's been pretty obvious.  Maybe they are genuinely confusing the aftermath of eating a pepperoni pizza with a revelation.  But the end result is the same.  Someone says, 'Thus says the Lord,  yadda yadda yadda,' and the Lord didn't say any of it.  It's a shame, because I really believe there ARE people who have prophetic giftings, but the actual prophets aren't getting heard because of the noise level coming from the bogus ones.

Which might be a better strategy of the enemy than just straight up creating cults.  It's harder to recognize the truth when there's so much almost-truth being proclaimed.  Or, as in Jeremiah's day, when the true prophets were proclaiming the opposite of what the false ones said.

There's a lot more in that passage that also rings true today...many turning away from the faith; hatred, increase of wickedness, love growing cold and indifferent, which is all very sad.  But false prophecy...that's dangerous...

Friday Faithfuls Two: Malachi

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

The final book in the Prophets...Malachi.

It is an interesting read; God  is admonishing his people to serve him whole heartedly.  Repeatedly, he states an area in which they have fallen short, only to have them respond, 'What?  How did we do that?'

They were clueless.

Not recognizing the Lord's love for them. Bringing offerings that were cast-offs, not sacrifices.  Worshiping out of obligation and not relationship. Leaders who taught what they thought instead of what God had said.  Not being impartial in matters of law.  Intermarriage with foreigners who followed other gods.  Marital unfaithfulness and divorce.  Believing they were entitled to good things from God even though they continually failed to abide by his laws, decrees and statutes. Not returning to God the tithe as he instructed.  And, finally, they even declared it was futile to serve God as it appeared that the wicked were blessed.

And yet, when God pointed these things out, they were all, like, "Um, when did we do that?" 

Keep in mind, all those things were being done/not done by the very people who considered themselves to be God's Own.  They were not considering their ways.  All of those things kind of lump together as 1) God owes me something and 2) I can do what I want...what seems best to me.

This gives me prickles, because I think many folks who consider themselves God's Own today are just as clueless.  And I don't think it will go any better for people today than it did for the folks then.

This was the last word from God to the nation for something like 400 years...until John came preaching in the wilderness.  They lost their intimacy, so they substituted legalism...and didn't even recognize when God himself came to them.   

So here's a warning that is just as valid today as it was then...

"So I will come near to you for judgment.  I will be quick to testify against sorcerers, adulterers and perjurers, against those who defraud laborers of their wages, who oppress the widows and the fatherless, and deprive aliens of justice, but do not fear me," says the LORD Almighty.  -- Mal. 3:5

Friday Faithfuls Two-- Zechariah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi 

Back in the day, when I was teaching youth Sunday School and the curriculum kinda sorta covered the whole Bible every six years, the book that I struggled the most to teach was Zechariah.  So much specific prophecy that was full of crazy imagery.

But for all of that, it is an encouraging book...a book about restoration.  And the bit that caught my eye as I read through it this week was in chapter two:

"Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion.  For I am coming, and I will live among you," declares the LORD.  "Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people.  I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you."   - Zech. 2:10 - 11.

One of those verses that is rather vague in its time reference...it clearly could be speaking of the earthly ministry of Jesus, but it could also be talking about the world after his return.  In any case, as someone whose roots are largely Celtic and not at all Jewish, I find great comfort in the  promise to 'many nations', a concept that Paul will later develop in his writings.

Even in the Prophets, 'many nations' are included....

Friday Faithfuls Two - Haggai

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Three little chapters on the rebuilding of the temple...a project that had languished when the Jews returned to Jerusalem from the Babylonian exile.

There is a repeated phrase in Haggai that I hadn't caught before.

Give careful thought.

If I were doing a study of Haggai, I would take some time and look over that, but that's not the object of today's post.  But...have a look yourself.  It's only three chapters.

No, today's post is looking for a verse that resonates when I read it, and what caught my eye today was the verse that is probably the best known passage in Haggai:

"The glory of this present house will be greater than the glory of the former house," says the Lord Almighty.   "And in this place I will grant peace," declares the Lord Almighty. -- Hag. 2:9

"This present house" was, of course, the second temple that was being constructed.  The one that made people weep who remembered Solomon's temple and saw that 'the present house' was not as magnificent.

