In Nehemiah 4, we come to two statements which contain elements of God’s awesome power and sovereignty, and also elements of our responsibility. The setting is the rebuilding of the wall and the fierce opposition from the enemies of the Jews. In verse 9 we read: And we prayed to our God and set a … More Remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, and fight …
John Piper, in “A Hunger for God” p 166: Israel had been taken into Babylonian exile. They had been there for decades. Now the time had come, in God’s reckoning, for their restoration. But how could this happen? They were a tiny, obscure ethnic minority in the massive Persian empire. The answer is that God rules empires. And when … More Piper on Ezra: “Massively hope-giving”
2 Chronicles 22:7 “But it was ordained by God that the downfall of Ahaziah should come about through his going to visit Joram.” Ahaziah decided to join Joram, king of Israel, in order to try to recapture Ramoth-gilead from Hazael, king of Syria. He had advisors that encouraged him to do this. A few years prior to this, Jehoshaphat had … More Ahaziah and Ahab. Both corrupt. Both under God’s ultimate rule.
And Jehoshaphat stood in the assembly of Judah and Jerusalem, in the house of the Lord, before the new court,and said, “O Lord, God of our fathers, are you not God in heaven? You rule over all the kingdoms of the nations. In your hand are power and might, so that none is able to withstand you.Did you … More For we are powerless but our eyes are on you
From the ESV Study Bible: 2 Chron. 18:28–34 Ahab is enticed into battle, as the spirit had promised (v. 20). His decision to disguise himself, while rather cynically directing Jehoshaphat to wear his royal robes, indicates his dominant role in the alliance and perhaps also represents a contrived attempt to evade Micaiah’s word of doom. But events turn out … More Checkmate: Ahab, Jehoshaphat and God’s sovereignty
Psalm 127:2 It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for he gives to his beloved sleep. Charles Spurgeon wrote in Treasury of David: God is sure to give the best thing to his beloved, and we here see that he gives them … More Spurgeon: Sleep like Jesus
In 2 Kings 8, we read of the Shunammite woman‘s obedience to Elisha to sojourn “wherever you can, for the Lord has called for a famine.” Elisha knew good and well who causes famines. God does.Leviticus 26:3–4 says, If you walk in my statutes and observe my commandments and do them, then I will give you … More Sovereign over famine and restoration
And when he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into the deep and let down your nets for a catch.” And Simon answered, “Master, we toiled all night and took nothing! But at your word I will let down the nets.” And when they had done this, they enclosed a large number … More Ryle: Do a thing boldly, unflinchingly, and decidedly, when Jesus says, “do it.”
In 1 Kings 12, we read that after Jeroboam joined the people, they asked King Rehoboam to “lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke on us, and we will serve you.” (vs 4) Notice that they didn’t ask that he end it altogether, just that he lessen the load. If he … More A turn of events from the LORD
“Which is his body, the fullness of him [i.e., Christ] who fills all in all.” Ephesians 1:23 John Piper explains- So Christ fills all in all. Or as the present tense and the middle voice imply: Christ is now filling for himself all in all. I take this to mean that Christ is filling every … More No place where HIS power does not hold sway
Knowing God through His Word ... Day by Day 