My thoughts in the season of Lent

We successfully completed meditating on the chapters in 1st and 2nd Chronicles in our church.

We started on Ash Wednesday, quite some time ago in the month of March and every day we gathered and met up in the evenings. Two hours of dedicated time for praise and worship, reading Bible, exposition and prayer. These two hours were the best hours of the day.

Initially there were only a few people who came, but as the days went by, many people joined the group. Last Saturday, the count was more than 80. No one forces any one to come/attend, it’s purely on their own convenience.

We started focusing on the books of 1^st and 2^nd Chronicles. On Ash Wednesday, we were introduced to the summary of these books, the author, the key themes and such information. 1^st Chronicles – chapter 28:9 is the key verse in that book, whereas 2 Chronicles 7:14 remains the key for the 2^nd book.

We meditated on these chapters every day. Many of our church members took turns to read the Word of God and come prepared so that we may be able to tell others. This exercise helped the person to speak well and to prepare well, as he/she has to teach to others.

Almost everyone from the church spoke, it was a wonderful feeling that each and every person called on the name of the Lord. After the message, people used to pray with earnestness and great desire.

In spite of busy schedules of people, many made it to the prayers in the evening.

Let me now try to focus on the two key themes in the two books – 1 Chronicles and 2 Chronicles.

1 Chronicles 28:9 “And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever.”

In this verse we read how David admonishes his son Solomon. He tell Solomon to Acknowledge the God of your father. How wonderful is to acknowledge God in our lives. There are a few important principles he is trying to tell us:

• Acknowledge the God of your father
• Serve him with whole hearted devotion
• Serve him with a willing mind
• The Lord searches every heart
• The Lord understand every desire and every thought
• We need to seek him and he will be found by us
• If we forsake him, He will reject us forever.

2 Chronicles 7:14 “if my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land.”

Even in the 2 Chronicles 7:14, we find that this is the key verse of the chapter. Let us divide:

• If my people
• Who are called by my name
• Humble themselves
• Pray and seek the face of the Lord
• Turn from their wicked ways
• I will hear from heaven
• I will forgive their sin
• I will heal their land

Ephphatha - Be Opened!!!

Mark 7:34 “He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, "Ephphatha!" (which means "Be opened!").”

We can read the entire portion in order to understand the concept. Let’s read from Verses 31 – 35

“31 Then Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of the Decapolis.[a] 32 There some people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk, and they begged Jesus to place his hand on him.

33 After he took him aside, away from the crowd, Jesus put his fingers into the man’s ears. Then he spit and touched the man’s tongue. 34 He looked up to heaven and with a deep sigh said to him, “Ephphatha!” (which means “Be opened!”). 35 At this, the man’s ears were opened, his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.”

We see the context in the above verses. Jesus left the vicinity of Tyre and went through a town called Sidon, down to the Sea of Galilee and into the region of Decapolis. We also read in other gospels that Jesus went to the region of Decapolis once before in his life time. This is the second time he is going to that town.

We further read that a few people brought to him a man who was deaf and could hardly talk. They also begged Jesus to place his hand on the man and heal him. We see that the people had faith on Jesus and wanted Jesus to do good to that man who was deaf and dumb. One point that we observe here is that Jesus took him aside, away from the crowd and he put his fingers into the man’s ears. Till then it is ok, but he further spit and touched the man’s tongue. How could he do that… there are no reasons. If we trust the ‘who’ we would not ask the question ‘why’? So, here we find Jesus looking up to heaven and with a deep sign saying to him ‘Ephphatha’. This word means ‘be opened’. Immediately, the next verse says that the man’s ears were opened, and his tongue was loosened and he began to speak plainly.

What a wonderful thing Jesus did in that man’s life that day. He spoke a word and it happened. It is so true, right from the beginning of creation, that whenever he spoke a word, it came to pass. He ordered things to happen and they were formed. What a mighty God we have. Many a times, we take him for granted and we neglect him, but we need to understand that God loves us and he speaks to us.

