Jealousy

P 2546 We will sometimes suffer wrong.

/ DVH

I Samuel 24:1-12 “After Saul returned … …set out to look for David and his men near the Crags of the Wild Goats.He came to the sheep pens along the way; a cave was there, and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said, “This is the day the Lord spoke of when He said to you, ‘I will give your enemy into your hands for you to deal with as you wish.’” Then David crept up unnoticed and cut off a corner of Saul’s robe. Afterward, David was conscience-stricken for having cut off a corner of his robe. He said to his men, “The Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord’s anointed, or lay my hand on him; for he is the anointed of the Lord.” With these words David sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul. And Saul left the cave and went his way.

Then David went out of the cave and called out to Saul, “My lord the king!” When Saul looked behind him, David bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. He said to Saul, “Why do you listen when men say, ‘David is bent on harming you’? This day you have seen with your own eyes how the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave. Some urged me to kill you, but I spared you; I said, ‘I will not lay my hand on my lord, because he is the Lord’s anointed.’ See, my father, look at this piece of your robe in my hand! I cut off the corner of your robe but did not kill you. See that there is nothing in my hand to indicate that I am guilty of wrongdoing or rebellion. I have not wronged you, but you are hunting me down to take my life.  May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.”

Every time I read this scripture I am extremely impressed by David’s integrity. He had totally committed himself to living His life Almighty God’s way. But at the same time, King Saul was constantly attempting to kill him. Saul was the legitimate king, appointed by God, but he was threatened by David and he had been chasing this young man here there and everywhere for years. Jealousy and spite drove that older man along. But David’s conscience was so soft before God, it smacked him upside-of-his-head when he cut off a piece of Saul’s robe.

We may not like it but submission is in the book. We are not submitted to God if we are not prepared to submit to the person who is the leader. In our homes, at our office, in the government or our churches. Just because it is not cultural to submit, that does not make it wrong. Submission is not meant to be fashionable, fun or enjoyable! It’s hard work and sometimes even dangerous – as David found out! Particularly if you happen to disagree with the person you are submitted to or they have a bone to pick with you! 

However, real submission is a tool to facilitate transformation in us, not make us comfortable. After all the Lord Jesus was utterly submitted to His Heavenly Father, but He also submitted to all the religious leaders of the day. The King of all glory was standing right in front of these experts, and they didn’t know Who He was! But Jesus chose to submit to them, anyway. God’s way is not always about us enjoying the process, it is about obedience. ‘Rebellion is as witchcraft in the eyes of the Lord.’ 1 Samuel 15:23.

David understood this truth and he respected God’s order. He understood the Lord lifts up one, and pulls down another. So David left Saul to God, so the Lord could deal with him … for twenty-five years. Did you get that? Twenty five YEARS!  This young man had been anointed by Samuel and he knew he was to be the next king, yet he let the Lord God build His own house. He did not try to wrestle the kingdom from Saul. Instead he lived honourably, and learnt from God how to respect His enemy. And at the same time he honoured God by his diligent obedience.

You know in my denomination, sometimes there are things that happen that I don’t understand. People move around between churches like ice cubes in a water pitcher. These people are often here one week, and gone the next. It seems to be that they think the preacher is not spiritual enough, or they don’t like what he says, or he doesn’t come to visit them, or they already know all that stuff they want something different. Why this world doesn’t already know all there is to know about the Lord Jesus because of these gifted people, who apparently know everything there is to know … escapes me! 🙄

Human beings disagree, mainly because we prefer to hold onto our own rights. But it is not a matter of compatibility. It is a matter of learning how to love those who cruelly use us. Meanwhile, some days, nobody can annoy us better than a spouse! LOVE CONQUERS ALL … not war of the words! None of us are nice – that’s a rumour started by people who want their own way. Without the Holy Spirit in charge, we can all be mean. Look at Adam and Eve. God came to be with them in their garden every evening and yet they still disobeyed … then they blamed each other. Before we make important decisions we should try looking in the mirror, strangely enough, the person at fault is often in the mirror!

