Backwash – REWIND
In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials 1 Peter 1:6 NASB
Various – Peter uses an interesting adjective to describe the testing of our faith. It is the word poikilos. It does not mean “many.” Instead it means “of a wide variety.” Literally, it means “many colored.” It is not the number of trials that Peter is emphasizing. It is the variety, the many facets that trials come in.
Trials of faith usually seem to come in waves. Each one has a unique shape and color. But they are all variations on the same theme. I remember going to the ocean when I was a teenager. We loved to jump waves, but not every wave was a challenge. We had to wait for the “big one.” So we would wade into the water and count. Soon we discovered that there was a pattern, a big wave followed several smaller waves, then another big wave would crash around us. We had a great time jumping up and down in the water, being carried along on the big ones.
I find that my life with God is like standing in the waves. A big trial comes along. It knocks me off my feet and carries me someplace I did not think I would go. But soon I am standing again, on the promises of God, feeling trust and confidence in Him. Small waves don’t rock me too much. I hold my ground with God. Then along comes another “big one” and suddenly I can’t keep my footing and the force of the blow carries me. Some months ago I went through a tsunami. God rearranged my life completely with hurricane force. Then I learned to stand confidently on His word. Today another “big one” arrived. My emotions crashed against the ocean floor, rolling me over the rough sand. The waves around me are dangerous. When I get knocked down, it hurts. But I trust Him. He is all I really have. God is the Master of my world, including the waves.
Perhaps Peter had Joseph in mind with the many-colored trials. Imagine what Joseph’s life would have been like without that special coat. Perhaps the jealousy that eventually led to his imprisonment would not have occurred. And if that did not happen, what would have become of Israel? Perhaps, although we can’t see it at the time, things that we think are just right for our ego enhancement will become “big ones” that knock us flat. Perhaps, if Peter had this in mind, he is challenging us to remember that every wave can be either good or bad depending on how we put it to use. That might lead us to pray:
“Here I am, Lord, clinging to You. Keep my head above the water. I’m holding on to Your promises. Don’t let me drown. Help me stand in the waves today.”
Topical Index: various, poikilos, variety, Joseph, colors, 1 Peter 1:6
I know the maker of the wind! I will walk into my day encouraged. He alone is my rock and my shield and my anchor!
He Speaks.
This is Sovereign grace. Who was it that spoke unto the storm and said, “Peace, -be still?” ~ Comfort one another with these words ~ Whose words? His words. The Word of the LORD. The Word of God.
Yes. His words are inspired. His words bring life and hope (confident assurance) and peace (shalom) into our daily lives. We are to remember His words, speak His words,- live His words. Live according to the Word of the LORD. ~ Do these things, and you shall live. ~ We think and we do according to His instructions, (called it Torah, if you wish).
We, the human creatures are the ones who are frail, fragile, faltering and faithless. God’s Word is not going anywhere. It is the hammer that will break the rock in pieces. With a gentle tap,tap,tap,- and then the heart (finally) breaks and we confess, “Yes, LORD,”- “Your Words are true and faithful and trustworthy and are of great value.” We confess with Jeremiah, and with Isaiah and with David and with Moses and with Peter and Paul and the mother of our Savior, and with the Living Word,- for “it is true” (amen) – ~ every word of God is pure ~
From Jeremiah 23
The Righteous Branch
“Woe to the shepherds who destroy and scatter the sheep of my pasture!” declares the LORD. Therefore thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, concerning the shepherds who care for my people:
“You have scattered my flock and have driven them away, and you have not attended to them.
Behold, I will attend to you for your evil deeds, declares the LORD. Then I will gather the remnant of my flock out of all the countries where I have driven them, and I will bring them back to their fold, and they shall be fruitful and multiply.
I will set shepherds over them who will care for them, and they shall fear no more, nor be dismayed, neither shall any be missing, declares the LORD.
“Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a Righteous Branch, and He shall reign as King and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land. In His days Judah will be saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the Name by which He will be called:
‘The LORD is our righteousness.’
