The Lord's thoughts and ways compared to man's

Isaiah 55:8-9 (NLT)

“My thoughts are nothing like your thoughts,” says the Lord.  “And My ways are far beyond anything you could imagine.  For just as the heavens are higher than the earth, so My ways are higher than your ways and My thoughts higher than your thoughts.” 

Whatever opinion or thought that you have about what is going on around you, what you think will happen, what opinions you have, anything that involves your human thinking and reasoning and decision-making, be assured that God’s thoughts and ways about the same situations are opposite of yours.  Not only are they opposite but they are “higher” (greater, eternal, godly).  Here are some examples:

·  You believe and conclude that you are incapable to accomplish something that you’ve been asked to do or feel the call to do in the church.  God will see to it that you are very capable of accomplishing that task/ministry.

·  You look at your life and your circumstances and see nothing but doom and gloom.  God sees your life as special, wonderful, and purposeful.

·  You make a judgment about someone else that is very negative.  God’s judgment of that person is opposite of your negative view. 

·  You see no purpose or meaning in something you are doing or what someone else is doing or even who that someone else is.  God sees the opposite.

·  You conclude that a certain outcome is going to occur with that outcome being very negative.  God sees that outcome as very positive.

·  You hate something or someone; God loves that something or someone

·  You see life from a very narrow and temporal perspective.  God sees life from an eternal perspective.  Think about how you view a situation going on right now in life compared to a 5-6 year old child.  Magnify that difference infinitesimally and that’s the difference between you and God viewing the same situation. 

Ever since I was first made aware of these verses, I have caught myself many times thinking negative thoughts and remembering that these are not God’s thoughts.  I have caught myself acting or wanting to act in certain ways, then remembering that these are not God’s ways.  I have often wanted to take the “low road” and speak or act foolishly, then am reminded that God always takes the high road.  Often at the moment of time I’m wanting to do or say something negatively and then reminded of these verses, I’m wanting to ignore them.  However, I try not to and take the high road, but temporarily I’m unhappy about taking the high road.  However, always…….yes, always……later I am so happy and relieved that I took that high road and did not say or do what I really wanted to say or do.  His ways are always higher and you are divinely guided and protected to follow His ways, not your own.   

No, you and I are not God and we cannot always think and act like Him, but it is our mission as His children while on this earth to keep progressing toward being godly in all that we think and say and do.

In what situation(s) right now are you at a crossroads where you either can react with your words and your ways or choose to react via His thoughts and ways?  Keep these words from Isaiah close to your mind and heart as you will need them many times to help deal the right way with conflicts and problems that always come into your life.     

Comfort in your afflictions; purposes of suffering

II Corinthians 1:3-7 (NASB)

Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies and God of all comfort, who comforts us in all our affliction so that we will be able to comfort those who are in any affliction with the comfort with which we ourselves are comforted by God. For just as the sufferings of Christ are ours in abundance, so also our comfort is abundant through Christ. But if we are afflicted, it is for your comfort and salvation; or if we are comforted, it is for your comfort, which is effective in the patient enduring of the same sufferings which we also suffer; and our hope for you is firmly grounded, knowing that as you are sharers of our sufferings, so also you are sharers of our comfort.

One of the basic fundamentals of learning to study the Bible effectively is to pay attention to how often a word is repeated in a passage.  The more often a word is repeated, the easier it is for you to discern what God is really trying to get through to you in helping you grow spiritually.  In the NASB translation above, Paul uses the word “affliction” or “afflicted” three times while the word “comfort” is used ten times.  You are afflicted anytime you are stressed, anytime you feel knots in your stomach thinking about what you are facing.  The word used for comfort means to encourage, to strengthen.  This passage is saying that God provides to you in your affliction His encouragement and His strength.

Yet do you turn to God when you are afflicted or do you turn to some other source without involving God—e.g. escape through other humans or work or alcohol or drugs or some other temporal outlet?  Even if you are a devout Christian, do you pray that your afflictions disappear?  It is not God’s purpose for your life that your afflictions disappear.  God allows Christians to suffer for several reasons:

§ Suffering enables you to discover what God can do to help you depend more on Him and His strength, not your own.  He is the source of comfort (v 3-4)

§ Suffering is a means for others to see how you stand up to the challenges of life.  Other people are watching you, seeing how you handle the pressures of life.  Are you showing others to face afflictions with reliance on the Lord or are you complaining and showing that the Lord cannot be trusted to help you?  Perhaps more than any other situation in life, suffering enables you to be your greatest witness for Christ.  

