exile – Praying Pint

9.w. “For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins”

Amos 5:1 Hear this word that I take up over you in lamentation, O house of Israel: “Fallen, no more to rise, is the virgin Israel; forsaken on her land, with none to raise her up.” For thus says the Lord God: “The city that went out a thousand shall have a hundred left, and that which went out a hundred shall have ten left to the house of Israel.” For thus says the Lord to the house of Israel: “Seek me and live; but do not seek Bethel, and do not enter into Gilgal or cross over to Beersheba; for Gilgal shall surely go into exile, and Bethel shall come to nothing.” Seek the Lord and live, lest he break out like fire in the house of Joseph, and it devour, with none to quench it for Bethel, O you who turn justice to wormwood and cast down righteousness to the earth! He who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night, who calls for the waters of the sea and pours them out on the surface of the earth, the Lord is his name; who makes destruction flash forth against the strong, so that destruction comes upon the fortress. They hate him who reproves in the gate, and they abhor him who speaks the truth. Therefore because you trample on the poor and you exact taxes of grain from him, you have built houses of hewn stone, but you shall not dwell in them; you have planted pleasant vineyards, but you shall not drink their wine. For I know how many are your transgressions and how great are your sins— you who afflict the righteous, who take a bribe, and turn aside the needy in the gate. Therefore he who is prudent will keep silent in such a time, for it is an evil time

This is from Matthew Henry’s commentary: The scope of this chapter is to prosecute the exhortation given to Israel in the close of the foregoing chapter to prepare to meet their God; the prophet here tells them, I. What preparation they must make; they must “seek the Lord,’’ and not seek any more to idols; they must seek good, and love it. II. Why they must make this preparation to meet their God, 1. Because of the present deplorable condition they were in. Because it was by sin that they were brought into such a condition. Because it would be their happiness to seek God, and he was ready to be found of them. Because he would proceed, in his wrath, to their utter ruin, if they did not seek him. Because all their confidences would fail them if they did not seek unto God, and make him their friend. (1.) Their profane contempt of God’s judgments, and setting them at defiance, would not secure them . (2.) Their external services in religion, and the shows of devotion, would not avail to turn away the wrath of God . (3.) Their having been long in possession of church-privileges, and in a course of holy duties, would not be their protection, while all along they had kept up their idolatrous customs. They have therefore no way left them to save themselves, but by repentance and reformation.

1.z.

2 Chronicles 14:1 Abijah slept with his fathers, and they buried him in the city of David. And Asa his son reigned in his place. In his days the land had rest for ten years. And Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord his God. He took away the foreign altars and the high places and broke down the pillars and cut down the Asherim and commanded Judah to seek the Lord, the God of their fathers, and to keep the law and the commandment. He also took out of all the cities of Judah the high places and the incense altars. And the kingdom had rest under him. He built fortified cities in Judah, for the land had rest. He had no war in those years, for the Lord gave him peace. And he said to Judah, “Let us build these cities and surround them with walls and towers, gates and bars. The land is still ours, because we have sought the Lord our God. We have sought him, and he has given us peace on every side.” So they built and prospered. And Asa had an army of 300,000 from Judah, armed with large shields and spears, and 280,000 men from Benjamin that carried shields and drew bows. All these were mighty men of valor.

Acts 9:31     So the church throughout all Judea and Galilee and Samaria had peace and was being built up. And walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Spirit, it multiplied.

Psalms 105:3-4     Glory in his holy name; let the hearts of those who seek the LORD rejoice!  Seek the LORD and his strength; seek his presence continually!

Jeremiah 29:12-14    Then you will call upon me and come and pray to me, and I will hear you.  You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all your heart.  I will be found by you, declares the LORD, and I will restore your fortunes and gather you from all the nations and all the places where I have driven you, declares the LORD, and I will bring you back to the place from which I sent you into exile.

1 Peter 3:12     For the eyes of the Lord are on the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayer. But the face of the Lord is against those who do evil.”

Matthew 11:28-29   Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.  Take my yoke upon you, and learn from me, for I am gentle and lowly in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.

Asa the son of Abijah followed in his father’s footsteps and stayed close to God. He set an example for the people and held to it. He was the King and people looked to him, followed him, and learned from him what it meant to follow after God. We can look at this and say if we are a King or leader the expectations are different for us in the eyes of the Lord. At the same time, we say this we then think because we are not a King or a leader the expectations on our life is not as great. In fact, we generally think and set the expectation on our lives much much lower when it comes to visible actions, when it comes to thoughts we mull over in our head, and when it comes to what we say. We seem to allow ourselves to land our God-honoring humble service and obedience at the lowest expectation possible and still feel “good” about our lives.

During a bible study last Friday with a small group of men we discussed what life might look like if we actually took seriously the ever and always presence of God. Would we set our expectations low? Would we think, act, and speak differently. Would we seek His word more diligently and desire His presence more deeply so that our humble service would continual in greater honoring, glorifying, following, trusting, and obeying Jesus Christ. Would we actively seek and desire and expect to hear His quiet whispers of leading? Would we take every thought captive and lay it out against His word so that we would never allow a non-God honoring thought to dwell in our mind. Would we examine those actions we are planning on doing and compare them against the word of God so that every action was honoring Him? Would we examine what we are going to say against His word so that we ensure it was honoring Him?

Setting low expectations leads us to allow ourselves to be neglectful in His word and complacent in its application into our very lives. You are a child of the King, a child of God, and priests to God, and a Holy temple to the indwelling Holy Spirit. Your expectations need to be set very high and in line with God’s Word, for the honoring of Jesus Christ our Lord and Saviour.

1.b. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD,

1 Chronicles 9:1 So all Israel was recorded in genealogies, and these are written in the Book of the Kings of Israel. And Judah was taken into exile in Babylon because of their breach of faith.

1 Chronicles 10:13 So Saul died for his breach of faith. He broke faith with the Lord in that he did not keep the command of the Lord, and also consulted a medium, seeking guidance. He did not seek guidance from the Lord. Therefore the Lord put him to death and turned the kingdom over to David the son of Jesse.

1 Samuel 13:13    And Samuel said to Saul, “You have done foolishly. You have not kept the command of the LORD your God, with which he commanded you.

1 Samuel 15:23    For rebellion is as the sin of divination, and presumption is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, he has also rejected you from being king.”

Judges 10:11-16    And the LORD said to the people of Israel, “Did I not save you from the Egyptians and from the Amorites, from the Ammonites and from the Philistines?  The Sidonians also, and the Amalekites and the Maonites oppressed you, and you cried out to me, and I saved you out of their hand.  Yet you have forsaken me and served other gods; therefore I will save you no more.  Go and cry out to the gods whom you have chosen; let them save you in the time of your distress.”

Note the actions God took when He was not listened to or followed after. We too often listen to the lies of Satan who would have us believe in everything other than God. Satan would have us listen to anything be the word of God. Satan would have us occupy our time with anything other than that which would honor God. Satan would have us remain shallow in our walk and deceive us into believing we are good enough, doing enough, right enough, following enough, reading God’s word enough, know enough, and all the time we are doing this busyness of life in neglect of following God we are sliding further and further away from God. We are actually on a path that could deafen our ears, blind our eyes, harden our heart, and stiffen our neck to the point we don’t even recognize we are rejecting God.

Nothing should be more important than giving our whole heart, mind, and soul with a desire to seek each day with how to honor, glorify, worship, follow, trust, and obey Him more and more.

2. The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people

Genesis 41:29  There will come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt, but after them there will arise seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt.

1 Samuel 5:6    The hand of the LORD was heavy against the people of Ashdod, and he terrified and afflicted them with tumors, both Ashdod and its territory.

Isaiah 24:20    The earth staggers like a drunken man; it sways like a hut; its transgression lies heavy upon it,

Exodus 9:3   behold, the hand of the LORD will fall with a very severe plague upon your livestock that are in the field, the horses, the donkeys, the camels, the herds, and the flocks.

