Friday, July 3, 2009

To forsake or not to forsake

Since I began to read the book of Hosea it has given me some problems because it does not read out anything like I imagined it would but finally, in chapter 5 maybe I've made some connections so here goes!

Here it is again, one of those things I just don't understand, that offends my sensibilities.  I think though, I am beginning to understand at least a little.  God is punishing Israel, or foretelling their punishment at least (I'm not quite sure which it is!). Because even though He loves His children, and is faithful to forgive when we truly repent, punishment of some kind is still needed. A child will never learn if their parents never let them know the consequences of their actions, at least to an extent. 
Here's what got me again though: vs. 6 - "They shall go with their flocks and with their herds to seek the Lord; but they shall not find Him, He hath withdrawn Himself from them."
I asked God, how could the never-changing God that promises to never leave or forsake us do just that? Miraculously He's answered me! Because didn't He do just that to His own Son, Yeshua, who lived a sinless life while he was dying on the cross for all humanity? Didn't Christ cry out "Why have You forsaken me?"
It's because at that moment, he had all the sin of the world on him and God could not look at that sin.  (Now, God does not see our sin He sees Christ, and before Christ, the sacrifices made, etc.) Now, Israel has committed so much sin that maybe God can't look at them?
Maybe the reason God will not be found at first in these troubling times is because Israel's not truly repenting, they just want His help. Because He does promise that He will be found when they "acknowledge their offense" (vs. 15) And when they realize that God is the one that was punishing them, but He'd also be their healer (6:1).
And lastly, maybe, just maybe, though these were God's chosen people, they didn't actually belong to Him because they weren't following Him? Maybe they were not "saved" at the time He turned away, and that's why He was able to. If you think about it, His promise that He'll never leave or forsake us, is to His followers, those that are "saved."
Maybe I have no clue what I'm talking about, but that all makes sense to me. 



* I put the word saved in parenthesis because when people talk about salvation, they usually think of when Christ died on the cross. However, this had not taken place at this time. The Bible does make it clear though, that people were "saved" before Yeshua even took his first breath on earth though.

Sunday, April 19, 2009

Like Father Like Son

So here I am a few chapters later in Genesis saying "what the heck God." Maybe I missed the point completely with my last blog so here we go again. Here it is, six chapters and quite a few years later in Genesis 26. Abraham has died and gone to be with the Lord and now we're dealing with his son Isaac.
Now there's a famine going on, and God tells Isaac to move so he will be taken care of. Well of course Isaac's going to listen, I mean God's telling him where to find food...and food's just a little bit imporant to life I would say. God told him not to go to Egypt, simple enough request so Isaac goes back to Gerar where Abraham had gone in chapter 20! Exciting stuff, King Abimelech is still around and what does Isaac tell everyone in the land? You'll never guess, he says "Rebekkah (his wife) is my sister." Good job Isaac, good job!
This time King Abimelech's got some wisdom on him and when he sees Rebekkah one day he goes to Isaac and pretty much says "Why did you tell us she's your sister? She's hot! What if a man would have slept with her? You would have made us guilty!!" Here's what's funny, Isaac tells him, "I was scared someone would kill me for her." Well here's an epic fail, like father, like son. God tells him He'll protect him if he stays in this land, and even says He'll bless him and Isaac is scared and lost faith for a while.
Well once all of this is straightened out we get to verses 12-14 "Now Isaac sowed in that land and reaped in the same year a hundredfold. And the LORD blessed him, and the man became rich, and continued to grow richer until he became very wealthy; for he had possessions of flocks and herds and a great household, so that the Philistines envied him." (New American Standard Bible).
Despite his mess ups God still blessed him, the same way he had blessed Abraham before him, making him rich. This isn't to say that we can go around and sin because we feel like it and God will bless us. However, God had made Isaac a promise earlier on that if he dwelled in this land, he would be blessed and God is no liar. At first it didn't seem fair to me, but that's the beauty of it is life's not fair. It wasn't fair that God pulled me out of the darkness where I deserved to be but He showed mercy any way. Isaac was truly afraid so he lied, and I'm sure we've all been truly afraid so we've lied. Maybe we weren't scared for our lives but because we did something that we thought our parents would "kill us" for, it's the same thing really.
God knows we're only human, He understands that we'll make mistakes it's in our nature. However, God still is our Father, and He still wants to bless us. He didn't tell Isaac, "I'll bless you only if you don't make a mistake." He said He would bless him if he dwelt in that land which is exactly what he did. I suppose what I'm trying to say is God wants to bless us if we'll only let Him. We have to follow Him, that's what He's called us to do, but if we make a mistake it's not the end of the world.

Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Doubtful

I was just reading in Genesis 20 and it got me thinking. I'm sure there's a lot of other stuff to be learned from this chapter and maybe I went for the most obvious but it's also what's been on my mind lately. This is the chapter where Abraham and Sarah are traveling and they tell King Abimelech that they are brother and sister. This is, of course, partially true at least, they are half sibling but they're also married (they just left that little detail out).
God came to the king in a dream that night (funny, I was just wishing today that I wish He'd do that for me!!) because he had taken Sarah to be one of his wives. He didn't sleep with her that night and God told him it was because He was keeping Abimelech from sinning since his heart was truly innocent. Then God let Abimelech know what the punishment would be, now that he does know she's someone's wife, if he didn't give Sarah back. Not only did Abimelech give Sarah back to Abraham but he also gave him money, animals, and servants!
My first thought when I read this was "Whoa! Abraham lies, SINS, and this dude is giving him things because he's a prophet? A prophet of God that just LIED?" I kept reading though and remembered why he had lied. He was scared for his life. It was God that told him to leave his home, and he had enough faith to do that, but not enough to trust that God will take care of him?
I've been going through the same thing lately. I've been getting homesick, and worrying about financial issues, and getting good grades and yet I came here because I thought it was what God had planned for me. I was exacted when everything was falling into place perfectly but things start getting rather rough and I get scared, and not only scared but doubtful. I've been dealing with a lot of other issues too and have just recently begun to realize I can't handle it on my own. When Abraham doubted God, and sinned it affected himself, his wife, the person he lied to, and the entire kingdom, and didn't make God look too good either. I'm not a prophet but isn't it likely that my lack of faith is affecting at least one other person than myself? Who else am I causing to stumble because of my fear when I should have enough faith and sense to know that God is in control? That He wouldn't have brought me this far just to leave me by myself? Just something to think about....

Love,
Tabie