SPIRITUAL DIARY FOR 9/1/2011 10:08:26 AM
My Worship Time Focus: PT-1 “The Goodness
of God”
Bible Reading
& Meditation Reference: Nehemiah 9:7-18
Message of the verses: “7 “You
are the LORD God, Who chose Abram And brought him out from Ur of the Chaldees,
And gave him the name Abraham. 8 "You found his heart faithful before You,
And made a covenant with him To give him the land of the Canaanite, Of the
Hittite and the Amorite, Of the Perizzite, the Jebusite and the Girgashite-To
give it to his descendants. And You have fulfilled Your promise, For You are
righteous. 9 “You saw the affliction of our fathers in Egypt, And heard their
cry by the Red Sea. 10 "Then You performed signs and wonders against
Pharaoh, Against all his servants and all the people of his land; For You knew
that they acted arrogantly toward them, And made a name for Yourself as it is
this day. 11 “You divided the sea before them, So they passed through the midst
of the sea on dry ground; And their pursuers You hurled into the depths, Like a
stone into raging waters. 12 “And with a pillar of cloud You led them by day,
And with a pillar of fire by night To light for them the way In which they were
to go. 13 "Then You came down on Mount Sinai, And spoke with them from
heaven; You gave them just ordinances and true laws, Good statutes and
commandments. 14 “So You made known to them Your holy sabbath, And laid down
for them commandments, statutes and law, Through Your servant Moses. 15
"You provided bread from heaven for them for their hunger, You brought
forth water from a rock for them for their thirst, And You told them to enter
in order to possess The land which You swore to give them. 16 “But they, our fathers,
acted arrogantly; They became stubborn and would not listen to Your
commandments. 17 “They refused to listen, And did not remember Your wondrous
deeds which You had performed among them; So they became stubborn and appointed
a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt. But You are a God of forgiveness,
Gracious and compassionate, Slow to anger and abounding in lovingkindness; And
You did not forsake them. 18 “Even when they made for themselves A calf of
molten metal And said, ’This is your God Who brought you up from Egypt,’ And
committed great blasphemies.”
In
today’s SD I begin the second main point from Dr. Wiersbe’s commentary which is
entitled “The goodness of God.” This
main point covers verses 7-30 and has three sub-points that are under this main
point of which the first is “Forming the
nation,” and that is the subject of today’s SD. As mentioned in yesterday’s SD this ninth
chapter of Nehemiah is a prayer, the longest prayer in Scripture, and so I do
not want to rush through this but take the sub-points one at a time. This is a rich portion of Scripture,
something that needs to be dealt with slowly so that I do not miss any of its
richness.
There
are different parts found in the Word of God that tell some of the history of
the nation of Israel, and this is one of those portions of Scripture. There is one of these in the NT that also
tells the story of Israel and that is found in Acts chapter seven, also the 78th
Psalm tells the history of Israel. When
one reads through the book of Judges they can see a roller coaster type ride
for the young nation of Israel, and that seems to continue all throughout the
history of the nation. Even today when
one looks at the newly established nation of Israel one can see a lot of
worldliness in it, and this was even prophesied by the prophet Ezekiel in
chapters 36-39, especially in chapter 37 where we read about the famous valley
of bones which tells that what that is going on in Israel at this present time
is being fulfilled.
The
goodness of God is seen in this section in that God “gave” many things to what
would become the nation of Israel starting with Abram whom God called out of Ur
where he was an idol worshiper (Joshua 24:2-3) and made him the father of many
nations including the nation of Israel.
Abraham was seventy-five years old when the Lord called him and he
walked with the Lord for the next 100 years having only a few times when he did
not follow the Lord. Dr. Wiersbe points
out that the word “give” in some way or another is found sixteen times in this
chapter in the KJV of the Bible, God giving things to Israel and Abraham was a
part of this giving from the Lord. God
gave them His Law, food and water while they were in the wilderness, the land
of Canaan, the ministry of the Spirit (V-20), deliverers, and victory over
their enemies. According to 1Timothy
6:17 God delights in giving to His children, “Instruct those who are rich in this present world not to be conceited
or to fix their hope on the uncertainty of riches, but on God, who richly supplies us with
all things to enjoy.”
The
problem with the nation of Israel, and for that matter many believers today,
the gifs of God are enjoyed, but living for the God who gives these gifts is
not what it should be. We must not only
enjoy that gifts that God gives us, but we must enjoy the God who gives those
gifts, and obey Him. When God gave the
Law to Israel it was not given to spoil their fun, but it was given to free
them from the world’s system, and it was also given to them to lead them to the
Lord, for in the Law of the Lord we see God’s perfection, and we as humans we cannot
get to the Lord by following the Law so we then have to seek God’s mercy and
grace saying that we cannot follow the Law perfectly, but God, in the person of
Jesus Christ has followed the Law perfectly for us and all we have to do is
accept that along with His death for us and resurrection on our behalf and then
we will have new life in Jesus Christ.
Not all of Israel understood this and not many today understand this,
for Jesus said that there was a broad way and a narrow way, and that narrow way
is to accept this free gift of salvation from the Lord.
I
have underlined verses 16-18 in the text for today showing how Israel responded
to the goodness of God, and we can learn from them in not responding to God’s
goodness in the way they did.
Spiritual meaning for my life today: When I look back on my life as a believer I
have not responded to the goodness of God in the way that I should all of the
time. God’s Word is like an x-ray
showing me the issues that I need to correct and responding to the goodness of
God on my part is something that I desire to do better.
My Steps of
Faith for Today:
1.
Respond to the Giver of the gifts better than the
gifts that the Giver gives to me.
2.
Continue to learn contentment.
3.
As I look for a different car, my prayer is that the
Spirit of God will guide me, and direct me to where His desires me to go.
9/1/2011 11:23:36 AM
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