King David knew all about facing his weaknesses, and through God’s processes he was transformed by them – but he  still suffered. Suffering wrong is one of the greatest keys in our spiritual keyring. It hurts like mad, but carries with it the incredible honour of sharing in the fellowship of Christ’s suffering. 👋

P 2530 Reverence, respect and esteem.

/ DVH

Further to what I wrote yesterday, I began to pray and think about the elder son in the parable of the prodigal son. His attitude was less than fabulous about all this restoration stuff for his brother. Maybe he was glad the young man left in the first place! It seems to me he was obsessed with works, and he was angry that his brother had not pulled his weight. He was also resentful because he had to make up the difference, while Junior wafted about doing whatever he liked. So he spat his dummy out about what happened, and his Dad copped it. He definitely found an attitude in there amongst all that co-operation!

Luke 15:25-31 “Meanwhile, the older son was in the field. When he came near the house, he heard music and dancing. So he called one of the servants and asked him what was going on. ‘Your brother has come,’ he replied, ‘and your father has killed the fattened calf because he has him back safe and sound.’“The older brother became angry and refused to go in. So his father went out and pleaded with him.  But he answered his father, ‘Look! All these years I’ve been slaving for you and never disobeyed your orders. Yet you never gave me even a young goat so I could celebrate with my friends. But when this son of yours who has squandered your property with prostitutes comes home, you kill the fattened calf for him!’ ‘My son,’ the father said, ‘you are always with me, and everything I have is yours…”

How easy it is sometimes to be the older brother! Particularly when another son is such a whimsical character.  I must say in my life I have been the prodigal, so other people being restored doesn’t actually phase me, I get delighted instead…. A-n-d …that was when the Lord said!!!  … … “Oh really??? So when someone has acted badly toward a person you love, and they choose to forgive them, you don’t get snippy about it?”  At that moment I chose to plead the 5th amendment, and I’m not even American! Yes, I repented. 

Righteo. I can see I’m both guys in that parable. Then the Lord said this: “There are THREE people in that story. What about the father, do you also identify with the father?” O-k-a-ay. On reflection, it seems I can identify with all three characters in this story Lord!  Yikes. This story is a lot more complicated than I originally thought. But as I thought more about it, I found I can also identify with the prodigal’s father, because I too have had one kid that decided it didn’t like me and they went afar off. I am quite familiar with that pain. 

That was when I realised that – knowing the pain, and identifying the sin in my own life — are two different things! Boy did I get mad at the kid that left! I’ve also wandered out to the gate, when I could bear it, and looked up the road, but in the end I nearly gave up. I had to learn we can’t stop reaching out to difficult people in our lives, just because they don’t like us. That’s simply avoiding rejection. But the bible says: Love believes all things, it hopes all things … so we now have the greater mandate — restoration. 

He is right of course, I have totally had bad thoughts, plus words out loud, toward others who seem to get away with blue murder. That’s called jealousy … if you are interested. 🙄 The prodigal in this parable was careless and dismissive of his role in other people’s lives and he did not value what he already had, and what his father generously gave him. But, alternately the older brother was obsessed with what other people were or weren’t doing, and whether what he did was being recognised. 

Meanwhile their dear father loved both of these two young men, despite their shortcomings. In my own life I have found that one person’s sin can uncover a whole lot of things that were already there in a number of people – but they were not seen. And sometimes sin provides an opportunity for revelation for everybody!  However, God’s love remains the same. He is faithful and true at all times. 

I didn’t write these last two blogs to condemn anyone, because I know personally that God’s Grace absolutely covers all our sin. Instead my thoughts each time, were centred on not taking His Grace for granted. Like the prodigal did. Or striving to earn it, like the older brother! Which ever role we qualify for, we will always need God’s Grace. However, I can rejoice that there is not one word of condemnation on either young man. Our God is so amazing – He goes straight to restoration. We need to remember that our God is a God of reconciliation and restoration. So if we want to be like Him we must learn His Ways of reconciliation and restoration! It ain’t rocket science.

