Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.”

Zechariah 5:5-11

Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” Zechariah 5:5-6

I continue my study of the last four books of the OT (complete: Zephaniah, Haggai; to complete: Zechariah, Malachi) - using the Christ-Centered Exposition Commentary volume for this book.  For today, my focus is an unassisted review of Zechariah 5:5-11, which the commentary outlines as the second of three divisions for the text 5:1-6:15 (5:1-4, 5-11, 6:1-15).  Building on yesterday's post which focused on how God reveals our sin to us, which of course is a good thing so that we can repent and have God forgive us and free us from the cycle of sin, guilt, shame, more sin, etc, in today's text Zechariah experiences a vision from God where God takes away the sin of His people (iniquity in all the land - v6). The text also references in the vision the land of Shinar (v11) as where this sin is taken.  This resource discuss how Shinar appears throughout scripture and how in Zechariah 5 specifically, Shinar represents "the suppression of wickedness and its banishment to Shinar/Babylon."  The suppression and banishment of sin is part of a broader gospel theme that brings hope to all of humanity that despite how everyone experiences a daily battle for our souls (over sin), believers who accept God's free gift of salvation can rest in the confidence knowing that the victory over sin and death is already won and we can draw from this confidence. 

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who has already defeated sin and death and saved me - thank You Jesus!  I am not deserving of my salvation nor any of the blessings associated with this gift.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength. Please continue to heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!”

Proverbs 22

The sluggard says, “There is a lion outside! I shall be killed in the streets!” Proverbs 22:13

I continue to lean on DesiringGod.com's Solid Joys daily devotion, which today looks at how all of us, believers included, twist reason to serve our evil and rebellious ways.  John Piper uses this devotion to convict believers hearts into seeing that and how we do this.  He first starts with the sluggard - which most of us might dismiss when characterizing ourselves - by parsing how readers of this Proverb might expect fear to be the primary emotion of the text but use of the sluggard implies laziness instead because the sluggard is rationalizing the circumstance of a lion in the streets to stay inside and avoid action and work.  Piper, seeking to apply this text then quickly moves to all believers by sharing that "we need to learn....that our heart exploits our mind to justify what we want. That is, our deepest desires precede the rational functioning of our minds and incline the mind to perceive and think in a way that will make the desires look right, even if they’re wrong."  Our efforts to warp reason so that we can continue in our sin is a powerful dynamic - Piper refers us to John 3:19 to help us see this message through other text.  Here, it's not that we twist circumstances to validate our action or inaction, its that we use darkness to hide our sin - if no one knows we can continue in our sin.  Convicting message indeed!

Comment and discuss this post.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who is doing a work in me so that I can no longer be a slave to sin - thank You Jesus!  Help me be in action to not just do what You want me to do but also to expose my sin to me so that I can seek Your Spirit and assistance to remove impurities in my life.  I am undeserving of the sanctifying work You have already done in me - incredible blessings.  My sin is great and it continues...daily.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith. Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day. 

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain.

Portions of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy

Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labor in the Lord is not in vain. 1 Corinthians 15:58

Day 59 of my chronological study of the Bible with The Daily Bible® - In Chronological Order (NIV®) (available by purchase through Amazon - author F. LaGard Smith) focuses on directives from God through Moses (Moses' Laws) for marriage, divorce, and sexual relations. 

Sexual sin in particular is a rampant problem in both society and as a result for the church.  DesiringGod.com has nearly 150 posts on the subject.  At its base, the sexual urge is a selfish desire (or pride)- a desire to satisfy self first and foremost.  Hence, the problem with pornography as selfish desires can be satisfied very easily and it is thought that sin can be hidden.  Yet God sees both our hidden sin and the underlying heart condition.

During this period of "shelter-in-place" with a global virus pandemic we have more idle time, time with our thoughts and John Piper reminds us that we must focus on the good works God created us to do - check out this post where it highlights not only this strategy for combating lust but other strategies.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an awesome God who loves me and who has done a work in me to help transform how I think about sexual relations so that I am equipped to defeat sexual sin.  I am grateful for Your work in my heart and my life.  Yet I am undeserving for the grace You provide for my sin, past, present and future.  As long as I am on earth I will sin - this I know.  Please forgive me for my sins in many areas, including my sins of arrogance and pride.  Help me overcome and turn from such sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You love me.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others. Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths.

Proverbs 5

For your ways are in full view of the Lord, and he examines all your paths. v21

This Proverb focuses on the 7th commandment, "[y]ou shall not commit adultery",  and it provides several warnings, including: ruin comes to the adulterer and how nothing is hidden from God.

For there is nothing hidden that will not be disclosed, and nothing concealed that will not be known or brought out into the open. Luke 8:17

 

This Proverb also provides an encouragement to maintain passion for your wife:

 

Drink water from your own cistern, running water from your own well. Should your springs overflow in the streets, your streams of water in the public squares? Let them be yours alone, never to be shared with strangers. May your fountain be blessed, and may you rejoice in the wife of your youth. A loving doe, a graceful deer—may her breasts satisfy you always, may you ever be intoxicated with her love. Why, my son, be intoxicated with another man’s wife? Why embrace the bosom of a wayward woman? v15-20 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are an amazing God, who loves me, is always with me, protects me, guides me, etc. and so much more - that You love me is amazing.  Thank You Jesus.  I am not worth such love as I worry and I fall down - broken.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself wisdom and strength.  Please heal Lisa of her cancer and from the side effects of chemo.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Please provide Godly friends and spouses to Zach and Dustin.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

Exodus 2

Looking this way and that and seeing no one, he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand. v12

We all have sin and it is not wise to attempt to hide our sin - for God knows all of our sin and He is willing to forgive us if we come to Him in confession and with a heart to repent.

