Tag Archives: mercy

Time To Tell

June 25, 2015Bible Studyleave, mercy, pigs. afraid, tellLuella Campbell

TIME TO TELL

Those tending the pigs ran off and reported this in the town and countryside, and the people went out to see what happened. When they came to Jesus, they saw the man who had been possessed by the legion of demons, sitting there, dressed and in his right mind, and they were afraid. Those who had seen it told the people what had happened to the demon-possessed man – and told about the pigs as well. Then the people began to plead with Jesus to leave their region (Mark 5: 14-16).

What a sensation! Never had the people of the region heard of anything like this before. A madman becoming sane – just like that! And who was this man who did it? The news of the miracle-worker had obviously not reached them across the lake. Of course they were Gentiles, so who would have told them about Jesus? And they were full of superstition. No one had ever done something like this before. He must be a god or at least a magician. What would He get up to next?

They were scared. Without an explanation they didn’t want Him around. What if it wasn’t only pigs that landed in the lake next time! And what about their pigs? It didn’t seem to matter to Him that He had just destroyed their livelihood. You can‘t sneeze at losing two thousand pigs in one go! No, they didn’t want Him around doing any more damage to them even if the local village idiot was suddenly miraculously sane.

Coming as close to Him as they dared, they begged Him to go. “Just go!” they insisted. ”We don’t want you around.”

As Jesus was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed begged to go with Him. Jesus did not let him, but said, ‘God home to your own people and tell them how much the Lord has done for you and how He has had mercy on you.’ (Mark 5:17-19).

Why did the newly-delivered man want to go with Jesus? Was he afraid of what the locals would do to him? After all, wasn’t he indirectly responsible for their loss? They didn’t seem to care that he had been set free from his madness. They were more concerned about their pigs! In any case, what guarantee did they have that he would not become crazy again after the miracle-man had left? They had never seen this happen before. Perhaps it was just a temporary remission and then he would become even more dangerous than before.

Perhaps his reason was far less sinister. Wouldn’t you want to stay close to your deliverer? Gentile though he was with no background or knowledge of the true God, there was something about this man that he just could not get enough of. Never had anyone treated him with such love and compassion. Those who had tried to restrain his bizarre behaviour with shackles and chains had been harsh and cruel, using force and hurting and enraging him even more. That much he remembered in his tormented mind.

But this man – and he didn’t even know His name – was different. And He came from the other side of the lake. A Jew! He must be a Jew and yet He was kind and gentle – not like the other Jews who made no bones about their hatred and contempt for the Gentiles. Even if the others hated him, he decided, he would stick with Him. His love was something he lapped up like a thirsty traveller.

Why did Jesus refuse to allow him to go with Him? Why did He instruct him to go home to his own people and tell them how much the Lord had done for him? Didn’t He tell those whom He had healed not to tell anyone about Him? Why was He so contradictory?

On the Jewish side of the lake the crowds flocked around Him like pigeons in a field of grain. He had to preach from Peter’s boat to avoid being pushed into the lake. But here the people were afraid of Him. They chased Him away because they did not know what to make of Him. He needed a witness like this man to convince them that He was not a magician with evil intent but “the Lord” who had mercy on one demon-possessed man.

So the man went away and began to tell in the Decapolis how much Jesus had done for Him. And all the people were amazed (Mark 5: 20).

How effective was the witness of this one man? On another occasion when Jesus visited the region again, the people flocked to Him. Why? What made the change? Was it the testimony of this one man? He obviously didn’t relapse into madness again. His life had been transformed by Jesus. Their fear turned to curiosity and some even to faith because this man did what Jesus told him to do.

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A Wild Celebration!

May 11, 2015Bible Studyawe, deeds, fame, mercy, wrathLuella Campbell

A WILD CELEBRATION!

A prayer of Habakkuk the prophet on shigionoth.

“Lord, I have heard of your fame; I stand in awe of your deeds, Lord. Repeat them in our day, in our time make them known; in wrath remember mercy (Hab. 3: 1-2).

