You have increased your traders more than the stars of heaven– The creeping locust strips and flies away.

Howard Hughes was the wealthiest man in the world in his day yet was a victim of his own success.  The last twenty years of Hughes’ life were spent in self-exile in the penthouse apartment of the Xanadu condominium in the Bahamas, but he would not allow anyone to enter. Paranoia of everything gripped Hughes so that he could not enjoy the success he had earned.  Believing germs were everywhere to make him sick, and believing others were trying to steal his money, Hughes’ self-imposed exile isolated him from reality.

Our text describes for us another, real illustration of the dangers of trust in wealth.  Nahum became a prophet around 663 B.C. Incidentally, the city of No-Amon (v. 8) was captured by Assyrian king Assurbanipal in 663. No-Amon, also known as Thebes was the greatest city in Egypt. Now, why does Nahum refer to No-Amon, and why should we today take note? The city enjoyed a position of easy defense since it was located on a peninsula, defended on two sides by water. The city of Thebes, known for its great commerce, fell in spite of its defenses and immense wealth. Read the rest of this entry →

The LORD roars from Zion And utters His voice from Jerusalem, And the heavens and the earth tremble. But the LORD is a refuge for His people And a stronghold to the sons of Israel.

A future event will happen in the Bible which has been ‘hyped’ for centuries. For thousands of years, the return of the Lord has been prophesied as a great and awesome event. One thing may be certain. The Lord’s return will not be anticlimactic; it will not be like my expectations of the ice festival as opposed to the reality. As a matter of fact, the Lord’s return will be greater and more awesome than man can imagine! Joel, writing around 830 B.C., tells us in chapter three of of the overwhelming return of the Lord; our text tells us specifically about one aspect of His return. When the Lord returns, He will roar, and He will be a refuge for His people. Joel 3:16 teaches us that the greatness of the Lord will not overwhelm His people. Christ will be a refuge for His people. Since Christ will be a refuge, you may trust Christ to protect you. Read the rest of this entry →

Shadrach, Meshach and Abed-nego replied to the king, “O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to give you an answer concerning this matter.

Daniel tells us of three friends. These friends were placed in a seeming ‘no-win’ situation. If they broke the law, they would lose their lives. If they broke God’s law, they violated God’s love for them. The three friends were Hananiah, Mishael, and Azariah, better known as Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. You may learn one simple truth from these three brave men. You cannot compromise what is right and please God. You must have the faith that when you do what is right, God will reward your faith. Read the rest of this entry →

At the end of seven days the word of the LORD came to me, saying, Son of man, I have appointed you a watchman to the house of Israel; whenever you hear a word from My mouth, warn them from Me.  (verses 16 & 17)

What sort of responsibility would a soldier bear if he were negligent in his guard duties?  If he fell asleep and an enemy attacked, the guard would find himself paying the ultimate price for his negligence.

Ezekiel was a priest in the temple and a prophet of God. When King Jehoiakim surrendered the nation of Israel to the Babylonians, Ezekiel and thousands of his countrymen were taken in a mass deportation to the land of Babylon. The Book of Ezekiel begins as the Israelites are enroute to the land of their captors. God sent a vision to Ezekiel which completely astonished him. For seven days Ezekiel sat among his people in shock, much to the consternation of the people. Our text gives us God’s call upon Ezekiel. Ezekiel had a task, and God impressed upon Ezekiel the seriousness of the task to warn those who live in sin. You and I have the same task today. You must sound the warning of danger to a lost and dying world. Read the rest of this entry →

He has broken my teeth with gravel; He has made me cower in the dust.

Because the nation of Israel worshiped Jehovah in the most perverted manners, He punished the nation for their sins. Jehovah brought the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar to ransack and destroy the Temple in 587 B.C. The pride of their nation, Jerusalem, had been destroyed, and the people were utterly humiliated. Imagine a muscle-bound guy pounding his chest and saying, ‘I am king of the world’. Imagine the same macho man if he were beaten in an arm-wrestling match by a little girl.  Such humiliation would be considered light in comparison to Israel’s disgrace.
The message of Lamentations 3:16 is quite straightforward. God will humiliate any who reject Him, but He will be loving-kind to all who accept Him. If you take one truth from Lamentations 3.16, take the following: You must trust God and His faithfulness. Read the rest of this entry →

It shall be in those days when you are multiplied and increased in the land, declares the LORD, they will no longer say, The ark of the covenant of the LORD. And it will not come to mind, nor will they remember it, nor will they miss it, nor will it be made again.

