Author: pastor.gerooney@gmail.com

Let this be written for a future generation, that a people not yet created may praise the LORD. Psalm 102:18  (Psalms 89, 102, 106, 123, 137)

As the exiles realize their sin, confess and remember the words of the prophets, they revisit their history and clearly see where they went wrong. They also begin reassembling for corporate worship. This is where we find these Psalms put to regular use. They are a combination of hymns, prayers, call and response worship sequences and part of an important liturgy that strengthened them in the overwhelming persecution and struggle they experienced among a pagan culture.

A favorite pass time of the captors was to taunt the worshipers as they praised and prayed to a God who allowed them to be wiped from the face of the earth, and become a laughing stock of a nation. The faith of Israel’s remnant knows their transgression, placing adoration in man made idols who’s only power was to separate them from God. In the face of this intended humiliation, they went to church and stated their faith in the God they knew from the past, in the present, and to the future. What determination they must have found in God’s promise for tomorrow.

Looking to the past, generation after generation walked farther from God’s disciplined law. The hindsight of Israel is 20/20. Now they turn to the future and make a plan to obey and honor God in such a way that all generations to come will know that He alone is Sovereign and worthy of Honor and Praise. What a challenge to each of us today. Put away what hinders and clear a path for those who come behind. May the footsteps they find lead straight to the Throne of God.

Love,

Gretchen

I will sing of the LORD’S great love forever; with my mouth I will make your faithfulness known through all generations. Psalm 89:1 (Psalm 44, 74, 79, 80, 85, 89)

There are ten Psalms written during the exile. These hymns focus on feelings of abandonment, separation, fear and frustration with the perceived absence and silence of God. God’s covenant nation has moved from earth’s greatest wealth and power to abject poverty, slavery and displacement. They became arrogant, thinking they were untouchable no matter their carelessness in worship to The One True God, but when the Temple, the symbol of God’s presence among them, came tumbling down at the hands of pagan Babylonians, these people realized their hope had always been solely in the LORD. Now, they might be lost forever, except….. His prophets preached of return and restoration.

These prayers of lament become verses of reflection and confession. All minds turn to who God is and what He did. Will He do these things again? Spiritual loneliness and separation from others, who had once worshiped The Almighty God, brought a longing to return to the God they once fully relied on and who proved again and again that He was loving and faithful. Harsh realization led to sincere confession, both nationally and individually, and finally, a single minded determination to trust God alone settled once again, in the heart of God’s people.

When those in exile realized they were alone, separated from God, they looked to His character and remembered His many cries to rule their hearts and provide all they needed. In these memories they found optimism and promise that what He said through His prophets would come true. So, they ran to the center of the universe, God’s relationship with man, and they remained for as long as it took……And it was worth the wait.

Love,

Gretchen

“Where were you when I laid earth’s foundation? Tell, me, if you understand.” Job 38:4 (Job 38-42)

Finally God speaks. I made the universe and all that is in it with specific detail to earth’s provision for man. Man is infinitely small compare to Me. I alone am God, Almighty, Creator, Giver of Life! The wicked will absolutely be punished, but in My time. Man is not to justify themselves to Me. I know your heart, so no excuses, no defenses except righteousness. AND! Sorrow comes as a part of life. It is not a residual by product or consequence of sin…..it is life, but there is HOPE!

When struggling with life’s everyday disappointments or loss’s deepest grief, man’s only appropriate response is humble recognition of The Sovereignty of God. Trust with all your heart and know that God is working for the best in you, your family, your community, your nation and all the world. He is first and always, LOVE.

Have a Great Weekend,

Gretchen

“Who is this that darkens my counsel with words without knowledge? Brace yourself like a man; I will questions you, and you shall answer me.”  Job 38:2-3  (Job 32-38:1-3) 

Of all Job’s advisors, Eliphaz is the younger and the last to speak.  He has politely differed to age and experience, but Job’s confident commitment to his defense, misread as bullheaded arrogance, has angered the court sages. This young, learned man spends many words telling how important and profound his insight is before he ever gets around to proclaiming that God’s actions are corrective, not punitive. His exhortation is six Biblical chapters long and when he is done, God speaks! (Read today’s scripture with a thunderous voice.)

Finding and placing blame is NOT synonymous with counsel or comfort. Blame always brings his best friend guilt to confront the offender, most likely the one already suffering. If guilt is provoked, he calls on his friends fear and anger. None of these characters are God’s desire for His children’s company. God’s loving arms bring only security, contentment and peace. 

Job’s friends initially meant well. However, they got wrapped up in traditional thought patterns that made them comfortable, but had the potential to destroy their friend. They passed judgement to fill a silence. Shame on them! God doesn’t need our assistance in anything! But!!He asks us to love for and through Him. We hinder the work God is already doing when we attempt to play God with someone else’s heartache. Be a conduit of Grace, not an impeder or hindrance.

Love,

Gretchen

And He said to man, “The fear of the LORD, that is wisdom, and to shun evil is understanding.” Job 28:28  (Job 22-31)

Job’s friends are relentless. Rather than correct their theologies, they begin making up sins, completely rewriting the history of Job’s character to justify what they believe of God’s character! Job refuses to perjure himself by agreeing that he is guilty of some misplaced, forgotten, hidden or unconscious wrong.

Job clings to the words from God’s mouth and begins to grow in confidence. No longer trying to figure out why, peace is more important than an explanation and he finds what he is looking for by knowing there is an Almighty God. A recitation of Job’s sorrows concludes with a restatement of all he has done right in accordance with God’s laws and commands. Peace with God’s providence has come.

Our greatest faith comes through releasing EVERYTHING to God’s will. We want Him to abide by our definitions of kindness, bounty and justice, but He won’t, and we cannot rely on our own understanding of His ways. Like Job, our only hope and peace rests in allowing God to be God while trusting and knowing that He is good and that is enough.

Not Easy for Me Either!

Gretchen

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end He will stand upon the earth. And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God.  Job 19:25-26 (Job 9-21)

Job and his three friends enter into a great debate.  Job insists he is not wicked and on several occasions, declares his righteousness to both his sages and God. However, his theology, bad things only happen to bad people, doesn’t square with his reality and the agony is bitter!

Evil people experiencing no visible evidence of God’s judgement or wrath while righteous Job’s pain and loss are excruciating, is noted. Job adds, he could accuse the same friends that hold him guilty of unseen, unspoken, yet ‘obvious’ transgressions, of worse sin than any possible wrong doing on his part. His sarcasm doesn’t set well and he finds himself completely alone. Chapter 19:13-19 lists all those who have abandoned him. Still, Job defends his righteousness and asserts, God sees him as he truly is.

Then! Job’s heartbroken, at times sarcastic, defense becomes faith! Not his old faith, but new and improved with clarity and definition. I KNOW my Redeemer, the one who sacrifices for man’s soul, lives and therefore, I too will live. (ARE YOU LISTENING SATAN?) Job finds hope, born of a faith that didn’t die of natural causes, and begins to understand an everlasting life.

From his primitive understanding of a Creator God and misunderstood justice comes a story of faith with a ‘no matter what’ endurance. When you have this, you have everything!

Love,

Gretchen

 He will yet fill you mouth with laughter and your lips with shouts of joy. Job 8:21 (Job 4-8)

Mary, the mother of Jesus, knew without doubt, that Jesus was the Son of God. With as much certainty as Mary understood Jesus’ virgin birth, Job knew his righteousness. His faith was in God, not the blessings God bestowed. So why?!

Job is depicted as a patient, all enduring man, but on closer inspection a vocal protester is found. He pours out his heart to God, but God doesn’t seem to be listening, so Job longs for death and an end to his misery. In his grief his friends come to comfort. In their efforts to console, they begin a feeble attempt to explain God’s behavior. In many ways they are correct. No one is blameless, God does judge and discipline. These thoughts turned into outright rebuke over Job’s apparent, secret, horrible sin. They suggest Job’s only hope is in repentance so restoration may occur. Here is where they go terribly wrong.

It is in seeking a reason and placing blame that Job’s friends deviate from correct counsel. For example, Job is suffering greatly, therefore his sin is tremendous. I am not suffering, therefore, God must be more tolerant of my foibles. Yeah for me! Bummer for him, just repent and be done with it! (Please insert mild sarcasm.)

We are designed to define, explain and perpetually seek answers, but there is a fine line where we must stop with the questions. Knowing why the earth takes 365 days to orbit the sun is much different that understanding why an innocent child suffers from cancer or abuse. One answer we are entitle to, the other…… But! This I know, in everything, just as Job will soon discover, God is waiting to reveal a greater, deeper understanding of His Sovereignty and boundless love. Where answers can’t be found, faith does its best work.

Love,

Gretchen

In all this, Job did not sin by charging God with wrongdoing. Job:1:22 (Job 1-3)

Job was a wealthy desert prince, descendant of Abraham through Esau, and a really good man. His story takes place during Israel’s sojourn in Egypt, prior to the Exodus. The recording of his story is accredited to Moses who may have known him personally or in the very least, met his immediate family while in Midian for 40 years.

Satan approached God with an accusation against Job. He charged God’s favor as the source of Job’s faith. Who wouldn’t praise God when one was enviably rich in every way? God allowed Satan to put Job to the test. In the course of a day, Job lost his wealth, his children and his health. Three friends, wise men of their age, and his wife, promoted four misconceptions: Suffering is punishment, suffering is for correction, suffering stomps out hypocrisy by exposing hidden sin, and final justice happens in this life. Job’s story asks the ageless questions, “How can a good God allow so much bad?” and “Where does man’s destiny fit into God’s sovereign authority?”

Jesus Himself, suffered an unfathomable loss. He became fully man to experience the staggering pains and sorrows of human flesh. Job cursed the day of His birth, but never turned his anger toward God. Jesus had the power to curse, not just those who brought Him harm, but mankind for all eternity. Love stayed His hand and although Satan’s goal was to turn God completely against humanity, it didn’t work.

Somewhere in Job’s life, He understood God’s love and anchored his only hope in Him alone. It was enough, it was God’s way and his destiny.

Love,

Gretchen

At the end of that time, I, Nebuchadnezzar, raised my eyes toward Heaven, and my sanity was restored. Then I praised the Most High; I honored and glorified Him who lives forever. Daniel 4:34 ( Ezekiel 29:17-21, Daniel 4, Jeremiah 51:31-34)

At the age of 59, Ezekiel’s prophecies come to an end as far as is recorded in scripture. With the prophecies of Tyre and Egypt’s destruction he grows quiet. It is possible that he lived long enough to see the Israel’s restoration begin, but it is not known with certainty. As Ezekiel’s work is concluding, Nebuchadnezzar is seeing the miraculous power of God over and over. First in Daniel’s ability to describe and interpret dreams the king had never even spoken aloud, second, when he witnessed the Angel of the LORD rescue the three Hebrew men from his own wrath in the fiery furnace and finally, when he was boasting of his great success and was stricken with a mental illness for three and a half years.

Nebuchadnezzar becomes delusional, believing he is an animal. He lives in the woods around the palace, but following his time of infirm, this great and proud man is humbled to the point that he finally understands his sinful state and need for the redeeming Grace of God. Babylon was a polytheistic culture, but the presence of a personal, exclusive and creative deity, The One True God, never stops reaching out to each one of us so that we will repent and become His child again and know there is no other.

Until we realize that nothing good comes of our own strength, machinations and resources, we will never fully understand the omnipotence, omnipresence and omniscience of our Loving Heavenly Father.

Happy Weekend!

Gretchen

And I saw the glory of the God of Israel coming from the east. His voice was like the roar of rushing waters, and the land was radiant with His glory. Ezekiel 43:2 (Ezekiel 40-48)

Ezekiel is taken, for a second time, back to Israel. The first journey drew him to the complete destruction of the Temple. Now, the LORD has taken him by the hand and shown him, symbolically and in great detail, a New Jerusalem and a new Temple. This new Temple has an eastern gate reserved for the entrance the LORD and from beneath the threshold a river flows. Along its banks are trees who’s fruit provides food and gives healing. God reminds Ezekiel of the debauchery and corruption that occurred at the former altar of the LORD and shows that only the holy, obedient and pure of heart will worship in this Temple who’s name is THE LORD IS THERE.

Ezekiel’s prophecies begin with God leaving the presence of His covenant people. His life’s work ends with a vision of His returned Glory to Israel (Israel represents all believers). In Revelations 21:22 John sees this Temple that embodies the name Ezekiel heard. It is not a building. Being in the presence of God and The Lamb will be our Temple.

Our hearts must be a Temple for God’s glory and our lives a living sacrifice, so that someday we will forever dwell in the Temple/Presence of the LORD.

Love,

Gretchen