Apparently you can fool some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't fool all of the people all of the time. And sometimes we need to be reminded that you can't fool God - ever - at all - any of the time. But so often we think we can.
Elisha is the next prophet we looked at in our series 'From Empire to Exile' and in particular, a couple of weeks ago we looked at the story from 2 Kings 6:8-23. The king of Aram (we'll call him Bob) is an enemy of Israel, and is plotting to do harm to the king of Israel - possibly through setting an ambush. But God informs Elisha exactly where Bob and his army are - and so the king of Israel is on his guard. So Bob moves somewhere else - and again the same thing happens. In fact it happens so often that Bob assumes that he has a spy in his camp. But it is revealed that there is no spy - there is just Elisha who tells the king of Israel everything, even the secrets that Bob speaks in his own bedroom.
So Bob comes up with a plan - capture Elisha. I wonder if it ever crossed Bob's mind that Elisha might catch wind of the scheme and avoid capture - apparently not.
But how often do we think that we can 'pull the wool over God's eyes'. That we can do things, think things, watch things etc. and because no one sees, no one knows - but God knows it all and sees it all. Which brings us to two points.
1) We should be careful how we live. If we're serious about living for God then we need to remember that we're never off duty. God will hold us accountable for our actions.
2) God knows it all and sees it all - and yet he still loves us. He is gracious and forgiving. He knows when we mess up but has promised that when we confess our sin he will give us a new start, a fresh beginning.
There is no point trying to fool God - instead we should be open and honest and confess our mistakes and receive God's forgiveness.
Monday 25 October 2010
Friday 22 October 2010
Bad King Ahab
I'm in danger once again of getting too far behind with my blog...
A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of being in church and not preaching, as we continue our series 'From Empire to Exile' looking at a whole sweep of Old Testament history covering 930BC - 586BC. Seeing how someone else tackles a passage reminds me again that the Bible is so rich - no matter how many times we read a passage God is always to bring out something new, fresh and relevant.
Ahab was a bad king - you can read all about it in 1 Kings 16:29 through to his death in 1 Kings 22:40. But one particular challenge from Ahab's life is drawn out of 1 Kings 20:42. King Ahab had defeated his enemy Ben-Hadad, with God's help, but rather than see the victory through to the right conclusion Ahab makes a treaty with Ben-Hadad and lets him go.
Whilst our immediate response might be that this is the right, loving, gracious, merciful, forgiving thing to do - God's comment is 'You have set free a man I had determined should die'.
How on earth can this be of any relevance to us in 2010?
In Colossians 3:5 we are instructed, as followers of Jesus, to put to death anything that belongs to the earthly nature. Instead we are to set our minds on Christ and to be obedient to his will. But I wonder how many of the things listed in Colossians 3 or elsewhere in the New Testament, that we are supposed to have put to death, have we actually 'made a treaty with'. We've allowed them into the chariot to ride along with us. But God reminds us that there are things in our characters that we need to put to death - to get rid of - to have no part of.
A couple of weeks ago I had the privilege of being in church and not preaching, as we continue our series 'From Empire to Exile' looking at a whole sweep of Old Testament history covering 930BC - 586BC. Seeing how someone else tackles a passage reminds me again that the Bible is so rich - no matter how many times we read a passage God is always to bring out something new, fresh and relevant.
Ahab was a bad king - you can read all about it in 1 Kings 16:29 through to his death in 1 Kings 22:40. But one particular challenge from Ahab's life is drawn out of 1 Kings 20:42. King Ahab had defeated his enemy Ben-Hadad, with God's help, but rather than see the victory through to the right conclusion Ahab makes a treaty with Ben-Hadad and lets him go.
Whilst our immediate response might be that this is the right, loving, gracious, merciful, forgiving thing to do - God's comment is 'You have set free a man I had determined should die'.
How on earth can this be of any relevance to us in 2010?
In Colossians 3:5 we are instructed, as followers of Jesus, to put to death anything that belongs to the earthly nature. Instead we are to set our minds on Christ and to be obedient to his will. But I wonder how many of the things listed in Colossians 3 or elsewhere in the New Testament, that we are supposed to have put to death, have we actually 'made a treaty with'. We've allowed them into the chariot to ride along with us. But God reminds us that there are things in our characters that we need to put to death - to get rid of - to have no part of.
Thursday 21 October 2010
Tuesday 5 October 2010
Friday 1 October 2010
What part will I play?
Back to Elijah early next week, but just something to keep you thinking for the weekend.
On Sunday we are celebrating our harvest thanksgiving service, giving God thanks for his on going care and provision, but also recognising that with the blessings come responsibilities. We have responsibilities to the poor and the oppressed in our community and around the globe, and we have a responsibility towards caring for our planet.
On Sunday we will be looking at some of the work that BMS World Mission are doing in poor communities in Thailand. But we all have a part to play.
Also have a look at this post from last week.
On Sunday we are celebrating our harvest thanksgiving service, giving God thanks for his on going care and provision, but also recognising that with the blessings come responsibilities. We have responsibilities to the poor and the oppressed in our community and around the globe, and we have a responsibility towards caring for our planet.
On Sunday we will be looking at some of the work that BMS World Mission are doing in poor communities in Thailand. But we all have a part to play.
Also have a look at this post from last week.
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