Forgiving Yourself

I received the following question:

Is there any verse in the Bible which says anything about the concept of “forgiving yourself”?  Just a thought.

That is a good question. The concept of forgiveness and pardon in the Bible is largely an issue that relates to the interaction of the LORD with people. He is the one who forgives their iniquities and their sins.

Psalm 130:4:
But there is forgiveness with You,
That You may be feared.

The Meaning of Meditation

I received the following questions:

What does meditation mean?  Especially as used in Psalm 1:2 and Psalm 104:34.  What is significant about meditation?

First of all, you can read my article on this at:

http://precepts.wordpress.com/2008/04/09/consider-my-meditation/

To meditate means to think extensively on a thing.

2. But his delight is in the law of the LORD,
And in His law he meditates day and night.

This psalmist thinks extensively on the Scriptures. He ponders them, whether books, passages, verses, or words. He considers them and what they say, running over them in his mind. He does this at all times of day, both day and night.

34. May my meditation be sweet to Him;
I will be glad in the LORD.

The psalmist desires that the things upon which he thinks and upon which his mind dwells will be sweet to God. He wants the LORD to be pleased with all that he ponders in his head. In other words, he wants his thoughts to be in conformity with God’s pleasure.

Questions on Prayer

I received the following questions:

Do you know much about prayer?  I know some, but I still have problems with what to pray about.  What does/should prayer look like?  I am kind of stuck with the “A.C.T.S.” version of prayer.  But, I’m not sure if it is the best way to pray.  A=Praising God, C=Confessing sin, T=Thanksgiving, S=Supplication.

When, I pray, whether or not I use that structure, I get easily distracted within my thoughts and lose my focus. I think that if I really wanted to pray to God that I would be “vigilant” and persistent. Then I also feel like I don’t deserve to pray to God or that God does not hear my prayer.

I know not to necessarily expect an answer for my prayer, but rather the peace of God to guard my heart and mind in Christ Jesus.  But, I am a very anxious person who worries a lot. And, when I pray, I still worry about stuff.

I think that prayer should look like talking to God. That is really and truly what we are doing when we pray. Many get all caught up in making prayer into a religious act. They look for some “formula” that will bring forth the “power of prayer.” I do not believe that prayer is powerful, I believe that God is powerful. It is an amazing thing that we, as sinful and fallen human beings, can talk to Him. Yet He loves us, and hears us.

Where Does Elijah Fit?

I received the following question:

Where does the next occurrence of Elijah fit in?  Jesus says in Matt 17:11 [NASB].

And He answered and said, “Elijah is coming and will restore all things;

And Malachi says in Mal 4:5-6 [NASB].

“Behold, I am going to send you Elijah the prophet before the coming of the great and terrible day of the LORD. He will restore the hearts of the fathers to their children and the hearts of the children to their fathers, so that I will not come and smite the land with a curse.”

So we know these things:
1) Elijah will restore all things (i.e. he is a principle actor in the restoration)
2) He will come prior to the return of Christ
3) The restoration he will bring will prevent the wrath of God

So where does he fit in?

He can’t come right after the Second Coming of the Spirit – for all things will already be restored. He can’t come during the Revolt against the kingdom – for the Revolt is a time of rebellion not of renewal He can’t come during or after the Second Coming of Christ – for it clearly says he must come before that time.

So will he be coming just prior to the Great Ingathering?  Or are we missing something.  I have some ideas as found in the book of Joel. I’ll talk more on this later.

I do not think you are correct that he cannot come after the Second Coming of the Spirit.

What Is “This”?

I received the following question:

What is the ‘this’ referred to in Joel 2:28?  The Hebrew word for this is ken.  What is this?

It is difficult to say for certain. “This” could be the prophet’s own days, and he is saying it will come to pass once these evil days are ended. In Acts 2:17, this is explained as meaning “in the last (eschatos) days.” If this is explanatory rather than supplemental, it could tell us that this is what the prophet meant.

Returning to Dirt

I received the following comment:

I was reading some Sellers yesterday and something he said gave me a thought.  He was talking about the symmetry of man starting as dirt, receiving the breath of life, then when dying giving up the breath of life and returning to dirt.  I thought about how men have tried to fight this reality.  They don’t want to return to dirt.  So our dead bodies become placed in coffins, which we are told keeps us hermetically sealed from the soil around us.  Intrinsically we know that our bodies will be dirt, for that is why we bury at all. Understandably the modern reason we use sealed coffins is that we don’t want Aunt Louise to enter our drinking water.  But it does seem like we could use a bit of composting.  I guess that would be one way to facilitate new life

When it rains I am mud.

You are right in that we do tend to seal bodies up to not allow them to return to the dirt. I do not think that the Bible indicates that this is a requirement. Burial customs are mentioned in the Bible. I do not know that they are ever condemned by it.

Technology in the Kingdom

I received the following comment:

I read Zechariah today.  As a part of reading it I thought about how the tech in the Kingdom is shown as low tech.  The fact that they are using old-style weapons can be explained by the fact that at the start of the Kingdom all things weapon-like are destroyed.  But there is another explanation for the other things.  1) With the outpouring of the Spirit people would have less reason to need higher technology. 2) It is likely that by the will of God oil would be tapped out.

What thoughts do you have on this?

There does seem to be some indication that things will be more low-tech in the kingdom. There could be several reasons for this.

Should We Multiply?

I received the following comment/question:

I remember back in the 80’s when the giant everyone’s-going-to-die fear was population explosion. Now-a-days the only thing keeping Europe’s population from imploding is the rapid rate of immigration.  So this brings to mind the command by God to Noah et al:

Gen 8:17
“Bring out with you every living thing of all flesh that is with you, birds and animals and every creeping thing that creeps on the earth, that they may breed abundantly on the earth, and be fruitful and multiply on the earth.”

Longing for the Day of the LORD

I received the following comment/question:

I was reading some of the minor prophets and came across this one.

Amos 5:18-20 (God’s Word Translation)

How horrible it will be for those who long for the day of the LORD! Why do you long for that day? The day of the LORD is one of darkness and not light. It is like a person who flees from a lion only to be attacked by a bear. It is like a person who goes home and puts his hand on the wall only to be bitten by a snake. The day of the LORD brings darkness and not light. It is pitch black, with no light.

Amazing huh?  It asks why anyone would long for that day, but how many Christians do this very thing when they deeply desire Christ’s return.  They don’t realize that the time of Christ’s return will be hyper-violent.  While the killings will be just, it will make the holocaust seem like a Disney movie.  But what does Christ say to long for?  Thy kingdom come.

Food for thought.

We have to use care in interpreting this passage.

House Law in Ezekiel

I received the following comment:

I came across this while reading the latter portion of Ezekiel.  It is hidden in the language of the KJV but comes out more clearly in other translations.  It is found in Ezk 43:12 and the surrounding context.  The NASB reads:

This is the law of the house: its entire area on the top of the mountain all around shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the house.

It would appear that this may be speaking of oikonomia in the OT.  What do you think?  The word for law is Torah. The word for house is Bayith which means basically a house or a home.

Good eye! This does seem to be sort of an Old Testament reference to a house law. In the Septuagint, this reads diagraphen tou oikou, law of-the house, which is not quite the same.