Listening to the Word

2 Kings 18,19; 2 Chronicles 32; James 5   “After all that Hezekiah had so faithfully done, Sennacherib King of Assyria came and invaded Judah…He succeeded in everything he undertook. But when envoys were sent by the rulers of Babylon to ask him about the miraculous sign that had occurred in the land, God left him to test him and to know everything that was in his heart.” 2 Chronicles 32:1, 30, 31 After years of faithfully serving the Lord and experiencing success in our lives, we might be tempted to believe our success came from our own efforts and that we deserve some of the blessings we have received. King Hezekiah was invaded by Assyria despite faithfully serving God. His humble, desperate cry to the Lord and his testimony of deliverance became another opportunity to bring glory to God. However, when envoys from Babylon came to flatter him and hear his stories, Hezekiah’s pride became his undoing. He showed his visitors all his treasures. We all receive tests from the Lord to kn...

2 Chronicles 29-31; James 4   “Nevertheless, some men from Asher, Manasseh and Zebulun humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem. Also in Judah the hand of God was on the people to give them unity of mind to carry out what the king and his officials had order, following the word of the Lord.” 2 Chronicles 30:11, 12 “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up.” James 4:10 Some leaders from the northern tribes of Israel humbled themselves and went to Jerusalem, the rival city to Samaria. In traveling to Jerusalem, they acknowledged that God’s word and ways were right. In Jerusalem they experienced the hand of God on his people, giving them unity of mind. We might want both the hand of God on our lives and unity with other leaders; but, unless we are willing to humble ourselves, we might not experience what we are praying for. When we humble ourselves before the Lord and repent of pride, stubbornness, and rebellion, we receive the grace of God, and we find the hand of G...

2 Kings 17; 2 Chronicles 28; Psalms 46; James 3 “With the tongue we praise our Lord and Father, and with it we curse men, who have been made in God’s likeness. Out of the same mouth come praise and cursing. My brothers, this should not be. Can both fresh and salt water flow from the same spring?” James 3:9-11 Why is our speech so important to God? What we say reveals our heart. Just as fresh and salt water cannot flow from the same spring, so blessing and cursing cannot come from a pure heart of wisdom. If we curse others, our heart is not yet surrendered to God and filled with his love. In the same way we evaluate the quality of the water we drink, we should be listening for what the words we hear reveal about the heart. When words are salty, the heart is not pure, and our claims to spiritual maturity are disingenuous. Will we reflect on our speech over the past week and invite the Holy Spirit to reveal our heart? The Lord invites us to give him our heart, repent for attitudes which a...

Isaiah 32-35; James 2 “Strengthen the feeble hands, steady the knees that give way; way to those with fearful hearts, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come, he will come with vengeance; with divine retribution he will come to save you.’ Then the eyes of the blind will be opened and the ears of the deaf unstopped…” Isaiah 35:3-5 The writer of Hebrews points to Jesus as the author and perfecter of our faith. He is the healer, deliverer, and judge. In our weakness, fear, spiritual blindness, and deafness, it is Jesus who hears and saves. The dry, desert places of our lives can experience living water so that beauty and joy replace parched, hard ground. The Lord is saying to us today, ‘Be strong, do not fear; your God will come.’ We can be freed of the strongholds of sin as we humble ourselves before God and repent. We, too, can experience renewal, new life, and the infilling of the Holy Spirit so that our lives look like a well-watered garden of beauty and fruitfulness. Jesus is the...

Isaiah 29-31; James 1 “Yet the Lord longs to be gracious to you; he rises to show you compassion. For the Lord is a God of justice. Blessed are all who wait for him!” Isaiah 30:18 “Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised those who love him.” James 1:12 It’s hard to wait on the Lord in the midst of a test. We want to move on to the next season, rather than wait on the Lord for our deliverance. Like Israel, we, too, can be tempted to make an alliance with ‘Egypt’ to deliver us from the invading ‘Assyrians.’ Waiting on the Lord, trusting in his justice and compassion is not natural when the test lengthens and we become impatient. Yet, it is in this very situation that God develops within us perseverance to hold on to his presence, promises, and Word, and to stand firm. For those who have “stood the test” God promises a crown of life. Abundant life now and for all eternity doesn’t come in the...

