Handle With Care
Today’s Passage – Jeremiah 23 – 25 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – click here to view the text from the Blue Letter Bible website)
(Second Milers also read – Acts 16 – 18; Psalms 96 – 100; Proverbs 20)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Micah 6:8
Read the “0820 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“Woe be unto the pastors that destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture! saith the LORD. Therefore thus saith the LORD God of Israel against the pastors that feed my people; Ye have scattered my flock, and driven them away, and have not visited them: behold, I will visit upon you the evil of your doings, saith the LORD.” – (Jeremiah 23:1-2)
“The prophet that hath a dream, let him tell a dream; and he that hath my word, let him speak my word faithfully. What is the chaff to the wheat? saith the LORD. Is not my word like as a fire? saith the LORD; and like a hammer that breaketh the rock in pieces? Therefore, behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that steal my words every one from his neighbour. Behold, I am against the prophets, saith the LORD, that use their tongues, and say, He saith. Behold, I am against them that prophesy false dreams, saith the LORD, and do tell them, and cause my people to err by their lies, and by their lightness; yet I sent them not, nor commanded them: therefore they shall not profit this people at all, saith the LORD.” – (Jeremiah 23:28-32)
Jeremiah 23 is a strong rebuke against the false prophets of Jeremiah’s day that claimed to be speaking on behalf of God, but were really just telling the people what they want they wanted them to hear. I do not believe that we would be doing injustice to the Scripture by making application to the many people in our world today who claim to be preaching and teaching the Word of God. This passage delivers a scathing warning for those who mishandle the Bible. In this text I have noticed three common errors that are made today by people who claim to be representing the Lord:
1 Lying – We lie to the people when we don’t tell them exactly what God said, or when we insert our philosophies and opinions. God’s word is very clear. He has very specific instructions regarding how we are to conduct ourselves on this earth. Yet, preachers will often misrepresent God by not declaring plainly and interpreting literally what God said. I wish every Christian knew the Bible intimately themselves, but unfortunately that is not the case. Many of the people that come to us for help are trusting us to tell them them what God would tell them. We have no right to just tell them what we think. Who cares what we think? What really matters is what God said!
2 Leaving Out – By this I mean that we neglect so many of the important truths of the Word. We do not declare the whole counsel of God. We conveniently select passages that promote our agenda, and we take verses out of their context. God expects us to preach and teach the whole Bible, not just the parts that will make us look good in front of the people. We are “itching” people’s ears today by ignoring the passages that deal with their sin.
3 Lightness – Notice verse 31. God mentions the prophets’ lightness. The preachers did not take their jobs seriously. It is an awesome responsibility to be God’s representative. We are to faithfully deliver and explain the Tuth of the Word of God. The people need Truth, not entertainment. We have become comedians, and story tellers, and entertainers; but our “lightness” has caused an entire generation to fall away from God. We need to get back to the sober business of declaring the Truth. When I think back to the prophets of the Old Testament, I see men that were grave, serious, bold, determined, and fearful of the God the represented. We need to get back to that in our teaching and preaching today.
God wants His Word handled very carefully. God magnifies His word even above His name, and His name is above all other names. God’s Word is important. We need to be very careful that we are delivering it clearly, and entirely to the people of God.
Oh, and by the way, according to vs. 1 & 2, God’s flock needs to be handled with care as well. Woe to the pastor that takes advantage of one of God’s children.
Posted in Thoughts from Jeremiah by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Nuggets of Gold
Today’s Reading – Psalms 36 – 39 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – 1 John 1 – 5; Psalms 111 – 115; Proverbs 23)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Matthew 6:33
Read the “0623 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“Delight thyself also in the LORD; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.” – (Psalm 37:4)
“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD: and he delighteth in his way.” – (Psalm 37:23)
“I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” – (Psalm 37:25)
Have you ever noticed that Psalm 37 contains many wonderful verses that we often quote. I have listed three of them above, but really I could have added more. This Psalm almost reminds me of a chapter from the Book of Proverbs, but the theme seems to be the same throughout the Psalm. The bottom line to this Psalm is that God is encouraging us to trust in His promises and provisions; and to not worry about the apparent prosperity of the lost world around us. Their success and superiority is short-lived at best; but ours is eternal.
