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meditations for an everyday relationship with Jesus
IAM and no other
Deuteronomy 5:6-10 I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the place of slavery.
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Do not have other gods besides Me. Do not make an idol for yourself in the shape of anything in the heavens above or on the earth below or in the waters under the earth. You must not bow down to them or worship them, because I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the fathers’ sin to the third and fourth generations of those who hate Me, but showing faithful love to a thousand generations of those who love Me and keep My commands.
God is not jealous of anyone or anything. God is not jealous of us or other gods. God is jealous for us, which means He wants to love and protect.
To appreciate the Ten Commandments as more than a cosmic laundry list of “don’ts” one must read the additional language surrounding the Commandments in their full context for clues about God’s character as a loving and always practical Father.
God reminds His people to be grateful and remember that they (we) are free because of His hand. There is nothing we have done to earn or secure our freedom or His love. This is mercifully given in what we now know as grace. Because of Jesus Christ on the cross.
It is coming
Joel 2:1-2 Blow the horn in Zion; sound the alarm on My holy mountain! Let all the residents of the land tremble, for the Day of the Lord is coming; in fact, it is neara day of darkness and gloom, a day of clouds and dense overcast, like the dawn spreading over the mountains; a great and strong people [appears], such as never existed in ages past and never will again in all the generations to come.
The day of the Lord is coming … in fact it is near! How do we know? It will be …
A day of darkness and gloom
A day of clouds and dense overcast
A great and strong people will appear like dawn spreading over the mountains … (unusual reversal of metaphor here)
While this could be any invading army called upon to judge Israel, in the context of past acts of disobedience, it takes on a new spiritual gravity as we consider Israel surrounded, the sons of Ishmael rising, and the advancing darkness (being hailed as light) of a world in chaos.
