Big Names

Every time I get to a new person to study in Genesis, I am amazed at the situations that God has chosen to illuminate about their lives, starting with the first man and woman, Adam and Eve. They all fell short in some way or another. In the beginning these individuals lived for centuries (before the bloodlines became corrupted with man's shenanigans and shortcuts for healthy living). They had many experiences, stories and victories to draw from. Yet God selects what he reveals about each one so that we can clearly see His love. The story in Genesis is what God did and is doing for man. What man was doing for God never really enters into the discourse. The more a man or woman focuses on the 'me' in their lives, the more screwed up things become. It helps us to change our focus to God.

We need to understand God, he doesn't need to work on understanding us. He already knows us.

Psalm 103:14 For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.

The first Adam was made of the dust of the world. The second Adam helped us gain a more enduring spiritual body. This is our 'treasure in an earthen vessel'.

I Corinthians 15:44-45 It is sown a natural body; it is raised a spiritual body. There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body. And so it is written, The first man Adam was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit.

While I regard the great men and women of the Bible with respect, I am understanding more and more the proper perspective of their lives.  God's perspective!

So often in life we elevate people and are drawn to the great names of the times whom we admire. We often see position, education, personality, and titles first and that influences us.  We elevate people and are effected by their lives. We act differently around certain ones both in positive and negative ways. We turn a deaf ear on those we don't consider important and we sometimes blindly follow those who tell us what we want to hear or don't want to take the time to think it through. There is danger in these ways of thinking.

We get so blessed when we decide to go to God and His Word. The Word and the spirit of God in us helps guide our thoughts to the truly good things. I'm not saying that teachers are not important. Teaching is a means to an end, it is never the end. We are responsible to read, think and apply the Word to our lives. We are the ones to pray and talk to God. Each of us are responsible to the answers to life that are true.

I got up this morning thinking I might listen to a tape or DVD or read a book. Sometimes it is so easy to do that instead of just reading the Word. When I sit down with Genesis or whatever other topic I'm working, it takes thinking, praying and working. As I sat down today, I started thinking about a section in Job and then I saw it's implications in the lives of the men and women portrayed in Genesis and I got very busy and excited. It has been a fun morning!

In Genesis, Abraham  and Sarah and Jacob were given names by God. These names represented their position and education in life. Jesus Christ was given a name above all names by God. Consider his education, his position and his title in this world while he lived.   In the end, we look at all the people in the Bible in light of what God did for and through them.  We have access to God just as they did. When we read about them, they are the means to a rich, valuable and fruitful relationship with God.

Jacob's Prayer and Our Prayers

In Genesis 28:15, 31:1-13, God told Jacob what was going on around him in regards to the end of his time in Harran with Laban and his returning to where Esau was.  In verse 3 and again in verse 13,  He gave Jacob specific instructions:

¹⁵ And, behold, I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee, until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of.

³ And the Lord said unto Jacob, Return unto the land of thy fathers, and to thy kindred; and I will be with thee. 

¹³ I am the God of Bethel ( a location that had meaning to Jacob), where thou anointedst the pillar, and where thou vowedst a vow unto me: now arise, get thee out from this land, and return unto the land of thy kindred.

  There is a very clear example of Abraham praying to carry this out in Genesis 32: 9-12:

 ⁹ And Jacob said, O God of my father Abraham, and God of my father Isaac, the Lord which saidst unto me, Return unto thy country, and to thy kindred, and I will deal well with thee:¹⁰ I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which thou hast shewed unto thy servant; for with my staff I passed over this Jordan; and now I am become two bands.¹¹ Deliver me, I pray thee, from the hand of my brother, from the hand of Esau: for I fear him, lest he will come and smite me, and the mother with the children.¹² And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good, and make thy seed as the sand of the sea, which cannot be numbered for multitude. Genesis 32:9-12:

There are several key aspects of this prayer we can learn from:

•  The first thing Jacob said was 'O God' in acknowledgement of where help comes from.
•  Jacob also repeated God's instructions and promises.
•  In verse 10, Jacob exhibited his humbleness and thankfulness.
•  Jacob then laid out specific details and his concerns.

