HAPPY NEW YEAR, to you and yours!! 

New calendars are hanging on our walls... 12 pages that have not yet been turned. What will unfold with each turned page we do not know,  and the unknown can fill us  with anticipation or fear and anxiety.

It is our choice which mind-set we put on, isn't it? But it can be a mindful choice rather than a blind one.

Blooming Deserts! 

If you have your Bible, open it to Isaiah 35. I think this passage is a beautiful promise and encouragement for our new year.

This chapter of Isaiah is first of all a prophetic chapter describing eternity on the new earth when everything will be perfect. We only have to look around to know that where we are living now is a long way from perfect.

While this chapter is speaking prophetically it is also speaking to where we live today spiritually. It is the NOW  but NOT YET.

We have as it were duel citizenship. Our real citizenship is in the heavenly Jerusalem,  but we still have feet of clay walking on this physical earth.

So how real is our heavenly abode to us now? Is it where we 'live' in our innermost being ? Is it the place from which we relate to life - circumstance, events, relationships?

I know how easy it is to let the darkness and dryness and disfunction of this life  to discourage us but I want to challenge us to begin , and to build , our 2025 on this Isaiah chapter.

 Look how the chapter begins.with a word  picture of .a beautiful  blooming desert. 

The photo above is of a desert in Chili, that is said to be the driest place on earth..Do you feel you can relate it to the 'driest desert' of your life? There is hope!!

It is amazing , isn't it? The unexpected beauty of a desert in bloom, and often this happens overnight!. A seeming miracle! Remember, no matter how hopeless you feel life has become, there is beauty waiting to burst forth!! Our God is a God of miracles - His beauty manifested best in dry places.

. But look again at the scripture passage. There is an important detail easy to overlook if we don't look closely. The blooming of the desert is not a miracle meant to astound us. It is a purposeful RESPONSE to something that happened. What happened?

Chapter 24 describes the Lord's coming judgement,  restoring and renewing , resulting in the new earth where all God's creatures will all be safe and with their mates forever! And then  chapter 25 describes the  rejoicing response  of the  deserts, declaring praise and glory to the excellency of God.

  There is more that causes the deserts to rejoice. Our God, who cares about every little creature also cares about every human being   including you and me. 

What is the message of the blooming desert? It declares God's promise (vs 3) that His strength is perfect in weakness - let the weak hands be lifted up and the feeble knees made strong!!  Let those who are fearful fear no more for our God is our Protector. He is our High Tower, be strong and fear not!!

He is our Healer -  physical and spiritual needs are met from His giving hand. 

The 'Not-Yet' is not yet come …but spiritually we are encompassed by it and already live in the promises. Our life highway (vs8) is a safe and beautiful one, Jesus, is our Guide as we follow Him. Nothing can take us from His love and as we live and walk and breathe in Him, we too will burst forth with rejoicing  along with the desert.

Let us begin 2025 with a heart of Thanksgiving for all we have been given, for all we have been promised and for all that is yet to come!!

A thankful heart will, like the desert, burst forth with praise and song to the excellency of our Almighty God!

 I want to wish you and yours the most blessed Christmas!  and a New Year filled with the goodness of Jesus !!  

A Hidden Rose 

The Ladies who were part of my Bible Study group gifted me with a gorgeous, huge bouquet of fall coloured flowers and  foliage.  After some time it was looking a little tired and needed to be sorted out, saving the parts that were still lovely.  
 I was separating the foliage, when I  saw a large,  wine coloured lump.  As I lifted it out I realized it was a beautiful rose!   I was surprised, as it did not at all fit the colours and style of the bouquet. .  And I don't know how it happened - maybe its stem was shorter than the rest of the flowers/foliage stems but the rose was perfectly dried - its beauty preserved. 

As I held the rose, I knew it was the key to a devotional !  Immediately I thought of the Rose of Sharon from Song of Solomon 2:1 where it reads, "I am the Rose of Sharon...." The Song of Solomon has historically been interpreted as an allegory of Jesus and His love for the church.  So the words , "I am the Rose of Sharon" are attributed to Him. 

The first thought that came to me was that to many, Jesus is 'hidden'.  He is there, but they don't see Him.  Then one day, their eyes are opened and they find Him.  It does not matter if they find Him sooner or later - He is waiting with all His love and beauty. 

 The beautiful Rose of Sharon grows in dry and hostile environments.  I thought about how Jesus came into a sinful, dark world that contrasted in every way from the glory from which He  stepped down.

