Musing – Do We Really Realize We are Always in God’s Presence?

Hebraic Musing – Do We Really Realize We are Always in God’s Presence?

Isn’t it interesting, the 1^st mention of the importance of being in God’s presence is in the form of the ultimate punishment?  Listen to Cain’s plea to God in Gen. 4:13-14 “My punishment is more than I can bear.  Today you are driving me from the land, and I will be hidden from your presence.” NIV    Cain recognized the importance of being in God’s presence!  And He realized the significance of the loss of God’s presence!      

Here’s an early promise from God -- “I am with you and will watch over you wherever you go.” Gen.20:15

Psalm 41:12 claims that God set David (and us) in His presence forever!  “In my integrity you uphold me and set me in your presence forever.”

In Psalm 21:6 David recognizes the importance of God’s presence to a king.  “Surely you have granted him eternal blessings and made him glad with the joy of your presence.”

In Psalm 16:11 David expressed the joy of being in God’s presence. “You have made known to me the path of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence, with eternal pleasures at your right hand.” 

And in Peter’s first preaching he quoted David in Acts 2:28.  “You have made known to me the paths of life; you will fill me with joy in your presence.”

Where should we be walking?  “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD.”  Psalm 89:15

What is the benefit to our children if we serve the Lord?  “The children of your servants will live in your presence;” Psalm 102:28

Where was Wisdom during Creation?  “Then I was the craftsman at his side. I was filled with delight day after day, rejoicing always in his presence,” Proverbs 8:30

HOWEVER, it is not always easy to be in His Presence: 

·      “The arrogant cannot stand in your presence; you hate all who do wrong.”  Psalm 5:5

·      Since He is always with us, Psalm 90:8 reminds us. “You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence.” 

·      We cannot leave His Presence. “Where can I go from your Spirit? Where can I flee from your presence?”  Psalm 139:7. 

A SUMMARY statement by Paul in 1 Thess.3:9 says it all!   “How can we thank God enough for you in return for all the joy we have in the presence of our God because of you?”

And that is why I cannot recite Psalm 51:10-12 without singing Keith Green’s version. 
♫  Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a right spirit within me.
 Cast me not away from Thy presence, O Lord,   And take not Thy Holy Spirit from me. 
Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation.  And renew a right spirit within me. ♫

Points to ponder   or   RSVP

What does that mean for us that God is Omnipresent, Omniscient and Omnipotent?

Are we living under the watchful eye of our MASTER?

Does our MASTER love us?  Why is He watching us?

Remember the advice from the Christmas song?  ♫“He sees you when you're sleeping, He knows when you're awake, He knows if you've been bad or good, So be good for goodness sake.”♫

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd              January 28, 2020

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Note – Inspired by writings from Brother Lawrence, circa 1600’s, before bibles were readily available.
        All Bible references are from the NIV

Musing – If America is no longer a Christian Nation; What’s Next?

Hebraic Musing – If America is no longer a Christian Nation; What’s Next?

Are we still the Christian nation we once were?  Where are we now?  Has our nation turned away from God?  What does the Bible say about a Nation turning its back on God?   We need to distinguish between an individual turning his/her back on God vs. a Nation going against God’s will.  Salvation is for an individual, based on choice.  But, people in rebellious nations experience consequences.

Three things happen when a nation rejects God and sheds innocent blood.  Is America guilty on both counts?

How is America rejecting God?  In the recent musing about recognizing Ungodliness, we identified Drugs, Gambling, Debt, Gender confusion, Abortion, Suicides, Evolution teaching, Education abdication, Religious Co-existence, Freedoms of Choice & Speech, Free Love, Broken families and Entitlement mentality.  Enough said?

How are we shedding innocent blood?  Abortion clinics, witnesses “committing suicide,” foreign ambassadorial staff slain, school & public shootings and euthanasia.  And are the lives of people being destroyed when their reputations are corrupted by unsubstantiated accusations by lies from the media?

So, what three things can America expect according to the Bible?

1. Rulers who hate us –  A summary of Psalm 106:33-42 says the Israelites rebelled against the Spirit of God; they disobeyed, worshipped idols, adopted customs of other peoples, shed innocent blood and defiled themselves.  And in the final verses 41-42  “He handed them over to the nations, and their foes ruled over them.  Their enemies oppressed them and subjected them to their power.” NIV   Our Judeo-Christian heritage is under attack.

2. Laws that enslave us – Ezekiel 20:24-25 “because they had not obeyed my laws but had rejected my decrees and desecrated my Sabbaths, and their eyes [lusted] after their fathers' idols.  I also gave them over to statutes that were not good and laws they could not live by.” NIV   How many laws do we now have that are enslaving us or preventing us from freedom of expression or obeying God’s laws?  Furthermore, today’s laws no longer apply to the likes of Epstein, Clintons, Bidens, corrupt leaders & politicians…to name just a few examples

3. Rights taken from us – Isaiah 5:20, 23, 24b   “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter.… who acquit the guilty for a bribe, but deny justice to the innocent.… for they have rejected the law of the LORD Almighty and spurned the word of the Holy One of Israel.”  Why do homosexuals want to be called “Gay”?  Why is sex now “free”?  Bibles and prayer are no longer allowed in schools!  Speech must be PC!  Women’s rights pre-empt newborn rights!  And on and on!  Are we Christians in America being surrounded by arrogant, militant paganism?  National sovereignty is Biblical but socialism/globalization is taking over.