We need to allow the Lord to move us past the immaturity of our past, into the same way of thinking and doing that Jesus occupied. We are now eternally, gratefully, His. ‘My Beloved is mine and I am His and His banner over me is love.’ This is to be our focus now – and if we fall on our heads, then the Holy Spirit is here to help us. If we do not reverence, esteem and remain grateful for His Grace, that lack can lead us astray. Let’s remember the Israelites, they immediately forgot what Almighty God had done for them, and went off chasing other gods. 👋

P 2498 Transformation is an ongoing process.

/ DVH

1 Samuel 10:6&7 “The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them; and you will be changed into a different person. Once these signs are fulfilled, do whatever your hand finds to do, for God is with you.”

We can choose to walk away from our birthright. King Saul did. These two verses from 1 Samuel are a great example of how someone who was anointed by God and totally transformed, could still go on to be corrupted by the very power he was given. King Saul shows us that sin is a choice – and this man made very bad ones. Almighty God gave this king many chances to repent. But eventually, the Lord withdrew His hand on the man’s life and the demonic took over. You can read the whole story in the bible. King Saul is the perfect example of a man who was transformed and continued on with his life – in the flesh.

Today, I just want to highlight the fact that our God does not give up on people, but His patience with man’s careless sinfulness does have a limit. Saul illustrates that. He was made King by God’s grace only. Meanwhile, presumption is not faith, surrender to the Lord’s will is faith. See Genesis 6:3. It is up to us to choose how we live after we are saved – but God’s greatest desire is to walk with us. I know I rattle on about this, but our ongoing transformation is essential for whatever comes next! King Saul valued the power he was given, over the opportunity to be continually transformed.

Yes, I know – we are blessed to be alive on the other side of the cross, because Jesus paid our debt for us. But Christ did not go through that tremendous ordeal simply to allow us to remain the same. He came and died for our sins, and we now have the power to overcome them. We need to live in love, and for love, not for ourselves. Transformation is now our aim. Voluntary transformation provides immediate humility. “For what shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” Mark 8:36. King Saul is an example of someone who did not take the opportunity to be continually transformed – instead he used the power he was given for his own purposes.

We have been given the power to choose to turn away from this careless attitude that says we can do whatever we want, because He will forgive us. Nor are we supposed to assess how we are doing with the Lord by His answers to our prayers! We have been born again to inherit an attitude of humility, love and service. We inherit this from Christ our big Brother. Almighty God didn’t save us to allow us to go our own way with a handy get-out-of-jail-free button. Let’s not get puffed up by our own self-importance. “I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, Who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Galatians 2:20.

King Saul forgot that he was chosen by God, to be king, it was not his birthright! His lack of humility, together with his jealousy, arrogance and rage, pulled him away from the very One Who could have helped him with his new role. Our God wants us to trust Him, daily. We use our faith, every single day, to allow Him to remove those things that will destroy us. We already have evidence He is incredibly trustworthy, by the written fact that when we didn’t deserve it, He came and saved us. We must not betray the Lord’s trust by mis-using His good nature and grace to fulfil our own agendas. This was Saul’s mistake. 

Our God is not a back-up to our imaginings or ambitions – He is the main event. His will, will always be the main event! He saved each one of us so we can voluntarily walk with Him into a totally new life. This means that transformation is meant to be part of our focus. The new birth is an invitation into knowing Almighty God, here and now in our daily lives. He will help each one of us leave the past behind, so we can step into a future where we are a loving blessing, from Him, to everyone around us.  

