Rush Hour
“They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand.” Nehemiah 1:10
Rush Hour
Servants – Life can be terribly frantic, can’t it? There are days when it just seems that you will never catch up. In fact, one of the systems of this world (those things Paul tells us not to be conformed to) is speed. There are a few powerful spiritual amnesia narcotics in the culture and the rush hour rate of life is one of them (prosperity tends to the another). Maybe that’s why God requires a Sabbath rest. He has to force us to see that life is not about how fast we can keep going. It’s wonderful that the first thing Adam did after his creation was rest, not work.
We need to have this perspective when we come to the word eved in Scripture. It’s the word that means “servant” or “slave.” Of course, slavery in the Old Testament is not the same as the kind of human degradation that occurred in the rest of the world’s history and is still occurring in the world today. In this verse, avadeikha (Your servants) is really a humble self-designation before the Lord. We are His servants. We bow before the King of the universe. We belong to Him, not simply as His loved, adopted children, but also as His slaves. It is only our cultural heritage that makes this term seem onerous. We must overcome that cultural revulsion, for being a slave of the great I AM is the most wonderful role we could ever have.
What does it mean to be eved before the Lord? Well, for one thing, it means that the Lord’s reputation is at stake in me. When I place myself under His ownership, He takes responsibility for me. When I confess that I am His servant, I imply that He acts as my protector and provider. His honor is involved in my well-being. Therefore, I am justified in calling on Him to uphold me. He cares about His slaves because He is benevolent (but never forget that He is also the King).
So, what implications can we draw from this? First, we should notice that those who are not His slaves cannot expect His protection and provision. They don’t belong to Him. This is what Yeshua meant with the phrase, “Why do you call me Lord, Lord and do not do what I say?” Anyone in that group isn’t His. What right do they have to ask for His help? None! His honor is not at stake in their lives.
But for those who do belong, life is very different. That doesn’t mean that life always works the way we want it to. It means that the circumstances of our lives are under His command – for His purposes. There are no accidents in the lives of His servants. Furthermore, we don’t have to worry about how crazy life might be. We are not in a hurry. We are in obedience. Rush hour isn’t part of our day. We are called only to obey His directives, not to make it all happen. The secret to a life of shalom is listening before acting. The master doesn’t expect the slave to know the game plan. He only expects the slave to carry out his orders. So, relax. Life comes according to His terms. Do what He says. That’s enough. All the rest is a reflection of His honor – and He won’t be insulted!
Thanks, I needed to be reminded to slow down, relax and remember who has it. God got it!
At the end of the first paragraph, I think you meant that after God created He rested. This lesson is good for me because with all of the current technology it is difficult to unplug which means that I am always working. I need to take time to rest. Thanks for the reminder.
…last week I went for three evenings to hear from missionaries sent by our church; it was wonderful. My little girls have been on trips to two of the countries. And then spent Saturday at an evangelism seminar given by Mack Stiles (who is a friend of the senior pastor, lives in Dubai)… it was just fabulous—and I’m not an evangelist, but given that almost every week and even more often, a seemingly impossible opportunity hurls itself at me; I’ve decided that I just simply have to learn how to present the gospel WITH WORDS. Just a short list of the people: an accountant, who every so often comes into my office to explain that the bible is just an ancient economic guidebook manual of sorts; my psychologist half-sister in Israel who says that the whole question of religion is “ridiculous” (she has four children); my friend of 30 years who exchanged books with me for decades and went completely silent when he received a couple of Christian books from me; my attorney who when seeing my viewpoint immediately declared his Darwinian atheist status (yet supported those “Christian values”); my mother, once a converted and practicing Jew—now a kind and caring moralist; my priestess sister, head of the Wiccan “church” in Canada (with her husband); my brother and his wife (just good people without agendas); my older sister—a kind and caring Reiki therapist “new ager” and health products store manager; the list is massive and grows longer every few days.
