So, I’m in the school’s convenience store today, looking around for something I can have that’s not 1000 calories, and I find a big canister of coffee. Now, I’ve heard that coffee’s only a few calories per cup, so I figure I’ll try it. No big deal.
I quickly learned that no matter what flavor you get, it will taste bad if you don’t add anything.
It not only burnt my tongue (thankfully I’m typing instead of speaking) but it also tasted like garbage. I watched as others came up, poured this vile substance into their cups, and walked away sipping it like it was nothing. What?! How on earth do people do this?!
I tried again, but this time with cream and sugar, and it’s OK. If it weren’t for me trying to eat healthier, I wouldn’t dare touch this stuff. It is better than my drink of choice, Mountain Dew, but at least that tastes good. I walked to the library, where I’m typing this right now, and it hit me:
We treat God like coffee.
That’s right folks! When we first her about God or experience God, we don’t want anything to do with Him. We can’t understand why anybody would be a part of anything to do with God (namely, the church.) We treat God like black coffee: he doesn’t fit our spiritual taste buds. We have to add to Him to make Him worthwhile, like adding cream and sugar to coffee. The cream and sugar is like those times when we pull from other religions in order to “find” God, as if He went missing or something. The people who can take God straight up, like black coffee, would be like the people who fully understand who God is: the Trinitarian God of the Bible. They don’t have to add anything to accept who God is; they just go with the flow. They take God for what He is: Creator, Ruler, the Truth, Life, and Way.
If you’ve followed along and you get what I mean, praise God! The Holy Spirit is letting you understand a weirdo like me with a passion for the Word. My prayer is that we don’t treat God like coffee, where we have to add things to make Him appealing to us. God tells us in both Deuteronomy and Revelation that we cannot add anything to His Word, and He even says that this is punishable by plagues mentioned in Revelation (Deuteronomy 4:2, 12:32, Revelation 22: 18-19.) Why would He tell us not to add subtract from His Word? My guess would be that it’s because He wants us to be obedient and accept Him. How can we try not to accept our Creator and Lord? It just doesn’t make sense. Pray about this. Make sure that you’re not willing to compromise and alter your perception of God based on unbiblical ways. Make sure that your life is on track with what God has in mind. Make sure that if you treat God like coffee, treat Him like black coffee, realizing that adding to Him is wrong and that you may not agree now, but over time you will develop a liking for the Lord, which will hopefully lead you to accepting Jesus as Savior. That’s my prayer at least. God bless you.
You Brother in Christ,
Phillip
Thursday, February 10, 2011
Tuesday, February 8, 2011
Awaiting Redemption
A song of ascents.
Out of the depths I call to you, LORD!
Lord, listen to my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my cry for help.
LORD, if You considered sins, Lord, who could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be revered.
I wait for the LORD; I wait, and put my hope in His word.
I [wait] for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning--more than watchmen for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD. For there is faithful love with the LORD, and with Him is redemption in abundance.
And He will redeem Israel from all its sins.
Psalm 130 (HCSB)
Or
A Pilgrim Song
Help, GOD--the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy.
If you, GOD, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As is turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.
I pray to GOD¬--my life a prayer--and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.
O Israel, wait and watch for GOD--with God’s arrival comes love, with God’s arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it--he’ll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.
Psalm 130 (The Message)
I posted two versions of this psalm because both are excellent examples of a cry out to Jesus moment. I’ll give a quick comparison of the two, because with both we can more clearly see the big picture. Many often critique The Message for its simplicity and its drastic changes to the biblical texts. Of course, The Message is noted as a paraphrase on the cover, so it’s not gonna be exactly like the original texts. I will admit that I don’t often like to read from it for this reason, but I have found that the Psalms come through rather well in The Message, and so I will use it to share a few psalms with you in the near future.
The first reference in both is to the ocean. In the HCSB, the depths of the ocean are discussed, because of course the ocean is vastly deep. The ocean would represent the sin we get consumed by so often, and crying out for help is our first step in repentance. The Message refers to more of a container, which gets so full that the bottom collapses. This would symbolize the grip we have on our lives, and at some point we become so full of sin that we can no longer contain it (or keep it secret.) In essence, both state that we’ve lost control. Both then offer a similar cry to the Lord for help, because in both situations there is no way out for the speaker.
Both versions are good at asking the question of Verse 3, which is a simple thought really? If the Lord looked at our sins, who could even come to Him in prayer? We know that it is against His nature to smile upon sin, and so if He were to always keep a record of our sins we would be doomed. Verse 4 explains that He is worshiped and revered because He forgives. We can talk to Him. We ask for forgiveness, and truly mean it, and God is loving and just to forgive us.