Overcoming our own old sinful nature, is part of the great adventure we have in front of us. We daily move forward with the Holy Spirit’s help. Transformation is an ongoing process, it is the outworking of the new birth in all our lives. 👋🏻

“May my only boast be found in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. In Him I have been crucified to this natural realm; and the natural realm is dead to me and no longer dominates my life. Whether a man is circumcised or uncircumcised is meaningless to me. What really matters is the transforming power of this new creation life.” Galatians 6:14-15 TPT

P 2359 Psalm 3.

/ DVH

King David’s song when he was forced to flee from Absalom, his own son: “Lord, I have so many enemies, so many who are against me. Listen to how they whisper their slander against me, saying: “Look! He’s hopeless! Even God can’t save him from this!”  Pause in His Presence. But in the depths of my heart I truly know that You, Yahweh, have become my Shield; You take me and surround me with Yourself. Your glory covers me continually. You lift high my head. I have cried out to You, Yahweh, from Your holy presence You send me a Father’s help. Pause in His presence

So now I’ll lie down and sleep like a baby—then I’ll awake in safety, for You surround me with Your glory. Even though ten thousand dark powers prowl around me. I won’t be afraid. Rise up and help me, Yahweh! Come and save me, God! For You will slap them in the face, breaking the power of their words to harm me. FOR THE LORD ALONE IS MY SAVIOUR. What a feast of favour and bliss He gives His people! Pause in His presence.”

Some times the people we love dearly, the ones who are our family, can do the most damage. It doesn’t even have to be what they say – neglect and abandonment can devastate us. The first point I want to make today is that this kind of scenario is not a walk in the park. We can’t just click our heels and the bad bits will go away. These things severely test us and often challenge our belief systems.They test our resolve to follow Him no matter what happens. 

Some things are a choice, but when it comes to family, those things are the places where we find we are most vulnerable. Family is about history. They knew you when. You knew them from birth…. That kind of history tears at our hearts like very little else, and betrayal from those who are meant to protect and care for us brings deep wounds. My advice is this;  start this process with healing, not rebuking or blaming your self. Ask the Lord Himself to be your Father and help you with the places that are bleeding inside from all that betrayal you feel. 

Don’t make excuses for them, and don’t make excuses for you either. It is what it is. David’s son was trying to kill him to take the throne. It wasn’t a whoopsie, or an error of judgment, it was a deliberate act of betrayal for Absalom’s gain. If you read the story, (2 Samuel 13-37 -15-12), Absalom went about whispering in other people’s ears, trying to turn the people’s loyalty away from David. That is not a mistake, it is deliberate SIN. In Absalom’s case it was jealousy and pride. He was beautiful and popular and he knew it and then pride took over.

Sometimes our family member/s are not simply making a mistake, they have joined their allegiances with destruction. They may call it correction, or caring for you, but because you are maintaining some degree of freedom or other they do not have, they will try to stop you anyway they can. Jesus Himself said this about families in Matthew 10:36 –“Don’t think I’ve come to make life cozy. I’ve come to cut—make a sharp knife-cut between son and father, daughter and mother, bride and mother-in-law—cut through these cozy domestic arrangements and free you for God. Well-meaning family members can be your worst enemies. If you prefer father or mother over Me, you don’t deserve Me. If you prefer son or daughter over Me, you don’t deserve Me.”

Look, if Jesus Himself talked about it, then difficulties like this aren’t totally unexpected. My only advice is grieve for your loss and ask the Lord to heal your heart with His Grace and Love, and then, immediately go on to choosing forgiveness. Some family members will turn around, and others will see your forgiving heart as something that can be used against you. Then you will need grace, grace and more grace. Don’t leave home without it, because Grace can do the impossible. 

Don’t just content yourself with forgiving out of some kind of familial loyalty – ask and keep on asking for His Grace to truly forgive. INSIST. Meanwhile difficulties like this can take time to heal, so keep on believing God is helping you – and don’t quit. Take your focus off the family member/s that are persecuting you, and deliberately give those people as an act of your will, to Jesus. And then keep on doing that each time they come up in your mind – eventually Jesus in you will win.

