Sovereignty

Sovereignty

unexpected changes
plans gone awry
why do these things happen?
who changes things?

plans run their perfect course
providence knows best
unexpected changes
Heaven's favorite test

--
I wrote that poem several years ago.
But I wanted to share it with you.

I wrote it on October 2nd, 2001. I was on a plane, heading home from Israel: the Land of the Bible. I had arrived there on September 2nd, 2001 planning, expecting and hoping to spend an entire semester there--traveling, studying, learning, touring, exploring, growing...enjoying the Land of the Bible...the Land of Israel. But 9 days after we arrived was September 11th, 2001--a tragedy of grand proportions. And soon afterward we were told that we would have to leave: something unexpected, something I did not plan, something I did not want. Plans seemed to have gone awry.

But God had it all planned out. In His book had been written every one of my days, even before they happened (Psalm 139:16). This was no surprise to Him. This was plans running their perfect course. As I was writing this poem I was trying to see it that way. I knew it was His perfect plan. Yet I still wanted to be in the Land of the Bible. What a wonderful place it is! To be able to travel to a specific geographic site, open up your Bible and read about what happened there. You can read about hills or valleys or rivers that were climbed or drank out of, or where battles took place, and you look up, and there it is! God's Word is true! How awesome it was to see these places with my own eyes! I loved it. I still remember it and wish I could go again.

Yet, God allowed me one month there. That was His plan. It wasn't mine. But I must learn that He is sovereign and I am not. And that's a good thing!

a lesson from 3500 years ago

I had a professor in Israel who loved studying the biographies and stories of godly men. He lead a weekly guys' morning Bible study and took us through studies on godly men of Scripture. One of those studies focused on Joseph. I'm working on reading through the Bible again this year and tonight I read about Joseph being sold to Potiphar, being unjustly accused by Potiphar's wife, and his following time in prison.

I've thought about and been taught about Joseph's moral integrity during the time while he was being tempted by Potiphar's wife. And I've thought about and been taught about how God blessed him in Potiphar's house and in the prison because of his faithfulness to the Lord. But just tonight as I was reading it struck me...Scripture has a way of doing that. Hebrews 4:12 tells us that Scripture is indeed "living and active...it is able to judge the thoughts and intentions of the heart." Scripture is able to speak straight to our hearts. Its amazing how God uses it to speak to us no matter how familiar we may be with the passage.

It struck me...how much I see other people's lives...and I want their life. Because their life seems to be perfectly in line and together. They seem to have it easy. A good job, or maybe they're retired, and they don't have hard work to do. They have all they need and they don't struggle in fulfilling their job or they don't need to worry about finances, they have a nice car and a house. They don't have the worries that I have. Their life is so much easier than mine. If I only had their life, THEN I would be able to serve God better. THEN I could spend more time with Him. THEN I would really live for Him because I wouldn't be distracted by all these things. I wouldn't have a hard life and I would be able to focus on Him and have a better attitude about life in general.

But it struck me...look at Joseph's life! His brothers hated him and wanted to kill him! Instead they SOLD him into the slave trade and convinced his father he was dead. He was sold to Potiphar and had to live in a foreign country and didn't know if he would EVER make it home again, or see his father again. Then he gets somewhat comfortable as he is promoted to basically rule Potiphar's house (but still he's a slave in a foreign country and doesn't know if he'll see his family again). When he gets to that point his owner's wife falsely accuses him of adultery and he is thrown into prison! Prison wasn't nice back then! So what does he do? Complain that his life is horrible? Complain and ask God why He put him there? Compare his life to Potiphar's life and complain and be frustrated? No way. Joseph is faithful. Joseph continues to work hard and to do his work for the LORD. Look at Genesis 39:23, "The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because the LORD was with him. And whatever he did, the LORD made it succeed." When does God give success? When we acknowledge Him in all our ways He makes our paths straight (Prov. 3:6). When we delight ourselves in Him, He gives us the desires of our hearts (Ps. 37:4). Joseph was doing things with the right attitude. He was living for God and serving Him. He was acknowledging God in all things, and delighting himself in God.

