Tag: afflict

52.a. Wilderness – 16.g. “Therefore be imitators of God”

 

Deu 24:17-22  “You shall not pervert the justice due to the sojourner or to the fatherless, or take a widow’s garment in pledge, but you shall remember that you were a slave in Egypt and the LORD your God redeemed you from there; therefore I command you to do this. “When you reap your harvest in your field and forget a sheaf in the field, you shall not go back to get it. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow, that the LORD your God may bless you in all the work of your hands. When you beat your olive trees, you shall not go over them again. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. When you gather the grapes of your vineyard, you shall not strip it afterward. It shall be for the sojourner, the fatherless, and the widow. You shall remember that you were a slave in the land of Egypt; therefore I command you to do this.

 Psalms 94:3-6    O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?  They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.  They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.  They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;

 Psalms 94:20-21    Can wicked rulers be allied with you, those who frame injustice by statute?  They band together against the life of the righteous and condemn the innocent to death.

 Jeremiah 22:3    Thus says the LORD: Do justice and righteousness, and deliver from the hand of the oppressor him who has been robbed. And do no wrong or violence to the resident alien, the fatherless, and the widow, nor shed innocent blood in this place.

 Ezekiel 22:7     Father and mother are treated with contempt in you; the sojourner suffers extortion in your midst; the fatherless and the widow are wronged in you.

 Ephesians 5:1-2   Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children.  And walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God.

 Isaiah 51:1     “Listen to me, you who pursue righteousness, you who seek the LORD: look to the rock from which you were hewn, and to the quarry from which you were dug.

It is not hard to prove that purity, piety, justice, mercy, fair conduct, kindness to the poor and destitute, consideration for them, and generosity of spirit, are pleasing to God, and becoming in his redeemed people. The difficulty is to attend to them in our daily walk and conversation. (Henry)

It is hard for us to understand this while we live our separate lives in our ice little realm of society. We are unaffected by the homeless, fatherless, and widows. Yet, they are there if our eyes are opened and our ears listen. Our culture and society claim the unborn fatherless child as nothing more than an unwanted mass or tumor. Laws are made that give strength to this abomination. The arguments made rely on tolerance and personal rights. They will proclaim to those who do not buy into these lies as enemies of liberty and freedom and haters of others. They are very good at this. 

God’s Word is clear as the noonday sun. It is wrong to treat those in need with contempt. It is wrong to turn our eyes and ears away from them. It is wrong to be silent. 

Standing firm in the love of Jesus Christ. Do not be swayed by empty words spewed out by those who proclaim unrighteous acts of disobedience. Walk in the love of God, filled with the Holy Spirit, and with ears trained and seeking to know the will of God for whatever might come each day.

40.j. “But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied”

 

 

Exodus 1:8  Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph. And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us. Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel. So they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

This was God’s purpose for Israel’s time in Egypt. Egypt served as a mother’s womb for Israel, a place where they rapidly grew from a large clan to a mighty nation. The nation could not grow this way in Canaan, because it was practically impossible to avoid intermarriage with the pagan and wicked inhabitants of Canaan. Egypt was so racially biased and had such an entrenched system of racial separation that Israel could grow there over several centuries without being assimilated. This growth in the face of affliction has consistently been the story of God’s people, throughout all ages – the more they are afflicted, the more they grow. As the ancient Christian writer Tertullian said, “The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church.” Because God’s purpose was to bless Israel and fulfill His role for them in His eternal plan, no amount of affliction could defeat His purpose. The Egyptians tried their best through cruel slavery; but it did not work. The principle of Isaiah 54:17 proved true: No weapon formed against you shall prosper. The wickedness of the Egyptians could hurt the children of Israel but could never defeat God’s plan for them. Pharaoh thought it best to not kill them; but he did want them to be slaves. In the midst of their cruel and harsh service, life must have seemed hopeless to the children of Israel, and the idea that God was working out His plan must have seemed very far away – yet it was true nonetheless. (Guzik)

Defend Your Cause

“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for your name’s sake!  Why should the nations say, “Where is their God?” Let the avenging of the outpoured blood of your servants be known among the nations before our eyes!”

Psalms 74:18  Remember this, O LORD, how the enemy scoffs, and a foolish people reviles your name.

Psalms 74:22  Arise, O God, defend your cause; remember how the foolish scoff at you all the day!

Psalms 89:50  Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults of all the many nations,  with which your enemies mock, O LORD, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed.

Psalms 41:1    Blessed is the one who considers the poor! In the day of trouble the LORD delivers him;

Psalms 94:2     Rise up, O judge of the earth; repay to the proud what they deserve!  O LORD, how long shall the wicked, how long shall the wicked exult?  They pour out their arrogant words; all the evildoers boast.  They crush your people, O LORD, and afflict your heritage.  They kill the widow and the sojourner, and murder the fatherless;  and they say, “The LORD does not see; the God of Jacob does not perceive.”  Understand, O dullest of the people! Fools, when will you be wise?

Isaiah 37:23  “‘Whom have you mocked and reviled? Against whom have you raised your voice and lifted your eyes to the heights? Against the Holy One of Israel!  By your servants you have mocked the Lord, and you have said, With my many chariots I have gone up the heights of the mountains, to the far recesses of Lebanon, to cut down its tallest cedars, its choicest cypresses, to come to its remotest height, its most fruitful forest.

It takes courage to acknowledge our own weaknesses.  We may not mock God but do we lead a life that He may be witnessed through our actions and words? Isn’t this, in  simplest terms, a form of mocking?  We claim His salvation but do not claim His power, sovereignty over all, might, and presence.  Do you want to see the power, might, love, grace and mercy of God?  Learn to be in His presence all the time.  Train yourself to be always occupied by thoughts of Him.  Ask God to open your heart, eyes and ears to His presence, love, grace, mercy, power and sovereignty.  He will surely be seen by the heart of those who desire to know and humbly serve Him.