No matter, God told them.  The glory of this house will be greater than the glory of the former house. In later years,  Herod worked it over and expanded it, but the physical beauty of the place wasn't the glory implied here.

The Desired of All Nations would come to THAT house.  This was the temple that Jesus would teach in, would cleanse, the fall of which he would both prophesy and lament.

There is no greater glory that any house could be granted than his presence.

Give careful thought to that.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Zephaniah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Well, well, our little flying skim through the books of the Bible has brought us to the little book of Zephaniah, proclaiming imminent judgement against Judah and paralleling it with the distant 'day of the LORD' judgement of the whole earth.

This verse jumped out at me...

"At that time I will search Jerusalem with lamps and punish those who are complacent, who are like wine left on its dregs, who think, 'The LORD will do nothing, either good or bad.' "  - Zeph. 1:12

What struck me here is that the offense of the ones punished is...complacency. It's not raging evil.  It's just a 'ho-hum, life will go on as it has and God won't do anything' attitude.

That's not describing folks who deny God's existence, by the way.  This was God, talking about the attitude of his own people.  The ones who were to live according to his statutes and commandments.  Who had been delivered again and again in their history.  They were the ones who chose to behave as if it were all just bedtime stories for kids, go through the motions of devotion, but who didn't really believe God would do anything.  Notice...it's not those who SAID 'The LORD will do nothing...' , it's folks who THINK 'The LORD will do nothing.'

That gets down to the bone, there.

What do we really believe about God?  Do we believe that he acts, that he's involved? Or do we think he just watches?  Or forgets?  

Because if we truly believe God doesn't care,  won't act...then we give up, give in, go through the motions.

Not a good place to be.  Not at all.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Habakkuk

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Y'know, Habakkuk has to be one of my favorites.

Even if I STILL have to look at it every. single. time. to make sure I've spelled it right.

It's a short little book...only three chapters long, and begins with Habakkuk's (imagine hearing me spelling that out to myself as I type it) honest questioning of his faith...and ends with one of the most profound declarations of faith anywhere in the scripture, 3: 17-19, which I selected as the passage from this book the LAST time I did the fly-through-looking-for-the-verse-of-the-week  eleven years ago. So I can't pick that this time, lol.

But what hit me this week was a different verse anyway, God's immediate response to Habakkuk's question

"Look at the nations and watch -- and be utterly amazed.  For I am going to do something in your days that you would not believe, even if you were told." - Hab. 1:5, NIV84

As I read that verse, I thought about how much the whole world has changed since 2011...specifically, how it has changed since the fall of 2019, when we first heard rumors of a new illness breaking out in Wuhan.

Would we have believed, even if we were told, what events were headed our way? I'm not sure I would have...the massive quarantine I think I might have believed, but the continued supply chain issues and the crazy inflation (no political comments, please, that's not the point here) reminds me of the doom-and-gloom Y2K predictions I read back in 1999. How much of that is directly related to the epidemic vs. how much might have happened anyway is nearly impossible to tell.

But I don't know that I would have believed that we would have such confusion over gender, or such mean-spirited political and ideological division (and the mean spirit is on BOTH sides).

I could ask, like Habakkuk, "How long, O LORD...why do you tolerate wrong?  Destruction and violence are before me; there is strife, and conflict abounds.  Therefore...justice is perverted..."  (from 1: 2- 4), but I think I would get the same answer.  Except...we have been told what God is going to do in the last days. 

IF this is the last days....and, with the threats before us, it certainly seems possible.  If what I have read is true, the only thing that really stands between life and death on the planet is the bee population...and they're threatened. That doesn't even take into account the threat of a pandemic more deadly than the current one, or nuclear attacks, or EMBs.

We are more fragile than we want to believe.

