Haggai 1-3 -- Pollution In Our Lives

The people in this book were experiencing drought just as we are right now, but there was a definite reason for it.  They’d been back in the Holy Land for 20 years after their captivity in Babylon, yet they’d failed to do much of anything toward what was to have been their first priority – rebuilding the Temple.  Instead, they’d not only completed their own homes.  They’d also spent a lot of time making their homes grand, with even paneled walls.  Yet as long as God’s house (and therefore their spiritual condition) lay in ruins, they could expect nothing but drought.

They got the message and began to work, but they quickly got discouraged, thinking about how inadequate the rebuilt Temple was going to be compared to the last one.  God let them know that His Spirit was among them and told them to be strong and fear not:  One day (still future) God would shake the nations and use the treasures that fell out to make the Temple better than it has ever been.

Perhaps the key thing I read today came from Haggai’s third prophecy.  God had two questions for the people to ask the priests:

1)       If holy meat touched other food, would the other food become holy?  The correct answer was “No”.

2)      If an unclean person touched holy meat, would the holy meat become unclean?  The correct answer was “Yes”

My commentary says:  “He that is holy imparts no holiness to anything else, but he that is defiled COMMUNICATES DEFILEMENT.”  I’d say that in medical terms, that would mean, “Defilement is contagious.  Holiness is not.”

That first part is pretty easy to see.  If we are striving to live the way God would have us live, Satan will certainly be going after us.  We’re marked targets, and if we choose to put ourselves alongside people, music, tv shows, movies, magazines, or anything else that does not glorify God, then we are at risk of being spiritually contaminated by it.

Regarding the second part, though, the desire for holiness has to come from within, aided by the Holy Spirit.  We can’t obtain our holiness via someone else’s actions.

I like the way my commentary boiled it down:  “Work and worship do not sanctify sin, but sin contaminates work and worship.”  For the people Haggai was addressing, their offerings were polluted and they were unclean as long as the Temple was in ruins, my commentary added, because they were out of God’s will.

If there is besetting sin in our lives, it pretty well makes our work for God and our worship of Him polluted.  No amount of “doing things for God” will ever make that sin okay.

Father, just as I would never hook a sewer pipe up to a fresh water pipe and think of drinking the water, I’m reminded that my worship of You is polluted when there is sin in my life.  The only way to remove the pollution is to remove the sin.  Period.  You deserve pure worship, Father, and it doesn’t matter if the sin involves attitudes, thoughts, or actions on my part.  It’s all still polluting my relationship with You and my worship of You.  Help me not to let that happen.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Nahum 2 & 3 -- We Ignore God At Our Own Peril

God clearly had Nineveh in His sights.  Years before, He’d cared enough to send Jonah, the very reluctant evangelist, to Nineveh.  They’d heard and repented, but it didn’t last.  Twice here we hear God saying, “I am against you, Nineveh.”  My commentary said, “Since the Lord has made Himself her enemy, the city doesn’t stand a chance.”

Chapter 3 tells us that this very Middle Eastern city was being judged for her harlotries and sorceries, corrupting others with her idolatry and commerce.  It seems a juxtaposition that now the Muslim world is saying the same about the U.S.!

God had decreed it, and nothing could stop Nineveh’s destruction.  It fell in 612 B.C.  My commentary said that Nahum’s prophecy was so thoroughly fulfilled that Alexander the Great’s army actually marched near or over the ruins of the great city, totally unaware of that fact.  It wasn’t until the 1800’s that Nineveh was ever actually located!

Father, the kingdoms of this world too often lose sight of the fact that You hold all power, and that what You decree, You can easily make happen.  It would therefore be wise to listen to You, rather than suffering Nineveh’s fate.  Help me to not ignore Your word to me as well, Father.  Don’t let me be stubborn and unheeding of Your Word.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Nahum 1 -- Shaken To My Boots

Nahum was given a message to deliver to Assyria and its capital city, Nineveh.  God, with the righteous jealousy of a husband for his wife, announced judgment and destruction for the Assyrians for their mistreatment of His people.

The first seven verses of the first chapter tell us a lot about God.  It was verse 6 that really made me stop and think:

“No one can stay alive when He is angry; no one can survive His strong anger.  His anger is poured out like fire; the rocks are smashed by Him.”

That gripped me as I read it.  No one can stay alive when He is angry …

…… yet we do.  And it’s only because of His great love.  We are so undeserving of it.  We deserve to receive everything He promises Nineveh here.  Yet He loves us.  Oh, how He loves us!  I am so thankful that His love drew me to Him, and when I turned away in pride, He didn’t destroy me but loved me all the more.  He drew me back with that love and led me to understand that it’s nothing about my worth that led Him to do that.

The sidebar in my Bible, by C.S. Lewis, says, “God’s love, far from being caused by goodness in the object [us], causes all the goodness which the object has, loving it first into existence and then into real, though derivative, lovability.”

It’s only because of His love that I exist at all, and that I am lovable to Him at all.

Why me, Father?  Why ME?  Thank You for all that You are and all that You do.  I don’t know why You ever decided to love me into existence, but I’m glad that You hung with me until I could finally ask that question.  Eternity will not be long enough for me to say thank You for all You’ve done and for Your precious love!

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Obadiah 1-21 -- Two Important Truths

This short book contained a prophecy of doom for the people of Edom.  They were cousins to the Jews, being descended from Jacob’s brother, Esau.  Just as Esau had so easily given up his birthright for a pot of stew, his descendants had cared nothing about their Israelite kinsmen.  God said, “You stood aside without helping while strangers carried Israel’s treasures away.  When foreigners entered Israel’s city gate and threw lots to decide what part of Jerusalem they would take, you were like one of them.”