Let us now explore into this topic a bit further and understand more in detail.

In 2 Corinthians 4: 4, it says “The god of this age has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” We see from the scripture that the god of this age, that is Satan, has blinded the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ. We need to understand that there is something which hinders people to see the light. It is not that the light is not shining, the light is always there, but the people of the world are unable to see it. For example, the stars are always there in the sky, but we see them only at night. We cannot say that the stars vanished, no, it is just that something else has taken prominence and the stars are not to be seen by us. There is a problem with our vision and not with the stars. In the same way, there is problem with the vision of the people of this world. We need to pray that the Lord should open their eyes and show them the true nature of God.

1 John 2:11 says “But anyone who hates a brother or sister is in the darkness and walks around in the darkness. They do not know where they are going, because the darkness has blinded them.” People are walking in darkness and they do not know where they are going, because darkness has blinded them.

We also see in John 12: 35 where Jesus told them, “You are going to have the light just a little while longer. Walk while you have the light, before darkness overtakes you. Whoever walks in the dark does not know where they are going. This is the same essence of the earlier verse that we saw. Also in other parts of the Bible we see that Jesus is telling the Pharisees as blind guides. Matt 15:14 “Leave them; they are blind guides.[a] If the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” And similarly, in Luke 6:39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit?. From this we understand that Jesus is very serious when it comes to sight. He does not want all of us to be in darkness. He can give light, but it is we that are blinded and would like to continue in the darkness.

Let us move further into the topic and see in what areas Jesus is willing to help us.

1.       From God’s judgment – Ephphatha. We can read Numbers 22:31 and Numbers 24:2,3,4, to understand this further.

2.       From our needs – Ephphatha. We can read Genesis 21:19 how God did a miracle in the wilderness

3.       From our fights/battles – Ephphatha. We read in II Kings 6:17 how God opened the servant Gehazi’s sight and see victory.

4.       From our fears and discouragement – Ephphatha. We read in Luke 24:31 and in 1 Cor 13:12

5.       From the future bad days – Ephphatha. We read in Luke 19:41, 42 and in II Kings 8:11, 12 about this.

From all this we understand that Jesus wants us to be liberated and free. He doesn’t want us to be under the yoke of Satan and he wants us to be delivered from sin and bondage.

He is ready to say ‘Ephphatha’, but are we willing to take that from Jesus?

My experience with 1 Chronicles in the Bible

First Chronicles - Chapter 20

I never knew that Chronicles was so interesting until in our church we started meditating on these chapters every day. We belong to a church which follows Lenten season and we gather every day in the evening for an hour or two to sing and read the word of God. It all started on one Wednesday, also called Ash Wednesday. We gathered and we were told that we would be concentrating on reading from 1 and 2 Chronicles. We thought it would not be interesting at all, yes, reading stories in the Bible is good and reading other books such as Proverbs or New Testament writings is good, but what would Chronicles offer us.

We were all a little apprehensive in the initial stages, but as we went on reading, we found that the Lord God has a special plan for us and he wants us to read and understand his word, whether it be from Chronicles or any other book.

We took this seriously and started meditating chapter by chapter every day.

Surprisingly, every person in the congregation is very interested and they are reading in advance and coming prepared to the services. It is not that you can say something and everyone listens, they are all reading in advance and are coming prepared for a new revelation from the word. This is a bigger responsibility, now that you have to share from the Word of God, a dry subject and make it interesting and learn some practical applications.

I thank God for the church we attend, each and every person is doing the same. They are reading and when their time approaches to share the word, they are getting prepared thoroughly.

After saying all this, I would like to share some points from chapter 20. I was asked to share some points about this chapter and I did not have a clue as to what I should share from just 8 verses.

