kjv@Psalms:51 @ @ RandyP comments: This is clearly one of the most substantial passages of the Bible. If we only understood it to it's deepest and truest meaning. Behold thous desirest truth in my inward parts; create in me a clean heart; restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; then will I teach transgressors thy ways.... We better memorize this one!
kjv@Psalms:59 @ @ RandyP comments: David is surely praying these things for himself about his enemies, but, no doubt that the audience in Jerusalem that would be singing these would identify with similar outside pressures as well. The heathen are identified here in the role of the dog. The danger would be identifying the dog without identifying with the essential limitations and desperation of the upright and the defence and strength of God and His mercy. Otherwise it is just bigotry hatred and prejudice.
kjv@Romans:1 @ @ RandyP comments: This passage is often used in the debate over homosexuality and gay marriage. You'll notice though that that the list of reprobate tendencies is longer than just that. Though sexual preference is mentioned prominently, it is mentioned in the context of why God gave them over to this along with the list of things equally abhorrent. To continue in any of these behaviors, to attempt to reason that any are anything less than what they are, to seek out those that are similarly minded, is to continue in the defiant and reprobate nature Paul calls to attention. To judge one ill behavior while performing another is out right hypocrisy. We must all beware.
kjv@Romans:3 @ @ RandyP comments: There is the Law given by Moses, the full purpose of which is to expose all men as sinners. All have sinned, not one is righteous. That is the best that the Law can do for no man is justified by the Law. The Law is not done a way with now days, it fully fulfills it's purpose of convicting souls. Then there is the Law of Faith, this is where salvation out of the judgement is found. Only by faith in the sacrifice, resurrection and Lordship of Jesus Christ, the God/Man person and completed work of Jesus do we escape the judgement of the Law. The two Laws work together, one against the non-believer, the other for the believer in Christ Jew or Gentile alike. Once on board in the faith the two laws cannot be commingled without bringing back the judgement present in the Mosaic Law. The Law of Faith is perhaps better described as Grace.
kjv@Psalms:73 @ @ RandyP comments: It was not until he went into the temple that he realized their end. On the surface it often looks like the advantages of disobedience far out weigh the advantages of godliness. For how long though. In the temple like moments each of us should realize God is God, that God indeed has his judgment and that their day will come, that God will punish wickedness and reward godliness, that things stand as they do now to serve His overall purpose. There is none to desire here on heaven/earth beside thee!
kjv@Romans:5:13-14 @ @ RandyP comments: The Law spoken of here is clearly the Mosaic Law. Without/before the Law sin was not imputed and yet all people died showing proof of a Adamic curse. One does not have to sin in the same form as Adam (freely choosing to eat from the tree of knowledge of good/evil) because his descendants are cut off from the tree of life. This condition causes all the descendants to unavoidably sin, the option of choice in this instance is totally removed. Our options now are in how we will sin. Now that the Law is imputed we fully know that our condition is one of sin as well as our available options. Though we seek to do godly right we can not do so knowing only what is right in our own eyes. In this sense Jesus has become the light in our darkness.
kjv@Psalms:78 @ @ RandyP comments: By Asaph. The condition of man's heart, even the heart of God's chosen/faithful, is reviewed. Rebellious, if by them than how much more are we? After all that God had done, after all that God had made them into, after all that God had done both peaceably and violently to correct them, they sinned still and did not believe Him for His wondrous works. They forgot, refused, tempted and provoked, believed not nor trusted, lusted, kept not His commandment/testimony, were not steadfast in His covenant. By denying Christ Jesus to this day, what would make us to think that this is any different today, that somehow now they've got it right, have evolved to a higher more trustworthy plain? Gentiles are just the same though they haven't been exposed to this measure. We know from scripture however that they will one day come to the fullness of their covenant with God in the Lord Jesus.
kjv@Psalms:81 @ @ RandyP comments: Other gods, the plague of Israel. Why was it so easy for them to slip back into this? After all the reproofs, the bondage and countless turning back. It would be wise for us to consider this answer. It may not be as simple as finding the right god and sticking to it. It could be that we use gods to serve us which the false gods are very willing to do. It could be that we feel better being fulfilled and exalted than being brought low and humbled. It could be that we believe the here and now and not the future, that our hearts are never satisfied, that we are driven by lust and fear. There are processes and separations being used by the Lord to make us what we will one day be. It is easier though for us to think that we are now what we will be. Such are our presumptuous sins. Such is the shame of what this life should have been.
kjv@Romans:8:1-18 @ @ RandyP comments: The importance of separating flesh from spirit cannot be stressed enough. It is just as separating death from life. We have grown comfortable in our flesh; it is all that we have ever known. We may have had a particular problem so we think with a part of the flesh such as addiction or anger, so we look to religion to rectify that one fleshly weakness. The problem is that all the flesh is corrupt and in no way can please God. Good Intentions? Certainly. Good deeds? In part. Atonement with God? Only by crucifying the flesh, being quickened in our mortal flesh, walking in the spirit. Without strict abiding in Jesus Christ none of this is remotely possible by our own hand.
kjv@Psalms:83 @ @ RandyP comments: Even in that day there was a substantial and unified conspiracy against the presence of Israel. On one level it appears to be political but, from this author's vantage point it appears to be a spiritual warfare. Given that the promised Messiah was to come from Judah, given that all nations would one day worship in a New Jerusalem, given that God's name would dwell in Zion, given that all nations would blessed that bless Israel, the Devil I am sure makes it his object to tear at Israel. After nearly two thousand years of dispersed absence we are back to the same thing. It takes on political consequence but, have no doubt that it is spiritual in nature.
kjv@Psalms:84 @ @ RandyP comments: It is often calculated that a compassionate God is not a God of judgement. Here we see a soul longing/fainting for the courts of the Lord. What is it that makes His courts desirable? Judgement is what is most needed in order for true compassion to stand out and take hold. It is because judgement is missing that our position is as it is. We have delegated judgment to ourselves but fail to pursue it. We do what is right in our own eyes and the world becomes a hateful desperate place because of it. Better is a day in His courts than a thousand with the wicked indeed!
kjv@Psalms:86 @ @ RandyP comments: An interesting thought here that the heart would be in need of being united as if scattered or dispersed. It is fairly evident in the case of a corporate body like a congregation that the collective hearts are prone to this. It very well could be the case in the individual as well. To be united to fear His name might imply that the opposite of this fear may be caused by the scattered heart. God is highly praised in this in that He works towards the obedient man and against the those violent who have not set "Thee" before them.
kjv@Psalms:105 @ @ RandyP comments: All this He did for the purpose that they might observe His statutes and keep His law. We might say well they didn't really do that, at least not for long. Is that to say that God was wrong or had failed? That God could have found a better way? Or is that to say that it was and is the right way? That by us failing to do this by our own means serves to draw us toward His son the true fulfillment of statute and law? Surely God's doings each and every one are perfect and without failing.
kjv@Psalms:108 @ @ RandyP comments: Vain is the help of man. It is said "I get by with a little help from my friends". There is certainly a time and place for this type of help. There is a time and place for a much greater help though as well. I can not think of what I would do facing those times had I not had my faith and God going forth in front of me. Friends can surely be comforting as well as discomforting. They can think that they are saying the right things and they can speak before thinking too. We take that for what it is. But there are times when sheer valor is required, we need our foundation set upon the Rock; that would be most all the time now it seems.
kjv@Psalms:114 @ @ RandyP comments: The sea parted for Israel. The Jordan river became dry land for them to cross. As a foreign nation watching on from a distance, one would have to ask why such a mighty god would do these things for Israel and not us? Later, after our foreign nation had infiltrated and commingled our gods and idols into Israel, one would have to ask why is this god Jehovah so jealous over Israelite people and not us? What are these many legends being retold about their time in the desert? Surely, Israel is being used as an injection point for His inoculation needle. The surrounding area festers, it fevers, it changes, the remainder of the body takes sudden and frequent notice. The body collectively resists, the body swells against, it is whipped into a frenzy, but, in the process of fighting against the injection the body takes on and spreads the antibody unknowingly, receiving and carrying about that which the Doctor behind the needle had fully intended from the start. 'Tremble, thou earth, at the presence of the Lord, at the presence of the God of Jacob'.
kjv@Psalms:119:105-176 @ @ RandyP comments: One of the things we miss the most in our doctrine nowadays is the concept of just how right each and everything God has said or done or decided or judged or testified of has been. We get caught up in the love and grace without understanding what it is that defines that love, defines that grace, makes it so immense and great: His righteousness. In the law, the statutes, the precepts, the testimonies these things can be searched out, can have their proper effect helping us to grasp His defining nature. We know now that in our faith that the Grace supersedes the moral code, that the spirit of it exceeds the letter, but, the Law still can be our schoolmaster not only teaching where we fall short but where God's righteousness stands out.
kjv@Psalms:129 @ @ RandyP comments: Who is saying this? Israel. Makes me wonder how many of these other psalms were as the voice of Israel and perhaps not so much the voice of any one individual. If so, the thing of immediate interest is that it was not the forces from without that took Israel down, but, the forces within.
kjv@Psalms:131 @ @ RandyP comments: When the heart is haughty and the eyes lofty the soul takes upon itself a great deal, increasingly large matters it really has no business in. I think of the political campaigns we are suffering these months ahead of elections. Presented are entire shopping lists of big and grandiose ideas/programs that each and everyone of us knows will never once be addressed. So why are we making concern over them, why to the near exclusion of the things that we would be able to address? This same type issue is true in our individual hearts as well. Oh yes, grand dreams and visions, miraculous intentions, marvelous causes, big and frequent squawks and chatter. It hardly ever results in any more than that. For some though, a new found calm and quietness, a weaning from the demanding tantrums of a suckling child, a trust and obedience to a more modest constantly maturing godly nature.
kjv@Psalms:137 @ @ RandyP comments: It must be humbling when ones captors request to hear one of your hymns as if to rub your face in the fact that they are taking you back to their land to make you slaves. It drives home the fact that you've let a good thing go. Had they listened to God, had they returned their hearts from their false gods, had they obeyed it may not have come to this. But it has, and there naturally is bitterness towards these captors. Really though God's mercy from kjv@Psalms:123 is still at work in a reproving fashion. We should not be so hardened as to allow it to come to this.
kjv@Psalms:148 @ @ RandyP comments: There is a place where even inanimate objects can praise the Lord, in our eyes and hearts. They praise Him just by being, by the place that they fulfill amongst all creation. Animate creatures as well, though they may not intellectually know they experience which is just as good as knowing. Humans may well place too much on knowing and too little on simply connecting and being part of the praise all around.
kjv@1Corinthians:11:16-34 @ @ RandyP comments: Interesting tid bits that should not be overlooked. There are divisions today just as there were back then. We are to look at divisions as a means to observe who is approved, they will stand out all the more. Also, the churches are judged within so that they will not be judged without; if so what happens when they are unwilling to accept judgment? Also, there seems to be a connection between the misuse of the Holy Communion and sickness even fatal sickness.
kjv@Proverbs:8 @ @ RandyP comments: I sense the suggestion that before creation the plan was all laid out, Jesus was to be our redeemer. Wisdom became all that which moved that plan forward, the establishment of the covenant, the law, Israel, the prophecies, the conviction of the Holly Spirit. Wisdom was there when all these essential things were framed, it is there evident in all creation revealing even the Godhead so that we are without excuse kjv@Romans:1:20. Wisdom is the purpose and direction and establishments leading all men back to their savior.
kjv@Proverbs:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Simple mindedness can be thought of as open mindedness; it can be both good and bad. An open mind can lead to the acceptance of the possibility of wisdom all ready being prepared beforehand there for the taking, for the shedding of and separation from foolishness. It can also lead to nothing more than an attitude permitting oneself to scorn the notion of true wisdom and an investigation into stolen and secret sensual pleasures. One way leads to life the other to hell. Ones focus should not be on having an open mind just for the sake of having an open mind and being able to self justify any and everything, one should have an open mind for the sake of seeking absolute truth for it will catch up with us sooner than later. Perhaps having a clear mind should be a better objective.
kjv@1Corinthians:15:1-32 @ @ RandyP comments: Without any doubt the central core of the Gospel is that Christ died for our sins according to scriptures, buried and raised the third day according to scriptures, witnessed by many and ascended to where all things have been put under subjection to Him and He to the Father. It is not just that He did it, it is that the scriptures all along said that He was going to do it. Of this core in particular the resurrection can not be separated without voiding the remainder.
kjv@Proverbs:11 @ @ RandyP comments: Several of these proverbs in this section are dealing with the rewards of pursuing righteousness, many rewards here in this life. So often we view the wealthy as having received their wealth by ill means without knowing the slightest thing about how they achieved/maintain it. To wrap all rich men/women into the same corrupt bundle is to ignore what God is saying about what He wants to do.
kjv@Proverbs:26:4-5 @ @ RandyP comments: The application of reproof appears to be situational or conditional. For instance, if you snap back at him in like manner you are as big a fool as he. If you rebuff him at his conceit without a conceit of your own you may show where he is unwise.
kjv@2Corinthians:7 @ @ RandyP comments: It is plain to see the thought and care that Paul put into the charge he had been given over his church plants. Even in the face of severe tribulations word of them gave him great comfort and he was always thinking toward their edification.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Peter kjv@2Peter:1:4 described this world as a corruption that is in this world because of lust. Corruption can mean death and decay as it does for the sons of the lusting to be wise Adam/Eve. The thought of this death makes us to lust for all that we might have and make out of this short time which brings us to a corruption of all that is good and intended; lust upon lust and it's many other corruptions. What God has done by putting us through this is to be looked at in terms of forever that men should fear Him; a tremendously good and righteous work of making us righteous within the righteousness of His Son; raising us up from this corruption much as His Son a new spiritual creature. From this nothing can be put to nor taken away.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:7 @ @ RandyP comments: Solomon has spent a great deal of time considering the ends of things. Sure they seem right to us here and now but, what of it in the end? He concludes that while somethings are better, some are wiser, all things are temporary, that they all end as vanity. Not everyone goes as far as to consider these things, the thought being "what does it matter?". It matters to the life to come and the abundant entrance ministered unto us into Christ's eternal kingdom kjv@2Peter:1:11.
kjv@Ecclesiastes:10-11 @ @ RandyP comments: In his proverbial style Solomon shares his wisdom on sowing, on avoiding folly, on the poor, and on folly in the upright standing out like a stinking perfume. This section almost seems to break the previous train of thought that all is vanity. All is not vanity if the Lord blesses what is being done.
kjv@2Corinthians:11:16-33 @ @ RandyP comments: You would think that a messenger of love and truth would be well accepted as people need a good bit of love and truth. You would think that people would be thankful for a man willing to suffer such things to bring us such truth and not complain that he was too soft or too hard or too.... We would like to think that if we are anything as believers that we are much like this man. Most likely though it is overwhelmingly possible that we are like the many that inflicted such upon him or looked away and that the people that we have put in charge of putting us in rememberence of these truths are not this type of man who has for a long time suffered our whims.
kjv@Isaiah:7 @ @ RandyP comments: This is a very detailed prophecy. In 65 tears Ephraim/Israel shall be no more and not long after both Ephraim and Judah shall be without a king being first under the hand of Assyria. The fruitful land shall be over taken with flys and bees and become briers and thorns suitable only for cattle. Heads and beards and feet will be shaven in utter humiliation. During this era of captivity the messiah will born, His name, her virginity, His diet and distaste for evil all are revealed. Each and every piece of this prophecy has been completely fulfilled within a 675 year time span.
kjv@Isaiah:9 @ @ RandyP comments: How important to know that His anger is not turned but His hand is still extended. Israel/Judah/Manasseh have long strayed from any resemblance of covenant partnership with God; they have become exactly what covenant had told them not to be. The Lord has been more than long suffering towards them and is now prepared to do what He said would be done. This does not mean that it is all over though, that it all was a big mistake and that He is moving on without them; it means that they will serve His purpose just the same. For the present time it is to our benefit that this be, until the fulfillment of this Gentile age.
kjv@Isaiah:16 @ @ RandyP comments: The thought of invading troops walking freely through our streets is something we as Americans have not had to face. The long dreaded enemy of the Moabites, the lords of the occupation, doing as they pleased to whatever or whomever they pleased is one thing, but, to have it told to you three years in advance and to be told why another. You would know that you had done wrong!
kjv@Ephesians:1 @ @ RandyP comments: An interesting unity of thought between Paul here and Peter's 'like precious faith' kjv@2Peter:1
kjv@Isaiah:22 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord does not do anything this serious without serious reason. He does not do without first making known the consequence and the transgression. There is a iniquity deep at heart. It is an iniquity that is of the type that cannot be purged even with this serious action except by death. Notice that they will be purged however. God has not given them up.
kjv@Isaiah:29 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord does not just do these things without purpose and results. The path of men digs itself into deep ruts unaware. As if those ruts become their treasured possession, they are not about to give them up. They have rationalized, fully justified, become comfortable in their rebellion. Hearts harden, the foreign becomes normal and nothing by God short of this seems to penetrate and steer the peoples where God intends. As far as they are concerned they are doing everything right. It is sad for them that they have to go through this but, informative to us; this is after all our sin nature as well.
kjv@Isaiah:32 @ @ RandyP comments: An interesting new character type is identified here - women at ease. I don't recall this type elsewhere such as the Proverbs where so many traits are profiled. I can imagine though where this trait would be dangerous being disconnected from the urgent religious and political matters at hand, disinterested in the catastrophic events happen all around, disassociating them selves from the poor/needy/oppressed/struggling/upright, attentive only perhaps to their own social rank and cultural standing. There is the sin of calling evil good and good evil but this almost the sin of not calling it anything at all.
kjv@Philippians:2 @ @ RandyP comments: Paul has returned Epaphroditus to the brethren in Philippi to cheer this congregation up. Paul is also about to send Timothy his prize student to strengthen them. In his letters Paul seems to make everything even general matters as a teaching opportunity. We also see that Paul could only trust certain people for certain types of missions. Paul not only thought of who needed help but who it was that he was sending.
kjv@Isaiah:41:26 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord is righteous. A large measure of that righteousness can be found in the fact that He announces what will be before it happens. It is not to show off, though it is impressive, it is to warn and instruct. It is righteous for instance for the highway department to put a warning sign before a sharp curve or steep decline. Whether there is good ahead or danger it is right of the Lord to show it in advance. It also shows that He is a Lord like no other with vision and capability to perform it.
kjv@Isaiah:49 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord has done all this. The Lord is doing and will do all this. And yet Israel says that the Lord has deserted them, that they are barren and childless. Oh if they only knew the great thing that the Lord is doing all around them, the mighty fulfillment of everything that they though had passed. They shall not be ashamed that wait for Him.
kjv@Colossians:4:16 @ @ RandyP comments: There are other epistles that Paul wrote. Perhaps several. Perhaps daily. Paul was not attempting to write for inclusion into some soon to be published New Testament collection. He was not seeking to dominate the other writers with his massive content. He was addressing the needs of the people and congregations that he was placed directly over (Romans possibly being the exception - perhaps planted by acquaintances that he had discipled). His letters were treasured enough that people kept hold of them. By the time the Testament was canonized several years after his death there were enough of these verifiable copies still circulated for them to be included into what we hold today as scripture. Many of these other letters, though I am sure were treasured have either been lost or cannot be accurately verified as there were many plagiarizers of his name and authority even yet today.
kjv@Isaiah:55 @ @ RandyP comments: The covenant He makes with us Gentile tribes is the same that He made with David. It is without price and satisfy like no other. He has chosen and glorified a nation that was not a nation so that the others will take notice and turn from the wicked and foolish ways. His ways are like nothing we would intellectualize and His word will accomplish that which He purposed without fail. Joy and peace and great blessing will be the end result.
kjv@Jeremiah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: At least in Jeremiah's case he was chosen out before he was even formed in the womb. In this case chosen to be a prophet. And he became a prophet at a very early age with great impact and miraculous confirmations. How much further amongst us does this extend? We are not told directly here. Are we chosen before the womb? This argument is used pro and con in the abortion debate. The suggestion that a mother's rights trump God's (even if not pre-selected in every conception, merely rather on the possibility) should cause alarm. Only the hardened soul can completely wipe this fact off the board without at least some resemblance of consideration. Then there is the consideration that even if not chosen, even if not chosen to be a prophet or great historical figure, God saw fit for that conception to occur.
kjv@Jeremiah:9:24 @ @ RandyP comments: The thought should not be that when the Lord acts in loving kindness He acts one way and when He acts in judgment it is another. The Lord always acts in loving-kindness just as He acts in judgment. There is no separation. Those that think that a loving God would not judge are caught in a loop of self justification, nothing that they could do deserves His judgment, or so they think. Instead, judgment and mercy go together, there cannot be one without the other especially when you are talking the hearts and lives of billions of people. Ask yourself, what is loving about sovereign Deity that simply over looks all of the ills men inflict upon themselves and others? What is loving about a God that created us to be happy and fulfilled as one thing but allows us to be everything other than that in this sad sad state?
kjv@Jeremiah:11:3-5 @ @ RandyP comments: It all sounded well and fine at the time. God promises all of this and all they had to do is simply obey. They did not though in that day nor did they in Jeremiah's. No where along the way did they, they could not. This is the nature of sin. Despite all the good intentions from both parties the sin nature will not do that which is in the best interest. It always works against that thinking that it alone is in the right/has it's best interest at heart. It may not always be a conscious decision as well but, more as an impulse of the flesh that is intellectually justified after the fact. The purpose of God's dealings are to prove to us this nature so that the necessity and redemption of His Son's blood may be depended upon.
kjv@Jeremiah:12 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord promises that He will do all this but, it will not be without purpose, they will be brought back into their inheritance for one more test. Should they not pass that final test, He will utterly pluck the nation out of the land. He did just that. For nearly two thousand years Israel had been plucked/scattered and destroyed. Even the land itself largely became a desolate place. So when He had said 'But if they will not obey...' we could have guessed what their response was when they came back from this first testing was going to be.
kjv@Jeremiah:15 @ @ RandyP comments: Remember again why this has come about. This is not just the Lord being mean. He has given them plenty of opportunity which they have in no way ceased. There is idolatry in the temple, there is a lack of any judgment toward the needy and oppressed, they have hired themselves their own prophets, there is insolence and hardness of heart towards God and they will not turn from it. He has proven Himself to be patient for their return yet they have not. How does one deal with such a people to turn them without such stunning and obvious force?
kjv@Jeremiah:19 @ @ RandyP comments: The sight of Jeremiah breaking the ancient potters vessel at the east gate should burn in the hearts of Judah even to this day. The words he then proclaimed echoed true. Unfortunately, they still did not listen, whatever they had thought to gain from worshiping Baal was more convincing than loosing it all, being captive, and becoming so desperate as to eat their own children. Was it really?
kjv@Jeremiah:33 @ @ RandyP comments: The Branch of Righteousness (Christians take to mean Jesus) grows unto David (comes down dwells among us in the flesh) executes judgment/righteousness in the land (some would take to mean an earthly rule but could mean a spiritual rule as well) Judah will be saved (again could mean spiritually) and Jerusalem dwell safely (spiritually secure in the knowledge and spirit of the risen Christ) David shall never want a man on his throne (because Jesus has moved the Davidic throne to the eternal kingdom, the right hand side of God the father, the God/Man rightfully sits on it forever more) neither shall there be needed any sacrifice or offering (for the God/Man on the throne has become unto us our final sacrifice, the complete atonement that the Father provides for us all). If this is not so, I see no other way that this covenant has not been broken or ceased for over two thousand years. Do you?
kjv@Jeremiah:36 @ @ RandyP comments: One might ask "why does the Word of God need to be written"? "Can't He just speak it into our hearts"? Jehoiakim knew the things written in Baruch's scroll. It testified against him recording a long history of the king's rebellion and transgression. The king's advisers knew well how he would react for they had the scribe and prophet to hide away. The Lord undoubtedly knew as well, just as He knows today. The heart hears what the heart wants to hear, it reasons as would serve it's own desires the best. Nothing is beyond the scope of the deceitful heart. The written word is as much to testify against the fleshly heart as it is to convince it. Today we have the testimony of several thousands of years and several other Jeremiahs in written form. Is the heart then any different today?
kjv@Jeremiah:38 @ @ RandyP comments: In the end, the Lord has still given the king a choice. He can surrender himself without a fight and live or he can fight and die and his household be mercilessly brutalized. We like to think that freedom of choice always involves something more than that. Look at Jeremiah the prophet of God. What choices did he have remaining? He had done just as God had said; where is his safe out? What makes us think that somewhere there is a better outcome? That we can negotiate or force our way into some dreamy personal victory or acceptable compromise? Most often, the only choices we have are the choices left to us.
kjv@Jeremiah:44 @ @ RandyP comments: Suggested here in this text is a goddess largely worshiped by the women. We sense that men were typically excluded. Many of the male gods now have fallen yet the complete destruction of a nation has not rooted this one out; it has only strengthened it in the void. We are again looking down on this from a clinical view as readers knowing beginning/context and end. They are living it in real time without the top down insight. They are left to decide by observing the mounting evidence around them. The idolatrous mind certainly sees the evidence in a much different fashion. For those of you lead by your heart this should be a warning; the heart may be 180 degrees off.
kjv@Hebrews:3 @ @ RandyP comments: The unbelief of Israel in the wilderness is given as a example to us of the deceitfulness of sin. They saw many great wonders on their course, but, even seeing was not enough as they were still deceived by their hearts into many things that angered God. We too must examine ourselves daily as we think that we are doing right toward God. So much though is done in unbelief, by our own fear, limited by our perception of the size and scope and purposes of the Lord. We may not be in the promise land yet and we may not be in the bondage from which we were delivered out of, but, we certainly are in the middle of a considerable and lengthy process.
kjv@Hebrews:10:1-23 @ @ RandyP comments: Nowadays, minus the temple, there is no way for Jews to perform their sacrifices. I am sure that they have used some of these same scriptural quotes to justify their position, that the sacrifices weren't really needed in the first place. The problem for them still would be that there is no remission of sins without the sprinkling of blood. The Christian followers have not ceased from the sprinkling of blood, it is that the blood now is the blood of God's chosen one, the sacrifice He Himself provided as with Abraham, Jesus Christ. His sacrifice is once and for all and complete.
kjv@Ezekiel:8 @ @ RandyP comments: How easy is it for us to judge the actions of God without seeing what it is that He sees. We are rarely afforded the opportunity to see what is occurring amongst us in secret. We judge things by our own decency and by how we imagine our fellow man to be. In this case the very temple has been invaded by the wicked. The holy things are such an attraction to the unholy, like a open light to a miller moth. We find it hard to imagine such abominations but, then again we look closer and closer and we see that there is almost no end to what the heart of the unholy will think of and do. This is what God sees. This is why His anger is raised. And then to see how the rest of us blindly react to His doings?
kjv@Ezekiel:13 @ @ RandyP comments: There is the common thought that the Lord is always for peace; if you speak toward or prophecy of peace you may be speaking for the Lord. There are seasons to each and everything and this time in particular was not a time for peace. They were falsely speaking from their own spirit giving the people hope and desires therefore confirmed this hope; all of it false. The few righteous were cast down for speaking truth, the wicked up lifted in the void. The measures of security (gaps/hedges/wall) were cheated and poorly repaired. Questionable methods were adopted by prophets and prophetesses to support their work being not supported by God. All of this was to be exposed to the people in the judgment. We too will see the prophets of our day in correct light upon ours.
kjv@Ezekiel:15 @ @ RandyP comments: From one fire into another, from time to time as individuals we may feel this so, this though is speaking of an entire nation. How would it not be known that the Lord has set His face against them? Few of us have ever felt this type of judgment upon us. In our own lives we may think it or even make it be so. Often we perceive His instruction/correction falsely as so but, rather that is His love. Some moments we may feel as if persecution suffered in His name is so but, rather that is simply sharing in His sufferings. When the Lord however sets His face against an entire people it no doubt will be known by those people. These are not moments where the possibility will be debated or interpreted.
kjv@Ezekiel:22:30 @ @ RandyP comments: God had His prophets at this time. He had also we find out searched for a leader to make up a hedge but found none. Later He would find Ezra and Nehemiah but, this may illustrate to us a important difference in temperance or skill set or anointing between a prophet and a leader, that it is rare for one man to be both. Moses and David both prophesied (mostly Messianic) though not in the sense of a Elijah or Issiah, Ezekiel or Jeremiah. I can not think of a prophet that was made to rule.
kjv@Ezekiel:25 @ @ RandyP comments: "They will know that I am the Lord". Ammon, Philistia, Edom..... Would the Lord have declared this if it were not going to be overwhelmingly true? If He was over stating it, perhaps less they were to become vaguely aware or momentarily recognize or have suspicion that this is the Lord's work, it would not be the same as 'thou will know'. By the tone of these pronouncements I think we can deduce that the Lord has long been in contact with these people and has produce tangible works within them, warning them at least in how best to view Jerusalem's captivity. They remain caught up in a 'old hatred' knowing how the Lord felt yet continuing, bringing upon themselves a judgment more final than even Judah's.
kjv@Ezekiel:28 @ @ RandyP comments: The questions raised by this description of Lucifer are numerous. Of primary importance would be when did this fall happen and where, especially if the where was here on earth. If on earth, that would most likely place the when between kjv@Genesis:1:1 and kjv@Genesis:1:2 suggesting a gap between creation, a world that then was, and later a complete 6 day restoration following a major judgment perhaps like the world has since never known (not even the flood). This would explain why the Spirit hovered over a earth that was void and without form.
kjv@Ezekiel:33 @ @ RandyP comments: A person could do right for all of their lives, trust in this track record and yet fail at one point and that record be stained as if no right ever happened. Likewise, a person could do wrong for life and at one point finally do what is right and wipe his wrong clean. How can this logically be? The only way these two opposites can prove true is if the righteousness relied upon is not the righteousness of the individual but the righteousness imputed from an intermediary. One man trusts in the righteousness of Jesus though everything that he has done up to now is sinful, another trusts that he has done nothing but right and in that opinion alone he is terribly wrong for the righteousness of true righteousness has not been imputed. Righteousness apart from our Lord's righteousness is no righteousness at all.
kjv@Ezekiel:40 @ @ RandyP comments: Having been around friends that are architects and structural engineers, I can sense the amount of thought and design that must have gone into this temple. The attention to scope and field and depth, semblance and symmetry and proportion, utility and aesthetic. I would imagine that Ezekiel is seeing this pristine and uninhabited. I would imagine the architect is seeing this with the flow of people in and out, the reverence and perception that He is attempting to evoke. I have seen the complexity of blue prints and schematics, I cant imagine trying to build this from a written description.
kjv@2Peter:2 @ @ RandyP comments: The righteous souls are vexed by the ungodliness surrounding them. This is much of our tribulation. In particular are a type of godless that once knew of the Lord's righteousness yet returned to their own vomit becoming more unrighteous than before. They seem to elevate themselves to positions of influence in the secular community and cause great anguish with purpose upon the remaining faithful. This may or may not include a host of false teachers also. There is swift judgment upon them though perhaps not as swift as we might sometimes hope. They do however unwittingly perform a function of solidifying and growing our truer faith and resolve.
kjv@Daniel:2 @ @ RandyP comments: They sought the mercies of God concerning this secret. Perhaps they would have rather thought that the king was losing his marbles and hastily making a way for them out wit the king for their freedom. The mercies of God in this case were much different. God was intending to share a revelation with the king and establish these Hebrew boys in the kings eye. The four's action saved not only themselves but, the other soothsayers and magicians as well.
kjv@Daniel:4 @ @ RandyP comments: I sense a subtle transition in this testimony of Nebuchadnezzar from a belief in the mighty God of gods and the spirits of holy gods (polytheism) to 'Him' the blessed 'Most High' Him that liveth in dominion forever 'King of Heaven'. There is not enough said here to say that he became monotheistic but, his respect for one particular God certainly heightened. Without doubt his worship of self was tangibly altered to have published this account.
kjv@Daniel:4 @ @ RandyP comments: A thought about free choice... Nebuchadnezzar had twelve months to consider the interpretation of his dream. For some the dream alone would be enough to alter/soften their hearts, or so we would hope, but, is that actually true? Daniel as much as said some sort of lessening would be possible. It was not ever said though that this chastisement would ever be avoidable, that the choice was totally his. It could be that over the course of twelve months Nebuchadnezzar did everything that he thought would hold this off only to realize that he was still under it's shadow. He may have hardened in the end. Therefore it is evidenced that as much as Nebuchadnezzar may have thought that he had changed, he had not actually changed; the pride was still deep within him. Our circumstances may be similar, God may be trying to remove a destructive trait or element from our heart. We may try (and be given time) to extract that ill on our own, but, until it is given into God's hands it is never really removed; it simply lays hidden producing further atrophy/paralysis. Where then is free choice? It is in accepting the way things must be. It is all things given into His hands.
kjv@Daniel:10:12 @ @ RandyP comments: Daniel had done two things right in order for his prayers to be answered, he sought/set his heart to understand, he chastened himself before God. From that point (even though at times it may not have seemed to him like it) his prayers were heard. Now the Lord comes.
kjv@Hosea:1 @ @ RandyP comments: We are going back now to the time where Israel and Judah were two nations, just before Israel was put down. Hosea is a contemporary of Isaiah. He paints a vivid picture of the spiritual adultery of the nation that had gone whoring after other gods and could not stay faithful even though the Lord loved her dearly.
kjv@Hosea:2:16 @ @ RandyP comments: The symbolism of husband and wife has been used to depict our spiritual nature by several authors in many places in the bible. Here, if I read this right is an interesting insight of a wife that sees her God as Baali or master when she should see him as Ishi husband. His love then is the key difference. A master can master with or without love, impose his rule over her. A husband loves and gives himself for her, he builds her up and protects her. Her perception and response is much different given the two.
kjv@Hosea:3 @ @ RandyP comments: Israel's love for God is not the same as His love for her. This now is a second wife. She was a whore before they had met and she will continue. She has been told that she shall not play the harlot and the prophecy is given that there will be a time shortly that she will not be a nation, abide many days without a king or sacrifice and afterwards return.
kjv@Revelation:2:8-11 @ @ RandyP comments: Nothing said about what the church in Smyrna is doing right or wrong, only what they have been and what some will be suffering for Christ's namesake. Be thou faithful unto death He exhorts.
kjv@Hosea:8 @ @ RandyP comments: From the mouth of several prophets we have heard these details. As readers we may be thinking 'why am I reading this? Haven't I read this over and over?'. Don't you think it interesting though that the Lord spent so much effort for us to repeatedly His message to them in as many ways as possible, His patience towards them throughout it all, His prophecy of what will happen to them should they continue. What does this tell us today? That they were just deaf and stupid or that we are likely to be the same way?
kjv@Hosea:12 @ @ RandyP comments: For being so long ago it is interesting how the temperaments and histories of the individual patriarchs of the tribes still hold true. To help us to understand the essence of these tribal and national matters in his day Hosea goes back close to a thousand years to their beginning roots.
kjv@Hosea:13:2 @ @ RandyP comments: There is something to be said about the heart of men wanting to worship something tangible that he can touch. Real or not it is there to fix his eyes upon and place his hands around. By the skill of craftsmen, these idols can be intricate and artistic. They can depict stories and triumphs and passionate emotions. What does that say about our heart though? And what does it say about our God who forbids such images to be made of Him?
kjv@Revelation:3:1-6 @ @ RandyP comments: Works? What works? I thought that everything was strictly by grace? The church at Sardis is of great concern. Individuals remain that have not left or deserted and they shall be rewarded, they are exhorted strengthen that which remains, but, what about the rest of them? Believers in the Lord Jesus Christ will be saved by grace however we that hear are exhorted to overcome. Our faith is planted in circumstances that necessitate immediate growth and action, from which our faith only grows stronger. If there are not these works and actions the local church body itself dies away. Avoiding and/or ignoring the work that must be done because of some personal tantrum is spiritually immature.
kjv@Revelation:4 @ @ RandyP comments: If you have ever been blessed with revelation you know that your attention to detail is un-human. The things that you remember are remembered because there is divine meaning planted in each and every little thing, they are sealed in your memory because they are meant to be sealed. There is no doubt coming out that you are granted occasion to be a part of something foreign and miraculous and you want to go back into it without letting the moment get away from you. You try to get back into it for days, but, eventually realize that it has ended. It may be the only revelation you ever again receive or it may be years until another. Part of you however searches for it again in your dreams, in strange little occurrences, in voices you think that you might of heard. John here receives perhaps the greatest and most complete revelations ever recorded. The imagery and symbolism and threads tied to other bible prophets and covenant history that God uses is utterly mind blowing. John must have been exhausted afterward beyond human strength.
kjv@Obadiah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: As you have done so shall it be done to thee. Edom was deceived in two ways, by its pride thinking that it was above the destruction that Judah was facing, by nations that they thought were confederates. They joined in with these nations against Judah even to where the survivors fleeing out of Judah were being caught up and killed or made captive. The descendent's of Esau were meant to be brotherly. Instead they were fooled into that which they should not have done; an unpardonable brutality. They were to cut off and suffer in the same manner.
