Tag: spiritual commitment

Deborah the Prophet and Judge (Judges 4:8-24)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Illustration from “Woman in Sacred History, A Series of Sketches Drawn from Scriptural, Historical, and Legendary Sources” by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1873

“I’m not going unless you go!” Barak told her.

“All right, I’ll go!” she replied. “But I’m warning you that the Lord is going to let a woman defeat Sisera, and no one will honor you for winning the battle.”

Deborah and Barak left for Kedesh, where Barak called together the troops from Zebulun and Naphtali. Ten thousand soldiers gathered there, and Barak led them out from Kedesh. Deborah went too.

At this time, Heber of the Kenite clan was living near the village of Oak in Zaanannim, not far from Kedesh. The Kenites were descendants of Hobab, the father-in-law of Moses, but Heber had moved and had set up his tents away from the rest of the clan.

When Sisera learned that Barak had led an army to Mount Tabor, he called his troops together and got all 900 iron chariots ready. Then he led his army away from Harosheth-Ha-Goiim to the Kishon River.

Deborah shouted, “Barak, it’s time to attack Sisera! Because today the Lord is going to help you defeat him. In fact, the Lord has already gone on ahead to fight for you.”

Barak led his 10,000 troops down from Mount Tabor. And during the battle, the Lord confused Sisera, his chariot drivers, and his whole army. Everyone was so afraid of Barak and his army, that even Sisera jumped down from his chariot and tried to escape. Barak’s forces went after Sisera’s chariots and army as far as Harosheth-Ha-Goiim.

Sisera’s entire army was wiped out. Only Sisera escaped. He ran to Heber’s camp, because Heber and his family had a peace treaty with the king of Hazor. Sisera went to the tent that belonged to Jael, Heber’s wife. She came out to greet him and said, “Come in, sir! Please come on in. Don’t be afraid.”

After they had gone inside, Sisera lay down, and Jael covered him with a blanket. “Could I have a little water?” he asked. “I’m thirsty.”

Jael opened a leather bottle and poured him some milk, then she covered him back up.

“Stand at the entrance to the tent,” Sisera told her. “If someone comes by and asks if anyone is inside, tell them ‘No.’ ”

Sisera was exhausted and soon fell fast asleep. Jael took a hammer and drove a tent-peg through his head into the ground, and he died.

Meanwhile, Barak had been following Sisera, and Jael went out to meet him. “The man you’re looking for is inside,” she said. “Come in and I’ll show him to you.”

They went inside, and there was Sisera—dead and stretched out with a tent-peg through his skull.

That same day God defeated the Canaanite King Jabin while the Israelites looked on, and his army was no longer powerful enough to attack the Israelites. Jabin grew weaker while the Israelites kept growing stronger, until at last the Israelites destroyed him. (Contemporary English Version)

The biblical book of the Judges is a sad account of Israel’s downward spiral into ignorance and wickedness. Because of this situation, God would occasionally raise up leaders, or judges, to help the people whenever they cried out in their distress.

Deborah was one of those judges, and the only woman leader during the time of the judges. She was recognized in Israel as both a judge and a prophet. In the time of Deborah, the Israelites had once again become oppressed by Canaanites who had not been dislodged from the land.

Having both legal and prophetic authority, Deborah called for a holy war and became the leader. Her army general, Barak, mustered the troops and led them into battle. The opposing general, Sisera, drew up his forces to attack, but God got involved. The Lord threw Sisera’s soldiers into a panic, and the general ended up fleeing for his life, his army defeated.

Sisera had a safe place in mind to go. Heber, an ally and friend, was in the area with his tents. So, Sisera believed he would find hospitality and protection. Heber’s wife, Jael, however, was no friend of Sisera. She took care of him, lulled him to sleep, and then proceeded to kill him with some surprisingly skilled precision.

Eventually, Barak came along, and Jael showed him the dead general. Deborah’s prophecy that a woman would prevail was realized. We are not told in the text why Jael sided with the Israelites and deliberately brought an end to Sisera. Yet, by killing him, Jael clearly proved sympathetic to Israel.