At the same time it is good to go on into blessing these folks until you find you really mean it. It’s all a process and an extremely hard one at that. Your job is to watch over your heart and leave the work to the Holy Spirit. Let’s give thanks that we have a Parent Who never stops loving us, and He is totally devoted to the restoration of families. 👋🏻

P 2249 A gift must be received.

/ DVH

“Every good gift and every perfect (free, large, full) gift is from above; it comes down from the Father of all [that gives] light, in [the shining of] Whom there can be no variation [rising or setting] or shadow cast by His turning [as in an eclipse].” James 1:17. Sadly, Love is often simply a word to us, or a feeling, that can sometimes lead to actions. God’s love is ACTION – first. He came toward us before we knew He existed. In order to receive His love we must understand the gift. His love has been personified, and given to us in a form we can understand. Jesus Christ. A gift must be received.

God’s love is not just received through our senses, and our minds, because they are limited. When we receive His love that way – our senses or minds will begin to automatically define love for us. Our reception of His Love pivots on us understanding His love is an undeserved gift. Sadly, to some people any kind of love means you cannot say NO to them, and still tell them you love them. To others, love means strict rules to follow, and they cannot comprehend a love that needs no works. To others it means you live in some sort of euphoric state which can eventually fade. God’s love is not anything like that.

It is important to me today, that you understand my little scribblings here are totally inadequate for the subject I am tackling. I have never, and probably never will comprehend how incredible His love is. I am limited by my personal experiences and how much I can actually take in about this subject. However, I am doing my best here, to describe what I’ve seen through His book. 

So what is His love like and how do we receive it? I want to answer the second part of that question first, I believe when our heart says yes to Jesus: through prayer, through reading His book, or through something someone else says to us – we begin a process that never ever ends. It is similar to the conception of a child – there is a moment of conception. At that moment we say yes to the One Who chases each one of us through time … playfully, relentlessly, and with great passion and loving purpose.

Father God’s love is sacrificial as well as unmerited. It doesn’t wait for the ‘other person’ to love first. His love doesn’t depend on us or our behaviour. It is altruistic. God loves mankind both corporately and individually – the good, the bad, and the ugly. This is because His love depends on Himself, not who we are. He does not simply love responsively. He initiates love, even into a loveless vacuum. It is His very nature to love, so He doesn’t fall in love with people – because falling in love implies you can fall out! He is not irrational or whimsical about love. Our universe keeps expanding because His love keeps expanding!

Our God is where love comes from. He is the source of all that is loving, pure and holy. And so He defines love in ways we barely comprehend. To Him patience is not what we think it is  – it is an aspect of love. Whereas we think patience means sometimes we barely put up with one another – or we are stretched unfairly. But His kind of patience does not depend on the other’s actions, it does not fluctuate according to the other person’s attitude. His love is more like the sun, than the moon. Always there.

His love is expressed through kindness, it thinks the best, sees the best, and speaks the best to the other person and none of that is for personal gain. Nor is it deceitful. It is filled with hope instead. Yet our God is the ultimate realist – He sees us as we are and yet He still loves us. He came after us. And His love lacks any kind of jealousy which is possessive and controlling. Instead it throbs with a kind of jealousy that is beyond our tiny minds. Our God is so passionate about us – that even the idea that we would spend our life and energy on anything that cannot help us, and will not bring us closer to Him – those things stir Him with a passion to fight for us and win us back. He wants His beloved safe, with Him.

Think about the Eternal God in the garden – when He banned Adam and Eve, after they had sinned, and drove them away, He did so because they could easily have eaten from that second tree. That would have separated mankind from Him forever, because the fruit of eternal life was on that second tree. Eternal life filled with death was on that second tree because they had disobeyed.

But because His love is so patient, we have had thousands of years of history to see, over and over again, what WE are really like without Him. Any virtues we manage to produce are finite. His are totally endless. When a gift is given, a gift must be received. The key to understanding His love is to receive Christ into every single part of our lives, our thoughts and actions. This is why Jesus cannot be an add-on to whatever we want. When we do that we are treating the love the Father shows us with disrespect and contempt. That is the ultimate failure to appreciate and receive what we have been given. Bye 👋🏻

“But as many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name. …”

P 2190 Ya can’t take it with you.