But as I read more from the word of God, I started realizing that there are many more hidden truths in the verses and I need to study more. I went to different commentaries, of which Henry’s commentary was very helpful to me. I quickly took to the text as a fish takes to water and started getting myself involved in the verses… very soon I found out that there is more under the hood than that which is stated in just the above 8 verses. Not to be heretical or skeptical, but I was cautious and asking the Lord to reveal the inner truths … I was reminded of the verse in the book of John that the Truth will set you free and that Jesus is the truth… how comforting this thought was… so in pursuit of truth I set out reading the 20^th chapter.

Let me now lay down my understanding of the concept in the given 8 verses.

1 And it came to pass, that after the year was expired, at the time that kings go out to battle, Joab led forth the power of the army, and wasted the country of the children of Ammon, and came and besieged Rabbah. But David tarried at Jerusalem. And Joab smote Rabbah, and destroyed it.

In the first verse, it says ‘and it came to pass’… I stopped immediately at the very phrase. In the Bible I find in many places this phrase which says ‘and it came to pass’. Yes, how true it is. Everything will come to pass one day. Nothing is permanent and nothing is forever, we need to keep this in mind when we look at everything that belongs to this world. We need to be cautious as to how we approach the worldly things. We might get too attached to them and might forget the eternal truths… let us always remember that everything will come to pass and it is the word of God that stands forever. In spite of knowing such eternal truths, somehow, we do not want to acknowledge it and we do not want to accept it.

In the same verse, I read that it said, ‘…at the time that kings go to battle, but David tarried at Jerusalem.’ This is a really intriguing and interesting verse. At the time when kings go for battle, King David also should have been in the battle field. He should have led the army and have brought victory to Israel. He should have been a leader by showing through his example. Here, sadly, we find that he is at home and he is taking rest. It is not mentioned in this chapter, but we can find the sad story of David in II Samuel 11^th and 12^th chapters. Oh, how I wish that David is in the battle field. Oh, how I wish that we all like David be in the battle field and not on the terrace watching something that we should not watch.

There is a wide gap between the first verse and the second verse. The story, though not mentioned here, for other purposes, is still a warning to us that Idle mind is a devil’s workshop. In the Book of Matthew, 12^th chapter, it is mentioned that when a demon is gone out of a person/house, it goes out and finds no place to rest. It roams in all places and then comes to see the same place where it left. When it finds to be empty and unoccupied, it goes out and calls 7 more demons that are more dangerous than him and they enter into the person/house. The Bible says that the latter part will be worse than the beginning of that person. Oh, how true it is. We need to be careful as to how we keep our minds. If we keep it idle, definitely, we can be assured that demons will come and rule you.

That is the main reason, why we need to keep ourselves occupied with the word of God and prayer and fellowship. In fact, it is for our own good that the Lord has given us fellowship.

Let us know recapitulate what David did when he tarried at Jerusalem. He could have worshipped the Lord, he could have played and enjoyed with his family. He could have done so many things, but when he went on the terrace one day, he found a woman bathing. He could not turn away his eyes and the Bible says that he lusted after her. In his lust, he does all bad things. How strange it is that when is overcome by something, he/she forgets reasoning and logic. Here, we find David doing all the things are against the heart of the Lord. The person who was called ‘a man after God’s own heart’ was doing things that are against God’s heart. How pathetic the condition of man when he falls in sin and tries to cover it up.

David tried every way to cover his sin, in fact he goes to such an extent that he gets Uriah drunk and tries sending him to his house, but even in the drunken state, Uriah was making sense, and David, though not drunk physically, was in the wrong. Sin skews our perception. It makes us see gray areas and loopholes and then tries to blame others and do all the bad things.

David now things of murdering Uriah, so his mind starts scheming things which are not right for a person of such stature.

Lesson learnt:

1.       Do not be idle. Idle mind is a devil’s workshop. Inundate yourself with the word of God and be filled with the Holy Spirit, then you will not entertain evil thoughts.