Verses 5 and 6 prove to be another part of the psalm that each version takes differently. The psalm in the HCSB declares that “I wait for the LORD; I wait, and put my hope in His word. I [wait] for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning- more than watchmen for the morning.” In The Message, the passage reads, “I pray to God--my life a prayer--and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.” It’s obvious that both versions are distinctly different, but why? Well, both are obviously about waiting on the Lord, but the HCSB tends to focus more on the act of waiting on God, while The Message seems to point more towards the idea of a deprived life without God. Both are biblical stances to this psalm, but I would say the HCSB is more fitting in the context of the psalm. The Message does provide more insight into the idea of praying continuously because without Christ we would fail. Either way, there is a strong message indeed.
In Verse 7, the HCSB version calls Israel to put their hope in the Lord because “there is faithful love with the LORD.” The Message is a bit more poetic in that it takes the previous line’s reference to “waiting and watching till morning” and applies it to God by calling Israel to “wait and watch for GOD—with God’s arrival comes love, with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.” The idea here is that once God arrives, He will bring the things we need (love and redemption.) The HCSB takes that last portion and instead refers to God’s nature in general, not what He will bring when He comes. It says that “there is faithful love with the LORD, and with Him is redemption in abundance.”
The last verse sums it up beautifully in both versions. The HCSB says that God “will redeem Israel from all its sins,” while The Message says that there’s “no doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.”
What did we learn from this study of the differences in the two versions? Well, we know that God will:
a) Hear us when we cry out to Him
b) Not consider our sins if we genuinely repent
d) He offers us all plenty of love and redemption
With all of these promises, I must ask: have you asked God to forgive you when you’ve done wrong? He will hear your cry, He will save you form your situations, and He will bring love and redemption in abundance to you. It all starts by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. Pray about this, consider it, read Romans Road, call someone. Do whatever it takes. God is willing to help you and show you His love. Are you willing to accept it?
Your Brother in Christ,
Phillip
Out of the depths I call to you, LORD!
Lord, listen to my voice; let Your ears be attentive to my cry for help.
LORD, if You considered sins, Lord, who could stand?
But with You there is forgiveness, so that You may be revered.
I wait for the LORD; I wait, and put my hope in His word.
I [wait] for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning--more than watchmen for the morning.
Israel, put your hope in the LORD. For there is faithful love with the LORD, and with Him is redemption in abundance.
And He will redeem Israel from all its sins.
Psalm 130 (HCSB)
Or
A Pilgrim Song
Help, GOD--the bottom has fallen out of my life! Master, hear my cry for help! Listen hard! Open your ears! Listen to my cries for mercy.
If you, GOD, kept records on wrongdoings, who would stand a chance? As is turns out, forgiveness is your habit, and that’s why you’re worshiped.
I pray to GOD¬--my life a prayer--and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.
O Israel, wait and watch for GOD--with God’s arrival comes love, with God’s arrival comes generous redemption. No doubt about it--he’ll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.
Psalm 130 (The Message)
I posted two versions of this psalm because both are excellent examples of a cry out to Jesus moment. I’ll give a quick comparison of the two, because with both we can more clearly see the big picture. Many often critique The Message for its simplicity and its drastic changes to the biblical texts. Of course, The Message is noted as a paraphrase on the cover, so it’s not gonna be exactly like the original texts. I will admit that I don’t often like to read from it for this reason, but I have found that the Psalms come through rather well in The Message, and so I will use it to share a few psalms with you in the near future.
The first reference in both is to the ocean. In the HCSB, the depths of the ocean are discussed, because of course the ocean is vastly deep. The ocean would represent the sin we get consumed by so often, and crying out for help is our first step in repentance. The Message refers to more of a container, which gets so full that the bottom collapses. This would symbolize the grip we have on our lives, and at some point we become so full of sin that we can no longer contain it (or keep it secret.) In essence, both state that we’ve lost control. Both then offer a similar cry to the Lord for help, because in both situations there is no way out for the speaker.
Both versions are good at asking the question of Verse 3, which is a simple thought really? If the Lord looked at our sins, who could even come to Him in prayer? We know that it is against His nature to smile upon sin, and so if He were to always keep a record of our sins we would be doomed. Verse 4 explains that He is worshiped and revered because He forgives. We can talk to Him. We ask for forgiveness, and truly mean it, and God is loving and just to forgive us.
