No nation becomes truly great unless its people are godly. A nation begins its fall from greatness when its leaders start to justify sinful actions on the basis of it being in the nation’s interest. Once that is accepted it is only a matter of time until sinful actions are justified on the basis of it being “in my interest”. Once the people of the nation start accepting sinful actions in their leaders because those actions are in their own interest, the nation is doomed. Godliness is not something that can be imparted by changing the laws. Only the work of the Holy Spirit can change people so that they seek to live a godly life. I do not seek for the United States to be a great nation. I seek for my neighbors to know the Lord, and thus lead godly lives.
It has been awhile since I saw a theme running through more than one of the passages I read in a day, but today I am doing so with this psalm following the proverb I just finished writing about. The psalmist pointed out how the downfall of the people of Israel resulted from their adopting the evil customs and practices of the pagans among whom they lived. In the same way the downfall of the Church in America has been a result of us adopting the evil customs and practices of the society around us. He speaks of sacrificing their sons and daughters to the demons, something that is all too common in the U.S..
If the Christians of this nation will not hold themselves to a standard of godly behavior, how can we hope to convince others to come to know the Lord? The issues that matter (abortion, sexual immorality, integrity, etc) are not about the laws of the land. They are about the behavior of individuals. Let us behave in a godly manner, and call those around us to do likewise by our example more than by our words. When we teach and preach against immoral, sinful behavior we should make it clear that we are directing our words to those who are seeking to follow Christ.
My first thought when I read this was that the theme I found in the proverb and the psalms was not continued here. That is partially true, but there is a related theme here. The people crossed the Sea of Galilee looking for Jesus because He had fed them. When they found Jesus He told them they should be more concerned with spiritual food than with material food.
All too often we follow leaders who promise to advance our interests in the material world. When we believe that such leaders will deliver on such promises we are often willing to follow them even when their behavior is selfish and advances their interest at the expense of others. Rather than follow such leaders we should follow leaders who sacrifice their own interests in order to advance our spiritual interests. The leaders who we should follow do not offer to give us anything except God’s work to do.
When Samuel got old he appointed his sons as judges over Israel in his place. Unfortunately, rather than follow their father’s example they used their position to advance their own interests and accepted bribes to render judgments. The leaders of Israel decided that the answer was to select a king who would found a dynasty. Rather than a spiritual leader, such as Samuel, who called them to follow God’s commands they wanted a military leader. They no longer wanted their security and material interests to depend on God, which meant remaining faithful to God. They desired a king, a military leader, who would be responsible for their security and material well-being.
There are two ways to read the first of today’s proverbs, both are correct. It can be read to mean that a nation will become great if its people and government act in a godly fashion. There is truth to this. However, it can also be read to mean that the true measure of whether a nation is great is the degree which its people and government act in a godly way. This is definitely true. Let us not seek for our nation to wield power in the world. Rather, let us seek for the people of our nation to act in a godly fashion. If the people act in a godly way, the government will follow.
The psalm recounts how the people of Israel, time after time, rebelled against God and did evil. The part that strikes me as standing in judgement against us today is this:
They even sacrificed their sons
and their daughters to the demons.
They shed innocent blood,
the blood of their sons and daughters.
It makes me want to cry to consider the degree to which people of our nation do the same through the practice of abortion. Killing their sons and daughters on the altar of convenience.
Jesus told us that we should spend our energy seeking after the things of God, rather than seeking after food which perishes. When the crowd asked Him what to do in order to perform God’s works, Jesus told them to believe in the one God sent. In response the crowd wanted Jesus to perform yet another miraculous sign. This was despite having witnessed Him feeding the 5,000 the day before and the fact that Jesus crossed the lake ahead of them without getting on a boat. They gave Jesus the example of Moses giving the people of Israel manna in the wilderness. Jesus pointed out that it was not Moses who gave the manna, but rather God who did so.
Those who come to Jesus will receive the bread of life, which is Jesus Himself. God will give those who truly seek Him to Jesus and Jesus promises that He will never reject any who come to Him truly seeking to serve God. Let us expend our energy seeking the bread of life. Let us believe in Jesus and act on that belief. He will never reject us. Others may reject us and hold us in contempt, but Jesus will never do so.
As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons to act as judges over Israel. His sons, like those of Eli before him, were corrupt and used their position for their own benefit. Samuel’s sons served themselves rather than serving the people of Israel. I had never noticed before, but Samuel was no better of a father to his sons than Eli had been to his sons before him. It was Samuel’s failure to raise godly sons to follow after him which led the people of Israel to ask for a king. This story is such a classic example of people taking the wrong lesson from their experiences. What made the people of Israel think that a king would have a son who would make a good successor when their last two leaders had sons who abused their authority?