What is the meaning of shigionoth?

“Shiggaion, from the verb shagah, “to reel about through drink”, occurs in the title of Psalm 7. The plural form, shigionoth, is found in Habakkuk 3:1. The word denotes a lyrical poem composed under strong mental emotion; a song of impassioned imagination accompanied with suitable music; a dithyrambic ode.http://www.biblestudytools.com/dictionary/shiggaion/

A dithyramb is a “usually short poem in an inspired wild irregular strain” http://i.word.com/idictionary/dithyramb

Why am I probing the meaning of shiggionoth? I believe it is significant to explore the wild emotion of Habakkuk’s prayer. This was his response to the revelation God gave him regarding his problem. This was far more than an intellectual issue. What he wrestled with touched him to the core of his being. Why did God seem not to care about the moral mess his people were in?

God’s response shook him because he was not anticipating the horrifying thought that not only did his holy God tolerate the actions of heathen nations against His people, He actually admitted to being directly responsible for raising them up to punish Israel. How could He? It was as though Habakkuk was betrayed by a trusted friend. His second dilemma was even worse than the first. What God was doing was unthinkable – He was in bed with the enemy!

Only when God revealed the final phase of His reply did the prophet get it. Aha! God placed every individual, heathen or Israelite, on the same footing – accountable to Him and responsible for his actions. No one was off the hook. His people could not hide behind their collective covenant relationship with Him and the heathen could not use the excuse that they were God’s instrument for dealing with His people.

It was this truth that sent the prophet into a frenzy of anticipation. He remembered God’s deliverance of His people from slavery and His judgment on Egypt. This great event in the history of His people marked the beginning of their life as a nation. In graphically poetic language, he related the effects of God’s coming on the natural world and on the enemy who seemed invincible.

With his confidence in the sovereignty of his God restored, he celebrated God’s mighty victory over the Egyptians. Surely, just as He fought for His people over their oppressors then, He would stand by them again against the Babylonians when His purposes for them were complete.

God came from Teman, the Holy One from Mount Paran. His glory covered the heavens and His praise filled the earth. His splendour was like the sunrise; rays flashed from His hand, where His power was hidden. Plague went before Him; pestilence followed His steps. He stood, and shook the earth; He looked and made the nations tremble. The ancient mountains crumbled and the age-old hills collapsed – but He marches on forever (Hab. 3: 3-6).

God is unstoppable in His power. Nothing stands in the way of His march towards fulfilling His purposes. He demolishes every natural obstacle with ease. Even the mighty waters give way when He passes by.

I saw the tents of Cushan in distress, the dwellings of Midian in anguish. Were you angry with the rivers, Lord? Was your wrath against the streams? Did you rage against the sea when you rode your horses and chariots in victory? You uncovered your bow, you called for many arrows. You split the earth with rivers; the mountains saw you and writhed. Torrents of water swept by; the deep roared and lifted its waves on high (Hab. 3: 7-10).

He proceeded to review the horrendous and systematic destruction of Egypt through the eyes of a worshipper. From the other side of the Red Sea, in the land of Midian His people watched God come in majestic splendour to sweep away the Egyptian army through the writhing waters of the Red Sea.

As the prophet remembered, he worshipped. It was this God, this mighty Sovereign whose power was unstoppable, who would intervene again to rescue His people from the devastation of the Babylonians. Just as Egypt has served God’s purposes and then were crushed like bugs in God’s hand, so He would mete out judgment on another nation which thought it was God.

Available on www.amazon.com or www.kalahari.com in paperback, e-book or kindle format, or order directly from the publisher at www.partridgepublishing.com.