kjv@Revelation:8 @ @ RandyP comments: The prayers of the saints; thy kingdom come... thy will be done... on earth as it is in heaven... thine is the power and the glory. Special pause is given to acknowledge that this is precisely what the saints have prayed for all along. To get to the answer of those prayers from here this judgment must first take place. Perhaps we didn't fully realize the depths of sin's nature or the fierceness of the spiritual war all around. Perhaps we thought God could just change this thing and that, otherwise everything else is cool. There are however some drastic changes that have to occur beginning with the elimination of evil; an evil that runs deep. Remember God is light and Him there is no darkness. How then can He dwell amongst us if there is yet evil in our midst? Evil must be judged and use of these natural forces should make it clear to the inhabitants that this is none other than THE JUDGEMENT so clearly prophesied.
kjv@Jonah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: These mariners certainly had seen many of tempest before enough to fear for their lives. Something about this tempest though told them that it was being caused by someone on this ship. Today we might be amused at simplicity and superstition of these seafarers, but, when it comes down to the facts they were precisely right.
kjv@Jonah:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The fish here may or may not have been a whale. People dispute this story often because of the uncertainty of this fish. But we are told that this fish was prepared by the Lord. It may have been been prepared as in being placed into the same locale, prepared as is being able to swallow without chewing, prepared as in having an air pocket provided if Jonah is alive inside this belly and not dead, prepared as in being something completely out of the ordinary beyond our experience or consideration.
kjv@Jonah:4 @ @ RandyP comments: Jonah explains his reasoning for going to Tarshish, to change God's mind. Did he change God's mind or did Nineveh's repentance? Jonah is asked repeatedly 'doest thou well to be angry'? In the case of the gourd Jonah believes himself so. The Lord points out the difference of a anger/pity over a gourd and a great city of 120k lost gentile souls.
kjv@Revelation:9 @ @ RandyP comments: The end of the world is often thought of as men inflicting evil upon men, mankind out of hand. What we are seeing here however are things totally outside the scope of man's doing. Stars falling and rivers contaminated by the fall out, pits being opened up, Grasshopper like scorpions stinging with five month agonies, one third of this and that and of man. Even this is not enough to change the hearts of many as if they blame God for allowing this to happen.
kjv@Revelation:10 @ @ RandyP comments: John is kept from revealing too much. There is an importance to mentioning vaguely what he was about to record, but, being told not to reveal it any further. Instead he is given a book to eat that will make him to prophesy that which is required by others to be known. We must consider that not everything is for us to know outright, though to a few it may have been shown. Somethings are to be searched for like hidden treasure, other things to be merely trusted. This may in part be because of our best interest, more fully it may also be because of who else would be reading this.
kjv@Revelation:13:4 @ @ RandyP comments: The thought of warring against the beast is there it seems but, the futility of doing so is obvious. Can you imagine the United States for instance backing off from a war due to it's inferiority? Worse yet, could you imagine the strength of the USA standing firmly behind such a leader?
kjv@Haggai:1 @ @ RandyP comments: The consideration of time frame is important dict:easton Haggai . The time is of Ezra and Nehemiah and the rebuilding of the Temple has stalled out two decades. The people have tried to resume their lives outside of captivity but it is as if despite their energetic effort things are falling short or they are loosing ground. The Lord has wanted to bless them but the His hand has been held back because of the lack of progress on the Temple project. What had been dedicated to the Temple is being used in their own roof tops. Spiritual matters should always come first and goods and time dedicated should remain clearly purposed. Without such perspective we can work twice as hard for half the return.
kjv@Revelation:16:15 @ @ RandyP comments: This is not the first time the Lord has described Himself as such. It should be taken literally that to these people at least He will be believed and perceived to be a thief stealing away all that they have left and hold dear. Coming suddenly from nowhere and without warning as some interpret it cannot be scripturally supported when it has taken this many years to develop, judgment has so precisely and frequently measured out, and men know that it is such but will not repent. No their decision was made and their fate sealed when they took the mark of the beast to begin with. This is a matter of their utter shame and His absolute Glory.
kjv@Revelation:17:18 @ @ RandyP comments: This is very revealing, a power/principality that rules over the kings of earth. It is put into their hearts, it is God's will (just as He has given them over kjv@Romans:1 ) to follow. They will follow wholly to make war against the Lamb. She is identified as a city with seven hills (often thought of as Rome). The seventh and eight king of which are the beast. She is presented in continuous present tense as old as Babylon and young as the martyrs of the Lamb.
kjv@Zechariah:5 @ @ RandyP comments: A two sided curse flies over the entire earth, one side curses all theft, the other curses all swearing. Theft and swearing comes in big and small ways, ways each of us try to justify and reduce, but, assuredly spring from the same heart. Think of it for now though as one whole. The collective heart can be measured out like a ephad of wheat, often Jesus described the Kingdom as wheat. Yet in the middle a woman is found sitting in the wheat adding to the weight thereof as a weight heavy as lead. This complete measure of wickedness is transported to be housed in Babylon. A woman of similar geographic description is described in Revelation as 'MYSTERY, THE GREAT HARLOT OF BABYLON' who reigns over the kings of earth. Could she be tied to the theft and swearing as well?
kjv@Zechariah:7 @ @ RandyP comments: The command seemed simple enough, to execute true judgment, show mercy, oppress not. To do these things as an individual is one thing; as a nation quite another. When the Lord cried out they would not hear. Now that they are crying out the Lord seems to not hear. What was so hard about the command? The answer may be within. Now they fast in the fifth month these many years, but, is it to the Lord they fast or to themselves? They send men to inquire of the prophet, but, is it for the truth or to bend God's ear? Why should He listen if they do not listen? Why should He do for them when they intend to do plenty for themselves only as well? Worship is not about doing better for yourself. It is not about bending His will around yours. It is not Him plucking you out of the pit that you've dug yourself so that you can run along to dig yet another. Worship is about Him, it is about what you most value, what you are most willing to serve. One cannot perform the command without the deepest reverence and worship towards Him who wants you first to listen. And to best do that one must do this worship as a nation. That is what is so hard.
kjv@Zechariah:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Perhaps the Jews of Jesus' day forgot the lowly part of this Messianic prophecy. Maybe they thought that He would first be the lightning. The lowliness was to gain the larger Salvation needed however, without which He could not ever be the Lightning. Because of their rejection of Him, their sentence of Him upon their cross, the Divine seal of His resurrection, He was able to speak peace to the heathen. With all of this fully in hand then He could then return to them and be for them the Lightning; the Keeper of the Covenant; the eternal King of Heaven and Earth. Perhaps the Jews of this day now should consider.
kjv@Revelation:19 @ @ RandyP comments: The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. It all comes down to Him. No greater picture can be formed in our minds than that of Him with all might and power along with the heavenly host coming to receive His young adoring beatiful bride. His name Faithful and True, the event THE MARRIAGE SUPPER OF THE LAMB, the title on His vesture KING OF KINGS and LORD OF LORDS. Say what you will about His lovely bride dressed in the righteousness of the saints, the day is more about His love and what He was willing to do for her, the dowry He had to pay, the lengths and distances He had to go, the patience and endurance to bring this day about. She could do no better than to accept His hand, believe with all her heart and excitement His vow, offer herself to Him completely and without reserve, become as one to Him forevermore devoted. He has won her heart completely over. Are we agreed - It is not all that hard to understand the spirit of prophecy when you understand the testimony of Jesus in this great light?