Timothy warned us of these days.  “For the time will come when men will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear.  They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths.”  2 Tim. 2:3-4

Jeremiah warned the Israelites.  Does this apply to us?  “But if you turn away and ally yourselves with the survivors of these nations that remain among you and if you intermarry with them and associate with them,  then you may be sure that the LORD your God will no longer drive out these nations before you. Instead, they will become snares and traps for you, whips on your backs and thorns in your eyes, until you perish from this good land, which the LORD your God has given you.”  Joshua 23:12-13  Is America guilty of these crimes?

Points to ponder   or   RSVP

Do we see the forces seeking Globalization, socialism or the “New World Order”
trying to overcome the National Sovereignty foundation of our nation?

Who’s driving the Globalization movement?   i.e. trying to rebuild the Tower of Babel?

Is persecution around the corner?

 “If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray…” 2 Chron.7:14

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                          January 21, 2020

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Note – Some excerpts from “3 Terrible Consequences when a Nation Rejects God”; https://benhambrothers.com/

Musing – Seven Cs in God’s Eternal Plan.

Hebraic Musing – Seven Cs in God’s Eternal Plan.

The Bible’s entire message is summarized on one page in these seven past, present and future accounts:*

CREATION – God Created the Universe and Declared it “Very Good”.  Gen.1:1 - In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.   Gen1:31 God saw all that he had made, and it was very good. NIV

CORRUPTION – Sin and Death entered the world.   Rom. 8:22 We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time.

CATASTROPHE – Judgement, the Great Noahaic Flood.  Gen. 6:17 I am going to bring floodwaters on the earth to destroy all life under the heavens, every creature that has the breath of life in it. Everything on earth will perish.  

CONFUSION –The Tower of Babel where God forced people to spread across the Earth.  Gen. 11:9 That is why it was called Babel—because there the LORD confused the language of the whole world. From there the LORD scattered them over the face of the whole earth.   

CHRIST – Jesus came to show THE WAY of Salvation from Sin & Death.   Gal. 4:4-5 But when the time had fully come, God sent his Son, born of a woman, born under law,  to redeem those under law, that we might receive the full rights of sons.

CROSS – Jesus Christ paid our penalty.  1 Pet.3:18 For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous, to bring you to God.

CONSUMATION –Restoration of a new heaven and a new earth without any curse!  Rev. 20:14 Then death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire.   21:1 1 Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and there was no longer any sea.     Rev. 22:1 1 Then the angel showed me the river of the water of life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of the city.   Rev. 23:3-5 No longer will there be any curse. The throne of God and of the Lamb will be in the city, and his servants will serve him.  They will see his face, and his name will be on their foreheads. 5 There will be no more night. They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light. And they will reign for ever and ever.   

He’s coming soon!  Rev. 22:12 “Behold, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to everyone according to what he has done.

Points to ponder   or   RSVP

Did the Master Designer plan all this right from the BEGINNING?

Will God’s creation be as good, or better, at the End than it was at the Beginning?

Conclusion (one more C) is found in the final chapter in Rev. 22:13
“I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.”

♫ Sing to the Lord a new song… God made the world in seven days. Adam sinned and all men fell away. Jesus came to redeem my soul. He died upon the cross, and He made me whole!  Sing to the Lord… ♫

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd              January 14, 2020

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

*  Inspired by messages observed at the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter.

Musing – Did Paul Understand How Civilizations Decline?

Hebraic Musing – Did Paul Understand How Civilizations Decline?

I think Paul understood how a nation can destroy itself, and he spelled out the steps clearly in the book of Romans 1:21-32.  And we the people have no excuse according to the preceding vs. 20 – “For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse.” NIV  

How did Paul describe the decline process in seven steps in Romans 1:21-32? 

1.  KNEW GOD (past tense) - v21  For although they knew God,

2.  REFUSED TO WORSHIP OR BE THANKFULL  - they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him,

3. RESORTED TO FUTILE FOOLISHNESS  -  but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools

4. AND IDOLATROUS  -  v.23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like mortal man and birds and animals and reptiles. (Evolution drawings?!?!)

5. RESULTING IN GROSS IMMORALITY  - v.24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.

6. LEADING TO DENIAL & TOTAL DEPRAVITY  - v.25 They exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.  26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts.  Even their women exchanged natural relations for unnatural ones.  27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another.  Men committed indecent acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their perversion.

7. THE FINAL RESULT, TOTAL SOCIETAL CHAOS -  28 Furthermore, since they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, he gave them over to a depraved mind, to do what ought not to be done.  29 They have become filled with every kind of wickedness, evil, greed and depravity. They are full of envy, murder, strife, deceit and malice. They are gossips, 30 slanderers, God-haters, insolent, arrogant and boastful; they invent ways of doing evil; they disobey their parents; 31 they are senseless, faithless, heartless, ruthless. 32 Although they know God's righteous decree that those who do such things deserve death, they not only continue to do these very things but also approve of those who practice them.

Points to ponder   and/or   RSVP

Did you see those things in today’s newspapers, TV news or “entertainment” media?

Why is the “Religion of Evolution” promoted?

Our nation was founded on Step 1 above – “knowing God.”  Where are we now?

In the next verse, 2:1, Paul said “You, therefore, have no excuse…”  Who was Paul talking to?

“…choose for yourselves… But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:15

Yosef   a.k.a.  Joe Brusherd                                      January 7, 2020

Author: “Hebraic Insights – Messages exploring the Hebrew roots of our faith” 
“Biblical Marriage (by Yosef)”   Weekly “Hebraic Musings”

Note – Reflection from messages viewed at the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter.