As good as dead

I am counted with them that go down into the pit: I am as a man that hath no strength: Free among the dead, like the slain that lie in the grave, whom thou rememberest no more: and they are cut off from thy hand. (Psalm 88:4-5)

A question often asked about God is why do bad things happen to good people? It is assumed that only good things should happen to good people. The truth is that good and bad things happen to all people.

One of the outcomes of free choice is that people make bad choices as well as good choices and therefore, get mixed results, both good and bad. My granddaughter who is one year old likes to play with my stereo receiver. When I was out of the room, she decided to turn the volume knob all the way up. The sound was so loud it hurt her ears and made her cry. She learned that turning the knob all the way up produced a bad result and hasn’t done it since.

Unfortunately, not everyone learns from the bad results they get and sometimes choose to ignore the results they get until it is too late. My dad was an alcoholic who drank excessively until he was 65. After he stopped drinking, his health improved significantly and he thought he would live to be 100. When he was 72, he was diagnosed with cancer and died six weeks later.

The day that I went down into the pit was the day my ex-husband called me and told me he was having an affair. I had been a Christian for almost 20 years, but in the moment that the news sunk in, I felt as miserable as I had the night I overdosed on sleeping pills, a few weeks before giving my life to Christ. Psalm 88 expresses perfectly how I felt for about a year afterward.

The difference between the two situations in my life was when I found out my ex-husband was having an affair, even though I felt dead inside for awhile, I recovered. From that point forward, I made a conscious decision to make choices that would bring good results, not bad. Like the Psalmist, I thought, “Thy wrath lieth hard upon me, and thou hast afflicted me with all thy waves” (Psalm 88:7), but I knew it wasn’t the end of my life or my dreams.

In Psalm 88:10, the Psalmist asks, “Wilt thou show wonder to the dead? Shall the dead arise and praise thee?” I believe the answer to both questions is yes, because Jesus rose from the dead. The power to rise from the dead resides in every Believer. We can choose to live and overcome whatever afflictions come into our lives.

A woman after God’s own heart

After the Israelites were delivered from bondage in Egypt, they became God’s servants and were required to worship him. Animal sacrifices were not optional and were required on a continual basis until the Messiah came. In order for the sacrifices to be made there had to be a large population of priests to maintain the tabernacle and later the temple of God.

The tribe of Levi was selected to fulfill the roles of priests and musicians and were given the job of guarding the ark that contained the Ten Commandments. Moses and Aaron were from the tribe of Levi. Their sister Miriam is the only woman listed in the genealogy of the Levites found in 1 Chronicles, chapter 6.

Miriam is mentioned several times during the Exodus from Egypt. Her role as prophetess is unique for the time in which she lived. She is the only woman that had a special role during the Exodus. The name Miriam means rebellious (4812) and is derived from a word that means bitterness (4805). At one point, Miriam and Aaron challenged Moses’ calling and she was punished with leprosy.

Miriam was clearly a strong willed woman and may have been abused by the Egyptians. As a prophetess, she probably proclaimed God’s word boldly and did not hesitate to join in activities typically reserved for men. She is most likely mentioned in the genealogy because she distinguished herself from other women in her service of God and unlike the men who were required to serve God, she served him voluntarily.

Celebrate!

Renewal is a concept that is difficult to grasp until you get to a place where you feel stuck or are at the end of your rope and are struggling to let go of control of your life. There is something about starting over that does not seem natural in a life that seems to be all about making progress.

One of the things God prescribed for the Israelites before they entered the Promised Land was celebration. There were certain festivals established that required singing and dancing as an expression of gratitude and worship of God. Celebration was a way of emphasizing the positive aspect of renewal and making it something to look forward to.

When God delivered the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, he was giving them the chance for a new way of life, but they preferred their old lifestyle. God wanted to provide for their needs, but the people wouldn’t listen to him. It says in Psalm 81,” But my people would not hearken to my voice, and Israel would none of me. So I gave them up unto their hearts lust: and they walked in their own counsels” (Psalm 81:11-12).