I did a bit of digging to find the Hebrew meaning behind 'rose' and 'Sharon'.  The word for 'rose' comes from an unused root meaning 'brightness or light'.  and Sharon means 'beauty'.  That is a fitting description of Jesus, isn't it?  is He not the Light of Beauty ?  
Without 'light' everything is in shades of grey because colour is not in an object - it is in the light.   Without Jesus in our life, everything is dull and grey but with Jesus we live in His Light and we see beauty all around.  

Just like the dried rose is preserved - it does not wilt, so Jesus is the same - yesterday, today and forever !  What hope, what great promise we have when we put our faith and trust in Him!  

I love Christmas because it is a time we remember when 'love' and 'light' came into the world to save us from the kingdom of darkness and bring us into the Kingdom that shines with the glorious light of God's love !  (Colossians 1:13) 

Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” John 8:12

God in the DEtails

 It is November, how quickly this year has gone!  I invite you to take a good 'dose' of the medicine depicted in the image below.  Do you know that a dose of 'gratitude' will prevent grumbling, anxiety, stress, fear, discouragement?   Are you feeling the symptoms of any of those conditions?   Gratitude, take a spoonful ... its a natural supplement! 

 

A Man we have not Met

The thoughts I want to share with you today concern a Bible character you have probably never heard of. His name is Elishama. Am I right you would not have recognized his name as a Bible character if you heard it?

I am always curious about the characters we don't know much about and yet they were important enough to have their names recorded in our scriptures.

There is a special reason  Elishama's name is mentioned in God's word which I will share at the end.

Okay, who is Elishama?

Elishama was a scribe , a prince , a secretary in the palace of the King in Jerusalem.

He served the ruling king as the head of the council that governed the affairs of the King.

At the point Elishama steps into our scripture timeline there was a new King. A king who concerned Elishama because King Jehoiakim was not proving to be as godly a king as his father Josiah. King Josiah is an interesting character whose story I may explore another time but Josiah was a king who sought God and brought healing and restoration to the people who had suffered under a wicked king, Josiah's father...

And now, I'm sure, Elishama was concerned that everything Josiah had done would be for naught.

The little we know about Elishama is because of the part he played in Jeremiah's life.

The story is found in Jeremiah 36.  

God had told Jeremiah to write down God's words of judgement against Israel and Judah.

A proclaimed fast brought all the people to Jerusalem and at this gathering Baruch, Jeremiah's personal scribe read all the word's he had recorded by Jeremiah's dictation.

A man standing in the crowd,  by the name of Michaiah, listened and heard every word Baruch read.

He realized this was a very important message, one that required a serious response.

He knew who needed to know what was going on, namely Elishama.

 Michaiah knew where to find him - In the King's house, in the scribes chamber or office. He did find him there and found with him his  fellow-scribes, Delaiah,  Elnathan,  Gamariah and Zedikiah.

Michaiahl informed them regarding why he had sought them and they agreed to hear what Jeremiah's message was. We note that  Michaiah had a good memory because he was able to repeat all the words he had heard Baruch read..

When Elishama heard the message he knew the King had to hear it, but first he had to be sure the message was indeed given through Jeremiah.  A servant was sent to bring Baruch and the scroll to the scribes' chamber. 

Baruch came and they asked him to sit down and read it again, which he did.

Now thoroughly  alarmed the scribes looked at one another in fear. What were they  going to do?

First they questioned Baruch if he had truly written down the words Jeremiah had spoken.  Barack was convincing in his answer, yes the words were the words the Spirit gave Jeremiah.

Elishama understood the danger Jeremiah was in. The message would more likely anger the King than make him receptive  to respond in repentance.

Elishama's mind searched for what he could do.   One thing he could do, warn Baruch and Jeremiah. ""Go .." he said to Baruch ,"go and hide   you and Jeremiah, and don't let anyone know where you are."

Elishama then took the scroll and hid it in his chamber. He did not trust what the king would do, when he learned of the message and Elishama wanted to protect the scroll.  He and his three friends went to the King and told him all the words that were on the scroll.

The King demanded  to see the scroll for himself. He sent  Jehudi tp get the  scroll. hidden in Elishama's chamber. 

When Jehudi returned, he ordered him to read it.

The King was sitting in his winter house in front of the hearth where a fire was burning.

Jehudi had read only three columns and the King's anger burned hot! He grabbed the scroll and  a scribe"s knife.

Elishama and his friends begged the king not to destroy the scroll.

But the King and his servant had no fear of God, and had no stirring of repentance in their hearts. 

The King continued cutting up the scroll and threw the pieces into the hearth-fire until it was completely consumed.

The King then ordered the arrest of Baruch and Jeremiah, but thanks to the Elishama's warning they were hidden and the Lord covered their hiding place so they could not be found.

Name meanings are important in the Bible and I found the meanings of the names of Elishama and his friends interesting.

Elishama - God hears

Elnathan - God has given

Delaiah -  the Lord delivers 

Gamariah - God has completed

We could put the name meanings together and they tell the story..."God hears, and has given deliverance and has completed His work!"

Why is it important that Elishama's name was included in Jeremiah's story?

Because it is included we know that we can trust that even the details in the Bible are true. .

How?

In 1986 archeologists working just outside of Jerusalem, found a seal that had on it the words "Elishama, servant of the King"

I love that the Lord took the care to provide proof that His word is true in the smallest detail. If God is so careful to confirm the truth of His word, can we not also trust Him with the details of our lives?  A God who cares enough to count the hair on our head (which means a new count every morning) can we not trust that He is also faithful to keep all His promises to us ? What an awesome God we serve!!!

 Rehoboam - A Man, A King

There is something about Rehoboam that intrigues me so I thought I would spend some time studying this man who is rarely talked about. 

His name means "an enlarged people'.  So often in the Bible names point to the name-bearer's character or something that defines his life. This is true for Rehoboam. It was under his reign that the nation of Israel split into two kingdoms  -  Israel and Judah. 

Rehoboam was Solomon's son. What a lineage he came from, King David was his grandfather. I'm sure King David died before Rehoboam was born, but I'm sure he heard many stories over and over again  about his famous grandfather. 

His mother was an Ammonite, a people who were not highly thought of by the Israelites. They had sided along with the Moabites to call for Balaam to curse Israel . So why would Solomon allow Rehoboam to marry an Ammonite?  It is thought that  Naamah was the daughter of Shobi, an Ammonite who brought generous supplies to David and the people with him in the desert because Shobi said, "the people are hungry and thirsty and weary in the desert." When you read the list of supplies he brought (II Sam. 17:27-29) we can surmise that he was very wealthy. It is always noteworthy and humbling when an enemy reaches out in kindness, so it is not unreasonable to conclude that David , as he rewarded others, wanted to do something to honor Sobi and so David arranged a marriage between his son Solomon, and Sobi's daughter. Naamah.  

She is the only wife of Solomon that we have a name for - all his other 1000 wives are simply said to have come from all the pagan nations -  maybe Naamah is named only because it was her son who inherited the throne from his father. Interestingly, she is mentioned twice in I Kings 14:21 and 31. 

Rehoboam's name does not go down in history as one of the best kings of Judah but he was not all 'bad',.  At the time that he ruled, Judah "did evil in the sight of the Lord", so he had to deal with a people who were in rebellion against God. 

One of the first things Rehoboam did after he became king is an interesting story.  

A man by the name of Jeroboam had gained favor in the eyes of Solomon who  made him the CEO over all the labour force.  Then one day, a prophet named Ahijah came to Jeroboam and prophesied that God was going to give him 10 tribes of Israel.  When this prophecy was told to Solomon, he became very angry. Not unlike the anger of King Herod when he heard another  king had been born.  It seems out of character for Solomon but maybe he did not believe this prophecy was of the Lord.  In any event, he sought to kill Jeroboam and to escape Jeroboam fled to Egypt and remained there until Solomon's death. 

When Jeroboam heard that Rehoboam was now King, he came to present him with a request and a promise. If Rehoboam would grant his request then Jeroboam and his people would pledge their allegiance to Rehoboam.  The request was that Rehoboam lightened the load of required service and taxes that Solomon had demanded from them. 

Rehoboam listened and to his credit sought advice before making his decision. 

He consulted the elders who had advised his father Solomon, but he also consulted his peers. 

The elders in their wisdom advised that if Rehoboam would treat the people kindly, they would serve him with loyalty and  gladness. 

Rehoboam's peers gave the opposite advice.  They advised him to make the load even heavier, to make the burdens on the people even heavier than Solomon had ever ordered. Solomon had inflicted pain with whips, but Rehoboam should chastise them with scourges. 

This is the part of the story I find intriguing.  Rehoboam rejected the advice of the elders and followed the advice of his peers - young men who had not yet lived long enough to gain any wisdom. Wrong choice, right? 

BUT ...look at what the verse says (II Chronicles 10:15) "So the king did not listen to the people, for the turn of affairs was from God that the Lord might fulfill His word which He had spoken by the hand of Ahijah."   

Remember it was Ahijah that had  prophesied that Jeroboam would rule over 10 tribes.  

After 3 days Jeroboam and his people came to hear what Rehoboam had decided and when they heard that Rehoboam was going to make things worse, not better, they rebelled and decided to leave saying, "We want nothing to do with you, Judah, we declare we have no inheritance with you!"   

Rehoboam tried to bring Jeroboam and the 10 tribes back into submission, to reunite them with Judah's two tribes,  but God sent word to Rehoboam through Shemaish, the man of God,  that he was not to fight against Jeroboam and his people because this division was of God. 

From that time on, Israel was two nations,  Jeroboam ruling over the 10 tribes that became known as Israel, as Ahijah had prophesied,  and Rehoboam ruled over the two tribes that became known as Judah. 

Rehoboam took the wrong advice, but it was 'of God' ??  It made me realize that even when we see people in leadership make horrible decisions, God is not out of control.  He has already planned how everything will work into His plan and purposes. 

We know by reading through the succession of kings over Israel and those over Judah  that  both Israel and Judah had wicked kings , Israel had almost NO good kings, we find by far most of the godly kings ruling over Judah. . Even  the Levites deserted their common lands and possessions and came to join Judah because Jeroboam and his sons had rejected them from serving as priests before the Lord. 

So we see that God's plan was to separate for Himself a 'remnant' of Israel that He could bring through to the coming of the Redeemer. 
God used Rehoboam,  even his sin and rebellion, to bring about His purposes. 

When Rehoboam had established his kingdom and rule, his success went to his head and  he forsook the law of God and took the people with him. 

It says in his epitaph ((II Chron. 12:14)  that "he did evil, because he did not prepare his heart to seek the Lord" 

Then the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem - God removed His hand of protection-   because they had transgressed against the Lord.  
If we want to go our own way instead of following God's way, we bring upon ourselves the 'evil' that is the result and consequences of choosing contrary to God.  

But God is always gracious and desiring to draw the people back into His 'goodness'.  

So God did not forsake Rehoboam. He sent the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam and rebuked the king for having forsaken the Lord.

Rehoboam responded to the rebuke with humility and repentance, declaring that the Lord was righteous in all His doings.  God has never turned away a humble heart and here too, He forgave Rehoboam and said He would not allow the King of Egypt to destroy  Jerusalem and its people,  but He would allow Egypt to put them under tribute . They would have to serve Egypt. 

Why did God do that?  He gives us the answer.  He wanted to teach His people to know the difference between serving  God and serving an ungodly ruler/master. 

Often God will forgive and restore but will leave some of the consequences of our sin in place to teach us something we need to learn  or to help us remember to stay in obedience to God. 

The King of Egypt carried away all the treasures of the house of the Lord as well as the king's house - he took everything and we know that would have been an incredible loss.  Solomon's riches are legend.  The king also took the gold shields that Solomon had made.  Rehoboam replaced them, by making bronze shields (obviously didn't have enough to remake them in gold)  and committed them to the hands of the captains of the guard who guarded the entrance of the king's house.  So then whenever the king entered the house of the Lord , the guard would go and bring them out, then when Rehoboam finished his temple service, would  take them back again to the guardroom. 

Did Rehoboam end well?  We are told that when he humbled himself, the wrath of the Lord turned from him.  So my impressions is that like Solomon who turned back to God at the end of his life, so also  Rehoboam finally became humble and wise  

(note - someone may wonder at the verse in II Chron. 12:14, We might take it to mean it is a statement about the end of his life -- but it isn't.  It is simply pointing out that he 'did evil' when he turned away from the Lord - it is a look back to before Egypt attacked Jerusalem. His story does not give any indication that his repentance and humility did not last to the end of his life.) 

We find it easy to make sweeping judgements against Bible characters because we are just given the bare bones about them and we judge from our perspective.  We forgot that maybe we are looking in a mirror that puts the finger on failures in our own lives. 
When we look at Bible characters, we can see how human nature is the same in all of us.  We all fail, none of us are perfect. But what God looks at is not if we fall, but if we repent and get back up.  I love the Proverbs 24:16  verse that defines the difference between the godly and the ungodly. "For the righteous man may fall seven times and rise again, but the wicked shall fall by calamity."  - meaning the righteous man falls and gets up again, the wicked man falls and stays down!