The Word For Wednesday: I Will Be Your God
The following is an entry from my journal on July 15. I don't normally go writing a whole study in my journal, but this is something that I felt the Lord was dealing with me about; I want to share it for today's Word For Wednesday...
This morning, I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and I was beginning to think, “God, are you trying to show me something?”-- ever had that feeling? -- when I suddenly came across this verse (16):
“And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
This struck me, because I’ve been having a hard time putting God first in the day. I do have my devotion time, but it seems that lately, something has come along to distract me first thing; and then my time with God gets pushed to the back burner – to later in the day. Connecting with God is so important, because it builds our relationship with Him; I realize this, and I would get so frustrated with myself for allowing distractions to squander this precious time with My Heavenly Father. So when I read this passage, a thought struck me: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Ouch! I had been praying about this very thing recently. When I thought about it, I wondered, “If I am the temple of God, then what on earth am I doing giving something else the honor that is only due God; that is, what am I doing putting it in God’s place?” Then I realized that it’s as if God is jealously saying, “I will be your God, not these other things!” Wow! The next verse states, “‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.’” The thought that struck me was that most of the things that we put in front of God are not necessarily evil… at least we don’t consider them to be evil. This could be anything, ranging from elevating a hero to pursuing a dream. On its own, it may not be evil. But it is evil according to God. Why? Because it has taken His place in our lives. The Bible says that God is a jealous God: “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). This must be important to God; in fact, this is the very first of the Ten Commandments! This is why Paul says a few verses later (at the beginning of chapter seven), “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The fear of God does not mean that we are afraid of Him; rather, it means that we reverence Him – we honor Him so much that we are afraid to sin against Him! In this case, we honor God too much to put anything else before Him, no matter how big or small!
It would also seem that when we put other things in God’s place, we are being prideful: Isaiah 57:15 states, “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’” How can God revive the spirit of the humble and the contrite ones if their heart is elsewhere, on other things? Psalm 51:7-12 says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” How does God create in us a clean heart? Acts 15:9 tells us, “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” And how does faith come? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). David stated in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 24:7-10 states, “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” What does this passage mean by “everlasting doors”? Well, Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). He also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6), and Ephesians 2:18 states, “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Jesus said, “Your Word is truth”; therefore, it is through the Word that all of this is obtained! But even more interesting is what it says at the beginning of chapter 6 and the end of chapter 5: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who know no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (5:20-6:1). What I noticed about this passage is that firstly, it is possible to receive God’s grace in vain. Secondly, to receive it in vain is to sin, which in turn, means that we do not believe that we are righteous. And if we do not believe that we are righteous, we will not have the grace – the strength – that we need to reconcile men to God! That is, without God’s grace, we will be weak, but God will be powerless to help us if we do not believe in Him. On the other hand, if we have the faith to believe that we are righteous, we know that we are forgiven – we are purged!
It is also interesting that in 7:5, it says, “… our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus…” For one thing, I know we’ve all been in that place where so much is happening around us that we feel turmoil on the inside. And sometimes, this may even be why we put other things before God. But I realized recently that it is in those moments that we have an eternal weight of glory – we have an “anchor of the soul,” the Word of God! If you look at this passage more closely, you will realized that this is PAUL writing this passage; he said that he had conflicts without and fears within – Paul had fears and struggles, too! Sometimes, we tend to elevate people too much, and we forget that they also have struggles – they are human; they are not perfect. We ALL have struggles to overcome; but the reason that Paul was able to keep going was because He knew how to overcome those obstacles: we overcome those through the victory that has overcome the world – our faith! I don’t know about you, but I find this to be encouraging! This is the same Paul who told Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” And as a side note, did you know that this passage has been taken out of context? Most people quote it like that’s all that Paul said; but actually, Paul was talking to Timothy about stirring up the gift of God in him. Then, immediately following that, he said, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear…” So what Paul was saying is that whatever God has called you to do, do it and don’t be afraid – even though you will face sufferings (for Timothy, a major point was that he was young; therefore Paul says, “Let no one despise your youth…”). You will face obstacles of all kinds; but the good news is that God has given us the POWER to do it, the LOVE to resist the fear, and the SOUNDNESS OF MIND (peace) to be able to remain calm in the midst of the storm! When we finally learn that God has empowered us, we can overcome anything and everything –including those things which try to sneak between us and God! Why? Because it is in those moments – if we will yield to the Holy Spirit – that we are weak (we can’t do it on our own), but He is SO VERY strong! To culminate this discussion, let’s look at 1 Peter 5:6-10 which states, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”
This morning, I was reading 2 Corinthians chapter 6, and I was beginning to think, “God, are you trying to show me something?”-- ever had that feeling? -- when I suddenly came across this verse (16):
“And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God. As God has said: “I will dwell in them and walk among them. I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
This struck me, because I’ve been having a hard time putting God first in the day. I do have my devotion time, but it seems that lately, something has come along to distract me first thing; and then my time with God gets pushed to the back burner – to later in the day. Connecting with God is so important, because it builds our relationship with Him; I realize this, and I would get so frustrated with myself for allowing distractions to squander this precious time with My Heavenly Father. So when I read this passage, a thought struck me: “You shall have no other gods before Me.” Ouch! I had been praying about this very thing recently. When I thought about it, I wondered, “If I am the temple of God, then what on earth am I doing giving something else the honor that is only due God; that is, what am I doing putting it in God’s place?” Then I realized that it’s as if God is jealously saying, “I will be your God, not these other things!” Wow! The next verse states, “‘Come out from among them and be separate, says the Lord. Do not touch what is unclean, and I will receive you.’ ‘I will be a Father to you, and you shall be My sons and daughters, says the LORD Almighty.’” The thought that struck me was that most of the things that we put in front of God are not necessarily evil… at least we don’t consider them to be evil. This could be anything, ranging from elevating a hero to pursuing a dream. On its own, it may not be evil. But it is evil according to God. Why? Because it has taken His place in our lives. The Bible says that God is a jealous God: “For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God” (Exodus 34:14). This must be important to God; in fact, this is the very first of the Ten Commandments! This is why Paul says a few verses later (at the beginning of chapter seven), “Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God.” The fear of God does not mean that we are afraid of Him; rather, it means that we reverence Him – we honor Him so much that we are afraid to sin against Him! In this case, we honor God too much to put anything else before Him, no matter how big or small!
