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Fortress

Today’s Reading: Psalms 18:2, 91:2

Ps. 18: 2

The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer,
my God, my rock, in whom I take refuge,
my shield, and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.

Ps. 91:2

            I will say^[a] to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress,
my God, in whom I trust.”

During the last days of his life, David wrote the first Psalm in the reading.  The words of this psalm are also written in 2 Samuel Chapter 22.  This psalm or hymn is one of praise and adoration to God for the salvation and the preservation that he had given David over his entire life. The life of David was not a glamorous or splendid.  David lived a life full of joys and sorrows, victories and defeats,  life giving and life taking.

In the beginning of his life David had the most dangerous and detested job during his time, that of a shepherd.  He lived with the flock on a daily basis, away from the family in isolation in the wilderness.  In his later years, he was given another role, royal musician.   In this role King Saul subjected David to cruelty and abuse. Later in life he became the hero of Jerusalem and the king’s son-in-law.  He was then chased from the castle and pursued by the king with teams of armies. After the death of the king, David ascended the throne and had some peace until his own children banished him from Jerusalem.  After sometime had passed, David returns to Jerusalem and finishes his days as king of the land.  For over seventy years, David continued to see God as the rock and fortress of his life. It is only this belief and faith that allowed David to be in his rightful place in our history and journey.

In our lives we will face many obstacles and distractions.  This is programed in our nature as humans.  We will constantly look for the better deal or the better item. We naturally cannot find contentment in what we have.  David teaches us that when we have a solid foundation in God, He will be our fortress and shelter us through whatever we may encounter and this will give us peace that will lead to contentment.

When we look at the word fortress, we see protection, strength, and peace.

Protection:  A fortress provides a barrier for us from the outside forces.  These forces can be physical, mental, emotional, and spiritual.  The barrier is only as strong as we make it.  If we do not reinforce and maintain the walls, then the enemy will find ways to penetrate and invade our defensives.  We have to daily enforce our fortress in God by reflecting, worshiping, or communicating with Him.

Strength:  The fortress provides a strength and stability in the midst of a hard world.  One of the most fortified city’s that is mentioned in the bible is Jericho.  This city was situated in a particular area that allows it to maintain strength and stability from any adversary that came to its walls.  This was a major attribute for Jericho and should be one that we take example from. The wall was one that took the combined and intentional effort from the children of Israel to demolish.  This was a strong fortress that was not going down easily.  We have to emulate this strength in our faith and relationship with God.

Peace:  Shalom, is the completeness that God gives us, which translates to peace.  Any fortress has to be completely sound and intact to give stability.  If the fortress has any bricks or stones that are not in place or missing the complete stability of the entire structure is compromised.  Any additional structural defects will result in complete destruction.  In our lives there are many holes that have weakened our fortress: heartbreaks, divorce, deaths, setbacks, layoffs, betrayals, etc. These things that we hold on to will continue to weaken our spiritual infrastructure.  This will not allow our fortress to sustain the battles of life. But if we allow God to give us his peace, he will replace all of the stones that life have taken away.  This will give us strength to continue to endure and move toward his glory.

Dear Heavenly Father,

Thank you for being our refugee and fortress.  Thank you for the protection, strength, and peace that you give without limit.  Amen

For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.

Romans 8:29

God’s number one purpose for each of us is to bring us into a loving relationship with Jesus Christ.  To accept the free gift of salvation through Jesus.  It is God’s intent for Christ to be the first born among many brethren.

In Jewish culture the term first-born always referred to a son.  The first-born male child in a Jewish family had a privileged status.  Being first-born represented preeminence (superiority or distinguished).

The term brethren is a synonym for believers.  God’s primary purpose in His plan of redemption was to make His beloved Son “the first born among many brethren” in the sense of Christ’s being uniquely preeminent (superior) among the children of God.  Those who trust in Jesus become adopted children, and Jesus, the true Son of God, graciously deems us worthy to be called His brothers and sisters.