So the first step in my plan of attack (along with Today’s Word, daily & weekly studies etc.) is to watch twenty times a Ravi Zacharias DVD called “Get a Life” that a friend made for me, to see if it will absorb into my cells, and make notes every second viewing. Because I don’t want to look uncool presenting gospel topics :-). I started off doing things with a nonprofit organization since I felt that I didn’t have adequate understanding or presentation skills—but that’s ultimately a copout to avoid actually getting to heart of the matter and saying things right out loud and taking a chance on being embarrassed. The reality is that most of my openings simply don’t lend themselves to non-language presentation, whether verbal or written in some form. You can’t have friends and family learn anything about your belief by showing them your good-hearted volunteer “works” when they’re thousands of miles away. On the contrary, you need to use language: spoken, emailed, video’d, texted, subscribed, published, facebooked…. and I’ve reached the understanding that “benefit selling” of the gospel is a hollow sham and completely off-course. Because I’m not happier now than pre-conversion (at the observable levels), I’m not a better or kinder person (well maybe just a little bit), and it’s not a better life in the usual measurable ways. But I’ve finally realized that the need to know God is not some alternative of choice in a sales situation: “so, do you prefer the Buddhist system, or would you like to sign up for Islam?”–it is a fundamental fact of existence.
wow Terry.. what diversity in your family! G-d also has a diverse family. He died for the sins of the world. The Jew and the Gentile. You have quite a task ahead of you but you have quite a G-d now living inside by His Ruach HaKodesh. Our heavenly Father has blessed you and I with good spiritually nutritive food from this website. I saved every day’s “good word” to my computer and refer to them often for help in my understanding of the Torah (instruction). The Bible however is much more than a “textbook” for our learning how to live. In its entirety it is a wonderful love story of a feast, a wedding, and a fat-daddy party yet to be. Meanwhile back on the planet, Yeshua did not say in John 10.10 ” I am come that you might be miserable.” We need to pay very close attention (heed) and “shema” every Word that proceedeth forth from the mouth of G-d. Our Bible is a gold mine when you learn to dig with a Hebrew shovel. This is what keeps brother Skip in a constant state of wanting more.. He’s got gold fever and has found the treasure “buried” in this amazing book. If G-d has the “all” of you, you will have the “all” of Him. It’s very simple and yet few know this. They tend to treat the words in this book as if they were going thru a cafeteria line. I’ll have some of this but none of this thank you very much. If you totally surrender to the the Lordship of Messiah (who is still today G-d in human flesh), and learn to worship Him in the beauty of holiness, you will discover a quality of life few have seen. Eternal life is not just a quantity, it is a quality. “Christ in you, the certainty of beauty.” Think of the incredible power in just one word- Shalom. Pick another.. love. Pick another.. joy. What’s very comforting to me is when I read, “He who has begun a good work in you, will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ”..
or “the zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform it” or “I will build my church.” It seems all I have to do is “show up” and ask “LORD what will you have me to do?”. There is no greater joy on earth than to be used by YWYH to serve another person and know He is using you. Keep your nose in the book (your diet) and learn to pray- “you now have access your Fathers would have only dreamed about”- the veil of the temple has been torn from top to bottom, and Yeshua invites us, “come unto me.” And when you pray, remember to say “our Father.” Welcome to the family..
Hi Jay,
I´m Skip´s Spanish translator. When he sent me the material a few days ago, I thought the same thing, that God had rested. Skip explained to me that even though He did, Adam had rested too, since he was created the day before. So the first thing God had Adam do was REST! Isn´t that great! It´s been right there all along. Made ME slow down, for sure.
That doesn’t mean that life always works the way we want it to. It means that the circumstances of our lives are under His command – for His purposes. There are no accidents in the lives of His servants…We are called only to obey His directives, not to make it all happen. The secret to a life of shalom is listening before acting.
The last paragraph to Rush Hour really hit home, hit my heart. My husband and I are going through a hard financial time right now – as I’m sure so many others are, too – and we have to daily be reminded that our only “job” is to be obedient to our Master… NOT TO MAKE IT ALL HAPPEN. We really don’t make anything happen anyway, unless we walk out from underneath the protection of our God. Then, whatever we MAKE happen is not necessarily what was in God’s plan for us to begin with.
I love the last line… the SECRET is listening before acting. If we all learned to stop and bring EVERYTHING to God – EVERYTHING – and then listen for His instruction before stepping out, oh how our lives would have such a shalom about them… even if they weren’t “easy”.
Good Morning everybody, 🙂 … and as always, thank you Skip…..
Today’s Reminder Card principles:
… We are not in a hurry; we are in Obedience … ….
… The secret to a life of SHALOM is listening before acting. … ….
… So relax; life comes according to His terms. Do what He says. That’s enough. ……
(reviewing this before I post it, it looks really long but I think I will post it anyway)
Terry, ….
WHY does the accountant even bring up the subject of the Bible? ….
WHY would your half-sister even bring up a subject that is “ridiculous”? ….
From your friend’s silent response, I would say that he/she definitely noticed that your books were “Christian”. ….
Why did your attorney feel the need to express his atheistic values? ….
.. ..
Personally, I think that I must wear the love of G-d as a sign-board on my face, because very frequently strangers will come up to me with a prayer request, or to discuss spiritual issues. When I have asked WHY they thought of discussing this subject with ME, their response is “Well you are a Christian aren’t you?” How did they know that? I was a stranger in an airport that was a five-hr-drive from my home when he walked up to me with a prayer request after his wife died. And he gave me a gift of something she had made, to remind me to pray for him and his little boy. On a trip to a different airport the following year an oriental lady shyly approached me with a smile. She said that she and her family were new believers, and she was happy to see a fellow Christian. Then she walked away and left me sitting there in my wheelchair with my jaw open in astonished wonder. I was an unknown visitor in the grocery aisle, etc, etc … The fact is that in each case I was a STRANGER ! … Somehow they could see G-d in me, in just a few minutes, without a word said. I have NO IDEA how they knew; I didn’t DO or SAY anything…..
.. ..
Rarely have I made a conscious effort to bring the subject of G-d into a conversation. But once I had a dream … When I was a teen we lived in a rural town, with very long driveways, and John was the boy across the road (and
about 6yrs younger than I). I babysat for their family, and he was the best friend of my only brother. Yrs later, my brother was shot (in the head, unarmed, while protecting a friend) and killed at 21yo, and John kind-of took a substitute role in our family life. When I was 27yo, I moved back into the house to care for my father while he died of cancer, then Mom remarried & moved to the eastern states. I was involved in a very unhealthy marriage, and John was just about my only emotional support.
One night I had a dream. ….In my dream John died (in his car at the top of his driveway) & in my dream my brother was angry because I had not talked to John about salvation. I told my brother that John tensed up anytime G-d was mentioned “and he was YOUR best friend!” … but the dream was SO real that I was compelled to SAY something. ….The following prose was written February 1989 (20yrs ago).
.. ..
… I was sitting at the table with my skirt tucked around my legs and my knees propped up. John had come for coffee – as usual. But today was different. I had decided, earlier, to finally broach the subject he seemed to dread; God. Anytime our conversation came close to the subject of God he always froze. His
muscles would tense and shout, “No!”. Until now, I had honored his silent request, but no more. I took a deep breath and started in;….
.. ..“John, we can talk about anything, right? We have spoken of even the most private aspects of our lives – but not God. I’ve got to ask; you mean too much to me to let it slip by any longer; did you ever believe in Jesus Christ?” … And I waited silently for an answer…..
.. .. His face took on a hard, closed look and he replied, “I don’t want to talk about it! That is a CLOSED subject!” Within several months, he was dead. And I cried, and cried, and cried…..
.. .. .. – – – – – – –
.. … John died ~21yo, working under his wife’s car at the top of his driveway. It rolled off the ramps and crushed his head & chest. … I went a little crazy afterward, but, looking back, I think I got specific direction to speak to him that day. Can you imagine how I would have felt if he had died without my ever responding to the dream?….
