TAKING THE NEXT BRAVE STEP

 

TAKING THE BRAVE NEXT STEP

Have you been tempted lately by anything that tried to get you off track? I have. the place I usually go to write has changed. I had been going to the same place for quite a while and the atmosphere was perfect for studying the Bible and writing. It was awesome. “WAS” is the operative word here.

 

More and more distractions came up; the atmosphere changed. I noticed it, but I thought it would work out and everything would be okay. But finally, I had to face the fact that it just wasn’t working. I was fidgety nearly the whole time I stayed in the same place and tried to work. I had a harder time getting into the Bible, and it was a struggle to write.

 

Oftentimes our temptation is not the one that lures us out into other places but the one that gets us to stay where we are. Generally, people are more apt to go with the status quo, with what they’re used to, rather than venturing out into the unknown. No matter how bad the situation gets, our tendency is to stay put. The unknown just seems too scary or too hard. But that is exactly what our adversaries want. The situation gets slightly worse, then gradually gets so bad we wonder what happened. Satan manipulates to delay us and hurt us.

 

Wisdom is to become aware of a deteriorating situation as soon as possible, and if we haven’t got the authority or revelation to fix it, get out. You will probably be surprised to know that Jesus our Lord often walked away from bad situations. Check it out. Here’s one poignant example:

 

Matthew 4:12-13: “Now when Jesus had heard that John was cast into prison, he departed into Galilee; and leaving Nazareth, he came and dwelt in Capernaum, which is upon the sea coast.” There was no confronting the authorities to get John out of prison. God gave Jesus the message to get out of there. Jesus knew 1 Samuel 15:22: “Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams.” Jesus got a word from God to leave and Jesus obeyed, even though his cousin John was stuck there in prison.

 

Another example is in John 8: 59: “Then took they up stones to cast at him: but Jesus hid himself, and went out of the temple, going through the midst of them, and so passed by.”

 

And look at John 7:1: “After these things, Jesus walked in Galilee: for he would not walk in Jewry, because the Jews sought to kill him.”

 

Jesus just moved on to do God’s will for his life in another place. That’s exactly what we’re supposed to do, too.

 

I don’t have to keep going to the same place I used to study and write just because it’s convenient for me. I don’t have to think I can stay and make it better either. I just have to pick myself up and say: “Jesus, where to next?”

 

Let’s be brave. Let’s believe to see quickly and clearly if a situation is one we need to remove ourselves from, and then be willing to step away if Jesus says go. That goes for people too. We need to recognize that in the big picture of our lives, some relationships are going to be on a time limit, and we need to be willing to let go without animosity or blame. As with many events in our lives, we go to the Lord to help us to step out courageously into the unknown with our hand interlocked in the hand of the One who knows it all.

 

I’ve found a new place to study and write, and I love it!

 

Love, Carolyn

 

You can get my books on Amazon. The two most recent ones are books with stories about what the Lord teaches us from nature.

https://www.amazon.com/BIBLE-LESSONS-NATURE-Carolyn-Molica/dp/B0CQ8PQNVG/ref=sr_1_1?crid=29RDC1SXA1TMA&keywords=bible+lessons+in+nature&qid=1703276435&sprefix=%2Caps%2C171&sr=8-1

 

WHO WAS OBADIAH?

WHO WAS OBADIAH?

Everyone knows what a great guy Obadiah was, right? Well . . . Probably not. But yesterday the Lord wanted me to find out about this amazing man—a brave believer and a hero. Obadiah worked for King Ahab as “the governor over his house” (1 Kings 18:3a). But in spite of Ahab’s disobedience, “Obadiah was a devout worshiper of the Lord” (v.3b GNT).

 

King Ahab had turned so far away from God that 1 Kings 16:30 tells us he “did evil in the sight of the Lord.” “And he reared up an altar for Baal in the house of Baal, which he had built in Samaria. And Ahab made a grove; and Ahab did more to provoke the Lord God of Israel to anger than all the kings of Israel that were before him” (1 Kings 16:32-33). Because of this, God had Elijah call down a famine in Samaria where they lived, speaking the words he received from God: “There shall not be dew nor rain these years [until I say so]” (my paraphrase of 1 Kings 17:1). After three years of famine, it was really bad there, but to Ahab, the most important thing to him was that he thought for sure he would lose his valuable horses.

 

In the meantime, Obadiah was still running Ahab’s household, which put him in the presence of the evil witch Jezebel, and Jezebel hated the true believers. But somehow she either wasn’t aware of Obadiah’s beliefs, or she felt he was insignificant, and in her mind, not important enough or powerful enough to pay any attention to.

