Why Am I Confident?

Last time we looked at the list in Psalm 27 of fearsome problems arising against God’s people.  Today we Read between the troubles to see the ways we need to rely on the LORD and how he is working.

Our attitude needs to be:

  • My heart shall not fear (verse 3)
  • I will be confident (3)
  • Gaze upon the beauty of the LORD (4)
  • Inquire in His temple (4)
  • Offer sacrifices with shouts of joy (6)
  • Sing and make melody to the LORD (6)
  • Seek God’s face (8)
  • Believe that I shall look upon the goodness of the LORD (13)
  • Wait for the LORD (14)
  • Be strong and courageous (14)

God will work for us using these means:

  • He is my light and my salvation (1)
  • He is the stronghold of my life (1)
  • He makes my adversaries stumble and fall (2)
  • He will hide me in his shelter (5)
  • He will conceal me under the cover of his tent (5)
  • He will lift me high upon a rock (5)
  • He will take me in (10)
  • He will teach me his ways (11)

These lists let us know we need not fear when God is on our side.

Cool Number Dates – 3/8/15-3/14/15

Monday and Thursday have “multiple” cool things going on this week.

Monday 3/9/15 and Thursday 3/12/15 are multiples of three.

Monday is also a sequence – 3, 9, 15 are each separated by 6’s.

Thursday is also an addition day – 3 + 12 = 15

And, Saturday is PI day.  PI is an irrational number whose decimal representation goes on forever.  An approximation is 3.14, hence 3/14 as PI day.  A closer approximation is 3.1415, so 3/14/15 is THIS YEAR!

Daily Disciplines

An apple a day will keep anyone away if you throw it hard enough

Well, another day has passed and I didn’t use algebra once

A book a day keeps my brain at play

An Apple a day keeps Windows away

 

Whom Shall I Fear?

Psalm 27 raises multiple potentially troublesome situations that may befall God’s people. Today we list the problems.  Next time we check the responses, all of which are a version of “The Lord is my light and my salvation” (verse 1).  It is a bad day when:

  • Evildoers assail me (verse 2)
  • Evildoers eat up my flesh (2)
  • An army encamps against me (3)
  • War arises against me (3)
  • My father and my mother forsake me (10)
  • False witnesses arise against me (12)
  • False witnesses breathe out violence (12)

When such conditions occur, Wait for the LORD; be strong and take courage (verse 14)

Awesome Declarations

There are some quotations in the Bible that sound like they come right out of the hardest, wildest, most hair-raising movie thriller ever.  Consider these scenarios:

Zechariah was visited by an angel while serving in the holy of holies (Luke 1).  Fear fell upon him. When he questioned the veracity of the majestic being, the angel draws himself up to full height, fixes his steely eyes on Zechariah, and say, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I was sent to speak to you and to bring you this good news.  And behold, you will be silent and unable to speak until the day that these things take place, because you did not believe my words, which will be fulfilled in their time.”

OrThis interchange between Joshua and a Jesus-like figure in Joshua 5.13-15: When Joshua was by Jericho, he lifted up his eyes and looked, and behold, a man was standing before him with his drawn sword in his hand. And Joshua went to him and said to him, “Are you for us, or for our adversaries?” And he said, “No; but I am the commander of the army of the LORD. Now I have come.” And Joshua fell on his face to the earth and worshiped and said to him, “What does my lord say to his servant?” And the commander of the LORD’s army said to Joshua, “Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.” And Joshua did so.

Or

Moses’ interaction with the angel of the LORD in the burning bush (Exodus 3) includes these fearsome declarations:  Then he (God) said, “Do not come near; take your sandals off your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.” And he said, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

Animal Protection

A man is driving down the highway when he sees a shipping truck wrecked on the side of the road, and 25 penguins waddling around outside it. He pulls over and the truck driver tells him, “Quick! You’ve gotta take these birds to the zoo while I wait for AAA!”

The man agrees and drives off with the penguins.

After getting his vehicle fixed, the truck driver heads over to the zoo to make sure the penguins made it safely. There’s no sign of them. The truck driver panics and starts searching the town for his missing penguins. An hour later he passes by the local cinema, where he sees the guy who said he’d help him, with 25 penguins still in tow.

“What happened!” the truck driver screams. “I told you to take them to the zoo!”

“I did,” the man answers. “But I had a little money left over, so I thought I’d take them to a movie too.”

Plucked From the Fire

The vision in Zechariah 3.1-5 offers a clear symbolic gospel message:

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by.

Satan stands ready to accuse because the Israelites have indeed done evil in the sight of the LORD; they are not holy like their God.  The filthy garments of Joshua the priest, the representative of the people, testify further to their defilement.   Joshua and the people of Israel deserve condemnation.

But, God steps in.  He rebukes Satan even before an accusation can be made.  God’s saving grace plucks Joshua from the fire of hell.  Joshua’s filthy rags are removed; he is clothed with pure vestments and a clean turban.  His iniquity is taken away.  Their forgiveness is not earned; it is a gift from their merciful Father.

Still to come, in verse 8, God promises the people that his servant, the Branch, will fully resolve the iniquity of the people.  The arrival of Jesus was foretold five centuries before He appeared.

Cool Number Dates – 3/1/15-3/7/15

Welcome to March!

March has multiples of three, in addition to the regular sequence, halfback day, subtraction, and addition days.  And get ready for the PI day of the century!

This week is pretty full…

Tuesday 3/3/15 and Friday 3/6/15 have multiples of three for the day, month, and year.

Wednesday is the only day of the year that is a complete sentence – March forth!

Thursday, 3/5/15 is a multiply day – 3 x 5 = 15

Professionals

I am a bomb technician.  If you see me running, try to keep up!

Engineers are not boring.  We just get excited over boring things!

Pilots:  Looking down at people since 1903.

A soldier who survived mustard gas and pepper spray is now a seasoned veteran.