  Isaiah 25-28; Hebrews 13   “Keep your lives free from the love of money and be content with what you have, because God has said, ‘Never will I leave you; never will I forsake you.’ So we say with confidence, ‘The Lord is my helper; I will not be afraid. What can man do to me?’” Hebrews 13:5, 6 The antidote for a love of money is a greater love for the Lord. As the Lord becomes our first love, he fills us with contentment and an awareness that we belong to him. Fear drives many to earn or acquire more and more money, thinking that in money they will find security, identity, and purpose. However, money is a mirage which cannot deliver on any of those elusive requirements for a satisfied life, full of joy. No matter what our context or challenges are today, if we belong to the Lord, he is our helper. Will we share our hearts with him and repent for trusting in money as our security? “Lord Jesus, I trust you for my future and my security. You have my life in your hands, for your...

Isaiah 22-24; Hebrews 12   “The defenses of Judah are stripped away. And you looked in that day to the weapons in the Palace of the Forest; You saw that the City of David had many breaches in its defenses; you stored up water in the Lower Pool…but you did not look to the One who made it or have regard for the One who planned it long ago.” Isaiah 22:8, 9, 11 Hezekiah’s tunnel can be viewed today (and walked through) as the watercourse built to deliver the city of David from Assyrian siege. This engineering marvel is beyond the understanding of engineers today. However, Isaiah rebuked the leaders of Jerusalem for looking to their fortifications and engineering skills rather than to the Lord.   When God allows significant disasters in our day, do we trust in our engineers, scientists, and wealth to deliver us, or do we humble ourselves before the One? Do we view God as someone to be worshipped on Sunday but not as the Lord of heaven and earth? Will we trust in the Lord’s plan or ...

Isaiah 19-21; Hebrews 11   “And without faith it is impossible to please God, because anyone who comes to him must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who earnestly seek him.” Hebrews 11:6 One of the clearest evidences that we have faith in our lives is found as we earnestly seek God. We seek God without evidence that our prayers are being answered. We earnestly seek God, not casually inquire of him. The rewards for earnestly seeking God are found in the awareness of the Holy Spirit’s intercession through us. We find the joy of the Lord in sharing his prayer-burdens with us, not just in his receiving our prayer-burdens. The rewards for being a friend of God are eternal. Friends of God seek his face because they value the relationship and time together, not just his answers to their prayers. “Lord Jesus, you are my first love and I will seek you, for your glory.”

Isaiah 15-18; Hebrews 10   “If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God…It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” Hebrews 10:26, 27, 31 The warning against deliberate sin by those who know the grace of God and the power of the Holy Spirit is clear. If we think that our ministry impact, or family heritage, or donations give us a pass with God to continue in willful sin, we are deceived. The Lord cannot bless rebellion, sin, or pride of any kind. It is healthy to live with the fear of the Lord - a fear that keeps us from sinning and focuses us on a life of worship and loving surrender to the Lord. While it is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God, those same hands were pierced with nails on a cross out of sacrificial love for us. God’s hands are stretched out to us today ...

Isaiah 11-14; Hebrews 9   “’Surely God is my salvation; I will trust and not be afraid. The Lord, the Lord, is my strength and my song; he has become my salvation. With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation.’” Isaiah 12:2, 3 “How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death, so that we may serve the living God!” Hebrews 9:14 Salvation is found in a Person, not a formula, set of rituals, or religious observances. Jesus Christ became the sacrifice for our sin, and it is his blood which cleanses our conscience so that we may serve the living God. Those who have experienced this salvation and new life in Christ have joy and a song in their hearts. They are free on the inside from the chains of sin. They know the strength of the Lord’s presence within. They live with faith and trust in the Lord rather than with fear. Many church attenders and religious peop...