Let’s consider the three verses listed above. David says that a good man will “order” his steps according to the direction of the Lord. This means tha a good man will yield himself to the will of the Lord. Notice that both verse 4 and 23 say that this good man will “delight” in God. God then in turn not only provides the necessities mentioned in v 25, but also will grant his desires. What a wonderful and awesome God we serve. What does this world have to offer you that could possibly compare to what God wants to give to that “good” man (or woman) who delights in Him.
Posted in Thoughts from Psalms by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
God Has His Eye On You
Today’s Reading – Ezra 3 – 7 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers Read – Romans 13 – 16; Psalms 131 – 135; Proverbs 28)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – 1 Timothy 1:17
Read the “0528 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Read previous posts from today’s passage – “Leave Them Alone” and “Stop Living in the Past“
“But the eye of their God was upon the elders of the Jews, that they could not cause them to cease, till the matter came to Darius: and then they returned answer by letter concerning this matter.” (Ezra 5:5)
“Blessed be the LORD God of our fathers, which hath put such a thing as this in the king’s heart, to beautify the house of the LORD which is in Jerusalem: And hath extended mercy unto me before the king, and his counsellors, and before all the king’s mighty princes. And I was strengthened as the hand of the LORD my God was upon me, and I gathered together out of Israel chief men to go up with me.” (Ezra 7:27-28)
The context of these chapters from the Book of Ezra involve the period when the children of Israel were released from captivity in the Land of Babylon. In 586 BC, King Nebuchadnezzar had completed his destruction and plunder of the City of Jerusalem, and had take most of the citizens into captivity. After many years in Babylon, and later Persia, a good and godly king named Cyrus gave certain of the captives permission to return to the Land of Israel and begin to rebuild it and the Temple of God within it. Years had passed while the construction dragged on, and finally, during the reign of King Artaxerxes, some opposition came along and actually caused the work of the Temple to cease. This is all laid out very clearly in the passage, and I am leaving out large portions of the story. However, some more years pass and the prophet Haggai stirs up the people to get back to work, and this time, God prevents the enemies of His people from causing the construction to stop, and the people of God were able to complete the project.
The two phrases that caught my attention in the middle of this drama are found in Ezra 5:5, and Ezra 7:28. In those verses it states that God’s eye was upon the elders of Judah, and God’s hand was on Ezra specifically. I have listed below some verses that tell us about the eye (or eyes) of the Lord. It discomforting to know that God is watching over us, and He is ready, willing, and able to help us as we fulfill His will for our lives. Carefully consider the following verses. God has got His eye on you.
“Behold, the eye of the LORD is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy;” (Psalms 33:18)
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and fro throughout the whole earth, to shew himself strong in the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.” (2 Chronicles 16:9a)
“The eyes of the LORD are upon the righteous, and his ears are open unto their cry.” (Psalms 34:15)
“The eyes of the LORD are in every place, beholding the evil and the good.” (Proverbs 15:3)
“For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (1 Peter 3:12)
Posted in Thoughts from Ezra by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Preparing for the Next Generation
Today’s Reading – 1 Chronicles 28 – 29 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers Read – Acts 1 – 3; Psalms 76 – 80; Proverbs 16)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 92:1 – 4
Read the “0516 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
“Then David the king stood up upon his feet, and said, Hear me, my brethren, and my people: As for me, I had in mine heart to build an house of rest for the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and for the footstool of our God, and had made ready for the building:” – (1 Chronicles 28:2)
In today’s passage in, 1 Chronicles, we see David making all of the preparations for the building of the temple in Jerusalem. David would not be the one who would assemble all of the pieces together and produce the final product, as that job would be given to his son, Solomon. But David did everything else. When Solomon took over as king he had everything that he needed in order to complete the project.
