29:2
When the righteous thrive the people rejoice. The righteous. Those who love God. Those who seek to submit to Him. To be all about Him. To service Him. To put self aside in order to allow God to increase in them. To love their neighbour. Those people who seek to be nice because they are strong people who don’t need to put others down to feel good about themselves. Who genuinely see others as beautiful people that God loves. That person who seeks to understand, love and support is someone that is easy to be with. Their beautiful, gentle energy is encouraging and affirming to others. Small wonder then that when the righteous are present in an environment then others in that environment feel safe and happy. What better cause for rejoicing? This is a glimpse of God’s love.
But when the wicked are the ones in power people groan under the weight of their negativity. The wicked. Those who hate God. Those who seek to use their power over others. Those who are all about themselves. Those who serve self. Those who put themselves ahead of everyone else. Those who abuse their power to put others down. Those who seek to control, to isolate, to manipulate others. These people love self not God. They don’t want to understand, love or support anyone else. They want to control and dominate. Their negative energy crushes and brings others down. There is no rejoicing in the presence of such people, just a search for the nearest exit.
Which person do you seek to be?
 

29:1
Are you stubborn? Do you refuse to accept the help God offers you? Are you so busy ‘enjoying’ your miserable circumstances that you refuse to listen to God’s gift of a solution to your problem? So you remain in your misery because it gives you attention you crave, or meets your needs, even though God is calling you out?
If you answered yes, then this verse is for you.
If you refuse God’s directive then destruction will come swiftly and without warning.
There are many ways we are stubborn before God:
There is the obvious one where we are doing something contrary to His directive and we ignore His admonition to stop. Think of Jonah, who preferred to flee to the other side of the known world to avoid carrying out God’s directive to give the people of Ninevah a message. Even when he finally did what God asked of him, he walked through the town whispering so the people couldn’t hear him. But they did hear and he was not happy.
Then there are other ways we are stubborn. For example, there is the hurting person who does everything possible to avoid healing because the payback of remaining unhealed is greater than the blessing of healing. Remember Jesus asking the man at the well if he wanted to get better? So often we don’t. It is easier to remain in the hole we find ourselves in than take the risk of trusting God and climb out.
These are examples of stubbornness before God. And all these will lead to a sudden and unexpected destruction.
We need to let go of our desire for retribution and go to Ninevah when God directs us. We need to trust God and let go of our fear and hand ourselves to Him for healing.
Only then can we say we are not stubborn. That we trust and honour God and surrender to Him.
It is not easy, but it is rewarding.
Can you do it? Can you let go of self? Can you avoid sudden destruction and trust God?
 

My apologies for the missing blog last weekend. I was snowed under with uni assignments and ran out of time to write anything.

28:15-28
These verses in The Message are titled “Doing Great Harm in Seemingly Harmless Ways”. If I read these verses with that in mind then there are great insights to be had.
In this current world there are many leaders that people consider bad leaders. Many appear more interested in self-aggrandisement, or the next election, or holding on to power no matter what the cost. There are many who consider this is okay, that we can get rid of them in the next election. But what harm can a bad leader do to those who are helpless? What harm can the bad manager to the staff employed to work under that manager? What harm can the person who steals the work of a colleague and passes it of as his own do? What harm can a pastor appointed over a helpless congregation do? In these verses we are told this person lacks judgement and is like a lion or bear tearing at its prey. This ruler is the one who will cheat his own parents and justify his action as okay.
Those who seek God, who walk away from the desire to possess what others have, who are prepared to work faithfully and not seek to follow those ‘get rich quick’ schemes or cheat others to make money are the ones God will bless. It is those who harm others who will eventually be consumed by their guilt. It is those who chase the ‘get rich quick’ scheme and cheat and bully others to make money, those who place the acquisition of wealth as of higher value than anything are the poor in spirit. That money will never buy them the contentment and security they seek. Many will seek wealth and, in the process, hurt others. And those people will justify what they are doing. They will justify all the great harm they do in what they consider, and society considers, to be harmless ways. But any gain that involves hurting or cheating another is not what God wants. Better to spend time seeking God and placing surrender to Him as of the greatest importance than to seek to follow the god of wealth.