Tag: jeremiah

  • Taw – Psalm 119

    Taw – Psalm 119

    Psalm 119

    Your Word Is a Lamp to My Feet

    This is the final letter of the acrostic poem, a series of posts which began with the Hebrew letter Aleph.

    Most Bible references are from the resource: http://www.biblegateway.com/ and most research references, including KJV linked to Strong’s Concordance, are from the extremely helpful online site:  http://www.blueletterbible.org/

    Your further study through these dynamic links on most posts on http://talkofJesus.com are highly encouraged, along with your comments to any and all posts on this site.

    Taw [Tau]

    169 Let my cry come before you, O Lord;
    give me understanding according to your word!

    KJV Let my cry come near before thee, O LORD:

    give me understanding according to thy word.

    Is this not the very heart of prayer before God?

    Is this not our very need to understand God through Scripture?

    170 Let my plea come before you;
    deliver me according to your word.
    171 My lips will pour forth praise,
    for you teach me your statutes.
    172 My tongue will sing of your word,
    for all your commandments are right.

    173 Let your hand be ready to help me,
    for I have chosen your precepts.
    174 I long for your salvation, O Lord,
    and your law is my delight.

    Though the Lord chooses us to be His, even by adoption, He does not coerce us to follow Him.  As Adam, we may choose obedience or choose sin.

    As Christ Jesus, the new adam, a second son of man who was before the first; He does not coerce our Christian life, either; though He laid down His Life for our sin.

    Choose Jesus as Lord or choose death and punishment for your sins.

    175 Let my soul live and praise you,
    and let your rules help me.

    Genesis 2:7 KJV And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soulH5315

    1 Chronicles 29:13 KJV Now therefore, our God, we thank thee, and praise H1984 thy glorious name.

    Jeremiah 20:13 KJV Sing unto the LORD, praise H1984 ye the LORD: for he hath delivered the soul of the poor from the hand of evildoers.

    176 I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek your servant,
    for I do not forget your commandments.

    Isaiah quotes this last verse of Psalm 119 in prophesying the coming of our Savior, the Good Shepherd.

    Look upon the Cross of our Savior and upon your own sin.

    Isaiah 53: 

    6 All we like sheep have gone astray;
    we have turned—every one—to his own way;
    and the Lord has laid on him
    the iniquity of us all.

    7 He was oppressed, and he was afflicted,
    yet he opened not his mouth;
    like a lamb that is led to the slaughter,
    and like a sheep that before its shearers is silent,
    so he opened not his mouth.
    8 By oppression and judgment he was taken away;
    and as for his generation, who considered
    that he was cut off out of the land of the living,
    stricken for the transgression of my people?
    9 And they made his grave with the wicked
    and with a rich man in his death,
    although he had done no violence,
    and there was no deceit in his mouth.

    10 Yet it was the will of the Lord to crush him;
    he has put him to grief;
    when his soul makes an offering for guilt,
    he shall see his offspring; he shall prolong his days;
    the will of the Lord shall prosper in his hand.
    11 Out of the anguish of his soul he shall see and be satisfied;
    by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant,
    make many to be accounted righteous,
    and he shall bear their iniquities.

    And be also comforted by the last verse of the Psalmist; for our Lord, Christ Jesus also quoted it, and He knows well your soul.

    Matthew 18: 12 What do you think? If a man has a hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go in search of the one that went astray? 13 And if he finds it, truly, I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine that never went astray. 

     

  • In God We Trusted – 3

    In God We Trusted – 3

    Disclaimer & claim:

    WE the PEOPLE of the LORD trust God. 
    Nations rise and nations will fall.  The Prophet Jeremiah had warned Judah of their impending fall.

    By now you must see the present application of Lamentations 3.

    The warnings of the Prophets also speak to our nations.

    Noah_Webster_The_Schoolmaster_of_the_Republic

    We the people of the US have forgotten:

    In God we trusted.  Our heritage of faith is buried deeply in disbelief and rebellion.

    Lamentations is indictment of rulers who do not hear the cries of their people or acknowledge the leadership of God. 

    Lamentations 3

    English Standard Version (ESV)

    Great Is Your Faithfulness

    3 I am the man who has seen affliction
    under the rod of his wrath;
    2 he has driven and brought me
    into darkness without any light;
    3 surely against me he turns his hand
    again and again the whole day long.

    4 He has made my flesh and my skin waste away;
    he has broken my bones;
    5 he has besieged and enveloped me
    with bitterness and tribulation;
    6 he has made me dwell in darkness
    like the dead of long ago.

    7 He has walled me about so that I cannot escape;
    he has made my chains heavy;
    8 though I call and cry for help,
    he shuts out my prayer;
    9 he has blocked my ways with blocks of stones;
    he has made my paths crooked.

    Noah Websterauthor of the first American Speller and the first Dictionary said,  

    “The Christian religion, in its purity, is the basis, or rather the source of all genuine freedom in government. . . . and I am persuaded that no civil government of a republican form can exist and be durable in which the principles of that religion have not a controlling influence.” 

    Think about this from a man whose mission was to educate our forefathers.

    Civil government, to exist and be durable MUST have the principles of religion as a controlling influence: the MORALITY OF GOD – Good, and not evil.