§ Suffering causes the need for interdependence, for people to share their problems with one another, for people to learn the importance of encouragement and stop thinking only of their own problems and start thinking about the needs of others.  You fulfill the law of Christ when you bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2).  Perhaps the most important reason why God allows suffering is so that you will lose your natural tendency to be self-reliant, self centered, stubborn, and too much of a complainer.

§ Suffering positions people to be the greatest help to others going through the same afflictions.  You have lost something so important in your life—e.g. your health, a loved one, your job.  Who helps you the most dealing with the emotions surrounding this loss?  Someone who also has gone through the same experience as you are now going through.  You learn you have cancer.  Who helps you the most?  Someone who had the same cancer as you have and beat it.  You are dealing with a difficult family situation.  Who do you listen to in helping you face and overcome this family problem?  Someone you know and trust who has faced the same kind of situation.

The Bible scholar, Ray Stedman, wrote the following, based on the verses above and continuing through verse 11 of II Cor 1:  “Suffering is sent to us to show us that we are not individuals living all alone in life. We are members of a family, we are members of a Body, and we need each other. When you have a difficulty or a trial, share it with others so that they can pray with you, for many prayers will bring great deliverance. That is the reason for requests for prayer, for sharing our needs with one another, and for enlisting the aid of others in praying us through times of pressure, as we ought to be ready to respond to those who are going through pressure with prayer for them ourselves. Now that is the way the Christian community ought to respond to stress and pressure, to difficulties and trials and disasters. God has sent them. God has allowed them to come as opportunities that you might learn again this amazing secret of inner strength, inner comfort, inner peace that can keep your heart quiet, even though you are going through troubled times.”

May all these words give you significant comfort and renewed strength as you face your troubles with the help of the Lord through your prayers.

Important Obadiah prophecy about nations and Israel

Obadiah 1:15 (NLT)

The day is near when I, the LORD, will judge the godless nations! As you have done to Israel, so it will be done to you. All your evil deeds will fall back on your own heads.

Have you ever read the book of Obadiah before?  Maybe a better question is: have you ever heard of the Book of Obadiah?  Don’t feel bad if you don’t know anything about Obadiah.  It is the shortest book in the Old Testament (only 21 verses).  II John is the shortest book in the Bible (13 verses; III John only 14 verses).  There was a nation east of Israel called Edom (now part of Jordan) that was founded by Esau, the twin brother of Jacob (Jacob was called Israel).  Remember that Esau was born “red” (Gen 25:30) and sold his inheritance for a bowl of red bean stew (Gen 25:30-34)?  Edom means “red”.  From the separation of Esau and Jacob, Edom and Israel always remained enemies. 

Obadiah wrote about the judgment of God against the Edomites because of their sins against Israel and against God.  When the Israelites were escaping Egypt and needing to find the Promised Land, the Edomites forbid Israel from entering their land.  Verse 15 declares God’s judgment against Edom and indeed Edom was eventually destroyed by King Nebuchadnezzar and its name disappeared (see Ezekiel 35).  Nebuchadnezzar also destroyed Jerusalem and took captive the people of Judah (Southern Israel), but God did not allow Israel to disappear.   

Israel seems to be in the news a lot lately, especially since this is the start of the summer Olympics and it was 40 years ago that terrorists massacred Israeli athletes in Munich.  This is the verse that is used to predict that any nation that is an enemy of Israel incurs God’s wrath and eventual judgment.  Ezekiel 25:6-7 says the same thing, “For thus says the Lord GOD: "Because you [Ammon] clapped your hands, stamped your feet, and rejoiced in heart with all your disdain for the land of Israel, indeed, therefore, I will stretch out My hand against you, and give you as plunder to the nations; I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will cause you to perish from the countries; I will destroy you, and you shall know that I am the LORD."  Therefore, it is so important from a biblical viewpoint and the future of America that America remains allies with Israel.  Whatever you do to Israel so it will be done to you.   

Obadiah predicted the destruction of Edom because it was a godless nation.  He also declared that whatever evil you do will fall back on your own head.  When I was first taking church and the Bible seriously, I’ll always remember these words from my pastor in Fort Worth, Texas: “God has established moral and spiritual laws in His creation, and whenever you break them, you will eventually pay the price.”  About the time he said that was when the “Godfather” movies were popular and I thought that one of the main messages of those movies is that you always reap from you sow.  Indeed, God is never mocked (the Greek word means to "turn up your nose at, to sneer"), whatever you sow, you share also reap so don't ever deceive yourself or let someone else deceive you about this truth (Gal 6:7).