 

She was carrying out her mission to “cut off the prophets of the Lord” (1 Kings 18:4a). She hated the true God, and certainly did not want God’s prophets trying to influence Ahab in any way. The Benson Commentary gives us some good insight on this:

 

“1 Kings 18:4. When Jezebel cut off the prophets of the Lord – The name of prophets was not only given to such as were endowed with an extraordinary spirit of prophecy, but to such ministers of religion as devoted themselves to the service of God, in preaching, praying, and praising him. There were schools of these prophets, it is likely, still remaining in Israel [at the time]; but Jezebel endeavoured both to destoy the school, and those that were brought up in them, in order that none might be left to instruct the people in the true religion.”

 

Now back to our hero Obadiah. “Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed then bread and water” (I Kings 18:4b). As per the Benson Commentary: “At the hazard of his own life, and against the king’s command; wisely considering that no command of an earthly prince could overrule the command of the King of kings [the Lord our God]…. See how wonderfully God raises up friends for his ministers and people, where one would least expect then!” Obadiah, even through the famine, made sure God’s own were taken care of.

 

But God had another important task for the brave Obadiah. When Ahab was so bothered about his horses, he decided he and Obadiah should go out beyond the city and gather up some grass for them. So off they went.

 

“And Ahab said unto Obadiah, ‘Go into the land, unto all fountains of water, and unto all brooks: peradventure we may find grass to save the horses and mules alive, that we lose not all the beasts. So they divided the land between them to pass throughout it: Ahab went one way by himself, and Obadiah went another way by himself.” And God orchestrated it so that Obadiah was on a path that brought him right to Elijah, and Elijah wanted Obadiah to go back and give King Ahab the message that Elijah was there in the king’s land, and he was ready to talk.

 

But remember that it was Elijah that told King Ahab the famine was his fault and there was going to be no rain and not even dew in the land until Elijah said so. So, for three years, Ahab had been in hot pursuit of Elijah to kill him. Obadiah knew Ahab was ferocious and desperate, so he told Elijah that if he went back and told the king that Elijah was there, and he didn’t show, King Ahab would surely kill him. Obadiah was afraid. He knew how furious Ahab was. Obadiah pleaded, “And now thou sayest, ‘Go tell thy lord, ‘Behold, Elijah is here:’ and he shall slay me” (1 Kings 18:14). But Elijah reassured him: “As the Lord of hosts liveth, before whom I stand, I will surely show myself unto him today” (v. 15).

 

Brave Obadiah trusted Elijah and so he went to deliver the message. And when he did, nothing bad happened to him, but instead, Ahab rushed off to meet Elijah and that was that.

 

There’s more to the story, including the destruction of the 450 prophets of Baal, the people turning back to God, and Elijah speaking God’s will to bring back the rain and end the famine. But we don’t her too much about Obadiah after this until we see he is the author of one of the later books of the Old Testament.

 

Obadiah was a brave believer and was called by God to the unique commission: to be right in the midst of two of the most evil people of the Old Testament, Ahab and Jezebel. He lived around evil people without ever compromising his faith. He knew how they thought and acted. He saw and understood their wickedness, was face to face with their demons, and yet maneuvered around them and kept himself pure.

 

Obadiah was just the kind of guy God needed to speak of the evil people, and to them directly. He knew what he saw and learned that he needn’t be afraid. Obadiah called things as they really are, and thus, the book of Obadiah. It’s only one chapter, a battle cry against Edom, its evil partners, and its evil ways. And it ends the way all good battles should: “and the kingdom shall be the Lord’s” (Obadiah 1:21).

 

So that’s some of what we see about the life and maturity of a unique and brave believer, Obadiah. There’s not a lot about him in the Bible, but he sure made a big difference, and we all do.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

 

 

HONEST TO GOD

HONEST TO GOD

When I was an executive assistant many years ago, my boss gave me a letter to type to a client and sign. It wasn’t an unusual request, but this time I was faced with a dilemma. He lied in the letter. I didn’t want to lose my job by confronting him, but in my heart, I knew I didn’t want to sign my name to a lie. After debating with myself, I decided I’d rather say no to my boss and yes to God. As it turned out, I kept my job, even though my boss didn’t like me much after that.

 

That incident was a long time ago, but today there are many more opportunities to be dishonest: get a handicap card for our cars when we’re not handicapped, not go back and pay for the extra item that showed up in our shopping cart, tell someone we’re going to do something, but then don’t do it and hope everyone just ignores it, buying way more than we really have the money for, and so many other things. These things may seem silly, or small infractions, but we must accept that like a small fracture line in a baseball bat can end up splitting the bat in two, the principle applies to our lives as well.

