...learning about love and faith

I also posted this on facebook.
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Well I've been struggling lately with feelings of confusion. I have a yearning desire to know and understand more about the Bible--I'll never be content unless I do. And I should! God's Word tells us to have a reason and prepared to tell about what we believe, the reason for our faith.

God has blessed me so much recently by bringing fellow believers into my life who challenge my faith, answer questions I may have (and may not have asked), encourage me, and build up my faith in Jesus. Whenever I come to Jesus with a doubt or a question and submit it to Him, Jesus brings someone or something into my life and it gets blown away.

Just one of the things I've been in wonderment for a while is why God chose to bless the Israelites/Jews as His people and whether or not He refused anyone else who wanted to serve Him. I was confused about whether the OT peoples had a choice about serving the one, true God. Some people make it seem like the God of the OT was this totally unjust radical, blood-thirsty fiend. Oh brother. Well that question can be answered merely by looking through the Old Testament (I keep saying, don't I, that I need to read through it)! Examples!
Job was not an Isrealite, yet he was a righteous man, so much so that God pointed Him out to Satan as a servant with whom He was pleased.
Then the LORD said to Satan, "Have you considered my servant Job? There is no one on earth like him; he is blameless and upright, a man who fears God and shuns evil." Job 1:8

God showed mercy to Rahab, the prostitute, because she confessed to the two men she sheltered from Jericho's city guards that she believed and feared the God of the Israelites:

Before the spies lay down for the night, she went up on the roof and said to them, "I know that the LORD has given this land to you and that a great fear of you has fallen on us, so that all who live in this country are melting in fear because of you. We have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea for you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to Sihon and Og, the two kings of the Amorites east of the Jordan, whom you completely destroyed. When we heard of it, our hearts melted and everyone's courage failed because of you, for the LORD your God is God in heaven above and on the earth below. Now then, please swear to me by the LORD that you will show kindness to my family, because I have shown kindness to you. Give me a sure sign that you will spare the lives of my father and mother, my brothers and sisters, and all who belong to them, and that you will save us from death." Joshua 2:8-13

She even boldly asked for her entire family to be spared. and they were!

Joshua 6:20-25

"When the trumpets sounded, the people shouted, and at the sound of the trumpet, when the people gave a loud shout, the wall collapsed; so every man charged straight in, and they took the city. They devoted the city to the LORD and destroyed with the sword every living thing in it—men and women, young and old, cattle, sheep and donkeys.

Joshua said to the two men who had spied out the land, "Go into the prostitute's house and bring her out and all who belong to her, in accordance with your oath to her." So the young men who had done the spying went in and brought out Rahab, her father and mother and brothers and all who belonged to her. They brought out her entire family and put them in a place outside the camp of Israel.

Then they burned the whole city and everything in it, but they put the silver and gold and the articles of bronze and iron into the treasury of the LORD's house. But Joshua spared Rahab the prostitute, with her family and all who belonged to her, because she hid the men Joshua had sent as spies to Jericho—and she lives among the Israelites to this day."

They were even given a place among the Israelites! That's pretty gracious, hmm? =)

Noah was around even before Abraham, so he obviously wasn't an Israelite. But God saw that he was righteous in a world of sinfulness, and He showed Noah (and his family) favor.

"The LORD saw how great man's wickedness on the earth had become, and that every inclination of the thoughts of his heart was only evil all the time. The LORD was grieved that he had made man on the earth, and his heart was filled with pain. So the LORD said, "I will wipe mankind, whom I have created, from the face of the earth—men and animals, and creatures that move along the ground, and birds of the air—for I am grieved that I have made them." But Noah found favor in the eyes of the LORD. This is the account of Noah.
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked with God."
Genesis 6:5-19

God has never been and never will be an unjust God. He makes the rules, and when we break or utterly defy them, we get punished for it. The people that He allowed to be destroyed had chosen to be wicked.
Sodom and Gomorrah were the staple reference when making a point about godlessness throughout God's Word. Mentions of the cities are laced throughout the Old and New Testaments, both used when referencing the most disgusting of things. No people were more abhorrent to the Lord. They were totally godless and immoral.