When we pursue our heart’s desire apart from God, life becomes and endless journey. There is no renewal because lust always takes you deeper, farther, searching for more and it never relents. That’s why in pursuit of freedom, addicts are directed to a higher power or help.

Only God has the power to make old things new. His universe was designed for constant renewal and without it, we will self destruct. His command to celebrate with festivals that involved singing and dancing show us that he should be worshipped with expressions that go beyond words. He is the God of new beginnings and he can renew us if we will listen to his voice.

They knew what they were doing

The family of Aaron had unique responsibilities which included making burnt offerings, “and were appointed for all the work of the place most holy, and to make an atonement for Israel” (1 Chronicles 6:49). Atonement or kâphar (kaw – far´) in Hebrew, was the process whereby the sins of the Israelites were covered over by the blood of the animals that were sacrificed on their behalf.

A young bull was designated for the sin offering. “After the elders laid their hands on the bull (to transfer the people’s sin to the bull), the bull was killed. The priest then brought some of the blood of the bull into the tent of meeting and sprinkled it seven times before the veil” (3722). This ritual enabled the people’s sin to be forgiven. “The Day of Atonement was celebrated only once a year. Only on this day could the high priest enter the holy of holies of the tabernacle or temple on behalf of the people of Israel and make atonement for them” (3722).

Most people probably think that Jesus’ death on the cross was a mistake, that the Jewish council that condemned him to death did not know what they were doing. The responsibility of making atonement for the people was specifically placed on the high priest because of the seriousness of the problem. If the people’s sin was not atoned for, they would not receive salvation when they died.

The council’s decision making process for putting Jesus to death is recorded in John 11:47-53:

Then gathered the chief priests and the Pharisees a council, and said, What do we? for this man doeth many miracles. If we let him thus alone, all men will believe on him: and the Romans shall come and take away both our place and nation. And one of them, named Caiaphas, being the high priest that same year, said unto them, Ye know nothing at all, nor consider that it is expedient for us, that one man should die for the people, and that the whole nation perish not. And this spake he not of himself: but being high priest that year, he prophesied that Jesus should die for that nation; and not for that nation only, but that also he should gather together in one the children of God that were scattered abroad. Then from that day forth they took counsel together for to put him to death.

The word translated expedient, sumphero (soom – fer´ – o) means to bear together. It is derived from two words, phero (fer´ – o) which means to bear as in bearing or bringing forth fruit (5342) and sun (soon) which means with or together (4862). The idea behind these words is prosperity, to gather much fruit and receive benefit from it. So what Caiaphas was saying was that Jesus’ death would bring forth the fruit or final result of all of their sacrifices for the people’s sin.

An attitude of happiness

During the time when Lucifer was the worship leader of heaven, he probably discovered the power music has to affect moods. I think one of the ways he gets us to do what he wants us to is to get us in a bad mood. Some people seem to always be in a bad mood, especially older people that suffer from chronic pain and have disabilities.

Music can not only affect our moods, it can reinforce or develop attitudes that are responsible for our behavior patterns. That is why worship through music is so important to the health of our relationship with God.

In addition to making sacrifices in the tabernacle of God, the Levites were designated musicians that performed specific songs of worship. Initially, the musicians were like strolling minstrels that were constantly moving while they played instruments and sang. After the ark of the covenant came to rest in a permanent location, the musicians waited or stood still (5975) and ministered based on their right or privilege to enter into the presence of God (1 Chronicles 6:31-32).

There is an element of transformation that occurs during the worship of God. In a sense, we are able to transcend circumstances. We connect with God in a spiritual realm that we typically do not have access to, similar to the holy of holies in the tabernacle of God. Satan does everything he can to keep us out of this realm because he knows that it is where an attitude of happiness begins to enter our hearts.

This is stupid

If you have ever forgotten to do something you said you would, you can appreciate how difficult it would be to remember a promise for more than 400 years and then fulfill it exactly as you said you would. Imagine if it were not just one promise, but a dozen promises or even a hundred promises, now extend that over not just hundreds of years, but thousands and you can see why God is so awesome and the work he does in our lives so amazing.

David became king of Israel approximately 400 years after they entered the Promised Land. The initial conquests and occupation of the land laid the foundation for what David did 400 years later. It is not only amazing that the Israelites were able to uproot the Canaanites and Philistines, but miraculous that the twelve tribes of Israel became a united kingdom under David’s rule.

Regarding his selection as king, it says in Psalm 78, “He chose David also his servant, and took him from the sheepfold” (Psalm 78:70). God is able to do anything, therefore, his choices are unlimited. When he chooses to do something it is because the thing he chooses to do is the best option for what he wants to accomplish. David is referred to as God’s servant. A servant is someone that is subject to the will and command of his master (5650). God chose David because he knew he would serve him willingly and love him with his whole heart.

The work that God did through David began when Jacob wrestled with God and demanded his blessing. In Psalm 78, it says of God, “For he established a testimony in Jacob…That they might set their hope in God” (Psalm 78:5, 7). The word translated hope, kecel (keh – sel´) means stupidity (3689). Sometimes it might seem like stupidity to put your confidence in God. What God does in an individual life often times does not make sense.

The reason why a lot of what God does seems stupid to us is because God does the impossible. If we could do it ourselves, we wouldn’t need God. If it made sense, then everyone would be doing it. David wasn’t concerned about doing stupid stuff. He fought Goliath with a slingshot and a few stones. He became Saul’s son-in-law even though he was a peasant. David pretended to be crazy when he was confronted by Achish the king of Gath. Some people may have thought David was a fool…until he became king of Israel.

Unbroken

“And the time that David was king in Hebron over the house of Judah was seven years and six months” (2 Samuel 2:11). The seven and a half years that David reigned in Hebron were filled with conflict. A power struggle between David and Saul’s son Ish-bosheth was fueled by Abner’s refusal to give up his position as captain of Saul’s army. Over time, the conflict took a toll on David and at the low point of his effort to take control of the entire nation, David wrote Psalm 77.

David said, “In the day of my trouble I sought the LORD; my sore ran in the night and ceased not: My soul refused to be comforted. I remembered God, and was troubled. I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah” (Psalm 77:2-3). David was no doubt describing a sleepless night in which he tossed and turned and could not rest. His descriptive words make it clear that he was at a breaking point, unable to reconcile his situation with his vision of becoming king.

Psalm 77 captures a turning point in David’s struggle. After asking the questions, Hath God forgotten to be gracious? and Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?, David forces himself to focus on God’s previous track record of delivering his people. David said, “I will remember the works of the LORD: Surely I will remember the wonders of old. I will meditate also of all thy work, and talk of thy doings” (Psalm 77:11-12).

The things David likely remembered were the plagues God brought on Egypt in order to deliver his people and his parting of the Red Sea when the Israelites were being chased by Pharaoh and his army. God used miracles to draw attention to his deliverance of his people so that his name would become famous throughout the world. David asked the rhetorical question, “Who is so great a God as our God?” as a reminder that nothing was impossible with God.

David’s breaking point became a turning point because he did not forget God’s promise. God’s promises are not like the promises we make. God’s word cannot be broken. Whenever God speaks, it is as if a promise is being made and divine power is released in order accomplish what has been spoken. The creation of the world is the best example of the power in God’s words. “And God said, Let there be light: and there was light” (Genesis 1:3).

What’s the use?

A sign that you have hit the bottom is that you start feeling sorry for yourself. The difference between a believer and non-believer is when a non-believer hits the bottom, he gives up. When a believer hits the bottom, he looks up. David said, “So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee” (Psalm 73:22) when he realized that he had been feeling sorry for himself.

It is not unusual to feel sorry for yourself when everything seems to be going against you. David said in his discouragement, “Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain, and washed my hands in innocency. For all the day long have I been plagued, and chastened every morning” (Psalm 73:13-14).

