by donfinto | Sep 6, 2017 | The Good Report
Amazing how we can read Scripture over and over and still get moments of revelation that are totally fresh, like something we’ve not seen before.
This happened to me recently when I was pondering the “the LORD’S appointed festivals (Lev.23:4). No report of God’s festivals is complete without referring to the Sabbath, so I started reviewing passages about Sabbath observance. I remembered that God had rested on the Sabbath, so I turned to read it again: “God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that he had done” (Gen. 2:3).
Then I realized something else. I turned to the fourth commandment: “Remember the Sabbath day by keeping it holy” (Ex. 20:8).
And what did Jesus say about the Sabbath? “The Sabbath was made for man, not man for the Sabbath” (Mk. 2:27).
Ah! I thought. The Ten Commandments did not establish the Sabbath as a holy day. The fourth commandment simply instructed Moses and Israel to keep holy that which God had already made holy at creation.
The western world seems to take pride in working long hours and often seven days a week, but God has ordained a day of rest, a day of declaring through our actions that our God is not a slave-driver. He will care for us if we take a day each week to rest, a day to seek Him, a day to rejoice with family, a day to refresh. The Sabbath is holy; it was made for you. Enjoy it!
by donfinto | Aug 30, 2017 | The Good Report
All Bible readers will remember the story of Moses, when he was arguing with God about his ability to lead Israel out of Egypt: “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh?” “What if [Israel does] not receive me or listen to me?” “O Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor since you have speaking to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue” (Exodus 4:10).
“What is that in your hand?” God asked Moses, to which he replied, “A staff.” But given over to God, that staff became power in Moses’s hand, God’s power. This is the staff that Moses used to divide the Red Sea when Israel was escaping from Pharaoh and the Egyptian army.
“What is that in your hand, David?” “A slingshot and a stone” (1 Samuel 17). But in the hand of God, enough to kill a giant and bring the defeat of the whole Philistine army.
“What is that in your hand, little boy?” “Five loaves and two fish.” But in the hands of Jesus, enough to feed 5,000 men plus the others gathered (John 6:9).
“What’s in your hand, sir?” “Only one talent, not enough to be useful, so I’ll just bury it for safe-keeping, until the Master calls for it.” “You wicked, lazy servant! … Throw that worthless servant outside, into the darkness…” (Matthew 25). Never underestimate what God will do with the little we have, and most importantly, when surrendered to Him!
What’s in your hand? A phone call? A note? A visit? A financial gift at a given time?
I can still tell you about words of encouragement given to me at an appropriate time that gave me the energy to go forward, or when a financial gift was given to me that was a specific answer to prayer in a time of need.
You are gifted. You have what others need. What’s in your hand? Use it to the glory of Jesus!
(inspired from a lesson by Rabbi Ken Alpren, Kol Dodi)
by donfinto | Aug 21, 2017 | The Good Report
Yes, God uses the sun and the moon to mark seasons and signs. “And God said, ‘Let there be lights in the expanse of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years'” (Gen. 1:14).
And yes, eclipses of some sort have been used of God to mark outstanding times – the most unusual and stunning was the three hours of darkness that descended on Jerusalem the day Jesus was executed (See Matthew 27:45). Was this an extended solar eclipse? Technically, from what I understand it is not possible since a solar eclipse cannot happen during a full moon, and Passover (the time of Jesus’ death) always comes on the 14th of Nisan, which is a full moon. Natural “eclipses” never last for three hours.
However, God sometimes suspends His own laws of nature.
He did this when Hezekiah’s life was being extended fifteen years, and God gave Hezekiah a sign “I will make the shadow cast by the sun go back the ten steps it has gone down” (Isaiah 38:8).
When Joshua was fighting the Amorites, the Lord did this when “the sun stopped in the middle of the sky and delayed going down about a full day…There has never been a day like it before or since” (Joshua 10:13-14).
Yes, we are having a major eclipse on today!
So what does it portend? I don’t know, and have heard no specific predictions.
So what do we do?
We do the same thing we do every day. We watch and we pray – that God will do everything to bring people into His kingdom and strengthen us who are under His care.
And – you might consider joining in the 40 day fast during the month of Elul which starts the next day and continues until the Day of Atonement on the 10th day of the biblical month of Tishri, September 30, 2017.
Stand strong in Jesus, and have a blessed eclipse Monday.
