True Love – Song of Songs

The Song of Songs can be called the Christian’s love song. Many readers of this book have wondered why the “Song of Solomon” is in the Holy Bible. It appears very unique from the other Scripture in that it seems to make no mention of the Lord, his Law, history or prophesy. While it is classified with the Psalms and Proverbs, it is different from them as well.

This is a song of love in marriage. The characters in the song are Solomon, the Shulamite maid, his wife and the daughters of Jerusalem. The love of Solomon and his wife illustrates the love between Jehovah and his people. This is seen in many passages in the Bible. Solomon as a lover was a type of Christ Jesus (Ephesians 5).

Personal love to Christ is the greatest need of the Church today. The knowledge of sin forgiven and of Christ’s redeeming work has drawn us to him.

Why Christ? The answer is simple. All humans are not worthy to seek anything from the Almighty because The Creator is a Holy God and we are sinners (Romans 3:23). We need to be holy to be with The Holy God. We cannot do this with any of our works (Titus 3:5). So for helping us, because of His love, God sent His only Son into this evil world, lived a Holy life and died for our sins, resurrected and is with the right hand of God interceding for the sinners (Romans 5:8). Through the blood of Jesus Christ, sins of humans are washed and who ever believe in Him and accept Him as their personal savior is set free from sin and is Holy in the sight of God (John 3:16).

When reading this book, may the Spirit of God enable you to understand the true love of Christ to you. In accordance with his love, may the Spirit guide you to lead the Holy life, which God desires, and be a true faithful servant of him.

Book of Experience - Ecclesiastes

God has given us this book of Ecclesiastes the record of all that human thinking and natural religion has ever been able to discover concerning the meaning and goal of life. The arguments in this book are not God’s arguments, but God’s record of people’s arguments. The writer is Solomon, and the book is a dramatic biography of his experience and reflections while he was out of fellowship with God. Solomon may have been wise, but he did not follow his own wisdom.

The message of Ecclesiastes is that, apart from God, life is full of weariness and disappointment. The problem that faced Solomon was how he could find happiness and satisfaction apart from God (Ecclesiastes 1: 1-3). He sought the following things

·         He sought satisfaction in science (Ecclesiastes 1:4-11)

·         He sought it in Philosophy (Ecclesiastes 1: 12-18)

·         He found pleasure (Ecclesiastes 2: 1-11)

·         He tried materialism (Ecclesiastes 2: 12-26)

·         He tried natural religion, wealth and morality (Ecclesiastes 5, 6, 7).

But in all these, he was not able to get an answer. The conclusion message is found in Ecclesiastes 12:13. “Now all has been heard; here is the conclusion of the matter; Fear God and keep his commandments, for this is the duty of all mankind”

The best and possibly good way to be wise and be with God is found in Ecclesiastes 11:9 – 12:1. The mention of being youth in growing up is interesting. It simply points out that in order to know God and have a life worth living, it is better to know him when you are young.  Instead of having a worldly life, with the so called best friend, girlfriend, boyfriend, and having affairs and getting ditched in life, it is always good to live a life according to the word and know about God and live according to his principles.

May the Holy Spirit enable you to live a life according to the scriptures and know God to live a holy and faithful life.

A Manual for Living - Proverbs

If you read the book of Proverbs with a clean and surrendered heart and mind, you will get most out of the book. In this book we find Christians on their feet. These proverbs are for the Christian walk. It is for the business place, home and playground. Every relationship in life is mentioned in this book. We find our duty to God, to our neighbours, the duty of parents and children, our obligations as citizens. This book divides people into two classes – wise and foolish. When you read the book, put “Christ” in place of “wisdom” in the verse (1 Corinthians 1:30), you will see wonderful power in the book.

Proverbs is divided into three sections:

1.       Counsel for young men (Proverbs 1 – 10)

2.       Counsel for all men (Proverbs 11 – 20)

3.       Counsel for kings and rulers (Proverbs 21 – 31)

The book closes with one of the beautiful chapters in the word (Proverbs 31). This chapter is about women’s rights. “Give her the reward she has earned, and let her works bring her praise at the city gate” (Proverbs 31:31).

God wants to give us His wisdom – the wisdom that created heavens and earth, that we might use it in all of life (James 1:5). Human wisdom can never solve life’s problems. Only God knows the ways of the people.

I pray that you read this book daily, get wisdom and live a faithful life.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom” (Proverbs 9:10; Psalm 111:10).

A Book for All – Psalms

The book of Psalms is the book for all who are in need, the sick and suffering, the poor and needy, the prisoner and exile, the person in danger, the persecuted. It is a book for the sinner, telling him or her of God’s great mercy and forgiveness. It is a book for the child of God, leading him or her into new experiences with the Lord. It tells of God’s law in its perfection and pronounces blessings upon the one who will keep it. It is the best loved book in the Old Testament.