This prayer has great practical applications for us today when it is compared to  I Timothy 2:1 and Philippians 4:6,7,8. When God promises and instructs us there is no shame in having concerns that one needs help with. When God gives us instructions and tasks to do, we need to believe and carry it out and remember what He has promised. At times this can be tough as there are forces in operation that tell us otherwise.

Many many years ago, before I really understood what revelation from God was, I remember clearly a promise of God specific to a situation that I had prayed about. The answer was so simple and clear even to the point of establishing a location that was involved in its fulfillment.  I didn't realize it until much later. The reason for that all was for encouragement and keeping the promise intact when the 'wrestling' in opposition to it popped up in my mind.

When we pray we enter into an agreement for help. Jacob had several appearances from angels to help him along.  In the grace administration in which we live, we have the spirit of God within to comfort and instruct us. Prayer is important for our own sakes. We should never underestimate its value.

Looking Out For The Folks

A friend recently sent me a message and included a section from Psalm 33:12. I got to thinking about the words of that verse in the King James Version. After reading the context of the verse, the word 'nation' perplexed me. When we think of nations today, ethnic diversity, political structures and governments come to mind. Early in the course of human history as seen in Genesis, however, this word would refer to groups of people from a common origin.

Psalm 33:11 The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations. ¹² Blessed is the nation (people) whose God is the Lord ; and the people (the folks) whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance.¹³ The Lord looketh from heaven; he beholdeth all the sons of men.¹⁴ From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. ¹⁵ He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.¹⁶ There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength. ¹⁷ An horse is a vain thing for safety: neither shall he deliver any by his great strength.¹⁸ Behold, the eye of the Lord is upon them that fear him, upon them that hope in his mercy; ¹⁹ To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine. ²⁰ Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. ²¹ For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.

When God blesses a group of people it is because they look to Him and recognize that He is looking out for them.  The world is full of people who worship a certain 'God'.  They are not all the same 'God'. The word 'God' is a title just like 'king' or 'president'. Specifically, we recognize the 'God' of the Bible as our 'help and shield'. He is the  Father of Jesus Christ in the New Testament. Through the obedience of Jesus Christ we have access to the Father through His spirit.

The United States of America is a great country because of groups of people with the common origin of the new birth who have desired to see God's principles have free course in our culture. These people were free to have influence on our society throughout the course of its history. The founding fathers of this country had this in mind when they designed our government.The same can be said of other countries throughout history. History has many stories of wonderful people standing up for God.

Some days and eras are darker than others, but just as the prophets of old endeavored to remind Israel of its position in God's eyes, the same is true today.  We must be bold to speak the truth in love, be bold in our thankfulness, pray effectually and act as God opens the door to help. The graven and real life images which our culture surround us with does not need to deter us in our service or excitement.

The Baby Wars in Genesis- Life Can Get Messy

In Genesis, the records we read are portraits of the families of men like Adam, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. We can read about their wives and children. There are parallel stories of Abel and Cain, Isaac and Ismael, Jacob and Esau that show two divergent ideologies. Some of these men had multiple wives, some of them were monogamous.  As humanity developed, things became more complex and stained. God's original intent for man was being undermined by something other than the love of God.

In Chapters 29-30 the battle of the child-rearing wars exploded with the offspring of Jacob. He had 12 sons and a daughter named Dinah. In all of this Jacob, had 2 wives and two surrogate wives. The wives named the children with names that protrayed the baby war. From a human nature point of view, the difficulties and disfunction are understandable. Added to this a pinch of religion and it can be looked upon as one big mess. Is is any wonder that the offspring of Jacob had issues?

The men and women of the Old testament were human beings full of faults and failures, a result of snacking off the tree of knowledge of good and evil. All of the the idiosyncrasies of culture exist because of choice by man. God provided life, love, and contentment. In man's attempt to improve on God's provision, things got messy. It is written all over Genesis.

Man hasn't changed. Neither has God! God has unceasing love for man. He provides a way out. Man has got to remember that God is not a 'controlling' God, he is a 'free will choice' God. In providing choice, he sent his son as THE plan of salvation.  He did not send a policeman, a politician, a lawyer, Big Bird, a mountain, a sunset or even a denomination or non-denomination. His plan is His plan. It is in what Jesus Christ did that we obtain real life, not only in this world, but in the one to come. All God asks is that we recognize the Lordship of Jesus Christ and believe the extraordinary miracle that God raised him from the dead. Then, in a miracle above all miracles God gave us help by sending His very essence in the form of His spirit to energizes, help, instruct and direct our paths in His Word. He is so willing to deliver, no matter how dark the world gets.