Isaiah 8-10; Hebrews 8   “The Lord spoke to me with his strong hand upon me, warning me not to follow the way of this people. He said: ‘Do not call conspiracy everything that these people call conspiracy; do not fear what they fear, and do not dread it. The Lord Almighty is the one you are to regard as holy…he is the one you are to dread.’” Isaiah 8:11-13 Fear is a powerful force when it grips the minds of a society. Fear causes irrational behavior through sudden changes that can paralyze decision-making. Conspiracy theories grow in this kind of environment. People seek to cast blame and find control over their narrative. God’s word through Isaiah in a time of national crisis was ‘don’t fear the invading forces of the Assyrians, rather, fear the Lord Almighty!’   What would his word to us be today? In times of crisis, those who know God humble themselves before him and seek his face. We grow through our dependence on the Lord, not on conspiracy. “Lord Jesus, I fix my eyes on y...

Micah 5-7; Hebrews 7   “With what shall I come before the Lord and bow down before the exalted God? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old?...Shall I offer my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul? He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God.” Micah 6:6-8 It’s in our human nature to bargain with God. e.g. ‘If I do this, then I expect you to do that. If I sacrifice to you or for you, then I expect your protection, good health, and a hand on my children.’ When we become aware of our sin, we might still think bargaining with God is our best approach. If I really sacrifice a lot (e.g. my firstborn), then he should forgive me. But God’s requirements of us go deeper. He is asking for the surrender of our will and the offer of our whole lives to him. God is asking for actions that are just and merciful toward others, as we ...

Micah 1-4; Hebrews 6   “Many nations will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths.’ The law will go out from Zion, the word of the Lord from Jerusalem. He will judge between many peoples and will settle disputes for strong nations far and wide. They will beat their swords into plowshares…Every man will sit under his own vine and under their own fig tree, and no one will make them afraid, for the Lord Almighty has spoken.” Micah 4:2-4 God’s kingdom-purposes go beyond the personal salvation of individuals. God is also interested in the transformation of nations. In the last days, nations will be drawn to learn of God’s ways, and most importantly, how to find peace and reconciliation with each other. God’s peace will so transform the nations that peoples will ‘”sit under their own vine and…fig trees, and no one will make them afraid”… Instead of trusting in their weapon...

Hosea 13,14; Psalms 100,102; Hebrews 5   “For the Lord is good and his love endures forever; his faithfulness continues through all generations…But you remain the same, and your years will never end. The children of your servants will live in your presence; their descendants will be established before you.” Psalm 100:5; 102:27, 28 God’s faithfulness to families over many generations is an amazing testimony of his love to the world. Even when we are unfaithful, God’s faithfulness continues through all generations. For those who know God and his character, we can claim this promise: that the children of those who serve the Lord will live in God’s presence and our descendants will be established before him. We trust in God’s faithfulness to his covenants with us. No matter what happens, God is good and his love endures forever. As we speak these words over our families, let us remind them of the generations of faith that have gone on before us. “Lord God, you have been faithful to my ...

Hosea 10-12; Psalms 73; Hebrews 4 “Ephraim boasts, ‘I am very rich; I have become wealthy. With all my wealth they will not find in me any iniquity or sin.’” Hosea 12:8 “Who have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.” Psalm 73:25, 26 Wealth easily deceives us. We always know others with more wealth than ourselves. Somehow, our wealth is never enough to make us secure about our future or to give us joy. Wealth blinds us to our sin and our need for God. Compared to the rest of the world, all westerners are wealthy. When we interact with our brothers and sisters globally, our wealth gives us favour and can blind us to our pride and spiritual poverty. Yet the psalmist reminds us that eternity changes the equation. In heaven it is God not wealth that matters. When our health fails and we can’t enjoy our wealth, we are reminded that only our relationship with God will last f...

Hosea 6-9; Hebrews 3 So, as the Holy Spirit says: ’Today, if you hear his voice, do not harden your hearts as you did in the rebellion, during the time of testing in the desert,…So I declared on oath in my anger, ‘They shall never enter my rest.’” Hebrews 3:7, 8, 12 Why is it so important to listen to the Word and obey? If we don’t learn to listen and obey, we will not experience the rest of God in our lives. Rest isn’t found with extra vacation days, a better house, a nice beach, or a spa treatment. Rest for our souls comes from the peace and presence of God our Creator, indwelling us by his Spirit. When we obey the conviction or promptings of the Spirit, we experience the inner pleasure of God’s presence. When we listen to and obey God’s Word, we learn to walk in God’s ways which are righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. Are we living in rest? “Lord Jesus, you are my peace and rest. I will listen to and obey you, for your glory.”

Hosea 2-5; Hebrews 2   “’Their deeds do not permit them to return to their God. A spirit of prostitution is in their heart; they do not acknowledge the Lord. Israel’s arrogance testifies against them;…’” Hosea 5:4, 5 “In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting that God, for whom and through whom everything exists, should make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering. Both the one who makes holy and those who are made holy are of the same family…” Hebrews 2:10, 11 A spirit of prostitution is still leading many of God’s people astray. Pride and arrogance keep us from confessing our sins and finding freedom. Yet, it was for this spiritual war that Jesus suffered so we could be free. The process of recognizing we are under the influence of a spirit of prostitution, repenting for our lust, pride, and fear, resisting this spiritual power in the name of Jesus Christ, and then actively renewing our minds – all of these steps are what the writer of Hebrews calls “being ma...

2 Kings 15,16; Hosea 1; 1 Hebrews 1   “So he became as much superior to the angels as the name he has inherited is superior to theirs. For to which of the angels did God ever say, ‘You are my Son; today I have become your Father’? Or again, ‘I will be his Father, and he will be my Son.’?” Hebrews 1:4-6 Jesus has been given a name above every other name and that name carries with it authority. Those adopted into God’s family are called sons and daughters, brothers and sisters of Christ. We, too, have been given God’s name to establish our identity and authority in his kingdom. We have been baptized into the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. This new identity in Christ must transform us from any other identity we carried prior to knowing Christ. Our spiritual authority has been given to us by our Father and is essential in resisting Satan and his temptations, lies, and deceptions. Do we know our name in God’s family? Are we living into our new identity as sons and dau...

Isaiah 6,7; 2 Chronicles 26,27; Philemon   “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord, seated on a throne, high and exalted; and the train of his robe filled the temple…And they were calling to one another: Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.’” Isaiah 6:1, 3 Isaiah saw the Lord Almighty, seated on a throne, with a robe that filled the temple. Do we desire to see the Lord? The angels in God’s presence were calling out, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory.” Without holiness no one will see the Lord. It is Jesus and his atonement for us that makes us holy. It is the Holy Spirit within us who are saved, who sanctifies us and calls us to repentance. Peter the apostle saw the Lord and his own sinfulness in Jesus’ presence. He later wrote, “But just as he who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do; for it is written: ‘Be holy, because I am holy’” (1 Peter 1:15, 16). Those who want to see God, p...

Isaiah 4,5; Psalms 115,116; Jude   “The cords of death entangled me, the anguish of the grave came upon me; I was overcome by trouble and sorrow. Then I called on the name of the Lord; ‘O Lord, save me!’ The Lord is gracious and righteous; our God is full of compassion. The Lord protects the simplehearted; when I was in great need, he saved me. Be at rest once more, O my soul, for the Lord has been good to you.’” Psalm 116:3-7 The Psalmist described depression, distress, and sorrow to the point of fearing for his life. In the lowest place, he cried out to the Lord to save him and his testimony is of God’s compassion and grace drawing near to him. How do we respond when the pressures of life seem too great to bear? Where do we turn? Do we cry out to the Lord, “Save me!”? The result of the intervention by the Lord in the Psalmist’s life was rest for his soul. He experienced the goodness of the Lord in lifting the weight of anxiety, fear, and death from his soul. That is a testimony w...

Isaiah 1-3; Titus 3   “In the last days the mountain of the Lord’s temple will be established as chief among mountains; it will be raised above the hills and all nations will stream to it. Many peoples will come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob. He will teach us his ways, so that we may walk in his paths…Come, O house of Jacob, let us walk in the light of the Lord.’” Isaiah 2:2, 3, 5 Jesus called out the moneychangers for desecrating the temple because it was to be a house of prayer for all nations. At Pentecost, many nations were present and received the gift of the Holy Spirit, the living presence of God. Paul described the body of each disciple as a temple of the Holy Spirit. Collectively, we, the Church, are a temple that God indwells by his Spirit (Ephesians 2:21). Are we living in the ways of God so that the nations are drawn to the light of the Lord and his ways of peace? When the Church quarrels and fights we lose ou...