The Fear of God

 

 

 

Exodus 1:15-22

 

August 5, 2024

 

The Fear of God

 

Then the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,  “When you serve as midwife to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, you shall kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.” But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live. So, the king of Egypt called the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and let the male children live?”  The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”  So, God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.  And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.  Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews you shall cast into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”

 

I love my dad, but I also had a healthy fear of him. You may wonder how I can say that; let me share with you the reason.  Dad had rules that we were to live by; one was that if you wanted to die, talk back to your mother. Another was never hit a girl, not even your sister, when she pinched us in the hall before we entered the living room, where Dad was.  I only broke that once; it was not fun.  Dad believed that obedience brought blessing and disobedience punishment. 

I believe my Father in heaven loves me, as I believe my dad loved me, but I also love and fear my Father in heaven, for that same reason, He disciplines those He loves.  God loves you too much if you are His child, to let you chase after the little gods of this world.

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

 

 

 

Exodus 1:8-14

 

August 4, 2024

 

Pharaoh Oppresses Israel

Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.  And he said to his people, “Behold, the people of Israel are too many and too mighty for us.  Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, lest they multiply, and, if war breaks out, they join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”  Therefore, they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with heavy burdens. They built for Pharaoh store cities, Pithom and Raamses.  But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and the more they spread abroad. And the Egyptians were in dread of the people of Israel.  So, they ruthlessly made the people of Israel work as slaves and made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and brick, and in all kinds of work in the field. In all their work, they ruthlessly made them work as slaves.

They fear the people of Israel, in that they had gone from 70 who came to Egypt, to a vast number.  But it was not that they wanted them to leave, in that slaves were a low cost of labor.  Note: In the USA, we have the same things, not slaves, but people who are illegal, and the business people use them for cheap labor.

One would be ignorant of Scripture to not see the hand of God in this fear and the treatment of His chosen people.  He had made a promise to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob about a promised land for His Chosen people.

The Lord was getting them ready for Moses's leadership.

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Induction to the Book of Exodus

 

Induction to  the Book of Exodus 

 

The overarching theme of Exodus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to the patriarchs. The success of the exodus must be credited to the power and purpose of God, who remembers his promises, punishes sin, and forgives the repentant. The book highlights Moses’ faithfulness and prayerfulness.  (From the English Stander Bible)

Chapter 1: 1-7

August 3, 2024

Israel Increases Greatly in Egypt

These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:  Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,  Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,  Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.  All the descendants of Jacob were seventy persons; Joseph was already in Egypt.  Then Joseph died, and all his brothers and all that generation.  But the people of Israel were fruitful and increased greatly; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong so that the land was filled with them.

 

One must never forget the Sovereign of God, that it was God who sent Joseph to Egypt, not his brother's evil act.  It was God who allowed Joseph to be cast into prison, so he could learn to trust only God.  It was God who told Joseph the dream of Pharaoh, that moved him to the second person to Pharaoh.  I believe the Church often forgets the Sovereign of God, they sing about it, they even hear it preached and taught, and then act as if it all depends on them. 

 

But now the Pharaoh that knew Joseph and welcomed the 70 relatives of his are all dead, and the people of Israel have multiplied and grown very strong, and the land is filled with them.  Once Pharaoh welcomed them, but now the Pharaoh is fearful of them and is seeking a way to make them serve his nation.  And it is still all God’s doing.

 

It is easy to get to Egypt in our thinking and forget the Sovereign of God.  Now let us recall a promise to the patriarchs. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and God is a keeper of His promises.  Now the problem is us, we want it all now, we do not want God’s timeline, and that going to be a big problem in the life of His Church.  God is Sovereign and you are a created being who needs to learn to run to God and not Egypt.  Anytime we try to get our needs met outside of Christ, we are heading to our Egypt.  You will find out that Egypt is the world’s concept, and a follower of Christ is not received there.  You will bow your knee to them and become a slave to them, or you will awaken to the Truth.  Jesus is the Truth and He has promised this; “I have come that you may have life and have it in the Full.”  To receive that fullness, it require us to abide in Jesus, and He has promised to abide in us.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

 

 

 

A Poser will find it difficult to do the hard work of Restoring His heart

 

A Poser will find it difficult to do the hard work of 

Restoring His heart

 

 

Wendell, this thought came into my mind, and it had to be the Holy Spirit, in that I’m sure a teacher tried to teach me the classics like Shakespeare, but it just did not take.

 

Many a man who has asked Jesus into their life is a poser. I say this because I was one for many years.  This thought came into my mind this morning. I had spent time in the world and was getting up to prepare breakfast, when this thought came into my mind: “Above all, be true to yourself.” 

 

I shared with Jan the thought and said I know it from someone, but I can’t remember who.  I went on to say that a man who is not true to himself will not be a man of integrity.

