Tag: woe to me

10.k. “I am weary with holding it in”

Jonah 1:1  Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, “Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it, for their evil has come up before me.” But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.

Exodus 4:13-14     But he said, “Oh, my Lord, please send someone else.”  Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Behold, he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

Jeremiah 20:7-9    O LORD, you have deceived me, and I was deceived; you are stronger than I, and you have prevailed. I have become a laughingstock all the day; everyone mocks me.  For whenever I speak, I cry out, I shout, “Violence and destruction!” For the word of the LORD has become for me a reproach and derision all day long.  If I say, “I will not mention him, or speak any more in his name,” there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in, and I cannot.

Ezekiel 3:14   The Spirit lifted me up and took me away, and I went in bitterness in the heat of my spirit, the hand of the LORD being strong upon me.

Luke 9:62     Jesus said to him, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God.”

1 Corinthians 9:16   For if I preach the gospel, that gives me no ground for boasting. For necessity is laid upon me. Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!

Have you ever come to a time in your life where you did what you knew the Lord wanted you to do but had bitterness in your heart?   Have you ever been led down a path in life by the Lord and then looked back at where you were before and had a want to go back there to easier times?  Have you ever felt the nudge of the Lord to clearly do something and said, “please send someone else”?  Have you ever just wanted to get away from what the Lord has asked you to do?  We read of many great men of God who felt as though they knew better or had enough and they threw up their arms in a full STOP.  We know when Jesus is leading us there are power, strength, and courage we get when our eyes are kept focused on Him.  It is when our focus is on the situation or our wants more than our want to humbly serve, honor, follow, trust, and obey Jesus Christ.

Not how Jeremiah and Paul put it; “there is in my heart as it were a burning fire shut up in my bones, and I am weary with holding it in”, “Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!”

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.

Lying lips of slander

Psalms 120:1   In my distress I called to the LORD, and he answered me.   Deliver me, O LORD, from lying lips, from a deceitful tongue.  What shall be given to you, and what more shall be done to you, you deceitful tongue?  A warrior’s sharp arrows, with glowing coals of the broom tree!  Woe to me, that I sojourn in Meshech, that I dwell among the tents of Kedar!  Too long have I had my dwelling among those who hate peace.  I am for peace, but when I speak, they are for war!

Ezekiel 2:6    And you, son of man, be not afraid of them, nor be afraid of their words, though briers and thorns are with you and you sit on scorpions. Be not afraid of their words, nor be dismayed at their looks, for they are a rebellious house.

Matthew 10:16     “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be wise as serpents and innocent as doves.

Titus 3:3     For we ourselves were once foolish, disobedient, led astray, slaves to various passions and pleasures, passing our days in malice and envy, hated by others and hating one another.

“When we are slandered it is a joy that the Lord knows us, and cannot be made to doubt our uprightness he will not hear the lie against us, but he will hear our prayer against the lie.” (Spurgeon)

“It is of little use to appeal to our fellows on the matter of slander, for the more we stir in it the more it spreads; it is of no avail to appeal to the honour of the slanderers, for they have none, and the most piteous demands for justice will only increase their malignity and encourage them to fresh insult.” (Spurgeon)