In Habakkuk's day, God was raising up a conquering army to execute judgment on people who had rejected him, even his own people.  He allowed the temple that housed his Name to be robbed and destroyed, which the folks of that time were certain would NEVER happen. 

But it did.

So, what is our take away?  It needs the whole book of Habakkuk...all the way through to the ringing declaration that God is faithful, even through his judgment, to those who trust him.

So hang on.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Nahum

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Nahum...the sequel to the book of Jonah, which foretells the downfall of Nineveh and, by extension, the Assyrian empire.  The respite earned by the response to Jonah's preaching has come to an end because the people have returned to their wickedness, and now there is no reprieve.

But as I read through, one verse jumped out at me as something that echoes through the centuries beyond Nineveh

Woe to the city of blood, full of lies, full of plunder, never without victims!  Nah. 3:1

This smacks of political corruption, violence, injustice...and it really could describe any number of cities.  I mean, it's one thing to see the pronouncement of woe upon the ancient pagan city, but it's entirely another to realize that a description of Nineveh also applies to contemporary locations.  

Have we learned nothing?

For all that we have become so technologically advanced, and can peer deep into the heavens and see wonders unknown to previous generations...we still have cities that are full of lies, plunder, victims and blood.  Innocent people who suffer. 

People have not changed much over the centuries.

But...we are not without hope.

Look, there on the mountains, the feet of one who brings good news, who proclaims peace! Nah. 1:15a

Pondering...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Tonight's sky

Here's a thought that bubbled up this evening and won't go away.  I am going to try to articulate it...

Humans are body, soul and spirit, intertwined.  It is not compartmentalized.  Any attempt to separate the spiritual from the secular will cause damage.  We wound ourselves when we spend any aspect of our lives living purely for the physical, material world and ignore the spiritual component of our everyday activity.  

Practicing one's faith only in a religious setting and setting it aside when in other environments denies its validity and starves the spiritual aspects of one's own existence.

Life is a continual spiritual practice.

I'm not sure that quite gets it but it's close.  The thought that slapped me is that we damage our soul when we deny our spirituality...whether it's our choice or it's forced upon us by others.  We are spiritual beings.  We cannot disconnect  that aspect of ourselves from any area of our lives without repercussions.  

I found myself thinking, as I often do with such things, about Genesis.  It was just such a disconnect that resulted in Adam and Eve eating the forbidden fruit;  Cain bringing an offering that was his idea of good enough, Lot's reluctance to leave the pagan society, even with the threat to his life and family...and his daughter's unthinkable actions to preserve the family line.

Or my own 'this one time won't matter' failures over the years in a number of areas.  

It does damage, and the damage is cumulative.

Fortunately God is a healer...if we're willing to let him restore the connections.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Micah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi  

Micah.  A prophet in the last years of the northern kingdom of Israel, he has much to say about judgment.  But he also has much to say about restoration.  

There are a lot of nuggets to be found in Micah; and the response to almost all of them is, 'Oh, I didn't know that was in Micah!'

Have a go at it, if you've never read it all the way through.  It's only seven chapters long.

And there's a sermon in this simple verse:

He has shown you, O man, what is good.  And what does the LORD require of you?  To act justly and to love mercy and walk humbly with your God.  -- Micah 6:8, NIV 84

So simple.  So complicated, because HE decides what is just, and we are to walk with HIM, not the other way 'round.  

Friday Faithfuls Two: Jonah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Jonah.  If ever there was a real-world servant of God, it's Jonah.  He ran from his instructions, repented, but obeyed with a grudging, judgmental attitude, got mad at God when he felt like God made him look foolish, and then got even angrier when God took away a small blessing he had provided.

Jonah just didn't get the whole grace thing, really.  Even though God's grace was applied to HIM in the fish's belly and he was grateful for it.  I rather suspect that if Jonah hadn't repented, um, God would have allowed the natural progression to have its way and called someone up from the bench, so to speak, to take his word to Nineveh. 

But Jonah DID repent...and that's important.  There are those who take their rebellion to the grave, even at the end, angry at God who required them to do something repugnant.  Like...call him Lord and choose obedience.

