We also get to see the irony, humor and awesome providence of God at
work in the lives of hundreds of Old Testament saints. God has been very
transparent concerning the lives of hundreds of His dear saints in the Old
Testament, to encourage us today by sharing the details of their personal
lives, even their horrible sins and failures, providing life-transforming
details for our edification, so that we might with PATIENCE and COMFORT have
HOPE. Thus, we learn to be PATIENT in waiting for God's hand to be seen
working in our life. God is not mentioned even once in the book of Esther,
yet we so wonderfully see God's hand at work as the reader. The life's
lesson is plainly that we ought to trust the HEART of God when we cannot see
the HAND of God.
In the life of Joseph we read about all his
hardships. The story of Joseph is a story of riches-to-rags, and of
rags-to-riches, and of riches-to-rags again, and of then back to riches. Joseph was
beloved of his father, being the son of Jacob's old age and his only
begotten son by Rachel, his one true love. Joseph's 10 half-brothers were
jealous and hated him, casting Joseph into a pit. Joseph is sold into
slavery and ends up in Egypt, working in Potiphar's house. One particular
day when all the men are out of the house, Potiphar's wife makes sexual
advances on Joseph, reminding him that her husband owns Joseph, which
entitles her also to do as she wants with Joseph. Joseph flees her
temptations and is falsely accused of attempted rape, and is put in prison
for somewhere between 2-11 years.
In time, God afflicts Pharaoh with dreams, but
he doesn't know what the dreams mean, so Joseph is brought from out of the
prison to interpret Pharaoh's dreams. God reveals to Joseph that the dreams
mean Egypt is going to enjoy 7 years of plenty and then 7 hard years of
famine. So Pharaoh appoints Joseph as governor over all of Egypt, food is
stored, and when the famine comes, Egypt is safe and has enough grain for
the entire land, including all of Canaan. Joseph couldn't see what God
allows us to see. We see how what seemed so bad and hopeless turned out for
good in the Lord. We see how the wicked perished in their unbelief, and how
the righteous ultimately prospered because of their faith in Christ, the
Messiah.
Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph suffered many
tests, hardships, painful situations, temptations, doubts, sorrows,
afflictions; and yet, we also see the silver lining in the cloud, the
eternal blessings, the omnipotent hand of God at work behind the scenes at
all times, and where faith in the Lord always leads. The Bible is so beautiful,
brutally honest and yet so practical and filled with comfort and hope.
Despite the sins, failures and shortcomings of the saints, we see that
everything worked out for good.
“The people who don't want
the things of this world, and they are more interested in the things of
God; they just want their daily bread; Ya know, they just want to be
able to live their life peaceable, honestly—and you know what—those are
the people God is going to bless.” —Pastor Steven
Anderson, a quote from the sermon: “Lessons
From King Belshazzar” (Daniel 5)
Trust God When You Don't Understand God; This
Is Faith, Which Pleases God
How do you think David felt when he got to
Heaven and met Uriah, Bathsheba's husband whom he murdered to steal his
wife? I cannot fathom this truth. I would think that Uriah would harbor
eternal hatred against David for robbing him of his wife, life and
opportunity to serve God. Some things only God can understand. I get upset
when I think about the man whom God killed for touching the Ark Of The
Covenant, to steady it from falling; whereas King David murdered Uriah and stole his
wife, and David was allowed to live, marry Bathsheba, and enjoy her
for the rest of his life. That sure seems like injustice to me.
Is God unfair? No, our human understanding is limited, incapable of seeing
all that God sees.
“As a blind
man has no idea of colors, so we have no idea of the manner by which
the all-wise God perceives and understands all things.” —Isaac
Newton (1642-1727)
We see much such inequalities throughout the
Bible. Do we put God on trial as the heathen world does? No, we trust the
Lord, believing that He knows best, and in all matters where our human
understanding cannot grasp something, we trust upon the omniscient Lord Who
knows all things and is incapable of doing evil. The world won't trust the
Lord for salvation, because they love sin, so instead that attack the Bible
and continually speak evil of the things which they don't understand. God is
a good God. Somehow, someway, every injustice must be made right by God.
That's the whole reason Jesus Christ came into the world, that is, to
balance the scales of justice. God's holiness demanded justice, but man
could not pay the price for sins committed. So the sinless Lamb of God made
the payment.
Remember that God has given to us all of the
stories of the lives of the saints in the Bible to encourage us, so that
through patience we might have comfort and hope from the Scriptures. I've
just given you one example from the life of Joseph, but there are hundreds
of precious biographies in the Old Testament; such as, Samson, Moses,
Joshua, Samuel, David, Noah, Rahab, Sarah, Rachel, Leah, Jonah, and who
could ever forget the incredibly painful life of Job. Literally, God has
shared the lives of these people and many more with us to encourage us, so
that through patience we can have comfort and hope.
