Exodus 14:13-14

“Do not be afraid. Stand still, and see the salvation of the LORD, which He will accomplish for you today. . . The LORD will fight for you, and you shall hold your peace.”

For God's Glory, for Our Good

I've been reading through Jeremiah and I came across this passage in Chapter 13:1-11

¹ Thus the LORD said to me: “Go and get yourself a linen sash, and put it around your waist, but do not put it in water.” ² So I got a sash according to the word of the LORD, and put it around my waist.
³ And the word of the LORD came to me the second time, saying, ⁴ “Take the sash that you acquired, which is around your waist, and arise, go to the Euphrates, and hide it there in a hole in the rock.” ⁵ So I went and hid it by the Euphrates, as the LORD commanded me.
⁶ Now it came to pass after many days that the LORD said to me, “Arise, go to the Euphrates, and take from there the sash which I commanded you to hide there.” ⁷ Then I went to the Euphrates and dug, and I took the sash from the place where I had hidden it; and there was the sash, ruined. It was profitable for nothing.
⁸ Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, ⁹ “Thus says the LORD: ‘In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem. ¹⁰ This evil people, who refuse to hear My words, who follow the dictates of their hearts, and walk after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be just like this sash which is profitable for nothing. ¹¹ For as the sash clings to the waist of a man, so I have caused the whole house of Israel and the whole house of Judah to cling to Me,’ says the LORD, ‘that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.’

I was captivated by the phrase "that they may become My people, for renown, for praise, and for glory." So incredibly often we slip into this rut of viewing our walk with God as a giving relationship; we give Him our love, our strength, our devotion, our praise, out lives . . . What I've discovered reading in the old testament is that our relationship with God is 100% His doing and His giving. We're not unlike the children of Israel who constantly fell away, constantly rebelled in sin, and constantly rejected the goodness of God. What we see in the minor and major prophets is a love story where God is always the one refusing to deal with Israel (us) in the way we deserve. He is always the one pursuing us; always the one finding us and drawing us back. Yet we lose site of this. Not only do we lose sight of the fact that our relationship is with God is of God, we lose sight of the fact that it is for our good. Walking close with God and doing good for Him does not just glorify God (which itself is by far enough reason to do good) but it is to "Become [God's] people, for renown, for praise, and for glory." Us doing good for God is doing good for us. We derive (actually more like are given) so many blessings when we walk close to God.

Galations 6:7-10

Do not be deceived, God is not mocked; for whatever a man sows, that he will also reap. For he who sows to his flesh will of the flesh reap corruption, but he who sows to the Spirit will of the Spirit reap everlasting life. And let us not grow weary while doing good, for in due season we shall reap if we do not lose heart. Therefore, as we have opportunity, let us do good to all, especially to those who are of the household of faith.

Paul also goes on to address the issue of pride that God punishes Israel for (In this manner I will ruin the pride of Judah and the great pride of Jerusalem) when he says "God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ"

To Find Our Boast in Christ

Jeremiah 9:23-24

“ Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom,
Let not the mighty man glory in his might,
Nor let the rich man glory in his riches;
But let him who glories glory in this,
That he understands and knows Me,
That I am the LORD, exercising lovingkindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,” says the LORD.

Galatians 6:14
But God forbid that I should boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ

Our God is an Awesome God

Psalm 97:1-6

The LORD reigns, let the earth be glad;
let the distant shores rejoice.
Clouds and thick darkness surround him;
righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
Fire goes before him
and consumes his foes on every side.
His lightning lights up the world;
the earth sees and trembles.
The mountains melt like wax before the LORD,
before the Lord of all the earth.
The heavens proclaim his righteousness,
and all peoples see his glory.

Hosea 2:16-23

“ And it shall be, in that day,”
Says the LORD,

“ That you will call Me ‘My Husband,’
And no longer call Me ‘My Master,’
For I will take from her mouth the names of the Baals,
And they shall be remembered by their name no more.

In that day I will make a covenant for them
With the beasts of the field,
With the birds of the air,
And with the creeping things of the ground.
Bow and sword of battle I will shatter from the earth,
To make them lie down safely.

“ I will betroth you to Me forever;
Yes, I will betroth you to Me
In righteousness and justice,
In lovingkindness and mercy;

I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,
And you shall know the LORD.

“ It shall come to pass in that day
That I will answer,” says the LORD;

“ I will answer the heavens,
And they shall answer the earth.
The earth shall answer
With grain,
With new wine,
And with oil;
They shall answer Jezreel.
Then I will sow her for Myself in the earth,
And I will have mercy on her who had not obtained mercy;
Then I will say to those who were not My people,

‘ You are My people!’
And they shall say, ‘You are my God!’”

Jeremiah 32:37-41

A friend shared this with me and I found it very encouraging

Jeremiah 32:37-41

³⁷ I will surely gather them from all the lands where I banish them in my furious anger and great wrath; I will bring them back to this place and let them live in safety. ³⁸ They will be my people, and I will be their God. ³⁹ I will give them singleness of heart and action, so that they will always fear me and that all will then go well for them and for their children after them. ⁴⁰ I will make an everlasting covenant with them: I will never stop doing good to them, and I will inspire them to fear me, so that they will never turn away from me. ⁴¹ I will rejoice in doing them good and will assuredly plant them in this land with all my heart and soul.

Zephaniah 3:14, 17

Sing, O daughter of Zion!
Shout, O Israel!
Be glad and rejoice with all your heart,
O daughter of Jerusalem!

The LORD your God in your midst,
The Mighty One, will save;
He will rejoice over you with gladness,
He will quiet you with His love,
He will rejoice over you with singing.”

Consider Your Ways!

Haggai 1:7-8

“Consider your ways!
Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple,
that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified,”
says the LORD."

Father may my heart be a temple which glorifies You
Wash it with Your blood and cleanse me from sin
Forgive me for desecrating Your dwelling place
Forgive me for allowing your temple to fall into ruins
May it once again be a place where You can take pleasure
Grant me strength to remain pure
Fill this temple with Your glory and peace

Haggai 2:9

‘The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former,’
says the LORD of hosts.
‘And in this place I will give peace,’
says the LORD of hosts.”

What am I doing?

What am I doing? Musings from the Word, what?

For those out there that read my blog. You may be wondering about my last two posts. I have decided to start using my blog as a way to share very briefly what God is laying on my heart for that day (or at that moment in time). I'm labeling it "Musings from the Word." So far it has been a short passage of scripture followed by a prayer. The verses have been just short snippets of my devotions. So this is more like a down low of Scott's devos than anything else. The prayer is usually how I am relating the truth I find in God's Word to my life. For me it is a journal of remembrance about what I'm being taught. For you? Well do what you want with these. They're usually great verses so checking them out is cool! Also, I plagiarize! So if you are a tremendous blessing to me, I will write about it! Just saying ;) (not to be misunderstood, I give credit to my sources . . . I just might blatantly share your thoughts)

All Who Are Thirsty

All Who Are Thirsty

Isaiah 55:1-3

“Come! Everyone who thirsts,
Come to the waters;
And you who have no money,
Come, buy and eat.
Yes, come, buy wine and milk
Without money and without price.
Why do you spend money for what is not bread,
And your wages for what does not satisfy?
Listen carefully to Me, and eat what is good,
And let your soul delight itself in abundance.
Incline your ear, and come to Me.
Hear, and your soul shall live;
And I will make an everlasting covenant with you—
The sure mercies of David."

Father, feed me with Your Word
Give me a thirst to know You more
My soul delights in You alone
Help me to listen and hear
You alone are the source of my satisfaction

May I be this man

May I be this man

Malachi 2:5-6

My covenant was with him,
one of life and peace,
And I gave them to him that he might fear Me;
So he feared Me
And was reverent before My name.
The law of truth was in his mouth,
And injustice was not found on his lips.
He walked with Me in peace and equity,
And turned many away from iniquity.

Father, give me strength to be this man.


Malachi 4:2

To you who fear My name
The Sun of Righteousness shall arise
With healing in His wings;

Gravity Defying Joy

I was listening to a speaker a while back during the Thanksgiving service at my church (janevillewestside.com) and although it had nothing to do with the topic of his lesson I could not get a certain passage out of my head. Problem was I could NOT find it. After paging through all four gospels trying to find it I gave up and made a futile effort to pay attention to the message at hand. However, as I have often found when God is laying something on your heart, there’s not really room for anything else. So after the service I decided to find the missing passage. The passage was this

Acts 3
1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour. 2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple; 3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms. 4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.” 5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them. 6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.” 7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength. 8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God. 9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.

Now the reason I could not find it was because I thought it was a miracle that Jesus performed (hence my frenzied searching of the gospels). Well…. It wasn’t Jesus; it was Peter and John. Now what captivated my mind on Thanksgiving from the passage? It was the phrase from verse 8 “So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.” That phrase, “walking and leaping and praising God,” reverberated through my whole being. This man being healed from his sickness could NOT CONTAIN HIMSELF! His joy defied gravity as he leapt up towards the sky pumping his arms and legs praising with an unrestrained joy! Over and over again he leapt with jubilee. Imagine the crowd witnessing this. A man bound to the ground for his entire life now flying through the town praising the name of Jesus. The testimony of this would be two-fold – not just the miracle but the residual radiating joy and thankful praise.

Stop. What’s happened to our joy? Although it’s true that the vast majority of us have not been miraculously healed from a life of lameness, we have experienced a much more altering, much more mind-blowing miracle still. We have been saved from the crippling shackles of sin; from an eternal all-consuming death. Often we’re told to fear the spiritual over the physical. “Do not fear those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul. But rather fear Him who is able to destroy both soul and body in hell.” Why? Despite appearances, being spiritually crippled is far worse than being physically crippled. Curing one who is physically lame requires restructuring the bones and sinews of the body. However, to be cured from the crippling effect of sin requires a fundamental altering of our nature – it demands life where only death exists. It demands clothing of righteousness where we only have filthy rags. Furthermore, physical illness is temporary while spiritual death is eternal. When we are saved we experience the deepest most powerful miracle ever. We are given LIFE! The miracle of Calvary far exceeds the wonder of the lame man’s miracle! We have not only been cured of the eternal consequence of sin, we have been freed from the crippling constraints – the problem – of sin (to borrow a phrase from Eric Ludy). Where is our joy though? Why are we glued to the ground, our pews, our static lives, our spiritually monotonous singing? Why aren’t we leaping up and praising God? Where is our unceasing thanksgiving, adoration and praise? Remember what Christ did for you. Restore to us the joy of our salvation Father. Defy gravity people. Remember Calvary.