Marching Forth!

" Bless the LORD , O my soul;  a nd all that is within me, bless His holy name !" Psalm 103:1 Blessed are the people whose God is the LORD, and all who know Him ought to bless Him.  What does this mean, to bless the LORD?  The word "bless" means to kneel, to bless God in adoration, to salute, praise and thank.  The U.S. military has many regulations around saluting and an article reads,  " All military enlisted personnel in uniform are required to salute when they meet and recognize a commissioned or warrant officer ."  It is important therefore enlisted personnel in uniform learn and recognise the different ranks and when, how and who to extend a hand salute to show due respect.  Not being a member of the military I am largely ignorant of the traditions and decorum around saluting, but children of God ought not to be ignorant on how to bless the LORD who created, saves and reigns supreme over all. We bless God by recognising who He is, the living God...

There are many things parents want for their children because they care about their development and future.  Whilst all people are different and parenting styles are unique, children are raised according to what the parents believe is most important.  For instance, some parents require children to sit at the table during set mealtimes to eat food together.  Parents who are fine to eat dinner separately, with one child on the lounge watching TV and another a device in their bedroom, can be strict about going to bed at a particular hour.  Some parents carefully monitor the diets of their children or their internet browsing, and others make a strong emphasis on education and preparation for life away from the family home.  And in many cases, the cliche rings true that there is more "caught than taught," as kids quickly pick up on structure their parents will adhere to without fail and is not open for debate. For me growing up, going to school was not optional:...

One aspect of God I love is that nothing is hard for Him.  In fact, He intentionally stacks all the odds against Himself so there is no doubt He is the only One who could be responsible for miraculously doing the impossible.  For instance when it came time for Elijah to offer a sacrifice to God on Mt. Carmel, before he prayed for God to send fire from heaven he commanded the wood and sacrifice be drenched with water and to fill a trench around it.  When the fire of God fell in response to Elijah's prayer, it consumed the offering and even licked up the water that was in the trench.  Everyone who witnessed the event shouted, " The LORD, He is God !" and fell on their faces in worship.  The God who created the natural laws we perceive and understand, and what we know in part helps us define what is truly miraculous.  Hezekiah saw it as a little thing for the shadow of the sundial to go down 10 degrees, so he requested God made the sundial return backward 10 d...

I'm always drawn to Nehemiah's description of Baruch when the walls and gates of Jerusalem were being repaired in the KJV rendering of  Nehemiah 3:20 :  " After him Baruch the son of Zabbai earnestly repaired the other piece, from the turning of the wall unto the door of the house of Eliashib the high priest ."  The NKJV uses "carefully" instead of "earnestly," and "earnestly" seems to better convey the zeal Baruch demonstrated in his efforts.  Of all the workers, Baruch is the only one where an adverb was used to describe how he worked and thus clearly stood out.  The Hebrew word "hara" is only translated "earnestly" on this one occasion, and the Strong's Concordance noted other uses in English as, " kindled (44 times), wroth (13), hot (10), angry (9), displease (4), fret (4), incensed (2) and burn (1).  Baruch was a man on fire, one who attacked the task with fervency and unrivaled earnestness. S...

In a world full of people that change over time, God remains the same.  It is profoundly comforting to consider the righteous, merciful and gracious character of God who has spoken forth His word that contains promises He will be faithful to bring to fruition.  The God who has made Himself known to Israel and all the world also has revealed His will that remains constant. One thing we must keep in mind is from man's vantage point God's will is not always done.   2 Peter 3:9 says, " The Lord is not slack concerning His promise, as some count slackness, but is longsuffering toward us, not willing that any should perish but that all should come to repentance ."  God is absolutely righteous and holy, and death entered into the world by Adam's sinful choice to rebel against Him.  Man doing his own will led to destruction that was never God's will.  Though God is not willing any should perish, mankind was cursed by sin which is evidenced by sickness, pain...

" The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but those things which are revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may do all the words of this law ." Deuteronomy 29:29 Regardless how much a person might know, there is abundantly more that they do not know.  When it comes to the secret things of God, there is much we cannot know or understand.  The complexity of life and glory of God revealed in nature and His word are merely the edges of His ways.  The more we learn of God and the things He has made, we realise there is much more we have yet to understand. Moses wrote of secret things that belong to the LORD our God:  some mysteries He chooses to reveal in His time, and other things He chooses to keep secret.  The thrust of the passage, however, is not to focus on what God knows that we cannot know.  The truth is God has revealed Himself and His wisdom to us and has given us things to take to heart and put into practice.  The boo...

 After Jesus spoke the parable of a sower, He explained how blessed His disciples were to have such revelation from the living God while the unbelieving remained ignorant in Matthew 13:16-17 :  " But blessed are your eyes for they see, and your ears for they hear;  17   for assuredly, I say to you that many prophets and righteous men desired to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it ."   Those who believed Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God could listen to and understand Him, but those who did not believe He was God made flesh remained in darkness.  Jesus again and again repeated His claims of being one with God, that He was equal with God and told Thomas, " He that has seen Me has seen the Father " ( John 14:9 ).  The scribes and rulers who did not believe He was the Christ narrowed their eyes and repeatedly asked in their interactions with Jesus, "Now who do you make yourself to be?"   Tho...

Teaching the Bible is different than teaching other subjects because the aim is different.  God's will is not merely to educate or improve mankind but to transform hearers into the people He created and designed us to be.  Knowledge alone is incapable of doing what only God can do in a heart that believes and trusts Him.  It is possible, as Paul said, to be " ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth " ( 2 Timothy 3:7 ).  In the Bible Knowledge Commentary Adam Clarke is credited with this quote, " There are many professors of Christianity still who answer the above description. They hear, repeatedly hear, it may be, good sermons; but, as they seldom meditate on what they hear, they derive little profit from the ordinances of God. They have no more grace now than they had several years ago, though hearing all the while, and perhaps not wickedly departing from the Lord. They do not meditate, they do not think, they do not reduce what they hear...

When the Chargers went to the Super Bowl in 1994, I was very excited to watch my team on the biggest stage the NFL could offer.  What began as a dream come true ended up the things of nightmares when the team folded like a beach towel and the poor start made catching up impossible.  I remember being so disheartened by the halftime score I decided it would be more fun to play football with friends in the yard rather than subject myself to additional disappointment of watching the beat-down continue.   Being a die-hard Charger fan (and thus a glutton for punishment) I watched the whole thing.  Though I have had access to the game and highlights, re-watching that game does not interest me.  Had the Chargers come out on top, however, it would be a different story. During a gridiron season, "watching tape" is a huge part of scheming for future opponents and personal improvement by learning from your own mistakes to avoid repeating them.  The camera does not...

There are many verses often quoted from scripture, and the lesser known verses around them can add much to our understanding.  What a profitable practice it is to open your Bible, turn to a quotation from the scripture and read the verses before and after it.  Take  Isaiah 55:9-11 as an example:  " For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways,  a nd My thoughts than your thoughts.  10  "For as the rain comes down, and the snow from heaven, a nd do not return there,  b ut water the earth,  a nd make it bring forth and bud,  t hat it may give seed to the sower  a nd bread to the eater,  11  so shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; i t shall not return to Me void,  b ut it shall accomplish what I please,  a nd it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it ."  God through the prophet used falling rain and snow as an illustration:  as rain falling f...

" Oh, that my head were waters,  a nd my eyes a fountain of tears,  t hat I might weep day and night  f or the slain of the daughter of my people !" Jeremiah 9:1 Jeremiah is known as the "weeping prophet" because he spoke the true words of God and people did not heed or take them to heart.  He warned self-righteous people entrenched in idolatry of the sure judgment that was on the horizon, yet they did not listen.  They would not weep for themselves, so Jeremiah wept for them.  How great was his longing for people to receive the word of the LORD and return to God so He might be glorified and their judgment turned aside.  They had the truth and would not receive it, and thus they remained in their sin and would face God's judgment.  God is so good and glorious, and the thought anyone would give up on Him or be resigned to a hopeless existence is among life's great tragedies. When Jesus was being led to be crucified, He was met by a group of wome...

I read a quote attributed to Howard Hendricks today: “ You are free to make choices. You are not free to escape the consequences .”  Having been born and raised in the United States, the " land of the free and home of the brave ," I enjoyed the benefits of many freedoms afforded by God's grace.  The Bill of Rights is a document which outlines the freedoms and rights of Americans, and it is interesting how these words can be interchanged.  The existence of the Bill of Rights suggests the freedoms of Americans are upheld by their submission to the Constitution and governance of the land under God .  Remove God from the equation and all provisions and rights can be easily corrupted and destructive to self and others. In Webster's 1828 Dictionary , the author defines " freedom " as:  " a state of exemption from the power or control of another; liberty; exemption from slavery, servitude or confinement ."  Webster goes into far greater detail with the w...

It is ironic the scribes and Pharisees who were educated and knowledgeable concerning the scriptures, having their eyes opened to the wonder of God in His word, were blinded with unbelief concerning Jesus the Son of God.  When wise men came to Jerusalem from the east at the appearance of the star of the King of the Jews, Herod called the chief priests and demanded where the Christ should be born.  They correctly answered He would be born in Bethlehem in the land of Judah, yet did not care to accompany the Gentile wise men to worship the babe who turned out to be Jesus Christ our LORD.  The wise men rejoiced with exceedingly great joy while the Herod, the chief priests and all Jerusalem were troubled. Ironic responses are not limited to the Jewish rulers of ancient times, of course.  I have seen this play out in my own life and in the lives of other believers.  Having gained knowledge of God, His will and future events outlined in scripture, the most discerning b...

Today I went to the nearby drive-in testing centre because my place of work is more than 5km from my home, and this has become routine of late.  ABC radio teased an upcoming program that encouraged people to "get back to nature" and experience the "spiritual" benefits of connecting with the land.  There is much the secular calls spiritual I have no desire to connect with, but if what is meant is the appreciation and awe of God for His awesome creation, I agree.  The glory of God is seen in the heavens and on the earth, and knowing what we see and experience is a revelation of His creative genius fills us with adoration for the greatness of our God whose ways are past finding out. As I sat in my car with the window open, waiting for my turn to be swabbed, a leaf from a gumtree dropped inside the cabin.  I picked up the slender leaf of a deep purple colour with a light green vein that ran down the centre.  The leaf was cool, dry and flexible as I twisted it gently...

" Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15  For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin ." Hebrews 4:14-15 Every person alive knows what it feels like to be angry.  Frustration at failure, feeling picked on or making mistakes can result in a white-hot rage that makes the blood boil.  Releasing this anger through words or throwing things does nothing to calm us within and leads to more regrettable behaviour than our excuse for it.  We would like to claim all our anger is a result of justifiable righteous indignation, yet no one but God can rightly make this claim.  It is not a sin to be angry, yet when we justify remaining angry it always results in sin. Ephesians 4:26-27 says,  "Be angry, and do not sin": do not let the sun go down on your wrath,  27  nor gi...

Last night some people from Calvary Chapel Sydney and myself enjoyed a Bible study of the passage in John 8 when a woman was brought to Jesus as He was teaching in the temple.  The woman, caught in the act of adultery, was hauled before Jesus and those He taught by the scribes and Pharisees in an attempt to undermine His popularity and expose Him as the fraud they believed Him to be.  Ignoring the protocols and due process of the Law of Moses, they demanded Jesus weigh in:  "Moses said she ought to be stoned:  what do you say?"  Jesus stooped and wrote on the ground as if He did not hear them. Jesus remained calm and poised despite their hypocritical demands.   John 8:7-9 reads, " So when they continued asking Him, He raised Himself up and said to them, "He who is without sin among you, let him throw a stone at her first."  8 And again He stooped down and wrote on the ground.  9 Then those who heard it, being convicted by their conscien...

As long as we live on this planet we can have legitimate concerns and criticisms, but it is important followers of Jesus Christ are not distracted from God and His goodness.  Too much focus on what is wrong with the world or our lives can rob us of fellowship with God and drain us of praise and thanksgiving God is worthy to receive in every season of life. When Hezekiah ascended to the throne in Jerusalem, he faced many great challenges.  The nation was spiritually in a dreadful state, having been ruined by their departure from the LORD in the pursuit of idols.  The people were defeated in battles, suffered enormous casualties and the temple, king's house and princes were plundered by enemies.  The priests and Levites had neglected their duties:  the temple doors were shut, the lamps unlit, the altar without fire and the temple was reduced to being basically a rubbish tip.  In spite of all that seemed against him, Hezekiah brought the priests and Levites to...

Lately I've been watching the Olympic coverage on television, and there are always memorable moments of the ecstasy of victory and the bitterness of defeat.  It is remarkable to consider the dedication, drive and ability to compete at a high level and to execute disciplines when the pressure is on.  I imagine athletes on a global stage face incredible pressure from themselves, the watching eyes and the expectations placed upon them to perform. A difficult thing to witness is when officials deem a runner in a track event to be guilty of a false start.  Runners are usually aware they are the culprit during a nervous wait while officials convene to confirm the fault, and then one official walks in front of the runner's lane and holds up a card that disqualifies them from further competition in that event at the Olympic games.  Think of it!  A lifetime of training and hard work by a person gifted with athleticism beyond their fellow countrymen can be snuffed out in ...

Noting the context of scripture passages is most helpful in interpreting and applying the word of God personally.  Verses that have been commonly repeated and hackneyed can have fresh meaning infused into them by simple observation.  The truth doesn't change, but taking time to consider and meditate on God's word begins to change us. The second part of  Numbers 32:23 has become a stand-alone maxim spoken by Moses:  " Be sure your sin will find you out ."  This is true, for no sin remains hidden before the holy Judge of all the earth before all will someday stand.  The entire verse shows this statement was prompted by a preceding conversation.  The entire verse reads, " But if you do not do so, then take note, you have sinned against the LORD ; and be sure your sin will find you out ."  The context shows Moses addressed the men of Reuben and Gad who requested their inheritance be given to them on the east side of the Jordan. Initially Moses rebu...

Renters in Australia can be subject to quarterly inspections by the realtor that manages the property.  This was a useful prompting for our household to engage in deeper regular cleaning than we might be inclined.  We made it our aim to begin preparing for an inspection days beforehand to ensure everything went smoothly.  I remember another renting family complain of the strictness of their inspector who even reached up under the range hood over the stove and complained it was slightly sticky.  "Who even  does that?" said the incredulous renter.  While I felt sympathetic towards our fellow renter, it also reminded me how God does a much more thorough spiritual inspection of our hearts.  His eyes not only observe our words and deeds on the outside, but He is intimately acquainted with our thoughts, motives and hearts. This week at Calvary Chapel Sydney we considered the statement from James 4:6 :  " God resists the proud, but gives grace to the hu...