kjv@Zechariah:10 @ @ RandyP comments: Idols don't speak, men hear what they want to here from them and over the years they have heard plenty, all of it vanity. The signs are plain for all to see, but, what the diviners take from it is a lie, they see what they want to see, all of it vanity. Men are troubled because there is no shepherd or so they think, they comfort each other in vain. These were the shepherds they thought missing and the Lord's anger was kindled against them. Shepherds must stand for what is true, often a most difficult and sacrificial task. Instead, as a whole they lead the flock away and so the Lord dispersed them. Faithful leaders need to add to their faith virtue (Valor/Excellence), knowledge (revealed), temperance (physical/spiritual), patience, godliness, brotherly kindness, and charity (agape) in order to be fruitful in the knowledge of Christ kjv@2Peter:1:5-8 . There are leaders amongst us today that need much of the same. We have one Shepherd but several pastors.
kjv@Malachi:1 @ @ RandyP comments: After this many years and this much history, it can still come back to the Lords consideration of Jacob and Esau. Something about Esau He hated and his descendants alike. Jacob He loved even though it has been a constant struggle. The descendants argue with the Lord at almost every turn when He says that they are doing this or that. Then there are the gentiles who the Lord wants to look on Him honorably, but, the religious inconsistencies of His chosen alter that perception. If Esau be this way and Jacob be another why does the Lord even continue with them? I believe the answer would be the same no matter who He choose, it is a matter of the truest nature of sin, the spirit of man is at complete enmity with God in all cases. In fact, the best results obtainable may be from Jacob's seed. Remember that is not from these people that the Lord will be praised it is from the actions of Lord upon these people, His incarnation and redemptive plan. The gentiles may be the first to see and bring Him honor, but, the lines of the two brothers will someday wonder what it is that the gentiles see and begin to wonder and look into it themselves.
kjv@Malachi:2 @ @ RandyP comments: One can almost sense what religion has become to them; an alter to shed their tears upon. I suppose that tears are well and fine but, what about the wholesomeness of their offering? If all one does is cry and complain and petition and yet goes about their lives in the same sinful way, making dirty offerings with dirty hearts and hands, what good is this religion? The two parts make one whole. It is not just emoting your fears about what concerns come against you, it is how the strength of the Lord is always sufficient. It is not just this sacrifice you made or that offering you gave, it is about the sacrifice that He made and you wholehearted submission and faithfulness to living in it. One without the other is a means of dealing treacherously with self and master. When religion is only a crying alter, the alter becomes more and more a place where everyones evil is declared as good. This treacherous form of religion wearies the Lord. The fear is best placed in His judgment and not just His pity.
kjv@Genesis:1 @ @ RandyP comments: Of the many details about creation given in this first chapter, perhaps the most peculiar is the division between verse strkjv@Genesis:1:1 'in the beginning' and verse strkjv@Genesis:1:2 'and the earth was'. To me the key word is 'was' which I suggest more properly should be translated 'became' as used in other text. Notice Heaven and Earth created in the beginning strkjv@Genesis:1:1. Notice Heaven and Earth not being divided till strkjv@Genesis:1:9. What happened that they were in the beginning but not divided until the third day? Many would say that they were created without form and void, the native language can just as easily say they became uninhabitable being a place suffering judgment.
kjv@Genesis:3:1-5 @ @ RandyP comments: The deception is a subtle twist of words over the meaning/extent of death. If the serpent had said that she'd die spiritually first, be exiled from the garden, live her and her generations in toil and turmoil, suffer famine and war and horrid transgressions from one another, and die a slow degenerating sometimes cancerous death, the deception would not have been as inviting. What is at question here is whether God would stand behind what He said and follow through; if so why? The why gets us into areas far beyond the thoughts of man.
kjv@Genesis:9 @ @ RandyP comments: The faith of a righteous man can help to deliver his children, but, those same children still have to make the decision to receive salvation each one themselves. We see too often the case where the righteous are followed by rebellious even evil sons, some for a spell, just as many continue to their own ruin. It is not the fault typically of the righteous (though there are always things that could have been parented better) it is rather a frequent tendency of one's self image to take a completely opposite course than the parent. We see it with the rich and successful, the powerful, the popular, the learned, the influential, the benevolent, why not then the righteous?
kjv@Genesis:18 @ @ RandyP comments: Perhaps our ears can't hear it but there is a cry to a city. Perhaps some cry more than others, but, cry none the less. There is justice and judgment and the effect of such. From that effect a noise calls out from the streets and alleys and market places to the heavens above. What does the cry sound like in your city? There are people within the city whom believe the Lord and it is woven in to them as righteousness. For the righteousness they believe certain in God they perform judgment and justice with an equal hand; standing the gap between the oppressed and the wicked. It is for these people few though they may be perhaps that a city is saved from outright ruin. There are also the men who please the Lord by engaging Him with petitions for the righteous. Though He will always do what is right, He loves to hear His people petition Him so.
kjv@Genesis:22 @ @ RandyP comments: It might be thought that all men are tested in this severe of a way. No other man has received a covenant from God the size of Abraham's however. Should we expect that any other man's test would be so large? Abraham's belief in the promise of God that in Isaac the covenant will continue is what was being tested, that God will provide. While certain religions focus upon what Abraham was willing to sacrifice, the deed that would have been done, the supposed earning of grace, we as Christians focus on what God alone eventually sacrificed/provided, we focus on the prophecy that by His hand alone did come true. It remains a covenant totally comprised of His grace; the Lord used Abraham's willingness in this case to sketch out plainly to us that it was nothing other than this grace.
kjv@Genesis:28 @ @ RandyP comments: It may seem that the Lord is talking and revealing things directly to these patriarchs every day. You think about it though in terms of a 100 to 120 year lifetime there are just a few notable occasions, and those moments set the course for the remainder of years. The Lord's direction seems to occur almost despite the decisions and reactions of the involved parties. These are good people no dout, don't get me wrong, but, they end up doing some odd even at times deceptive things. No wonder the outsiders are fearful. Is there someone you know that you are somewhat fearful of because they are a loose cannon, but, somehow they seem doubly blessed?
kjv@Genesis:29:31 @ @ RandyP comments: Having children wasn't going to change Leah's situation with Jacob. She may of thought so, may have wished so, may have prayed for it to be so; for one reason or another it was just this way. Though the Lord had granted her children, they may have been more for her own good than for her marriage; that is one way to look at it. Perhaps the Lord wanted Jacob to change his heart, but, the decision was still all his; that is another take. Maybe this growing conflict between sisters is a sign of the internal tension amongst the tribes latter on. Either way, the Lord was moving on to begin his establishment of the twelve tribes starting with Leah's four sons. There may be design and will for each of us individually, but, there is also the overall plan/will as well. She may have come to this honest and sober conclusion by the time she had Judah. To have children in order to save a marriage is a huge burden for children to have to bare.
kjv@Genesis:33 @ @ RandyP comments: Jacob had left the land previously in fear of Esau for his life. Now he returns cautiously by order of God. Esau seems surprisingly willing to accept him. The two jostle for gifting favor to each other. The Lord may want us sometimes to do something though it may be uncomfortable, though we may not feel the timing is right. Think if Esau had not been so cordial; would it still not be important for Jacob (us) to proceed forward anyway?
kjv@Genesis:35:29 @ @ RandyP comments: Sometimes the story line moves on without you even before your death. Less frequently to that, it may even come back to you for a final mention. Isaac was a great enough patriarch to have had both. How he had spent this time was no doubt important for himself, hopeful peacefully and content and richly blessed, important to those closest to him. God's written record allows him that privacy yet pays him the respect at his end.