Every Psalm is a direct expression of the soul’s consciousness of God. The Psalms are full of Christ. They describe the whole program of His suffering and death. Many quotations from this book are found in the New Testament. At least twenty of these directly refer to Christ and His life and death.

Psalms 1 to 41 tells about man, how man is blessed and his road to success (Psalm 1), Mans fall from high position and at enmity with God (Psalm 2) and Mans restoration by his blessed Redeemer, the Man Christ Jesus (Psalms 16 – 41).

Psalms 42 to 72 talks about Israel, Her ruin (Psalms 42 – 49), Her Redeemer (Psalms 50 – 60) and Her Redemption (Psalms 61 – 72).  Several Psalms speak of penitence, but the chief is Psalm 51. It is a Psalm of David. It you turn to 2 Samuel 11 and 12, you will find about David’s sin. When Nathan the prophet was telling David “You are the man!” David did not try to dodge the issue but said, “I have sinned against the Lord”. Notice in Psalm 51:4 these words, “Against you, you only, have I sinned and done what is evil in your sight” This psalm is a prayer of contrition and confession. David cries for mercy from a God whom he knows is merciful and full of loving kindness.

We can learn from this Psalm that we must confess our sin to God (1 John 1:9) and that God is just to forgive. Whenever we are sincere in our confession to God, He will cleanse our sin.

Psalms 73 to 89, sanctuary is mentioned or referred in almost every chapter. We see God’s counsels in relation to the sanctuary. The sanctuary is seen from its ruin to its restoration in the fullness of blessing.

Psalms 90 to 106 talks about The Earth. Psalms 90 to 94 tells about the blessings needed, Psalms 95 to 100 tells about the blessings anticipated and psalms 101 to 106 tell about the blessings enjoyed. If you wish to praise the Lord for His goodness, read Psalm 103. It is full of worship, adoration, praise and thanksgiving. This is great exercise for the soul.

The word of God is given importance in Psalm 107 to 150, which tells: “He sent forth his word and healed them” (Psalm 107:20). Psalm 119 is the great psalm of the whole book. It extols the Word of God, which is the great revelation of the heart and mind of the Lord. Almost every verse speaks of God’s word or law or precepts or statutes.

Hold your Bible in your hand and turn to the middle of the book. Most often you will open to the Psalms. Not merely is this true physically. There is a deeper truth. The Psalms are central also in human experience. Psalms 118 is the center chapter in the Bible There are 594 chapters before and after Psalms 118. Psalms 117 is the shortest chapter and Psalms 119 is the longest chapter in the Bible.

The center verse in the Bible is Psalms 118:8. “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans”. Does this verse say something significant about God’s perfect will for our lives? The next time you want to find God’s perfect will for your lives, just take the center of God’s word. When things get tougher, always remember – Faith doesn’t get you around trouble. It gets you through it. May God’s Spirit help you to stay close with His word and be blessed in life. 

Godly people suffer? – Job

The book of Job is one of the oldest, if not the oldest, books in the Bible. Why do godly people suffer? This is the theme of this book. People often ask why God permits good people to suffer. The Disciples of Christ thought that suffering was the result of sin in a life (John 9:2). The book of Job gives an entirely different reason for the suffering of Job. In this case, Job was being honoured by God. It was the truth that God could trust Job to remain faithful to God in spite of everything.

The book of Job is a simple one. It opens with a scene in heaven and then tells of Job’s fall from prosperity to poverty. This is followed by the great discussion between Job and his four friends: Eliphaz, the religious dogmatist, much like an ancient Pharisee; Bildad, who sought to comfort Job with worn-out platitudes; and Zophar, who thought he had corner on all religious wisdom. Then comes Elihu, the impetuous youth. Finally, the climax is reached when God speaks. Job answers, at last in a humble spirit, and the problem are solved.

God has a wise purpose in all of our suffering. God wants to show His manifold wisdom (Ephesians 3:10). He wants the trial of our faith to work patience. He wants to bring out the gold as by fire. He wants to reveal real character. Job’s friends, as thousands do today, made the mistake of thinking that all suffering was God’s way of punishing sin (job 4:7).

God allowed Stephen to be stoned (Acts 7:59) and Paul to have a thorn in his flesh to buffet him (2 Corinthians). Even Jesus knew suffering. Job had a conscience right toward God. He knew his heart was true and so he could accept the accusations of his friends. He finally could show them that their conclusion was wrong and that the wicked often prosper in this world (Job 24:6). When Job was in the midst of his anguish, he realized it is only the gold that is worth putting into the fire.

God kept dealing with Job till he came to the very end of himself hear him speak again, “Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, things too wonderful for me to know. My ears had heard of you but now my eyes have seen you. Therefore I despise myself and repent in dust and ashes” (Job 42:3-6). God turns the tide and his prosperity was given back to him doubles – twice much as many sheep and oxen, asses and camels. He rejoiced again in his sons and daughters, just as before.

