Exodus 14:14 The Lord shall fight for you, and ye shall hold your peace.
Well my Friends, it’s now two Caribana Day parades I’ve missed, and surprisingly I’m not disappointed. I don’t even know how it turned out. No one’s said anything to me and I haven’t asked any questions. What a significant change in behaviour! A few years ago I would have died if I missed the day on the road to make a fool of myself, but since they put it on the Lakeshore, it’s lost it’s lustre, plus most of those I played the fool with don’t seem to go any longer. This year I was hovering on the fence, until I read that they intended to put up six foot barricades to stop the people from joining in on the road. That made my mind up. Carnival is a participating activity, not a spectator sport. Now, continuing from yesterday… Awright, I know that once I got up on my soapbox, I didn’t have the time nor space to give you the quotes I promised of the Lord fighting for His people. So we’ll begin with Joshua leading his people into the Promised Land; on the defeat of the Amorites. ‘And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.’ (Josh. 10:8) And whom Joshua missed, ‘the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. Then spake Joshua to the Lord…and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves of their enemies….And there was no day like that before or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.’ (Josh.10:11-14) Yes my people, our God does intervene on His people’s behalf. He killed more that day with His hailstones than the Israelites with their swords, then He allowed Joshua to bring the sun and moon to a halt so that they could finish the job. Likewise, when Moab invaded Judah, and Zechariah’s son, Jehaziel was stirred by the Spirit to declare: ‘Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s.’ (2 Chron.20:9) Next day, they went out to battle singing and praising the Lord, who set up ambushes against their enemies and a great victory was won with much spoil. ‘And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel.’ (2 Chron.20:29) We should also talk about the Lord’s involvement at the Red Sea. First, He moved the pillar of cloud which had been leading them, to their back side, blocking them from the Egyptian’s sight and making it dark for them, but bright for the Israelites. ‘And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea: and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left.’ (Ex.14:21-22) But when the Egyptians followed, the Lord discomfited them by malfunctioning their chariot wheels; ‘so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.’ (Ex.14:25) After that, the Lord told Moses to stretch his hand over the sea again; ‘and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea…and all of the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea…Thus the Lord saved Israel that day…and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.’ (Ex.14:27-31) Then Moses sang unto the people: ‘The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.’ (Ex.15:2-3) Yes my people, the Israelites saw the great miracle the Lord performed on their behalf, they believed and Moses sang praises. Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long, for three days later in the wilderness of Shur, when bitter water was all they could find to drink, ‘the people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink?’ (Ex.15:24) That sounds just like us today my Friends; no matter what or how much the Lord does for us, we’re never satisfied. For some strange reason we seem to think that the Lord’s there to jump to our every need as soon as it arises, or better yet, He should prevent the need from arising period. But Friends, as I reminded us yesterday, the Lord is not there to please us. He made us to please Him; to be His children, and do what He wants, not the other way around. He’s paying the piper, so He’s entitled to call the tune. He will work with us, but not for us simply because we ask. In everything, there’s a part for us to play. The Israelites, on that particular day, were told to hold their peace, be quiet, which they did. But in general, as His chosen people, they were expected to have faith, believe, trust, LOVE, honour and obey Him. When they adhered to the agreement, life went well with them. However, when they broke the covenant, the Lord punished them severely. The same thing goes for us my people; if we obey, life will be good, and if we disobey, we’ll suffer, as we’re doing now. Sin, disobedience, evil and ungodliness has reached such intolerable heights that the Lord has begun allowing the world to falter and stumble through natural disasters and man’s increasing inhumanity to man. Oh my people, let’s wake up and see what’s happening nuh. We’re not only wallowing in the mire of disobedience, but also drowning in the quicksand of evil that’s currently enveloping our world, and the only hand that can lift us out of our despair is the Lord’s. So let’s turn to Him with our sincere pleas before it’s too late nuh. He’s fought for His people many times before and there’s no reason why He won’t again, but we all have to come together as one and sincerely invoke His mercy and forgiveness. When we do that, He’ll be gracious and kind enough to lift us up out of the miry quicksand we’ve so foolishly gotten ourselves trapped in. Much LOVE!…the Lord will bend over backwards to help us…if only we ask in faith…and be truly grateful afterwards…