kjv@Matthew:5:13-16 @ @ rpritts comments: Believers in Jesus 'are' this by no work of their own therefore they should continue to 'be' this. Should we abide in this (His completed work and grace) we will by nature produce worshipful works to His glory and praise, good works preordained that we should walk in. Should we step outside of that by again striving for selfish favor or personal salvation, though we 'are' salt our salt loses it's savor, though still light our light becomes hid. This is not a permanent situation if we repent and get back on course, it is a permanent situation only if we insist on trying to produce our own works towards salvation/favor.
kjv@Genesis:39 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord's favor is always good even though it may not at present be observed as so. How other people react can cause the recipient trouble. Not only has his jealous brother sold him into slavery, his masters wife has sold him into prison. Joseph takes it all in stride believing in the Lord, thankful for the favor. Again he receives the Lord's favor in prison but, notice that the favor does not deliver him immediately from prison. Where His favor is leading us may be a lengthy process start to finish and involve tests of courage, obedience, and or patience. It is tremendous favor none the less.
kjv@Genesis:42 @ @ RandyP comments: I have often puzzled over the allowance of Joseph to treat his brothers in this somewhat mean and deceitful manner. Jacob was a trickster in his day and now he is being tricked himself. Not to say that I would have reacted any better (probably worse) given the situation, but, wouldn't you like to hear him discuss his thought process now after the fact?
kjv@Exodus:6:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Just as the people have little working field knowledge of Jehovah they have little knowledge of Moses. All that they know is that the ambition of Moses has made their bondage much more harsh. When we today read this we kind of know how the story is going to progress and we see the peoples hearts as immature and disbelieving. Stepping into their shoes though one can see that from their immediate vantage point that they are absolutely right. The key then for us to learn is that of vantage point. While something may appear to us to be a certainty in one direction, they actually could be opposite and with good reason; it is all a matter of vantage point.
kjv@Exodus:9 @ @ RandyP comments: It concerns me how we might perceive how that the Lord hardens Pharaoh's heart. Is the condition of the heart caused by the Lord or was it known that he would react in this way? Was Pharaoh created or coerced to be so? One almost gets the impression that with each plague that the heart relaxes and then hardens again. How much harder successively can the heart get? Other than the bricks and straw Pharaoh has not really lashed out, he simply has resolved not to let them go. I do believe that the choice of heart has been Pharaohs all along. The Lord knows his heart well enough to know how he will react and knows just how far He will be able to go in showing the rest of the world mighty works without immediately tipping Pharaoh's hardness over. It is a testament to just how hard and oblivious the human heart can be.
kjv@Exodus:10:20 @ @ RandyP comments: Hardness can be the mere thought of the Lord, what the Lord represents, what the Lord expects one to do. Once of this mind, anything said or done, even suggested, only goes to harden all the more. This Lord represents something other than what Pharaoh wants a lord to represent. His lords expect little from him other than to stand firm like their statues against any other. Reasoning and tangible proofs have little effect.
kjv@Exodus:13:9 @ @ RandyP comments: Think of what the perception of God was before these acts. He was mostly full of promises. He had accomplished some necessary judgments (flood, Sodom), talked now and then to direct an individual. This is the first though that He had revealed with a mighty hand a entire people; first He had used one people to show forth His power to all other people and thereby spread the prophesy of the coming Christ. Now He will be right on top of these chosen people for a time to show us His precise nature.
kjv@Exodus:14:11 @ @ RandyP comments: The Lord had told Moses what was to happen. The question is whether Moses told the people. We are not told. God did not say 'tell my people'. It would be interesting (though maybe speculative) to ask how the people would have reacted if Moses had told them; probably much the same reaction. The point either way would have been that the Lord has to be trusted. Knowing or not knowing the details often in advance has little to do with our acceptance and willingness to undergo what must happen. This is a space that only trust, even trust in great big unimaginable miracles can fill.
kjv@Exodus:14:15 @ @ RandyP comments: I am sure that the Lord is always encouraging of prayer and communication. Crying out may not always be appropriate however. David for instance often cries out in his Psalms but, his desperation often leads him to the conclusion that God is truly great and a mighty deliverer in times of need. How often do we cry out however with desperation alone, seeking for answers that we are not prepared to follow, directions we are not observant to go, pleading for self strength without having established ourselves within His. We can not be too hard on these Israelites for they are experiencing God many of them for the first time. We should be harder on ourselves for having had their experience plus our own plus that of others and still yet crying out for the sake of crying out. Is there not reason to be communicating with God on a totally different level?
kjv@Exodus:20:5 @ @ RandyP comments: The curse to third and fourth generations is tied specifically to the iniquity of utterly hating God as shown in the worship of other gods. I would think that this would be someone having already known of God and His mercy systematically choosing not retain God in their thoughts rebelliously worshiping the creature rather than the creator. We are not told what the curse will be here but, scripture suggests that the fathers are given over to that which is not convenient kjv@Romans:1 , their generations perhaps suffer after their consequences. Note that the threat of this was not enough to keep many from this; a testament to man's evil heart.
kjv@Matthew:13:20-21 @ @ RandyP comments: From whom does the most pressure/persecution come from? Those just described as the wayside. Those here now without root expect peace and pleasantry. If the gospel is obvious to them it should be obvious to others they presume, and yet it is not obvious, ridiculed, divisive, persecuted against, even deadly. The young fledgling becomes disheartened, embarrassed, offended. A process - sunlight that is supposed to bring about growth instead kills off the plant. Though passive from ther out typically by number they are used by the wayside (therefore Satan) to increase the pressure on the remaining believers.
kjv@Matthew:13:22 @ @ RandyP comments: A believer that overcomes the first two elements must also contend with the cares of this world. It may not matter what others believe or think or behave, the believer is settled and assured in this part of his faith. However, the real issues of life and family and citizen present a constant drain on his time and energies causing anxiety and fatigue and over extension. The productive fruit of his life gets chocked out without him barely realizing it. I speak from experience.
RecentComments @ kjv@James:2:21 @ RandyP comments: Justification can be thought of on two scales, one being made right with God overall (this is by faith and faith alone), the second as proof one to another of our pre-existing overall faith (the faith that I have can be proven to you by the works that this faith has executed on/through me). If faith has not produced demonstrable works, one must wonder if that having been made right with God actually exists. For, the "made right with God" faith will unalterably cause corresponding demonstrable proofs. The larger scale justification is all important first and foremost, each of us must be made right with God by the imputation of Jesus' own righteousness covering over us. This is the justification Paul largely speaks to us of. The smaller scale justification then (and only then) is inevitable should this first condition be met. This is the obvious point James here in chapter 2 furthers.
So many unbelievers today look at Christian faith as a dead thing. One response is that they (unbelievers) want that to be. The opposing response might be that perhaps on an observable scale it indeed is dead is if we (Christians) have not the works to counter their disbelief with. Dead in this inference is to mean unprovable or yet to have tangible effect, not necessarily that the faith in some smaller but saving form does not exist.
RecentComments @ kjv@James:2:21 @ RandyP comments: Justification can be thought of on two scales, one being made right with God overall (this is by faith and faith alone), the second as proof one to another of our pre-existing overall faith (the faith that I have can be proven to you by the works that this faith has executed on/through me). If faith has not produced demonstrable works, one must wonder if that having been made right with God actually exists. For, the "made right with God" faith will unalterably cause corresponding demonstrable proofs. The larger scale is all important firt and foremost, each of us being made right with God. This is the justification Paul largely speaks to us of. The smaller scale justification then (and only then) is inevitable should the first condition be met. This is the obvious point James furthers. So many unbelievers today look at Christian faith as a dead thing. One response is that they (unbelievers) want that to be. The opposing response might be that perhaps on an observable scale it indeed is dead is if we (Christians) have not the works to counter their disbelief with. Dead in this inference is to mean questionable as to whether the first scale has actually been met.
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