For whoever does the will of my Father in heaven is my brother and sister and mother.

Matthew 12:50

What an honor it is to be able to say that we are brothers and sisters of Christ!  It will certainly be an honor on that day we enter Heaven and are welcomed into the grand family with Jesus.  

We are blessed because the “first born among many brothers” is not ashamed to call us His brother or sister.

“In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth.” The very beginning of the Bible points us to one of the fundamentals truths of God’s nature, and one of the toughest for us to get our heads around: God was the First; He has always been here, and He will always be. In Revelation 22:13, Christ says “I am the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End.” Isaiah 44:6 says “This is what the Lord says – Israel’s King and Redeemer, the Lord Almighty: I am the first and I am the last; apart from me there is no God.” Before anything, before time or space or matter, there was God.

Mankind has been trying on its own to wrap its collective head around what ‘forever’ could mean, how everything could have come into being, and where this origin point could have itself originated from. But we Christians know the answer through His word – God has always been, beyond our comprehension of these topics can reach. Isaiah 55:9 summarizes the Lord’s position very well on this: “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.” Beyond the how, though – in this topic, so conceptually beyond our grasp we have trouble keeping up, it can be easy to gloss over how amazing this truly is and what exactly to take away from it.

I think about all of the emotions of beginning a new, monumental task; for example, buying a house or piloting a new project at work. All of the nervousness, excitement, hesitation, and trepidation that goes into those decisions that can have a huge effect for a long time to come. It can be difficult and incredibly stressful to start something new – now imagine starting literally everything. But these human feelings can’t begin to compare to how God handled such a momentous beginning. No, He had perfectly planned out every single event in time to culminate with the birth, life, and death of Christ here on earth without trouble.

God’s impeccable work as the progenitor of existence itself points to a simple takeaway: not only was God the first to be, but He ensured He would forever be the First. God is wiser, God is mightier, God is beyond us in all ways. And what’s more, he calls us to place Him first as well. As Deuteronomy 6:5 says, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” Think about that today – are you placing the Lord, the first and the last, first in your heart and first in your soul? Pray for humility today, that we could see just how far above us God truly is, and for direction to show our appreciation and praise for how monumental and everlasting God is.

 

 

Gen 31:42

I’m going to be honest. As I read through this passage, I’m stumped. Nothing jumps right out as the obvious teaching I am supposed to grasp from the name of God in this verse. So I look farther back to get more context, I read the entire chapter. I now understand the story better but I am still not clear on the meaning of the “fear of Isaac”. I can’t find where this term is used again in the Bible accept for later in this chapter in vs 53 where it is used the same way as in vs 42.  I don’t find vs 53 to be  any more clarifying than vs 42. I think on the phrase literally for a few days and the life of Isaac, earlier in Genesis. I can string together some ideas about what Isaac experienced with God in his lifetime, but I am still unclear if I am on the right track or not. I decided to look into some writings of people much more studied than me to see what they discovered and interpreted about this name of God.

Jacob uses the phrase “fear of Isaac” as he is talking to his Uncle Laban. If you remember, Jacob went to Laban to seek a wife, and Laban cheated him at just about every turn. Laban had him work for seven years to earn Rachel and then tricked him at the wedding and actually gave Jacob Rachel’s sister Leah instead. Jacob worked for another seven years to earn Rachel, finally get her in marriage. Then Laban kept changing the rules on the “wages” of livestock that Jacob was managing for him. Laban changed the rules when he saw that Jacob was growing wealthy instead of himself. Every time Laban changed the rules, God changed the outcome to benefit Jacob. After Jacob’s time with Laban had been served and Laban’s wealth had grown under Jacob’s care, God told Jacob it was time to leave Laban and his land and go back to his home country with his wives, children and livestock. Jacob knew that Laban wouldn’t want him to leave because Jacob was making Laban wealthier every day, so he packed up his family secretly and headed for home when Laban was out of town. When Laban returned home and discovered Jacob had left, he gathered up a posse and pursued Jacob. The night before Laban reached Jacob, God came to Laban in a dream and told him, “I’m warning you, leave Jacob alone!” Laban tells Jacob that he shouldn’t have left without warning and that Jacob missed out on all of his goodbye parties and send offs, Jacob knows Laban is lying and they get into a fight. The argument culminates in vs 41 with Jacob saying, “For twenty years I slaved in your house! I worked for 14 years earning your two daughters and then six more years for your flock, and you changed my wages ten times! In fact, if the God of my father had not been on my side-the God of Abraham and the fearsome God of Isaac-you would have sent me away empty handed. But God has seen your abuse and my hard work. That is why He appeared to you last night and rebuked you.”