.. .. I think that kind of specific instruction is probably extremely unusual. Mostly I think that if we LISTEN to the Holy Spirit, we will know when words are appropriate, but often G-d works thru us simply BEING the person he wants us to BE; without extra-ordinary effort that can appear forced and very pushy. When I began to feel (yes it was again an emotional experience) that G-d wanted me to legally change my name to Truthful Loving Kindness, I did extra study on the words “khesed ve’emet”. To me, they meant loving-kindness within a truthful (ie transparent, reliable) lifestyle. It isn’t just a way of speaking; it is a way of BEING. Of course, it has to be G-d’s TLK, because I don’t have any without Him! But when other people see that way of BEING, it is recognized and noticed. Mostly, I think if you learn ABOUT Him, but also frequently sit on G-d’s lap (which is a wonderfully safe, and perfectly cared-for experience) getting hugs from Him, then those hugs overflow and everything else can flow NATURALLY (or super-naturally 🙂 from Him, thru you, to the people in your environment. God will give you the opportunities, if and when that is appropriate. I hope this doesn’t sound like a know-it-all, it is just my personal experience.
.. .. Your friend in Christ,
Truthful L. Kindness, & “Blessing” the wheelchair Service Dog
wow!! (is that a Hebrew word? 🙂 I like your name and love your story. You may rejoice that once again YWYH has used you to “speak” into another persons life. I needed to hear your story and also this rejoices the heart of brother Moen to see the vision of this website coming into fruition by our interaction with each other!! cool beans.. G-d is so amazing. I just love Who he is and what He does. I’m going to do a copy/paste operation of part of your testimony and use it as a daily reminder for me “to be” all He wants me to be. A reminder we are “humand beings” not “human doings!” From the top of my head to the outer extremities I want to be totally owned and “driven” by Him. I’m not going to say “you’ve got it going on” but I will say you have “not I,but Christ” going on in you. I remember my former pastor saying, “we are supernaturally natural” and “naturally supernatural”. Your written testimony is another validation of this truth. His blessings to you TLK!
I always have trouble with the concept: “there are no accidents”. When a believer’s child rides their bike in front of a car and is killed, was it the “will of God” for the believers? Did He choose for it to happen to his “servants”?
I think it was an accident. Now, Yeshua can turn anything and everything for good ultimately but did He wish, will the child be killed? No! It is just too Greek to me to say that accidents don’t happen. Too cut and dried. It is too Calvinistic also I think. I think there are limits to God’s omniscience. There are things He cannot know, because He does not know what we will choose. Otherwise there would be no free will it seems.
Now here’s one to think about. We are totally free in our choices. It is actually one of G-d’s greatest gifts to man. We are not free from the consequences of our choices. The law of sowing and reaping. So much for the will of man. We are free to choose.
Concerning the sovereignty of G-d. Absolutely and positively. Every grain of sand on the beach, the whisker of a cat in the middle of a hurricane, G-d is sovereign. Or if you would rather say, Jesus is LORD.
The free will of man. The Sovereignty of G-d. And now for the child. I am a man. I am a limited man. I am limited in many ways. G-d states in His book, my ways are not you ways, my thoughts are not your thoughts. Those “nots” are an emphatic triple-underlined knotty not. I am the flea and He is the elephant. I am the drop and He is the ocean. I am limited and He is limitless. I am sinful and He is holy. I am imperfect and He is perfect. I am selfish and He is selfless. If I were to confess, some things are just beyond my pay-grade it only be a start. This I know according to the Scriptures, “He doeth all things well.” We think dying is horrible. He says “to die is gain.” May I say again, “to die is gain.” I am not going to advise G-d on how to run His universe. I am just amazed He loves me knowing full well how much I have spit in His face and refused to listen to His voice. G-d’s heart is not like mine. His is a heart of love. Mine is full of hate. His is a heart of peace, mine is full of strife. His ways are not are ways, and His thoughts are not our thoughts. Well then, how can I know what He is thinking, or how He thinks, if my patterns of thought are so far from His? He has given to us a book to reveal His true self to us from the first time He said, “Light” (that which reveals-revelation). Our dusty Bible is G-d’s love letter to His children and to His future bride. We surely do err, not knowing the Scriptures or the power of G-d. For a better understanding of the the heart of G-d, go and kneel at the foot of the cross. It was there “by faith” I received my sight.
