Tag Archives: compassion

SOME RANDOM THOUGHTS…ISRAEL, GOD’S TREASURE – 1

Bible Study, ,

The Bible is full of treasures, both God’s treasures and ours. If we mine for these treasures, we will surely find them. 

Israel was God’s treasure. 

“Now if you obey me fully and keep my covenant, then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession. Although the whole earth is mine,”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭19‬:‭5‬ ‭NIV‬‬

Before time began, God chose one nation out of all the nations on earth to be His own possession.  

“For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession”, that is, His “segulah”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭7‬:‭6‬ ‭NIV‬‬

After He had created the nations, He assigned to each nation a governor, a member of His “divine counsel”,  

“When the Most High assigned lands to the nations, when he divided up the human race, he established the boundaries of the peoples according to the number in his heavenly court.”

‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭32‬:‭8‬ ‭NLT‬‬

…but He chose Israel to be His personal responsibility. 

So close and intimate would this relationship be that God entered into a marriage covenant with Israel. In the language and cultural protocol of the children of Israel, He betrothed them to Himself to live within the boundaries of His covenant relationship. 

In Hebrew culture, when a young man sought a bride, he would choose a young woman out of all the maidens in Israel, get to know her, and then make his intentions known to her. 

Using the first appropriate word in this process of courtship, “lachah”, which can mean “I want to take you,” she would know that he intended to marry her. After a period of time, when he was sure of his choice, he would seal his intention with the next accepted word, “segulah”. 

“The Hebrew word “segulah”means a “treasured possession” or “special, peculiar treasure”. It refers to something of great value, a beloved and carefully guarded possession, such as a king’s prized trophies or the nation of Israel as God’s special people. The term can also refer to segulot (plural), which are small items or practices intended to bring good fortune or a blessing, like a bride’s jewelry used by a single woman to attract a spouse.” (Sourced from Google) 

At Sinai, God entered into a betrothal pact with His people. It was in this covenant commitment, embodied in the word, “chesed”, the strongest Hebrew word used to express God’s love and loyalty to His people, that God remained  faithful to Israel regardless of their unfaithfulness to Him. This love kept Him from utterly destroying them for their rebellious defiance of His covenant. 

In the worst moments of their disobedience, exemplified in their persistent disregard for His first requirement…

“I am the Lord your God, who brought you out of Egypt, out of the land of slavery. “You shall have no other gods before me.”

‭‭Exodus‬ ‭20‬:‭2‬-‭3‬ ‭NIV‬‬

…He resolved not to destroy the completely. His indictment and judgment against them was heartbreaking. 

“Will they not return to Egypt and will not Assyria rule over them because they refuse to repent? A sword will flash in their cities; it will devour their false prophets and put an end to their plans. My people are determined to turn from me. Even though they call me God Most High, I will by no means exalt them.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭11‬:‭5‬-‭7‬ ‭NIV‬‬

However, God’s covenant love for Israel prevented Him for turning them into another Sodom and Gomorrah. As He agonised over His decision to destroy them, He cried out…

““How can I give you up, Ephraim? How can I hand you over, Israel? How can I treat you like Admah? How can I make you like Zeboyim? My heart is changed within me; all my compassion is aroused. I will not carry out my fierce anger, nor will I devastate Ephraim again. For I am God, and not a man— the Holy One among you. I will not come against their cities.”

‭‭Hosea‬ ‭11‬:‭8‬-‭9‬ ‭NIV

Israel has always been and always will be God’s treasured possession. He has never abandoned them and He never will. He has promised that, in His predetermined purpose for all people, He will fulfil His will for His “treasured possession. “

This is the conclusion of the matter…

“I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin….Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious….If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.

I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: “The deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn godlessness away from Jacob. And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.” As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies for your sake; but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs, for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable. so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you. For God has bound everyone over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.”