 God is everything good. He deserves no blame for the darkness of the world. When darkness fell on the earth it was another force that caused it. God IS light! There is no darkness in Him whatsoever.

1 John 1:5 This then is the message which we have heard of him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in him is no darkness at all

The stories about the men and women in the Genesis provide us with a big picture of how loving God is in helping His people even in the most dire challenges.

(NIV) I Corinthians 13:4-8b: Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. Love never fails......

Love is a Big Word!

Last night I read II and III John and was amazed at how many times the word 'truth' is used. John refers to 'truth' in one way or another 28 times in I, II, III John (all three contain 7 chapters in total). Another word quite frequently used by John is 'love'. In all of John's writings love and truth are interwoven throughout like a beautiful vibrant tapestry.

Recently I heard about someone reciting the pledge of allegiance and substituting the word 'love' for 'God'. Are we 'one nation under God'?  The answer to that is: 'probably not'. When someone says 'one nation under love', I have to ask: "How do you define love?" Where do we learn what love is? Where do we learn how to love one another?

I John 5:1-3 Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God: and every one that loveth him that begat loveth him also that is begotten of him. 2 By this we know that we love the children of God, when we love God, and keep his commandments. 3 For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments: and his commandments are not grievous.

Love and truth are intimately intertwined for someone who believes in God. We don't define love; God does. As I have been working through Genesis, I have realized even more emphatically, that God's love permeates the whole Bible. Genesis is a foundational book for understanding the love of God. It has added a richness to reading things in the New Testament. The epistles of John are some of the last writings recorded in the Word of God. God is faithful to His Word throughout.

In I John 3:12, there is a reference to 'the way of Cain' from Genesis 4.  Cain reinvented God's word to suit his own thinking and lashed back at God in disagreement when confronted by God Himself. Cain's brother Abel was annihilated in the process. This is not the way of love and truth.

In our modern times, this 'reinventing' of God happens more often than not. At present, there is a growing trend to see love as synonymous with 'tolerance'. Tolerance may be involved as a part of loving someone, but 'love' is a much bigger word. We cannot redefine love outside of truth. In order to really love, we need to understand how God loves and believe that He can work in us. We get that understanding by delving into God's Word. It is the truth that manifests love and sets us free and then we can truly help others.

At The Well

The Isaac record in Genesis 26 is very interesting. Isaac dug a lot of wells. Wells were and still are extremely important in that area for livestock, farming and life in general. Abraham's wells had been filled in with earth by the Philistines. Isaac re-dug them and renamed them by the names his father had used. His servants dug a well in the valley of Gerar. Herdsmen needed water for their flocks and the herdsmen of Gerar contended with Isaac for the well so he called this well Esek ('strife'or 'contention'). When they dug the next well the same thing happened, so Isaac called the well Sitnah (opposition, hostility and accusation). Finally he dug Rehoboth.

Genesis 26:22 And he removed from thence, and digged another well; and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth; and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land.

This record brought to mind a section in the New Testament referring to Isaac's son Jacob's well: 

John 4:12-14 Art thou greater than our father Jacob, which gave us the well, and drank thereof himself, and his children, and his cattle? Jesus answered and said unto her, Whosoever drinketh of this water shall thirst again:But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.

I always get goosebumps when I read those verses. Jesus Christ was making a beautiful illustration about who he was and he meant for her life. She lived in Samaria. Samaria was a  city in the northern part of Israel. In the Old Testament, Assyria conquered the inhabitants of that region and had taken them captive to Assyria, replacing them in the region of Samaria with five foreign tribes (II Kings:17:23-24) each having their own gods to worship. When the captives came home they intermixed with these tribes. They became a group of people who were looked down upon by the Judeans who thought they themselves were the true descendants of Judaism. The Samaritans were shunned and considered a half-breed to those who lived in Judea.