Job was right with man and with God, and remember it was God who said this. “There is no one on earth like him” (Job 1:8). What an honor God gave to Job to use these words to describe him.

Trials and suffering are for our education and training. The athlete is not put under strict discipline for punishment, but merely to make him ready for the race. Christ is ever preparing us for the race that is set before us (Hebrews 12: 1-2). May the Spirit of God leads you to stay holy and faithful in the midst of the trials, temptations and tribulations you go through in life, to come out as pure gold and victorious in Jesus name.

An Advocate – Esther

Even though God’s name is not mentioned in the book of Esther, every page is full of God, who hides Himself behind every word. God has never left His people go in the past and He will never let them go in the future. He followed them in their captivity into Babylon. When the prophets were silent and the Temple closed, God was still standing guard.

Esther is like Joseph and David. God had each on hidden away for His purpose. When the day came, He brought them to the front to work out His plan. God hid Joseph away in a dungeon in Egypt, but when He was ready, He placed him in the position of prime minister of that country. God always has someone in reserve to fulfil His purposes. Sometimes it is a man like Joseph, or Moses. Sometimes it is a woman like Hannah, or Esther or Mary. Recall men in history such as Martin Luther and Billy Graham whom God seems to have prepared and kept for the hour.

King Ahasuerus of the story was Xerxes, the famous Persian monarch (485 – 465 BC). When the king and princes were in the midst of their drunken revelry, the king called for Vashti, the queen, so that he could show off her beauty. Vashti refused. This made the king a laughing stock. To defend himself, he deposed the queen (Esther 1: 12-22).

When Ahasuerus saw Esther, he made her his queen. The little Jewish orphan girl, raised by her cousin Mordecai, was lifted to the Persian throne. Esther’s marriage to Xerxes gave the Jews prestige at this court and made it possible for Nehemiah to rebuild Jerusalem (Nehemiah 2:1-8).

In Esther 3 to 5 we read of the ascendancy of a man by the name of Haman. He was a wicked man whose day of triumph was short and whose joy endured but for a moment. When Haman appears in the book of Esther, he had just been exalted to the highest position under the king of Persia (Esther 3:1). The high honour turned his head. He swelled with vanity and was bitterly humiliated when Mordecai, who was sitting at the gate, did not do homage to him as to the king (Esther 3:2). The little fault of Mordecai was magnified into a capital offense. Mordecai, a Jew, could not give divine honour to a man. Haman became so enraged that he wanted to have a wholesale massacre of all the Jews in the kingdom (Esther 3:6). Haman tried to prove to the king that all the Jews were disloyal subjects. He offered to pay the king a bribe of millions of dollars (Esther 3:9). The King signed a royal decree that meant that every Jewish man, woman and child should be killed and all their property should be taken, almost like that happened in Nazi regime. Esther 4: 1-3 saw the fasting and praying and weeping in sack cloth that took place among the Jews. Mordecai made Esther understand her position. “And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this” (Esther 4:14).

There is one thing to do always. Do what is right and leave the rest to God. God prepares people for emergencies. Failure is not sin, faithlessness is. There is a time to act.  We can see how the situation overturned and favoured Jews, how the King was not able to sleep and how Haman was trapped (Esther 6). When King granted Esther’s wish, Haman was hung on the very scaffold he had prepared for Mordecai, and Mordecai was elevated to the place of honor next to the king.

The book of Esther closes with the account of establishing the feast of Purim and lifting Mordecai to the place made vacant by Haman (Esther 10:3). It is a thanks giving day for the chosen people. Although they had forsaken God, He had spared them. Deliverance seems to be the keynote of Jewish history. God has always delivered this nation from danger and servitude. This book of Esther is an important link in a chain of events that tell of re-establishing the Hebrew nation in their own land in preparation of the coming of the Messiah into the world. The Jewish people had escaped extermination. It was God’s purpose that they should be preserved to bring forth the Saviour of the world.

The book opens with a feast of the world’s prince – Ahasuerus and closes with the feast of God’s prince – Mordecai. For a while Haman is exalted, at last, Mordecai. As you read this history, note the upsets in human history and the final triumph of God’s chosen people. Adolf Hitler tried to wipe out Jews from the world, and finally he committed suicide and Jews got their own land. Now Palestine, Iran and the Arab nations are trying to single Israel and destroy it, and we need to wait and see how God is going to destroy its enemies.

As New Israel, the same is applied to the believers. There will be time when opposition comes against you. As Esther and the Jews fasted and prayed, the book teaches us to fast and pray and see how God changes the opposition and favour us miraculously. May God help you to keep faith in him and see his glory in your life.