Tag: Watch me

5.f. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;

Job 10:14  If I sin, you watch me and do not acquit me of my iniquity. If I am guilty, woe to me! If I am in the right, I cannot lift up my head, for I am filled with disgrace and look on my affliction.

Psalms 139:1    O LORD, you have searched me and known me!

Psalms 130:3    If you, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?

  Exodus 34:7    keeping steadfast love for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children’s children, to the third and the fourth generation.”

Ecclesiastes 7:20   Surely there is not a righteous man on earth who does good and never sins.

Isaiah 53:6    All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned—every one—to his own way;

Romans 3:23-24     for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,  and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,

Throughout scripture, we see men of God who speak of the sin of man.  We read of it from Genesis through Revelation.  We see the history of man’s sin in light of God’s Holiness.  We catch a glimpse of man’s choice to honor and reverence his Creator or not.  We see men and women who have intentionally chosen to seek after and live to honor God.  We also see those who have intentionally chosen to reject God and only seek to live to please and honor themselves.  We read of both God’s steadfast love toward His creation and those who seek to honor, glorify, and worship Him and His anger and wrath towards those who reject Him and live for self-interests, self-gain, self-satisfying, and self-centered reasons.

We live in an age where technological advances have far outstripped our ethics; we have a lot of “power,” but no clear moral benchmarks to aid us in the use of such power. One reason we lack the moral foundation is that we have left the doctrinal foundation of creation and who we are before a Holy and Wise Creator. We seem to lack the desire to search our heart, mind, and soul for that which is not pleasing to Him (sin).  We intentionally choose to neglect His word and seek the Holy Spirit to lead us in sin awareness.  For the record, neglecting His word and not being aware of sin does not mean we are guiltless.  It just means we have turned our back and hardened our hearts to the true things that honor and glorify Jesus Christ.

When we choose to be in His word and seek and desire to do that which is God-honoring and glorifying we will see more and more of our sinful nature and His grace and mercy.  We will see more clearly that which honors Him.  We will continue to grow and mature in this understanding and knowledge.  We will begin to understand love and hope that is found in trusting, obeying, relying on, clinging to, and living for Jesus Christ.

Out numbered

“Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands”

Judges 7:9
Now the camp of Midian lay below him in the valley. During that night the Lord said to Gideon, “Get up, go down against the camp, because I am going to give it into your hands. If you are afraid to attack, go down to the camp with your servant Purah and listen to what they are saying. Afterward, you will be encouraged to attack the camp.” So he and Purah his servant went down to the outposts of the camp. The Midianites, the Amalekites and all the other eastern peoples had settled in the valley, thick as locusts. Their camels could no more be counted than the sand on the seashore.
Gideon arrived just as a man was telling a friend his dream. “I had a dream,” he was saying. “A round loaf of barley bread came tumbling into the Midianite camp. It struck the tent with such force that the tent overturned and collapsed.”
His friend responded, “This can be nothing other than the sword of Gideon son of Joash, the Israelite. God has given the Midianites and the whole camp into his hands.”
When Gideon heard the dream and its interpretation, he bowed down and worshiped. He returned to the camp of Israel and called out, “Get up! The Lord has given the Midianite camp into your hands.” Dividing the three hundred men into three companies, he placed trumpets and empty jars in the hands of all of them, with torches inside.
“Watch me,” he told them. “Follow my lead. When I get to the edge of the camp, do exactly as I do. When I and all who are with me blow our trumpets, then from all around the camp blow yours and shout, ‘For the Lord and for Gideon. ’”
Gideon and the hundred men with him reached the edge of the camp at the beginning of the middle watch, just after they had changed the guard. They blew their trumpets and broke the jars that were in their hands. The three companies blew the trumpets and smashed the jars. Grasping the torches in their left hands and holding in their right hands the trumpets they were to blow, they shouted, “A sword for the Lord and for Gideon!” While each man held his position around the camp, all the Midianites ran, crying out as they fled.
When the three hundred trumpets sounded, the Lord caused the men throughout the camp to turn on each other with their swords

Joshua 2:24
And they said to Joshua, “Truly the Lord has given all the land into our hands”

Deuteronomy 28:42
The cricket shall possess all your trees and the fruit of your ground.The sojourner who is among you shall rise higher and higher above you, and you shall come down lower and lower. He shall lend to you, and you shall not lend to him. He shall be the head, and you shall be the tail.
“All these curses shall come upon you and pursue you and overtake you till you are destroyed, because you did not obey the voice of the Lord your God, to keep his commandments and his statutes that he commanded you”

300 men were outnumbered by more than they could count.  Yet God fought their battle even before they arrived.  He had put fear and confusion into the hearts and minds of their enemy.  I love how God encouraged Gideon – if you are afraid take  take your servant with you and listen to how they are speaking.  As soon as Gideon heard the fear in their conversation he bowed down and worshiped God for he heard and realized God’s hand was with him.  Remember Gideon had said that he was least in his fathers house and his father house was least in their clan.  Listening to God and being encouraged by what He has done, will do, and is doing it is good for us to bow down and worship Him.  This is God’s battle not Gideon’s.  Sometimes we are in battles that are our own doing because we do not spend time in His word and have abandoned listening to His voice.  These battles are only overcome by bowing down and seeking forgiveness before God.  Other times God stirs our heart and leads us into areas we,  like Gideon, do not feel at all equipped to face.  These too are times we need to bow down and seek Him.  I keep being reminded of this questions “how are we to know Him and his power, strength, love, and mercy if we spend no time reading His word?”  “How are we to obey His leading if there is nothing from His word speaking into our heart?”  How are we to know His purpose for our life without seeking the source through His word?”