I noticed in Gen. 40:8 that Joseph's focus was on God and not on himself. The baker and the cupbearer have dreams and are troubled because they do not have an interpreter to tell them the meanings of their dreams. Joseph responds but he doesn't say, "Well, tell them to me and maybe I can interpret them." No, his focus is not on himself and what he can do. Rather, it is on God. His faith is in God's omniscience (God knows everything!) and His ability to reveal the interpretation to Joseph. Joseph must have had a close relationship with God even through this time. His response is, "Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me."

In the margin of my Bible I wrote, "your life is easier than joseph's was...look how he handled it."

Life in the Holy Land

Last week in sunday school one of the students was teaching on Matthew 4. When Satan took Christ to "the holy city" another leader asked if the students knew what city that was talking about. No one was sure. That was interesting...I thought about it and realized that I probably would not have known the answer to that when I was in high school. So I didn't look down on them for not knowing...but it again made me think that I should teach something about the Holy Land so that the students are familiar with the land that they are always reading about. I had the opportunity to travel to the Holy Land back in 2001, sadly our trip was punctuated by the events of 9-11-2001 and we were only able to spend one month there. But I will always remember that month as one of the best months of my life. Reading about the Holy Land is nice and all, but actually traveling there and seeing the sights and smelling the smells and understanding the geography and the ways of life and the features of the land changed the way I read the Bible.

Take Habakkuk 3:17-19 for example. I read that a while back and it broke me. But it would not have had such an affect if I did not understand the desperate situation Habakkuk was describing in verse 17. The things he mentions as failing in verse 17 are ALL of the things that people in Israel had for food and for employment and income. I understood that because I had been in the Holy Land and had studied the custom and culture of the Israelites in that day.

I think we should all seek to know more about the Holy Land. Imagine trying to follow a football game over the radio if you did not know what a football field looked like. You could follow the score and who was winning - the main point and purpose. But it would be tough to understand the details and the play by play information. The same is true with the Holy Land. Without being familiar with the Holy Land we can understand the main points and purpose: Heaven is a free gift, Man is a sinner and cannot save himself, God is loving and does not want to punish us, yet He is also just and must punish our sins. Christ solves this dilemma by being the infinite God-man and coming to earth to die for our sins, to rise again conquering death and to pay the penalty for our sins and to purchase a place in Heaven for us. And we receive this gift by true saving faith: trusting Jesus Christ alone for salvation. These are the most important facts and one can be saved and live a powerful life for God without being familiar with the Holy Land. But when you understand the Holy Land and the dynamics of the people and places there then when you read about the "Good Samaritan" (Luke 10:25-37) you can understand what a shocking story this is. When you understand the culture you read the "Parable of the Prodigal Son" (Luke 15:11-32) and realize what a shocking story this is about two sons. When you read about Jesus calming a storm on a lake (Luke 8:22-25)...that doesn't sound so miraculous if you're only picturing Hensly Lake. But if you understand the dynamics of the Sea of Galilee then you better understand Jesus' dominion over His creation (See "Waves on the Sea" photo and text).

Well I didn't plan for this blog to be so long...but I really do love the Holy Land and hope that I can go back some day to spend more time in the land where Christ Himself walked.

All this to say, there's a new website out by a professor of "IBEX" (learn about IBEX here, and here), and he wants to get the word out and he has asked for help. The website is an attempt at transporting us back in time before the Holy Land became 'modernized'. It has pictures and drawings of the Holy Land from many many years ago. I have always been curious to know what lepers look like. Well now I know because there is a section on lepers on the site (there are also many not so shocking photographs :) ).

So, if you would like to learn more about the Holy Land, more about the Land of the Bible, then check out this website:
Life in the Holy Land

Another site by the same guy who built that site is this one:
Bible Places
This site has many many current photos of the Holy Land including many archaeological pictures.

Check 'em out.

rabbinical ramblings

(i thought that title had a fun sound to it)

Christian Zionists are not interested precisely in helping Jews as a religion, we (yes, i am one) are interested in helping Jews as a nation. We want them to come to know Jesus Christ (Yeshuah Meshiach) as their Lord and Savior, because He is the Messiah and the only way. The reason we are seeking to help Jews (by religion) to establish a strong (and peaceful) nation of Israel is because we know this must first take place before Christ returns the second time.

i sat down and chatted with a rabbi today. my mother and i traveled up to my grandmother's house this Thursday. This is the place she grew up since 6th grade. We were walking around the block and she saw Dr. Zeff and said "Hello, Dr. Zeff" and we continued to walk by. Dr. Zeff was the father of one of her childhood friends, Joel. They were Jews (by religion and blood). Presently Joel, her childhood friend, takes up residence in Israel just south of Bethlehem. She had mentioned him to me in 2001 when I went to Israel (Joel has been in Israel since 1995) in hopes that I might be able to meet him.