Ever since I can remember, sitting in church as a child, I have wondered so many things about God. It wasn't until I focused on the Word of God that I felt that I had any solid answers. I found out about Jesus Christ and his implications to the spiritual life. He is the way, the truth and the reality of the fountain of living waters. We receive the very nature of God in the gift of holy spirit through the death, resurrection and ascension of Jesus Christ to the right hand of God.

I spent time looking into many different types of churches: small groups, large groups, organic churches, traditional churches, non-denominational, and mainline churches. I went from well to well to test the waters. Sometimes I found wells that were filled with earthy things. Sadly, I also found wells that involved strife, hostility and accusation. Religion can be cruel and confusing at times. Finally, I found Rehoboth in truly understanding the Lordship of Jesus Christ! It was the beginning of sonship and the end of feeling shunned or being labeled as a half-breed.

True discipleship is not about sheep lapping the muddied waters of religious rituals. True discipleship comes from digging one's own well in the Word and expecting crystal clear bubbling water from the fountain. Sometimes we get help from other fellow-seekers. Sometimes we feel very much on our own. Regardless, God always provides what we need!

Isaiah 12:2-3 Behold, God is my salvation; I will trust, and not be afraid: for the Lord Jehovah is my strength and my song; he also is become my salvation. Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.

Cliff Notes

In the events in Genesis, it is clear that the godly patriarchs interacted with the political leaders of those early times. It was Adam's son, Cain, who built the first city ('polis' in Greek). Nimrod who was the great-grandson of Noah (and also established cities), was a leader who stood against God politically. Abraham, Joseph and Jacob interacted with the Pharaoh. Isaac and Abraham dealt with Abimelech, the kings of Gerar.  Some of these rulers benefited God's people, others were destructive. Political cultures have been around since the beginning of time.

The culture we live in today is extremely polar politically. Have you ever wondered if Jesus would have been a Republican or a Democrat?  Many Republicans today believe Christianity is best represented by Republicanism. Likewise, there are many Democrats that think they are the loving Christian party. Jesus Christ would have been neither! He was the son of God. He loved as his Father loves.  His handling of political people and issues would have been based on the Word.  Matthew (who was a tax-collector) recorded a great incident about Jesus' handling of a tax situation:

Matthew 17:24-27 And when they were come to Capernaum, they that received tribute money (didrachma = 2 drachma= half shekel temple flat tax of Exodus 30:11-16)  came to Peter, and said, Doth not your master pay tribute? He saith, Yes. And when he was come into the house, Jesus prevented (jumped ahead of) him, saying, What thinkest thou, Simon? of whom do the kings of the earth take custom or tribute (kensos=poll tax)? of their own children, or of strangers?  Peter saith unto him, Of strangers. Jesus saith unto him, Then are the children free. Notwithstanding, lest we should offend them, go thou to the sea, and cast an hook, and take up the fish that first cometh up; and when thou hast opened his mouth, thou shalt find a piece of money (strater = 4 drachma coin): that take, and give unto them for me and thee.

In our culture today, the President's children pay taxes if they work.  In Bible times, the king's children did not pay taxes. In Matthew 16:16, Peter already had acknowledged that Jesus was the son of God. He was the king's son, therefore exempt from taxes. The Hebrews were not there yet in their thinking.  Jesus handled the situation by  providing a humble (Romans 15:1) miraculous solution that would avoid scandal. Miracles often occur for the benefit of those watching. He sent Peter fishing. Peter pulled up a fish that had a coin worth 4 drachmas in it's mouth. God supplied money for the tax for both Jesus and Peter.

Politics often engages in cliff-hanging because of conflicts of interests. It seems like such a no-win situation. We  can only look to God for what we need. The job of a leader is not to promote his own ideology but to serve. Misusing scripture as a means to an end is repugnant to God. Our belief system is set in God's Word. We don't pray to our leaders for what we need, we pray for them to make wise and just decisions, free from unsavory pressures.  God is our sufficiency. So what do we do with everything that is going on today? Paul had a great solution:

1 Timothy 2:1-2 I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty.

Lessons to Learn

The story of Abraham is written about in several sections of the New Testament.  Abraham's life encourages us. Speaking of Abraham, God refers to Abraham's righteousness and what it means for us, in Romans 4:

Romans 4:23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him; 24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead; 25 Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification.

