Posted by Rod Hamilton on May 14, 2009
Psalm 75:1 We give thanks to you, O God; we give thanks, for your name is near. We recount your wondrous deeds.
As I read Psalm 75 this morning it struck me that a key to keeping a right relationship with God is constantly recognizing not only what He’s doing, but also what he has done in my life. We all go through seasons of abundance and, frankly, dryness. As 75:1 says, “God is near.” Even when it seems like He’s doing nothing, He’s doing everything. I love 1 Samuel 7 when God delivers the Israelites from the Philistines and Samuel “took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and called its name Ebenezer; for he said, “Till now the LORD has helped us.” This “Ebenezer (literally “stone of help) was to serve as a reminder to the Israelites of God’s wondrous deeds to this point.
The stone wasn’t there to say what God was going to do for the Israelites, and part of the reason that Samuel might have set this stone up to recognize that God had brought Samuel and his people to this point, and to not mention the next thing that God was going to do, was that, as a prophet, Samuel knew well that the sins of the Israelites frequently kept them from the next great thing that God called His people to. To claim anything in advance when it was historically obvious that the Israelites would likely mess up the perfect plan would seem foolish, and a real prophet prophecies the truth only. Samuel could not have soft-stroked the future of the Israelites, but he did well in setting up this monument to God’s faithfulness “till now.”
I don’t know that I have many physical Ebenezers in my life - most are memories - but the ones I do have are precious to me. God is faithful and his plan cannot fail, though I can surely fail at his plan for my life. But He has brought me this far, and for that, I give him all the thanks, all the glory, all the honor and all the praise!
Posted by Rod Hamilton on May 06, 2009
Abortion is a sin - it’s murder, and the Bible is clear about murder and sin.
That being said, I have had it up to here (note: my leveled hand is at my chin as I type) with these billboards around town that twist and contort God’s word. On my drive in today I noticed on Dixie Highway a billboard that said “Weep not for me...but for your children.” Luke 23:28 I hope that you are the kind of discerning Christian reader that never accepts sentences that contain ... ( I know there has to be a mechanical term for “...” but I haven’t a clue) without thinking about what the complete thought might be. In fact, whether in politics or religion, the “...” causes a whole lot or problems. Misquotes run amok when we accept a “...” without discernment. So it is with that billboard and so many others.
What’s the big deal, Rod? The big deal is that Luke 23:28 actually says “But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children...” and continues on into verse 29 to say “For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck.” (KJV) Essentially, what’s happening here is that Jesus, at this point a beaten, battered and bruised bloody mess, was being lead to Calvary. As a “great multitude” was following Him, weeping and wailing, He assured them of the the tribulation that was soon to come. What he was telling them is that the women who weren’t able to have children would feel blessed that theirs did not have to go through such a horrible time.
So what does the scripture reference on the billboard have to do with abortion? Absolutely nothing. Which gets me thinking: when “the church” twists and contorts scripture to make a righteous point, such as what God does say about murder, what separates it from the church that twists and contorts scripture to make a doctrinal shift away from the traditional understanding of God’s word? The answer, in my opinion, is nothing. God can and does make His point well known, with authority and with power. It’s up to God’s people to read the bible with perpiscuity (a dollar word that refers to the clarity of scripture.) And God’s word is clear that any and all who seek to understand His word will understand His word. If we accept even the slightest bit of twisting then we are priming the pump to gradually accept any doctrine that suits us, and that’s where it gets dangerous.
Itching ears, anyone?