In these two chapters we have seen that David did the following in order to prepare for the building of the Temple:
1 He planned it. David supervised over the drawing of the blueprints for the Temple
“Then David gave to Solomon his son the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlours thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, And the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the LORD, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God, and of the treasuries of the dedicated things: Also for the courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the LORD, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the LORD.” – (1 Chronicles 28:11-13)
2 He provided for it.
David provided for all of the gold, silver, brass, wood, and other materials. Everything that was needed to build the temple was provided for by David. Solomon did not have to gather any of the building materials, they were all ready to go.
3 He prayed for it.
Notice David’s prayer for Solomon and the temple in 1 Chronicles 29:10 – 19.
I think the temple should be called David’s temple. He did all of the hard work. Solomon really had the easy part. Why should he get all of the credit?
I see in this passage a picture of what God wants us to do for future generations. We are to plan, provide, and pray for the generation that is following behind us. When they arrive, they can then build upon the foundation that we have laid. Too bad Solomon didn’t continue building after he built the temple. If you study Solomon’s life you will see that he will eventually start squandering all of the things that were handed to him. He will forsake many of the things his father fought and worked for to provide for him. What a shame. We need to remember to take the things that others have built for us, and preserve them; and then build upon them so that we can deliver them to the next generation.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Corinthians by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
The Hope of the Future
Today’s Reading – 1 Chronicles 23 – 25 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers Read – John 19 – 20; Psalms 66 – 70; Proverbs 14)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 61:1 – 3
Read the “0514 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
In today’s passage (and yesterday’s) we read about David making the preparations for the building of the temple of God in Jerusalem, and the worshipping of God in the temple. If you will recall, David was forbidden of God to actually build the temple himself because God said that he was a man of war; and that he had shed much blood while delivering Israel from the hands of her enemies. God said that Solomon, David’s son, would be the man that would build the temple as he would be a man of peace. However, this did not prevent David from doing all that he could to help gather the materials, and to make the necessary preparations, so that Solomon would have all that he needed to fulfill God’s will for his life.
I have been saved now for many years, and I have learned that God will not allow me to do all of the things that I have dreamed of doing for Him; but that does not stop me from doing all that I can do to help pave the way for those that He will call later to fulfil His will (and some of my dreams). I have a lot of dreams: I dream of seeing multitudes of people saved and serving God here in south Jersey. I dream of seeing hundreds of young men and women being trained here to go forth throughout the world serving God. I dream of planting dozens of churches here in our area. I dream of running dozens of buses all over Atlantic County, picking up boys and girls and bringing them to the house of God. It is in my heart to do all of these things; but God will very likely not allow me to do all that I dream of. But maybe I can help train and prepare the next generation so that they can take what we have started and build upon it. I have to be content with being just a part of the process. I can maybe help give the next generation a strong foundation so that they can continue to do what I could not do.
How about you? What are you doing today to help prepare for the next generation. Sometimes people don’t want to be involved in the process at all if they personally can’t be there for the final product; or if they won’t receive the praise of men for the final product. We need to forget about who gets the credit; do all that God will allow us to do ourselves today; and then give and train and prepare so that the next generation will be able to finish what we have started and even do “greater works than these”.
We need to be concerned about the next generation. I am reminded of Hezekiah who was not at all disturbed when God told him that judgment would come in future generations, as long as things were going well in his day. I believe we have a great responsibility to provide for the next generation. I want to see those who follow behind me succeed, and to build upon the foundation that was laid by the folks who came before them.
One final note – 3 times in chapters 23 – 25, David mentions folks that would be positioned in the temple just to praise the Lord. It seems that David took his worship of God seriously. We need to make ure that the next generaltion of Christians will not be ashamed to lift up the Lord in praise.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Chronicles by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Get Busy
Today’s Reading – 1 Chronicles 19 – 22 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers Read – John 17 – 18; Psalms 61 – 65; Proverbs 13)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 55:17
Read the “0513 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Read a previous post from this passage – “The Place of Sacrifice“
“Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise therefore, and be doing, and the LORD be with thee. … Now set your heart and your soul to seek the LORD your God; arise therefore, and build ye the sanctuary of the LORD God, to bring the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and the holy vessels of God, into the house that is to be built to the name of the LORD.” (1 Chronicles 22:16, 19 KJV)
“Busy” is a word that has almost become a bad thing in the day that we are living in. Most of us are already very busy people. The demands of living in the 21st century have caused us to work longer hours in order to just survive; and then we have the needs of our families, and the upkeep of our homes to consider. We are already very busy people, and the thought of becoming busier does not put a smile on our faces.