May you always keep in mind that evil deeds will fall back on your own head.  Another vital biblical lesson to remind you to do all you can to keep sin out of your life.  May whatever you sow be good things so that you reap better things in return. And pay attention to what happens to nations that are enemies of Israel.

Teaching sound doctrine

Titus 2:2-8 (NLT)

Teach the older men to exercise self-control, to be worthy of respect, and to live wisely. They must have sound faith and be filled with love and patience.   Similarly, teach the older women to live in a way that honors God. They must not slander others or be heavy drinkers.  Instead, they should teach others what is good.  These older women must train the younger women to love their husbands and their children, to live wisely and be pure, to work in their homes, to do good, and to be submissive to their husbands. Then they will not bring shame on the word of God.   In the same way, encourage the young men to live wisely.  And you yourself must be an example to them by doing good works of every kind. Let everything you do reflect the integrity and seriousness of your teaching. Teach the truth so that your teaching can’t be criticized. Then those who oppose us will be ashamed and have nothing bad to say about us. 

When I saw the word “older” written in this passage, I was reminded of this funny story: A woman approached a little old man rocking in a chair on his porch.  She said, "I couldn't help noticing how happy you look, what's your secret for a long happy life?"  He replied, "I smoke three packs of cigarettes a day, drink a case of whiskey a week, eat fatty foods, and never exercise." "That's amazing," the woman said. "How old are you?' "Twenty-six,"

Titus was a young man who Paul converted to the Christian faith.  We don’t know much about Titus as he is not mentioned in Acts as so many early Christians are.  However, Paul mentions Titus in his letter to the Galatians (2:1-3) and several times in II Corinthians (2:13, 7:6, 7:13-14, 8:5-6; 8:16-24, and 12:18) where it is obvious how important Titus was in ministry.  Paul viewed Titus as someone who could be depended on to accomplish important tasks and was an excellent role model in trying circumstances.  Thus, as Paul writes his letter to his younger colleague, he gives him these instructions for teaching sound doctrine to other people. 

Note what are to be characteristics of “older men”--- self control, worthy of respect, wise living, sound faith, and filled with love and patience.  When you first see the word “older”, you think of someone really old, like in their 80s-90s.  No, old age in ancient Greece was viewed to be 50 and older.  Paul writes in verses 6-8 that even young men are to live wisely just like old men.  Furthermore, mature Christians like Titus are to serve as examples, as Paul teaches, by doing good works, reflecting integrity (purity), sound doctrine, and being truthful so that you are beyond reproach in whatever you say and no one can say anything negative about you.

Paul also gives instructions to older women to serve as examples to younger women by loving your husband, loving your children, live wisely, be pure, work in the home (hmmmm, that will raise eyebrows in today’s society), do good (be kind) and be submissive to your husband (also controversial unless husbands earn such respect via your sacrificial loving attitude and actions toward your wife). 

The encouragement of this passage for older folks reading this is that God gives us a vital ministry regardless how old we are.  If you are over 50, be encouraged that you have a role to play as a mentor and example to younger Christian people, even to those who are not Christian yet.  Old age is not an excuse to retire as a Christian.  Old age is a time for a Christian to influence others in their Christian walk that you could never do as a younger person.  Do not let old age deter you from serving the Lord in special ways and be useful in His kingdom as Paul so clearly points out in this passage to his friend, Titus. 

An unknown author wrote: “Age is a quality of mind.  If you have left your dreams behind, if hope is cold, if you no longer look ahead, if your ambitions' fires are dead---then you are old.  But if from life you take the best, and if in life you keep the zest, if love you hold; no matter how the years go by, no matter how the birthdays fly, you are not old.”

JR Miller (gracegems.org) wrote that “those who are growing old should show the ripest spiritual fruitfulness.  They should do their best work for Christ in the days which remain. They should live their sweetest, gentlest, kindliest, most helpful life in the short time which they have yet to remain in this world. They should make their years of old age—years of quietness and peace, and joy—a holy eventide. But this can be the story of their experiences only if their life be hid with Christ in God.  Apart from Christ, no life can keep its zest or its radiance!”