God wants us to return to Him - if we earnestly repent, God will help us gain victory over sin. 

I tell you that in the same way there will be more rejoicing in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who do not need to repent. Luke 15:7

With God we will gain the victory, and he will trample down our enemies. Psalm 108:13

 

My Prayer:  Lord Jesus, You have helped me gain victory over many sins in my life and I am grateful - thank You Jesus!  I am not worth such love and blessing.  Other sin continues in my life.  Please forgive me and help me overcome and turn from my sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, and mind and love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give Lisa and myself strength and wisdom.  Help us lead Zach and Dustin to You Jesus and for them to choose You as their Lord and Savior.  Help me serve You, my family, my church, and others.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long. For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer.

Psalm 32

When I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.  For day and night your hand was heavy on me; my strength was sapped as in the heat of summer. v3-4

Sin separates us from God and only God can forgive us and restore us.  In today's verses we see from David's experience (and we know from our own), that when we hide our sin, the struggle to keep it hidden is a difficult one and it often leads to other sin (as it did with David). Thus confession is an important aspect of our Christian life as a means to restore our selves to God...and to others.  Additionally, confession serves an important purpose with others as it helps others know us more fully - imagine a world where all of us shared our sin and we became more fully known and hopefully more fully loved as an expression of Jesus love...for us and through us.  The Bible is clear that confession is critical.  See posts here.

On a related note, I was curious about the label of maskil on biblegateway.com for this Psalm, and found this reference which has some great learning about the Psalms...it appears a maskil is a Psalm that teaches you something....indeed.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are a great God and You have taught me all things..."apart from You I have and am nothing!  Thank You Jesus for being such a gracious God!  I am not worth such blessings as You have blessed me abundantly.  I continue to worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me turn from my sin and towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure her of her cancer and the side effects from chemo and radiation.  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin...and serve You.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.”

Luke 22
Surgical Strike

“Simon, Simon, Satan has asked to sift all of you as wheat. But I have prayed for you, Simon, that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned back, strengthen your brothers.” v31-32

I know that there are areas of my where sin persists..."dark corners" of my life as the devotional puts it.  I do try and rationalize my sin and I also know that God knows when I sin...that nothing is hidden and there are times when I knowingly sin AS I am sinning...I deserve death (Romans 6)...not just for my recent sin but for ALL of the sin I have committed in my life.  Yet God knows all about my sin, He came for me, then suffered and died for me...me specifically.  He blesses me beyond what I deserve.  

Please forgive me and welcome me back to Your arms Jesus!  Help me defeat sin in my life.  Help strengthen my faith.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus You are an amazing God that You walked as a man, experienced temptation and difficulty just as I do...yet You never sinned and then You beat both sin and death, rising from the grave!  You are full of compassion and love for me...even though I am not deserving.  Jesus please forgive me!  Thank You for all of the blessings You pour out for me but please forgive me for my lust and sin.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure her of this cancer.  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach, and Dustin.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message today and every day. 

Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith.

The Darkness Within

Hebrews 12:1-2
Therefore, since we are surrounded by such a great cloud of witnesses, let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles. And let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. 

Today's devotional focuses on the extent to which all of us get caught up in sin - even though we may not even be aware.  I know for myself that I am easily distracted...I worry too much and this causes me to be distracted.  I also too often focus on the world even though I know that is sinful and God's desire for me - as it indicates in today's scripture - is to focus on Him.

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are a great God and You have done SO much in my heart and in m life, blessing me beyond what I could imagine is possible.  I am blessed with You in my heart and my life...Thank for for calling me one of Your children and for guiding and protecting me.  Yet I am easily distracted by the world and I too often worry.  Please forgive me Jesus and help me turn from such sin towards You.  Help me love You with all of my heart, soul, mind and strength.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Help me fix my eyes on You.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure Lisa, Zach and Dustin.  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.

The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.

1 Timothy 5

The sins of some are obvious, reaching the place of judgment ahead of them; the sins of others trail behind them. In the same way, good deeds are obvious, and even those that are not obvious cannot remain hidden forever.  v24-25

Paul encourages Timothy to remain pure and the words above talk to how Timothy should be mindful of humility...that no sin and no good deed goes unnoticed by God and that we cannot escape judgement.  The implied message is also one of humility...that our focus should not be on pleasing others but God...too often we chase earthly approval vs pleasing God.  

Related passages:
Luke 8:17
1 Corinthians 4:5
Daniel 2:21-22
Colossians 3:12
Philippians 2:3-4
Luke 18:14
Acts 20:24 

My Prayer: Lord Jesus, You are the King of Kings, the Lord of Lords, creator of all things, above all things, before all time and after all time.  There is no God like You.  You are the one true God.  You know everything about me, and You chose me even before I was born, knowing everything about my sin and brokenness.  You have a plan for me and I know it is great.  Yet I too often lack trust and I worry in my heart, etc.  Thank You for dealing with me gently, with patience and compassion.  I am not worth Your love and blessing Jesus!  Please forgive me for my worry.  Help me overcome my sin and turn towards You instead.  Help me love others as You do.  Help me grow in my faith.  Give me strength.  Give Lisa strength.  Please heal and cure her of this cancer!  Praise God for how You have worked to reduce the tumor Jesus.  You are a great God - thank You!  Help me lead and serve Lisa, Zach and Dustin.  Help me understand, be obedient to, and apply Your message for me today and every day.