Here in this passage, David encourages Solomon and the people of Israel to “get busy” building the temple of God. David had actually already done most of the work: he provided all of the materials, and had done all of the planning and preparations. He also cleared out of the country all of the enemies that had been a threat to them. The people now had nothing else to do, but build the House of God. Everything was prepared; everything was ready. There was nothing that could stop them from fulfilling the will of God.
I believe that we can see a parallel from this passage to the will of God for us today. We are living in a time where God wants us to “be doing” as well. We are commanded to communicate the love of the Saviour through the preaching and teaching of the Truth of the Gospel to a lost and dying world. Everything has been provided for us. The Son of God has already provided His shed blood to atone for the sins of all men. By the way, I did mean it when I said, “all men”:
“And he is the propitiation for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world.“ (1 John 2:2)
“But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels for the suffering of death, crowned with glory and honour; that he by the grace of God should taste death for every man.“ (Hebrews 2:9)
He has also given us a complete and perfect copy of His Word, which declares His will to us; and He also has given us the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, Who guides us into all truth. (John 16:3) He also has promised to individually equip (gift) each believer in the specific task that he gives us as part of His overall plan.
There is absolutely no reason, no excuse, for not “getting busy”, and abounding in the work of God. Have you found God’s particular plan for your life within His overall commission to all believers? If you haven’t yet, get busy in your local church, studying the Scripture, praying, and winning souls. Those are good places to start. Ask your pastor or Sunday School teacher what you could do to help the cause of Christ within your community. As you yield yourself to these fundamental things, God will begin to mold you and direct you into a specific area of service.
If you do already know what God has specifically called you to do, “get busy”. Re-commit yourself to give the cause of Christ 110% effort on your part.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Chronicles by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Taking Time to Rejoice
Today’s Reading – 1 Chronicles 16 – 18 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers Read – John 15 – 16; Psalms 56 – 60; Proverbs 12)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 51
Read the “0512 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Read a previous post from this passage – “Check With God First”
“So they brought the ark of God, and set it in the midst of the tent that David had pitched for it: and they offered burnt sacrifices and peace offerings before God. And when David had made an end of offering the burnt offerings and the peace offerings, he blessed the people in the name of the LORD. And he dealt to every one of Israel, both man and woman, to every one a loaf of bread, and a good piece of flesh, and a flagon of wine.” (1 Chronicles 16:1-3)
In chapter 15, we read about David bringing the ark of God to the tent in Jerusalem. This is actually the first time the ark had been in Jerusalem, but it would remain there for many more years to come. You will remember that the ark had been taken from Shiloh in Israel by the Philistines after Hophni and Phinehas, the two sons of Eli, brought it out as a good luck charm in the battle. The ark stayed a very short time in the land of the Philistines (7 months), but because of the judgment of God upon them, they quickly saw the wisdom of returning it to the rightful owners.
The next stop for the ark was to the land of Bethshemesh in Israel, but the men of that place made the fatal mistake of looking into the ark resulting in the death of over fifty thousand of them. (1 Samuel 6:19)
The men of Bethshemesh were too afraid to keep the ark with them so they sent down the road to Kirjathjearim, and it remained there for twenty years. (1 Samuel 7:2)
Saul brought the ark out once during another battle against the Philistines, and apparently it ended up in the land of Gibeah. (1 Samuel 14)
David mad a first attempt to bring the ark out of Gibeah, but they didn’t transport the ark the way that God had told them to back in Moses’ day, and instead put it on a cart. While they were on their way to Jerusalem, the ox stumbled and the cart wobbled, and Uzza reached back to steady the ark, and when he touched it he was instantly struck down dead by God.
