Tag: I saw

111. Some did not ask counsel from the LORD.

1 Samuel 22:6   Now Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Saul was sitting at Gibeah under the tamarisk tree on the height with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. And Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, people of Benjamin; will the son of Jesse give every one of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all commanders of thousands and commanders of hundreds, that all of you have conspired against me? No one discloses to me when my son makes a covenant with the son of Jesse. None of you is sorry for me or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day.” Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, and he inquired of the Lord for him and gave him provisions and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

Numbers 27:21    And he shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire for him

1 Samuel 28:6     And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim, or by prophets.

Joshua 9:14     So the men took some of their provisions, but did not ask counsel from the LORD.

In old testament times when you wanted to inquire of God you went to the Prophet and/or Priest, but now since the death and resurrection of Jesus, we can go before God ourselves.  It is a privilege not a right.  It is by His grace, mercy and love that has made a way for all mankind to have this privilege.  This privilege begins with belief in Jesus Christ and His atonement for your sin.   From this beginning there is a never ending opportunity to inquire and seek to know and understand God’s perfect will and how to humbly honor, glorify, worship, praise, follow, and obey Him. It means we choose to inquire and seek God before our day begins, throughout the day, and at days end.   Why do some christians inquire of God before making decision, taking action, or making proper communication and others do not?   Inquiring of God in our daily life is directly proportional to our heart, mind, and soul’s desire to seek, know, serve, honor, follow, and obey Him.  It is a deliberate act of will to surrender self to the will of God.  It places God’s will first.    

  Tozer “Pursuit of God”: How tragic that we in this current day are having our seeking of God done by our teachers.  Everything is made to center upon the initial act of accepting Christ and we are not expected to crave any further revelation of God to our souls.  We have been snared in the coils of foolish logic that insists that if we have found Him, we need no more seek Him.  The lack of deliberately seeking and desiring God has brought us to a very shallow understanding and speaks of complacency and neglect so prevalent in the church today.

We will never find God and the peace and purpose we seek in our lives by the seeking of God by others.  It is sad that many live no active seeking for God on their own.  It is sad that many seek only after that which satisfies self.  Do not allow yourself to become satisfied with where you are at in your understanding and knowledge of God.  Thirst after and desire Him more and more.  Stay in His word with a desire and seeking that wants to humbly serve, honor, glorify, worship, follow, rely on, cling to, trust in, and obey Him more and more each day. Remember this; God is forced out of the heart that allows other things to enter and take residence.

Empty Tomb

“For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures,”

John 20:1  Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb.  So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.”  So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb.  Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first.  And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying there, but he did not go in.  Then Simon Peter came, following him, and went into the tomb. He saw the linen cloths lying there,  and the face cloth, which had been on Jesus’ head, not lying with the linen cloths but folded up in a place by itself.  Then the other disciple, who had reached the tomb first, also went in, and he saw and believed; for as yet they did not understand the Scripture, that he must rise from the dead. Then the disciples went back to their homes.

Psalms 16:10     For you will not abandon my soul to Sheol, or let your holy one see corruption.

Isaiah 25:8     He will swallow up death forever; and the Lord GOD will wipe away tears from all faces, and the reproach of his people he will take away from all the earth, for the LORD has spoken.

Isaiah 26:19    Your dead shall live; their bodies shall rise. You who dwell in the dust, awake and sing for joy! For your dew is a dew of light, and the earth will give birth to the dead.

Isaiah 53:10     Yet it was the will of the LORD to crush him; he has put him to grief; when his soul makes an offering for guilt, he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand.  Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous, and he shall bear their iniquities.  Therefore I will divide him a portion with the many, and he shall divide the spoil with the strong, because he poured out his soul to death and was numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and makes intercession for the transgressors.

Hosea 13:14     I shall ransom them from the power of Sheol; I shall redeem them from Death.

Acts 2:25     For David says concerning him, “‘I saw the Lord always before me, for he is at my right hand that I may not be shaken;  therefore my heart was glad, and my tongue rejoiced; my flesh also will dwell in hope.  For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, or let your Holy One see corruption.  You have made known to me the paths of life; you will make me full of gladness with your presence.’  “Brothers, I may say to you with confidence about the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day.  Being therefore a prophet, and knowing that God had sworn with an oath to him that he would set one of his descendants on his throne,  he foresaw and spoke about the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption.  This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses.

Acts 13:29     And when they had carried out all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree and laid him in a tomb.  But God raised him from the dead,  and for many days he appeared to those who had come up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people.  And we bring you the good news that what God promised to the fathers,

Jesus Christ rose from the dead on the third day.  He was witnessed by hundred’s of people during the forty days after His resurrection and prior to His ascension. He came to redeem the lost and give hope of eternal life. The need for redemption is real.  The promise of redemption is real.  The penalty of rejection is real.

 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him. Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe is condemned already, because he has not believed in the name of the only Son of God. And this is the judgment: the light has come into the world, and people loved the darkness rather than the light because their works were evil. For everyone who does wicked things hates the light and does not come to the light, lest his works should be exposed.But whoever does what is true comes to the light, so that it may be clearly seen that his works have been carried out in God.”

Do not fall into the trap of neglect or complacency or rejection of this great price paid for redemption.