Welcome Strangers

(2Ch 6:32 KJV)  Moreover concerning the stranger, which is not of thy people Israel, but is come from a far country for thy great name's sake, and thy mighty hand, and thy stretched out arm; if they come and pray in this house;
(2Ch 6:33 KJV)  Then hear thou from the heavens, even from thy dwelling place, and do according to all that the stranger calleth to thee for; that all people of the earth may know thy name, and fear thee, as doth thy people Israel, and may know that this house which I have built is called by thy name.

(Proberbs 5 also read)

The “stranger” mentioned here is a foreigner.  It is someone who is not of Israel.  It is a Gentile.  The historical context here is the dedication of the temple.  It is the glory days of Israel.  It will never get any better.  Israel is God’s chosen people.  In the midst of that there is a clear statement that God will pay attention to the prayers of the Gentiles.

When it came to celebrating the Passover there was a different standard,

(Exo 12:48 KJV)  And when a stranger shall sojourn with thee, and will keep the passover to the LORD, let all his males be circumcised, and then let him come near and keep it; and he shall be as one that is born in the land: for no uncircumcised person shall eat thereof.

Keep in mind that the original temple did not have the outer court of the Gentiles and court of the women.  Access was more direct but it seems to have been possible.  

An Inclusive Word

(Psa 118:4 KJV)  Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

(Proverbs 21 also read)

There are people who claim that since Psalms was written to the Jews it has no application in our lives today and does not speak to us.  To that I say, “It may have been written to the Jews but it is written for us.”   That takes nothing away from God speaking to Israel.  It just expresses a larger view of God and His word.

Why say that here?  If you look back at the previous verses you will see that first the author speaks to the house of Israel and then to the house of Aaron.  He then extends the promise to everyone who fears the Lord.  That includes me.  I assume it includes you.

So?  Read your Old Testament.  Understand what God was saying to Israel.  Do some more thinking and embrace what He is saying to you.  

Counter Culture

Psalm 119:63 (KJV) I am a companion of all them that fear thee, and of them that keep thy precepts.

(Proverbs 10 also read)

This is a good reminder of what we should look for in others and demonstrate in ourselves.  In a time of divisive politics that sort us by superficial characteristics, we need to remember that what we believe and whom we obey should define whom we consider brothers.

God’s people are not divided by physical traits or social declarations.  We are either part of the body of Christ or we are not.  Our brothers are people who fear God and act like it.

So?  I may not like the spices in your food but I embrace the savor of your soul.  

What Is Modified

Psalm 47:9 (KJV) The princes of the people are gathered together, even the people of the God of Abraham: for the shields of the earth belong unto God: he is greatly exalted.

(Proverbs 27 also read)

My first reading put Israel into the driver’s seat but on reading it again I promoted God Himself.  Notice it is not the people of Abraham but the people of his God.

To a Jew in the days this was written this would be assumed to be the DNA descendants of Abraham.  Paul gives us more insight for today.

Galatians 3:29 (KJV) And if ye be Christ's, then are ye Abraham's seed, and heirs according to the promise.

So?  I think there is ample evidence when you put the whole Bible to the test to say that many of the promises that seem to be given originally to Israel have been inherited by the body of Christ.  

There Will Be Pruning

Psalm 37:22 (KJV) For such as be blessed of him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of him shall be cut off.

(Proverbs 23 also read)

I am in constant dialogue with a friend who is big on eschatology and has charts and graphs to prove his position.  All I have to respond with is the consistent word of scripture.  This is one example that you find saturating this chapter and sprinkled through the rest of the Bible.

There are two groups mentioned here.  In reality they are one group with two destinies.  Both the “blessed” and the “cut off” are part of genetic Israel.  Both groups are descendants of Abraham and Jacob.  Even here in the days of David the point is being made that the people of God are not a DNA module but a spiritual body.

So?  It does not matter if you were born a Jew.  It does not matter if you were born with a Christian silver spoon in your mouth.  What matters is whether you respond in faith and obedience to the one who is writing in the book of life.  

No Trade Imbalance

Proverbs 22:2 (KJV) The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.

One of the core values, or principles, of the kingdom of God is that we all stand on level ground in front of the cross.  There is a sense in which none of us is better than anyone else.  This is one of the core things about Christian culture, it gives humans dignity because we have value in the eyes of God.  We are all made by Him.

At the same time, the Bible acknowledges that there are rich and poor.  It acknowledges that there are kings and nobles, as well as workers and slaves.  We should not get into denying that kind of thing.  The point isn’t that there are not people with different abilities in different positions in society, the point is that we are to treat each other with a dignity that you don’t find in other cultures.