Well my Friends, it’s now two Caribana Day parades I’ve missed, and surprisingly I’m not disappointed. I don’t even know how it turned out. No one’s said anything to me and I haven’t asked any questions. What a significant change in behaviour! A few years ago I would have died if I missed the day on the road to make a fool of myself, but since they put it on the Lakeshore, it’s lost it’s lustre, plus most of those I played the fool with don’t seem to go any longer. This year I was hovering on the fence, until I read that they intended to put up six foot barricades to stop the people from joining in on the road. That made my mind up. Carnival is a participating activity, not a spectator sport. Now, continuing from yesterday… Awright, I know that once I got up on my soapbox, I didn’t have the time nor space to give you the quotes I promised of the Lord fighting for His people. So we’ll begin with Joshua leading his people into the Promised Land; on the defeat of the Amorites. ‘And the Lord said unto Joshua, Fear them not: for I have delivered them into thine hand; there shall not a man of them stand before thee.’ (Josh. 10:8) And whom Joshua missed, ‘the Lord cast down great stones from heaven upon them unto Azekah, and they died: they were more which died with hailstones, than they whom the children of Israel slew with the sword. Then spake Joshua to the Lord…and he said in the sight of Israel, Sun stand thou still upon Gibeon; and thou Moon, in the valley of Ajalon. And the sun stood still and the moon stayed until the people had avenged themselves of their enemies….And there was no day like that before or after it, that the Lord hearkened unto the voice of a man: for the Lord fought for Israel.’ (Josh.10:11-14) Yes my people, our God does intervene on His people’s behalf. He killed more that day with His hailstones than the Israelites with their swords, then He allowed Joshua to bring the sun and moon to a halt so that they could finish the job. Likewise, when Moab invaded Judah, and Zechariah’s son, Jehaziel was stirred by the Spirit to declare: ‘Be not afraid nor dismayed by reason of this great multitude; for the battle is not yours but God’s.’ (2 Chron.20:9) Next day, they went out to battle singing and praising the Lord, who set up ambushes against their enemies and a great victory was won with much spoil. ‘And the fear of God was on all the kingdoms of those countries, when they had heard that the Lord fought against the enemies of Israel.’ (2 Chron.20:29) We should also talk about the Lord’s involvement at the Red Sea. First, He moved the pillar of cloud which had been leading them, to their back side, blocking them from the Egyptian’s sight and making it dark for them, but bright for the Israelites. ‘And Moses stretched out his hand over the sea: and the Lord caused the sea to go back by a strong east wind all that night, and made the sea dry land, and the waters were divided. And the children of Israel went into the midst of the sea upon dry ground: and the waters were a wall unto them on their right hand and on their left.’ (Ex.14:21-22) But when the Egyptians followed, the Lord discomfited them by malfunctioning their chariot wheels; ‘so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel; for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians.’ (Ex.14:25) After that, the Lord told Moses to stretch his hand over the sea again; ‘and the sea returned to his strength when the morning appeared; and the Egyptians fled against it; and the Lord overthrew the Egyptians in the midst of the sea…and all of the host of Pharaoh that came into the sea after them; there remained not so much as one of them. But the children of Israel walked upon dry land in the midst of the sea…Thus the Lord saved Israel that day…and Israel saw the Egyptians dead upon the sea shore. And Israel saw that great work which the Lord did upon the Egyptians: and the people feared the Lord, and believed the Lord, and his servant Moses.’ (Ex.14:27-31) Then Moses sang unto the people: ‘The Lord is my strength and song, and he is become my salvation: he is my God, and I will prepare him a habitation; my father’s God, and I will exalt him. The Lord is a man of war: the Lord is his name.’ (Ex.15:2-3) Yes my people, the Israelites saw the great miracle the Lord performed on their behalf, they believed and Moses sang praises. Unfortunately, that didn’t last very long, for three days later in the wilderness of Shur, when bitter water was all they could find to drink, ‘the people murmured against Moses, saying, what shall we drink?’ (Ex.15:24) That sounds just like us today my Friends; no matter what or how much the Lord does for us, we’re never satisfied. For some strange reason we seem to think that the Lord’s there to jump to our every need as soon as it arises, or better yet, He should prevent the need from arising period. But Friends, as I reminded us yesterday, the Lord is not there to please us. He made us to please Him; to be His children, and do what He wants, not the other way around. He’s paying the piper, so He’s entitled to call the tune. He will work with us, but not for us simply because we ask. In everything, there’s a part for us to play. The Israelites, on that particular day, were told to hold their peace, be quiet, which they did. But in general, as His chosen people, they were expected to have faith, believe, trust, LOVE, honour and obey Him. When they adhered to the agreement, life went well with them. However, when they broke the covenant, the Lord punished them severely. The same thing goes for us my people; if we obey, life will be good, and if we disobey, we’ll suffer, as we’re doing now. Sin, disobedience, evil and ungodliness has reached such intolerable heights that the Lord has begun allowing the world to falter and stumble through natural disasters and man’s increasing inhumanity to man. Oh my people, let’s wake up and see what’s happening nuh. We’re not only wallowing in the mire of disobedience, but also drowning in the quicksand of evil that’s currently enveloping our world, and the only hand that can lift us out of our despair is the Lord’s. So let’s turn to Him with our sincere pleas before it’s too late nuh. He’s fought for His people many times before and there’s no reason why He won’t again, but we all have to come together as one and sincerely invoke His mercy and forgiveness. When we do that, He’ll be gracious and kind enough to lift us up out of the miry quicksand we’ve so foolishly gotten ourselves trapped in. Much LOVE!…the Lord will bend over backwards to help us…if only we ask in faith…and be truly grateful afterwards…
SCRIP-BITS 