“Therefore, behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when they shall no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives who brought up the people of Israel out of the land of Egypt,’ but ‘As the LORD lives who brought up and led the offspring of the house of Israel out of the north country and out of all the countries where He had driven them.’ Then they shall dwell in their own land.”
Lying Prophets
Concerning the prophets:
My heart is broken within me;
all my bones shake;
I am like a drunken man,
like a man overcome by wine,
because of the LORD
and because of His holy words.
For the land is full of adulterers;
because of the curse the land mourns,
and the pastures of the wilderness are dried up.
Their course is evil,
and their might is not right.
“Both prophet and priest are ungodly;
even in my house I have found their evil, declares the LORD.
Therefore their way shall be to them
like slippery paths in the darkness,
into which they shall be driven and fall,
for I will bring disaster upon them
in the year of their punishment, declares the LORD.
In the prophets of Samaria
I saw an unsavory thing:
they prophesied by Baal
and led my people Israel astray.
But in the prophets of Jerusalem
I have seen a horrible thing:
they commit adultery and walk in lies;
they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
so that no one turns from his evil;
all of them have become like Sodom to me,
and its inhabitants like Gomorrah.”
Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets:
“Behold, I will feed them with bitter food
and give them poisoned water to drink,
for from the prophets of Jerusalem
ungodliness has gone out into all the land.”
Thus says the LORD of hosts: “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who prophesy to you, filling you with vain hopes. They speak visions of their own minds, not from the mouth of the LORD.
They say continually to those who despise the word of the LORD, ‘It shall be well with you’; and to everyone who stubbornly follows his own heart, they say, ‘No disaster shall come upon you.’”
For who among them has stood in the council of the LORD
to see and to hear His word,
or who has paid attention to His word and listened?
Behold, the storm of the LORD!
Wrath has gone forth,
a whirling tempest;
it will burst upon the head of the wicked.
The anger of the LORD will not turn back
until He has executed and accomplished
the intents of His heart.
In the latter days you will understand it clearly.
“I did not send the prophets,
yet they ran;
I did not speak to them,
yet they prophesied.
But if they had stood in my council,
then they would have proclaimed My words to my people,
and they would have turned them from their evil way,
and from the evil of their deeds.
“Am I (not) a God at hand, declares the LORD, and not a God far away?
Can a man hide himself in secret places so that I cannot see him? declares the LORD.
Do I not fill Heaven and Earth? declares the LORD.
I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy lies in My Name, saying, ‘I have dreamed, I have dreamed!’
How long shall there be lies in the heart of the prophets who prophesy lies, and who prophesy the deceit of their own heart,
who think to make my people forget My Name by their dreams that they tell one another, even as their fathers forgot my name for Baal?
Let the prophet who has a dream tell the dream,
but let Him who has My Word speak My Word faithfully.
What has straw in common with wheat? declares the LORD.
Is not My Word like fire, declares the LORD, and like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?
Therefore, behold, I AM against the prophets, declares the LORD, who steal my words from one another.
Behold, I AM against the prophets, declares the LORD, who use their (own) tongues and declare, ‘declares the LORD.’
Behold, I AM against those who prophesy lying dreams, declares the LORD,
and who tell them and lead my people astray by their lies and their recklessness,
when I did not send them or charge them.
So they do not profit this people at all, declares the LORD.
“When one of this people, or a prophet or a priest asks you, ‘What is the burden of the LORD?’ you shall say to them, ‘You are the burden, and I will cast you off, declares the LORD.’
And as for the prophet, priest, or one of the people who says, ‘The burden of the LORD,’
I will punish that man and his household.
Thus shall you say, every one to his neighbor and every one to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
But ‘the burden of the LORD’ you shall mention no more, for the burden is every man’s own word, and you pervert the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God.
Thus you shall say to the prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ or ‘What has the LORD spoken?’
But if you say, ‘The burden of the LORD,’ thus says the LORD, ‘Because you have said these words, “The burden of the LORD,” when I sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The burden of the LORD,’”
therefore, behold, I will surely lift you up and cast you away from My Presence, you and the city that I gave to you and your fathers.
And I will bring upon you everlasting reproach and perpetual shame, which shall not be forgotten.’”
~ Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me, for I AM gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS.…” ~
~ a the Ruach and the Bride say, “Come.”
Let anyone who hears this say, “Come.”
Let anyone who is thirsty come.
Let anyone who desires drink freely from the Water of Life ~
Only a loving and wise God could conceive
of building and fortifying our faith
with what appears to be relentless
attempts to pull it apart.
And so . . .”we know that all things work together
for good to those who love God, to those who are
called according to His purpose.”
Amazing grace.
I am re-reading these very meaningful words of 9/11 and 9/12, wonderful and inspiring comments as well. So glad I found this ministry site and the community within. The paradigm shift of considering scripture from the authors cultural perspective is proving to be quite an incredible and enlightening challenge.
Some days it is all I can do to cry out “help, please don’t let me drown” in the storm of my own making.
Jill wrote: Some days it is all I can do to cry out “help, please don’t let me drown” in the storm of my own making. Oh how I relate!
Skip’s description of the ocean rhythm is a perfect visual for me today…”not every wave was a challenge. We had to wait for the “big one.”
This is my story. This is how my merciful God got my attention during the 5 years I decided to turn my back on Him (almost 30 years ago now.) He’d send warnings BECAUSE HE LOVES ME (small waves that grew), things to trip me up/change my focus in my path of self-destruction… but they weren’t big enough to stop me in my tracks (the world, the flesh and the devil were all very tantalizing.) Then came the tsunami and I was completely “cast down” but, by the loving, merciful Hand of my Creator, I was “not destroyed.” (2 Corin 4:9 fits tho it is taken out of context.) I was NO WAY about the work of “preach[ing] NOT ourselves[myself], but Christ Jesus…” I was all about me, under the guise of TALKING and TEACHING “Jesus” in catholicism. Yes, my YHVH had and has plans for me as He does every soul on this earth. He DESIRES obedience but He ALLOWS disobedience and devastation (and destruction for those who are not His.)
Praise YHVH for the tsunamis in our lives if that’s what it takes for a stiff-necked, rebellious people to completely turn everything over to Him.
Thank you, Skip, for your openness in sharing your grieving and repenting. This is TRUE fellowship.
I had a dream a few years back, I was standing on the embankment overlooking far out to the sea.
From the corner of my eye where I was standing I noticed a strange happening, the sea seemed a little too still. A weird feeling came over me.
I realized something was going to happen. I yelled “Tsunami! RUN!!!!!” Some folks saw that too, and RAN, like me for our lives! Some, sadly, simply stood and stare!
The waves came at a tremendous speed, and soon overtook us, but the force of it was gone by the time it reached us, we felt it swept over our feet, but we took no risks, we kept running, and not look back.
I woke! Whew, it was a dream!
Different story now 🙂 I love beach fishing! You need to know the tide times, be fully covered and ready for the splash!
The big waves bring in the fish! We wait for the coming waves to cast the lines out right into them. Timing got to be right! Such fun and excitement when you feel the tug at the end of your line! LOL
Don’t these speak to us of the spiritual realm? Shalom!
My tsunami: this spring my wife divorced me. I was devastated, completely knocked off my feet.
Gods miracle: we are reconciliating right now!!
HalleluYah!
I exactly know what He was telling me: I had to change…. I repented and, as far as possible, rearranged my life. The rest is up to Him. And this time: I WILL listen.
Kees, Thanks for sharing the good news of this miracle. Glad you changed and happy she has seen the change. Yes, keep listening…to Him and to her! Shalom, Michael
Thanks, Michael, I will!
Kees,
That was a tsunami! The worst kind ever! ABBA with you and your wife as you work things out in His presence.
Shalom!