/ DVH

“Someone in the crowd said to Him, (Jesus) “Teacher, tell my brother to divide the inheritance with me.”Jesus replied, “Man, who appointed me a judge or an arbiter between you?” Then He said to them, “Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; life does not consist in an abundance of possessions.” And He told them this parable: “The ground of a certain rich man yielded an abundant harvest. He thought to himself, ‘What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.’ 

“Then he said, ‘This is what I’ll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store my surplus grain. And I’ll say to myself, “You have plenty of grain laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry.”’ “But God said to him, ‘You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?’ “This is how it will be with whoever stores up things for themselves but is not rich toward God.” Luke 12:13-21.

I got my knickers in a twist about an inheritance, a while ago. A relative was being appreciated and praised much more than I was. Jealousy is the strangest thing! Song of Solomon says: “… jealousy is as cruel as the grave.” I get that. That stuff kills off any desire for reconciliation, and focusses on me and what I think I have, or, what I think I don’t. I didn’t know I could be jealous … until I was. These things sneak up on you, but I think that resentment and gossip can easily let them in. Yes, I’ve repented!

This parable is one of many that Jesus taught that probably doesn’t get preached on all that often in the Western world. We all like our things where I live, and if our pastors know what’s good for them, they won’t preach about this particular parable in Luke! Actually, we’ve got a whole lot of things in the Western world. Boats, caravans, trips overseas, big houses – to mention a few. The kind of stuff others in poorer countries cannot imagine. Yeah yeah, I know people gotta live somewhere. but we are rich in so many material things. BTW, God is not against people having things, He just doesn’t want our things to own us! That’s called a conflict of interest.

This parable the Lord told, pretty much sums up our current society today. We’re the more more generations. We like excess, like the person in the parable. This man worked very hard for what he had, and so do we. It never occurred to the guy in this story to give away some of that surplus grain. Nope. It was all his. He earnt it and it was up to him to enjoy it. He had no thought about the fact that God Himself had given him that excess, his lack of recognition of the Lord’s generosity tripped him up. The thing was, at that moment, he was undervaluing something that was far more important – the state of his soul before God. 

Personally, I think that this particular person expected the Lord to side with them on the matter of that inheritance. They thought Jesus would agree with them, that their brother was trying to cheat them. Sadly I understand that, sometimes human beings love to take polls. When we are unsure, we ask 20 people what they think about something or other, and get 11 for and 9 against. This individual wanted Jesus to come out on their side. Fat chance. They were saying: “It’s not fair!” But Jesus went right around the complaint to the heart of the matter. GREED. 

There may be many poorer people in this world who feel that this world’s wealth distribution is not fair on them. That’s true! OR … alternatively, they could be too busy trying to find food and water for today to even care! It is up to those who have to care for those who don’t! Just because the Lord Jesus once said that we would always have the poor with us, that doesn’t mean we should ignore them. (Matthew 26:11) Some of them probably live in our neighbourhood. Our Heavenly Father loves generosity – He’s a generous God and He wants His kids to look and act like Him.

Despite our man-made boundaries, great and grand cities, and fabulous houses, Jesus is telling us that those material things don’t actually matter – it is how we TREAT each other that counts – plus remembering Who gave us what we have in the first place! Jesus went straight to the heart of things, but we all get so tied up in this thing and that situation we forget that we are gone in a heartbeat. The Lord is telling us to keep an overall view of this life, not a reactionary, situational one. He is explaining that we need to value sharing in this life we’ve been given – far more than the things we earn, or have.

All we really have is who we are, not land, or houses, or money or position etc.  Jesus was saying in the Aussie vernacular: “Ya can’t take it with you!” Bye. 👋🏻