We got a little ways down the road and heard Dr. Zeff say "It was a beautiful day today, wasn't it?" Now Dr. Zeff is going blind and cannot see very well, so he did not see us (especially since it was dark) and did not know who we were. But he was being friendly and (as most people do when they don't have anything else in common to say) he spoke about the weather. My mom stopped and turned around to talk with him a little more.

"Yes, it was a beautiful day, it is just gorgeous now!" She said, looking up at the beautiful stars in the clear sky. "I'm Martha, Helen Romig's daughter."

"Oh, yes, Martha, how are you doing?" He replied. Now he knew who he had commented about the weather to and he could relate more personally to her. "What are you doing here, just visiting."

"Yes, we're visiting my mother and sisters. This is my son, Elias, we came up here and he is fixing their computers for them. Elias went to Israel a few years back and I was hoping he could meet up with Joel, but it didn't work out." She was always excited about Israel.

"Oh, well funny you mention Joel, he is here now."

"Here? In the states?" You could sense the excitement in her voice.

"Here, in this house." He said, jerking his head in the direction of the house.

My mom was so excited. We talked a bit more and arranged to meet with him the next day.

The next morning my mom called Dr. Zeff's house to inquire about Joel. Dr. Zeff responded kindly, "Oh, yes, Martha! Joel would be glad to see you, come on over in two hours."

Joel came over two hours later, well dressed, kippah, facial hair, and all (even the common long nose and bald head ;) ). He brought pictures of his family (9 children), mostly from his daughter's recent wedding...Traditional Jewish style! It was great seeing pictures of it all. My two favorites were a picture of Joel blessing his daughter with his hands on her head covered by her veil with others in the background, all in their suits, kippas and facial hair...very Jewish looking. The other favorite picture was of the bride and groom dancing on top of a table that was being carried by the young men...that must have been fun! They were up above everyone else's shoulders!

Joel was a Rabbi at a Synagogue here in the states until he moved to Israel in 1995 to become a teacher at a Yeshiva (College/Seminary). It was neat to look at his pictures and hear his views and stories about his family. I was able to share with him some of my pictures from my month in Israel and to tell him about the program The Master's College has (IBEX). He enjoyed hearing about that and was interested in my (and IBEX's) interest in the Promised Land.

We got to speaking about Zionism and how many Christian Evangelicals are helping and desiring to help establish a strong and peaceful Israel. He is very interesting in doing what he can to be involved and play a part. He said they even had a group of Evangelical Christian students come and spend a week with them and in their Synagogue, to learn about the Jewish ways and customs and lifestyle.

I really hope he is one of the 144,000 Jews that believe in Christ during the tribulation. Actually I really hope that he is born again before that time. My mom has been reading a book lately on the Tabernacle and how all the different pieces and all the observences etc. all pointed to Christ. She brought some of that up as we had talked about the Tabernacle. Joel was impressed with her knowledge (as he well should be, my mom rocks) and jokingly offered her a job at his Yeshiva. He noticed a devotion in us and an understanding. I hope it came across as more than that. He mentioned how the Christians were seeking to help the Jews build Israel. Well, yes, we do want to help build Israel, but we do not want to support and encourage a religion who's promised and foretold redeemer has come 2000 years ago and they still continue in the state of waiting for Him.

Christ has come! The promised Messiah came to earth! The prophecies have been fulfilled! He is of the line of David. He is from the tribe of Judah. He was born in Bethlehem of Judea. "Out of Egypt I have called my son" was fulfilled when Mary and Joseph fled to Egypt to escape Herod killing their son out of jealousy. So many more prophecies were fulfilled, so many signs were performed, but they are blind to it. Their hearts are hardened. Oh descendents of Israel! Chosen people of the LORD, the God of Abraham, Issac and Jacob! Your redeemer has come! Your savior already paid the price of your sins! Turn to Him for Salvation and Eternal Life. Worship Him and serve Him alone.