    19 Remember my affliction and my wanderings,  Noah-Webster-source-of-freedom
    the wormwood and the gall!
    20 My soul continually remembers it
    and is bowed down within me.
    21 But this I call to mind,
    and therefore I have hope:

    22 The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases;
    his mercies never come to an end;
    23 they are new every morning;
    great is your faithfulness.
    24 “The Lord is my portion,” says my soul,
    “therefore I will hope in him.”

    25 The Lord is good to those who wait for him,
    to the soul who seeks him.

    Even responsible leaders of men will look to our future.

    Thomas Jefferson, A Nation of Sheep will have a Government of Wolves

     If once they become inattentive to the public affairs, you & I, & Congress & Assemblies, judges & governors shall all become wolves. It seems to be the law of our general nature, in spite of individual exceptions; and experience declares that man is the only animal which devours his own kind, for I can apply no milder term to the governments of Europe, and to the general prey of the rich on the poor. – Thomas Jefferson, To Edward Carrington Paris, Jan. 16, 1787

    Yet the Prophet both warns and comforts the people who ask, ‘How?’

    31 For the Lord will not
    cast off forever,
    32 but, though he cause grief, he will have compassion
    according to the abundance of his steadfast love;
    33 for he does not afflict from his heart
    or grieve the children of men.

    34 To crush underfoot
    all the prisoners of the earth,
    35 to deny a man justice
    in the presence of the Most High,
    36 to subvert a man in his lawsuit,
    the Lord does not approve.

    40 Let us test and examine our ways,
    and return to the Lord!
    41 Let us lift up our hearts and hands
    to God in heaven:
    42 “We have transgressed and rebelled,
    and you have not forgiven.

    PH-GiveMeLibertyOrDeathHas our history revealed the truth of the complete plea to God of Patrick Henry…

    or just a simple, secular sound-byte?

    Jeremiah had warned those who once spoke of ‘life so dear or peace so sweet.’ Patrick Henry plead: Forbid it, Almighty God!

    58 “You have taken up my cause, O Lord;
    you have redeemed my life.
    59 You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord;
    judge my cause.
    60 You have seen all their vengeance,
    all their plots against me.

    64 “You will repay them, O Lord,
    according to the work of their hands.
    65 You will give them dullness of heart;
    your curse will be on them.
    66 You will pursue them in anger and destroy them
    from under your heavens, O Lord.”

     

     

  • A Heart Cries Out

    A Heart Cries Out

    A heart cries out

    In sad futility:

    Is anyone out there?

    Does anyone care?

     

    Yes, says the Lord

    I hear your prayer.

    Do you hear my answer?

    Do you really care?

     

    A soul sadly survives

    Without being alive:

    Why do I matter?

    Why do my thoughts scatter?

     

    I still love your soul.

    I showed you the Way.

    When will you believe,

    That your heart will not deceive?

     

    Is anyone out there?

    Does anyone care?

     

    I hear you in prayer.

    I AM your joy and salvation.

     

    Sad, isn’t it – the futility of one without God.

    In fact, the Bible points to many of God’s faithful who have moments of doubt and hopelessness.  Yet their answer always comes though faith and prayer.

    The American Heritage Dictionary gives us a rather complete picture of futility by definition:

    1. The quality of having no useful result; uselessness.
    2. Lack of importance or purpose; frivolousness.
    3. A futile act.
    “Life without God is lifelessness.
    We often confuse the emotions and moods of the heart with the temporal worldly meanings imposed on our self-seeking souls by the ruler of this world.
    • The world does not equate Heart to soul.
    • Love is only equated to sexual love by the imposition of false meaning twisting our every thought.

    We do not think to ask God for an answer.  Time after time our heart cries out in hopelessness.

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    Without God as part of the love of our life, we miss out on the very love God intended.
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    The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? – Jeremiah 17:9 KJV
    If you want to understand the heart, look to the Hebrew root word: leb.
    Foremost in your understanding of your own heart is that your heart is your soul. 

    We are not really just the flesh and bones that others see or the mind and actions you show off to others. At the core of our being, you are your Leb:

    inner man, mind, will, heart, understanding; 

    1. Inner part, midst
    2. midst (of things)
    3. heart (of man)
    4. soul, heart (of man)
    5. mind, knowledge, thinking, reflection, memory
    6. inclination, resolution, determination (of will)
    7. conscience
    8. heart (of moral character)
    9. as seat of appetites
    10. as seat of emotions and passions
    11. as seat of courage

    Yes, there is much more to us than just our nature of the flesh.

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    The scriptures about the heart are also most revealing.  The list is long and includes some of what Jesus had to say about our hearts.

    Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, ‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.’ – John 7:38 ESV

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    So why are faith and prayer the answer?

    Did you hear a conversation in the opening poem?

    One caught-up in his or her own heart will have neither humility nor faith to hear God’s answer:

    requiring trust in Jesus as Lord.

     Psalm 4:

    Answer me when I call, O God of my righteousness!
    You have given me relief when I was in distress.
    Be gracious to me and hear my prayer!

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    Jesus Christ, who sacrificed Himself on the Cross because of God’s love for you said:

    And whatever you ask in prayer, you will receive, if you have faith. – Matthew 21:22 ESV

    Does your heart cry out?

    You with ears to hear, listen to God in your conversation of prayer.

    Jesus IS Lord.