Where To Live

Therefore let that abide in you which you heard from the beginning. If what you heard from the beginning abides in you, you also will abide in the Son and in the Father. (1 John 2:24)

By nature, we are often attracted to something just because it is new. We almost always think of new as better. But when it comes to truth, new is rarely better. That which you heard from the beginning is better. Paul put it well in Galatians 1, where he told us that even if an angel from heaven should bring us a new gospel, we are to reject the angel. It isn’t easy to do this, because we are tempted to be “tossed to and fro and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the trickery of men, in the cunning craftiness of deceitful plotting” (Ephesians 4:14). We sometimes itch for something “new” and “exciting” even if it departs from that which you heard from the beginning.

But which you heard from the beginning doesn’t describe whatever teaching any Christian might receive when they just begin to follow Jesus. The beginning, for John’s first readers, described the time when they were under the teaching of the apostles, which is now recorded for us in the New Testament. It is the message of the Bible in general, and the New Testament specifically.

Simply said, we abide in what is from the beginning when we stay close to our Bible. If that was your environment when you were a young Christian, that is wonderful. But if it was not, then put yourself in that environment now. This is John’s point when he wrote, let that abide in you. It doesn’t mean just knowing it, but living in it. When we live in the simplicity of the truth of Jesus Christ, then we will abide in the Son and in the Father. Our world is filled with people searching for God, some sincerely and some insincerely. But if someone wants to really live in God, John tells us how to do it: let the message of the apostles (which you heard from the beginning) live in you.

John didn’t say “if you know God’s word, you know God,” because someone can have a bare, intellectual knowledge of God’s word. But he did say, “if God’s word lives in you, God lives in you.” We can come to a living, growing, relationship with God through His word.

Abiding in Jesus (living in Jesus) is not a passive thing; it is active. We must give ourselves, mentally and spiritually, to living in Jesus. Charles Spurgeon said, “We abide in him, not by a physical law, as a mass of iron abides on the earth; but by a mental and spiritual law, by which the greatness of divine love and goodness holds us fast to the Lord Jesus.”

Where are you living today? Live in His word, and you will live in Him.

Click here for David’s commentary on 1 John 2

Hosea - three kids

Stop Pretending

return and rest

How to Trust God’s Promises

For thus says the Lord God, the Holy One of Israel: “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” But you would not. (Isaiah 30:15)

Isaiah 30 was written in the context of a terrible invasion by the cruel Assyrian Empire. They threatened to destroy the Kingdom of Judah, even as they had other kingdoms stronger. In the shadow of this threat, Judah chose to not trust God and instead chose to trust in an alliance with Egypt.

return and rest

God wanted them to know that He really could protect them against the Assyrians. If they would only trust in Him, then “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” God offered to Judah the promise of protection from Assyria. They didn’t need to look to Egypt for help. They could have trusted God for His promise. Isaiah 30:15 shows us how to trust God’s promise.

Trusting God’s promise means returning. If there is known disobedience in our lives, we must return to the Lord’s ways. Outright sin is never consistent with real trust in God’s promise. Returning also has the idea of drawing close to the Lord.

Trusting God’s promise means rest. When we trust God, we don’t have to strive to protect and guard ourselves. We have the best Protector and Guard in God. We can rest in Him, and when we do, it shows we are really trusting in His promise.

Trusting God’s promise means quietness. You don’t need to argue for your side when God is on your side. Be quiet before Him and before others. It shows that you really trust Him.

Trusting God’s promise means confidence. You aren’t given to despair or fear, because you trust God’s promise. You know He can and will come through, and you have a profound confidence in the God who loves you.

All of these things together mean a real trust in God’s promise, and it means that we shall be saved, and it means that we will find strength. There is no person walking this earth more powerful than a child of God boldly and properly trusting the promise of the living God!

Sadly, this was not the case with Judah in the days of Isaiah. He describes the sad fate they faced in rejecting God’s promise: “But you would not.” If they would have trusted God’s promise they would have had no reason to flee and would have seen the Lord’s salvation and strength instead.

How much better it is to simply believe God and His promises for us; to know that “In returning and rest you shall be saved; in quietness and confidence shall be your strength.” He is good enough and great enough to keep that promise.

Click here for David’s commentary on Isaiah 30

man of god and false prophet

The Man of God and the False Prophet

He said to him, “I too am a prophet as you are, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying, ‘Bring him back with you to your house, that he may eat bread and drink water.’” (He was lying to him.) So he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. (1 Kings 13:18-19)

It is one of the strange passages in the book of 1 Kings. The Lord spoke to a man of God from Judah and told him to go and rebuke King Jeroboam of Israel. God also told this anonymous prophet to refuse any invitation to hospitality as he delivered his message; he was to say his word from God and then return directly to Judah.

Then came another anonymous prophet, but he was from the northern Kingdom of Israel. He spoke to the prophet from Judah, and when he spoke he was lying to him. The prophet from Israel gave a false word, trying to persuade the man of God from Judah to change his course from doing exactly what God told him.

man of god and false prophet

Perhaps the Israelite prophet saw the tired and weak prophet from Judah sitting under an oak tree, faint with fatigue and a lack of food and he felt sorry for the famished man of God. Perhaps the lying prophet was motivated by misguided compassion. No matter what his motivation was, his sin was great because he not only lied, he also represented God as a liar, contradicting His previous word.

He lied convincingly, claiming that an angel spoke to me. Perhaps that was true and it was a deceiving angel. Satan and his messengers can appear as angels of light (2 Cor. 11:14-15). One way or another, the deception worked and he went back with him, and ate bread in his house, and drank water. The man of God from Judah listened to the lie from the prophet of Bethel. He did this for several reasons:

  • The prophet from Israel was probably older (an old prophet, 1 Kings 13:11) and had the respect of the man of God from Judah.
  • The prophet from Bethel identified with the man of God from Judah (I too am a prophet as you are).
  • The prophet from Bethel claimed a spectacular experience (an angel spoke to me).
  • The prophet from Bethel claimed to speak for the Lord (by the word of the Lord).
  • The prophet from Bethel did not seem to be an idolater who should be shunned (Bring him back with you to your house).
  • The prophet from Bethel offered no reward, other than simple food (he may eat bread and drink water).

No matter how natural and seductive this enticement was, it was the duty of the man of God to resist it. He had a word from God to guide his actions, and should receive no other word except through dramatic and direct confirmation by God’s Spirit. His failure at this point ended his usefulness as a messenger of God.

F.B. Meyer well applied the lesson to our life: “When we have received a direct command fresh from the lips of Christ, we must act on it, and not be turned aside by a different suggestion, made to us through the lips of professing Christians… Deal with God at first-hand.”

There may be many reasons why it seems sensible to disobey a command from God, but it is our place to simply trust and obey. There really is no other way.

Click here for David’s commentary on 1 Kings 13

anointing oil

You Have an Anointing

But you have an anointing from the Holy One, and you know all things. (1 John 2:20)

All too often, when Christians hear the word anointing, they hear it said in an unusual, super-spiritual and kind-of-strange sort of voice that lets everyone know something really holy is being talked about. Sometimes the word is dramatically drawn out and said with a certain tremor in the voice. More than anything, the word is said with an attitude that anointing is something some Christians have and other Christians don’t.

anointing oil

The New Testament doesn’t know anything about such a particular anointing. John simply says, writing to all Christians: You have an anointing. John spoke of a common anointing that belongs to all believers; an anointing that makes discernment possible for those who seek it in the Lord.

When the New Testament speaks of anointing, it speaks of it as the common property of all believers, though some may not appreciate or use the anointing God gives. Among some Christians today, there is a rather magical or superstitious approach to this idea of anointing. In their mind, “the anointing” is like a virus or a germ, which can be spread by casual contact or infect a whole group. Usually these folks think that when one “catches” the anointing, you can tell because they start talking and acting really weird. This isn’t the Bible’s idea of anointing!

Anointing has the idea of being filled with, and blessed by, the Holy Spirit. This is the common property of all Christians, but something we can and should become more submitted and responsive to. God has blessed you with the Holy Spirit: are you submitted and responsive to Him? God has given you resources of spiritual discernment and wisdom – you can know all things.

To know all things certainly does not mean to know everything as God knows everything, and also does not mean that we never need to learn from other Christians. But you can know everything you need to know to live the life God has put before you. If you need to know it, the Spirit who has anointed you will reveal it as you seek Him.

This idea of anointing – literally, to be blessed with oil, an emblem of the Holy Spirit – was behind one of the punishments given to the apostle John in persecution. Old accounts say that the Roman emperor Domitian ordered that John be cast into a boiling vat of oil, as if to say, “Here is your anointing!”

John came out from the vat of oil unharmed, because he truly had an anointing from God and God had more for him to do. Submit and respond to God’s anointing in your life, and the Spirit of God will protect and inform you also.

Click here for David’s commentary on 1 John 2

how to handle success

How to Handle Success

Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?” Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Inasmuch as God has shown you all this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you.” (Genesis 41:38-39)

It’s been said that the successful executive is the one who can delegate all the responsibility, shift all the blame, and take all the credit. That’s the plan some people use to achieve success; but that strategy is like a house of cards – it won’t stand very long. Joseph’s example shows us how to achieve and handle success in a way that honors God.

how to handle success

Notice that timing is important to the success that God gives. Here, in Genesis 41, Joseph just then came to the pinnacle of his success; but it took him a long time to get there. Joseph had been “wasting” his time in prison the previous years; but it wasn’t a waste at all. It all had a place in God’s timing for Joseph’s success. From his youth, Joseph had the idea God had destined him for great things. But Joseph didn’t know the fulfillment of those great things would take so long.