It would also seem that when we put other things in God’s place, we are being prideful: Isaiah 57:15 states, “For thus says the High and Lofty One Who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, With him who has a contrite and humble spirit, To revive the spirit of the humble, And to revive the heart of the contrite ones.’” How can God revive the spirit of the humble and the contrite ones if their heart is elsewhere, on other things? Psalm 51:7-12 says, “Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice. Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me. Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.” How does God create in us a clean heart? Acts 15:9 tells us, “And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.” And how does faith come? “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Romans 10:17). David stated in Psalm 139, “Search me, O God, and know my heart: try me, and know my thoughts: And see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Psalm 24:7-10 states, “ Lift up your heads, O ye gates; and be ye lift up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD strong and mighty, the LORD mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O ye gates; even lift them up, ye everlasting doors; and the King of glory shall come in. Who is this King of glory? The LORD of hosts, he is the King of glory. Selah.” What does this passage mean by “everlasting doors”? Well, Jesus said, “I am the door: by me if any man enter in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and find pasture” (John 10:9). He also said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me” (John 14:6), and Ephesians 2:18 states, “For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father.” Jesus said, “Your Word is truth”; therefore, it is through the Word that all of this is obtained! But even more interesting is what it says at the beginning of chapter 6 and the end of chapter 5: “Now then, we are ambassadors for Christ, as though God were pleading through us: we implore you on Christ’s behalf, be reconciled to God. For He made Him who know no sin to be sin for us, that we might become the righteousness of God in Him. We then, as workers together with Him also plead with you not to receive the grace of God in vain” (5:20-6:1). What I noticed about this passage is that firstly, it is possible to receive God’s grace in vain. Secondly, to receive it in vain is to sin, which in turn, means that we do not believe that we are righteous. And if we do not believe that we are righteous, we will not have the grace – the strength – that we need to reconcile men to God! That is, without God’s grace, we will be weak, but God will be powerless to help us if we do not believe in Him. On the other hand, if we have the faith to believe that we are righteous, we know that we are forgiven – we are purged!
It is also interesting that in 7:5, it says, “… our bodies had no rest, but we were troubled on every side. Outside were conflicts, inside were fears. Nevertheless God, who comforts the downcast, comforted us by the coming of Titus…” For one thing, I know we’ve all been in that place where so much is happening around us that we feel turmoil on the inside. And sometimes, this may even be why we put other things before God. But I realized recently that it is in those moments that we have an eternal weight of glory – we have an “anchor of the soul,” the Word of God! If you look at this passage more closely, you will realized that this is PAUL writing this passage; he said that he had conflicts without and fears within – Paul had fears and struggles, too! Sometimes, we tend to elevate people too much, and we forget that they also have struggles – they are human; they are not perfect. We ALL have struggles to overcome; but the reason that Paul was able to keep going was because He knew how to overcome those obstacles: we overcome those through the victory that has overcome the world – our faith! I don’t know about you, but I find this to be encouraging! This is the same Paul who told Timothy, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and a sound mind.” And as a side note, did you know that this passage has been taken out of context? Most people quote it like that’s all that Paul said; but actually, Paul was talking to Timothy about stirring up the gift of God in him. Then, immediately following that, he said, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear…” So what Paul was saying is that whatever God has called you to do, do it and don’t be afraid – even though you will face sufferings (for Timothy, a major point was that he was young; therefore Paul says, “Let no one despise your youth…”). You will face obstacles of all kinds; but the good news is that God has given us the POWER to do it, the LOVE to resist the fear, and the SOUNDNESS OF MIND (peace) to be able to remain calm in the midst of the storm! When we finally learn that God has empowered us, we can overcome anything and everything –including those things which try to sneak between us and God! Why? Because it is in those moments – if we will yield to the Holy Spirit – that we are weak (we can’t do it on our own), but He is SO VERY strong! To culminate this discussion, let’s look at 1 Peter 5:6-10 which states, “Therefore humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time, casting all your care upon Him, for He cares for you. Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him, steadfast in the faith, knowing that the same sufferings are experienced by your brotherhood in the world. But may the God of all grace, who called us to His eternal glory by Christ Jesus, after you have suffered a while, perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle you.”
this is what i need to do... put God first in my day... to start with Him, from Him. i too have very many distractions and end up frustrated most of the days for giving into those frustrations... thanks for this reminder!
ReplyDeleteThank you for adding my button. I'm so honored. You are so very kind and i'm blessed beyonds..:)
Hugs,
Ruth
Underneath His Wrapping
One of the things that is so cool is that God wants us to give everything up to put Him first, but He will give us back so much more! Seek first His kingdom and all these things will be added to you. He gives all good and perfect gifts. All He wants is to know that He has our hearts. If we have to give something up, we will because He is first. But He gives us more than we could ask or dream. Great reminder! We put Him first, and He multiplies back to us! A win-win situation!! :)
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