"... the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the Lord." Genesis 13:13

Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous." Gen 18:20

The angels of the Lord had even visited with Abraham in Chapter 18, and God promised Abraham that if he found even 10 righteous men in the city, He would not destroy it. But here's what happened:

"The two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot (that's Abraham's nephew) was sitting in the gateway of the city. When he saw them, he got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground. "My lords," he said, "please turn aside to your servant's house. You can wash your feet and spend the night and then go on your way early in the morning."
"No," they answered, "we will spend the night in the square."
But he insisted so strongly that they did go with him and entered his house. He prepared a meal for them, baking bread without yeast, and they ate. Before they had gone to bed, all the men from every part of the city of Sodom—both young and old—surrounded the house. They called to Lot, "Where are the men who came to you tonight? Bring them out to us so that we can have sex with them."
Gen 19:1-5

Then the two angels blinded all the men outside so they could not harm Lot or his family. They helped Lot's family escape after revealing to them that God was going to destroy the city.

"The two men said to Lot, "Do you have anyone else here—sons-in-law, sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, because we are going to destroy this place. The outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that he has sent us to destroy it."
Gen 19:12-13

So they got the heck outta there and God rained down sulfur, totally destroying the city.
In Deuteronomy 29, God's anger towards the unfaithful Israelites is described as follows:
"The whole land will be a burning waste of salt and sulfur—nothing planted, nothing sprouting, no vegetation growing on it. It will be like the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, Admah and Zeboiim, which the LORD overthrew in fierce anger. All the nations will ask: "Why has the LORD done this to this land? Why this fierce, burning anger?"

And the answer will be: 'It is because this people abandoned the covenant of the LORD, the God of their fathers, the covenant he made with them when he brought them out of Egypt. They went off and worshiped other gods and bowed down to them, gods they did not know, gods he had not given them. ²Therefore the LORD's anger burned against this land, so that he brought on it all the curses written in this book. In furious anger and in great wrath the LORD uprooted them from their land and thrust them into another land, as it is now.'

The secret things belong to the LORD our God, but the things revealed belong to us and to our children forever, that we may follow all the words of this law."

Deuteronomy 29:24-29

In Jude:

"Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding towns gave themselves up to sexual immorality and perversion. They serve as an example of those who suffer the punishment of eternal fire." Jude 1:7

Yikes! These people were detestable in God's sight because of their sexual immorality, murderous acts, and generally wicked deeds.

God was never unjust. Truthfully, even though the Israelites were so very unfaithful, God still loved them.
The book of Hosea shows a powerful representation of God's love for His people, of His strong desire to be reconciled to them, but only after they forsook their evil ways, repented, and mourned their unfaithfulness. God told Hosea to marry a woman that would be adulterous and unfaithful to him, but Hosea was to love and care for her regardless. The love Hosea showed for his adulterous wife represented God's love for his people. Here's just a small portion of what God had to say to the Israelites:

"Hear the word of the LORD, you Israelites,
because the LORD has a charge to bring
against you who live in the land:
'There is no faithfulness, no love,
no acknowledgment of God in the land.'"
Hosea 4:1

"For I will be like a lion to Ephraim,
like a great lion to Judah.
I will tear them to pieces and go away;
I will carry them off, with no one to rescue them.

Then I will go back to my place
until they admit their guilt.
And they will seek my face;
in their misery they will earnestly seek me."

Hosea 5:14-15

He wanted their whole, undivided attention, love, faithfulness, everything.


(Israelites:)"Come, let us return to the LORD.
He has torn us to pieces
but he will heal us;
he has injured us
but he will bind up our wounds.

After two days he will revive us;
on the third day he will restore us,
that we may live in his presence.

Let us acknowledge the LORD;
let us press on to acknowledge him.
As surely as the sun rises,
he will appear;
he will come to us like the winter rains,
like the spring rains that water the earth."

(The Lord:) "What can I do with you, Ephraim?
What can I do with you, Judah?
Your love is like the morning mist,
like the early dew that disappears.

Therefore I cut you in pieces with my prophets,
I killed you with the words of my mouth;
my judgments flashed like lightning upon you.

For I desire mercy, not sacrifice,
and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."

Hosea 6:1-6

Then the Lord decides to curb His wrath and have mercy:

"'How can I give you up, Ephraim?
How can I hand you over, Israel?
How can I treat you like Admah?
How can I make you like Zeboiim?
My heart is changed within me;
all my compassion is aroused.

I will not carry out my fierce anger,
nor will I turn and devastate Ephraim.
For I am God, and not man—
the Holy One among you.
I will not come in wrath.

(But He still demands their faithfulness:)

They will follow the LORD;
he will roar like a lion.
When he roars,
his children will come trembling from the west.

They will come trembling
like birds from Egypt,
like doves from Assyria.
I will settle them in their homes,'
declares the LORD."

Hosea 11:8-11


At the end of Hosea, He says,

"Who is wise? He will realize these things.
Who is discerning? He will understand them.
The ways of the LORD are right;
the righteous walk in them,
but the rebellious stumble in them."
Hosea 14:9


God loves us despite our unfaithfulness, but! Looky here in Jude 1:3-4:
"Dear friends, although I was very eager to write to you about the salvation we share, I felt I had to write and urge you to contend for the faith that was once for all entrusted to the saints. For certain men whose condemnation was written about long ago have secretly slipped in among you. They are godless men, who change the grace of our God into a license for immorality and deny Jesus Christ our only Sovereign and Lord."
Go read Jude, if you haven't lately. you'll be glad you did.

this post is pretty long, but I feel like it's the bare minimum necessary to convey even a fraction of what I'm trying to here about what Jesus has been teaching me lately. Praise God! I'm so humbled by the ways in which the Holy Spirit nudges us when we let Him in. Open up your heart for Jesus to mold it the way *He* wants, and it'll change things around--for the BEST! I will never regret following Christ. I have no shame.
"...I am not ashamed, because I know Whom I have believed, and am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him for that day."
II Timothy 1:12b

I was also encouraged by another verse from the teaching last Sunday:
"Reflect on what I am saying, for the Lord will give you insight into all of this."
I am confident that this verse applies not only to Paul's letter to Timothy, but to all of God's Word. When we meditate on it, God will give us insight and understanding.

A verse from Psalms that I relish:
"May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart
be pleasing in your sight,
O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer."
Psalm 19:4


from Psalm 119:
"Your hands made me and formed me;
give me understanding to learn your commands."
vs. 73

"I gain understanding from your precepts;
therefore I hate every wrong path."
vs. 104
"The unfolding of your words gives light;
it gives understanding to the simple. "
vs. 130

--
Proverbs 1:1-7

"The proverbs of Solomon son of David, king of Israel:

for attaining wisdom and discipline;
for understanding words of insight;

for acquiring a disciplined and prudent life,
doing what is right and just and fair;

for giving prudence to the simple,
knowledge and discretion to the young-

let the wise listen and add to their learning,
and let the discerning get guidance-

for understanding proverbs and parables,
the sayings and riddles of the wise.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge,
but fools despise wisdom and discipline."

--

Mark 12:32-33
"...You are right in saying that God is one and there is no other but him. To love him with all your heart, with all your understanding and with all your strength, and to love your neighbor as yourself is more important than all burnt offerings and sacrifices."
We will never understand everything. But we are commanded to love God with all of our understanding. And He's granted us all that we do understand.

Ephesians 1:7-10
"In him we have redemption through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, in accordance with the riches of God's grace that he lavished on us with all wisdom and understanding. And he made known to us the mystery of his will according to his good pleasure, which he purposed in Christ, to be put into effect when the times will have reached their fulfillment—to bring all things in heaven and on earth together under one head, even Christ."

Aaah, there's so many great verses that mention understanding and credit it as God's gift( I could list them all, but you could just as easily ignore them here as you do your Bible--if your desire is great enough, you'll go look it up)!! However, we must keep in mind that while God does grant understanding as a gift, that also means that He can and does also choose to withhold understanding from those who have rejected Him.

Ephesians 4:17b-18

"...you must no longer live as the Gentiles do, in the futility of their thinking. They are darkened in their understanding and separated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them due to the hardening of their hearts."

Let's also remember that one of the things we will never understand is Christ's love for us, and the peace He so graciously gives:

"Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice! Let your gentleness be evident to all. The Lord is near. Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. "
Phillipians 4:4-7


In closing (lol, I know this is the longest post EVAR!), I am leaving some lyrics to a song I love by the group "2nd Chapter of Acts:"

Rejoice!
Arise and shine for the light has come!
Rejoice, the Lord is appearing!
The heavens split wide
As He takes His Bride--
Rejoice, the King is coming!
Rejoice!