SCRIP-BITS

Numbers 23:19.    God is not man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make good?

Aye mih breddren, we’ve been granted another day on beautiful planet earth! Praise the Lord! And in my neck of the woods, unbelievably, it’s summer! Hn! I’m still taking it with a grain of salt though, for when and where have you ever heard of twenty something degree temps in the middle of March in the northern climes eh? It seems we’ve just bypassed spring and gone straight into summer mode, as the trees are still brown, dry and brittle, with no leaves whatsoever, for there’s been no rain to talk about either. The birds are singing their thanks and praises to God early in the mornings though. (smile) And I surely hope that we believers are doing the same. Now let’s get straight into our Bit: ‘God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent: hath he said, and shall he not do it? Or hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good?’ Yesterday we looked at its basic context; with Balak, king of Moab, hiring Balaam, a false prophet to curse the Israelites, who were coming close to his kingdom in their travel through the wilderness to the Promised Land, and since he’d heard of how they had annihilated other societies, he and his people were sore afraid. But Balaam kept saying, through God’s spiritual intervention, that he could not curse of defy Israel for God had them protected. We also saw how our Bit related to God’s unchanging nature, and His inability to lie since one of His many attributes was TRUTH. Then we began looking at scriptures that corroborated the first part of our Bit: ‘For God is not a man, that he should lie; neither the son of man, that he should repent:’ Unfortunately we only got into one scripture; that where Samuel tells Saul that the Lord’s taken his kingship of Israel. (1 Sam.15:29) Now let’s continue with scriptures that pertain to the first part of our Bit. First up is Isaiah, when he tells the people, who were looking to Egypt for protection, that it’s God, not Egypt who will defend Judah: ‘Yet he also is wise, and will bring evil (disaster), and will not call back (retract) his words; but will arise against the house of evildoers, and against the help of them that work iniquity.’  (Is.31:2) Then in Chapter 51, re the faithful being called to courage, Isaiah again speaks to God’s unchanging nature: ‘Lift up your eyes to the heavens, and look upon the earth beneath: for the heavens shall vanish away like smoke, and the earth shall wax (grow) old like a garment, and they that dwell therein shall die in like manner: but my salvation shall be for ever, and my righteousness shall not be abolished (broken).’ (Is.51:6) And Jeremiah, in lamenting over Judah, solemnly and sadly declares: ‘For this hath the Lord said, The whole land shall be desolate; yet will I not make a full end. For this shall the earth mourn, and the heavens above be black: because I have spoken it, I have purposed it, and will not repent (relent), neither will I turn back from it.’ (Jer.4:27-28) Oh Friends, what will it take for us to understand the great significance and importance of God’s Word, though spoken eons ago, to our current life in these wicked and ungodly times eh? Mankind has been living basically the same way since Adam and Even sinned, but the Lord God Jehovah in His utmost wisdom and great mercy spoke through His prophets, then sent His Only Son Jesus to earth to show us exactly what He desires of us. But sadly we’re still ignoring Him. And if His Word does not change, neither His personality, what can we expect from our disobedience but sorrow and calamity? It’s written right there in the Good Book which most of us acknowledge as being a guide for earthly living, but we mostly do so with our mouth, not with our actions. It traces centuries of time, and graphically shows that when societies are obedient to His will, they prosper, and when they’re not, they suffer. Yet we still choose to follow Beelzebub and his lying, deceitful ways. How wise is that eh? The prophet Malachi, when talking about the paying of tithes, which Israel weren’t doing at the time, said on God’s behalf: ‘For I am the Lord, I change not: therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed. Even from the days of your fathers ye are gone away from mine ordinances, and have not kept them. Return unto me, and I will return unto you, saith the Lord of hosts. But ye said, Wherein (in what way) shall we return?’ (Mal,3:6-7) Oh my people, it’s the same thing God’s saying to us today; return to me and I will return to you. But being foolish and pigheaded, we, like the Israelites before us, are asking in what way? In every way Friends! For it’s obvious that we’re disobedient, evil, ungodly, perverse and everything that’s dark and negative – a la Lucifer! Fellow believers, the times they are getting more calamitous every day, so let’s wake up and realize what’s happening nuh. Disobedience to the Creator of the universe is a patently stupid act! Let’s stop being deceived by the powers of darkness and instead look wisely to Jesus, in whom all our needs and desires can be fulfilled, in addition to His free gifts of salvation and eternal life. Now that’s indeed true wisdom! Much LOVE!…let him who has ears, hear…disobedience to God brings negative consequences…obedience to God, brings positive consequences…and that’s the gospel truth…