Psalm 31:14-15 says, “But as for me, I trust in You, O Lord; I say, ‘You are my God.’ My times are in Your hand.” Can you say this also? Can you say to God, “My times are in Your hand”? So often we feel as though we are all ready for what we know God will do for us or through us; yet we must rest in the Lord, and say to Him “My times are in Your hand.”

Joseph had been promoted by Pharaoh; he had risen from the pit to the pinnacle. But we shouldn’t think Pharaoh was the one responsible for Joseph’s promotion. God was the one responsible. Joseph wasn’t waiting on Pharaoh to get out of jail; he was waiting on God. The Psalmist reminds us: “For exaltation comes neither from the east, nor from the west nor from the south. But God is the Judge: He puts down one and exalts another.” (Psalm 75:6) The credit for Joseph’s amazing rise to power did not belong to Pharaoh, or to Joseph, or much less to blind fate or circumstance. It was the fulfillment of God’s divine plan.

Another thing to notice is that Joseph had two sons, whom he named Manasseh and Ephraim (Genesis 41:51-52). Joseph lived in Egypt. He married an Egyptian woman. Joseph worked for the Egyptian Pharaoh. Yet he gave his two sons Hebrew names. This shows us that Joseph has not forgotten about God, even in his success. Many people, when they have been promoted the way Joseph was promoted, feel they no longer need God. They think that God is only good for the prison and not for the palace. We should be like Joseph, who was devoted to God no matter what – bad times and good times.

Here’s a good prayer for today: “God, give me a heart that will wait on You, and serve You faithfully, never forgetting You even when I am successful in the eyes of the world.”

Click here for David’s commentary on Genesis 41

Shepherd with sheep

Amos the Farmer

“The words of Amos, who was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa, which he saw concerning Israel in the days of Uzziah king of Judah, and in the days of Jeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake.” (Amos 1:1)

What kind of person does God use? We sometimes think God uses the brightest and the best. He must choose the most holy and talented to deliver His message or to advance His kingdom. The writings of the prophet Amos show us that this isn’t true.

The name Amos means burden or burden bearer. Since most of the prophecies of Amos concern coming judgment on either the nations surrounding Israel or judgment on Israel itself, he was a man with a burden.

Shepherd with sheep

The man God chose to carry this burden was among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa. It seems that Amos had no formal theological or prophetic training, though there was a “school of the prophets,” whose members were known as the sons of the prophets at that time (for example, see 1 Kings 20:35 or 2 Kings 2:3-15). Amos was a simple man, a farmer, who had been uniquely called to ministry. He was not a priest, a Levite, or a professional pastor, but just among the sheepbreeders of Tekoa.

Amos spoke of his background and calling in Amos 7:14-15: “I was no prophet, nor was I a son of a prophet, but I was a sheepbreeder and a tender of sycamore fruit. Then the Lord took me as I followed the flock, and the Lord said to me, ‘Go, prophesy to My people Israel.'”

Amos used an unusual word to describe his occupation. Instead of calling himself a “shepherd,” the literal ancient Hebrew used here called Amos a “sheep raiser.” Amos probably chose this title to emphasize the fact that he really was a shepherd, and that he did not mean “shepherd” in a symbolic, spiritual sense. The way God used Amos reminds us of the way He used the twelve disciples of Jesus, who were common working men God used to do great things.

God gave this simple man a big job to do. Amos was a prophet to the 10 northern tribes, the kingdom of Israel. In the days of Amos Israel had one wicked king after another. Yet because of the weakness of their larger neighbors, this was a time of peace and prosperity.

Do you see the picture? God called a simple farmer to preach to a prosperous nation who had forgotten Him. We might think that the successful times needed a sophisticated preacher, a smooth talker who graduated from a top theological academy. Yet God had another plan. God knew He could use this unlikely man in a great way.

Perhaps it is time for you start thinking outside the box. Perhaps you have thought that God could only use you in ways that seem logical and reasonable. God can and will use you in ways that makes sense; but you need to also think outside that box, considering that the most important qualification is the call of God. Not only can God use humble people like Amos, He specializes in it. Remember the principle: God resists the proud, but gives grace to the humble (1 Peter 5:5).

Click here for David’s commentary on Amos 1

spiritual blindness

The Right Kind of Wisdom

Therefore the Lord said: “Inasmuch as these people draw near with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me, and their fear toward Me is taught by the commandment of men, therefore, behold, I will again do a marvelous work among this people, a marvelous work and a wonder; for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hidden.” (Isaiah 29:13-14)

Physical blindness is a special burden to bear. Yet the Bible tells us there is a worse kind of blindness – spiritual blindness. Isaiah 29 is all about spiritual blindness – the causes and cures of it. In part, Israel was spiritually blind because they wanted it and chose it. In part, they were blind because God sent blindness upon them. Isaiah 29:13-14 explains why He did this.

spiritual blindness

First there is a dramatic accusation against the people of Jerusalem: “These people draw near to Me with their mouths and honor Me with their lips, but have removed their hearts far from Me” In Isaiah’s day Jerusalem knew how to talk the spiritual talk, but their hearts were far from God.