Whatever was really going on there, it’s illustrative of a prominent theme in the book of Judges. Since the Canaanites were not expelled completely from the land, they would continue to exert religious and ethical influence on the Israelites.

Judges is a book that, as you read it, becomes progressively mixed between Israelite and Canaanite – piety with the Lord and pagan practices were more and more synchronized, so that an odd religious amalgam happened. The people claimed to follow the Lord, and yet, they became increasingly violent and adoptive of the surrounding nations with their bloody practices.

We have, dramatized before us in today’s lesson, the effects and consequences of only a partial obedience to God. Like putting one bad apple into the pie, it causes the whole thing to become rotten.

In our own day, it will not do to dedicate a Sunday or a specific time to the Lord, then walk away and do whatever you want the rest of the time, without any concern to the words and ways of Jesus. We will only please the Lord if we engraft God’s universal law into our entire lives, and not just the religious parts.

Eventually a life only partially attentive to God will crack and then crumble to pieces. We must plan to live the spiritual life with perseverance, endurance, and consistency, each and every day of our lives.

The foundation of our life is built on the cornerstones of the body, mind, emotions, and spirit. A whole and healthy life pays attention to all four with equal consideration, energy, and focus. It won’t do to have any one cornerstone a different size than the others; a life cannot be constructed on such an uneven foundation.

This is why the Israelites in the time of the judges found themselves in such dire straits, time and time again. And it is also a testament to the infinite patience and grace of God, that the Lord continued to respond with mercy whenever the people cried out.

What’s more, today’s story points to the necessity for gender equity and inclusion, as well. We must pay attention to everyone in the community, and not put limitations on particular individuals because they are different. Deborah and Jael, the women, were the heroes of the story – and not just because the men didn’t step up – but because they were the divinely ordained people for the job.

We have enough on our plate in dealing with issues of obedience and disobedience, without adding to it by defining which people can be used of God, or not. Commit yourself to the Lord with your whole life, and the rest will mostly work itself out.

I thank you, Lord, that you love to do extraordinary things through ordinary people like me. Release me from any limitations I, others, or the enemy have put on my life that have kept me from the great plans you have for me, so that I might wake up and arise to shine the glory of the Lord! Amen.

The Trumpets of Judgment (Revelation 8:6-9:12)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
The seven angels with seven trumpets, and the angel with a censer, c. 1020 C. E.

Then the seven angels who had the seven trumpets prepared to sound them.

The first angel sounded his trumpet, and there came hail and fire mixed with blood, and it was hurled down on the earth. A third of the earth was burned up, a third of the trees were burned up, and all the green grass was burned up.

The second angel sounded his trumpet, and something like a huge mountain, all ablaze, was thrown into the sea. A third of the sea turned into blood, a third of the living creatures in the sea died, and a third of the ships were destroyed.

The third angel sounded his trumpet, and a great star, blazing like a torch, fell from the sky on a third of the rivers and on the springs of water—the name of the star is Wormwood. A third of the waters turned bitter, and many people died from the waters that had become bitter.

The fourth angel sounded his trumpet, and a third of the sun was struck, a third of the moon, and a third of the stars, so that a third of them turned dark. A third of the day was without light, and also a third of the night.

As I watched, I heard an eagle that was flying in midair call out in a loud voice: “Woe! Woe! Woe to the inhabitants of the earth, because of the trumpet blasts about to be sounded by the other three angels!”

The fifth angel sounded his trumpet, and I saw a star that had fallen from the sky to the earth. The star was given the key to the shaft of the Abyss. When he opened the Abyss, smoke rose from it like the smoke from a gigantic furnace. The sun and sky were darkened by the smoke from the Abyss. And out of the smoke locusts came down on the earth and were given power like that of scorpions of the earth. 

They were told not to harm the grass of the earth or any plant or tree, but only those people who did not have the seal of God on their foreheads. They were not allowed to kill them but only to torture them for five months. And the agony they suffered was like that of the sting of a scorpion when it strikes. During those days people will seek death but will not find it; they will long to die, but death will elude them.