In 1 Chronicles 15, we finally have the ark brought to its permanent place in the city of Jerusalem, and this was a great reason to rejoice.
The ark represented the presence of God, and it was a tremendous source of joy to have God’s presence with them in the City of Jerusalem. Later, Solomon would build a permanent structure, the Temple, to house the ark.
This was a big day in the history of Israel, and it was certainly appropriate for the people to take some time out of their schedules to rejoice and praise the Lord for bringing the ark to where it was supposed to be. There is a great lesson to be learned here for Christians today. God has given us many wonderful blessings, and we need to take some time out as well to praise and thank him for his goodness, and to rejoice. Sometimes we get too busy looking for the next thing that we want God to do that we forget to praise Him for what He has already done. Let’s learn to take time out to rejoice and praise the Lord for His many wonderful blessings.
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Chronicles by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.
Double Heart
Today’s Reading – 1 Chronicles 11 – 12 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers Read – John 11 – 12; Psalms 46 – 50; Proverbs 10)
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 47:1
Read the “0510 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon
Read a previous post from this passage – “God Spotted Him First“
“Of Zebulun, such as went forth to battle, expert in war, with all instruments of war, fifty thousand, which could keep rank: they were not of double heart.” (1 Chronicles 12:33)
“If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that wavereth is like a wave of the sea driven with the wind and tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord. A double minded man is unstable in all his ways.“ (James 1:5-8)
1 Chronicles 11 and 12 tell us about all of the brave and mighty men that recognized the call of God upon David, and followed him as he lead the people of God. In a previous post from this passage, I discussed the fact that it took a long time for the nation of Israel to realize that God’s hand was upon David. It actually took about twenty years from the time that Samuel anointed David to the time that the people anointed him as their king. However, there were some men from all of the tribes of Israel that God raised up to follow David, and these men were known as “David’s Mighty Men”. They were strong, brave, and well trained and equipped for the battles. They were also fiercely loyal to David, because they knew that David was God’s anointed.
1 Chronicles 12:33 contains an interesting description about the men of Zebulun that followed David. It says, “they were not of double heart”. That is a great phrase. It means that these men were not wishy-washy in what they believed and where they stood. They were completely committed to their cause. They loved and served David because they knew that he was the man ordained of God to lead the people, and they were not ashamed of him.
In this passage, David is a wonderful picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. As Christians, we serve Christ, the King of Kings, and Lord of Lords. Our loyalties ought not be divided. We need to fully commit and surrender to the Lord. Let’s not be double-hearted, or double-minded. Let us yield to Him completely, wholly. There are so many things in this world that lure our loyalty away from the Lord. We need to be more like these men of Zebulun, completely devoted to our King.
“Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him. For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world. And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.” (1 John 2:15-17)
Posted in Thoughts from 1 Chronicles by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Be In Your Place
Today’s Passage – 2 Samuel 8 – 11 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Matthew 19 – 20; Proverbs 10; Psalms 46 – 50
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34:6
Read the “0410 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
“And it came to pass, after the year was expired, at the time when kings go forth to battle, that David sent Joab, and his servants with him, and all Israel; and they destroyed the children of Ammon, and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried still at Jerusalem. And it came to pass in an eveningtide, that David arose from off his bed, and walked upon the roof of the king’s house: and from the roof he saw a woman washing herself; and the woman was very beautiful to look upon.” (2 Samuel 11:1-2)
This morning I want to pass along a very simple but important truth. In our passage today, in chapter 11, we read about the very familiar yet tragic story of David and Bathsheba. David is out on his rooftop and from his vantage point spots a beautiful woman who is bathing. David, who already has a few wives, sends a servant to bring the woman to him so he can sleep with her, but the woman is married. David takes the woman anyway, and ends up adding murder to his sin of adultery because he has her husband sentenced to death by placing him on the front lines of Israel’s war with the Ammonites. There is more to the story, but I have covered enough here to deliver my point.