Check out my blogsite at www.learningtobeason.wordpress.com

God’s Mercy

February 3, 2015Pastor's Deskchristmas, mercyLuella Campbell

Dear Family

I can only begin to feel and absorb the atmosphere of joy and total awe of God in which the Apostle Paul penned the follow-ing words in Romans 11:33-36: “Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out! Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”

It’s like “WOW!” stuff. Who is this God, this incredible all-powerful, all-wise, all-knowing One, who has chosen to give any regard to humankind at all? Who are we that He, the Creator and Lord of the uni-verse, should even waste a moment of His perfection to deal with this bunch of hat-ing, hurting, hopeless trash of humanity? And before the foundations of the earth were laid, Jesus was His plan for us to be able to be a part of His family! God’s mercy – indescribable!

Which is why the Apostle Paul goes on to urge us in Romans 12:1 to “offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleas-ing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.”

I’ve been in church long enough now to know that we face a really silly season, where everything which happens through-out the year (apathy, bad church attendance, placing family and work above God and then using Him as an excuse, with-holding of tithes for worldly pleasures, etc.) is exacerbated. We throw caution to the wind and money at everything except the things of God. And it’s so easy to do. “Jingle Bells” had me singing along the other day whilst following my wife around the grocery store obediently (and eventual-ly grumpily) pushing the trolley. The spirit of this world loves this time of year, when it can fool believers into thinking this is a “godly” time. The bible refers to the ene-my as coming as an “angel of light” for good reason. We will waste money on the silliest of things, believing it all to be God-sanctioned. Ho! Ho! Ho! And yet, the poor, the hungry, the destitute are some-how just not on our radars. Instead, we’ll spoil the kids a little more away from God towards Satan’s Claus. And poof! The view we have of God’s mercy becomes a distant memory until the new year when we feel guilty and church fills up again for a few months.

So here is a challenge for our family at Ebenezer: Let’s aim at keeping God’s mercy in view this year, and stay in awe of our incredible privilege of sonship. He owes us nothing. We owe Him everything, though we can give Him nothing except ourselves. All He asks is that we die to ourselves daily and follow Him. Will you?

In View Of God’s Mercy

August 28, 2014Bible Studybodies, living sacrifice, mercy, presentLuella Campbell

IN VIEW OF GOD’S MERCY

“Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God – this is your true and proper worship. Do not conform any longer to the pattern of this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind. Then you will be able to test and approve what God’s will is – His good, pleasing and perfect will.” Romans 12:1, 2.

“When you see a “therefore”, ask what it’s there for!” Ever heard that one?

“Therefore” forms the bridge between what has gone before and what follows. True to Paul’s way, his practical application follows his presentation of what God has done. In this letter, he has carefully set out the legal foundation for God’s mercy – His justice based on His righteousness in which He both dealt with sin and acquitted the sinner.

Therefore, what God has done demands a suitable response from those who have received His gift of righteousness? Our response depends on the purpose for which He went to the trouble of removing our sin and absolving us of guilt – so that we can be reconciled to Him and return to His original plan for human beings.

It’s no use saying, “Thank you very much,” putting His pardon in our back pockets as a passport to heaven and continuing to living in our old way as though nothing had happened. This attitude makes a mockery of His mercy and is the worst form of ingratitude.

God went to great lengths to redeem us. For what purpose? To bring His wayward children back to Himself so that, once again, we can be His family and He can be our Father.

“What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of God, As God has said: ‘I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’ Therefore ‘Come out from them and be separate,’ says the Lord. ‘Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.’ And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters,’ says the Lord Almighty.” 2 Corinthians 6:16-18.

If God is our Father, then we as His children should resemble Him in His nature, since we have been born of Him. The sinful nature in us has to be subdued so that we can be restored to what He made us to be in the beginning – holy, set apart for God; and righteous, doing the right thing in every situation, just as He does. That means, caring more for others than for ourselves and being generous in every way towards all people.

The problem is that, in order to change our behaviour, we have to change the way we think. But how? First of all, by relinquishing our right to ourselves. Paul put it this way: give God your body as a living sacrifice – not literally, of course, but present the members of your body to Him to direct what you do with them. Give Him your head – the control centre of your life. Give Him your arms and legs – what you do and where you go; give Him your tongue, your eyes, your ears etc., so that He can be in charge of what goes in and what comes out. Get the picture?