The locusts looked like horses prepared for battle. On their heads they wore something like crowns of gold, and their faces resembled human faces. Their hair was like women’s hair, and their teeth were like lions’ teeth. They had breastplates like breastplates of iron, and the sound of their wings was like the thundering of many horses and chariots rushing into battle. They had tails with stingers, like scorpions, and in their tails they had power to torment people for five months. They had as king over them the angel of the Abyss, whose name in Hebrew is Abaddon and in Greek is Apollyon (that is, Destroyer).

The first woe is past; two other woes are yet to come. (New International Version)

Angels receiving seven trumpets, c. 1255 C.E.

Woah; this isn’t exactly some light bedtime reading. It has to do with the end of all things, with God’s judgment upon the earth. Seven angels with seven trumpets are about to sound them with disastrous results. The last three trumpets are also referred to as the three woes upon the earth.

The first four trumpets are bad, yet not nearly as terrible as the last three. The first four affect the natural world and one-third of the earth; whereas the last three directly impact the earth’s inhabitants and affect the entire world.

As hard as it may be to accept biblical readings like today’s, God is not only the author of abundant flourishing, but also of devastating destruction. And it’s in direct answer to the prayers of the saints. (Revelation 8:3)

The First Trumpet: Hail, Fire, and Blood

Although hail and blood remind the biblical student of the plagues of judgment in ancient Egypt before the great exodus of Israelites, it’s the fire that does damage to the trees and grass of the earth. A third of the earth’s land resources are completely burned up.

The Second Trumpet: Mountains and Seas

The second angel blowing the second trumpet results in a great mountain being hurled into the sea. This is reminiscent, for those familiar with the Gospels, of Jesus stating that one with a small amount of faith can command a mountain to be thrown into the sea, and it will be done. (Mark 11:23)

Going back into the Old Testament, in the giving of the Law on the mountain, and with the disobedience of the people at the foot of the mountain, Mount Sinai was ablaze with fire and the glory of God. The New Testament scene in Revelation appears to be something of a Mount Sinai taken up and thrown into the sea – signifying that the grace of Christ has supplanted the curse of the law.

As a result of the second trumpet, a third of all the great oceans are destroyed.

The Third Trumpet: A Star from the Sky

Although C.S. Lewis gave the name “Wormwood” to a fictional agent of Satan, the Wormwood here is a messenger of God, a star that falls from the sky as a result of the third trumpet blown. A third of all the earth’s drinkable water becomes bitter because of the star – which seems to be a link to previous times of judgment from God:

“I will make them eat bitter food
    and drink poisoned water,
because from the prophets of Jerusalem
    ungodliness has spread throughout the land.” (Jeremiah 23:15, NIV)

“They have followed the stubbornness of their hearts; they have followed the Baals, as their ancestors taught them.” Therefore this is what the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, says: “See, I will make this people eat bitter food and drink poisoned water. (Jeremiah 9:14-15, NIV)

The Fourth Trumpet: Sun, Moon, and Stars

There’s nothing that falls from the sky with the blast of the fourth trumpet. Yet a third of the sun, moon, and stars are dimmed. This is a portent that something worse is about to happen – which is what the “eagle” [vulture] announces against the earth’s inhabitants.

The Fifth Trumpet (The First Woe): The Abyss Is Opened

Another star falls to the earth, but with even more disaster than the previous star – opening a pit in the heart of the earth. Smoke comes billowing out, darkening the sun. Then, locusts with the stinging power of scorpions, come upon the land.

Rather than humans having authority to trample on snakes and scorpions, these demonic insects carry the ability and the authority to harm humanity – much like the great locust horde of judgment during the time of the prophet Joel (Joel 2:1-11). The difference with John’s Apocalypse is that these are a demonic host with Apollyon the Destroyer leading them.