You can’t always tell a person’s heart by what they say. You can’t always tell a person’s heart by what they do, at least in a single deed. Though only God can really know the heart, the closest we can come is by looking at the whole of their life – not only what they say or only what they do, and especially not only at how they act at church or among Christians.

Jesus said, “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks” (Matthew 12:34). This is a true, but not absolute principle because people can draw near to God with their mouths and honor the Lord with their lips, and their hearts can still be far from God. Of course, their speech will betray them at one time or another – but perhaps it will never happen at church!

This manner of talking the talk, but not having the heart, didn’t end in Isaiah’s day. Jesus quoted this same passage from Isaiah when He rebuked the religious leaders of His day for their hypocrisy (Matthew 15:7-9, Mark 7:6-7).

Because of all this, God gave the sad verdict: “The wisdom of their wise men shall perish.” Because Jerusalem’s pride had led them into spiritual blindness, sleep, drunkenness, illiteracy, and hypocrisy, God promised to destroy the “wisdom of their wise men.” Their supposed wise men promoted the pride that led to all these evils.

Isaiah called this “a marvelous work and a wonder” when God decides to reject the wisdom of man and to display His own superior wisdom. Many years after Isaiah, the Apostle Paul was also amazed at the “wisdom” of man, and how it compared to the “foolishness” of God (1 Corinthians 1:21-25).

Isaiah and Paul were in perfect agreement about the great wisdom of God and how human wisdom – though it has its own glory – must always take a second place to the wisdom of God. You would have to be blind to not see it.

Click here for David’s commentary on Isaiah 29

no other gods before me

Making God in Our Own Image

“Now this thing became a sin, for the people went to worship before the one as far as Dan. He made shrines on the high places, and made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi…So he made offerings on the altar which he had made at Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month, in the month which he had devised in his own heart. And he ordained a feast for the children of Israel, and offered sacrifices on the altar and burned incense.” (1 Kings 12:30-31, 33)

After the days of King Solomon, the twelve tribes of Israel divided into two kingdoms. The first leader of the northern kingdom was a man named Jeroboam – one of the more interesting and tragic figures of Israel’s history. Jeroboam was anointed and called by God, but very quickly became more interested in holding onto power than in honoring the God who gave it to him.

When Jeroboam led the 10 northern tribes in their rebellion, he wanted to break every tie with the southern kingdom of Judah. However, the city of Jerusalem was in Judah – and it was to that place that all the children of Israel were commanded to bring their sacrifices. Afraid to allow his people to visit Jerusalem and Judah, Jeroboam set up his own altars at the cities of Dan and Bethel.

no other gods before me

The Bible simply tells us, “Now this thing became a sin.” It was a sin when Jeroboam suggested it, but it was more of a sin when the people followed it. The people were so attracted to the religion of Jeroboam that they went as far as Dan (at the far north of Israel) to worship at the shrine of the golden calf there. Today, you can visit Israel and the site of ancient Dan and see exactly where the altar and golden calf stood.

Jeroboam went even further; “he made shrines on the high places.” He made more places of worship than the main centers at Bethel and Dan. These high places were even more convenient for the people.

Then he abolished the priesthood that God commanded, he “made priests from every class of people, who were not of the sons of Levi.” Jeroboam rejected the commandments of God regarding the priesthood of Israel, and established a priesthood of his own liking.

Jeroboam arranged for a special feast to be held “in the month which he had devised in his own heart.” This is a good summary of Jeroboam’s religion – it was devised in his own heart. Jeroboam is an example of those who create their own religion according to their own taste.

For the most part, the world today believes in the religion of Jeroboam. Not necessarily his particular expression of golden calves and high places, but a religion created according to its own taste. You could say that Jeroboam believed in “Jeroboamism” – it was all devised in his own heart. He was his own priest and created his own theology – basically, he created a god in his own image.

The tendency to do the same is in us all, but fortunately God has revealed to what He is like – He tells us in the Bible. We come to realize that my opinion about God isn’t any better or worse than that of anyone else – but what God says about Himself in the Bible reveals to us the God who is really there; not just the figment of my imagination or the creation of my own heart.

It is up to each of us to carefully examine our own idea of God and ask: “Did I make this myself or does God Himself tell me this in the Bible?” At the end of it all, all the gods we make in our own image are illusions – the God of the Bible is the one who is there, He is not silent, and He is the one who can rescue and help us.