David had seen the wicked prospering and evil men literally getting away with murder. It did not seem fair that David was constantly in trouble and plagued with adversity. David said, “When I thought to know this, it was too painful for me; until I went into the sanctuary of God; then understood I their end” (Psalm 73:16-17).

What David understood was that the wicked were separated from God. They could only do evil because they had not godly influence in their lives and their only opposition was a conscience that had been numbed to the existence of God. Even though their lives seemed easy, David knew that they were suffering from their sinful behavior and would one day be judged for the wrongs they had committed.

The reason why believers do not give up when they hit the bottom is because God is there waiting for them to look up. When David realized it was foolish for him to feel sorry for himself, he began to focus on the future and what he had to look forward to rather than his present circumstances. What gave him hope was that he would never be alone and would eventually triumph over his greatest enemy, death.

Nevertheless I am continually with thee: Thou has holden me by my right hand. Thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory. (Psalm 73: 23-24)

I’ve got to stop this

When the Israelites reached the Promised Land after wandering in the desert for 40 years, an alliance was formed between the tribes of Rueben and Gad and half of the descendants of Joseph that were born to his oldest son Manasseh. Each of these men, Rueben, Gad, and Manasseh, were first born children that had lost or not received the blessing that typically went to the first male child in a family. These tribes did not dwell in the Promised Land, but chose to occupy territory outside the borders on the other side of the Jordan River.

Even though they did not cross over the Jordan River with their brethren to occupy the land that they had inherited, they overcame the inhabitants of the territory they requested from Moses and were able to control the land until they were taken int captivity by the Assyrians. The difference between the tribes of Rueben, Gad, and Manasseh and the rest of the Israelites is that they did not return to their homes after their captivity.

The Israelites were taken into captivity because they did not observe the Sabbath as God had commanded them to. The law about the Sabbath recorded in Exodus 23:10-11 said, “And six years thou shalt sow thy land, and shalt gather in the fruits thereof: But the seventh year thou shalt let is rest and be still.” Although God is perfect, he is not a perfectionist. When he created our world, he limited himself to six days of word, then he ceased from his activity. God commanded man to follow his example because he knew that we would not want to stop producing of our own free will.

Man by nature is greedy and selfish. His drive to accomplish things and be successful makes it very difficult to stop working once he gets started. The main reason God stopped working after he created the world was so that he could do something else, go on the next thing so to speak. God is not sitting idle in heaven. He is working, a different kind of work than creating the universe.

The Sabbath was designed to be a transition point, a continual shifting of gears so that progress could be made. Instead of doing the same thing over and over, a person could stop one activity and start another. The Sabbath was intended to be like a period at the end of a sentence. Without the period, the sentence keeps going and eventually becomes confusing and illogical. Many people reach the end of their work life and wonder about their careers, why did I do that for so long; why didn’t I stop 20 years ago?

The captivity of Israel was a forced rest in which the people had to leave their homes and possessions and live in the territory of their captors. The purpose of their captivity was to refocus the Israelites attention on what really mattered, their relationship with God. During their captivity, the Israelites were no longer free to worship God and could not make sacrifices to him as they had in the Promised Land. They witnessed pagan rituals and were restricted from warfare.

It is not known why no organized return took place from the Assyrian captivity, but it may have been because the tribes of Rueben, Gad, and Manasseh never regained their focus. Without God’s blessing, these people lacked purpose and had no vision for their future. It is possible that once their work was interrupted by captivity, they could not start over and did not know how to do anything other than what they were told to in Assyria.

Although the Ruebenites, Gadites, and half tribe of Manasseh never returned, their land was repopulated by a mixed race of people that became known as the Samaritans. The Samaritans were despised by the Israelites and travel through their land was avoided at all costs, but during one of his trips to Galilee, Jesus passed through the land and stopped to talk to a woman that had come to draw water from Jacob’s well. During their conversation, “Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again: But whosoever drinketh of the water I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life: (John 4:13-14).

The Samaritan woman Jesus spoke to was stuck in the past. Jacob’s well had existed for hundreds of years and was a symbol of the prosperity he and his family enjoyed before the famine that drove them into Egypt for survival. Since then, Moses had delivered the Israelites from bondage and brought them to the Promised Land, and yet, the woman was still living a meager existence, struggling to survive. Jesus later revealed himself as the Messiah and let the woman know that her focus on the past had caused her to miss the most important event on God’s calendar.

Paul talks about entering into a permanent rest in Hebrews Chapter 4. “For we which have believed do enter into rest” (Hebrews 4:3). The rest that Paul is speaking of is not a result of our own effort, but Christ’s completed work on the cross. “God’s rest is entered when the believer is confidently assured within and outwardly lives peaceably in the assurance of God’s daily provision” (2663). This rest is prompted by a realization that we cannot reach perfection, that our own works will fall short and the only way to heaven is through Jesus Christ. “There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is entered into his rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God did from his” (Hebrews 4:9-10).

A better life

If you looked up the meaning of every name in a family lineage in the Old Testament of the Bible, you would probably find that the names tell a story about the journey that the family has traversed. The family of Judah started with three sons; Er, Onan, and Shelah (Genesis 38:3-5). Judah’s first son, Er was so wicked the LORD slew him (Genesis 38:7). When Er died, it became Onan’s responsibility to produce a male heir for his brother’s wife. Onan’s refusal to fulfill his obligation caused him to be slain also.

Eventually, Judah impregnated his daughter-in-law, Tamar and produced twin sons, Pharez and Zarah.

And it came to pass, when she travailed, that one put out his hand: and the midwife took and bound upon his hand a scarlet thread, saying, This came out first. And it came to pass, as he drew back his hand, that, behold his brother came out: and she said, How hast thou broken forth? this breach be upon thee: therefore his name was called Pharez. And afterward came out his brother, that had the scarlet thread upon his hand: and his name was called Zarah.

The name Zarah means to shoot forth or to appear (2224) and the name Pharez means to break out (6555).

Zarah is not mentioned in 1 Chronicles, Chapter 4 among the family of Judah, so it is possible he died childless like Er, but there is one man, Jabez who may have been his descendant. Jabez is not connected to any other relative of Judah and is given two verses to capture his biography in a list of names tied to Caleb, the first of Judah’s family to settle in the Promised Land.

And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren: and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, Because I bare him with sorrow. And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, Oh, that thou wouldest bless me in deed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested.

The name Jabez means to grieve or be sorrowful (3258). Sometimes Jabez’s name is translated pain, which is another word for sorrow. Jabez was not satisfied with his life of pain and wanted to become great, so he prayed that God would bless him. As illogical as it may seem, most people do not believe that God wants to bless them and therefore, do not ask for his blessing. It is possible to change your life, but you first have to realize that only God can change the future and you must ask him to do it.

Changing the course of a family legacy is comparable to changing the course of a river. For years, perhaps decades or even centuries, water has been following the same course, traveling from mountain peaks to the oceans below along pathways that have been forged through rocks and debris. Dams and channels are necessary to overcome nature’s force.

Many people enjoy going with the flow. They do not want to rock the boat or cause any friction in family relationships. The problem with going with the flow is that you will end up at the same destination as your ancestors, which could be a life of pain and sorrow.

Jabez knew there was a problem that needed to be overcome in order for his life to be different. Jabez prayed that God would keep him from evil, “that it may not grieve me” (1 Chronicles 4:10). Jabez understood that the reason he was grieved was because he was suffering the consequences of the evil that had become a part of his life. “One of the most marked features of the ungodly man is that his course is an injury both to himself and to everyone around him” (7451). It is likely that Jabez’s trouble was not a result of his own actions, but those of his family. He may have inherited his mother’s sorrow, but he did not have to keep it and pass it on to the next generation.