Verses 5 and 6 prove to be another part of the psalm that each version takes differently. The psalm in the HCSB declares that “I wait for the LORD; I wait, and put my hope in His word. I [wait] for the Lord more than watchmen for the morning- more than watchmen for the morning.” In The Message, the passage reads, “I pray to God--my life a prayer--and wait for what he’ll say and do. My life’s on the line before God, my Lord, waiting and watching till morning, waiting and watching till morning.” It’s obvious that both versions are distinctly different, but why? Well, both are obviously about waiting on the Lord, but the HCSB tends to focus more on the act of waiting on God, while The Message seems to point more towards the idea of a deprived life without God. Both are biblical stances to this psalm, but I would say the HCSB is more fitting in the context of the psalm. The Message does provide more insight into the idea of praying continuously because without Christ we would fail. Either way, there is a strong message indeed.
In Verse 7, the HCSB version calls Israel to put their hope in the Lord because “there is faithful love with the LORD.” The Message is a bit more poetic in that it takes the previous line’s reference to “waiting and watching till morning” and applies it to God by calling Israel to “wait and watch for GOD—with God’s arrival comes love, with God’s arrival comes generous redemption.” The idea here is that once God arrives, He will bring the things we need (love and redemption.) The HCSB takes that last portion and instead refers to God’s nature in general, not what He will bring when He comes. It says that “there is faithful love with the LORD, and with Him is redemption in abundance.”
The last verse sums it up beautifully in both versions. The HCSB says that God “will redeem Israel from all its sins,” while The Message says that there’s “no doubt about it—he’ll redeem Israel, buy back Israel from captivity to sin.”
What did we learn from this study of the differences in the two versions? Well, we know that God will:
a) Hear us when we cry out to Him
b) Not consider our sins if we genuinely repent
d) He offers us all plenty of love and redemption
With all of these promises, I must ask: have you asked God to forgive you when you’ve done wrong? He will hear your cry, He will save you form your situations, and He will bring love and redemption in abundance to you. It all starts by putting your faith and trust in Jesus Christ as Savior. Pray about this, consider it, read Romans Road, call someone. Do whatever it takes. God is willing to help you and show you His love. Are you willing to accept it?
Your Brother in Christ,
Phillip
Monday, February 7, 2011
Habakkuk's First Prayer
The oracle that Habbakuk the prophet saw.
(Start of the prayer)
How long, LORD, must I call for help and You do not listen, or cry out to You about violence and You do not save?
Why do You force me to look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and voilence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.
-Habakkuk 1:1-4 (HCSB)
Habakkuk really was having a hard time here. This is obviously a familiar prayer for most of us, not because we’ve read this passage before, but because we’ve been there. We know what it’s like to look up to the heavens with a pain in our hearts, asking God why He’s done what He’s done. We get caught up in our situations and all we can do is question.
Most people you ask have never heard of the book of Habakkuk, which is sad, since it’s probably one of the most practical books they can read concerning their lives. When you’re going through hard times, everyone always references Job, the guy who had everything, lost everything, and had a spiritual encounter with God, which brought Job a new life essentially. For many of us that’s harder to relate to. We haven’t had our entire family wiped out in short time span. We haven’t lost everything we own, left with nothing but boils and a few friends whose words aren’t adequate in stopping our pain. Most of us simply see how evil the world is becoming, how wicked the leaders of the nations are, how hard it is to bear when we see the wrongdoings of our neighbors. That’s not to say we don’t do anything wrong, but it seems like when we’re trying to do better we see that the things we have struggled to turn from are a frivolous pastime for our friends.
Habakkuk knew this pain. Apparently, he had been asking God about the iniquity in the world for a while. He asked God how long he had to call for help, and he even goes as far as to say that God has not been listening.
That’s bold.
To say that God hasn’t been listening to you is a bold claim. Why would God be willing to help you if all your gonna do is question whether or not He has His listening ears on? Maybe He is listening, you know? But when we’re all jacked up on pain, we don’t think of these things. We just want results. We say “OK God, give it up. Why are you treatin’ us all like garbage?!” Instead of having reverence for God we talk to Him like we’re some kind of thug.
Habakkuk saw a bunch of violence going on around him (I’ll clarify what exactly was going on in later blogs) and he felt that God couldn’t hear him over what was going on. He wanted to be saved from what was going on. He wanted to be safe in a time of peril. He doesn’t seem to want that kind of salvation we all think of, you know, the life-altering come to Jesus kind? He wants that quick and easy, “God’s a genie and I’m gonna ask for whatever I want” kind.
Now, I’m not writing this blog as a downer or anything. I know in my life I’ve had these times where you just ask for help. You don’t necessarily want a total rescue form the situation, but you want guidance on what decisions to make. You wait anxiously, like Ralphie in A Christmas Story waiting for the “Little Orphan Annie” show to come on the radio. You don’t hear anything for a long time, and you get bummed out. It bites, quite honestly. God, you’re best friend, you’re go-to-guy, seems like He’s gone. You feel alone, weak, deprived of the very substance that kept you going. Where do you go from here?