Abraham was called by God in Genesis as an important aspect of the Christ line.  In Genesis 3:15, the seed of this lineage was first prophesied about.  The word 'seed' is used quite often in the book of Genesis  and is a theme throughout Genesis.  God watched over the lineage of the promised seed.

Romans 4:16 Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all,

Abraham is a father figure to all (both Judean and Gentile) who believe. God said in Genesis 3:15 that there would be an enmity; a battle between good and evil. Abraham had to deal with this enmity throughout his life. He was constantly faced with challenges to God's promises. He dealt with famine, perils, pressures, and adversity of all sorts.  He made mistakes and tried to accomplish God's promises on his own. The battle of good and evil continues throughout the Bible in the tension between senses faith versus spiritual faith, works versus grace. (See Galatians 4:22-31)

Bullinger's Appendixes Link

 God's promises encouraged him and he stayed the course. Abraham's life is full of lessons. The greatest lessons we can learn are not from judging Abraham as there is a lot that we may not fully understand. However, if we read in the New Testament as to what God wants us to learn from his life, it will encourage us to believe God's promises in this amazing grace administration.

A Shur Wilderness: The Mall

ChristArt.com

Last night I had to run out to mall to change a gift I was giving to someone. So on December 23rd at 4:30 in the afternoon, I ventured out to one of the busiest malls in the country. There was a sea of cars everywhere. The streets that led into the perimeter of the shopping center were extremely backed up.

If Abraham could get across the desert, I could certainly do this! It did turn out to be an amazing journey! I drove up to the store, headed right into an empty parking space waiting for me, got in and out of the store and home in about a half hour! I also met and talked with a very nice salesperson. When I walked out of the store, I saw someone just sitting in the middle of the road of the parking lot, unable to decide where to go for a spot. It was so hectic. The car driver had a frazzled look so I yelled out to him, "Follow me!" Then I waited until he turned in the right direction and led him to my spot. It was actually a fun experience!

My husband was shocked that I was home. He had decided to make dinner thinking I would be be suffering from sojourn fatigue. He had it prepared up to the cooking part and was just putting it in the fridge thinking he would be cooking it later when I walked in! We both marveled. What looked like the Wilderness of Shur going forward into the errand at the beginning, turned out to be a promised land celebration at the end.

This time of the year is so wild. I'm not sure Christ wants to be associated with this holiday, so I am not getting too upset about the 'war on Christmas'. It is one less thing to worry about. God's love is year round and He is the ultimate giver. The story of Christ is about wholeness (salvation) in our hearts; it transcends holiday trees, mistletoe, holly wreathes, and Santa Claus.

What a privilege it must have been for the magi to meet the child Jesus. They were from Persia and and traveled far to honor Jesus as a king.

Matthew 2:1-2 Now when Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judaea in the days of Herod the king, behold, there came wise men from the east to Jerusalem, saying, Where is he that is born King of the Judeans? for we have seen his star in the east, and are come to worship him.

The magi were probably followers of Zorastrian teachings of the east. They were not Judeans and yet when they got to Jerusalem looking for the child, the people who should have been in the know about the birth of Christ were not aware of it. Actually, only two groups of people truly knew of the birth of Jesus: the shepherds from the fields and the magi who trekked over desert and mountains to pay respect to a King.

There were people around the Roman Empire at that time who celebrated 'Saturnalia'. It was a winter solstice pagan festival. It was from this culture that holiday trees, raucous celebrating and gift giving as a ritual came from when Christians reached out to the culture in the first century. Hence the evolution of the holiday season.

If you are traveling this season somewhere to be with loved ones or simply staying at home, we can truly rejoice that our path is lit up and plain with a light that not seasonal.  It is the light held up by Jesus Christ because he is the way, the truth and the star by which we can look to handle any desert or mountain in life and even a trip to the mall!  Romans 10:9 and 10 is a good place to park.

Sojourning With Grace

As I read through a previous blog post, Desensitization of Evil, I began to think of how evil tries to tamp down on good. We all go through similar things that Abraham experienced. Throughout Abraham's journeys, many blockades were thrown up to get in the way of God's promises. At times he was surrounded by idolaters. He could have been influenced by them.