 

We get very good at coming up with rationalizations as to why we “need” to be just a little less honest than the Word of God would have us be. Saul had that same problem. The Amalekites were constantly a threat to the Israelites. They were sneaky and when they attacked, it was usually not a full-on battle, but always the small attacks from the side, attacks that would not seem too horrendous, but nevertheless, people always got killed. So in God’s foresight He already knew the Amalekites would never stop their will to kill His people.

So So at the right time, God told Saul, through the prophet Samuel, to go up against the Amalekites and kill them all, their men, women, children and their livestock too.

 

Saul didn’t feel he needed to completely wipe them out. He decided to go by his own way of interpreting God’s will, rather than be honest and do God’s will to the full extent.

 

“But Saul and the people spared Agag [king of the Amalekites], and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, and of the fatlings, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them: but every thing that was vile and refuse, that they destroyed utterly” (1 Sam. 15:9).

 

“Then came the word of the Lord unto Samuel, saying, ‘It repenteth me that I have set up Saul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and hath not performed my commandments’” (v. 10).

 

“And Samuel came to Saul: and Saul said unto him, ‘Blessed be thou of the Lord: I have performed the commandment of the Lord.’ And Samuel said, ‘What meaneth then this bleating of the sheep in mine ears, and the lowing of the oxen which I hear?’” (vv.13-14). 

 

^“And Saul said, ‘They have brought them from the Amalekites: for the people spared the best of the sheep and of the oxen, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God; and the rest we have utterly destroyed’” (v.15).

Here Saul is totally telling a big fat lie, making up the excuses as to why he didn’t do what God told him to do. First, he tried to blame it on someone else—the people made me do it. He must have realized that was not going to go over well, so he came up with another bigger lie. He tried to convince Samuel that he really did it for God! Now that’s a good one!

 

Did he really think God was so stupid as to believe what he said his motive was?

 

“Then Samuel said unto Saul, ‘Stay, and I will tell thee what the Lord hath said to me this night.’ And he said unto him, ‘Say on’ (v. 16). And Samuel said, ‘When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the Lord anointed thee king over Israel? And the Lord sent thee on a journey, and said, Go and utterly destroy the sinners the Amalekites, and fight against them until they be consumed. Wherefore then didst thou not obey the voice of the Lord, but didst fly upon the spoil, and didst evil in the sight of the Lord?’” (vv.17-19).

 

“And Saul said unto Samuel, ‘Yea, I have obeyed the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the things which should have been utterly destroyed, to sacrifice unto the Lord thy God in Gilgal’ (vv. 20-21).

 

“And Samuel said, ‘Hath the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, he hath also rejected thee from being king’” (vv. 22-23).

 

We’ve all heard the phrase: “The Lord giveth, and the Lord taketh away.” But most of the time it’s used out of context. In this case it is used in the correct way. God had given Saul the honor of being chosen to be king. But Saul’s disobedience got him booted out, and soon after that incident, Saul died. In this world, there are always going to be consequences to sins against God. As we, the body of Christ, are told in 1 John 1:9: “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” I believe that our sincere repentance softens the blow of those consequences. I know that for some of the sins I’ve committed, the consequences could have certainly been way more severe than they were, due to the mercy and loving kindness of our God!

 

Though Satan’s temptation to be dishonest never seems to go away, we do have the ability through Christ, to repent and change, thank God! “I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me” (Phil. 4:13). God wouldn’t tell us to be honest unless He already knew He’d given us the inner strength to do it. And as an extra bonus, He rewards us for having the faith to just “man up” and carry it out, in spite of our fears or rebellion.

 

“But without faith, it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Heb. 11:6).

 

Of course, sometimes people are ignorant of their deception. We tend to follow the crowd. And what we see other people do, we do it too. But we should always be taking our actions to God, not to what others get away with.

 

David was able to say: “Judge me, O Lord; for I have walked in mine integrity: I have trusted also in the Lord; therefore I shall not slide” (Psalm 26:1). In other words, when we don’t walk in integrity, we will slide! Who wants to slide away from God, for a few meager rewards from the worldly realm? Not me!

 

Proverbs 19:1 says: “Better is the poor that is walking in his integrity, than he that is perverse in his lips, and is a fool. The word, “perverse” means “twisted, distorted and crooked.” In other words, an honest poor man with God is better than a rich fool without Him.

 

What about our children? “The just man is walking in his integrity: his children are blessed after him” (Prov. 20:7). What are we teaching our children, if they see by our actions that we lack integrity and we’re not honest people?