We would all agree that adultery and murder are two very serious sins that were both punishable by death according to the Old Testament Law, but I would like to point out here that the sin precipitated these was David’s sin of not being where he was supposed to be. David was the king, and should have been fighting the battle with his men, but instead, he was home relaxing on his rooftop. Had David been leading his army in battle, this adultery and murder would have never taken place.
I find that we often get ourselves into trouble by not being where we should be. Did you know that there is a specific place where God wants you to be at any given moment? For instance, God has a time and a place where He wants you to meet with Him in devotion (Bible reading and prayer), and we need to be very careful to keep that appointment. There is also a time and a place when we need to be with other Christians, gathered in fellowship around the preaching and teaching of the Word of God. We also need to be busy at the place of our employment. These are just examples. We all have different responsibilities with different schedules, but we all have a specific place where we need to be at any given time, and being where we need to be will help us to be what we need to be and to do what we should be doing. Just a thought.
Posted in Thoughts from 2 Samuel by Phil Erickson with 2 comments.
Hold the Line
Today’s Passage – Judges 1 – 3 (Click on the references to listen to the audio – Click here to view the passage from Blue Letter Bible)
(Second Milers also read – Hebrews 10 – 13; Proverbs 20; Psalms 96 – 100
Listen to this morning’s Scripture song – Psalm 34
Read the “0320 Evening and Morning” devotion for today, by the late Charles Haddon Spurgeon.
Read a previous post from this passage – “God Sent Them A Deliverer”
“And the people served the LORD all the days of Joshua, and all the days of the elders that outlived Joshua, who had seen all the great works of the LORD, that he did for Israel.” – (Judges 2:7)
“And also all that generation were gathered unto their fathers: and there arose another generation after them, which knew not the LORD, nor yet the works which he had done for Israel.” – (Judges 2:10)
“And they forsook the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them out of the land of Egypt, and followed other gods, of the gods of the people that were round about them, and bowed themselves unto them, and provoked the LORD to anger.” – (Judges 2:12)
Years ago, my wife and I took a trip to Gettysburg, Pennsylvania to see the place where that great Civil War battle took place back in 1863. On the second day of the battle there were a group of men from Maine, lead by Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, who were entrusted with holding the southern end of the Union line at a place called Little Round Top. If the Confederate army could breach that line, or somehow get around it, they would have been able to defeat the Union army that day, and may have been able to win the war. Colonel Chamberlain, and the 20th Maine Volunteer Infantry Regiment held the line, and held back the Confederate Army. Toward the end of the battle, the Union army had run out of amunition, and were forced to repel their attackers with a charge down the hill with only their bayonets as weapons.
Our Scripture passage today in the Book of Judges tells us that when Joshua and the leaders from his generation were alive, they held the line against idolatry and immorality in the land of Israel. On their watch, they kept evil from creeping into the land. However, when Joshua’s generation died off, the next generation allowed all kinds of wickedness to enter into the lives of the people of Israel. They didn’t hold the line. It seems that, though Joshua and his contemporaries were good at leading the people in righteousness, they failed at training the next generation to do the same.
I made a similar observation this morning about our generation today. In America today there are many churches that are attracting large crowds, but unfortunately they are drawing people in by making their worship services as comfortable as possible to a lost world. Now, don’t misunderstand, I am not against people being comfortable in church, and I want people to enjoy their time at our services. However, I don’t want to compromise what I know to be right, in order to make lost people, or carnal Christians, feel more comfortable at our church. I am more concerned with the Saviour’s pleasure, than with the Seeker’s. Today, our churches have become so like the world, that there is little difference between Christians and the lost people around them. My point in all this is that I believe that by watering down everything that we stand for, and by opening the church doors wide to worldliness, we are going to lose the next generation. If we have only “a form a godliness”, what will our kid’s have? If we have to tickle the ears of people now to get them to come in, or keep them from going out, what will the next generation have to do?
We need to hold the line, and we need to work to raise a new generation of godly Christians that will be more sold-our, more separated, and better soul-winners than we are. If we don’t, America will be totally lost. Somebody’s got to hold the line.
Posted in Thoughts from Judges by Phil Erickson with no comments yet.