February 11
Ex 32:1-33:23 | PS 33:1-11 Pro 8:33-36 | Matt 26:69-27:14
In Isaiah 45:11 (NKJV), we read, "Thus says the Lord, The Holy One of Israel, and His Maker: "Ask Me of things to come concerning My sons; And concerning the work of My hands, you command Me." This phrase, "you command Me" has been terribly distorted by the Word of Faith or Prosperity Gospel movement. They have turned this into their adherents believing they should ask for whatever they want, whenever they want it and how ever they desire, in essence reversing their relationship with God and theologically making them god, and God into their slave. This is sheer lunacy. God's Word is true, but that is why being a student of God's entire Word is so imperative. Knowing God, knowing the heart of God, taking seriously that which He has already promised we can approach Him in confidence through His Word and remind Him of that which He has already promised. This also means our eyes must be off of ourselves, those fleshy and earthly things which often consume so much of our prayer. He never guaranteed any of us long life on this earth, or lives without diseases, or everything to go great in the workplace and with our finances. Let's get a glimpse of what this looks like through Moses.
After the Israelites sin egregiously by erecting and worshipping a false god as Moses is away, God tells Moses, that due to their rebellion He will destroy them and change course by making Moses into a great nation. From an earthly standpoint, if Moses was not in a true relationship with God, and not a true servant of the people he would probably consider this a great idea, but we read in Exodus 32:11-13, "But Moses tried to pacify the Lord his God. “O Lord!” he said. “Why are you so angry with your own people whom you brought from the land of Egypt with such great power and such a strong hand? Why let the Egyptians say, ‘Their God rescued them with the evil intention of slaughtering them in the mountains and wiping them from the face of the earth’? Turn away from your fierce anger. Change your mind about this terrible disaster you have threatened against your people! Remember your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. You bound yourself with an oath to them, saying, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven. And I will give them all of this land that I have promised to your descendants, and they will possess it forever.’”" To which we read the response in 32:14, "So the Lord changed his mind about the terrible disaster he had threatened to bring on his people." Though it seems as though God changed the mind of God, it was really God who put it on the heart of Moses to intercede on their behalf, which resulted in God responding in mercy and grace rather than justice. We see a similar event through Joshua in Joshua 10:11-14, when Joshua commands the sun to stand still in battle knowing God's heart and nature. Again, this is not presumptuous and demanding earthly satisfaction, it is relational and trusting completely in God and His Word.
On a different note, many have turned the creation vs. evolution debate into an academic discussion. As a physician, besides the realization that the science behind evolution makes no sense, more importantly, and everyone should understand this, adopting the stance of evolution stands in complete opposition to the entire word of God and is not simply an opinion but is blasphemous. It is not simply a questioning on whether Genesis 1-11 should be viewed as literal or allegory (though portion was quoted as literal by so many in Scripture, including Jesus), but also calls into question practically every writer of Scripture. We read the psalm of David in Psalm 33:6-7, "The Lord merely spoke, and the heavens were created. He breathed the word, and all the stars were born. He assigned the sea its boundaries and locked the oceans in vast reservoirs." We read in Isaiah 45:11-12, "Thus says the Lord...I have made the earth And created man on it. I - My hands - stretched out the heavens, And all their host I have commanded." In John 1:3, we read "All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made (referring to Jesus)." You cannot on one hand state you believe in God and believe in the Bible yet take a stance which stands in opposition to Moses, David, Job, the prophets, the apostles, and God, Himself. One must approach God in humility and allow His Word to teach us everything. When God says one thing and the "experts" say something else, every time the "so-called experts" are wrong.
Messages from Pastor Lloyd Pulley: