Out of All The World, Why Here?

 

Why here? Why does Genesis begin here? Look at that book - lots of names - people and places - lots of stories, but concentrated in a small area. Could it really be that an omnipotent deity picked a specific time, place, people to tell the story that would determine where humans spend eternity? Could there be an eternity - an existence beyond a person's lifetime on earth? The Bible tells us so, and Jerusalem is pretty much in the middle of the world's continuous trade route.

Abraham was sent from Ur to settle along the Jordan River. By doing so, he was promised three specific things by the God he believed: 

1) a son who would lead a nation; 

2) a specific area of land; 

3) a blessing for the world. 

Within three generations, there is a large following of tribes from 12 male descendants of Abraham that end up going to Egypt. Led by Moses centuries later, he took their descendants to the Promised Land - they rejected it. He led that group for forty years, until all the naysayers were gone. Then took the land and promised God they would always follow His will.

Every one of the following books in the Bible addresses their current situation based firmly on this first book, which focuses on the area around what became - and is now - Jerusalem. Pretty much the center of world trade from pre-history to our current trade wars. Why wouldn't we be focused on the area that has provided three religions that claim the same God, but with tremendously different aspects.

Right place - center of world population. Set to always be that center. More so today than any other time in the past, but never losing the central trade route designation. Seems as though we should give consideration to the truths behind such history.

What were the descendants of Abraham chosen to do? My answer is: To show the world that following God's will brings out the best in mankind and God rewards men who do so. That also means God showing His displeasure for an entire nation's actions. We see examples throughout the Old Testament, to the point both Israel and Judah are taken into captivity, which is very specificly described in several books of the Bible, by specific prophets.

Christ as born at a turning point in history. Greek had captured a large portion of the world, encompassing a large amount of the trade routes, instilling education, language, business, and arts across a wide area. With a century or so, Rome achieved the same thing, with greater power, moving into even more area. The words of Jesus and His disciples would be scattered throughout the Roman Empire, quickly, from the same center of trade - which even today impacts our modern world.

Not until the seventh century Common Era was there the seed of another religion planted. Mohammed conquered Mecca and instilled in the conquered people the belief that Arabs were the chosen children of Abraham. That the prophets, including Jesus, were Arabs who taught the correct religion. That untruth is being distributed today, and is the source of error in so many ways.

Why would an angel bring such a message to one specific man? There are many assumptions that could be made, but my personal link goes back to a letter Paul wrote to a church:

I marvel that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel: Which is not another; but there be some that trouble you, and would pervert the gospel of Christ. But though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed. As we said before, so say I now again, If any man preach any other gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:6-9)

Paul knew about angels:

For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel; for Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also be transformed as the ministers of righteousness; whose end shall be according to their works. (2 Corinthians 11:13-15)

John 8 is a wonderful chapter to see the difference between the Jewish religious/political leaders who defend themselves as the chldren of Abraham, while Jesus states plainly He was sent by God as God, and recognizes them for what they really are - just as He knows what we really are:

Jesus said unto them, If God were your Father, ye would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Why do ye not understand my speech? even because ye cannot hear my word. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it. And because I tell you the truth, ye believe me not. (John 8:42-45)

I will use biblical phrases without citing chapter and verse, but you can search: God is no respecter of persons. There is nothing ethnic nor racial in His followers. God is open to anyone who seeks Him, for He may be found by those who do. God has offered to anyone the ability to live with Him eternally through belief in Him and His gift of salvation through Jesus. Christianity is monotheistic. Christianity has one single God who is the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. God works with us as the Creator, the Salvation, and the guiding Spirit of education and comfort in our lives.

If this raises more questions for you than it answers - ask them. Much we are not supposed to know, but much is open to our hearts when the Holy Spirit guides us. Do not allow any other spirit to take root:

Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits whether they are of God: because many false prophets are gone out into the world. Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God: And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is not of God: and this is that spirit of antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it should come; and even now already is it in the world. (1 John 4:1-3)

Disfunctional Families and Actions

 

Pardon Me by Norman Rockwell, 

appeared on the cover of the Saturday Evening Post on January 26 1918. Oil on canvas

This Norman Rockwell painting is owned by Stephen Spielberg, but this graphic is in the public domain. Rockwell painted America as he saw it, and Saturday Evening Post carried it across our country. To us it depicts moments out of American life across decades. Somewhere across those decades, American life became quite dysfunctional. From a Google query:

A poll by Fox News found that 81% of Americans view the country as a dysfunctional family.

Public Perception and Polling Data

Country as a Family: 81% of respondents in the poll described the U.S. as a dysfunctional family

Since that fits my criteria of this being a family discussion, I won't give the remaining responses of being on a wrong track and the show of broader dissatisfaction. Back to yesterday's analogy of toes being stepped on, we have much more than the tender toes of a young lady. So let's take a look at sin.

Sin is disobeying the will of God. First earth creature to do that was in the form of a snake, according to Genesis 3. It lied to Eve. Eve was the first person to believe the lie and not only do what God said not to, but shared her thought process with her husband, who joined her in doing what God told them not to do. 

It was a simple request - do not eat the fruit from that tree. The result would be death. 

As any of my readers would agree, we know exactly what it is like to not understand what the exact consequences are to our actions. I wonder if Adam or Eve truly understood what "thou shalt surely die," meant. Did their lives ever see death? They were in Eden, the garden of perfection created by God. They walked with God in the garden in the cool of the day. What was so important about that fruit?

Same things that become important to us simply because it caught or attention and we wanted it. That is temptation. Giving in to temptation, acting on our desires and not God's instruction is sin. 

Sin is not following God's instruction. 

So why do we have such problems? God has inspired men to write what sin looks like. We can recognize it from Paul's writing:

Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened.  Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,  And changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and fourfooted beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonour their own bodies between themselves: Who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshipped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: And likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another; men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompence of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; Being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, Backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, Without understanding, covenantbreakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them. (Romans 1:21-32)

That's a long list of sinfulness. Verse 32 affirms that people know the result of sinning, and do it for pleasure. Eve would understand that:

And when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her; and he did eat. (Genesis 3:6)

Jesus changed the results of sin by becoming the sacrifice, but he also gave the instructions that can keep us aware and away from temptations:

Master, which is the great commandment in the law? Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. On these two commandments hang all the law and the prophets. (Matthew 22:36-40)

Everything else in the Law and the messages of the prophets falls within following these two - love God and love people. How difficult is that?

Very difficult, because Paul continues a little later:

“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;” (Romans 3:23)

That means me, you, and everyone alive today. Definitely falls under the "whosoever" of John 3:16:

For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:16-18)

Oh, you didn't expect the following two verses? People seem to forget them a lot. It is very much like giving your child instructions, then telling them the consequences. IF you do this, THEN this will happen, or ELSE something bad will happen. 

Almost twenty years ago I used those programming lines in a blog - July 5, 2008 - and if you look at it, I've been giving out this same message since long before that date. God has been giving the exact same message for eternity: If you believe, then you are safe, or else we will be separated for eternity. 

King Hezekiah and Disfunctional Families

King Hezekiah, clothed in sackcloth, spreads open the letter before the Lord. 1873, unknown

 

What Bible stories do you remember about King Hezekiah? My quickest one is that he was one of the good kings, but his son lost Jerusalem to Babylon under King Nebuchadnezzar II. He came to mind this week as I was listening to Isaiah beling read. I had forgotten Isaiah was the prophet during a portion of Hezekiah's reign. Doing a quick search in the KJV version on e-Sword came back with 117 verses with Hezekiah in them, sometimes twice.

That covered II Kings, both of the Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemia, Proverbs, Isaiah, and Jeremiah. For someone to be mentioned across several verses in eight books of the Bible, it might be a good idea to take a look at this man's life. The earliest mention is a verse that is repeated often in both Kings and Chronicles, giving the name of the just deceased king along with the name of the new king:

And Ahaz slept with his fathers, and was buried with his fathers in the city of David: and Hezekiah his son reigned in his stead. (2 Kings 16:20)

This can get confusing because the kingdom David and Solomon built as Israel ended up being divided into the northern (Israel) and the southern (Judah) as the tribes split not only politically, but religiously. Judah held Jerusalem - the center of Judaism, the location of the Temple David was not allowed to build, and Solomon was.

Both men eventually followed their wives into divisive religions. Not that they themselves ceased to worship the great I AM, but they allowed their politically added wives to bring their own religions into the country. Kept a bit of peace in their disfunctional households, but destroyed their nations.

Might I take a moment to remind us what Jesus said about marriage - which goes back to God's creation of Adam and Eve. Pharisees  - prients of Judaism at the time - approached Jesus with a "Gotcha!" question. As usual, Jesus went to the very core of the question, and back to scriptures:

The Pharisees also came unto him, tempting him, and saying unto him, Is it lawful for a man to put away his wife for every cause? And he answered and said unto them, Have ye not read, that he which made them at the beginning made them male and female, And said, For this cause shall a man leave father and mother, and shall cleave to his wife: and they twain shall be one flesh? Wherefore they are no more twain, but one flesh. What therefore God hath joined together, let not man put asunder. (Matthew 19:3-6)

Just as usual, the Pharisees reverted to tradition. Yes, the Mosaic Laws allowed divorce. Jesus knew that - because He was there when Moses took the law from God:

They say unto him, Why did Moses then command to give a writing of divorcement, and to put her away? He saith unto them, Moses because of the hardness of your hearts suffered you to put away your wives: but from the beginning it was not so. (Matthew 19:7-8)

Take a look at the Strong's for the Greek word translated here as "suffered" - it does not mean "endured pain":

ἐπιτρέπω epitrepō ep-ee-trep'-o

From G1909 and the base of G5157; to turn over (transfer), that is, allow: - give leave (liberty, license), let, permit, suffer.

That should read: "Moses, because of the hardness of your hearts, allowed you to put away your wives. That is not what God created."

Problems that arise in a family often come from what some people say are "disfunctional actions." We've all read about disfunctional families. The vast majority of us come from families with huge disfunction. May I make a small suggestion here and define most of the "disfunction" can really be described as sinfulness?

Ooops - I do believe I've stepped on a few toes. I know mine felt some pressure from my own words. There have been disfunctions in my family, too. Some of the actions that were painful for my children can be traced to actions and attitudes that were in our home while they were children and teens.

How about your home - no, I am not asking that you answer any of them here - were there actions and/or attitudes in your own home that could be considered sin if measured by biblical standards?

Not my standards, biblical standards. Think for a few moments. Becasuse of the next few days I will be looking at what the Bible standards are. And they may not match your own. You may decide to call me on some of what I say - please do not hesitate to e-mail me if adding a Comment below is too public.

However, we do need to discuss sin - or people cannot understand why we say people are sinners in need of a Savior, and why we believe Jesus Christ is that very salvation. Alone. Without churches. And then we are going to discuss what a church is. Stick around for a few days.

Other Bible Readers

 When we talk about reading the Bible, we really mean the Holy Bible. It should contain both the Old Testament and the New Testament. It is fulll of different books, divided into chapters and verses for easily locatable use. No - it was not originally written in that form. 

When I was a child, a boy not much older than I was at the time discovered an entire cave holding scrolls that matched specific books of the Old Testament. So we know that what we have of the book of Isaiah matches what people over two thousand years ago were reading, and copied hundreds of years after they were originally written. These are eye witness acounts of actions taken by people interested in what their God had to say about what was happening at specific times.

My Bible reading is semi-scheduled, but I also listen every evening to YourVersion Bible plans. There are a multitude to choose from. I've gone through specific books, and I've gone through the entire Bible as laid out, plus as it occurs chronologically. That made for some interesting reading, especially through Kings, Chronicles, and the prophets. It was very helpful in the Gospels.

By the time one reads the Bible several times, when you read it again you do think "How did I miss that?" Sometimes it is a specific name, or a story. Other times the words are exactly the same and I  remember reading them, but they seem to have a specific meaning in this time of my life. This last week I read two devotional postings that focused on events I knew, names that were familiar, but the focus was a bit different.

Elijah was the first one. You find him to be an absolutely fascinating prophet. He raised the dead, healed a leper, killed Baal priests, hid from God, was taken up to heaven in a fiery chariot. Oh, yes, his life was extremely active and dedicated to the God who created the earth and set Israel on its path. 

When he challenged Baal's priests, it was after God withheld rain. By 1 Kings 18, the country was desparate for rain. Elijah had King Ahab summon Baal's priests and the citizens to choose:

So Ahab sent unto all the children of Israel, and gathered the prophets together unto mount Carmel. And Elijah came unto all the people, and said, How long halt ye between two opinions? if the LORD be God, follow him: but if Baal, then follow him. And the people answered him not a word. Then said Elijah unto the people, I, even I only, remain a prophet of the LORD; but Baal's prophets are four hundred and fifty men. (1 Kings 18:20-22)

The challenge wasn't about rain. It was about whose God would accept their sacrifice. Baal did not respond. God did:

Hear me, O LORD, hear me, that this people may know that thou art the LORD God, and that thou hast turned their heart back again. Then the fire of the LORD fell, and consumed the burnt sacrifice, and the wood, and the stones, and the dust, and licked up the water that was in the trench. (1 Kings 18:37-38)

No rain. Fire took the sacrifice, but no rain. Elijah knelt - the Bible doesn't say he prayed, but that is a prayful position. He sent his servant to look for a cloud. Seven times. That seventh time there was a small cloud. Elijah's faith lasted and at that point he told Ahab to leave the mountain, or the rain could stop him:

And it came to pass at the seventh time, that he said, Behold, there ariseth a little cloud out of the sea, like a man's hand. And he said, Go up, say unto Ahab, Prepare thy chariot, and get thee down, that the rain stop thee not. (1 Kings 18:44)

I tend to neglect that continued prayer for what is needed. Just as I forgot Abigail's name, and how she stopped a slaughter. We meet Abigail in 1 Samiuel 25, the wife of a very wealthy man, not long after Samuel's death. David was still hiding from King Saul, who was determined that David should die. While hiding, David sent a group to ask Nabal for food for his men:

And Nabal answered David's servants, and said, Who is David? and who is the son of Jesse? there be many servants now a days that break away every man from his master. Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my flesh that I have killed for my shearers, and give it unto men, whom I know not whence they be? So David's young men turned their way, and went again, and came and told him all those sayings. (1 Samuel 25:10-12)

David prepared his men for battle. While he did not want to attack his King, a wealthy opponent was no match. Abigail knew that, and when she learned both sides of the story:

Then Abigail made haste, and took two hundred loaves, and two bottles of wine, and five sheep ready dressed, and five measures of parched corn, and an hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on asses. And she said unto her servants, Go on before me; behold, I come after you. But she told not her husband Nabal. And it was so, as she rode on the ass, that she came down by the covert of the hill, and, behold, David and his men came down against her; and she met them. (1 Samuel 25:18-20)

By her actions, Abigail saved her husband's life, their home, their wealth, and lives on both sides of the battle. Eventually, her husband died, and David took her to be his own wife. He had lived through her example of strategy and planning that kept her family from harm as well as gaining the friendship of their future king.

God's hand is seen in both of these stories - not in these specific verses. There are no praises, no commitments, no promises, no prayers that were answered except those given within God's will. Most of the biblical stories are just that - examples of what happens in - and without - God's will in the lives of ordinary people who become very extraordinary while living in God's will.

Reading and studying the Bible gives historical insight, too. These people lived thousands of years ago - but experienced many of the same political, economical, personal, and religious elements of life we face today. We should be learning from them.

Sing Praises

Images of People Singing Praises (screen capture)

When I was in High School (yes, over half a century ago) we sang a song that went:

Sing praises, sing praises. sing praises to our King

Sing praises, sing praises. sing praises,

Sing praises, sing praises. sing praises 

Sing praises, sing praises. sing praises  

I know, it seems repetitious, it was, but the music and rythm changed and we sang it with meaning, so it was truly praises, just as the angels before His throne say "Holy, holy, holy" and we sing it from a hymnal:

And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is to come. (Revelation 4:8)

But - we are not a repetitious people. We sing praises in a number of ways, though Psalms alone show 15 verses with that phrase, a couple of them repeat it:

Sing praises to God, sing praises: sing praises unto our King, sing praises. (Psalms 47:6)

That looks rather familiar, doesn't it?

