Today’s Scrip-Bit 1 October 2019 Exodus 20:3.

01 Oct 2019 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Exodus 20:3.    Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

 

Ah friends, it’s Tuesday and the ole fella is at a loss for words! Yeh, it’s true! It doesn’t happen often, (smile) but it does happen every once in a while. I guess it shows that I’m just a man with all the human frailties and weaknesses and only with God’s supernatural help can I successfully carry out all my assigned duties. I guess it’s also a good testimony for believing in a LOVING, merciful and graceful God! 

And if all of that is so, then why does Nehemiah’s prayer for his people Israel, so long ago, still resonate very loudly today in our ultra evil and oh so ungodly society eh? Listen to what Nehemiah prayed, way back then nuh: ‘We have dealt (acted) very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgements (ordinances), which thou commandedst they servant Moses.’ (Neh.1:7) 

And my people, that prayer is ever still so valid today, because it’s exactly what we’re doing, just on a larger scale than the Israelites. I think our ills are even worse than theirs, for I don’t know if they were literally trying to force God out of their society, as we are surely doing, and not just ignoring Him. 

But whatever it is, our renunciation of God is bringing us calamity, and like the Israelites, will continue to bring us calamity, until we stop it, or He just does away with us, as He’s done with so many other, greedy, foolish, prideful and arrogant societies who had the gall to deny His majesty and superiority over the universe He created. 

I simply don’t understand why we think that the Lord won’t eventually bring us to our knees like he did other ungodly people. Let’s remember that if he could send Israel, His special people, into captivity and allow their enemies to defeat them on several occasions because of their unfaithfulness, He can…and will do the same thing to us, who don’t bear a special mark like Israel did! 

Oh friends, please listen to these warning words of Moses concerning idolatry, when the Israelites were still wandering in the wilderness. ‘For the Lord thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God. When thou shalt begat children, and children’s children, and ye shall have remained long in the land, and shall corrupt yourselves (act corruptly), and make a graven image, or the likeness of anything, and shall do evil in the sight of the Lord thy God, to provoke him to anger; 

I call heaven and earth to witness against you this day, that ye shall soon utterly perish from off the land whereunto ye go over Jordan to possess it; ye shall not prolong your days upon it (live long in it), but shall be utterly destroyed. And the Lord shall scatter you among the nations, and ye shall be left few in number among the heathen, whither the Lord shall lead you. And there ye shall serve gods, the work of men’s hands, wood and stone, which neither see, nor hear, nor eat, nor smell.’ (Deut.4:24-28) 

And that’s exactly what happened to the Israelites when they turned against the God of their forefathers, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob! And do you remember the first Commandment God gave to the Israelites, and consequently to us. ‘Thou shalt have no other gods before me.’ What’s so difficult to understand about that eh? 

Then, as the scholars inform us: ‘Israel’s 10 northern tribes were deported in 722 B.C, by the Assyrians, and the southern tribes were taken by the Babylonians, beginning with Daniel, in 605 B.C. They were later dispersed in the days of the early church.’ So if the Lord could do that to His special people when they became unfaithful, why won’t He do it to us eh? 

No reason why not my people. Remember Sodom and Gomorrah? (Genesis 19) At the height of their depravity, sinfulness and wickedness, the Lord brought them down with fire and brimstone! And believe me, our society has gotten just as sinful, depraved and wicked, if not worse! So the writing is on the wall! 

However my people, we serve such a wonderful God; a God who keeps His promises! Listen to Moses as he continues his warning; ‘But if from thence thou shalt seek the Lord thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. 

When thou art in tribulation (distress), and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days (coming of Christ), if thou turn to the Lord thy God, and shalt be obedient to his voice; (For the Lord thy God is a merciful God;) he will not forsake thee, neither destroy thee, nor forget the covenant of thy fathers which he sware unto them.’ (Deut.4:29-31) 

Praise His holy name my people! For even when we are at our worst, He will hear and receive and revive us if we turn back to Him in all sincerity and truth! And we saw this happen with the Israelites several times. And not only with His special people, but also with places like Nineveh, when He sent Jonah to warn them and they repented. (Jon.3) So friends, there is still a window of opportunity open to us, if we take God’s promise of repentance and run with it! 

And though He’s a patient and longsuffering God, His patience and longsuffering will eventually boil over if we keep up our current ungodly and sinful behaviour. It might not be in our time, but our children’s and their children’s, if we teach them to disobey and revile and ridicule God’s pronouncements. I therefore implore us to be wise and change our evil ways, right about now, provided we want to live long in the land that God gave us. 

Now for those of us who have seen the light, let’s go home declaring (yeh!) our Tuesday Mantra, letting the world know who and whose we are. In strong voice with all sincerity now: ‘In God’s eyes, I’m not what I do. I’m not what I have. I’m not what people say about me. I am the beloved of God, that’s who I am. No one can take that from me. I don’t have to worry. I don’t have to hurry. I can trust my friend Jesus and share His LOVE with the world.  Amen!’ 

And if our hearts are true, then we will go out and do just that! Much LOVE!

…constant disobedience…will eventually bring…certain punishment…

P.S. It’s a good thing I didn’t know what to say! (smile) Much LOVE!

 

Today’s Scrip-Bit 22 February 2016 Psalm 53:1

22 Feb 2016 Leave a comment

by randyobrien50 in Christian Thoughts and Inspiration., Daily Devotion, Daily Inspiration, Inspirational Living, Spiritual Living Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Psalm 53:1.   The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

Alas friends and neighbours, it’s Monday; the day which begins the work week… 

And I hear God’s people loudly declare ‘Glory Hallelujah that it’s Monday!’ 