Noah literally lost everything he knew in life.
Noah's world was destroyed. Everything Noah had entered with him onto the
ark. When he got off the ark with his family, it was a lonely whole new
world. God gave us exactly what we needed—a book of biographies showing how
God worked in their lives, how each saint responded, and what the
outcome was.
Patience, Comfort And Hope
I love Romans 15:4 because it has given me a
whole new reason and desire to learn, read and study the lives of the Old
Testament saints . . .
Romans 15:4,
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
Why patience? It is because life cannot be
rushed. When Joseph was in prison, there is no doubt that he didn't want to
be there. We read in Psalms 105:17-18, “He sent a man before them,
even Joseph, who was sold for a servant: Whose feet they hurt with fetters:
he was laid in iron.” Joseph was laid in irons in prison, and his
feet were hurt. Fetters are shackles for the feet or ankles. There are many
situations in life that are worse than death. We learn patience from
considering the life of Joseph. Joseph was 17 years old when he was brought
into Egypt, and he was 30 when he was taken from prison to appear before
Pharaoh, so Joseph could have spent anywhere from 2-11 years in prison.
Joseph had to patiently wait for God's hand of deliverance.
Job surely didn't enjoy his losses, emotional
trauma and horrible bodily pain. Although Job didn't curse God, he did curse
the day he was born, as I think all men would in Job's circumstances. I dare
not say that any man ever born was any better able to handle loss than Job.
Job suffered greatly, and he didn't do anything to deserve it. There are
wicked people who live entire lives of sin, like Hugh Hefner and Charlie
Sheen, boasting of their sexual immorality. Sarah Silverman is a millionaire
comedian, made wealthy by blaspheming the holy name of the Lord Jesus Christ
and glorifying all manner of wickedness. Yet she lives in splendor. Job was
a godly man, a decent man who eschewed evil, and yet he was turned over to
Satan to be sifted as wheat.
It doesn't make sense does it? Why do the
wicked prosper while the righteous are persecuted? These are the very themes
of Psalms 37 and 73... the prosperity of the wicked. Psalms 37:7,
“Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of
him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked
devices to pass.” Isn't that comforting? The Bible teaches us as
Christians to patiently wait for God to work, and not to get worked up as we
see wicked people prosper as we suffer. The wicked can only prosper during
this earthly lifetime, but the righteous will be blessed and enjoy all of
eternity.
God tells us to wait upon the Lord, and to have
patience while waiting. From learning about the hardships, testings and
lives of the saints through the Old Testament, we are able to relate to
their situations in many ways. We have plenty of biographies from the Bible
which can be applied to our lives. Through learning about their lives, we
find COMFORT to give us HOPE. If they can make it, then so can we. If you've
sinned, well so did David, even committing adultery and murder. God forgave
David and he found reconciliation with God.
Samson was a woman's man, having sex with
harlots (Judges 16:1). Samson got into much trouble by chasing women,
ultimately causing him to have his eyes burned out of his head and enslaved
by his bitter enemies (the Philistines) at the hands of the conniving beauty
Delilah. There is much that we can all learn from the Old Testament lives of
the saints. This ought to encourage you to listen and become much more
familiar with the Scriptures, so we can relate to them and find comfort and
hope as we patient endure the daily struggles of this problematic life. We
see how sin ruined Samson's life, and caused the unnecessary death of
thousands of people, including many Israelites who died because Samson
wasn't leading them as their judge sent by God.
Time would fail me to mention all the heroes of
the faith and courageous people; such as, Rahab who hid the Hebrew spies and
helped God's people conquer their Promised Land in Canaan. If things worked
out for good to the saints of the Old Testament, to those who trusted and
obeyed God, then we have the same blessed hope today in 2014. This is the
message of Romans 15:4. All things written aforetime were written for our
learning, that with patience, we can find the comfort and hope that God will
also work the same promises in our life. We are on the winning side in
Christ. I am not an eloquent writer, but I can at least share with you the
life-transforming truth of Romans 15:4.
God has been very transparent concerning the
lives of hundreds of saints in the Old Testament, to encourage us by sharing
the details of their personal lives, even their horrible sins and failures,
providing explicit details for our edification, so that we might have
COMFORT and HOPE, and learn to be PATIENT in waiting for God's hand to be
seen working in our life. God is not mentioned even once in the book of
Esther, yet we so wonderfully see God's hand at work as the reader.
My friend, if you are a born-again Christian
you have inexplicable happiness and blessing to look forward to in eternity.