‭‭Romans‬ ‭11‬:‭1‬, ‭11‬, ‭16‬, ‭25‬-‭29‬, ‭31‬-‭32‬ ‭NIV‬‬

So, God’s faithful love for Israel and His covenant commitment always to do good to them will culminate in and combine His purpose for them with His purpose for the whole human race…in one united family through Jesus.

“But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far away have been brought near by the blood of Christ. For he himself is our peace, who has made the two groups one and has destroyed the barrier, the dividing wall of hostility, by setting aside in his flesh the law with its commands and regulations. His purpose was to create in himself one new humanity out of the two, thus making peace, and in one body to reconcile both of them to God through the cross, by which he put to death their hostility….Consequently, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with God’s people and also members of his household,”

‭‭Ephesians‬ ‭2‬:‭13‬-‭16‬, ‭19‬ ‭NIV‬‬

COMPASSION JESUS’ WAY-1

Christian Life, ,

Opening the abscess of accusation.

Mark 6:34 NLT
[34] “Jesus saw the huge crowd as he stepped from the boat, and he had compassion on them because they were like sheep without a shepherd. So he began teaching them many things.”

When Jesus saw the crowd, He had had compassion on them. What did He see in the Spirit? He saw flocks of sheep milling around, …but no shepherd! That touched Him deeply.

Why did He have compassion on them? They had no one to show them where to find the green pastures and quiet waters they desperately needed. Despite all the “shepherds” in their community, the religious leaders who were supposed to show them where to find nourishment for their souls, these “shepherds” turned out to be “hirelings”, people who looked after their own needs, and neglected the sheep. In fact, they not only neglected the sheep, they put burdens on them too heavy for them to bear. It’s no wonder Jesus had compassion on the crowd.

However, Jesus didn’t feel sorry for the people or commiserate with them. That would have made them feel like victims. “He began to teach them many things.” Why did Jesus show compassion by teaching them “many things”? In other words, what did Jesus do that worked?

He began to teach them God’s word, the truth about how to live according to God’s Word, and to show them where to find spiritual green pastures and living water.

This revelation got me thinking. Everywhere we go, we find sheep without shepherds. People everywhere are struggling with different issues. There are also many “hirelings” around to give them useless counsel at a price, either false shepherds in the churches or worldly counsellors who ignore God’s Word and try to “fix” people the world’s way.

People spend years studying to be psychiatrists, psychologists, counsellors, even social workers, arming themselves with worldly wisdom that excludes the wisdom of God who created people and knows how they function. Their’s is a come-back counsel. Their sessions can last for months and the more often they see their client, the more money they earn.

Now, not every trained counsellor is mercenary. There are many who genuinely try to help their clients but, without God’s wisdom, their counsel achieves little.

Let’s look at one common scenario. The world is full of people who have been offended in one way or another. There are flocks of “sheep” all over who carry grudges, who are angry, full of hate and revenge, bitter, unhappy, and depressed.

So, after a few trips to the counsellor, they learn that they have a disorder, an emotional “sickness” which, supposedly, can be treated with therapy or medication. A diagnosis takes the burden of responsibility for their reactions against those who offend them and turns them into victims. They attend many sessions or take many tablets that damp down their emotions but don’t fix the problem.

Some have anger problems, so they are sent to another “expert” to learn “anger management.” After a few sessions, they feel competent to manage their anger until…someone triggers their rage again by touching on something that reminds them of the original issue. They explode over something seemingly quite trivial, overreacting like volcanoes to a minor issue.

Why didn’t their anger management course provide the help they needed? The answer is simple. They were not taught to deal with the original cause of their anger.

An emotional problem is like having an infected wound in our flesh. If we leave it there, it will become an abscess full of infection. When someone inadvertantly touches it, the pain is intense. It’s no use putting a bandaid on the infected place. The abscess must be opened, cleaned out and allowed to heal.

Often, in someone’s childhood, a person of significance said or did something to cause that person emotional pain. The hurt festers inside so, to hide the infection, the offended person covers it with a “bandaid” by resorting to anger. Every time anyone touches the sore spot, anger flares up to cover it, far greater than the situation that triggered the anger and…the angry person turns the blame on the innocent person who inadvertently touched the anger button.

Now, we have two offended people. One person’s angry aggression has multiplied into another person’s hurt. Like a game of dominoes, one offended person offends another and so they fall, one by one.

Now, we have a family or a community of hurt people hurting one another, and the hireling can’t help. His diagnosis, counsel, or drugs can do nothing to heal the hurt.

God’s wisdom, in His Word, prescribes a far more effective way to deal with anger. Let me use a rather bizarre illustration.

The best way to treat an abscess or infected wound is to open it, drain the pus, clean the infected area inside and allow the natural process of healing to close the wound. A scar might remain but there is no more pain, swelling, or infection in that spot.

The same with an emotional lesion which happens when someone offends us. We rehearse it, dwell on it and let it become an infection in our souls.

The only way to heal it, like an abscess in our bodies, is to open it up by acknowledging and confessing the sins of attitude we have harboured…the anger, resentment, bitterness the offense caused, until it became a festering “abscess”.

Next, clean it out by forgiving the offender. Forgiving is simply cancelling the offender’s debt and no longer holding him/her accountable for the words or deeds that caused the offense.

As an aside, forgiveness does not excuse the offender’s action, it does not trivialise the offense, nor is it about our emotions. We don’t forgive because we feel like forgiving or withhold forgiveness because we don’t feel like forgiving. We forgive because God requires it since He has forgiven our debt against Him. In fact, Jesus paid the debt for all sin, ours and the sins of those who sin against us. To refuse to forgive is to demand justice and punishment a second time which is illegal. We think we have the right to punish the person who offended us by withholding forgiveness when, in fact, we are punishing ourselves. We feel bad, we carry the grudge. We have no peace.

The worst of all is that God withdraws His forgiveness of our sin when we refuse to forgive another.

Matthew 18:32-34 NLT
[32] “Then the king called in the man he had forgiven and said, ‘You evil servant! I forgave you that tremendous debt because you pleaded with me. [33] Shouldn’t you have mercy on your fellow servant, just as I had mercy on you?’ [34] Then the angry king sent the man to prison to be tortured until he had paid his entire debt.”

Once the “abscess” caused by an offense is opened up and cleaned out, it will heal as we apply the balm of God’s truth to the wound. All bad feelings will be gone, permanantly. No more anger, unhappiness or depression!

The cure for an offended spirit is to forgive the offender…once for-all, permanent, no-maintence healing…never to cause pain again. There is no need for long-term therapy or expensive medication…not even for a counsellor or a mediator. The healing process continues through the application of God’s Word.

Jesus made this bold claim,

John 8:31-32, 34-36 NLT
[31] “Jesus said to the people who believed in him, “You are truly my disciples if you remain faithful to my teachings. [32] And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free.”…
[34] Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, everyone who sins is a slave of sin. [35] A slave is not a permanent member of the family, but a son is part of the family forever. [36] So if the Son sets you free, you are truly free.”

Forgiveness costs nothing but the benefits are out of this world! Forgiving someone who’s sinned against you is the most healing and liberating thing you can ever do for your own soul.

To be continued…

GRACE – PERFECTLY REVEALED IN THE FATHER’S LOVE

Christian Life, ,

GRACE – PERFECTLY REVEALED IN THE FATHER’S LOVE

“As a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear Him; for He knows how we were formed, He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:13,14

The more I read Psalm 103, the more amazing the treasures I find in it. Perhaps what amazes me the most is that David understood and experienced God’s grace in a time when grace was foreign to the people of God.

How did David recognise God’s grace? He encouraged his soul and his inmost being to praise the Lord by remembering all His benefits. He enumerated the many blessings he enjoyed in his fellowship with God, the most obvious being the forgiveness of his sins. Perhaps he wrote this psalm after his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba and expressed the relief and gratitude he felt when he experienced the grace of forgiveness.

Like David, we are also the recipients of God’s unending grace. What are the benefits we enjoy which should call from us a continuous song of praise to God? Surely, God’s grace in the many ways we receive it from Him.

What is this grace of which we speak? God’s grace is certainly His unmerited favour, lavishing on us what we have not earned and what we do not deserve. But there is another aspect of grace which we may miss, that is, God doing for us what we cannot do for ourselves. It is by grace that we are rescued from our lives of self-destruction. We could never have done enough to save ourselves from our sin but, through Jesus, God did it for us and now, like David, we can say, “Who forgives all your sins…”

David must have also experienced something of God’s grace in the fatherly love and compassion He lavished on him. As I read the psalm, I can almost feel the tender embrace of a Father who knows we are frail, human and transient, like the grass which comes and goes in a day. David had only faint inklings of the Father whom Jesus came to reveal fully by living a human life as a mirror image of God. How great is the love the Father has lavished on us that we should be called children of God. There can be no greater evidence of grace than this.

It grieves me that so much of current gospel preaching ignores God’s fatherly heart for His people. The story of the prodigal son puts it in a nutshell. God wants us to come back into fellowship with Him and to enjoy His love for us as our Father. It’s great to have our sins forgiven but it doesn’t stop there. God wants us home with Him, now and forever.

Many of us live as orphans. We are fatherless – not having either an earthly or a heavenly Father.  Jesus says, “I am the way…no one comes to the Father but through me. Let me take you to the Father.”

IT’S A MYSTERY

Bible Study, ,

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. This is 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 decided 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.

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!

Acknowledgement

THE HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®, NIV® Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.

MOLLY AND ME – FORGIVENESS

Christian Life, ,

Forgiveness – O how much Molly needs my forgiveness!

Take yesterday, for example. During our walk up the sidewalk on the main road, I noticed that she was walking unusually slowly. I checked her harness and found that her right front leg had slipped out of its place. I loosened the harness to correct it and like a flash of lightning, she was out of it and running!

Calling her meant nothing! She was free…and she ran! I was terrified that she would run into the road where the cars were whizzing past. Fortunately, her attention was on the hadidas (large birds) that were foraging nearby.

My only hope was to return home on a quiet side street, knowing that she would follow me. She criss-crossed the street many times while I prayed! She did something her heart had long desired to do – attacked a huge dog on the outside of the gate!

We finally reached home without incident and she happily followed me into the safety of our front garden.

Did she ever need my forgiveness!

Molly reminds me of King David. Despite being a man after God’s own heart, he slipped out of his “harness” one spring morning and ran free. While he should have been leading his troops into battle, he was lounging around on the rooftop of his palace, spying on a beautiful woman who was taking a bath. We know the story.

The law demanded stoning to death for both parties but, instead, God forgave him although he could not escape the consequences of his wilful behaviour. For the rest of his life, David had to endure conflict and rebellion in his family, among his troops and even his subjects. The seeds of division had been sown and history tells the unhappy story of the people of God.

Hopefully, Molly’s little escapade won’t have such far-reaching effects! However, for her and for me the lesson is the same. Like our Father in heaven, I must forgive because “she didn’t know what she was doing”. She was not aware of the terrible anguish she put me through because of the danger she was in.

Forgiveness flows from a heart of compassion. I can never forgive if I feel outraged by the offense she did to me, but my love and compassion for my beloved little pet sets me free from selfishness  to forgive her, again and again.

God’s forgiveness flows from the compassion for His lost family that moved Him to provide Jesus, the substitute who paid our debt so that we can be forgiven and restored to His favour, again and again.

Such love calls us, no, compels us to respond by believing in the name of the one who said, “Whoever believes in me will never perish, but will have eternal life.”