The previous judgments were from above; this first woe is from below – connecting the powers of death, destruction, and the grave together with the force of evil. It’s a time of sheer torture; a traumatic five months of horrendous agony.

Conclusion

None of these terrible scenes of judgment are meant to scare the hell out of anybody and put the fear of heaven into them. Instead, the New Testament book of Revelation (also known as the Apocalypse of John) is meant for devoted believers in Jesus to be encouraged that an end is coming. They can persevere in following Jesus because it will be worth it.

The hardships, difficulties, and persecutions experienced – for following the words and ways of Jesus – will not last; a time is coming soon when God will judge the living and the dead. Evil will be dealt its final blow. And we will enter a realm of unending peace with the God for whom we have given our all.

Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our “God is a consuming fire.” (Hebrews 12:28-29; Deuteronomy 4:24)

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!
    The name of the God of Jacob protect you!
May he send you help from the sanctuary
    and give you support from Zion.
May he remember all your offerings
    and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices. Selah

May he grant you your heart’s desire
    and fulfill all your plans. Amen. (Psalm 20:1-4)

Living in the Spirit (1 Corinthians 12:1-3)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment

What I want to talk about now is the various ways God’s Spirit gets worked into our lives. This is complex and often misunderstood, but I want you to be informed and knowledgeable. Remember how you were when you didn’t know God, led from one phony god to another, never knowing what you were doing, just doing it because everybody else did it? It’s different in this life. God wants us to use our intelligence, to seek to understand as well as we can. For instance, by using your heads, you know perfectly well that the Spirit of God would never prompt anyone to say, “Jesus be damned!” Nor would anyone be inclined to say, “Jesus is Master!” without the insight of the Holy Spirit. (The Message)

Summer is nearly upon us. In Christianity, this means we are entering the longest season in the Christian Year. By it’s sheer length alone, it behooves us to give it some recognition. We can only do that if we realize where we’ve come from so far.

The Christian Year

The Christian Year began with Advent – a time of anticipating Christ’s incarnation and remembering that Jesus will come again in a second advent.

We have celebrated the twelve days of Christmas, the birth of the Christ child, leading to the season of Epiphany. We kept up the celebration through rejoicing in God’s revelation to the entire world – all peoples everywhere – in having Christ’s earthly ministry of teaching and healing on our behalf.

Lent has come, beginning with Ash Wednesday and moving through six weeks of focusing on spiritual disciplines which prepared us for Christ’s death, and hopefully, our own death to sin, as well.

Then, we rejoiced in the Lord’s resurrection on Easter Sunday, and experienced a fifty day observance of Eastertide, including the Ascension of the Lord.

The Day of Pentecost has come, as we celebrated the gift of the Holy Spirit and the birth of the church, acknowledging our personal and communal spiritual power.

Now, we revel in this season of Pentecostal power, known as “Ordinary Time” or “Proper Time.” It is a time of engaging in the ongoing work of the church to spread the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is the Christian’s “proper” and “ordinary” work of ministry.

The Christian Life

All of the work of Jesus in securing redemption for us is directed toward using the spiritual gifts given to us for the life of the church and the world. There’s no going back. We move forward, utilizing everything provided for a godly life in this present difficult age.

Now we develop our ability to walk and live in the Spirit for the rest of our lives – working out our salvation with reverence and respect.

What I’m getting at, friends, is that you should simply keep on doing what you’ve done from the beginning. When I was living among you, you lived in responsive obedience. Now that I’m separated from you, keep it up. Better yet, redouble your efforts. Be energetic in your life of salvation, reverent and sensitive before God. That energy is God’s energy, an energy deep within you, God himself willing and working at what will give him the most pleasure. (Philippians 2:12-13, MSG)

What the Apostle Paul was getting at with the Corinthian Church was that inspired speech from God always exalts the Lord Jesus – and doesn’t point to someone else, especially the speaker.

In their pre-Christian days, many of the Corinthian believers were involved in pagan worship practices which also involved some inspired speech. But the issue for Paul is less about the speaker and more about the direction of the speech. If the inspirational talk only points to self, or someone else other than Christ, then that speech isn’t from God’s Spirit. Any true divine utterance will clearly point to Jesus.

In a society which was continually angling for personal display and a sort of one-upmanship, the Corinthians were prone and/or tempted to fall back into old ways of drawing attention to themselves. But the entire point of spiritual gifts is that that they are given by God to be used for helping others center their lives around the Lord Jesus. Anything short of that is simply non-Christian.

The Christian Commitment

Which is why I bring us back once again to the Christian Year with its seasons that follow the life and ministry of Jesus. Christian time revolves around Christ. Christian commitment centers in Christ. In Christianity, literally everything has Christ in the middle of it. To do otherwise is something other than Christianity.

We may not (and do not) all hold to the liturgical year as Christians, and that’s okay. Yet what isn’t okay is going off to do your own thing by making salvation something you made the choice to have, giving some of your time, money, and abilities at your leisure, as if you’re really the one in control, not God.

The demands of Christian discipleship are complete and total. Christianity is a life, not a hobby. Christians are followers of Christ’s words and ways, not fans cheering him from a distance without getting their hands dirty in Christian service and love.

“Cheap grace is the preaching of forgiveness without requiring repentance, baptism without church discipline, Communion without confession, absolution without personal confession. Cheap grace is grace without discipleship, grace without the cross, grace without Jesus Christ, living and incarnate.”

Dietrich Bonhoeffer, The Cost of Discipleship

Everything we have is a gift given by a gracious God to be stewarded well for the glory and exaltation of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our penultimate gift is the Holy Spirit, who helps complete a renovation of the heart so that it revolves thoroughly around Christ.

Almighty God and Father, who gave your only Son to die for our sins and to rise for our justification: Give me grace so to put away selfishness and wickedness so that I may always serve you in holiness and truth, through Jesus Christ my risen and ascended Lord, who lives with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, now and forever. Amen.

Speak Up In Faith (Acts 7:1-16)

On By Tim EhrhardtIn Christian Spirituality Blog, Daily Bible Reading Blog, Year ALeave a comment
Statue of St. Stephen, by Joseph Marius Ramus (1805–1888) at the Saint-Étienne-du-Mont Church in Paris

Then the Chief Priest said, “What do you have to say for yourself?”

Stephen replied, “Friends, fathers, and brothers, the God of glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was still in Mesopotamia, before the move to Haran, and told him, ‘Leave your country and family and go to the land I’ll show you.’

“So he left the country of the Chaldees and moved to Haran. After the death of his father, he immigrated to this country where you now live, but God gave him nothing, not so much as a foothold. He did promise to give the country to him and his son later on, even though Abraham had no son at the time. God let him know that his offspring would move to an alien country where they would be enslaved and brutalized for four hundred years. ‘But,’ God said, ‘I will step in and take care of those slaveholders and bring my people out so they can worship me in this place.’

“Then he made a covenant with him and signed it in Abraham’s flesh by circumcision. When Abraham had his son Isaac, within eight days he reproduced the sign of circumcision in him. Isaac became father of Jacob, and Jacob father of twelve ‘fathers,’ each faithfully passing on the covenant sign.

“But then those ‘fathers,’ burning up with jealousy, sent Joseph off to Egypt as a slave. God was right there with him, though—he not only rescued him from all his troubles but brought him to the attention of Pharaoh, king of Egypt. He was so impressed with Joseph that he put him in charge of the whole country, including his own personal affairs.

“Later a famine descended on that entire region, stretching from Egypt to Canaan, bringing terrific hardship. Our hungry fathers looked high and low for food, but the cupboard was bare. Jacob heard there was food in Egypt and sent our fathers to scout it out. Having confirmed the report, they went back to Egypt a second time to get food. On that visit, Joseph revealed his true identity to his brothers and introduced the Jacob family to Pharaoh. Then Joseph sent for his father, Jacob, and everyone else in the family, seventy-five in all. That’s how the Jacob family got to Egypt.