But Jonah wasn't perfect even after that.  How typical is it of humans imperfectly following God...we rejoice when He delivers us, but pout when the next thing doesn't go our way.  

In my quick little skim through the short four chapters of Jonah, I picked a verse from his prayer of repentance and thanksgiving in chapter 2.  I just kept reading, though, to check off the box.

And hit another verse a bit down the page that hit me even harder.  

Those who cling to worthless idols forfeit the grace that could be theirs.  -- Jon. 2:8

The first thing that occurred to me as I read that is...grace CAN be forfeited.  That's worth a ponder.  God's grace is available to everyone but...it can be forfeited.  Unclaimed.  

The second thing that struck me is the action that forfeits God's grace is...clinging to worthless idols.

Choosing to serve something...anything...instead of him.  Choosing to honor and worship something...anything...before him.

We have to be pretty determined in order to confront our personal idols. 

But which is better...holding on to that concept/ political stance/ status symbol/ social media followers/ etc etc etc....or letting go and receiving God's grace, which is already available and waiting?

It's your call.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Obadiah

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Obadiah isn't even measured in chapters...there are 21 verses in the whole book.   And it is a scathing denunciation of Edom, the nation that descended from Esau, for not only refusing to aid Israel/ Judah when the invading armies came but for joining in the looting of the nation, because they were of the same family.

But the first time I encountered this book, years ago, verses three and four struck me a little more personally 

"The pride of your heart has deceived you, you who live in the clefts of the rocks and make your home on the heights, you who say to yourself, 'Who can bring me down to the ground?'  Though you soar like the eagle and make your nest among the stars, from there I will bring you down, " declares the LORD.

As the symbol of the United States is the eagle, and we have literally put people in space for extended periods of time, those verses slapped me hard.  I was slapped again in verse 7, just a little farther down...

"All your allies will force you to the border; your friends will deceive and overpower you; those who eat your bread will set a trap for you but you will not detect it."

I thought of all the nations to whom the US had given aid, who had denounced the West after collecting all the knowledge and goods that could be provided to them.

Now, I know that's not exactly the context or meaning of the scripture.  But that didn't stop the goosebumps from crawling over me as I pondered what the pride of our own nation might bring down upon us, all those years ago (seriously a long time ago.  It was before I had any kids...).

And it is purely coincidental that this little scripture on pride has landed during the month of June; I have no double entendres behind these observations.

I do think that 'pride' would be an interesting word study, but for now, it's enough to ponder the phrase, 'The pride of your heart has deceived you'.

Selah.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Amos

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

This week the book to skim is Amos, and the verse that jumped out at me was chapter 5, verse 24:

But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!

(I will always hear that verse in Martin Luther King Jr's voice.)

It's a great thought...except it starts with the word 'But'.

Which means it's a contrast to what comes before it.

Previous verses in the chapter had listed offenses Israel had committed against God; starting with verse 7 - You who turn justice into bitterness and cast righteousness to the ground. I think that's a pretty direct, intentional contrast.

They:

hate a judicial reproof

despise one who tells the truth

trample on the poor

take sustenance from the poor

oppress the righteous

take bribes

deprive the poor of justice in the court.

The verses 21 - 23 describe the religious activities of the people.:

Religious feasts

Assemblies

Offerings of all kinds

Songs (music with lyrics)

Music played on instruments

All of these things were elements of worship.  And God said:

I hate them

I despise them

I will not accept them

I have no regard for them

I will not listen

Oof.

Religious activity without a righteous heart and mind is pretty much a show.  And it doesn't matter what the sign on the front of the church says...this happens in all traditions and worship styles.  From Pentecostal to Evangelical to Liturgical.  Organs and hymns and praise bands and pastors in robes and pastors in jeans.  We in the western church tend to check off 'church attendance' and then do as we please, for our own pleasure and our own sense of fulfillment the rest of the week. 

It isn't our actions and words that God wants...it's our hearts.