So?  You may be a CEO.  I may be flipping hamburgers.  When we meet in Bible study, we salute each other as brothers and move forward together, each one contributing what is unique in the gifts God has given them.  

That Is Us

Psalm 102:18 (KJV) This shall be written for the generation to come: and the people which shall be created shall praise the LORD.

I have a friend who claims that Jesus only came for the Jews, and only died for the Jews.  He would probably say that the church was never found in the Old Testament.  I’m willing to guess that he either never read this verse, or he read it with blinders on.

This is a promise found back in the days of ancient Israel.  God is saying that He is going to create a new people.  That would be the church, the body of Christ, the believers of today.

So?  Are you part of that new nation?  Are you a part of those which are going to be made and which have already been made?  If not, you are welcome to become apart.

Vistas of Worship

Psalms 26:8 (KJV) LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

(Proverbs 25 also read)

We hear people talk about how they don’t need to go to church in order to worship.  That is one of those statements that is totally correct in it’s details and facts and yet totally wrong in it’s intent and attitude.  When I’ve heard people say this, they generally are people who do not want to submit themselves to any other spiritual authority and so they avoid the church.  Sometimes the problem is that the church has gotten so culturally compliant that it no longer seems to be a place to worship.  I can understand that.

Here we have David who does not yet have a temple to worship in but he does have a location which is looked at as being the house of God.  He loved that location and you pick up part of the reason in the second part of the verse.  He talks about the place where God’s honor dwells.  The modern translation says glory instead of honor.  When we go to church to worship, we should understand that we are going there because it is a place that God has ordained to meet Him.  His honor dwells there.

But I think there’s a second thought here, which goes along with the original people we were talking about.  There are many places there you can go and recognize God’s glory as being there.  I think of my front porch in the morning as I worship before dawn.  I can think of many other locations where I’ve been where it is easy to worship God.  Often that is out in nature somewhere.  Sometimes it’s the most unexpected places, but God is there.

So?  Realize that you can honor God almost anywhere by focusing on Him.  His radiance and glory are powerful enough to overcome any obstacles.  

Group Effort

(Psa 54:4 KJV)  Behold, God is mine helper: the Lord is with them that uphold my soul.

(Proverbs 19 also read)

Several of the translations I looked at phrase the second half of this as “the Lord upholds my soul”.  Both the KJV and the NASB have this idea.  The KJV and a few others translate it as a group effort.

I know we look to God as the source of our salvation.  He is the ultimate source.  He is what we might call the Prime Mover.  And yet this points out that He uses other people in lifting us up and making us strong.

It is a group effort to “uphold” us.  This is partly why we are involved in the church.  This is why we have family and friends.  This is why we reach out to others.  They reach out to us.  We support them.  They support us.

So?  If you are not involved, at least on weekly worship in the church, then you need to look to your priorities, and seriously ask yourself how you’re doing.  Remember it’s not a crutch if you really need it.  It is a source of strength and mobility. 

God’s House

Psalm 26:8 (KJV) LORD, I have loved the habitation of thy house, and the place where thine honour dwelleth.

(Proverbs 26 also read)

I think we can assume that David is talking about the tabernacle here when he mentions God‘s house.  I wonder if there is a relation between the word “habitation” (4583), and the word having to do with abide.  This tells us that being in God’s house on a regular basis should be a joy.

Obviously, this is not written to us today specifically.  It was written in the days of ancient Israel. And yet the principal is the same.  For us today we would think of our church as God’s house.  It’s not the same as the tabernacle or temple.  We do not have an altar with sacrifices made or different courts in which different people can come into.  We do not have eternal flames, and all the other accoutrements of the Jewish worship . But it is still considered and thought of as God’s house.

So?  Make it a habit to be there.  Make it a special place.  Use the atmosphere as a help for focusing on God and worshiping Him.  I love abiding in a building set apart specifically for his worship. 

Narrow Focus

Psalm 21:8 (KJV) Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies: thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee.

(Proverbs 22 also read)

Usually when I read through this verse, I think of God’s enemies as being the nations outside of Israel.  To us today this would be all those servants of Satan, who are outside the church and who are working to destroy the church.  But then I began thinking about some of the other reading I’ve been doing this past month in the book of Leviticus, and a parallel passage in Deuteronomy.

I believe it’s Leviticus chapter 26 that talks about how God will bless those who are obedient, and then, in a much longer passage tells about how He will punish those who are disobedient.  He goes through verse after verse, scenario after scenario, time after time, where the disobedience of Israel brings them to destruction.  By the time you get to the end of the chapter, you wonder if they were going to be any Jews left alive to make up the nation of Israel.

The point I’m making is that often God finds His enemies within.  He doesn’t need to look outside.  There are enough people who attend church on a regular basis, who refused to bend their knee, who insist on going their own way, and to put God into a subservient servant mode, deserve them, and to produce what they want.

These are the enemies of God.

So?  Evangelism is important.  We are called to go into the world.  Revival is probably more important because if we bring in new believers and they are polluted by the refuse sitting in the pews, then what have we gained? 

Known Without Knowing

(Psa 138:6 KJV)  Though the LORD be high, yet hath he respect unto the lowly: but the proud he knoweth afar off.

Recently, our pastor took some new members into the church.  At one point he talked about now that they were members they had not only the responsibilities, but the privileges of the church.  I hear that kind of talk at times and I wonder just what privileges are they talking about?  The privilege of giving a 10th of my income?  The privilege of coming to work days?  The privilege of serving in the nursery when the attendant doesn’t show up?

Probably the greatest privilege that we know as Christians is knowing God.  It can be a very personal and fulfilling relationship.  What makes it so worthwhile is not just that we can know Him, but that He knows us.  This verse points that out in a kind of backhanded way.  He says that the proud, or arrogant, he knows from a far off.

So?  Do you know God close up?  Is He intimate with you?  If He is far off, if you can’t seem to reach Him, there’s a very good possibility that you are one of those that are called proud.  There are other words for that, such as puffed up, fill in the blank, but God is trying to reach you, as the song says “humble yourself in the sight of the Lord and He will lift you up”. 

Face It

(Pro 27:23 KJV)  Be thou diligent to know the state of thy flocks, and look well to thy herds.

My eyes were drawn to the marginal readings of this verse.  The word “condition” (6440) seems pretty straightforward but the margin says it literally means “face”.  We have run into this before.  

(Pro 24:23 KJV)  These things also belong to the wise. It is not good to have respect of persons (6440) in judgment.

In the other references it is a negative application.  We are not to give special preference because of class or income.  Here it is a positive instruction.  It is the personal touch in managing our life.  This might be a caution in the age of working from home, social media and attending church on zoom.  Those activities in themselves are not evil.  The caution is that we are not to lose the personal touch that is best done face to face.

So?  Keep thinking and applying God’s principles.  Stay involved with family, friends, neighbors and other contacts.

Layers of Comfort

(Mat 5:4 KJV)  Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

(Proverbs 17 also read)

On Wednesday night the pastor is doing a study in Matthew.  He came to the Sermon on the Mount and was working through the Beatitudes.  On this verse he made some generic statement about how God will “comfort” (3870) [parakalew] us when we go through a loss.  Okay, but that word comfort stirred a number of thoughts in me.  

First I wondered if that was the same word used for “Comforter” (KJV) or “Helper” (NASB) as a name for the Holy Spirit in John.  One of the middle agers had an app on his phone and said, “Yes.”  I was glad to see my suspicions were correct and sad that the connection never occurred to the pastor.  

Second, I remembered a passage I had once memorized but now was escaping me.  It turns out it is the same word,

(2Co 1:3 KJV)  Blessed be God, even the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort;
(2Co 1:4 KJV)  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.

The idea is expanded further.

So?  When we have reason to mourn we need to be aware of the promise of the Holy Spirit.  In addition, I think we as believers are called to comfort and support each other in a crisis or loss.  It is how the Body of Christ is to work.  Trust the Comforter.  Be a comforter. 

Withdrawal

(Pro 5:12 KJV)  And say, How have I hated instruction, and my heart despised reproof;

I have some friends who have withdrawn from the church.  They don’t just spurn a specific local church but the church in general.  I can’t say that I blame them.  I feel that the church has lost its edge, its message.  The church has conformed to the age and is a reflection of the world.  It is a mirror rather than a beacon on a hill.

And yet the emphasis of this verse and the rest of the chapter is on our responsibility.  I suggest that we as believers have balked at instruction when it was too demanding.  I think we have been guilty of rationalizing our positions and refusing to listen to the hard words.  Where would the church be if we had responded to those pastors who spoke difficult truth and encouraged them to push harder?

So?  Find a church that offends you because it is too literal.  They are out there but you have to seek them.  You will be disappointed that they will be smaller and you might be expected to step up to the plate in serving instead of having great programs provided for you.  Strange how that works. 

United State

(Pro 22:2 KJV)  The rich and poor meet together: the LORD is the maker of them all.

Two kinds of people, the “rich” (6223) and the “poor” (7326).  There is much that divides them.  I find it amusing and enraging when I hear about the need to tax the rich.  What these people mean is to tax everyone that makes a little more than they do but only if they are not part of the inner group that knows how to use tax loopholes.  At the other end you see people acting like they care about the poor and everything they do assures that the poor will remain poor.  We live in a day of identity politics that is designed to divide us.

The message God has for us is that He made all of us.  That means we cannot hate or attack people who are different from us just because they are different from us.  Here it is the rich and the poor.  Other places the brotherhood is expanded.

(Gal 3:28 KJV)  There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.

We are told in both the Old and New Testaments to be kind to our enemies.  

So?  This is the world God wants us to achieve.  Don’t buy into the political attitudes that are designed to lift up one superficial characteristic at the expense of the Body of Christ.  In the verses looked at today you see plenty of categories to be aware of.  I am sure that your thinking, praying and studying can supply more. 

Measuring Sticks

(Pro 12:5 KJV)  The thoughts of the righteous are right: but the counsels of the wicked are deceit.

Two types of people; two different measuring sticks.  This points out to us why it is important for us to consider the spiritual foundations of people and organizations.  I could make quite a list of companies, charities, universities and such that were started by “righteous” (6662) individuals or groups and have since been taken over by the “wicked” (7563).  With that change the entire direction of the organization has changed.  

The same can be said for churches.  Look at the history of the Methodist church.  It developed from the tendency of John Wesley to organize his followers into methodical classes for personal development.  He remained in the Church of England all his life and encouraged the people he preached to to do the same.  Eventually their spiritual stands drew them out and you have a solid, Bible based denomination come together.  Then the liberals took over and today the United Methodist Church as an organization has abandoned any claim to be the body of Christ.  There are still those in it who are true believers but the struggle is being won by those who are deceitful about what the Bible teaches.

So?  We are responsible to be righteous ourselves.  We are also responsible to put our resources behind those who are righteous.  We don’t like it but we probably don’t like the idea of Hell either.

Called Out, Not Conformed

(Pro 28:4 KJV)  They that forsake the law praise the wicked: but such as keep the law contend with them.

There are many things I hear from Christians that do not match the world I am watching.  One of them is the claim that the church is rejected by the world because it is not loving enough.  This is a lie in the first place because if you look at the efforts in the world to help the down and out, most of them started with Christians.  That is historical fact but the world around us ignores any history that does not fit the modern Satanic meme.  I expect the world to be this way.

I also hear this coming from people inside the church.  We have a way of mimicking the world and its mantras rather than proclaiming truth.  In my mind the reason the church is being abandoned is that the church has abandoned the truth of the Bible and is trying to out do the world in entertainment and sensual offerings.  We list out catchy phrases like “God is love” and ignore the way in which the multitudes turned away from Jesus because His message was too hard.  Yes, God is love.  That is true but it loses its meaning when you ignore the meaning of love and the other statements about who God is.

So?  We are salt.  We are losing our savor.  God will resurrect the called out ones but would it not be better for us if we because part of that calling? 

Applied Patience

(Pro 24:15 KJV) Lay not wait, O wicked man, against the dwelling of the righteous; spoil not his resting place:

You would think this does not apply to believers and I would hope that would be the case.  The problem is that we sometimes get upset with our brothers in Christ and go too far in dealing with it.  

(1Co 6:7 KJV) Now therefore there is utterly a fault among you, because ye go to law one with another. Why do ye not rather take wrong? why do ye not rather suffer yourselves to be defrauded?

And Jesus laid down some guidelines in Matthew 18:15.  You start by going to the person who has wronged you, then you take witnesses and only after that do you go public.

So?  We need to handle each other with kid gloves.  I know that when I am feeling offended and put upon it helps me to remember how much patience God has with me. 

Lone Wolf Listening

Proverbs 20:18  Every purpose is established by counsel: and with good advice make war.

This is one that hits me where it hurts.  I am an introvert.  I am a loner.  I can get along with people.  I can function in a group.  I can have fun when surrounded by others.  But I am at heart a lone wolf.  I would rather think things through on my own than consult with anyone. 

The word is used ten times in Proverbs.  As I started reading through the verses I thought I saw a pattern that the counsel was from God.  That would give me an excuse not to listen to others but it was only clearly God’s counsel four times.  It seems that other believers might have something to say.

So?  It seems like I will need to learn to listen.  Sometimes that will be face to face.  Sometimes it will be listening to the preacher.  Sometimes I will listen when I read the Bible or the writing of other saints.  I will always be an introvert but I must also be a listener.