Psalms 32:4    For day and night your hand was heavy upon me; my strength was dried up as by the heat of summer.

Acts 13:11    And now, behold, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you will be blind and unable to see the sun for a time.

Isaiah 5:7-30     For the vineyard of the LORD of hosts is the house of Israel, and the men of Judah are his pleasant planting; and he looked for justice, but behold, bloodshed; for righteousness, but behold, an outcry!  Woe to those who join house to house, who add field to field, until there is no more room, and you are made to dwell alone in the midst of the land.  The LORD of hosts has sworn in my hearing: “Surely many houses shall be desolate, large and beautiful houses, without inhabitant.  For ten acres of vineyard shall yield but one bath, and a homer of seed shall yield but an ephah.”  Woe to those who rise early in the morning, that they may run after strong drink, who tarry late into the evening as wine inflames them!  They have lyre and harp, tambourine and flute and wine at their feasts, but they do not regard the deeds of the LORD, or see the work of his hands.  Therefore my people go into exile for lack of knowledge; their honored men go hungry, and their multitude is parched with thirst.  Therefore Sheol has enlarged its appetite and opened its mouth beyond measure, and the nobility of Jerusalem and her multitude will go down, her revelers and he who exults in her.  Man is humbled, and each one is brought low, and the eyes of the haughty are brought low.  But the LORD of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.  Then shall the lambs graze as in their pasture, and nomads shall eat among the ruins of the rich.  Woe to those who draw iniquity with cords of falsehood, who draw sin as with cart ropes,  who say: “Let him be quick, let him speed his work that we may see it; let the counsel of the Holy One of Israel draw near, and let it come, that we may know it!”  Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!  Woe to those who are wise in their own eyes, and shrewd in their own sight!  Woe to those who are heroes at drinking wine, and valiant men in mixing strong drink,  who acquit the guilty for a bribe, and deprive the innocent of his right!  Therefore, as the tongue of fire devours the stubble, and as dry grass sinks down in the flame, so their root will be as rottenness, and their blossom go up like dust; for they have rejected the law of the LORD of hosts, and have despised the word of the Holy One of Israel.  Therefore the anger of the LORD was kindled against his people, and he stretched out his hand against them and struck them, and the mountains quaked; and their corpses were as refuse in the midst of the streets. For all this his anger has not turned away, and his hand is stretched out still.  He will raise a signal for nations far away, and whistle for them from the ends of the earth; and behold, quickly, speedily they come!  None is weary, none stumbles, none slumbers or sleeps, not a waistband is loose, not a sandal strap broken;  their arrows are sharp, all their bows bent, their horses’ hoofs seem like flint, and their wheels like the whirlwind.  Their roaring is like a lion, like young lions they roar; they growl and seize their prey; they carry it off, and none can rescue.  They will growl over it on that day, like the growling of the sea. And if one looks to the land, behold, darkness and distress; and the light is darkened by its clouds.

Is their a living God, sovereign over all, who judges mankind and at times places His mighty hand heavily upon them? Is there a living God that sees all thoughts and intents and actions of mankind? Is there a living God that warns man? Yes there is and it is not good to turn deaf ear to His warnings. We easily claim His blessings and promises but rarely think of His warnings and discipline. His warnings are out of love to keep us from doing harm to our soul and that which does not honor and glorify Him. Pride, lust, greed and placing something other than God first in our life are all warned against. When warnings are not taken to heart, or the heart and ears are hardened to not hear His warnings, and repentance and returning to Him is desired, the hand of God will be upon us.

This side of eternity it is a good thing to have the hand of God upon us and lovingly trying to turn us away from our wrong paths in life. It is a very sad and dreadful day when we pass from this life into eternity without taking heed to His warnings.

Tomorrow I will start to post excerpts from a sermon Johnathan Edwards gave July 8, 1741; “In the hands of an angry God”