Tag: Rebellion

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Every Reason But One

Daily Reading

1Samuel 21-24

Daily Thought

King Saul threw a spear at David, attempting to pin him against the wall. Twice he threw it according to 1Samuel 18:10-11. Once again in chapter 19, verse 10. David was well aware the king wanted him dead. Jonathan thought better of his dad, King Saul, until Jonathan challenged him by defending David, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?” (1Samuel 20:32). This time Saul hurled his spear at Jonathan, and “Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death” (1Samuel 20:33). David was a better man than Saul; a better warrior, too. Saul tried to kill David three times and Jonathan for coming to David’s defense. Saul was a disgrace as king. David should be king, and David will be king, a better king. 

Sometime later, while pursuing David, “there was a cave, and Saul went in to relieve himself” (1Samuel 24:3), and the men of David saw this and said to him, “Here is the day of which the Lord said to you, ‘Behold, I will give your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you’” (1Samuel 24:4). Saul was alone, distracted, and David could kill Saul and he had every reason to. Every reason but one–“The Lord forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, the Lord’s anointed, to put out my hand against him, seeing he is the Lord’s anointed” (1Samuel 24:6). 

If David ignored God’s plan and gained the throne by blood, then he’d become like Saul. Israel did not need another king like Saul. Israel needed a better man, a better king, and they got one.

Daily Prayer

God, my Savior, I offer myself, body, soul, and spirit, as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to You. I love You, heart, soul, mind, and strength. Not my will, but Yours, O God. Transform me God, to reflect Your glory, to resemble Your Son. Keep me humble and good.

You would rather I obey than play at religion. My obedience is not a demonstration of my righteousness, but a measure of my love. I want to know Your Word, follow Your ways, and live in Your love.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you made a tough choice to do what God wanted you to do rather than what you wanted to do?

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Rebellion

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 35-37

Daily Thought

The sin common to all is unbelief. It may be a lack of faith in God’s good intent when I fool myself into thinking I know better what will satisfy my desire than God does. Or it may be a disbelief in the certainty and finality of God’s judgment, brushing aside “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), as Eve did when she trusted the serpent above God. “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4), hissed the snake. 

Yes you will. 

These common sins are a terrible sins, yet there is worse, and that is a sin of rebellion. Rebellion is not unbelief; rather it believes and rejects. Jehoiakim “was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2Kings 23:36-37). His reign was the end of the road for Judah, yet God was still extending grace. The Lord instructed Jeremiah, “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin” (Jeremiah 36:2-3). 

One last chance.

The scroll was read to the people of Judah, and they responded rightly, with fear and fasting, until the scroll came to the king. As the scroll was read to the king, three or four columns at a time, “the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire” (Jeremiah 36:23).

The sin rooted in rebellion is Satan’s sin, a defiance that says, “I believe God, and his way is true, even good, but I prefer my way because I prefer me.”

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, Your Word is life itself. It lights the path in front of me and leads me in the way everlasting. It is good, and it is good for me. I will read it and hear it, listen to it and follow it. I will put it in my heart and meditate on it.

There are other words, other advisers, calling out to me, distracting me from Your Word and Your way. What they offer sounds fun and free, worldly and wonderful. May I choose what is heavenly and good, what comes from faith and gives hope. May I choose Your joy and Your love. May I choose You.

Amen

Daily Question

When have you preferred your plans over God’s plans?

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Country Dogs

Daily Reading

Galatians 1-3

Daily Thought

The Law of God is a good thing, a picture of righteousness. The problem is, our hearts are rebellious and we do not like to be told what we can and cannot do. “We were held captive under the law” (Galatians 3:23), writes Paul, and we don’t like fences.

Lucy, our basset hound, is a city dog. She stays indoors and sleeps in a kennel in the corner of my office. Lucy is a city dog and she does not roam free. She is not allowed to. She is confined, but she longs to run. Every so often, a door is open, unwatched. Lucy breaks for freedom and away she goes and does not return. Fortunately, our neighbors know Lucy and bring her home. Lucy obeys our rules until she thinks we are not looking. Unless something changes, we are like a city dog.

The Law does not and cannot make us righteous, rather, “the righteous shall live by faith” (Galatians 3:12), and through faith comes the change we need, a change of heart from rebellion to love. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Galatians 2:20), and with faith in Christ comes freedom to live. The best obedience is doing what I should do, not because I have to, but because I want to

Faith is the life of the country dog. My cousins live in the country. Tramp, their yellow Labrador, is free to roam, and he does. Wherever he wants, whenever he wants, doing whatever he wants. Tramp is a country dog. Sometimes he leaves in the morning and returns at night. But return he does, every night. Tramp can sleep anywhere he wants, and he does. He sleeps on the back porch. That’s where he wants to be. He is happy to be home.

Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life,
and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. ~Psalm 23:6

Daily Prayer

Father God, You have set me free from the burden and bondage of sin. Thank You so much! I am now enslaved to love, a willing servant of Your goodness and grace. Forgive me, God, when I turn my liberty into a religion of do’s and don’ts, or I turn my freedom into a license to sin.

I love You, God, not from force or fear, but because I desire You so much. I follow You, because this is where I find life, a life abundant and good. With You, I am at home.

Amen

Posted on

Rebellion

Daily Reading

Jeremiah 35-37

Daily Thought

The sin common to all is unbelief. It may be a lack of faith in God’s good intent, fooling myself that I know better what will satisfy my desire; or it is a disbelief in the certainty and finality of God’s judgment, brushing aside “the wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23), as Eve did when she trusted the serpent above God. “You will not surely die” (Genesis 3:4). Yes you will. 

This common sin is a terrible sin, yet there is worse, and that is a sin of rebellion. Rebellion is not unbelief; rather it believes and rejects. Jehoiakim “was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned eleven years in Jerusalem. He did what was evil in the sight of the Lord” (2Kings 23:36-37). His reign was the end of the road for Judah, yet God was still extending grace. The Lord instructed Jeremiah, “Take a scroll and write on it all the words that I have spoken to you against Israel and Judah and all the nations. It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way, and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin” (Jeremiah 36:2-3). One last chance.

The scroll was read to the people of Judah, and they responded rightly, with fear and fasting, until the scroll came to the king. As the scroll was read to the king, three or four columns at a time, “the king would cut them off with a knife and throw them into the fire in the fire pot, until the entire scroll was consumed in the fire” (Jeremiah 36:23).

The sin rooted in rebellion is Satan’s sin, a defiance that says, “I believe God, and his way is true, even good, but I prefer my way because I prefer me.”

Daily Prayer

Heavenly Father, Your Word is life itself. It lights the path in front of me and leads me in the way everlasting. It is good, and it is good for me. I will read it and hear it, listen to it and follow it. I will put it in my heart and meditate on it.

There are other words, other advisers, calling out to me, distracting me from Your Word and Your way. What they offer sounds fun and free, worldly and wonderful. May I choose what is heavenly and good, what comes from faith and gives hope. May I choose Your joy and Your love. May I choose You.

Amen