have not kept the commandments

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!

Nehemiah 1:7. We have dealt (acted) very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgements (ordinances) which thou commandest thy servant Moses.

And then it was Monday once again; but a Monday with a difference; Easter Monday where a fair amount of us don’t have to go to work and we’re still celebrating the miraculous and momentous resurrection of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ from the depths of Hades through the awesome power of our omnipotent God!

What blessed people we are my fellow believers to have such a magnificent and magnanimous Deity as our Creator, Controller and Provider! Give Him some most fitting thanks and praise nuh!

We have one problem though, some of us have to go to work, so no doubt they will be in a funk, jealous that they have to go out and labour while the rest of us get to stay home and party. Others however, might just be flat out tired and exhausted from their Easter celebrations, so it’s also hard for them to get up and get going.

But as always, we have the antidote for the Monday morning whatever ails you, namely our Monday Morning Battle Hymn. So let’s belt it out with as much gusto as we can manage nuh, to help our unfortunate brethren who have to go out and labour today.

All together 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!’

That was uproarious friends! As usual, you could hear the sore, croaky voices louder than the others, and know that they weren’t going to work, while the soon to be working were barely audible. But that’s just the nature of the human animal.

Oh, let me apologize for not reminding us of Granny’s serious warning this long, Easter weekend. Sorry, I guess I just got carried away by all the activities myself. But it’s not too late to issue the warning now: ‘Sonny boy, drunk or sober, please mind yuh business!’

And that applies to all believers as we celebrate one of the biggest occasions in our Christian faith. It’s a time when we’re liable to let our hair down too much and allow Lucifer and his evil minions to catch us offside. And we don’t want that at all now mih people. So please be careful; give plenty thanks and party hearty, but please mind your p’s and q’s. End of sermon. (smile)

And today’s Bit is an obscure verse of scripture from Nehemiah’s prayer for Israel when he learned of their sorrowful state back in the homeland. Israel had been punished by captivity in Babylon because of their disobedience to God’s laws. ‘We have dealt (acted) very corruptly against thee, and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the judgements (ordinances) which thou commandest thy servant Moses.’

Friends, I believe that right now we’re also holding the short straw, because of the unbelievable sinful ways and attitudes predominant in our current society. And we all need to be seriously praying that the Lord might save us from our shortcomings, for who knows if some of the disasters we’ve been recently suffering are God’s hands at work.

But I can assure us of one thing, if we aren’t already feeling God’s wrath, then if we continue down the sinful and ungodly path we’re presently travelling, then it won’t be long before we do feel His wrath. For our God does not make promises lightly. What he says He means.

And here is what He said way back when to the Israelites under Moses, as the consequences of disobedience. ‘But it will come to pass, if thou wilt not hearken unto (obey) the voice of the Lord thy God, to (carefully) observe to do all his commandments and his statutes which I command thee this day; that all these curses shall come upon thee, and overtake thee.’ (Deut.28:15)

And the curses run from verse 16 to 68, while the blessings of obedience only run from verse 1-13. That ought to tell us something friends; that the punishment for disobedience is harsh and long lasting and to avoid it, we need to improve our godliness and righteousness. We ought to read them for ourselves so that we can better understand the seriousness of our situation.

And it’s not like there aren’t many examples of societies who got too big for their britches and were eventually cast aside through God’s machinations. Why do we think ours will fare any differently eh? Especially, like Israel, when we were once upon a time God’s poster society for general obedience to His laws and He made us strong with His blessings.

So friends, this Easter Monday, while we’re celebrating Jesus’ victory, let’s take some time to also ponder our own situation nuh, and see how we can bring our society back into line with God’s law, because our death knell is ringing. Much LOVE!

…he who has ears to hear…let him hear…he who doesn’t listen…will surely feel…

SCRIP-BITS

Today’s Scrip-Bit 2 April 2018 Nehemiah 1:7.

Pages

Categories

Archives