While I live will I praise the LORD: I will sing praises unto my God while I have any being. (Psalms 146:2)

While not my life verse, that one is just about my favorite. While this one reminds us why we praise:

Praise ye the LORD. O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. (Psalms 106:1)

Another way of praising Him is in modern song. One of my favorites, "Satisfied," includes:

Oh Hallelujah! I have found Him, Whom my soul so long has craved!

That song begins: 

All my lifelong I have panted For a drink from some cool spring

That I hoped would quench the burning Of the thirst I felt within

That thirst is what Jesus answered the woman at the well:

Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life. The woman saith unto him, Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come hither to draw. (John 4:13-15)

How appropriate that following John 3, the conversation Jesus held with Nicodemus is followed by His explanation of living water. That His ability to discuss theology with a Pharisee member of the Sanhedrin (and remind him of things he should have known) is just as important to discuss where and when to worship with a woman living without marriage, but who needs God just as much as Nicodemus. God truly is no respecter of persons.

And that is simply another reason for praising Him as our Father in Heaven, where we will live eternally, through His grace and our faith.

Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, (by grace ye are saved;) And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might shew the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast. (Ephesians 2:5-9)

Read The Bible

e-Sword Screen (Capture)

I used to have a lovely graphic of an open Bible - but it's on my old computer, which still holds a bunch of stuff I have yet to transfer. There is a possibility it will live beyond me and either be trashed, erased, or completely ignored. The more digital material this world gains, the greater the loss because we don't get it shared.

Why do I mention this? Because I want you to read the Bible. I really do not care if it is printed or digital. I use e-Sword on both my phone and my personal computer because I got used to it, and it's been around for decades. Well written, every free translation is available free of charge, and lots of purchasable translations are also available. There is a copy of the Strong's Hebrew and Greek available - I use it with my King James Version. Yes - I still use the old KJV, but not the first KJV, and I'm not against using the NKJV or even other translations. I do suggest doing parallel Bibles to find out what is "missing" from the Textus Receptus used for the original KJV (that is very hard to read! I had a copy.)

Reading aloud from the same version during a lesson is helpful for a class situation, and I suggest that first for brand new readers of the Bible. Some people find any version difficult. Often because they find something there that means their life will change.

I promise you, it will. It will change because you know more than you did before and you will be required to make a decision: Is the Bible accurate?

Is it? No - you don't have to send me a note with your answer. Just be aware that I know there will be two different answers reached: 1) No, this cannot possibly be right; or, 2) Yes! this is is what I've been seeking.

In fact, if you have e-Sword you can do a search in the free KJV for "seek the Lord" and you'll see that phrase in 27 different verses. First one is:

But if from thence thou shalt seek the LORD thy God, thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all thy heart and with all thy soul. (Deuteronomy 4:29)

But that single verse means nothing if you don't know where "But if from thence thou shalt" means. So now you know that verses do not stand alone. They are in context. However, if from thence you seek the Lord thy God, you are told thou shalt find him, if thou seek him with all the heart and with all thy soul. In this one verse, there are conditions. God has conditions. If you seek Him, He will be found.

And he did evil, because he prepared not his heart to seek the LORD. (2 Chronicles 12:14)

Who decided not to find out if God existed? You'll have to read this one in context, too. That twelfth chapter of 2 Chronicles pretty much lays out what happens when someone decides to ignore God completely. You have that capability. Everyone does. It is possible to leave this world without believing God exists. And that is why I have spent decades encouraging Bible reading. 