 

I got up and went to fix our breakfast, and I sat back down, got my computer, and asked who said this.  It was William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 3. And true to my uneducated self, my quote was off.  The following was, “This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not be false to any man…

 

The definition of a Poser: a person who behaves affectedly to impress others; a poser.  At work, you are different from at church. When you are with an old friend who knows you, the real you, you do not share what Jesus has done for you.  I recall that weeks after I had my encounter with Christ in a hotel room, I began to want to read my Bible, and I left it on my dashboard. My boss got into my car and said, "Did you go to church?"  The poser did not tell him that I had asked Jesus into my life; the poser said yes.

 

Sometime later, a group of big shots from St. Paul came in, and they invited us to go to a bar with them.  God had convicted me that I needed to stop drinking, so I had a Coke.  One of the salesmen asked, Is it because you're now religious that you do not drink with us anymore.  It seemed that all eyes were on me, and all were waiting for my reply.  Channel One, the deceptive channel, that sounds like me, says your job is on the line, and Channel Two is not my voice; it is often just a thought that came into my mind.  It reminds me of a Scripture; If you deny Me before men, I will deny you before My Father.  My reply was that I asked Jesus to come into my life, and He convicted me about drinking too much.  I have no problem with you drinking.  I must say the table was uncountably quiet, it seemed like forever, and one of the bosses from St. Paul changed the subject.  That was the beginning of leaving the life of a poser.

 

When a man has gotten his need met outside of Christ,  as I had for 27 years, it takes a miracle and a deep desire to let Jesus do it all for you.  But when you do, you can wait and seek. It's not fun, God is not going to meet your schedule, but He is always on time.

 

From our Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

 

 

 

Lamentation 5:1-22

 

April 19, 2024

 

Restore Us to Yourself, O Lord

Remember, O Lord, what has befallen us; look, and see our disgrace!
Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.   We have become orphans, fatherless; our mothers are like widows.  We must pay for the water we drink; the wood we get must be bought.  Our pursuers are at our necks; we are weary; we are given no rest.  We have given the hand to Egypt, and to Assyria, to get bread enough.  Our fathers sinned, and are no more, and we bear their iniquities.  Slaves rule over us; there is none to deliver us from their hand.  We get our bread at the peril of our lives because of the sword in the wilderness.  Our skin is hot as an oven with the burning heat of famine.   Women are raped in Zion, young women in the towns of Judah.  Princes are hung up by their hands; no respect is shown to the elders.  Young men are compelled to grind at the mill, and boys stagger under loads of wood.  The old men have left the city gate, the young men their music.  The joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning.  The crown has fallen from our head; woe to us, for we have sinned!   For this, our heart has become sick, for these things our eyes have grown dim, for Mount Zion which lies desolate: jackals prowl over it.   But you, O Lord, reign forever; your throne endures to all generations.  Why do you forget us forever? Why do you forsake us for so many days?  Restore us to yourself, O Lord, that we may be restored!  Renew our days as of old—unless you have utterly rejected us, and you remain exceedingly angry with us.

 

I can only imagine what it is like for people who were blessed so greatly to now be slaves.  As a free people, it is hard to grasp the anguish of these Jewish people, who had by choice turned their back on God, to seek other gods that could not see nor hear.  But now in desperation, they are crying out to the God of both Heaven and Earth, the one who loves them too much to allow them to continue living in sin.

As a person who has been in Christ for 50-plus years, and who has the freedom to write and speak my beliefs, I’m witnessing the hand of God and His protection as our nation​ moves away from God.  I know what it is like to be without, and God and my Lord Jesus Christ have blessed me to have much.  I live with this understanding of Luke 12:48, ^“But the one who did not know, and did what deserved a beating, will receive a light beating. Everyone to whom much was given, of him much will be required, and from him to whom they entrusted much, they will demand the more.”

 

The people of Judea realized that they had sinned; it could not be their father’s sin, but their sins, that God was judging them for.  Each of us must come to that point before we can move forward with the calling of our lives.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

 

Lamentations 4:1-22

 

August 5, 2025

 

The Holy Stones Lie Scattered

How the gold has grown dim, how the pure gold is changed!  The holy stones lie scattered at the head of every street.  The precious sons of Zion, worth their weight in fine gold, how they are regarded as earthen pots, the work of a potter's hands!  Even jackals offer the breast; they nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.  The tongue of the nursing infant sticks to the roof of its mouth for thirst; the children beg for food, but no one gives to them.  Those who once feasted on delicacies perish in the streets; those who were brought up in purple embrace ash heaps.

 

 For the chastisement of the daughter of my people has been greater than the punishment of Sodom, which was overthrown in a moment, and no hands were wrung for her.   Her princes were purer than snow, whiter than milk; their bodies were more ruddy than coral, the beauty of their form was like sapphire.   Now their face is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets; their skin has shriveled on their bones;  it has become as dry as wood.  Happier were the victims of the sword than the victims of hunger, who wasted away, pierced by lack of the fruits of the field.