 

And what about our businesses? What kind of people do we want working for us? Unfortunately, if people are dishonest in one category, they are most likely dishonest in more. Acts 6:3 is an excellent verse for doing a job search: “Wherefore, brethren, look you out among you seven men of honest report, full of the Holy Ghost and wisdom, whom we may appoint over this business.”

 

And finally, the Apostle Paul exhorts us: “Brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things.” And do them.

 

I pray that the rest of this year 2024, we live honesty, in integrity and truth.

 

Love, Carolyn

 

 

 

GOD GOES TO THE NTH DEGREE

GOD GOES TO THE NTH DEGREE

Thursday was a beautiful sunny day with a few fluffy white clouds left over from the shower on Wednesday. In the morning when I went out to my backyard, I saw that many flowers had started to bloom: paperwhites, lavender, snapdragons, pansies, and others. I noticed one yellow daffodil that was just about ready, and by noon, it was fully open. In such a short time, it was opening up its face to the sunshine! God is the sunshine in our lives, and He goes to the nth degree to show us.

Lately, my thoughts have been racing, my emotions fickle and unreliable, but the Lord has done so many things to wake me up, get my attention, and bless me. And God is a very personal God. What delights me may be way different from what delights you, and vice versa. As I walked around my yard, I saw that there were buds on a mulberry tree, and a new hummingbird visitor. These things made me happy, but it was kind of short-lived.

Yesterday, I got in a mental muddle again. But then when I went out to study and write, a woman sitting close by asked about the big book I was looking at. It was the Strong’s Concordance to the Bible. I usually look at the Concordance online, but sometimes I like the feel of a real book, and this was one of those times. We got into a really delightful conversation and talked about how inspiring it is to see the meanings of Bible words in their original language. She said she used to do that, and I hope our conversation inspired her to do it again.  We’ll see. Anyway, it was great to talk to a stranger about God’s word, and I do expect to see her again.

God was working hard to get my attention! Psalm 37:4 says: “Delight thyself also in the Lord; and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.”

I don’t believe we are the ones who decide, all the time, what those desires are. Why does one person thrill at working on a motorcycle, and another person get so excited about refinishing a kitchen, and another person finding delight in simply walking a dog? I believe God is the one who gives each of us those desires in the first place. Then He makes sure He gives us opportunities to enjoy them.

The Lord had to pour on the delights this week, so I would wake up and take a look at what He was doing personally for me. God definitely has a sense of humor, and the scripture I was studying happened to be from the story of Elisha and his servant when the army of Syria surrounded the town of Dothan where they lived.

 ^“And when the servant of the man of God was risen early, and gone forth, behold, an host compassed the city both with horses and chariots. And his servant said unto him, ‘Alas, my master! how shall we do?’ And he answered, ‘Fear not: for they that be with us are more than they that be with them’” (2 Kings 6:15-16). 

Then in verse 17 is where I looked up some of the words: “And Elisha prayed, and said, ‘Lord, I pray thee, open his eyes, that he may see.’ And the Lord opened the eyes of the young man; and he saw: and, behold, the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha.”

The word “open,” in the Hebrew is to open the senses, especially the eyes, and be observant. The Hebrew word for “eyes” is a word that indicates one is to see as a fountain, as in the eye of the landscape going outward, looking beyond, looking well. It is to see beyond and think about what one is really seeing. Then the word “see” means to behold, to consider, discern, and enjoy the experience. It means to stare at, think about and perceive, to be near.

This is what Elisha was praying for God to do for this young servant who was initially afraid of what he was superficially seeing with only his natural eyes. Do you see why I love so much to look up the meanings of the words, in their original language? When translators did their work in going from Hebrew to English, they often picked just one word, but the meanings are so much richer, and thank God we have a Concordance so that we can see it for ourselves!

Well, God answered Elisha’s prayer, and even when the enemy came right to the door, God did a miracle and blinded the discerning eyes of the Syrians. They did not even recognize Elisha, and instead, they let this strange man and his young servant lead them right down into Samaria where they could have all been killed. But God had mercy on them. Read the rest of the story in 2 Kings 6. It’s a good one!

So, God blessed me in my study and used it to show me that He was pushing me to open my eyes too! I got the message.

I realized other things He’d done this week to bless me, and at last, I woke up, cleared away the fog, and got thankful!

I’m so glad our God and our Lord Jesus don’t give up on us. God will go to the nth degree, to the extreme, to wake us up and show us how much He loves us as individuals. 2 Corinthians 5:14 puts it this way: “For the love of Christ constraineth us.” In other words, He keeps coming back and coming back and coming back to show us His love.

Like the gentle rain watered my flowers and the sun warmed up the dirt, and they opened up their faces full-on, let’s do the same. God hasn’t forgotten us.

Love, Carolyn