Habakkuk didn’t even wanna look at the things going on around him. It was too much for him in his opinion. He couldn’t handle it. He was stressed out, flung into despair. He questioned God’s following of His own Word, because God didn’t seem to be punishing the wrongdoing that was going on. When we question whether or not God is following His Word, we’re not only questioning God’s integrity, but we’re also raising other people’s awareness to our ignorance (stupidity seemed like too much of a harsh word.) How can we ask whether or not God is following His own Word, His own Law, if He established it and spoke it?! That’s ridiculous!!
The summation of Habakkuk’s first prayer is the Christian low-point: it’s the point you never wanna reach, but when you do you feel like an unbeliever again. Habakkuk told God that “the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.” Whoa now! That’s a bold statement for the One who created you! How can you say you love God when you rebuke Him like He’s your child? How can you, being the son or daughter, take such a tone with your Father?
This part strikes me in a personal way. I am known for having a smart mouth, for lack of a better phrase. I’m really ignorant to it, due to the fact that I never think the things I say are bad. I’ve struggled with this for years, and to be honest, I went through a period where I couldn’t talk to some of my family for fear that I’d get in trouble for stepping out of line with my words. Habakkuk’s ending of his prayer is not our “God bless everybody, Amen” style prayer. He closes with bitterness and a statement that calls God’s Law ineffective and calls justice perverted! I pray that I would never end a prayer like this. I hope that you would too, because God should be respected in the same manner, if not more so, as your parents. He created you! He tries constantly to help you! He sent Jesus to die for you! Why would you end a prayer by saying that justice was perverted?
If you really wanna dig deep into the last part of this prayer, you’ll see something extraordinary. If Habakkuk wanted true justice, God could’ve sent him to Hell with all the other sinners. That’s true justice! I praise God for forgiving us of our sins, for if He did not we would end up in Hell. That’s true justice! We’ve all done so wrong in His eyes, and the proper treatment is Hell. Thankfully we have a merciful God who planned on Jesus coming to die on a cross and conquer sin for our benefit. That’s why Jesus came! He wanted to mend the relationship we broke! God loves us!
I know this is long, but I only seek to help us all see the irrationality of getting angry with God when iniquity is all around us. It’s in us too, and He’s willing to forgive us if we ask. We have to pray diligently sometimes, asking for the same thing and not hearing anything from Him. But that’s OK. The Bible clearly states that He will hear us, but we must ask for forgiveness of the iniquity and get rid of it in our lives. Psalm 66 calls God’s people to listen. It says:
Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me. I cried out to Him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love for me!
Psalm 66:16- 20 (HCSB)
Cry out to Jesus. Let Him know what sorrows you have, but beforehand ask for forgiveness for your sins. You will find that God is more willing to answer when you’ve done so.
The next blog will be on God’s response to Habakkuk’s prayer. I pray that you’ve come to understand something as a result of studying this passage of Scripture.
Your Brother in Christ,
Phillip
(Start of the prayer)
How long, LORD, must I call for help and You do not listen, or cry out to You about violence and You do not save?
Why do You force me to look at injustice? Why do You tolerate wrongdoing? Oppression and voilence are right in front of me. Strife is ongoing, and conflict escalates.
This is why the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.
-Habakkuk 1:1-4 (HCSB)
Habakkuk really was having a hard time here. This is obviously a familiar prayer for most of us, not because we’ve read this passage before, but because we’ve been there. We know what it’s like to look up to the heavens with a pain in our hearts, asking God why He’s done what He’s done. We get caught up in our situations and all we can do is question.
Most people you ask have never heard of the book of Habakkuk, which is sad, since it’s probably one of the most practical books they can read concerning their lives. When you’re going through hard times, everyone always references Job, the guy who had everything, lost everything, and had a spiritual encounter with God, which brought Job a new life essentially. For many of us that’s harder to relate to. We haven’t had our entire family wiped out in short time span. We haven’t lost everything we own, left with nothing but boils and a few friends whose words aren’t adequate in stopping our pain. Most of us simply see how evil the world is becoming, how wicked the leaders of the nations are, how hard it is to bear when we see the wrongdoings of our neighbors. That’s not to say we don’t do anything wrong, but it seems like when we’re trying to do better we see that the things we have struggled to turn from are a frivolous pastime for our friends.
Habakkuk knew this pain. Apparently, he had been asking God about the iniquity in the world for a while. He asked God how long he had to call for help, and he even goes as far as to say that God has not been listening.