 

The hands of compassionate women have boiled their own children; they became their food during the destruction of the daughter of my people.  The Lord gave full vent to his wrath; he poured out his hot anger, and he kindled a fire in Zion that consumed its foundations.  The kings of the earth did not believe, nor any of the inhabitants of the world, that foe or enemy could enter the gates of Jerusalem. This was for the sins of her prophets and the iniquities of her priests, who shed in the midst of her the blood of the righteous.   They wandered, blind, through the streets; they were so defiled with blood that no one was able to touch their garments.

 

“Away! Unclean!” people cried at them.  “Away! Away! Do not touch!”  So, they became fugitives and wanderers; people said among the nations, “They shall stay with us no longer.”  The Lord himself has scattered them; he will regard them no more; no honor was shown to the priests, no favor to the elders.  Our eyes failed, ever watching
 vainly for help; in our watching, we watched for a nation which could not save.  They dogged our steps so that we could not walk in our streets; our end drew near; our days were numbered, for our end had come.   Our pursuers were swifter than the eagles in the heavens; they chased us on the mountains; they lay in wait for us in the wilderness.

 

The breath of our nostrils, the Lord's anointed, was captured in their pits, of whom we said, “Under his shadow we shall live among the nations.” Rejoice and be glad, O daughter of Edom, you who dwell in the land of Uz; but to you also the cup shall pass; you shall become drunk and strip yourself bare. The punishment of your iniquity, O daughter of Zion, is accomplished; he will keep you in exile no longer. 
But your iniquity, O daughter of Edom, he will punish; he will uncover your sins.

 

Often, when I read accounts of the Babylonians coming into Jerusalem and carrying off the one they desire, like Daniel and his three friends, we do not get the devastating destruction of Jerusalem by the Babylonians.  Is the despair of the people who were not killed?  Many were left in the ruins, with no leadership, and their food source was destroyed.  The gate and the walls of Jerusalem are destroyed, and none of their neighbor show anything but contempt, and make fun of their situation.  Also, understanding that God allowed this to happen because they rebelled against his commandments. 

 

As followers of Jesus Christ, this book of Lamentations should serve as a warning for our nations not to take the grace and mercy and forget about God’s justice.  We, as a Church, have become complacent.

 

From our Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Israel broke the Vow to God

 

 

 

Lamentations 3:43-66

 

August 4, 2025

 

 

 

“You have wrapped yourself with anger and pursued us, killing without pity;  you have wrapped yourself with a cloud so that no prayer can pass through.  You have made us scum and garbage among the people.   “All our enemies open their mouths against us; panic and pitfall have come upon us, devastation and destruction; my eyes flow with rivers of tears because of the destruction of the daughter of my people.  “My eyes will flow without ceasing, without respite, until the Lord from heaven looks down and sees; my eyes cause me grief at the fate of all the daughters of my city.  “I have been hunted like a bird by those who were my enemies without cause; they flung me alive into the pit and cast stones on me; water closed over my head; I said, ‘I am lost.’ 

 

“I called on your name, O Lord, from the depths of the pit, you heard my plea, ‘Do not close your ear to my cry for help!’  You came near when I called on you; you said, ‘Do not fear!’ “You have taken up my cause, O Lord; you have redeemed my life. You have seen the wrong done to me, O Lord; judge my cause. You have seen all their vengeance, all their plots against me. “You have heard their taunts, O Lord, all their plots against me.  The lips and thoughts of my assailants are against me all the day long.  Behold their sitting and their rising; I am the object of their taunts. “You will repay them, O Lord, according to the work of their hands. You will give them dullness of heart; your curse will be on them.  You will pursue them in anger and destroy them from under your heavens, O Lord.”^[

 

Why was God so angry with the chosen people?  They had listened to all that God had said to Moses and agreed that of all the people in the world, God had chosen them, so they vowed to obey all that He had spoken to Moses.  You will find those promises in Exodus 19:8: After God brought the Israelites out of Egypt, He established a covenant with them at Mount Sinai. The people responded, "All that the Lord has spoken we will do."  Once more in Exodus 24:3, 7: “Moses relayed all the Lord's rules and regulations to the people. They responded again, "All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do."  And they did till they got wealth and comfort, and then they rebelled and became like the pagans living around them.

 

Man wanting to run the show, to be the captain of his life, and look what that got Israel, and it sure looks like our nation has rejected God and the Church; we need to awaken to its calling.

 

We should recall this Scripture in John 15:18-20, “If the world hates you, keep in mind that it hated me first.  If you belonged to the world, it would love you as its own. As it is, you do not belong to the world, but I have chosen you out of the world. That is why the world hates you.  Remember what I told you: ‘A servant is not greater than his master.’ If they persecuted me, they will persecute you also. If they obeyed my teaching, they would also obey yours.”

 

In that Jesus is the Truth, not some truth, He is the Truth, and the world does not like truth.  So, when you confront the darkness of people's hearts, they will hate you, because they do not want to be exposed.

 

From our Back Porch, 

 

Bob Rice