Hand-in-hand with your body must go your mind. Your thoughts are selfish, corrupted and contrary to God’s thoughts about Himself, you and others. Your behaviour will change as your thoughts change. But it doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a slow, lifetime process of reading, understanding and absorbing God’s word, re-evaluating the way you think and respond to your life’s experiences in the light of what God’s word says, gaining a new perspective on life from God’s point of view and replacing self with God and others.

Does this sound like an impossible demand? It is – unless we see it as a partnership between the Holy Spirit and us. We can’t do it alone but the Holy Spirit in us changes us as we do our part.

“Therefore, my dear friends, as you have always obeyed – not only in my presence, but now much more in my absence – continue to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God who works in you to will and to act in order to fulfil His good pleasure.” Philippians 2:13.

What is our part? Choose to do the right thing in line with what God says, and the Holy Spirit in you will provide the power to do it.

Acknowledgement

It’s A Mystery!

August 13, 2014Bible Studycompassion, God, mercy, Pharaoh, unjustLuella Campbell

IT’S A MYSTERY!

“What, then, shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! For He says to Moses, ‘I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’

“It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. For Scripture says to Pharaoh, ‘I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.’ Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.” Romans 9:14-18.

Now we get to the difficult part. We view God through our human eyes and think that He has no right to do with people whatever He chooses.

Does that mean that God deliberately creates some people to show off His glory by making them wicked and then sending them to hell? The Bible never insinuates that He ever does anything like that. That’s the kind of thing a man-made god, capricious and unpredictable like its creator, would do!

We have to see the picture from God’s perspective. Since our forefather Adam’s decision to disregard God’s instruction and make his own rules, the entire human race has been in a state of rebellion against God, leaving Him no option but to allow the consequences of our rebellion take their course. To be true to His justice, He has to punish sin. His punishment comes in the form of death because death is the result of anything imperfect and corrupt.

God could have left it at that and allowed the entire human race to perish at its own hand. Instead, because of His mercy, He intervened by sending His Son to take the rap for us. Having removed the reason for our punishment, He invites whoever wants to, to receive His mercy and His gift of forgiveness, and get back on track to being restored to His image. With sin and punishment out of the way, those who entrust themselves to Him are in the process of being made holy; that is, being set free from sin to obey God for His purposes and for His glory.

So where do our rights come into it? As guilty sinners, the only right we ever have is to God’s justice – and that means eternal separation from Him. He put His law into our hearts at conception. Everyone instinctively knows what is right and wrong; and that makes us doubly guilty before God – guilty because we know what is right and guilty because we because we refuse to submit to His authority and choose to do wrong.

How can we question God if He chooses to show mercy to those who respond to His invitation to return to Him, and to reject those who reject Him? Take the case of Pharaoh to which Paul refers. The Biblical record indicates that God gave Pharaoh ten opportunities to listen to His instruction, and release His people, but five times Pharaoh refused.

Every time he refused to obey God, his heart became harder towards Him. It was not God’s fault that Pharaoh would not acknowledge His authority. Pharaoh made his choice and God simply confirmed it by making it impossible to for him change his mind. So whose fault was it that Egypt was destroyed? God’s fault? No! Pharaoh chose to ignore God’s warnings and take the consequences. And, in so doing, he inadvertently shone the light on God’s power and glory.

Does that mean that our destiny is in our own hands? Yes, in a sense it does, and yet, at the same time, in a way which is beyond our understanding, God miraculously intervenes and rescues us from our own stubborn rejection. Take Paul, for example. He would never have become the apostle he was, had Jesus not confronted him on the Damascus road. He needed that kind of shock treatment to wake him up to the truth.

And that is the mercy of God! If left to our own devices, would we ever turn to Him? I don’t think so. Self-will is too deeply entrenched for us to let go easily. The miracle is that some people actually respond to God’s mercy, turn away from their sin and follow the way back to Him. They are the ones who fulfil His will, enjoy His goodness and will experience the fullness of eternal life.

It truly is a mystery – this sovereignty of God!