Title: Worship on Wednesday, July 6, Our Integrity (Temperament)
Contents
wednesday worship
Jacob's temperament (our character) (Hos 11:12-12:14) 1267
If a person, who did not know God and acted like a monster of idols, heard the gospel and came to believe in Jesus, this would not only be a surprise, but could even be called a miracle. However, more important than these things is that the person who believes in Jesus will grow up and change in a way that is pleasing to God.
Many people today are well aware of the importance of believing in Jesus. However, they seem to be unaware of the fact that growing up in faith is just as important as believing in Jesus.
What does the history of Israel show in the Old Testament?
Although the people of Israel were God's chosen people, when they were not changed by God's word, they were ultimately called God's people, but they had to be destroyed.
There are many factors that hinder growth and change as God's people, but one of them is the person's temperament.
The stronger the temperament and the more false you are, the more you will inevitably receive the scourge of God's discipline. If this happens, the person will complain and lament, complaining, why is it that I do not receive the blessings that everyone else receives, but instead, only trials and pains continue in a row.
This is how the Bible describes the unrealized state of Israel.
The text is Hosea 11:12.
“Ephraim has surrounded me with lies, and the house of Israel with deceit, and Judah is without judgment toward God, the faithful and holy.”
When God saw the Israelites, what they were doing was surrounding God with lies and deceit.
Whether people are good at lying, good at stealing, or industrious, each has its own strengths and weaknesses.
However, when you see someone who lies, most of the time, they lie unintentionally at first, ‘as we do’. But the problem is that they lie again to hide the lie.
Later, the lies grow like a snowball and become unmanageable. This is the same as being surrounded by lies and deceitfulness in verse 12.
However, those who do not know it may be deceived, but to those who know all the truth, they all know that this wicked human lies again. making it impossible.
That's exactly what the Israelites did. Even though God already knew the state of the people of Israel, they tried to deceive them with lies even about everything they knew.
As long as you apologize honestly to Heavenly Father, you can receive forgiveness, but when you keep blaming others and try to blame others, God did not want to deal with such peoples or individuals any more.
What God wanted the Israelites to do was not difficult.
All they had to do was entrust their lives to God correctly and fulfill their assigned missions. God repeatedly promised to hold them accountable if they did so, but Israel did not obey.
Read chapter 12 verse 2 together. “The LORD will contend with Judah, and will punish Jacob according to his deeds, and recompense him according to his deeds.”
Looking at the history of Israel in the Old Testament, we come to realize that what is more difficult than becoming God's people is living rightly as God's people.
In the end, they, Israel, failed to live as God's people.
What is the cause? If we are to live as God's people, we must be humble while acknowledging that everything is God's grace, but we have not been able to do this easy and simple thing. Because of this, they could not be recognized as God's people.
Jacob was the person who showed the people of Israel very well.
Chapter 12 verse 3. “Jacob held his brother’s heel in his mother’s womb, and he wrestled with God by strength.”
The Bible details Jacob's wrestling with God from the moment he held his brother's heel when he was born.
When we look at Jacob's life, he looks exactly the same when he was born and after he grew up.
He is self-centered and obsessive, so once he grabs hold of it, he never lets go.
As long as Jacob made a decision, he would do whatever he could to accomplish what he set out to do. But God was so desperate when he saw Jacob living like that.
Because God wanted Jacob to believe in God and live everything centered on God. If he did that, he was going to bless those around him through Jacob, but Jacob did not realize this.
This is the last word in verse 3. ‘And in strength, contend with God’
Jacob had a life-or-death wrestling in the middle of the night, and only then did he know that the man who had wrestled with him was Jacob, the God of Bethel who loved him.
Verse 4, “He wrestled with the angel, and overcame, wept and made supplication to him, and God found him at Bethel, and there he spoke to us.”
Why did Jacob weep and pray to him?
Because they knew that the other person was God. Because he could no longer hide or hide his dirty and ugly nature.
How many people around us live with bad temperament or toughness like Jacob? As you know, these people never try to admit or expose their weaknesses in front of others. Jacob's life was like that.
However, after meeting God, Jacob exposes all his weak points.
God made Himself, and He already knows what I am in now. How can I deceive myself with a lie?
This is verse 6. “Therefore, turn to your God, and keep kindness and justice, and always look to your God.”
Today, the way for our nation, nation, and individuals to live is to return to God as Jacob did.
It is to come back and look to God while keeping kindness and justice.
I'm running out of time, so I'll continue next Wednesday.
The prayer topics we all shared in the weekly newsletter
“Please help me to look to heaven and live according to your word”
Pray together with sincerity.