Is it justified?

Image result for Free soccer VAR images
We have three major soccer competitions happening around this season: Women's world cup, Copa America and Africa Cup Of Nations. Unlike previously when everyone's joy was not short lived after scoring a goal, today, goals have to be scrutinized by the video assistant referee (VAR). Sometimes it takes two minutes or more to verify the validity of a goal, only then can one celebrate. This new development was not taken kindly by many but it's widely considered to be more accurate.

I see this kind of a system playing out in the scriptures as well. There were several instances in the scripture where people felt like they had really "scored a goal" only to be told by a higher authority that it does not hold. This morning I'll focus on two major areas:

Joy
Luke records in Luke 10:20  "Nevertheless do not rejoice in this, that the spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven."  Their joy was short-lived because Christ made a statement that made them reassess their achievements. The disciples needed to know that their position as God's children was more important than their authority over the evil spirits. They needed to know that being Children of God and having their names written in heaven was their greatest blessing. How we've gotten it all wrong over the years. Today, some  ministers rejoice in the fact that they are experts in exorcism, others rejoice in the fact that they have a huge following while others rejoice in their gigantic physical structures as they also draw their joy and satisfaction in their riches. However, Paul echoing the words of Christ said in Galatians 6:14 As for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. Because of that cross, my interest in this world died long ago, and the world's interest in me is also long dead. 

 Warfare
Saul spent a major part of his ruler-ship fighting the wrong battle. 1 Samuel 26:1-2  Now some messengers from Ziph came back to Saul at Gibeah to tell him, "David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which overlooks Jeshimon."  2 So Saul took three thousand of his best troops and went to hunt him down in the wilderness of Ziph. He thought he was justified to wage war against David because he would then safe guard his dynasty. Don't you think three thousand of his best troops was a little bit of a stretch? I think so too, I believe it was a total waste of resources.

He should have been preparing his army to fight the real enemy (the philistines). Instead he was spending his time and wasting his energy and valued human resource tracking down one man. His negative emotions and jealousy were not by all means justified. Well, because Saul fought the wrong battle, in 1 Samuel 28:5  When Saul saw the vast Philistine army, he became frantic with fear, He finds himself unprepared to fight the real battle, the real enemy. Could it be that the brother or friend you loathe so much is not really your enemy? Sometimes we get so much preoccupied focusing all our energies on the wrong person when all along unbeknownst to us God is dropping hints on the real enemy. 

 Ask Cain?In Genesis 4:6-7 God speaks to Cain prior to his heinous plot saying, "Why are you so angry?" the LORD asked him. "Why do you look so dejected?  7 You will be accepted if you respond in the right way. But if you refuse to respond correctly, then watch out! Sin is waiting to attack and destroy you, and you must subdue it."  Poor Cain! He subdued the wrong person. I'm afraid that most of us are equally in danger of committing the same mistake Saul and Cain did. Let's stop the unnecessary denominational, tribal, racial and other unjustified battles. The real enemy is lurking Ephesians 6:12  For we are not fighting against people made of flesh and blood, but against the evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against those mighty powers of darkness who rule this world, and against wicked spirits in the heavenly realms.  I believe it's high time we asked our selves some sobering questions. What is God's take on my joy and warfare? Are they justified or disqualified? Believe you me, His verdict is oh! so accurate and final.



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

MORE THAN YOU'LL EVER KNOW

Image
A story is told  of a man who whispered, "God, speak to me" and a bird sang but the man did not hear. So the man yelled, "God speak to me!" and the thunder rolled across the sky but the man did not pay attention to it.The man looked around and said, "God let me see you" and a star shone brightly but the man did not notice. So the man shouted, "God show me a miracle!" and a life was born but the man did not know. Finally, the man cried out in despair, "Touch me God and let me know that you are here!" whereupon God reached down and touched the man but the man brushed the butterfly away and walked on. ~Author Unknown~ Moral of the story; don't miss out on a blessing because it isn't packaged the way you expect.  This is what the psalmist taught in Psalm 1:1-2 "Blessed is the man Who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, Nor stands in the path of sinners, Nor sits in the seat of the scornful;  2 But his delight is i...
Read more

Same Presence, two different realities

Image
Morning by Morning devotion is inspired by the scripture in Isaiah 50:4  "The Lord GOD has given Me The tongue of the learned, That I should know how to speak A word in season to him who is weary. He awakens Me morning by morning, He awakens My ear To hear as the learned."   There are many treasures found in His word and I've decided to spend some time with Him so that He may teach me. In our devotion this morning, we're going to look at three different passages of scripture where God's presence produced two different realities as we seek to find out why?  1. In Exodus 14:19-20    " A nd the Angel of God, who went before the camp of Israel, moved and went behind them; and the pillar of cloud went from before them and stood behind them.  20 So it came between the camp of the Egyptians and the camp of Israel. Thus it was a cloud and darkness to the one, and it gave light by night to the other, so that the one did not come near the other all that nig...
Read more

Bad Name

Image
The only thing worse than bad health is a bad name ~ Gabriel Garcia Marquez I remember growing up in a well-knit neighborhood where the elderly were allowed to correct and advise every young person irrespective. I remember in particular how all the parents in our estate unanimously warned all their children against one single boy whose name was always associated with evil. Such was the case with Balaam. This man was bad news!   His name in the scripture always brings a bad taste to the reader's mouth.  From Balaam's story in Numbers 22-24, we're taught in various places in the scripture to avoid:  a. The error of Balaam Jude 1:11  W oe to them! For they have gone in the way of Cain, have run greedily in the error of Balaam for profit, and perished in the rebellion of Korah.   Balaam epitomized the sin of greed. The error of Balaam was that being a pagan prophet and an enemy of God, he believed that he could profit from doing the work of ...
Read more

