April 05 2007

[barry]

They . . . have overstepped the covenant. There is where they have dealt treacherously with me.—Hos. 6:7.

The Hebrew word rendered ‘deal treacherously’ also means “deal deceitfully, (deal) unfaithfully.” At Malachi 2:10-16, the same Hebrew word is used to describe the disloyal conduct of those Israelites who were unfaithful to their marriage partner. Jehovah viewed Israel as his figurative wife by reason of his covenant with the nation. So when his people violated the terms of that covenant, it was as if they were committing adultery. God was like a faithful husband, but his people deserted him! What about us? God cares about whether we walk with him or not. We do well to remember that “God is love” and that our actions affect him. (1 John 4:16) If we pursue a wrong course, we may cause Jehovah pain and will certainly displease him. Our keeping this in mind can be a powerful deterrent to yielding to temptation. w 11/15/05 15-17a

[eyes&ears]

Wonderful text this morning.

I could think of so many ways to apply this scripture, but I decided to stick with how the text touched my heart personally.

That is to make sure I do not ever become self-righteous, take myself too seriously and think I may not make a mistake.
(1 Cor 10:12) Today's text, imo, is a very loving and humbling reminder.

It makes us stop and take a good look at who we really are, especially when no one is around to check out what we are doing, saying, watching, reading.

When we thoroughly understand that Jehovah really cares about us, even when we do something dumb, (but he is hoping we discontinue the wrong course- free moral agent ) this motivates us out of our LOVE FOR JEHOVAH TO LIVE ACCORDING TO HIS STANDARDS AND NOT OUR OWN.
(Jer 10:23)

Jehovah is always there and we have the avenue of prayer through his son to ask for forgiveness when we take wrong steps. But to deceive ourselves and try to hide what we are, ignoring Jehovah's way of doing things, well to me that is just an exercise in absurdity and plain STUPID.
(Prov 13:20 & 14:16))

May we never cause Jehovah pain, and if we do make a mistake I pray we have the good sense to go to Jehovah immediately with a humble and repentant heart and ask for his forgiveness, correct our ways and MOVE ON .

I never want to fool myself into thinking my heart is such that it can never ever deceive me. THAT ALONE IS DECEPTIVE.

Yesterdays text was a reminder that we are walking by faith and not by sight. If we remember this it surely will help us to stay on the right path and not hurt our Father.

I enjoyed the text this morning. It really touched my heart.

Thanks Barry for posting it for us.

Love to everyone

E & E

[barry]

I was reading something about lessons learned from history.
Psalm 78 was used a lot:
Ps 78:37-41
37 And their heart was not steadfast with him;
And they did not prove faithful in his covenant.

38 But he was merciful; he would cover the error and not bring ruin.
And many times he made his anger turn back,
And he would not rouse up all his rage.

39 And he kept remembering that they were flesh,
That the spirit is going forth and does not come back.

40 How often they would rebel against him in the wilderness,
They would make him feel hurt in the desert!

41 And again and again they would put God to the test,
And they pained even the Holy One of Israel.

This psalm shows us how God feels when we go beyond what He's asking from us.