In today’s passage we have the people of Israel rejecting God as their king, desiring instead to have a human king so that they can be like the people around them. To what degree do we as Christians seek to have a human king (our government) do the things that God has tasked us to do as His servants? Do we strive to get laws passed to coerce people to follow God’s commands rather than relying on His Spirit to change their hearts so that they desire to do His will? Do I act as if God is my king, to whom I owe total fealty?
I have been using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study for almost a year. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I started writing this blog because the only way I can get myself to read the Bible everyday is to pretend that I am teaching someone about what it says to me. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them. I hope that the Spirit is moving in others through these posts as the Spirit has definitely been convicting me.
As Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons as judges over Israel. However, his sons were greedy and accepted bribes to pervert justice. This led the leaders of Israel to come to Samuel to ask him to appoint a king over Israel, so that they could be like other nations. Samuel was unhappy about this request and sought the Lord’s guidance about how to respond. God answered Samuel that the request was not a rejection of Samuel, but a rejection of God as their king. God told Samuel to do as they ask, but to warn them about how a king would rule over them. Samuel then tells the people of Israel that a king will take their freedom from them, taking the best for his own use (the best people, the best land, the best produce, etc).
When I read this I am struck by how often we as Christians in democratic nations have chosen to turn to the government to address problems that we should turn to God to deal with. We, like the Israelites, are seeking a king to lead us rather than accepting God as our King. In the same way as Samuel warned the Israelites, when we ask the government to take on roles beyond those ordained for it by God, we subject ourselves to restrictions on our liberty. When we ask the government to care for the poor, we are rejecting God as our king and His call for us to do that ourselves. When we as Christians get involved in politics and attempt to get laws passed to force our non-Christian neighbors to follow God’s commands, we are rejecting God as king and His call for us to bring His transforming Spirit to our neighbors so that they will choose of their own free will to follow His commands. In what ways am I rejecting God as my king? There is one last piece to the Israelites request for a king. They wanted a king in order to be like everyone else. Am I willing to be different and have only God as my king?
The passage goes on to tell the story of how the Lord led Saul to meet Samuel. The story is a classic example of how God uses the mundane events of our lives to guide us to the place He wants us to be at the time He wants us to be there.
Another shot of the redbud on the edge of the woods
In the morning the crowd that Jesus had fed realized that Jesus was not there any longer, even though they knew that He had not gotten into the boat with His disciples. So, they crossed over the lake to Capernaum to look for Him. When they found Him, they asked when He had gotten there. Jesus responded that they were looking for Him, not because they understood His message, but because He had fed them. He told them (and us) that they should not put so much effort into things which will perish, rather they should focus on things which would endure. We should focus on that which feeds our spirits eternal life.
The people responded that they wished to perform the works of God and asked Jesus what they needed to do in order to do so? Jesus answered that God desired that they believe in the one He has sent. The crowd clearly understood that Jesus was saying that He was the one that God had sent because they asked Him for a sign that He was indeed the one sent by God. I find it very interesting that they use the Exodus story of the manna from heaven to justify their demand for a sign, the day after Jesus had miraculously provided food for them.
Jesus then tells them that it was not Moses who gave them bread from heaven, but God the Father. He goes on to say that now God is offering them the bread of God which gives life to the world. The crowd immediately asked Jesus to give them this bread all the time. To which Jesus replies that He is the bread of life. Those who come to Him will never be hungry, those who believe in Him will never be thirsty. He then tells them that they do not believe in Him, even though they have seen Him. But those whom the Father has given to Him will come to Him and He will not reject them. Jesus said that He had come down from heaven to do the will of God. It is the Father’s will that all who see the Son and believe in Him have eternal life. When Jesus said this the people began to mutter, “How can this be? We know his father and mother.”
How often do we reject something as being from God because we know the back story? Do we see how God is working through the mundane events in our life, or do we dismiss that as being merely coincidence? When someone tells us that God has shown them some revelation we would rather not hear, do we dismiss it because we know their background>
As I continue reading Psalm 106 today, the psalmist continues to talk about how the people of Israel sinned against God repeatedly, yet every time they cried out to Him He rescued them. In this section the psalmist tells us that the people worshiped idols, going so far as to sacrifice their sons and daughters to those idols; that they shed innocent blood. He goes on to tell us that because of this God’s anger burned against His people. Whenever I read such passages I cannot help but think of abortion in the United States. If God’s anger burned against His chosen people for sacrificing their innocent children to their idols, how much more will His anger burn against us for sacrificing our children to our idols? Abortion is infanticide. Our society sacrifices over one million innocent babies a year on the altars of the gods we worship (convenience, self interest, materialism, the list goes on). How long will God withhold His judgment for the shedding of innocent blood? How long will we as Christians turn to an earthly king (our government) to stop this evil before we turn to the King whom we claim to serve? The answer to stopping abortion is not earthly laws making it illegal. The answer is the Spirit of God moving in people’s hearts to change the way they view the world.
Despite their many sins, the psalmist tells us that when the people of God turned back to Him, He heard their cries and delivered them. It is not too late for us to repent of our sins, both as individuals and as a nation, and turn back to God. If we repent of our sins and turn to Him, He will hear our cry and redeem us. I will praise His name for He has redeemed me? Are you willing to serve Him, and Him alone, as your king?
What more can I say? This proverb fits right into what I wrote about the psalm. The only true measure of a nation’s greatness is its godliness. Greatness is not measured by military might, nor is it measured by wealth. True greatness is measured by how closely a person or nation heeds the will of God. Such behavior cannot be enforced by laws, but only by the choice of each individual who composes that nation to strive to do God’s will. Am I striving to do God’s will in all aspects of my life? Do I spend enough time listening to His commands?
If God is my king, as I say He is, am I a wise servant who causes Him to rejoice? Or am I a servant who brings disgrace to His name?
When Samuel got old, he had a similar problem to that of the man who raised him, Eli. His sons were not godly men as they began to take over for him. As a result the people of Israel came to Samuel and requested that he anoint them a king to take care of them. Samuel warns them that if they crown a king to take care of them, he will take away their freedoms. Samuel tells them that the king will take the best of everything and either keep it for himself or give it to his friends. The people demand that Samuel give them a king to take care of them anyway. It is amazing how much Samuel’s warning to Israel about what a king would demand reflects what happens whenever people demand that the government take care of them. The story then goes on to tell us how Saul was selected as king. While we are told that God selected him, we are also told that he was the most handsome man in Israel and that he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. Again, notice how similar that description is to that of a successful Presidential candidate. We, as humans, often select our leaders on superficial characteristics rather on those that would make good leaders of the people. God often grants the wishes of people to be ruled over by handsome and impressive people who are otherwise shallow in order to show people that they should put a higher priority on other characteristics. And just like the Israelites of old, we today are often slow learners.
This passage is perhaps one of the strongest condemnations of prosperity theology there is in the Bible. Prosperity theology says that if you believe, you will receive material blessings. Here Jesus condemns the people because they are following Him merely because He fed them (gave them a material blessing), not because they understood the meaning of His miracles. Jesus goes on to say that we should be more concerned about eternal things than we are about material things that will perish. The people replied that they wanted to do God’s works and asked what they should do to do so. Jesus replied by telling them that they should believe in Him. The people then demanded a miraculous sign like Moses providing manna in the wilderness. Jesus then tells them that Moses did not provide the manna, it was provided by God. He goes on to tell them that God is now providing the bread of life and that He is the bread of life. When the people finally understand that He is not talking about some literal bread that they can eat, but about following Him and serving God, they start to mutter among themselves, “Who does he think he is? We know his parents and they aren’t anybody special.” This is something we all do, when we don’t like the message, we start to attack the messenger. We try to make it seem that the messenger can’t possibly be right when we know in our heart of hearts that the message is from God (even though He sometimes uses unworthy vessels to deliver His word to us).
The psalmist continues with his recounting of the ways which the people of Israel rebelled against God’s commands. He spends quite a bit of time talking about how sacrificed their children to the gods of their neighbors and how this caused the Lord’s anger to burn against them. When I read this psalm I cannot help but think that God’s anger is burning against this country because of the way we are sacrificing our children on the altar of convenience in the name of “choice”. God has made His judgement clear about those who will sacrifice their children for their own betterment and abortion is sacrificing a child. The psalmist is writing from a time when the people have suffered God’s judgement and have come back to worshiping Him. The psalmist ends by petitioning God to restore His people and calling on those people to rejoice and praise the Lord. As we choose to be faithful to God and rejoice in His goodness and praise Him, we will be a witness to those around us who are enslaved to the idols of this world.
This proverb tells us that godliness makes a nation great and sin is a disgrace to any people. What happens when a people is no longer ashamed of sin? When people become proud of their sinfulness? To me the answer is obvious, it is only a matter of time until tragedy strikes.