Permission granted

Image
It is almost impossible not to cause an accident when you ignore the red light especially in areas with heavy traffic. I have noticed that until recently, residents of Nairobi  did not observe these signs explaining why we had numerous accidents. There's a cunning resemblance between how the green light turns on just before the red light and how God gave the permission just before he gave the restriction in Genesis 2:16,17. However, in his quest to ignore the huge "STOP" sign, Adam plunged us all into great trouble.  From the scripture we are seeing how in His great grace, God gave permission before He gave restriction. It is equally worth noticing that the permission was broad (of every tree) v.16, while the restriction was narrow (of the tree...)v.17. It's amazing how their curiosity for the restricted made them miss out on the splendor of the permitted. The entire beautiful garden of Eden that they lived in was now just a beautiful memory simply because their...
Read more

False witness

Image
A story is told of two corrupt brothers who succeeded greatly in their businesses. One day one of them fell ill and was later diagnosed with cancer. Upon realizing that his brother was critically ill and would die sooner than later, he approached the local pastor with a proposal that he would donate a huge sum of money to the church if only the pastor would say at his brother's funeral that he was a saint. Eventually his brother died and on the day of the funeral, the pastor having accepted the challenge, looked for a way to say those unlikely words before the congregation. Finally he said,"Before we close this memorial service, I want to say that compared to his living brother, Joe was a saint!" ~ Ravi Zacharias  Exodus 20:16  " You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. "  Bearing false witness basically means misrepresenting the truth. It carries the idea of twisting or stretching the truth and not just limited to telling a lie. We can bett...
Read more

YOU FIRST

Image
Every government on the face of the earth is responsible for setting the standard of the various goods and services used in its country. This is normally done through the establishment of different institutions tasked by the government to undertake this very important duty. For example, in Kenya  the institution tasked with the preparation of standards relating to products, measurements, materials, processes, e.t.c. and their promotion at national,regional and international levels among other responsibilities is KEBS (Kenya Bureau of Standards). With the same breadth, the heavenly government sets the standard for acceptable worship. Genesis 4:3-5 " ... Cain brought an offering of the fruit of the ground to the LORD.  4 Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat. And the LORD respected Abel and his offering,  5 but He did not respect Cain and his offering. And Cain was very angry, and his countenance fell.   reminds me of a lesson we learn...
Read more

Free - dom

Image
If the fish wants to enjoy freedom outside the environment of water, it will die. Its freedom is limited within the water. The same is true of us; our freedom is always found within the limitations of what God has created us to be and become. Yes! our freedom is limited within the will of God. Free-dom like king-dom operates within a certain domain. True freedom has limits and boundaries.  We see this playing out for the first time in  Genesis 2:16-17   And the LORD God commanded the man, saying, "Of every tree of the garden you may freely eat;  17 "but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die."   Adam and Eve ignored these guidelines and we all have felt the serious consequences of that one mistake. In today's devotion I'll address a few issues in our society where many have overstepped their bounds all in the name of freedom. On sexual purity,  Hebrews 13:4  say...
Read more

What shocked the wise men?

Image
Christmas is my favorite time of the year. I believe the same is true for many of us. I love the carols, decorations, movies and all that goes with this season. However, reading through Matthew 2:1-18 one easily comes to the realization that the events surrounding the birth of Jesus produced great tension. I'm particularly intrigued by the bewilderment that the wise men found themselves in. Matthew profoundly shares the three major  things that shocked them and thereby helping us understand how God works.  1. The wise men were shocked to learn that Jesus was not born in Jerusalem  Matthew 2:1-2  Now after Jesus was born in Bethlehem of Judea in the days of Herod the king, behold, wise men from the East came to Jerusalem ,  2 saying, "Where is He who has been born King of the Jews? For we have seen His star in the East and have come to worship Him."    Going by the question they asked, it almost appears like the wise men expected to be direc...
Read more

KILLED IN THE LINE OF DUTY

Image
Carolyne Chebet's article with The Standard newspaper (2018) stated that cases of rangers being attacked and killed by wildlife have been acknowledged and feted for international awards. She said that the Chinese Billionaire Jack Ma, through Alibaba foundation rolled out awards for front line rangers in Africa based on their threats and challenges. Well, 16 Kenyan rangers were among those feted. We salute all our brave rangers and soldiers all over the world for they put their lives on the line just to keep us safe.  In my study this morning, I came across two people who also died in the line of duty. Unfortunately for them, their premature death was occasioned by their negligence and disobedience. In Leviticus 10:1-2 "Now Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, took their respective firepans, and after putting fire in them, placed incense on it and offered strange fire before the LORD, which He had not commanded them.  2 And fire came out from the presence of the LOR...
Read more

"Loading..."

Image
"Appreciation alters how you perceive and interpret what happens to you."  Noelle C Nelson; Jeannine Lemare Calaba, The Power of Appreciation: The Key to a Vibrant Life  A blind boy sat on the steps of a building with a hat by his feet. He held up a sign which said :  ' I am blind, please help.'  There were only a few coins in the hat. A man was walking by. He took a few coins from his pocket and dropped them into the hat. He then took the sign, turned it around, and wrote some words. He put the sign back so that everyone who walked by would see the new words. Soon the hat began to fill up. A lot more people were giving money to the blind boy. That afternoon the man who had changed the sign came to see how things were. The boy recognized his footsteps and asked, "Were you the one who changed my sign this morning? What did you write? "The man said, " I only wrote the truth. I said what you said but in a different way." I wrote : ' Today is a...
Read more