Despite the fact that the Bible and Christianity in general is despised by the world, the legends concerning the Ark of the Covenant still capture the attention of many. To this day legends abound concerning the ark. One legend says that the ark was hidden by Jeremiah under the city of Jerusalem when Babylon invaded the city. Two other legends say that the ark is hidden in a mountain in Africa and in a special, secret building also in Africa. Some rabbis alive today claim to have seen the ark with their own eyes. Hollywood used its imagination to produce a film about a dashing and daring archaeologist who sought for the lost ark and its magical properties. The legends abound because the Ark seems simply to have disappeared quietly into history.

The Bible reveals little about the fate of the ark, but there is a possibility that it was taken by Nebuchadnezzar.  Regardless of what happened to the ark, one fact is certain. As one studies the last years of the Northern and Southern Kingdoms, one is struck with the fact that the people of Israel do not seem to miss the ark. No mention is made of the ark, but the people worshiped as if they did not realize that the presence of God had been removed from them.

The message of Jeremiah 3.16 is very simple. We need no outward symbol of God’s presence because His Holy Spirit resides in our hearts. We may worship God in spirit and in truth. Read the rest of this entry →

Moreover, the LORD said, Because the daughters of Zion are proud And walk with heads held high and seductive eyes, And go along with mincing steps And tinkle the bangles on their feet,

Isaiah paints for us a society very similar to ours today. Isaiah paints the women of his day as vain and shallow. Our text describes some of the mannerisms of these superficial women. The purpose of our study is not to critique the shallowness of the desire to look good by cosmetic surgery or fashionable clothing. The point Isaiah makes is that the people were completely self-absorbed and conceited. They had a high view of themselves; they had an unrealistic view of themselves in light of what God thought of them. The message of Isaiah may be applied with equal power today as in his day. We must be concerned with our internal, spiritual appearance. Read the rest of this entry →

Furthermore, I have seen under the sun that in the place of justice there is wickedness and in the place of righteousness there is wickedness.

If you are an astute political observer, you cannot help but become frustrated and angry at the current political scene. Minority groups of all sorts manipulate an entire nation based upon perverted and selfish personal agendas. Politicians abuse their power in the most egregious manners; some of those minority groups hold politicians under their thumbs to assure that their selfish political agendas will be inflicted upon the masses. I am sure that you may experience the same frustrations as I. This is just one example of the injustices that seem to be rampant in our country. How are we as Christians to respond to such injustice? We must trust God to provide the justice we need. Read the rest of this entry →

Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor.

Our text takes us to two benefits of wisdom. Many other benefits of wisdom exist, but the two specifically mentioned by our text are long life and riches and honor. In many cultures, the right hand is a sign of honor and the left hand of dishonor. In light of the use of both hands in our text, we cannot deduce that one hand is more honorable that the other. The point of the proverbs is that both blessings of wisdom are excellent in nature and not to be preferred one over the other. What does our text mean for us today? Be concerned with how well you live for God. Read the rest of this entry →

Or like a miscarriage which is discarded, I would not be, As infants that never saw light.

Our text tells us of another man who wished he were dead. Except for Christ, no other man in human history suffered more than Job. Job lost everything he had within a matter of minutes. He lost his considerable wealth and a large family (with the exception of his wife). To compound his problems, his wife became bitter about life. Job lost his health to wallow in a horrible physical misery. The first words Job speaks to his friends are words of despair. He cursed the day he was born.

The message of Job is that of trust. Through the extreme situation of Job, we learn that no matter what God allows into our lives, whether good or evil, we can trust God. This means that we must be alive if we are to demonstrate to others the goodness of God in our lives and our trust in Him. The lesson we learn from Job’s desire for death is life is worth living. Read the rest of this entry →