The Prophets

I have always sort of shied away from the prophets for various reason, not least of which is God's anger expressed over His people. But what I have discovered in this current study I'm doing is that the prophets reveal the very heart of God. Ever is He forgiving; ever is He yearning for His people (us) to turn to Him in love and obedience. I have missed so much by not having read the prophets numerous times. And when I'm finished with this study I'm going to read them all over again and go into them more deeply. Here, God lays bare His heart over and over again. And He is so long-suffering, always turning aside from His plans to punish His people (us) for their (our) injustices. It breaks my heart the way He is constantly beseeching us to do the right thing. He is forever offering us His love and protection if we will but listen to His heart. Surprisingly some of my favorite quotes come from the books of the prophets. And even more surprising is the evidence of a personal God over peoples all over the earth. It is God revealing Himself as God of the entire world instead of only Israel's God. It is all about God and us as individuals. Some really clear statements of His love and faithfulness and our own hard-heartedness:

"My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways... As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts."

"I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me. I make known the end from the beginning, from ancient times, what is still to come. I say: My purpose will stand, and I will do all that I please... What I have said, that will I bring about; what I have planned that will I do."

"The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the world of our God stands forever." [Talk about His faithfulness!]

"Those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

"Do not fear, for I am with you, do not be dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you and help you; I will uphold you with my righteous right hand."

"I have loved you with an everlasting love; I have drawn you with loving-kindness."

"You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart."

"Let not the wise man boast of his wisdom or the strong man boast of his strength or the rich man of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this: that he understands and knows me, that I am the Lord, who exercises kindness, justice, and righteousness on earth, for in these I delight."

"I will give you an undivided heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit in you and move you to follow my decrees and be careful to keep my laws."

"I desire mercy, not sacrifice, and acknowledgment of God rather than burnt offerings."

"And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

"Sing, O Daughter of Zion; shout aloud, O Israel! Be glad and rejoice with all your heart...the Lord has turned back your enemy. Jehovah, the King of Israel, is with you; never again will you fear any harm."

"On that day they will say to Jerusalem. Do not fear, O Zion; do not let your hands hang limp. Jehovah your God is with you, he is mighty to save. He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love, he will rejoice over you with singing. ... At that time I will deal with all who oppressed you; I will rescue the lame and gather those who have been scattered. I will give them praise and honor in every land where they were put to shame. At that time I will gather you; at that time I will bring you home. I will give you honor and praise among all the peoples of the earth when I restore your fortunes before your very eyes, says Jehovah.

God is just laying His heart bare for us, begging for us to turn to him. These are just a few of the many, many wonderful passages found in the prophets and I could have quoted so many more. I took these out of the textbook as I had them underlined and so they were readily seen. I would have needed to quote the entire textbook chapters to give a full rendering of the beautiful verses. So if you are anything like I was, let me encourage you to get into the prophets and have a great time getting acquainted with the Lord. His heart just may surprise you. People often seem to think of the God of the Old Testament as a harsh, stern, and exacting God; and the God of the New Testament of that of a kind and loving God filled with grace. If you've ever thought this, make it a point to read the prophets and you will see that God is just as loving and forgiving and full of grace in the Old Testament as He is in the New Testament. If anything He is a more distant God in the New Testament through most of the books in that, in the NT, He is being explained to us by a third party or writer. In the prophets it is God Himself that does the wooing through His prophets. I just had had no idea of the wealth of beautiful Scriptures found in the prophets, especially the minor prophets. I think everyone knows that Isaiah and Jeremiah and Ezekiel are filled with well quoted verses. So the real eye-openers for me were the minor prophets. Beautiful, beautiful entreating words of our Lord and Savior, Jehovah God. What an awesome heavenly Father we have.

We had a minor disaster last night at the Calaveras County fair. One of the rides broke and slammed over 20 people into the ground. Most of them had minor injuries but at least three of them were quite serious and were airlifted to area hospitals. I haven't heard any more than that. You've probably seen or read the news about it. It made national news headlines. It's always fun to have your little corner of the world in the spotlight; I just wish it had been for better reasons. The fair celebrates Mark Twain's story, The Celebrated Jumping Frogs of Calaveras County.

It has been very hot here for the past few days. Our highest reading over the past 3 or 4 days has been 109.6 degrees. That's hot in anybody's book! They had forecasted another day of the scorching temps and insinuated that today might get even hotter, but I don't think that's going to happen. It's the middle of the afternoon and is only 105!!! It may get close by the time 4:00 rolls around. I really don't like hot weather. I get tired of the cold during the winter but the summers just kill me here. I wish I lived where it never got over 75 degrees and never under 55 degrees. I'm sitting here at my computer and the cooler is blowing right "through" me and so I'm nice and comfortable now. If I went over and sat on the couch it would probably feel a lot hotter.

Loveforliberia have been dealing with sickness this past week. Those bugs over there sure knock the breath out of these Americans! Pray for their continued healing. Lazydranch8 and her family and friends (all 18 of them) made it back to Illinois safely. They had to fix a tire on the trailer and the van's transmission went out and had to be repaired or replaced, but otherwise they made it all just fine. Now they are dining on RC Sproul's perfect words and growing closer to the Lord with every sentence. They are at a Christian convention of some kind and will be there for several days and then they will start on their long way home, taking detours and sidetracks to visit interesting people and places. They don't expect to be back in central California until I think, mid-June. I haven't gotten anything new on Womanoffaith1 for several days. I hope she isn't sick too. Seems like there are always so many illnesses going around. But you know, some day we won't have sickness to deal with at all. We will be in perfect health forever. Such a beautiful promise to cling to. God is faithful and He has so much good stuff planned for us. I just can't wait. I mean, I guess I'll have to wait but I'm ready to go!! I hear the weather's always perfect in heaven. No one ever gets cold; no one ever gets hot. Everything is just right at all times. Won't that be nice? Don't you look forward to that day too?