The Heart of Worshi[ (Isaiah 12, 2 Chron 28, 2 Kings 16-18, Hosea 1) – June 25

In reading the account of Ahaz we see that their worship was flagrantly against the Lord.  First of all, He went to Damsacus to seek after their gods because Damascus had defeated Israel. Ahaz thought this was because their god was greater than the God of Israel.  When Ahaz saw the altar built to their Gods, he sent the pattern back to the high priest with an order to build a replica.  The high priest should have known better, but he built it anyway at the command of the king.  When the king returned, he broke in pieces the instruments of worship to the one true God, and worshipped at his new altar instead.  He not only disobeyed God, but completely turned his back on God.  What a tragedy!

How often do I turn my back on God?  How often do I put my trust in something other than God to supply my needs and give me victory in life?  This is a question I have to ask myself on a regular basis because I have failed so often to put Him first.  I lost a lot of money trying to make money in bitcoin several years ago.  I would have been much better off to give that money to God’s purpose, but I trusted in men who were wicked, and they took me for more than I care to share here.  Instead of trusting in God to supply my needs, I trusted something else, and I was ashamed of my decision.  I should have known better, just like Ahaz should have known better, but I made the mistake of believing a lie, just like Ahaz did.

Then we read of the reforms Hezekiah put in place and we see that he cast out the bronze serpent that Moses had made because the people were still burning incense to it.  This was in the temple and yet was an idol to the people all these years – almost 700 years by my recollection.  Even during David’s great reign, it was there.  And during the reign of Jeroboam and Joash, who the Bible says did good in the eyes of the lord.  It had become such a tradition that no one even thought it was an idol, but it was.

Do we have traditions in our church or in our lives, that are really idols and not honoring God?  I have been in churches where heaven forbid we should move the piano, or change the color of the carpet, or disrupt the order of worship.  Some things have become so ingrained into us that we do not even see them as an idol or displeasing to God.  We have to get back to the heart of worship, which is lifting up the name of Jesus.  He said if He is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself.  But many of the songs the church sings are songs that lift me up instead of Jesus.  They are songs that talk of all the blessings we receive from God, and do not exalt the name of the Lord at all.

Please don’t get me wrong here.  These songs are beautiful songs, and I love to listen to them as much as the next person.  But they are not songs of worship. They are songs of victory maybe, or songs of blessing, but not of worship;.  Worship is lifting up God and His name.  listen to the words of the song and you will quickly see that they are not about God, but are more about me and my life and blessings.  Are we missing the heart of worship, just as the Israelites were?  I think so in some instances.  I think we have become like the image that Hosea was given, which is also a part of our reading today.  He was told, by God, to marry a harlot as a symbol of Israel’s harlotry with other gods.  May we, and may I in particular, make sure we are worshiping the one true God, because it should be all about Him!

Bring Forth Fruit (Isaiah 7, 2 Kings 15-16, 2 Chron 27, Micah 1) – June 23

I love to have a garden every year.  I never used to be a gardener (although my name is Gardner), but about 6 years ago I decided to plant some seeds and ever since then I have enjoyed the fruit of my labor more and more.  The last few years I have even planted vegetables in my neighbor’s plst because he was not able to use it.  I have green beans, kohlrabi, tomatoes, cucumbers, corn and potatoes this year, and they are all doing well.  We have had ample rain in northern Iowa, so all the crops are coming up quickly.  By mid=July, we should be enjoying the fruit of this labor.

One thing I have learned is that weeds do not need to be tended to grow wildly.  They will take over a garden quickly and ruin the crop that I have worked hard to plant.  The garden needs to be weeded regularly throughout the growing season.  I try to get out daily and check for weeds and hoe them up or pull them if possible.  Recent rains have kept me out of my garden for a few days (4.5 inches two nights ago).  I will have to work extra hard to get the weeds taken care of once things dry out a bit.  If I don’t, the weeds will take over and I will not enjoy asd much produce as I had hoped.

As a Christian, there is a crop growing in me ever since I accepted Christ as Savior.  They are called the fruit of the Spirit.  Love, joy, peace, long suffering, gentleness. goodness, faith, meekness and temperance are all things that should be evident in our lives every single day..  We should have an abundance of all of them, and should be able to give them out to others as they need them.  Isaiah writes about places where there should be a thousand vines that are worth much, but they have been overtaken by briers and thorns.  These briers and thorns not only choke out the good fruit, but also make it hard to partake in.  Three times, Isaiah warns of these briers and thorns.  Three times in three verses.  That is the way God puts emphasis on something, and this is a strong emphasis.

We need to care for the garden of our lives.  The weeds (briers and thorns) have to be taken out regularly.  They grow wildly in all of us ever since the days of Adam, when he was told he would have to tend to the garden.  The fruit that a Christian produces is so needed in this world today, yet the Christian is too busy with the cares of this life (briers and thorns) to care for the crop that God wants to grow.  Lust, greed, anger, bitterness, jealousy and all manner of worldly cares come in and choke out the good seed God has planted.  I need to cut these things off before they become a problem – before they start to choke off the fruit that is supposed to be evident in my life.  If I do not take care of this garden, my own fruit will be spoiled.

Let us all weed out the briers and thorns that infest our life, and bring forth an abundance of fruit.  Then we’ll see revival in the land.  Then we will experience the fruit of the Spirit in abundance.  May we all work until Jesus comes!

My Witness (Amos 7-9, 2 Kings 14-15, Isaiah 6) – June 22

The call of Isaiah into ministry is something I have always kept in my heart.  First, the hot coils touch his lips.  Do I have a burning desire to reach people for the Lord?  I have to admit that I do not.  I am not very good at sharing my faith with people who do not ask.  I am not outgoing in sharing with those I think are lost.  This is an area where I need to have more urgency, because the days are getting short.  Jesus will return soon, and I have a responsibility to share in the wonderful message of His saving grace.  He has done so much for me.  Why am I so reluctant to tell people about what he has done?  I need a touch from a burning coal!

Isaiah is told to make the people’s ears heavy and their eyes are shut.  We seem to be in that kind of culture now.  People don;t seem to be able to even see God in creation!  His masterpieces during sunrise and sunset are mere science to theme.  They don’t see the painter’s brush and His careful strokes give us a glorious display each day.  They don’t hear the sound of nature, always there telling us about their creator.  My witness is so that they can see His glory and hear His voice.  Inb this way, and this way nly, will they be healed from the death that is in them,

Isaiah is told to preach until the cities are not inhabited, the houses have no man,  and the land is desolate.  What a wasteland this would be!  I think this means He is to preach until all are saved and have turned their lives over to God.  There is no one left to preach to.  He has been to every man within his area of ministry, and they have all left their previous lifestyle to serve Christ.  That is a lot of people when I think about it.   How many people would that be for me?  Hundreds and that’s just in Belmond.  I have a lot of work to do!  May I start today!

Shall the Dead Arise? (2 Kings 13, 2 Chron 24) – June 19

Even the embers from the fire of the Holy Ghost can spark new life.  I love the story of the man who came back to life just by touching Elisha’s dead bones.  He was completely dead – no life in him.  Elisha had done 13 miracles at this point.  Elijah had done 7.  Elisha asked for a double portion of Elijah’s spirit, and it was granted to him.  One more miracle was to come when he died. How can someone do a miracle after he is dead? 

 This Sunday, I will be preaching at my church, and my direction right now is to preach out of Psalm 88.  It is a Psalm of discouragement and talks about someone having a really bad day – really bad.  Everything seems to be going wrong, and it is a lamentation over the situation the writer is in.  But then along comes verse 10, which asks the question “Shall the Dead Arise to Praise You?”  This question caused me to write a poem 4 years ago that rings out with praise.  Yes, the dead shall arise to praise God.  Here we see that happening.  

In Jesus we see that happening. We were all dead in our trespasses and iniquities.  But Jesus took upon hHimself all our sins, all our shame. all our guilt, all our wrongs.  He stretched His arms out on the cross to die for you and me.  He was laid in a borrowed tomb and rose again from the dead on the third day.  He arose to praise God.  He arose to give us a way to the Father.  He arose to be with us forevermore. He arose so that we could all rise from the death of sin we were in, and live to praise God, for His mercy endures forever!

We serve a powerful God.  A God that has all authority in heaven and earth.  Perhaps today our Spirit lies dormant, barely breathing.  Perhaps I have fallen back into some of my sinful ways.  Perhaps I feel dead inside me because of the quilt and shame of my recurring sin.  I shall not fear.  By the power of Almighty God, I can rise from that death and praise Him once again.  He will pick me up out of that miry clay, and set my feet on the rock to stay. He is my deliverer and my redeemer.  I shall arise again and praise Him!

The First Piggy Bank (2 Kings 10-12,2 Chron 22-24( – June 18

Athaliah was a wicked ruler, and during her reign she had the temple of the Lord broken into and the instruments for the offerings taken away to us in service to Baal.  Also, for years, maybe decades, the people had not brought the temple tax that was commanded by Moses in Exodus 30.  Once Athaliah was dead and Joash took over as King, Joash wanted to fix the places ibn the temple that had not been taken care of. He reinstituted the temple tax, but even when it was brought, the priests did not use it for what it was intended.  We do not know what they did use it for, but it was not to fix the temple.

Joash catches wind of this and decides to use another method. He took a box and bore a hole in it for the people to bring this temple tax.  The amount was a half-shekel for every man.  Figuring there were probably about a million men at the time, that produced a hefty offering each year.  They put it in the hand of the king’s scribe and the high-priest’s servant, and they saw to it that the money was used top repair the temple, as it was mean to be.

My question is two-fold.  How did they even allow the temple to get into such disrepair, and why did the Levites not get punished for mis-using the funds  To my eyes, it seems that the Lord had really taken a back seat in the people’s lives.  Wouldn’t a congregation that is truly seeking God keep His temple in good repair?  I would hope that they would, and then it would not have needed all these repairs under Joash.

We have a responsibility to God’s house to make sure that it is fixed up and looking good.  And this is not just the church we go to, but also the Temple of the Holy Ghost that we each are.  This temple needs to be taken care of, and that is totally on me.  In my best days, and my worst, I am assigned to take care of it so it does not fall into disrepair.  I am not talking about height, or weight, or muscle tone, although these are also important.  But I am talking about feeding the body with the Word of God, and making sure that any areas where we are wavering in our faith are built up the spending time in prayer and praise.

We are also called to be careful with what God has given us.  We are the caretakers of this creation, and when God gives us something, we should make sure that not only does He get His part, but that then portion given to Him is used for the right purposes.  And always remember that God gives you everything. Your wages, your health, your breath, your produce – it all belongs to God.  He has given it to you to take care of the Temple you have become.  We must make sure we are giving Him back His due, and using the rest to strengthen our walk with HIM.  The first piggy bank that Joash built is a picture of our ability to take and utilize what God has given us. May we never disappoint Him with our lives.