Joshua 24:2 And Joshua said unto all the people, Thus saith the Lord God of Israel, Your fathers dwelt on the other side of the flood (the river Euphrates) in old time, even Terah, the father of Abraham, and the father of Nachor: and they served other gods.

These gods could have become his gods just as the influences and images around us today can pull us into their snare. We are surrounded by attitudes, popular objects and fads as well as people, causes, world opinions and many other distracting addicting diversions.  We can be effected in two ways.

First we can be drawn in by them as they take up more and more of our time. If an ideological spin is repeated often enough, it starts to take on authenticity. Lines drawn around truth start to blur and lose importance and suddenly everything dims and becomes mundane.

On the other hand, we can be repulsed by them in an irritating way. This also takes away valuable time in our lives. We can get caught up with indignation and lofty judgements that do us anything but good. Sometimes we just need to pray and walk away and leave it at that.

Genesis12:1 Now the Lord had said unto Abram, Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father's house, unto a land that I will shew thee: 2 And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing: 3 And I will bless them that bless thee, and curse him that curseth thee: and in thee shall all families of the earth be blessed.

Life involves a series of steps. Sometimes we have to deal with hard stuff. Not every step is surefooted and sometimes we lose our balance, but if our trending is toward the right direction we end up in the right place. In Romans 4 we can see that Abraham ended in the right place in his life despite some frustrations, passage of time, missteps, impatience and misjudgments.

Romans 4:19 And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sarah's womb: 20 He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God; 21 And being fully persuaded that, what he had promised, he was able also to perform. 22 And therefore it was imputed to him for righteousness. 23 Now it was not written for his sake alone, that it was imputed to him;24 But for us also, to whom it shall be imputed, if we believe on him that raised up Jesus our Lord from the dead;

The story of Abraham is more about what God did for Abraham than what Abraham did for God. His life is an example for us, that is why Abraham's life is recorded. The lesson learned from  his life will always be that God is  our hero.

*note God changed Abrams name to Abraham by adding the 5th letter of the Hebrew alphabet to be the 5th letter of his name. Sarai's name was changed to Sarah in the same way.  The number 5 in the Bible represents grace!

Habakkuk in a Crazy World!

Sometimes things going on in the world really throw us for a loop. If you haven't experienced this lately; turn on the news for one second. Things are insane.  In an effort to understand the current state of affairs, it is great to rely on God for answers.

Hebrews 4:16 Let us therefore come boldly (Link) unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.

Thayer (Thayer's Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament) defines boldy as: "freedom in speaking, unreservedness in speech openly, frankly, i.e without concealment,without ambiguity or circumlocution, without the use of figures and comparisons, free and fearless confidence, cheerful courage, boldness, assurance."

A friend of mine is doing a personal study on the book of Habakkuk (It's a small sliver of a book in the old testament that hardly anybody reads or talks about). He recently shared with me some of it's greatness and its application to life. I decided to take a look at it. 

A lot of scholars don't even really know anything about Habakkuk because not much is written about him elsewhere, but he is the one who wrote 'the just shall live by believing' first. (Later on this phrase appears in Romans 1:17, Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38)

His honest, open and respectful heart to God in the first 4 verses is such a great example of Hebrews 4:16:

Habakkuk 1:1The burden which Habakkuk the prophet did see. ² O Lord, how long shall I cry, and thou wilt not hear! even cry out (complaint- not just for himself but all who have to put up with the evil going on around them) unto thee of violence, and thou wilt not save!³ Why dost thou shew me iniquity (ugh!), and cause me to behold grievance? (injustice) for spoiling and violence are before me: and there are that raise up strife and contention.⁴ Therefore the law is slacked (numbed), and judgment doth never go forth: for the wicked doth compass about the righteous; therefore wrong judgment proceedeth.

Habakkuk is a great read if you have questions about the crazy world! There is nothing new under the sun! God listens and answers and at the end of the book Habakkuk says:

3:18 Yet I will rejoice in the Lord (Yahweh God in relationship with man), I will joy in the God (Elohim- mighty God) of my salvation. 19 The Lord God (Yahweh, Adonai- God as overlord) is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. 

God is our sure-footedness in these strange and mind-numbing times. His Word elevates us to the high places with balanced wholeness and we can certainly rejoice and benefit from our mountaintop view!