My wife and I just today attended a Staley Lecture series message given by Os Guinness at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio. He spoke about this matter of time. His message actually followed much of what I had read in his book titled: “Prophetic Untimeliness: A Challenge to the Idol of Relevance.” It is a great and eye-opening read (also short) and revolves around this matter of “time”. Skip’s Rush Hour devotional today was a nice companion to this message (and book)….We have become slaves to the “god on our wrists” and its influence (time, that is) and even the language we use to define it, is counter to everything God would have us to focus on as in-this-world-but-not-of-this-world believers.
Oops; was this Too Much Information? I notice that my reply above has somehow “closed” the thread since this morning. Yesterday’s three replies on other threads have kind-of stopped the flow on each of those also. Somebody needs to tell me what I’m doing wrong because I am clue-less (other than maybe Too Much Information in today’s thread).
-Truthful L. Kindness, & “Blessing” the wheelchair Service Dog
truthfulkindness@sbcglobal.net
Pat Sullivan wrote: “I think there are limits to God’s omniscience. There are things He cannot know, because He does not know what we will choose. Otherwise there would be no free will it seems.”
I believe that there is no limit to God’s omniscience. I believe he knows what we will choose. That doesn’t change my freedom: his knowing what I will choose is not the same as controlling the choice. You may know another person well enough to be pretty confident what he or she will choose in a particular situation. Well, God’s knowledge of us is far more complete than our knowledge of another human.
Maybe Skip will comment on this since he wrote his doctoral thesis on this very topic. “GOD, TIME and the LIMITS of OMNISCIENCE” was the title of it. I have not yet been able to wade through it but hope to. I have scanned a few chapters and it is DEEP! No surprise!
I have always wondered if there was the real possibility of Yeshua choosing to NOT endure the cross. And we, AND the Father, were held in the balance of that decision. “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me. Nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” Was the choice real? “Don’t you know I could call a legion of angels?” He chose not to. But He knew he could if He wanted. I would have! 🙂 Here is God in the flesh faced with choices.
He was tempted sorely in the desert. Could he have chosen to give in? Were the choices and pressure real? Did the Father know what the Son would do? Was the possibility that our only hope of salvation was literally hanging in the balance of those choices? I believe they were. And that makes what Yeshua did all the more amazing and incredible!!! All the more real. His choices were NOT predetermined or even pre-known. The test was real! And the outcome uncertain.
Why are we instructed to request “don’t lead me into temptation?” If He already knows what we are going to do and choose, why test us at all? Most say, so that WE will know what we will do and that is partially true I suspect. God left enemies to test Israel to “to see whether they would obey the LORD’s commands, which he had given their forefathers through Moses.” Judges 3:4. Numerous other Scriptures could be cited where He wanted to know what they would do.
Is our free will so powerful that even God does not know what we will choose. I think He knows our hearts inclinations, thus he talked with Cain before Cain killed Abel. He tried to get Cain to see what was going on inside of him and then said, “but you must master it.” Why bother trying to talk Cain down off the ledge if He absolutely knew what Cain would do?
Seems to make a lot of Scriptures make more sense if there are in fact limits to what God actually knows about what we will choose and do.
Pat, I think you might find this interesting re God’s relationship with TIME:
I can’t say that I always agree with Wayne Grudem’s teaching, but I have gained a lot from him. At his home-church, Scottsdale Bible, Wayne has taught many audio lessons from his “Systematic Theology” text. In part 4 of his “Incommunicable Attributes” section (2006), the Physicist, Mike Mowgli (sp?) gave a talk on “A Scientist’s View of Time”. Some parts of Mike’s talk are kind of technical (he has published works on amendments of Einstein’s Theory of Relativity) but extremely interesting. Here is the audio link to that lesson
http://tapecenter.scottsdalebible.com/sermons/040206SysTheo.MP3
Enjoy!
-Truthful L. Kindness & “Blessing” the wheelchair Service Dog
truthfulkindness@sbcglobal.net