Know what you are giving up. Learn things outside of the Bible. Look up Pascal's Wager, and read people who laughed at it. Then read the Bible to find out what they turned down:

And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life. For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that the world through him might be saved. He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only begotten Son of God. (John 3:14-18)

When first reading that third chapter of John, you are introduced to Nicodemus, who has come to Jesus asking questions. Those who come to the Bible for the first time have plenty of questions - and those of us who read it are ready to answer questions. We've been prepared for some time only because we've continiued to read, study, and pray over what is in the Bible. Took thousands of years to write down what was there - and although there have been tons of books written sense, there is no need for more information than what is written there. The Bible is filled with complete fulfilled prophecy - and with some that is yet to be fulfilled. But it should not be added to, nor subtracted from:

And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely. For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, If any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book: (Revelation 22:17-18)

I have read about the plagues. I will not add anything to the book. I send people to do their own reading. I suggest they read with prayer and a spirit of seeking God. The last verse to use the "seek the Lord" phrase is the only one in the New Testament:

That they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after him, and find him, though he be not far from every one of us: (Acts 17:27)

The words of Jesus, the only begotten Son of God, Savior of mankind, Lamb of God, Prince of Peace, can be found in red in many of the printed and digital Bibles. Take them seriously when you consider:

All scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness: (2 Timothy 3:16)

 

Funerals - Three in a Week

 Source unknown

I've used this graphic before - first on Baptist Funerals, and again writing of funerals. They happen. People die. Expectedly. And, extremely unexpectedly.

Friday we attended the funeral of a friend from church. That same day another friend from church died. His funeral will be this Thursday. Saturday morning the daughter of a church friend experienced a ruptured aneurysm. Her death Sunday morning was still a shock. Three deaths within a week's time of people we knew.

The first thing we are able lto do is to pray, and my first thoughts in those prayers take me to a verse I've used on this blog many times for a variety of occasions:

Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God. And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:26-28)

Those verses are not a prayer - they are an explanation about prayer. We've been given instructions about prayers by the very person who is our intecessor in Heaven. He began by explaning how NOT to pray:

And when thou prayest, thou shalt not be as the hypocrites are: for they love to pray standing in the synagogues and in the corners of the streets, that they may be seen of men. Verily I say unto you, They have their reward. But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut thy door, pray to thy Father which is in secret; and thy Father which seeth in secret shall reward thee openly. But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them: for your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him. (Matthew 6:5-8)

Did you get the part "your Father knoweth what things ye have need of, before ye ask him"? Reminds me of "And he that searacheth the hearts knoweth what is in the mind of the Spirit." God knows exactly what just happened in our lives - every single moment in our lives. There are no surprises to Him as there are to us. From the last breath of a loved one in hospice to the staggering shock of an unexpected loss, God knew it was coming and He knows what we need.

My second thought about preparing to speak to someone who has experienced a loss is II Corinthians 1:3-4:

Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble, by the comfort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God. (2 Corinthians 1:3-4)

The Holy Spirit is the Comforter Jesus spoke of in John 14, and among those verses is:

But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you. (John 14:26)

Remember Pentecost? When the Holy Spirit first came upon Jesus followers? From then on, believers' baptism included the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, the comforter who was to teach us and help us remember all that Jesus taught. How do you get that education Jesus taught? Bible reading. 

Reading God's word with prayer brings us closer to understanding where we are, why we are where we are, where we need to be next, and trust God's presence in placing us where He wants us to be doing His will.

I knew two of the three people who died this week, and the mother who lost her daughter. Three families with multiple generations are missing someone who meant life to them. They need comfort. It is available in a number of ways.

First is contact at home, letting them know there is help with transportation, planning, and guests. Food is needed, and they have little attention left for meals. That is easily provided. The funeral can be attended as a sign of caring support - and in our church, a meal afterward is available with a variety of simply awesome comfort food. Key word remains "comfort." Never forgetting there is a Comforter provided by God through Jesus Christ for every event in our life, good, bad, or deadly.

Each of these people made a public profession of their faith in Jesus Christ as their Savior, based on biblical beliefs that go beyond John 3:16:

Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot enter into the kingdom of God. (John 3:5)

It also encompasses:

He hath shewed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth the LORD require of thee, but to do justly, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with thy God? (Micah 6:8)

Obedience to walk with God goes beyond public words. I'll be adding a small prayer for my readers:

Oh, Lord, my strength in all that is around me, I pray for those that stop and read your words here that they will reach for the full, so very Holy, Bible. Your messages to us over millennia carry history and hope for every living person. I pray it is opened and read, read and prayed over, understood and carried out that your will is done in our lives. Comfort us, Lord, in our losses, and restore joy in our blessings. Guide and directd our lives as we seek Thy will in our daily lives. Amen.