Bible Shorts

(Acts 10:5)
We read in Acts Chapter 10 of a centurion called Cornelius who believed in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. He was a prayerful man and considerate, but needed to hear the Gospel of Jesus, the New Covenant of God with all of humanity, so an angel came and told Cornelius to send for Peter.

This was a crucial moment in the history of Christianity for it is here we first see the Gospel being deliberately given to non-Jews. If you, reading this, are like me not a Jew, then this moment is of great significance.

So anyway, I was listening to a sermon on this chapter and a question came to my mind; Why didn't the angel preach the gospel to Cornelius?

The command to spread the gospel was given to humans. It is up to us to tell the good news because even the most holy angels have not experienced the joy of sins forgiven! Not even the angels have been adopted as sons of the Lord God, and angels don't need to experience second birth.

Angels are messengers of God........ and so are we!

(2Kings 6:8-18)
There are times when we can get into situations and there seems to be absolutely no solution whatsoever. No matter which way you turn, there's trouble. It can seem that if you engage a problem on your left, a problem on your right will come and wipe you out, if you engage a problem in front of you, a problem will attack you from behind.

There is no victory in sight, there is no hope in sight, there is no possibility of survival in sight.

The king of Aram wanted to take Elisha because Aram was at war with Israel and Elisha was able to tell the king of Israel what the Arameans were planning. The king of Aram was frustrated by this and so he sent marauders to get Elisha. Elisha was in the city of Dotham when the Arameans surrounded him.

The enemy was intent on getting Elisha out of the way in order to continue its campaign against Israel.

If you are in such a place where a panic seems to be only a second away, do you believe that God can help you obtain victory? Do you believe that God can bring you a complete and total victory which not only gets you out of the situation but gives you mastery over the situation?

This army surrounded Dotham, but God's army surrounded that army!

At first, only Elisha could see the Angelic army, and so it may seem to you that the only thing 'out there' is the problem, but beyond the problem, bigger than the problem and surrounding the problem is a solution. Elisha's servant failed to see the solution until God opened his eyes.

I wish that I had the faith to see the army that God has placed around me at times! Often, I go to God with a problem and it takes so long for Him to show me that He is bigger than the problem, that he has at His disposal greater resources than all the world's powers put together!

And God struck the Aramean army blind. This would have been easy prey for the people of Dotham, but Elisha led them into Samaria. There, the king of Israel asked if he was to kill the Arameans.

But Elisha's instruction was not to kill them, but to feed them. After this, the band of Aramean went back to their master and never came back (Verse 23).

(2Kings 7)

But this wasn't the last attack of Aram against Israel and the king of Aram gathered his whole army and beseiged a starved Israel whos inhabitants had rersorted to cannibalism.

Was the defence of Dothan by God a one off?

We read again that against overwhelming odds, Israel was saved by God's own army. Such was the mere sound of God's army that the Arameans were convinced that Israel had hired both the Hittite and Egyptian armies!

Complete and utter victory! The starving were fed, the enemy was gone! God had performed the impossible.

So look again at what's bothering you. Can God deliver an impossibly solution? If you were to describe what it is that causes you to be full of sorrow day in and day out, I would likely not be able to offer anything that resembled a solution. But there is one who is bigger than you, your sorrow and the reason for your sorrow.

He can do the impossible, He can bring complete victory out of the jaws of utter defeat. He can give you joy.

Seek His face, ask Him for help and it will come.

(Proverbs 7)
The seventh chapter of the book of Proverbs in the Old Testament has advice that is certainly worthy of note for anybody who is looking to keep a closer walk with Jesus.

In Verses 6-23, we're given a description of a harlot and how she entices a foolish man with flattery and such temptation that even a strong man would struggle to refuse. She becomes all things to all men in order to draw them.

In poor light, in the darker hours of our spiritual walk, another's bold attitude can be an attractive thing which may even offer us some co-ordination or direction. When our faith is wavering under the dark clouds which often come over us, someone who appears to know what they're doing and where they're going can seem like the right tonic for us. But be careful, for beneath the bold face can be a cunning mind.

We can even get caught up in things that look like they are the will of God for our lives when, in truth, they are the opposite! Instead of bringing light, these things can bring death and destruction. Yet, they seem so right! This adultress has paid her sacrifices to the lord, she's so spiritual! Yeah, right! But we see here an appearance of godliness which suggests purity, yet inside, we see nothing but death and corruption.

What defence is there against such a situation where we find ourselves wanted, admired and desired? What man or woman cannot resist anything that offers joy and pleasure and a fill of love?

Can you see that this specific woman is representative of sin? Sin which can easily ensnare us, catch hold of us, make us feel like we actually belong somewhere and that there is something about us that makes them want us? People wanting us makes us want them and so the cycle of sin takes hold and once caught, it's a dangerous, slippery path.

This man who has been enticed into this situation will die. The woman's husband will return and this young fool will be killed. Does he deserve it? The poor thing doesn't know any better, but it doesn't mean that it won't happen, any more than a person who doesn't know the Green Cross Code won't get knocked down because he doesn't know what code he is breaking. And so we must all be careful that we seek wisdom and understanding, that should we become the target of flattery and opportunity, we know which path is the right path to take.

It starts in the heart and spreads to kill the whole person so we need to defend ourselves from ignorance that leads to destruction. Verses 1-5 instruct us to know another woman who symbolises the complete opposite of the whore we've been reading about. This woman is a woman of virtue, truth and justice. The last woman represented sin, but we are to say to wisdom, "You are my sister" and consider understanding to be an intimate friend.

Look at the difference! The whore offers pleasure and indulgance, but Godly wisdom is someone we'd want to protect and guard from harm and Godly understanding is someone we would look to in times of trial, someone who would give us true advice and honest opinions, someone with whom we can become one.

Instead of getting intimate with that which could lead you from the Lord, get intimate with that which will bring you close. Read the Word of God and understand it, get it into you. Meditate on it, chew on it and seek out the truth hidden therein. Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to you what God wants you to know and when the times of wonderful opportunity come along, when the moment of promotion arrives and you feel that at last you have found something that you can do because it looks like it has been prepared just for you, your eyes will be open and you will be able to see whether or not the deep is as beautiful as the shallow.

Defend yourself, protect yourself and live. Don't walk into the traps that are set to try and make you fall from the grace that has saved you.

Know that the Lord God loves you, has prepared a way of His chosing just for you and He knows the path on which you are walking. It may not look as nice as some of the things this world has to offer, but under the covers, you will find that it leads to eternal and abundant life.

(Proverbs 17:10)
"A rebuke goes deeper into one who has understanding than a hundred blows into a fool"

Nobody wants to feel stupid and more than that, nobody wants to look stupid! And there's no worse time to feel stupid than when someone rebukes you. They may point out your error and tell you how you need to go and you can feel so small!

But it's in times like this that you can show real wisdom for all through the proverbs, wisdom seen as something that doesn't necessarily give correction but takes it in the right spirit.

In the verse above, we're told that someone who has understanding will take rebuke into himself and take heed to the words spoken. The world may tell you that if you had understandning that you wouldn't need rebuke, but in a world where nobody is perfect, we all need the often painful hand of correction.