God Is The Scapegoat….

People can complain about God, they can hate Him, and they can do all they can to try to rid Him from society, but the one thing they can’t do is say He is not loving. Even in complete rejection, God allows us to live without Him. I’m certain it hurts Him when a human being, a body, mind, soul, and spirit that He made, decides to walk away, turning their back on Him. In all of this, if that’s what a person wants, He grants their wish, and hands them over to their own demise. Imagine having a pet, let’s say a puppy. You receive them from a friend, just past weaning age. You feed them, get them trained, healthy, and you love them more than any other. One day when the pet is 5 years old he starts to be mean to you. He bites your hand as you feed him. Then one day he runs away. How would you feel? And worse yet, if you knew he did it on purpose, would that change your response? God always gives us a choice. When we choose to not follow Him He grants us our request. When we choose to follow Him, He grants us our request. Either way He gives us what we want. God’s love is above all. It has no rival. And yet people reject Him, then blame Him for getting what they ask for. It’s not fair. It’s not right. It just doesn’t make sense. Neglecting God, then blaming Him for our problems is just an excuse from not dealing with our own problems. It’s avoidance of admitting “it’s our own fault”. God is the scapegoat in lost humanity’s self-inflicting struggles. We create our own pain when we abandon God, and it’s not a legit excuse to blame Him for our misery. He doesn’t deserve our wrongly directed hostility.

4 Finally, all the elders of Israel met at Ramah to discuss the matter with Samuel. 5 “Look,” they told him, “you are now old, and your sons are not like you. Give us a king to judge us like all the other nations have.”6 Samuel was displeased with their request and went to the Lord for guidance. 7 “Do everything they say to you,” the Lord replied, “for it is me they are rejecting, not you. They don’t want Me to be their king any longer. 8 Ever since I brought them from Egypt they have continually abandoned Me and followed other gods. And now they are giving you the same treatment. 9 Do as they ask, but solemnly warn them about the way a king will reign over them.” 10 So Samuel passed on the Lord’s warning to the people who were asking him for a king. 11 “This is how a king will reign over you,” Samuel said. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. 12 Some will be generals and captains in his army, some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops, and some will make his weapons and chariot equipment. 13 The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. 14 He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. 15 He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants. 16 He will take your male and female slaves and demand the finest of your cattle and donkeys for his own use. 17 He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves. 18 When that day comes, you will beg for relief from this king you are demanding, but then the Lord will not help you.”19 But the people refused to listen to Samuel’s warning. “Even so, we still want a king,” they said. 20 “We want to be like the nations around us. Our king will judge us and lead us into battle.”21 So Samuel repeated to the Lord what the people had said, 22 and the Lord replied, “Do as they say, and give them a king.” Then Samuel agreed and sent the people home. 1 Samuel 8:4-22

Respect For God….

Reading through this story what stands out to me is the respect for God these Philistines had. Though they didn’t worship Him, they put two and two together about the plagues wrecking havoc on them since capturing the Ark of the Covenant. Out of their respect (fear) for God, they made an effort to appease Him. Imagine in America today that there was a respect for God? We probably wouldn’t be having so many abuses of freedom. “Shout Your Abortion”, “My body my choice”, “punish if you don’t agree”, and on and on. When America was founded there were people who didn’t follow God, but they had a respect for Him. And through the years that respect has diminished. I would say in the last 50 years, it has eroded exponentially. Look what has resulted! As believers, faithful followers of Jesus, we need to be the lighthouses on the coastlines, the beacons on the hills, and the sounding boards of truth. We may not be able to rescue all, but we can certainly give the world a reason to respect the God of the Bible. Honor Him today.

1 The Ark of the Lord remained in Philistine territory seven months in all. 2 Then the Philistines called in their priests and diviners and asked them, “What should we do about the Ark of the Lord? Tell us how to return it to its own country.”3 “Send the Ark of the God of Israel back with a gift,” they were told. “Send a guilt offering so the plague will stop. Then, if you are healed, you will know it was His hand that caused the plague.”4 “What sort of guilt offering should we send?” they asked.And they were told, “Since the plague has struck both you and your five rulers, make five gold tumors and five gold rats, just like those that have ravaged your land. 5 Make these things to show honor to the God of Israel. Perhaps then He will stop afflicting you, your gods, and your land. 6 Don’t be stubborn and rebellious as Pharaoh and the Egyptians were. By the time God was finished with them, they were eager to let Israel go.7 “Now build a new cart, and find two cows that have just given birth to calves. Make sure the cows have never been yoked to a cart. Hitch the cows to the cart, but shut their calves away from them in a pen. 8 Put the Ark of the Lord on the cart, and beside it place a chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors you are sending as a guilt offering. Then let the cows go wherever they want. 9 If they cross the border of our land and go to Beth-shemesh, we will know it was the Lord who brought this great disaster upon us. If they don’t, we will know it was not His hand that caused the plague. It came simply by chance.”10 So these instructions were carried out. Two cows were hitched to the cart, and their newborn calves were shut up in a pen. 11 Then the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors were placed on the cart. 12 And sure enough, without veering off in other directions, the cows went straight along the road toward Beth-shemesh, lowing as they went. The Philistine rulers followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh.13 The people of Beth-shemesh were harvesting wheat in the valley, and when they saw the Ark, they were overjoyed! 14 The cart came into the field of a man named Joshua and stopped beside a large rock. So the people broke up the wood of the cart for a fire and killed the cows and sacrificed them to the Lord as a burnt offering. 15 Several men of the tribe of Levi lifted the Ark of the Lord and the chest containing the gold rats and gold tumors from the cart and placed them on the large rock. Many sacrifices and burnt offerings were offered to the Lord that day by the people of Beth-shemesh. 16 The five Philistine rulers watched all this and then returned to Ekron that same day.17 The five gold tumors sent by the Philistines as a guilt offering to the Lord were gifts from the rulers of Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gath, and Ekron. 18 The five gold rats represented the five Philistine towns and their surrounding villages, which were controlled by the five rulers. The large rock at Beth-shemesh, where they set the Ark of the Lord, still stands in the field of Joshua as a witness to what happened there. 1 Samuel 6:1-18

People Don’t Hate Us Because….

The true test of a believer is how we stand when persecution comes. Will we bow to the gods of the day, or stand for the God of the Bible? We will win our souls by standing firm for Jesus. When we stand up to Satan’s lies, to society’s agenda, and all opposition to truth, it will prove not only to the people opposing us, but it will prove to ourselves that what we believe has the power to protect. People don’t hate us because of who we are, they hate us because of the One that made us who we are. God will honor those that honor Him.

12 “But before all this occurs, there will be a time of great persecution. You will be dragged into synagogues and prisons, and you will stand trial before kings and governors because you are My followers.13 But this will be your opportunity to tell them about Me.14 So don’t worry in advance about how to answer the charges against you,15 for I will give you the right words and such wisdom that none of your opponents will be able to reply or refute you!16 Even those closest to you–your parents, brothers, relatives, and friends–will betray you. They will even kill some of you.17 And everyone will hate you because you are My followers.18 But not a hair of your head will perish!19 By standing firm, you will win your souls. Luke 21:12-19

Seeing Spiritually….

Satan will always try to deceive. People who reject God serve Satan, even if they know it or not. People who hate God, that includes all who live for themselves, pretend to be honest, when they really are not. It’s God’s wisdom, called discernment, that helps a Christian navigator through our interactions with people that help protect us and others along the way. Seeing spiritually (discerning) helps spot imposters before they can do any damage in your life. If you’re not in the Word daily, and you’re not asking God for wisdom, you might just fall prey to these deceitful, pretending to be honest, hucksters.

20 Watching for their opportunity, the leaders sent spies pretending to be honest men. They tried to get Jesus to say something that could be reported to the Roman governor so he would arrest Jesus. 21 “Teacher,” they said, “we know that You speak and teach what is right and are not influenced by what others think. You teach the way of God truthfully. 22 Now tell us–is it right for us to pay taxes to Caesar or not?”23 He saw through their trickery and said, 24 “Show Me a Roman coin. Whose picture and title are stamped on it?”“Caesar’s,” they replied.25 “Well then,” He said, “give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar, and give to God what belongs to God.”26 So they failed to trap Him by what He said in front of the people. Instead, they were amazed by His answer, and they became silent. Luke 20:20-26

If Only People Could See…

If only people could see the heart of God, they wouldn’t fight so hard to preserve their sinful nature, and understand the only way to true peace.

41 But as He came closer to Jerusalem and saw the city ahead, He began to weep. 42 “How I wish today that you of all people would understand the way to peace. But now it is too late, and peace is hidden from your eyes.43 Before long your enemies will build ramparts against your walls and encircle you and close in on you from every side.44 They will crush you into the ground, and your children with you. Your enemies will not leave a single stone in place, because you did not accept your opportunity for salvation.” Luke 19:41-44

Let God Know What’s Going On…

There are times when we fail to see God’s hand working in a situation. He is sovereign. He is in control. He knows what He’s doing. And it’s for our good. When we lose sight of this, it’s easy to allow the “woe is me” feelings to dictate our actions, which lead to further lowering of a positive, encouraging outlook. When we allow ourselves to get to this point, take a knee, bow your head, and let God know what’s going on. Ask for an infusion of hope. He will grant it, and you will be restored. God is always watching.

3 The Lord is watching everywhere, keeping His eye on both the evil and the good. Proverbs 15:3

A Permanent Resident….

Unlike in the OT, the Holy Spirit is a permanent resident when He is sent to us as believers. In the OT the Spirit of God was temporary, He would come and go. Many examples of this are documented throughout the OT. King Saul and Samson are two examples. David expressed this truth in this famous Psalm. He’s confessed his wrong doing, adultery and murder. He pleads with God to restore his joy, and to not take away The Holy Spirit. Isn’t it a secure feeling knowing that once we receive God’s Spirit, He will never leave us? Now that’s real security.

7 Purify me from my sins, and I will be clean;wash me, and I will be whiter than snow.8 Oh, give me back my joy again;You have broken me–now let me rejoice.9 Don’t keep looking at my sins.Remove the stain of my guilt.10 Create in me a clean heart, O God.Renew a loyal spirit within me.11 Do not banish me from Your presence,and don’t take Your Holy Spirit from me. Psalms 51:7-11