And if he has our hearts, then justice will roll on like a river and righteousness like a never-ending stream.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Joel

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Our little weekly skim through a book of the Bible to see what verse stands out has brought us to Joel. 

One little interesting tidbit...out of all the posts I did on the desert word study, The one on Joel had more than twice the average views.  It was far and away the most viewed post out of the entire series.  I'm still not sure why...I'm guessing someone shared a link somewhere.  

But today, reading through, I pondered two or three scriptures but when I hit the fourteenth verse of chapter three, I knew I'd found the verse for this week:

Multitudes, multitudes in the valley of decision! For the day of the LORD is near in the valley of decision.

And the thing is...so many folks walking through that valley have NO IDEA that it is a critical life point.  A character in a play I wrote years ago (that has been performed exactly one time, lol, and I didn't even see it), when asked how she became the hardened, cynical person that she was, replied, "What makes anybody into anything?  A small decision here, a chance taken there – it all seems insignificant at the time, but it adds up. Before you know it, you find yourself somewhere in life and you don’t even know how you got there."

We generally don't know the impact of the seemingly small decisions we make...or how those tiny course deviations will have played out years down the road.  David had no idea what horrors would follow his small decision to stay behind in Jerusalem whilst Joab led the army out in the spring.  Achan didn't know what he started when he stopped to take a long look at some of the plunder in Jericho.   Ananias and Saphira certainly didn't think it was a big deal to lead everyone to believe they had given ALL the money they got for selling a piece of property.

Small decisions can have big consequences.  Bigger than we are willing to admit.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Hosea

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So we'll just pretend that today is yesterday and this is actually a Friday post, lol.  Still catching up after the travels...

In the spirit of transparency, I have to confess that the verse that first jumped out to me from the book of Hosea is not the verse I am posting today.  I wrangled with it a bit and decided that I could not just put it up without a lot of background researching; otherwise, it would just sound like I am putting forth an agenda.  So I have filed that away and will likely do a whole study on that concept later, so I have a 'whole Bible' perspective and not a 'weekly verse' perspective.

So.  Back to the beginning and taking a second look, here's the verse that struck me  next:

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings. Hos. 6:6 NIV84

Hosea was prophesying to the divided kingdom prior to and through the defeat and exile of the northern kingdom; warning them of the consequences of their continued idolatry.  But, see, the folks weren't really serving the idols INSTEAD of serving God, they were trying to serve the idols AND God.

Covering their bets, in a way.  Which pretty much means that they considered the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob to be the rough equivalent of Baal, Ashtoreth, and Molech.  They were keeping up the appearances of following the sacrifices and such the Law required but...it was not out of understanding who God was and what he required of them.  It was out of duty; believing that if they just did the religious stuff God was obligated to take care of them.  Like, if they brought the sacrifices HE required,  they would be free to go do whatever else they felt would be beneficial to them.

It is no wonder that God compared their actions to that of an unfaithful spouse.  That's the main theme of Hosea.

The religious activities were useless without a true acknowledgment of the One they were honoring.

That's worth repeating.

Religious activities (whatever they might be) are useless without a true acknowledgment of the One those activities are meant to honor.

And a true acknowledgment means...honoring him in the rest of one's life, aside from the purely religious activities.  Because if God is not honored on a regular basis in how we make decisions, spend money,  treat others, etc., then the formality of religion is not really worth much.

A Bit of Travel...

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

It's June 1st, y'all.  

Boggles the mind...

To be honest, I kinda feel like I lost May.  Got slammed with the ol' sinus infection the first week, and the second week the symptoms changed and...bang, it was Covid.  So another week working from home.  I got three days at work, and then My Sweet Babboo and I made the 3rd trip to Florida so far this year to deliver The Flute Players' kitty cat to her, being as how she and her hubby finally got settled enough into their new apartment to make it feasible.

I was really apprehensive about the trip; we weren't sure how well the kitty would tolerate it.