Very few people ever find the narrow way that leadeth unto life the Bible
says in Matthew 7:13-14. The reason why is because very few people ever
understand that human effort has no part in God's salvation of man. There
are an estimated 7 billion people alive on earth in 2014. Over 1,000,000,000
of them are trusting in the Catholic church and the sacraments of the false
church to save them. None of them are saved who follow the teachings of the
Catholic church, trusting in sacraments to be saved. Another 1,400,000,000
Muslims deny that Jesus is the Christ, trusting in their false religion of
Islam and the evil Koran that denies Christ as the Son of God. Another
1,000,000,000 trust in Buddhism, Hinduism and other various false religions
to save them. Literally, half the planet are trusting in some bogus religion
to save them. Biblical salvation is NOT found in any religion; but rather,
in a person—the Lord Jesus Christ!
Proverbs 3:5-7, “Trust in the LORD with
all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways
acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.”
God PROMISES to direct our paths if we fear the Lord, depart from evil,
trust upon Him and learn not unto our own understanding, acknowledging God
in all our ways by “SEARCHING THE SCRIPTURES” as Jesus
commanded in John 5:39.
We see the same patience at work in the life of
Job, who suffered the loss of everything he owned. Job lost his precious
children. Job lost his crops, servants and livestock. Job lost his health.
Job lost his respect in the community. Job's friends tormented him with
unjust criticism. Job's own wife told him to curse God and die. Yet, we see
how everything worked out for good in the end. It was God's will for Job to
be tested. No matter what hardships that we may be going through, we can
relate to some of the Old Testament saints who went through similar
situations. Job suffered horribly.
I challenge you my friend, whoever you may be,
pick up the Old Testament and start reading it daily.
Get you some Alexander
Scourby DVD's of him reading the King James Bible. You can hear the
entire Old and New Testament read together in about 78 hours! That's pretty
great!!!
I love the book of Genesis, and
the biographies of the great patriarchs who started it all. We find a
consistent theme of God trying to generate godliness in an ungodly world.
Amen! There is so much to be learned. Jacob's family was about as
dysfunctional as they come. Rebecca (his mother) was manipulative. Isaac
(his father) was stubborn. Esau (his biological brother) was worldly.
Rebecca connived, deceiving Isaac to give the blessing to Jacob instead, her
favorite son. Isaac preferred Esau, who cooked Isaac's favorite roasted and
seasoned succulent deer meat (made just right the way Isaac liked it). Jacob
was a mama's boy and stayed in the kitchen, baking cookies and holding onto
mama's aprons. There was internal strife in the family.
Jacob also deceived his father,
directed by his shameful mother. As a consequence of her actions, Rebecca
never got to see Jacob alive again, nor his wives and grandchildren. Esau
sought to murder Jacob, because he conned Esau out of his birthright and
stole his blessing. Jacob was a scoundrel, a lying shady character who
couldn't be trusted. What a mess. And then Laban, Jacob's uncle on his
mother's side, cheat Jacob 10 times. Just as Jacob deceived his father, so
also is now Laban and Leah deceiving Jacob, tricking him into thinking he's
marrying Rachel instead. Can you image the disappointment and anger in
Jacob's heart when he realizes that he has been cheated? That is the way of
the ungodly world, to cheat and deceive others to get your way in life. Most
companies are guilty of shady business practices, unethical advertising and
shameful forked-tongue promotions with disclaimers a mile long. Hardly
anything is truly upfront and honest anymore.
Romans 15:4,
“For whatsoever things were written aforetime were written for our learning, that we through patience and
comfort of the scriptures might have hope.”
You can make it my friend, I don't care who you
are. We read of war, killings, rape, torture and every manner of hardship,
temptation and evil in the Old Testament, but life still goes on! The
$64,000 question is whose side are you on? Do you serve your master Satan,
or do you serve the precious Lord Jesus Christ as your Master on the winning
side? Satan has already lost the battle, it's just a matter of counting down
to Armageddon, when the Devil is cast into the bottomless pit and bound in
chains for 1,000 years. That time is coming very soon, very soon!!! That
certainly gives us as Christians much comfort and hope to know that old
smut-face is going to be locked away in chains, where he won't have
any influence nor be able to hurt anybody. Hallelujah!
Everything written about the lives of Old
Testament saints was authored by God for our learning, so that through
patience and comfort of the Scriptures we might have hope. The Old Testament
saints couldn't see what was ahead for them, but we have the blessing of
reading the details of their life, even seeing their future (which they
couldn't see at the time). The Holy Bible is incredible!!! By examining the
lives of the saints in the Old Testament, we learn that things always work
out for good in the end, because their are no losers in God's family. We are
on the winning side in Christ Jesus!!!
Our text verse from Romans 15:4 is an important Scripture, teaching
us that everything which was authored in the Old Testament was put there by
God to educate us, so that with PATIENCE and COMFORT we could have HOPE.
Perhaps you've never considered Romans 15:4 in view of all the hundreds of
Old Testament biographies authored by God. We are so blessed to have the
incredible complete stories (factual life's testimonies) of so many people,
particularly the saints.