In other words, sins of omission are just as important as sins of commission.  What we omit doing is just as bad as what we do.  It reminds me of one of my favorite sayings:  “Evil thrives when good men do nothing.”

There was also a jewel hidden in the sidebar of my Bible, written by Charles Stanley.  He said, “I have never met a Christian who had lost his salvation.  However, I have met plenty who had lost their assurance.  Our security rests in the hands of an unconditionally loving heavenly Father.  One who gave His best to insure our fellowship with Him forever.  Our assurance rests in understanding and acceptance of these glorious truths.”

Father, what I don’t do that I should be doing is just as important as what I do that I know I shouldn’t.  In Romans 14:23, You say, “Anything done without believing it is right is a sin.”  That certainly covers all of this, Father.  Thank You also for settling the security question once and for all for me.  I know my standing before You.  If Satan ever tries to make me doubt it, remind me of what I’ve read today.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Joel 3 -- A Matter Of Perspective

There’s a man who keeps writing letters to the editor of the Abilene Reporter-News, and he seems to have made it his life’s mission to put down Christianity.  He also “happens” to be on the newspaper’s editorial committee or something like it, so he seems to get all the press time he wants.  He recently wrote another column complaining again about Christianity’s belief in “bureaucratic interference between God and humanity”.  He also always, in a purposefully disrespectful way, refers to God as “She”.

As I read this final chapter of Joel and noticed all of the actions God promised, I don’t believe I’d characterize what He says He will be doing as bureaucratic interference:

“I will make things better for Judah and Jerusalem …

I will gather all the nations together … I will judge them, because those nations scattered My own people Israel and forced them to live in other nations … divided up My land … threw lots for My people … traded boys for prostitutes … sold girls for wine … Tyre and Sidon -- … I will very quickly do to you what you have done to Me … You sent my people to that faraway place, but I will get them and bring them back, and I will do to you what you have done to them.  I will sit to judge all the nations on every side … The Lord will be a safe place for His people, a strong place of safety for the people of Israel ... Egypt and Edom killed My people, so I will definitely punish them.”

That’s not bureaucratic interference.  That’s justice.  That’s love for His people.  That’s the kind of God I want.

Father, thank You for opening my eyes when I thought I was being oh so wise.  I didn’t know just how stupid and uninformed I was.  It’s all a matter of perspective, and I’m so glad You moved me to a place where I can see You from the right perspective.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Joel 2 -- His Love Knows No Bounds

Joel was seeing all this stuff in what I’d call layers.  I can’t imagine how confusing that might have been for him.  The locust plague also would later be an invading army.  The land, decimated right then, would become like the Garden of Eden, and someday (both then and still future?) another invading army would decimate it again.  The description of the army and the roar as it moved was probably unbelievable to Joel’s generation, yet sounds like a modern army to us.

Cosmic events will precede the final army invasion, and Israel will be tearing their clothes with anxiety.  Yet, with the army at their door, directed by God, we hear Him say, “Even NOW, come back to Me with all your heart.  Go without food, and cry and be SAD … Let your heart be broken.  Come back to the Lord your God, because He is kind and shows mercy.  He doesn’t become angry quickly, and He has great love.  He can change His mind about doing harm.”

He loves us and wants us back so much that He’s willing to invade to get our attention.  He’ll do whatever it takes to overcome our stubbornness and lead us back from disobedience.  But we can become so blinded by our sin that we can’t see that.

God says, “I will pay you back for those years of trouble,” but it doesn’t mean what it sounds like at first.  He’s really saying, “I will not only forgive you; I will give you back the years you have wasted.”

God mentions also things that would have been unfathomable for those in Joel’s time.  His Spirit was going to be poured out on all people – not just a chosen leader for a time – and “all people” would mean Jews and non-Jews as well!  My commentary said this prophecy began to be fulfilled at Pentecost, but won’t reach fulfillment until the start of Christ’s 1000-year reign on earth.

There is even hope for those left behind.  “Those left alive after the day of punishment are the people whom God CALLED.”  As He said, “Even now, come back to Me.”

Father, Your grace and mercy astound me.  You’d bring an invading army and destroy the land just to bring me back to You.  Thank You for showing me such love.  Remind me that You are willing to do that even for those whom I can’t imagine You ever loving.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

Joel 1 -- Sounds Like Texas Right Now

Joel could have been writing about our area today.  His descriptions of his land were of multiple crop failures and drought precipitated by a locust invasion.  But the root cause was Israel’s movement away from God.  Like a good parent, God warned, but now it was time for discipline.

There was nothing left of the land.  The trees had even died.  The people hadn’t even realized that they already were being invaded by the locusts as Joel described; in much the same way, they hadn’t realized what their sin had done to bring on the punishment.  God’s warnings had fallen on deaf ears.

Offerings would stop because they’d grown nothing to offer, if they ever turned back to God.

Fire, just like in Texas, had burned up the pastures and trees, leaving nothing for livestock to eat.  Even the wild animals were in danger of death.

What Israel didn’t know was that the locust invasion was really a figure for the army invasion that was to follow.  They only thought they were having it bad.  Their ignoring of God held much worse consequences, however.  For though physically they were suffering, spiritually they were endangering their souls for eternity.

We may not like to think of God in this way – disciplining with such severity, but in actuality, it shows His great love for His children – that He would go to such extremes to bring them back to Himself.

Father, as my Bible’s sidebar says, these warnings were like flashing red lights on a car’s dashboard – ignored at our peril.  I know sometimes I too can be stubborn and willful, choosing to sin despite all Your warnings.  Please crank up the volume and make those lights larger and brighter, Father.  For as my sidebar says, “We have just enough of the rascal in us to believe we are the proverbial exception to the rule.”  And I know I’m good at that, Father.

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford