Category Archives: Christian character

Waiting on God

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Isaiah 40: 27 – 31. This is a great Bible verse and people will frequently turn to this passage when they are tired and not sure they can go on.  We focus on verses 30 and 31 and seldom read it in context; we read #31 and start to hope so we can get strength.  I also have done this but one day I started looking up some keywords; I don’t think what I found changes the reality of the verse, but it changes where we should put our emphasis.

One thing that I always suggest in studying any verse is to look at it in different translations and look it up in a concordance, so you get the meaning of the words in their original usage.  For this study I used the King James, so I looked in my Strong’s Concordance which has the Vine’s Dictionary incorporated into it.

I feel that it is God speaking here and in verse 27 scolds and comforts by asking,” Why do you think I am ignoring your cries.” In 28 He reminds us that He is not the problem and in 29 states He is always ready to help us. But verse 31 is where I got a whole new meaning in this passage. Hope is and can be translated as “wait” and renew does not carry the English meaning I thought it would.  Renew is chalaph (H 2498) in Hebrew and it carries the meaning of letting something “slide by or hasten away or change.”  One concordance even suggested the idea of losing something.

I always thought I would get my strength boosted; instead, it seems that I will get rid of my strength and get NEW strength – God’s strength. Then we can soar like an eagle.

Isa 40:27 Why do you say, O Jacob, and complain, O Israel, “My way is hidden from the LORD; my cause is disregarded by my God”?

Isa 40:28 Do you not know? Have you not heard? The LORD is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth. He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.

Isa 40:29 He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak.

Isa 40:30 Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall;

Isa 40:31 but those who hope (wait) in the LORD will renew (lose, hasten away, change) their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint. (NIV) I added things to emphasize.

Another interesting numerological idea about Isaiah 40 is that if you look at Isaiah as having 66 chapters like the Bible has 66 books then chapter 40 relates to the beginning of the New Testament, and it is the chapter that transitions to the hopeful part of Isaiah.

The Holy Bible, New International Version®. Pradis CD-ROM:Isa 40:27. Grand Rapids: The Zondervan Corporation, © 1973, 1978, 1984.

It is Bad Luck to be Superstitious

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Superstitious comes from a Latin phrase “to stand in terror of the deity.”  The Catholic Encyclopedia states that there are four types of superstitions:

  • improper worship of the one true God (indebitus veri Dei cultus);
  • idolatry:
  • divination;
  • vain observances, which include magic and occult arts.

Here are some examples of these things in the Bible.

Numbers 21: 9 Moses made the brazen serpent (Nehushtan) to heal the people who were bitten by the snakes.  It worked once so they kept it and worshiped it instead of the God who was testing their faith.  In 2 Kings, 18: 4 Hezekiah (a good king) broke it into pieces because of the worship of it.  It had worked once so just always do it that way instead of following God.  People want something to see to worship; God wants it done in the spirit.

1 Samuel 4:3 Israel been beaten by the Philistines because the Ark was not in the camp.  There is no mention of them seeking God before the battle as David and Joshua had done, they were using the ark as a good luck piece.  They had put God in a box that was to magically work wonders just by its mere presence.  They acted just like they did in Jericho and they yelled so loud that the earth shook.  Jericho is the only place mentioned that the Ark was involved in a battle.  

1 Samuel 5:5 the presence of God knocked Dagon to the floor and broke off its head and hands on to the threshold of the door.  So the Philistines never stepped on it again as they went through the door.  In Zephaniah 1:9 the Israelites and picked up that habit so that God was going to “punish all who avoid stepping on the threshold.”  Probably the custom of carrying the bride across the threshold of the house roots itself in this superstition. Watching the people of the world instead of following a holy God, you pick up their religious habits.

Jeremiah 44: 17 the Israelites made cakes to the queen of heaven and poured out drink offerings.  They were convinced that because they stopped doing this they were having bad luck.  “If it works for them we should do it too, and it worked once do it again.”  The concept that food can bring us closer to God is laid to rest in 1 Corinthians 8: 8; so much for eating black-eyed peas and cabbage on New Year’s.

1 Kings 20: 13 Ahab defeats Ben-Hadad and his counselors start guessing why they had been beaten and what they had to do to beat Israel. They decided that the Lord must be a god of the hills so they were going to fight them in the valley next time. Think about coaches who will wear only a certain tie while they coach or they won’t shave if they are winning. Or players who won’t change their socks or at least won’t wash them during the season they are convinced that a thing had something to do with them winning.  Dirty batting helmets or slapping a sign or spot before they go out to a game are also very common acts of luck.

Four leaf clovers, black cats, salt over the shoulder, Friday the Thirteenth or any number of other things that people think are lucky or bad luck.  Some have a natural answer why it happened once like never light three smokes with one match. A soldier did this and the enemy was able to fix the location and shoot him.

Now people also have this in the church, one minister told the story of a church where a person got filled with the Holy Spirit sitting on the piano, the same thing happened the next week.  So, the third week they were trying to get people to sit on the piano to be filled with the Spirit.

How should we act – Fix our eyes on Jesus, He is the author and finisher of our faith.

References:http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/14339a.htm

The Number Thirteen in the Bible

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The number thirteen in the Bible heralds that a change is coming. We like to attach all sorts of meanings to numbers, but the truth is that God created numbers for His use (See Genesis 1). Thirteen as used in the Bible is another number that God uses to show His plan for His people.

Numerology is part of studying the Bible; there are certain numbers that have been assigned certain meanings.  Three, seven, six, twelve, eight, and forty are just a few numbers that most Christians will be able to give you as having an important significance in the Bible. Three is a “God” number for the three persons of the Trinity.  Seven represents completeness from the seven days of the week. Six is the number of man this comes from the fact that we were made on the sixth day and the number 666 from the Book of Revelation.  Twelve represents the government as shown by the twelve disciples and the number of the tribes of Israel (the sons of Jacob). Forty is the number of testing or trail as shown in the years spent by Israel in the wilderness and the length of days Jesus was tested after He received the Holy Spirit. Eight is the number of new beginnings given that the eighth day of Creation started a new week.  The number fourteen is also an interesting study if you would like to see mine you may click this address https://ificouldteachthebible.wordpress.com/2013/07/21/the-number-fourteen-in-the-bible/  A study of the number fifteen is available at Cleaning Up to Celebrate.

Unfortunately, people and Christians in particular start to focus on the number instead of the God of the numbers. So we get people with triskaidekaphobia which is the fear of the number thirteen. Beliefs about this number are varied and separating fact from fiction is impossible. Some early ideas on this number and its “significance” to bring bad luck are hinged on the assumption that there were only 13 people at the Last Supper and that Jesus died on a Friday the 13th. (World Book Encyclopedia)

WHY I would like to offer a different look at the number 13 from a Biblical perspective. I already know that this does not fit into most numerological frameworks but I will ask you to follow through with my reasons and then you make up your mind.  I will show that a possible meaning for the number thirteen is the signal for the “start of or the beginning of something new.”  I am not trying to mix this with the number eight in any way.

Examples of Thirteen in the Bible These are a few of the instances that there are thirteen of something and each of these represents the “start of a new thing.”

1. In Genesis 17:25 Ishmael is circumcised at the age of thirteen which is when God made the promise to Abraham; this contrasts with Isaac being circumcised at eight days old.

2. 1 Kings 7:1 Solomon took 13 years to complete his palace.

3. Genesis 14: 4 Sodom rebelled after 13 years of servitude to Chedorlaomer king of Elam (Babylon) and Abraham rescued Lot.  This brought on Melchizedek’s blessing and Abraham’s covenant with God.

4. Esther 3: 12 Haman had orders written on the 13th day of the first month about the 13th day of last month to kill all Jews.  They have to defend themselves and so put an end to the threats of Haman the Agagite, who is an Amalekite, and a new time of freedom for the Jews.

5. Jeremiah starts his ministry in the 13th year of Josiah (Jeremiah 1:2).  Josiah had started purifying the land in his 12th year of being a king.  Jeremiah may have been 13 years old when his ministry started.  The term for his age shows a child up to the age of becoming a young man.

6. Joseph was 17 years old when he was taken as a slave. He was 30 when Pharaoh put him in charge of Egypt (13 years). Genesis 37:2 to 41:46.

7. The Children of Israel went around Jericho 13 times before they yelled and the walls fell down.

There are many more “13’s” in the Bible but I hope you get my point about it showing a “new start.”

My personal feeling about thirteen/Friday the 13 and other lucky things is summed up in this: It is bad luck to be superstitious!  ← (This is another post in my blog.)

So I look at it this way.

 Number 13

graphic by Ryan Johanningmeier

Ryan Johanningmeier – Oklahoma, USA, RyanJo Productions, Oral Roberts University | about.me

1 John 4:7

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Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God.  Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God.  This is a beautiful statement just as it is but if we do a search in the concordance and replace a few words it deepens the message of love just a bit.

Dear friends, let us actively love (agape) one another, for active love comes from the one true God (theos).  Everyone who loves activity has been born of the one true God and knows the one true God.

On a side note John uses the word born more than any other New Testament writer.

Any look at the word love needs to go to John 21:15; this is where Jesus is asking Peter if he loves Him.  The first two times Jesus ask about Peter’s love he uses the word agape and Peter answers with the word phileo. Phileo means affection or very high regard and though it is related to agape it does not have as deep a meaning.

Storms Revisited

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Weather and storms are an important part of how Father God deals with His world and its people.  Part of knowing God is knowing that He uses His natural world to interact with us and to make His power and glory known to us.  I like Nahum 1:3 where it says, “His ways are in the whirlwind and the storm and clouds are the dust of His feet (NIV).

Weather, storms, in particular, are where hot and cold air mix creating winds and clouds.  Hot air rises and cooler moves in to take its place.  Air flows from high-pressure areas (mountains of air) to low-pressure areas (valleys of air).  Solar energy drives all of this by heating the earth.

God uses storms to meet with His people like in Job 38.  Thunder, hail, and whirlwinds have been used to create confusion and to defeat the enemies of His people. Examples of these uses are in Proverbs 10:25, Zechariah 7:14 and 1 Samuel 7:10.  But also in Proverbs 10:25 is a promise that the righteous will be standing when the storm has gone by. (see Storms part 2)

The storms in the New Testament are just as powerful and have the same potential for destruction as their Old Testament counterparts, however, they seem to have a different function in God’s plan for man.  The disciples were beaten and battered about by the winds and the waves but Jesus used them as training tools.  The storms in the Gospel of Mark and the one that Paul finds himself in Acts 27 (see Attacks part 3) come in advance of a time of miracles.  Another element that shows its self is that Jesus is present with the people in the storm.

These are thoughts that I have collected through the years about storms.

1. Are the storms of life for God to learn about us or for us to learn about us?

2. It is hard to recognize Jesus in a storm. (T.D. Jakes)

3. A thought on Peter(see Rock or Chip) – A wet water-walker is better than a dry boat-talker.(Pastor Perez)

4. You may see Jesus in the daytime but it is hard to see Him at night in the rain.                (Joel Osteen)

Muses and preachers will always find inspiration in storms both spiritual and physical. But knowing that Jesus will be with us in and through the storm and that we will come out of them better than when we went in I hope eases the discomfort of going through them.

Final thought – Did it happen to me or did it happen for me!  All things work for good, not all things are good. (see Fight)