And I have to shake my head to see if I’m dreaming… God’s people happy to see Monday roll around…? Wow! 

A few moments later though, I realized that Lucifer was only playing mind games on me. Chuh! 

What the people had actually shouted was: ‘Oh Lord, yuh mean is Monday already! Yuh mean ah got to go back and slave for massa again! When this every week work thing going to finish eh? Steups!’ 

And that’s a very good question friends. The answer to which is when you retire, get fired, quit the job, or die!  

Now let’s sing our Monday Morning Battle Hymn without further ado to boost our spirits as we face another worrisome week of work. 

As one harmonious choir now. ‘Oh Lord God Almighty, Creator of the universe and all therein! We, your humble servants, praise your Holy Name and thank you that this Monday morning we have jobs to go to; jobs we don’t like, jobs that are unfair, difficult and even dangerous, but which serve a useful purpose here on earth; keeping lives and families together. 

We also thank you Father for the renewed vitality and enthusiasm you’ve wrought in our weary souls over the last two days. It’s that rejuvenation of Spirit which allows us now to sally forth with confidence into the evil, ungodly world that surrounds us, to begin a new week of work, constantly buffeted and bombarded by the enemy’s wicked taunts, wiles and lies. 

But heavenly Father, we’re not afraid, for we know we’re invincible, sure conquerors, once we’re wearing your powerful, protective spiritual armour. We surrender our all to you, and humbly ask that you let your incredible aura of LOVE, the Holy Spirit, lead and guide all your servants as we go out to meet the enemy in battle. 

Fill us with steadfast faith, so that we can make worthwhile inroads into the enemy’s ranks, and thereby further your glorious kingdom. We pray this in the Holy Name of your Son, and our Saviour, Jesus Christ. AMEN!’  

Oh my brethren, that wasn’t so great nuh. You could read the displeasure in our choirmaster, Jesus’ serious eyes and face. But being the wonderful Deity that He is, He forgives us, because He knows our frail and fallible human nature. Now let’s go out there with that adrenaline perking in us and do His will despite our shortcomings. 

That brings us to our Bit: ‘The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.’ 

Oh my people, how sad are those statements eh? How can any sensible person even think that eh? Notice it’s in their hearts, the very seat of their decision making that that thought lies, is being generated. 

Now some might say it out loud, while others might just think it and then act on that premise, by perverting the truth that God does exist. Consequently, they become corrupt and do abominable sins. 

And we only have to look around our strife-filled world to see that that’s ever so true. Abomination and corruption are running rampant throughout our entire world, and that my friends cannot foreshadow good things for us and our descendants. 

Now Psalm 53 is a slightly revised version of Psalm 14. According to the scholars: ‘Two major differences are apparent: this psalm substitutes the generic word for God, Elohim, for the personal name of God used in Psalm 14, Yahweh. This was done evidently to give the psalm a wider appeal. Second, verse 5 has been rewritten and has become an encouraging affirmation of God’s protection.’ 

And are we ever in need of anything that affirms and encourages us re God’s protection in these very trying and troublesome times! But above all my brethren, we are not to fear, because that just demeans and belittles our faith; faith that we need to help us stand strong and steadfast against the enemy and his deceitful declarations. 

Now here how Bruh David continues the psalm nuh. ‘God looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, that did seek God.’ (Ps.53:2) 

And wonder of wonders, what did He discover? ‘Every one of them is gone back (have turned aside): they are altogether become filthy (corrupt); there is none that doeth good, no, not one.’ (Ps.53:3) 

Now how do you think God felt when He saw such sinfulness and ungodliness in the world back then eh? And how does He feel now, when He performs the same exercise and gets the same basic answer eh? 

Obviously not very pleased or encouraged! No wonder He asks: ‘Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge? Who eat up my people as they eat bread: they have not called upon God.’ (Ps.53:4) 

But why would that surprise Him eh, when we’re still like Jeremiah said on His behalf so long ago. ‘For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish (stupid or silly) children, and they have none (no) understanding; they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.’ (Jer.4:22) 

And isn’t it amazing, but depressing and disturbing that so many truths from the Old Testament are still true today. Steups! Obviously we have not learned that we cannot continually disobey God and get away with it scot free. 

The calamity which befell so many other great societies who disobeyed and turned away from Jehovah God obviously doesn’t mean anything to us. But friends, the saying that history repeats itself is very true, and we are currently in great disobeying mode, and if we continue thus, we will feel the Lord’s hand upon us, and it won’t be very good. I can guarantee us that. 

Who knows if we aren’t already feeling it, through the many unusual natural disasters, that are blamed on climate change, plus the economic decline and ever increasing poverty and strife that’s now battering our world. 

Hn! I have to sadly chuckle here yes friends, because in all reality the Lord doesn’t have to do anything to bring us to our knees nuh, we are already doing it to ourselves, beginning with our insistence to remove God from the very bowels of our society. 

And we’ll stop there for today, because I don’t want to give us too much to ruminate upon. (smile) But please friends, do ruminate on what we have spoken about today, and let each of us see, of course with God’s help, how we can better our lives, and thus our quickly deteriorating world. For that’s wisdom of immense proportions! Much LOVE!

…if God made us and everything else that exists…how can we hope to survive without His help eh…that doesn’t sound logical at all…