She complained for about 15 minutes, then seemed to accept the circumstances and settled down.  It probably helped that 1) we were able to borrow a kennel so there was room for her litter box, water and food bowls, 2) she got a dose of kitty Benadryl before we left and 3) the weather was cool and overcast, with periodic rain, for the entire 12+ hours we were on the road, so we didn't have to worry about the car heating while we stopped for potty breaks or meals.

She was much relieved to get out of the kennel once we reached our destination, though.  We pretty much dropped her off and hit the hay.  Since the kids had to work the next day, we drove up to Disney Springs...mostly because I wanted Earl of Sandwich, lol.  If I happen to have any readers from that part of the country...you have my most sincere condolences on having to deal with Interstate 4 traffic on a regular basis.  Yeesh.  Then, we took the kids to dinner, play miniature golf and eat ice cream.  The  Jokester had a bad cold but a negative covid test so...bad cold...we went.  Like a doofus, I didn't get a photo of us together or anything, but I did get a pic of the pretty sunset whilst we were on the mini golf course.  Wonder of wonders...I actually won.  Crazy.

We had breakfast with the kids at Perkins Pancakes, then headed up to Jacksonville to see the Number Two son and do a little belated birthday celebration.   At least I took a picture.  And we got a message that night that The Flute Player had felt really bad later in the day so she took a Covid test and it was positive.  Oy. (They are both recovered at this point).  That mild variant is all OVER right now.

After church and lunch with Number 2 son the next day, My Sweet Babboo and I did something we've been wanting to do for quite a while...we headed up to Savannah, Georgia for a couple of days.

So much interesting stuff there.  We walked...and walked...and walked...

Gave ourselves one 'fancy diner'...we ate at The Pirates' House, which is a really cool ancient (at least by US standards) building.  The part we ate in dates from 1734  and is the oldest standing structure in the state of Georgia.  (I did finally look it up)  The she crab bisque was excellent.

We might go back to Savannah another time; there's a lot that we didn't do. I'd like to do some of the boat tours, and maybe catch more museums.  

I might have purchased a few too many pralines than is strictly good for me, but, hey, it was a rare opportunity, lol.

So, now we're back.  My kitty seems to be happy that her people are home.  My laptop refused to speak to any of the hotel wifi systems, so I have no idea what awaits me at work tomorrow.  I guess I'll find out... lol.

Friday Faithfuls Two: Daniel

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

And so we come to the last of the Major Prophets in our little skim through.  Daniel is an...interesting...book.  Half of it is wild supernatural narrative, the other half is mind-boggling prophecy.  But what stood out to me today was the unshakeable faith of three young men who refused to compromise their faith.

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, "O Nebuchadnezzer, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter.  If we are thrown into this blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand.  But even if  he does not,  we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up."  -- Daniel 3:16-18

This is the mindset of believers who are under abusive regimes around the world, who continue to practice their faith and worship God despite unspeakable consequences.  A new story was in my inbox just this week about a secret church meeting in a closed country. They were betrayed, and government agents stormed the meeting, arrested all the people and executed them, then took their families, who didn't even know that their relatives were believers, and threw them into prison work camps. Because following Jesus is perceived as a great threat to the state.

How many of us in the free west have such unshakeable faith to believe that God is well able to deliver...but even if he doesn't...refuse to compromise with an unbelieving society?

Friday Faithfuls Two: Ezekiel

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

So. Much. Judgment in Ezekiel.  

But...always the 'but' of God's mercy.

"I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.  And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws." -- Ez. 36:26-27

This is such a clear foreshadowing of the concept of the new birth that Jesus describes in John 3.  The Spirit within prompts us to obedience.  Not because that's what we have to do to be accepted, but rather, what we are enabled to do because we are accepted.  Follow his decrees; keep his laws.

Instead of our own, you know.  That's the crucial bit.  Following our own wants/ desires/ ideas has brought about bad outcomes ever since Genesis 3. On our own, we're pretty much incapable of consistently making right choices because our own agenda inevitably infects our decisions.  But with a new heart, and the Spirit within us, we can actually get the guidance we need to choose his ways.

And he provides it.