Author: Tim Ehrhardt

I'm just a common ordinary pastor, chaplain, father, grandfather, and dog owner who loves the smell of a genuine leather Bible and the aroma of its message. I'm on a quest to track down the best Bibles, how to best read and use them, and to discover the encouragement inside.

Jeremiah 19

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            There is a prophetic rhythm in the Old Testament between judgment and grace, wrath and mercy.  This chapter in Jeremiah is clearly in the groove of judgment:  “This is what the LORD Almighty, the God of Israel says: ‘Listen!  I am going to bring on this city and the villages around it every disaster I pronounced against them, because they were stiff-necked and would not listen to my words.’”
 
            Judah and Jerusalem had the Temple, the covenant, the promises.  The problem was not that they had forgotten these realities because they continued to offer their sacrifices and attended much of their religious practice.  The issue was that they sacrificed to other gods and practiced the ways of religions other than the worship of Yahweh.  The ancient Jews used the worship of the one true God as a sort of rabbit’s foot to do whatever they wanted.  They believed that since they offered worship to the LORD, the rest of their time and money was theirs to do with however they chose.  They were wrong.
 
            Jeremiah prophesied judgment on them for not giving their whole selves to God and for not listening to God when he repeatedly called them to repent from such proclivities.  What we must continually grasp is that God is the Lord over all our lives, not just part of them.  God cares deeply about everything we do and say.  It is a travesty and offense to God when we have an attitude that we put in our time going to church and give a portion of money in the offering plate, and the rest of our lives is for us to with as we please.  Everything belongs to God, not just the “religious” parts.  This is a message not just for ancient people, but for all of us today who claim the name of God. 
            O God Almighty, all things belong to you, and you deserve my exclusive praise and adoration.  I unreservedly give my life to you, body and soul, so that I will serve my faithful Redeemer, the Lord Jesus, every day in every way.  Amen.

Genesis 16:1-14

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            The way the daily lectionary readings work is that Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday lessons reflect on the Scriptures for Sunday; and, the readings for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday anticipate the Scriptures for the upcoming Sunday.  So, in today’s Old Testament lesson, we get some further rumination on the theme from this past Sunday on listening to the voice of the Lord.
 
            God had told Abram that he would give him and his wife Sarai a son.  But years had passed and the promise had still not materialized.  Thus, in contrast to hearing and internalizing God’s voice, the text says that “Abram listened to the voice of Sarai” to have a child through her servant, Hagar.  In his impatience and discouragement, Abram thought that maybe he had to use some ingenuity and think up a plan in order to see God’s promise realized.
 
            But this was not God’s intention.  All along the Lord had promised to give Abram and Sarai a son, the two of them, despite their advanced age and Sarai’s barren womb.  It did not seem very probable, especially when times passes and nothing seems to be happening.  We might understand why Abram and Sarai went with their own plan, thinking that it might be God’s means of fulfilling his plan.  Yet, it was neither sage nor right.
 
            I wonder if you, like me, expect immediate results to the promise that Christ will build his Church?  Perhaps you, like me, grow weary waiting for God’s promises and his Word to be fulfilled.  Sticking with basic spiritual disciplines such as silence and solitude so that we can listen well to God is a wise plan; going off the spiritual reservation to look for answers to problems or dilemmas because we are not sure if God is going to show up to help is a foolish plan.  We must trust God in what he says, and live our lives consistent with what he has told us he will do.
            O God, I admit that I am growing weary waiting for you to work!  Forgive me for my impatience, and strengthen me in my faith so that I will fully trust your revealed promises in Jesus Christ.  Amen.

Listening to God

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Exploring Church Ministry BlogLeave a comment
 
 
We are obsessed with hearing ourselves talk.  So much chatter happens about so many things that we rarely even remember much of what we said; and many of those words are uttered before we even think.  But, from a biblical perspective, the church and Christians must have the wisdom to know when to speak and when to be quiet.  When being quiet is required, it is to be for the purpose of listening.  Listening is a lost art and a forgotten ability in our day and age.  People can be so concerned to express their opinions and say what they want to say that the virtue of listening is not at all valued.  However, God puts a premium on taking the stance of listening.  There is a proverb that says, “Where words are many, sin is not absent; but he who holds his tongue is wise” (Proverbs 10:19).
 
            One of the reasons that listening is not well-practiced is that we esteem being busy and constant activity to the degree that taking the time for silence long enough to listen is not recognized as being of value to us.  But if the church is to hear the voice of God, we Christians must be still and silent long enough to listen to what he is trying to say to us.
 
            We might even be uncomfortable with silence, and seek to fill any quiet space with noise so as to not have to deal with what is really going on inside of us.  I have a friend (I’ll call him Elmer) who recently spent eighteen hours in complete silence without any talking whatsoever in order to listen to God.  You maybe believe that Elmer must be a monkish sort of introvert who likes that kind of thing.  No, he is actually an extrovert who lives in the inner city and comes from a large family.  Elmer simply came to the point of understanding that he was so busy moving from one thing to another, and constantly talking to the point that he was drowning-out the voice of the Lord.  Here is what Elmer said about his time of silence:  “Those eighteen hours of silence were the loudest hours I have ever experienced.  My mind was so noisy and so filled with stuff that it nearly drove me nuts.  But after many hours passed, as the noise started to fade away, I could begin to hear the still small voice of God.”  Elmer discovered that he was a person who kept pushing his agenda on God.  After his fast from talking, he determined to start grafting times of solitude and silence into his everyday life, even if for only ten minutes, so he could listen to what God wants rather than tell God what to do.
 
            If we want to hear God speak to us, we must take the same approach as the boy Samuel and say, “Speak, LORD, for your servant is listening” (1 Samuel 3:16).  And, then, we must be quiet and listen.  Any fool can babble on about his/her gripes and opinions.  But in the Bible human speech is generally viewed as being overrated.  Instead, silence and solitude, listening and learning are the virtues practiced by Jesus; the kingdom of God cannot operate without them.
 
            Therefore, we must take up the shield of faith with which to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one who wants to keep us trapped in either a cycle of constant chatter without listening, or continual silence without acting upon what we hear from God.  We must be quiet for the purpose of listening to God.  Then, when we hear him speak, we must act in faith to say and do what he calls us to.
 

 

            Church ministry that does not practice silence and solitude is not worth much because it is running programs based upon human ingenuity and ideas without distilling them through the slow and steady process of silent prayerful meditation upon God’s Word.  There is no substitute.

Psalm 86

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year BLeave a comment
            This psalm is a prayer of David.  David was a guy who knew what it was like to have evil men pursuing him and hating his life through no fault of his own.  I don’t know about you, but, although I have never faced adversity to such a degree as David, I do know something about people who, to put it bluntly, just flat-out hate my guts.  It is not a good feeling, and it can be terribly draining emotionally and even spiritually.  Having disrespectful and rude people who talk behind your back (and sometimes even to your face) is in direct contrast to who God is.
 
            God is described by David as merciful and gracious, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness.  Whereas insolent people objectify others and do not seek their best interests, God always acts in accord with his basic character of love and grace.  Based upon the nature of God, we can choose to cry out, just like David did, to show us a sign of God’s favor.  That is, we can pray for God to provide us with some tangible communication of his love on our level that we can grasp and understand so that we can be helped and receive the kind of comfort we need through our adversity.
 
            We can be assured that God will not only hear, but that such ungodliness will not go unnoticed.  While we receive divine guidance and help, we can trust God to address the insolence that exists around us and toward us.
            O God, I cry out to you!  Give me a sign that you are with me, that your love and grace are my twin companions through the difficulties I face.  Help me, strengthen me, and comfort me so that I can keep going for the sake of Jesus, my Savior.  Amen.