Tag: God is just

Scripture and My Word

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After God has laid upon your heart the word He has for you, you choose 8-10 related words to help you clarify and broaden the scope of the word in your mind. The next step is to go to scripture and search for your word. Most often there are many verses using your word and you need to read through them to see which ones resonate with your heart and capture the broadened meaning of your word. This year’s word for me, Commit, was used over 150 times in the Old and New Testaments. I sifted through and saw various meaning’s or uses of the word. As I studied the passages I began to focus on 3 different scriptures: Psalm 37:5-6, Proverbs 16:3 and 1 Peter 4:19. 

Psalm 37:5-6 ”Commit your way to the Lord;
    trust in him, and he will act.
6 He will bring forth your righteousness as the light,
    and your justice as the noonday.” 

I love these verses and included them in my book Promises for Dynamic Living. God promises that committing your way to Him and giving Him your trust allows Him to act on your behalf. He will bring forth good things, help you to shine for Him and see that you are treated justly. Those are mighty returns for your commitment and trust! There are principles about God and His character embedded within theses verses. 1. God is good and wants only good things for me. Those things brought forth through our trust and commitment are in the light, righteous and just.  2. Following God requires trust and commitment. God promises action only if we do our part- trusting and committing. We know God keeps His promises so to receive his blessings we need to commit and trust in Him. Blessedly God knows us and our weaknesses and often acts in spite of what I do. Then I thank God for his boundless grace towards me.  3. God has the power to mold and shape my character. His actions will bring forth from me new light and righteousness in Him. God desires to make us more and more like Jesus as we walk with Him daily. 4. God is just and righteous. These attributes are an intergyral part of God’s character and who He is.

Here are 2 verses from Isaiah about our Just God. 5:16 “But the Lord of hosts is exalted in justice, and the Holy God shows himself holy in righteousness.” 30:18 “Therefore the Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore he exalts himself to show mercy to you. For the Lord is a God of justice; blessed are all those who wait for him.” 

Here are 2 verses from Psalms about our Righteous God. 71:19 “Your righteousness, O God, reaches the high heavens. You who have done great things, O God, who is like you?” 145: 17“The Lord is righteous in all his ways and kind in all his works.”

I pray you will find just the right verses to go with your word so that God can use them to imprint Himself upon your life this year.  The other verses I’ve chosen will be written about in future blogs.

Linda

God’s Character Revealed

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And the journey continues…Nahum. This short book in the Old Testament was written by Nahum the prophet. Like Jonah he was called to give a message from God to Assyria. Years earlier God sent Jonah to call the people of Nineveh, the Assyrian capital, to repentance. They had repented and God had postponed their destruction. They had been an evil people practicing extreme cruelty towards others and had taken the northern kingdom of Israel into captivity. God had promised revenge upon those who used and abused His people. So the time for their downfall has arrived and Nahum tells how God will destroy them because of their sinful ways. In the midst of these 3 short chapters there are some nuggets that speak of God’s great character and promises of hope in the future for those who trust in Him.

Nahum 1:2-7 2 The Lord is a jealous and avenging God;
    the Lord is avenging and wrathful;
the Lord takes vengeance on his adversaries
    and keeps wrath for his enemies. God does not allow those who love Him to be taken advantage of and not avenged. He is the one who will right wrongs and take care of our enemies. This biblical truth is given many other places in scripture. See Deuteronomy 32:41-43,Isaiah 35:4, Romans 12:19, Hebrews 10:30.

3 The Lord is slow to anger and great in power,
    and the Lord will by no means clear the guilty.
His way is in whirlwind and storm,
    and the clouds are the dust of his feet.
4 He rebukes the sea and makes it dry;
    he dries up all the rivers;
Bashan and Carmel wither;
    the bloom of Lebanon withers.
5 The mountains quake before him;
    the hills melt;
the earth heaves before him,
    the world and all who dwell in it. Here Nahum speaks of the sovereign control God has over His creation. He describes God’s character as being longsuffering, patient but just in the face of sin.

6 Who can stand before his indignation?
    Who can endure the heat of his anger?
His wrath is poured out like fire,
    and the rocks are broken into pieces by him.
7 The Lord is good,
    a stronghold in the day of trouble;
he knows those who take refuge in him. God is God and no one can stand against Him and His power. Verse 7 is one of my favorites as it extols the goodness of God for all who believe and take refuge in Him!

In 1:15 Nahum tells of good news to come. The coming destruction of Assyria was good news to the people of Judah who had been threatened and abused by them. The good news also foreshadows the coming of Jesus who brought good news for all mankind. Behold, upon the mountains, the feet of him
    who brings good news,
    who publishes peace!
Keep your feasts, O Judah;
    fulfill your vows,
for never again shall the worthless pass through you;
    he is utterly cut off.

What can we learn from this ancient prophesy? We know that the destruction of the Assyrian empire was historically accomplished at the hands of the Babylonians years after this prophesy was written. God’s word was true and accurate and shows how God’s will will be accomplished as He says. The words within Nahum show us more about God’s holy character and how He is mighty, sovereign, holy and all powerful. It also gives us assurance that God will avenge wrongs done towards those who follow Him in faith and shows His love and care for each believer. I cling to the truth of verse 7- God is good and in Him I will find refuge as He cares for me! Amidst the destruction and unleashing of God’s wrath towards their unrepentant sin, we see hope and restoration for those who believe in Him– Jesus. He is the ultimate good news of God that brings love, peace, hope, forgiveness and life eternal in Him. John 3:16-17 “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. 17 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.” Thank you Jesus.

May you have a clearer vision of who God is and what He has done for you through Jesus.

Linda

Choosing to Trust

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And the journey continues…Habakkuk. I love this short book written by a prophet that lived in the time of Jeremiah and probably lived to see the Babylonians invade Jerusalem, and the people of God carried off into captivity. Habakkuk records a conversation he had with God. He was filled with questions and doubts about what he was seeing happen in the world around him. (I can relate to that today!) In the first chapter, Habakkuk asks God why is he not doing something about the evil in his country, Judah? God replies that he will as he is sending the Babylonians to punish their evil ways. Judah had fallen big time into worshipping idols and had forsaken the worship of the one true God. In chapter 2, Habakkuk asks, how can you holy God use a wicked nation like Babylon to punish His people? God answers, he will use them but they too will receive punishment for their sins and wicked ways. In the final third chapter, Habakkuk has resolved his worry and doubt and confesses he knows God is merciful and just. He claims God is sovereign over all that happens and has decided he will choose to trust, obey and rejoice in the Lord.

Habakkuk 3:17-19 are some of the most beautiful, profound and uplifting verses in the Bible. I love them and chose verse 18 as my verse for this year, as my word for the year is Joy.

Though the fig tree should not blossom,
    nor fruit be on the vines,
the produce of the olive fail
    and the fields yield no food,
the flock be cut off from the fold
    and there be no herd in the stalls,
18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord;
    I will take joy in the God of my salvation.
19 God, the Lord, is my strength;
    he makes my feet like the deer’s;
    he makes me tread on my high places.

You can feel Habakkuk’s resolve in verse 17-18 that no matter what is happening, no matter how bad things look, he will choose to rejoice in the Lord. He knows (19) that his strength is in the Lord. He trusts God to make him to soar above it all as he looks to Him for his strength and hope. I am reminded here that it is a choice we make to live looking to the Lord for our strength and joy. Moses made a similar choice in Deuteronomy 32:3-4 ‘I will proclaim the name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! 4 He is the Rock, his works are perfect,  and all his ways are just.
A faithful God who does no wrong,  upright and just is he.”

May we make the same decision and resolve as Habakkuk to choose God and live joyful and abundant lives in Him. Choose to trust God; He has it covered!

Linda