Grains of Sand

We were introduced yesterday to Lamech who, like his great, great grandfather, Cain, was an unrepentant murderer. Cain’s heritage to his children and their children was likely a twisted version of his own history that led his descendants to believe that their evil actions could be justified. Genesis 5 introduces us to another Lamech. This one was a descendant of Seth, the son God gave to Adam and Eve after the death of Abel and the exile of Cain. Lamech’s father was a godly man. It was said of Enoch that he “ …walked with God, then he was no more, because God took him away. ” (Genesis 5:24, NIV). It appears that Enoch passed on some of that heritage to his son. Lamech became the father of Noah. Names meant something in the ancient past, denoting expectations and describing characteristics of a particular child. Noah’s name sounds like the Hebrew word for “ comfort ” and his father, Lamech, pronounced these prophetic words on this son: “ He will comfort us in the la...

Reading: Jeremiah 21-24, James 1 To those of us, perhaps that means all of us, who handle God’s Word in one context or another, Jeremiah has a lot to say. And most of it creates one of those you-better-sit-up-and pay-attention moments. Paul advised his protégé, Timothy, to handle the Word of God well (2 Timothy 2:15). But it’s not simply what we do when we are presenting the Word that is important, it is making sure that what we are presently in the name of the Word of God actually is HIS Word. We can speak in God’s Name without having been authorized to do so. We can tell people that what we say is from God without that message actually having come from God. The consequences of doing these things is a whole lot on the scary side. Here’s what Jeremiah says: “ This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘Do not listen to what the prophets are prophesying to you; they fill you with false hopes. They speak visions from their own minds, not from the mouth of the Lord. They...

“ The days are coming,” declared the Sovereign Lord, when I will send a famine through the land– not a famine of food or a thirst for water, but a famine of hearing the words of the Lord. Men will stagger from sea to sea and wander from north to east, searching for the word of the Lord, but they will not find it. In that day the lovely young women and strong young men will faint because of thirst. They who swear by the shame of Samaria, or say ‘As surely as your god lives, O Dan,’ or, ‘As surely as the god of Beersheba lives’– they will fall, never to rise again .” –Amos 8:11-14, NIV. Some people recognize the signs. The famine has come upon us. The land lies dry, whirligigs of dust swirling around. We waited too long to make our course correction, to pull out the weeds of human philosophy and worldly wisdom and to put our roots down into His riverbed where we could draw from the water of life. The weeds have choked the grain. And the God who let us choose between His Word and...

“ I will search for the lost and bring back the strays, I will bind up the injured and strengthen the weak, but the sleek and the strong I will destroy, I will shepherd the flock with justice ” —Ezekiel 34:16, NIV. One of the complaints that God had against His people was directed toward those who were the spiritual leaders of the community. They had failed to care for those for whom they were responsible. Their concern had been only for themselves and their own agenda. As a result the flock had gone astray. God pronounced judgment on them and announced that He would personally be their Shepherd and look after them as He had expected that His appointed shepherds would. The sheep themselves would not escape notice for among them were those who needed to be corrected as well. They had also had a hand in leading the others astray. To be the spiritual leaders of God’s people is a fearsome responsibility. Jesus rebuked the spiritual leaders of His day in the strongest terms for lea...