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Bible reading for December 6 -- 7  Dec 6 -- Habakkuk 1 and Luke 20 Dec 7 -- Habakkuk 2 and Luke 21 ================   "Behold, his soul is puffed up; it is not upright within him, but the righteous shall live by his faith." (Habakkuk 2:4)  THE COMPLAINT (ch 1). The prophet Habakkuk wrote late in the 7th century BC, during same time as Jeremiah's ministry in Jerusalem. The first Babylonian subjugation of Israel would come in 605 BC. The prophet complains of the widespread immorality and injustice of the Jews, and why doesn't God do something about it? God answers by saying he will in fact deal with it by raising up the Chaldeans (another name for the Babylonians) to invade the land. This shocks Habakkuk. How could the Lord deliver over his people to an empire even more evil than themselves? How could God seemingly approve, and even promote, such a wicked and pagan nation? The answer is that God is so sovereign he can use evil for a good purpose, namely, for humbling h...

Bible reading for February 3 -- 4 Feb 3 -- Job 2 and Romans 6 Feb 4 -- Job 3 and Romans 7 "After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth." (Job 3:1)  WISDOM IN SUFFERING. Though we don't know many of the details about where and when Job lived, we know that he was a real person in history (Ezek 14:14, 20; James 5:11). The book of Job may be the oldest of the books in Scripture, and is first in the lineup of the wisdom books. Wisdom literature is written, usually in poetic form, to address the big mysteries of life, as well as those practical matters in life that require discernment. Job deals with pain and suffering, specifically, the suffering of the righteous. The Song of Solomon deals with pleasure, specifically, the pleasures of courtship, sex, and marriage. In between, Proverbs gives wisdom for successfully navigating the problems of life, and Ecclesiastes teaches the limitations both of our lives and of what we can know. One thing we learn up front...

Bible reading for October 29.  2 Kings 10-11. "Thus Jehu wiped out Baal from Israel." (2 Kings 10:28)  STRAIGHT LINES, CROOKED STICKS. There's a lot of bloodshed in these two chapters, primarily of the royal sons in both Israel and Judah. Jehu cleans house in the northern kingdom, destroying all the priests and loyal worshipers of Baal. In the south, Athaliah (a sort of "Jezebel of Judah") kills the royal line in Jerusalem, except one. The young heir, Jehoash (short form: Joash), is rescued and hidden. After six years, Jehoiada, the priest loyal to the Lord and the king, installs Joash on the throne. (Btw, the Carites [or, Cherithites] in 11:4, 19 were a contingent of bodyguards organized by King David and loyal to his family line.) Queen Athaliah, the fake monarch, is killed. There is a renewal in Judah of worship to the Lord: "And Jehoiada made a covenant between the LORD and the king and people, that they should be the LORD's people, and also betwee...

B ible reading for October 19.  1 Kings 22. "And the king of Israel said to Jehoshaphat, 'There is yet one man by whom we may inquire of the LORD, Micaiah the son of Imlah, but I hate him, for he never prophesies good concerning me, but evil.' And Jehoshaphat said, 'Let not the king say so.'" (1 Kings 22:8) THE DRAMA. Sometimes life gets complicated. Why is Jehoshaphat so friendly with Ahab? Why does Micaiah at first not tell the truth? Why does God approve of the lying spirits? In trying to explain this passage I decided to put it in the form of a skit that could be used, say, at a youth meeting:   Scene I: Ahab's court . Ahab: "Jehoshaphat, come go to battle with me against Syria." Jehoshaphat: "OK, I got your back, bro."  Ahab: "All the prophets say we've got a green light on this. It's victory all the way!" Jehoshaphat: "Uh, do you have, like, any true prophets of the Lord around here?" Ahab: "Just...

Bible reading for July 20.  Judges 3 "They were for the testing of Israel, to know whether Israel would obey the commandments of the LORD, which he commanded their fathers by the hand of Moses." (Judges 3:4)  THE FIRST THREE JUDGES. This chapter records the exploits of the first three judges (the military, judicial leaders raised up by God) -- Ehud, Othniel, and Shamgar -- which covered a period of about 120 years (c. 1370 --1250 BC). The land had not been completely occupied. There were Canaanite strongholds still within their borders. It was God's plan that these remain in order to test Israel and to teach the next generation about war (vv 1-7). We see the cycle of compromise, bondage, and deliverance begin. (See the diagram in yesterday's post.) Compromise and inter-marriage were so dangerous because a) they resulted in the loss of the distinctiveness of the nation of Israel; b) they endangered the continuity and purity of the messianic lineage (Gen 12:2...

Bible reading for June 15.  Deuteronomy 20. "Do not fear or panic or be in dread of them, for the LORD your God is he who goes with you to fight for you against your enemies, to give you the victory." (Deuteronomy 20:3-4) WARFARE. The time of battle is drawing near, and some of the men may have reasons to exempt themselves (vv 1-9). Terms of peace are to be offered to some of the cities (vv 10-11) but not to the six nations listed (v 17).  Conversion was an option (like Rahab), as was flight. In considering this situation we should remember that in those days warfare was a fact of life (as it still is in many parts of the world today), and that there were no prisons or jails or internment camps. Those not killed would return the next season to fight, or if they remained in the land, would undermine the new nation by idolatry. All of this is a picture of an invisible war, whereby Satan, and the influence of the fallen world, and our sinful flesh fight against the bel...

"The real problem is in the hearts and minds of men. It is not a problem of physics but of ethics. It is easier to denature plutonium than to denature the evil spirit of man."   ( Albert Einstein)

All of us at one time or other have had problems with understanding or accepting the doctrine of God's sovereignty.   J. I. Packer writes that sovereignty means that "God reigns."  He continues, "...we are constantly told in explicit terms that the Lord (Yahweh) reigns as king, exercising dominion over great and tiny things alike."  ( Concise Theology , p. 33)  The Westminster Shorter Catechism speaks of the decrees of God as "His eternal plan based on the purpose of His will, by which, for his own glory, He has foreordained everything that happens." (P&R, 1986) Here's a sampling of passages: "Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps."  (Psalm 135:6 ESV)  "...all the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, 'What have you done?...

From whence comes wars and fightings among you?  Come they not hence, even of your lusts that war in your members?   (James 4:1) As war loomed over Great Britain in 1939, Martyn Lloyd-Jones, the new pastor at Westminster Chapel in London, preached four sermons beginning in October of that year.  The words you read below were spoken only months before the Germans began the aerial bombardment of London.  And yet, the words are very timely for us today, as well.  The sermons were subsequently published as Why Does God Allow War ? "Under the blessing of peace, men and women, in constantly increasing numbers, have forsaken God and religion and have settled down to a life which is essentially materialistic and sinful. Ever since the First World War-- thinking that this was indeed 'war to end war,' with a false sense of security, buttressed also by insurance schemes and various other provisions to safeguard themselves against the possible dangers that still rem...