That’s bold.
To say that God hasn’t been listening to you is a bold claim. Why would God be willing to help you if all your gonna do is question whether or not He has His listening ears on? Maybe He is listening, you know? But when we’re all jacked up on pain, we don’t think of these things. We just want results. We say “OK God, give it up. Why are you treatin’ us all like garbage?!” Instead of having reverence for God we talk to Him like we’re some kind of thug.
Habakkuk saw a bunch of violence going on around him (I’ll clarify what exactly was going on in later blogs) and he felt that God couldn’t hear him over what was going on. He wanted to be saved from what was going on. He wanted to be safe in a time of peril. He doesn’t seem to want that kind of salvation we all think of, you know, the life-altering come to Jesus kind? He wants that quick and easy, “God’s a genie and I’m gonna ask for whatever I want” kind.
Now, I’m not writing this blog as a downer or anything. I know in my life I’ve had these times where you just ask for help. You don’t necessarily want a total rescue form the situation, but you want guidance on what decisions to make. You wait anxiously, like Ralphie in A Christmas Story waiting for the “Little Orphan Annie” show to come on the radio. You don’t hear anything for a long time, and you get bummed out. It bites, quite honestly. God, you’re best friend, you’re go-to-guy, seems like He’s gone. You feel alone, weak, deprived of the very substance that kept you going. Where do you go from here?
Habakkuk didn’t even wanna look at the things going on around him. It was too much for him in his opinion. He couldn’t handle it. He was stressed out, flung into despair. He questioned God’s following of His own Word, because God didn’t seem to be punishing the wrongdoing that was going on. When we question whether or not God is following His Word, we’re not only questioning God’s integrity, but we’re also raising other people’s awareness to our ignorance (stupidity seemed like too much of a harsh word.) How can we ask whether or not God is following His own Word, His own Law, if He established it and spoke it?! That’s ridiculous!!
The summation of Habakkuk’s first prayer is the Christian low-point: it’s the point you never wanna reach, but when you do you feel like an unbeliever again. Habakkuk told God that “the law is ineffective and justice never emerges. For the wicked restrict the righteous; therefore, justice comes out perverted.” Whoa now! That’s a bold statement for the One who created you! How can you say you love God when you rebuke Him like He’s your child? How can you, being the son or daughter, take such a tone with your Father?
This part strikes me in a personal way. I am known for having a smart mouth, for lack of a better phrase. I’m really ignorant to it, due to the fact that I never think the things I say are bad. I’ve struggled with this for years, and to be honest, I went through a period where I couldn’t talk to some of my family for fear that I’d get in trouble for stepping out of line with my words. Habakkuk’s ending of his prayer is not our “God bless everybody, Amen” style prayer. He closes with bitterness and a statement that calls God’s Law ineffective and calls justice perverted! I pray that I would never end a prayer like this. I hope that you would too, because God should be respected in the same manner, if not more so, as your parents. He created you! He tries constantly to help you! He sent Jesus to die for you! Why would you end a prayer by saying that justice was perverted?
If you really wanna dig deep into the last part of this prayer, you’ll see something extraordinary. If Habakkuk wanted true justice, God could’ve sent him to Hell with all the other sinners. That’s true justice! I praise God for forgiving us of our sins, for if He did not we would end up in Hell. That’s true justice! We’ve all done so wrong in His eyes, and the proper treatment is Hell. Thankfully we have a merciful God who planned on Jesus coming to die on a cross and conquer sin for our benefit. That’s why Jesus came! He wanted to mend the relationship we broke! God loves us!
I know this is long, but I only seek to help us all see the irrationality of getting angry with God when iniquity is all around us. It’s in us too, and He’s willing to forgive us if we ask. We have to pray diligently sometimes, asking for the same thing and not hearing anything from Him. But that’s OK. The Bible clearly states that He will hear us, but we must ask for forgiveness of the iniquity and get rid of it in our lives. Psalm 66 calls God’s people to listen. It says:
Come and hear, all you who fear God; let me tell you what He has done for me. I cried out to Him with my mouth; his praise was on my tongue. If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have listened; but God has surely listened and has heard my prayer. Praise be to God, who has not rejected my prayer or withheld his love for me!
Psalm 66:16- 20 (HCSB)
Cry out to Jesus. Let Him know what sorrows you have, but beforehand ask for forgiveness for your sins. You will find that God is more willing to answer when you’ve done so.
The next blog will be on God’s response to Habakkuk’s prayer. I pray that you’ve come to understand something as a result of studying this passage of Scripture.
Your Brother in Christ,
Phillip
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