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. 

Faithful Fridays Two: Lamentations

 Posted by Lisa Laree to Beer Lahai Roi

Ok, I am well aware that today is Saturday, lol...I got slammed with the sort-of-annual sinus/ ear infection Thursday night and was pretty well a slug yesterday.  The antibiotic is kicking in, though, so hopefully I will be un-slimey-ifed enough to go to work by Monday.

Fortunately, this weeks' book is short.  Unfortunately, I used the most obvious passage last time I did the Faithful Friday thing, so this week's choice is a little more...obscure.

Why should any living man complain when punished for his sin?  Let us examine our ways and test them, and let us return to the LORD.  - Lam 3:39-40, NIV84

We are a little more...circumspect...in our language today and are hesitant to pronounce any negative situation as 'punishment'.  And, perhaps, rightfully so.  It's a fallen world and bad stuff happens to good people.  Just ask Job.   And I think most of the time our 'bad stuff' isn't so much a punishment as it is just...consequences.  Because to be disobedient is to deliberately remove oneself from God's protection.

If you're in God's Will for Your Life (that just reads as if it should be capitalized.  And I'm not being snarky here...I think everyone, deep down, knows whether or not you are trying to pursue what God wants you to do or whether you're sidestepping what you know to the the right thing with some kind of rationalization that 'I'm only young once' or 'This won't matter in the long run' or 'I'll just repent later' or some other self-talk.  I'm talking about making hard decisions based on walking in what you know of God's character and the instructions he gave us.  Anyway.)  the enemy has to come THROUGH that to get to you.  But...if you wander out of that sphere, then basically there's nothing to stop the enemy from taking pot shots at you whenever he chooses.  So...punishment?  Or consequences?  Does it matter?

Sin basically is deciding my way is better than God's way and then acting on it. It's what Eve did with the fruit in the garden, it's what Cain did with Abel in the field, it's what Achan did  in the battle for Jericho, it's what Saul did when Samuel was delayed and again when he was supposed to obliterate the Amalekites, it's what David did with Bathsheba and later Uriah and even later when he counted the fighting men, it's what Ananias and Saphira did when they lied about how much of the price of land they gave  (That wasn't about the amount at all...it was their money and they could have kept some without sinning...but they lied to make folks think they were more generous than they actually were.  It was the lying that got them).  Sin is what happens when I consider myself my ultimate authority.

And consequences...at the very least...and ultimately, if there is not repentance, punishment...is what follows sin.  That's for God's children, y'all.  Those who have rejected him will end up with the wages that sin pays.

So...that 'examine our ways' thing means to look for those things in which we have deceived our own selves into thinking something that goes against the Laws of God is ok. It means taking an honest look at ourselves and our choices.  

And repent and return, if the self-check shows that we have wandered away.