Laban had taken advantage of Jacob, but God overruled. Jacob using the phrase “fear of Isaac” was a reminder to Laban that Jacob was being divinely protected. Fear is also a feature of respect. Those who fear God have more regard for Him than for anyone else. To fear Him is to hold Him in such high regard that all other relationships pale in comparison. This fear is actually an expression of devotion to Him, the awe and reverence kind of fear. “The fear of Isaac is our Fear as well. Because Jesus died for our sins and was raised from the dead, He has eliminated the terror of punishment for sin so that we can love God above all. This is fear of the Lord.” Dr John Koessler

Psalm 68: 5:

“Father of the fatherless and protector of widows is God in his holy habitation”.

 

When you think of a father, what is the first thing that comes to mind? Many of us would look at our Earthly fathers to try and describe what we think a father is. We take our own personal connections to try and define what a father may be.

A father is supposed to guide, encourage, challenge, and love their children deeply. They lead their family with integrity and attempt to serve their family every step of the way. However, fathers don’t exist in every single family. Not only that, but there are so many parents in general that aren’t able to care for their children and have to give them up.

When I meditate on the beginning of this verse, I can only think of how different my life would’ve been without my Dad. He worked a lot of hours when I was younger to try and provide for the family. I am fortunate to have a Dad that served our family and who truly does love us. However, there are children that grow up without parents.

As seen in this verse, the Psalmist is expanding on the description of God being a Father to the fatherless and a protector to widows. This verse is only beginning to give us a glimpse of God being an eternal Father to all of us.

Orphans and widows both seem like terms that are used for those that are left behind and forgotten. God promises that He will never leave them and will be a Father and protector. John 14: 18 states, “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you”. Countless times in the Old Testament and New, the Word guides all to protect, provide, and comfort the widows.

The lost, fatherless, widows, and hopeless are only saved because of the love of their Father. God will never leave the fatherless and widows without protection. That is exactly why He sent His Son Jesus to die on the cross, for our brokenness. He redeemed us when all of us weren’t worthy. God the FATHER, has made it so that we will eternally be with Him.  No other Father or protector has ever been able to truly be there for all of us like God has and always will.

In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple (Isaiah 6:1).

Exalted – elevated in rank, power, or character; held in high estimation, glorified or praised; raised high (Merriam-Webster).

When you think of the world exalted, who comes to mind?  Are there people you hold in high esteem?  I can think of a handful of people who “rank” in my book – a few family members, a friend, a couple of mentors.  When I reflect on why I hold these people in high esteem, it is generally because of something they’ve done.  Even if they are on my list because of their character, I know or have confidence in the strength of their character because of their actions (or inaction).  Most often, this is something that benefits me or supports something I believe in.

Exalted as an attribute of God the father, son and holy spirit couldn’t be more different.  In chapter 2 of his letter to the church at Philippi, Paul encourages believers to be united in Christ.  He further instructs them to follow Christ’s example by avoiding selfish ambition and valuing others as more important than themselves.

[Jesus] Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness (Philippians 2:6-7).

Jesus was (and is) exalted because of who he is.  Not because of what he has done, and not because of something that benefits him, and not because of a position he supports. Just because of who he is.

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Philippians 2:9-11).

Jesus, we exalt you.  Be the Lord of our lives today.  Amen.