“Jacob died, and our fathers after him. They were taken to Shechem and buried in the tomb for which Abraham paid a good price to the sons of Hamor. (The Message)

“What do you have to say for yourself?” conjures up for me women in a church basement with hands on hips, fingers pointing, staring at my 4-year-old self, after I ran through a bunch of old clothes at their annual rummage sale. And it wouldn’t be the last time I’d be asked that question throughout my life.

It’s a question that wants an accounting of something we’ve said or done. It’s not a polite question – more rhetorical than anything else.

Stephen was asked the question – and displayed a non-plussed presence that used the opportunity to turn it around back on his accusers and, indeed, of all humanity and human history.

Throughout Jewish history (and everyone else’s history, too!) there are human movements of good, inspired by divine initiatives; and alongside the good, there also are streams of resistant humanity who seek to thwart the good.

St. Stephen delivered a speech to the religious leaders, highlighting these two developments of human activity in the lives of two major figures in Jewish history.

Abraham

The patriarch of the Jewish people, Abraham, demonstrated faith by listening to the call of God to go to a country he knew nothing about. The Lord’s promises included both blessing and hardship. Although Abraham would be faithful to God’s covenant, his descendants would still find themselves as slaves in Egypt for four-hundred years.

Opposition to faith is always hanging in the shadows, ready to spring when there is an opportunity. Even though Abraham was a devoted follower of God, there were faithless people around him who had a different agenda than the Lord’s. His name continued into the New Testament with the faithless using it.

But invoking the ancient name of Abraham isn’t a protective amulet that makes everything okay. Doing the will of God is what really matters; and exhibiting faith like Abraham is the real issue.

“Produce fruit in keeping with repentance. And do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham. The ax is already at the root of the trees, and every tree that does not produce good fruit will be cut down and thrown into the fire.” (John the Baptist, Luke 3:8-9, NIV)

A good and right life comes through faith, and not by willpower nor in lifting up oneself by the bootstraps.

If, in fact, Abraham was justified by works, he had something to boast about—but not before God. What does Scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.” (Romans 4:2-3, NIV)

Joseph

Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are the original pillars of Judaism. Jacob had twelve sons, known as the twelve patriarchs, from whom all Jews come from. The history of the brothers, like many families, is complicated. Joseph, next to the youngest of the brothers, was intensely disliked by several of the others.

Joseph found himself in Egypt because his brothers sold him into slavery. Like Abraham, Joseph had a robust faith, yet this did not inoculate him from trouble. Eventually, however, through a round-about turn of events, Joseph became in charge of the very empirical power that originally received him as a slave.

Through the eyes of faith, Joseph was not bitter, but understood why he needed to go through such terrible adversity. As administrator over all of Egypt, Joseph was able to handle severe years of drought with wisdom and confidence, thus saving many lives from hunger and starvation. And so, he was able to say to his brothers, many years later:

“You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives. “

(Genesis 50:20, NIV)

So, what do you have to say for yourself? Let you and I have the ability to say that we have been people of faith and patience. Let us be those who tenaciously hold to God, and steadfastly do good, speaking up in faith, no matter the situation, and regardless of faithless people who oppose us.

Because, in the end, the words of Jesus are true:

“So do not be afraid of them, for there is nothing concealed that will not be disclosed, or hidden that will not be made known. What I tell you in the dark, speak in the daylight; what is whispered in your ear, proclaim from the roofs. Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. Rather, be afraid of the One who can destroy both soul and body in hell. Are not two sparrows sold for a penny? Yet not one of them will fall to the ground outside your Father’s care. And even the very hairs of your head are all numbered. So don’t be afraid; you are worth more than many sparrows.” (Matthew 10:26-31, NIV)

Just and right God, when we are faithless, you are faithful, because your very character is faithfulness. Help us to be faithful – not fearful – to the end, exhibiting the same commitment as your martyr Stephen, who fully entrusted himself to the Lord Jesus Christ, in whose name we are bold to pray. Amen.