Tag: God of our fathers

52.f. Wilderness – 16.l. “And you shall make response before the LORD your God”

 

Deu 26:1-10  “When you come into the land that the LORD your God is giving you for an inheritance and have taken possession of it and live in it, you shall take some of the first of all the fruit of the ground, which you harvest from your land that the LORD your God is giving you, and you shall put it in a basket, and you shall go to the place that the LORD your God will choose, to make his name to dwell there. And you shall go to the priest who is in office at that time and say to him, ‘I declare today to the LORD your God that I have come into the land that the LORD swore to our fathers to give us.’ Then the priest shall take the basket from your hand and set it down before the altar of the LORD your God. “And you shall make response before the LORD your God, ‘A wandering Aramean was my father. And he went down into Egypt and sojourned there, few in number, and there he became a nation, great, mighty, and populous. And the Egyptians treated us harshly and humiliated us and laid on us hard labor. Then we cried to the LORD, the God of our fathers, and the LORD heard our voice and saw our affliction, our toil, and our oppression. And the LORD brought us out of Egypt with a mighty hand and an outstretched arm, with great deeds of terror, with signs and wonders. And he brought us into this place and gave us this land, a land flowing with milk and honey. And behold, now I bring the first of the fruit of the ground, which you, O LORD, have given me.’ And you shall set it down before the LORD your God and worship before the LORD your God.

This wonderful confession of thanks remembered the history of Israel from the time of Jacob and his family in the land of Canaan, to the family’s going down into Egypt, and to the eventual deliverance and Exodus into the Promised Land. Israel spent some 400 years in Egypt. Yet in the course of God’s eternal plan, it was nothing more than a sojourn. We can often focus so much on our own time of trial or misery that we think that it defines our whole life; God saw Israel’s experience in Egypt as a sojourn.

Firstfruit giving obviously honored the LORD, because it gave the LORD His portion off the top before any was used for one’s self. This initial giving of firstfruits when Israel came into the Promised Land was an appropriate way to say “thank you” to the LORD. This giving, and all giving done with the right heart, is a proper way to worship before the LORD your God.

When we receive from the LORD, and give back to Him, it makes us rejoice. It is the proper response of a creature to his Creator, who has supplied him with all good things. (Guzik)

When God has made good his promises to us, he expects we should own it to the honour of his faithfulness. And our creature comforts are doubly sweet, when we see them flowing from the fountain of the promise. The person who offered his first-fruits, must remember and own the mean origin of that nation, of which he was a member. Their nation in its infancy sojourned in Egypt as strangers, they served there as slaves. They were a poor, despised, oppressed people in Egypt; and though become rich and great, had no reason to be proud, secure, or forgetful of God. He must thankfully acknowledge God’s great goodness to Israel. The comfort we have in our own enjoyments, should lead us to be thankful for our share in public peace and plenty; and with present mercies we should bless the Lord for the former mercies we remember, and the further mercies we expect and hope for. He must offer his basket of first-fruits. Whatever good thing God gives us, it is his will that we make the most comfortable use we can of it, tracing the streams to the Fountain of all consolation. (Henry)

The words, “I have to-day made known to the Lord thy God,” refer to the practical confession which was made by the presentation of the first-fruits. The fruit was the tangible proof that they were in possession of the land, and the presentation of the first of this fruit the practical confession that they were indebted to the Lord for the land. This confession the offerer was also to embody in a prayer of thanksgiving, after the basket had been received by the priest, in which he confessed that he and his people owed their existence and welfare to the grace of God, manifested in the miraculous redemption of Israel out of the oppression of Egypt and their guidance into Canaan. (Keil)

37.y. “You have known the distress of my soul”

 

 

Genesis 31:42  If the God of my father, the God of Abraham and the Fear of Isaac, had not been on my side, surely now you would have sent me away empty-handed. God saw my affliction and the labor of my hands and rebuked you last night.”

 Psalms 124:1-3 If it had not been the LORD who was on our side— let Israel now say—  if it had not been the LORD who was on our side when people rose up against us, then they would have swallowed us up alive, when their anger was kindled against us;

 1 Chronicles 12:17    David went out to meet them and said to them, “If you have come to me in friendship to help me, my heart will be joined to you; but if to betray me to my adversaries, although there is no wrong in my hands, then may the God of our fathers see and rebuke you.”

 Psalms 31:7    I will rejoice and be glad in your steadfast love, because you have seen my affliction; you have known the distress of my soul,

Proverbs 20:22  Do not say, “I’ll pay you back for this wrong!” Wait for the LORD, and he will avenge you.

Romans 12:17  Do not repay anyone evil for evil. Give careful thought to do what is honorable in everyone’s eyes.

1 Thessalonians 5:15  See to it that no one repays evil for evil to anyone, but always pursue what is good for one another and for all.

6 years Jacob endured hardship of the elements and ever-changing terms of his wages (ten times). Laban sought to change Jacobs’s wages in his favor. God was blessing Jacob and when Laban saw this blessing he would try to capitalize on it by changing Jacobs’s wages toward himself to how God was blessing Jacob. Is this any way to treat your nephew? Is this any way to fulfill and live up to a mutually agreed wage contract? Laban wanted what God had blessed Jacob with and was willing to set Jacob’s wages just opposite. He did this 10 times in 6 years. 

I have to imagine that the first time God blessed the work of Jacob’s hands, Jacob was in awe of God’s provision and blessing. Can you imagine the feeling Jacob must have had at the first alteration of his wages by Laban? The wages change but the blessings did not. No matter how Laban changed the wages, God’s blessing of the work of Jacob’s hands did not change. Jacob having witnessed this cheating 10 times and the attitude of Laban deteriorating toward him and he is told by an angel of God to return to his homeland, he determines to go back taking his rightful wages. Jacob, Leah, Rachel, Laban, and certainly anyone living here would have seen the blessings of God on Jacob. 

We can tell from scripture that Jacob was fully aware of Laban cheating him. Being cheated or trying to be cheated upon never feels good and can affect the heart and mind of the person being cheated, and yet, Jacob continued without recorded complaint.  There was no tit for tat on Jacob’s part. This easily could have consumed him and developed into evil intents, bad work ethic, retaliation, etc…. Jacob did not.  

We do well to trust God in all things, honor and glorify Him in all things, and give careful thought to how we serve Him in regards to these.

2.k. Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed

2 Chronicles 20:1  After this the Moabites and Ammonites, and with them some of the Meunites, came against Jehoshaphat for battle. Some men came and told Jehoshaphat, “A great multitude is coming against you from Edom, from beyond the sea; and, behold, they are in Hazazon-tamar” (that is, Engedi). Then Jehoshaphat was afraid and set his face to seek the Lord, and proclaimed a fast throughout all Judah. And Judah assembled to seek help from the Lord; from all the cities of Judah they came to seek the Lord. And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court, and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you. Did you not, our God, drive out the inhabitants of this land before your people Israel, and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend? And they have lived in it and have built for you in it a sanctuary for your name, saying, If disaster comes upon us, the sword, judgment, or pestilence, or famine, we will stand before this house and before you—for your name is in this house—and cry out to you in our affliction, and you will hear and save.’ And now behold, the men of Ammon and Moab and Mount Seir, whom you would not let Israel invade when they came from the land of Egypt, and whom they avoided and did not destroy— behold, they reward us by coming to drive us out of your possession, which you have given us to inherit. O our God, will you not execute judgment on them? For we are powerless against this great horde that is coming against us. We do not know what to do, but our eyes are on you.”

Meanwhile all Judah stood before the Lord, with their little ones, their wives, and their children. And the Spirit of the Lord came upon Jahaziel the son of Zechariah, son of Benaiah, son of Jeiel, son of Mattaniah, a Levite of the sons of Asaph, in the midst of the assembly. And he said, “Listen, all Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem and King Jehoshaphat: Thus says the Lord to you, Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed at this great horde, for the battle is not yours but God’s. Tomorrow go down against them. Behold, they will come up by the ascent of Ziz. You will find them at the end of the valley, east of the wilderness of Jeruel. You will not need to fight in this battle. Stand firm, hold your position, and see the salvation of the Lord on your behalf, O Judah and Jerusalem.’ Do not be afraid and do not be dismayed. Tomorrow go out against them, and the Lord will be with you.” Then Jehoshaphat bowed his head with his face to the ground, and all Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem fell down before the Lord, worshiping the Lord. And the Levites, of the Kohathites and the Korahites, stood up to praise the Lord, the God of Israel, with a very loud voice.

And they rose early in the morning and went out into the wilderness of Tekoa. And when they went out, Jehoshaphat stood and said, “Hear me, Judah and inhabitants of Jerusalem! Believe in the Lord your God, and you will be established; believe his prophets, and you will succeed.” And when he had taken counsel with the people, he appointed those who were to sing to the Lord and praise him in holy attire, as they went before the army, and say, “Give thanks to the Lord, for his steadfast love endures forever.” And when they began to sing and praise, the Lord set an ambush against the men of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, who had come against Judah, so that they were routed. For the men of Ammon and Moab rose against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, devoting them to destruction, and when they had made an end of the inhabitants of Seir, they all helped to destroy one another.

Crying out to God in our affliction is not always something we do.  Sometimes the first thing we do is try to do is fix it ourselves.  Sometimes we ask others to help us.  And then sometimes we finally call out to Jesus Christ.  We have heard others who have said: “all I could do is pray”.  It is good when we get to a place where we realize we have no power in and of ourselves and we cry out to Jesus.  This should not be where we end up but rather where we start.  You see, running to Jesus is not the last resort option we fall back on to but rather a firm position we start with.

When crying out to Jesus is the last thing we do and not the first, there is more than likely a void of Him in our daily lives.  It is not as though we push Him out but rather we don’t invite Him in.  When we invite Him into every moment of every day He is the first thing on our heart, mind, and soul.  He is not an emergency “911” call number but rather an ever-present heavenly Father who is guiding, leading, directing, encouraging, and strengthening us.

When we start with self and end with a “911” call out to Jesus, He is not our all in all.  When He is where we start, we will not be calling out to a “911 emergency number” but rather we will be firmly holding on to the hand of Jesus Christ and maybe squeezing a little bit harder.  We will know His presence because that is where we choose to be “In His presence”, at all times, every moment, every day.

Walk through every moment of every day with the Word of God in your heart, mind, and soul, and with your hand firmly holding onto Jesus Christ in trusting reliance.