Day 7/4 – Responding in Obedience – Happy 4th of July

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Thoughts from the Diary of a Desperate Man by Walter A Henrichsen (“Walt”)
Responding in Obedience
Day One Hundred Eighty-five

“The official said to him, ‘Sir, come down before my child dies.’ Jesus said to him, ‘Go; your son will live.’ The man believed the word that Jesus spoke to him and went his way.” John 4:49-50

You will often find a conflict of interest in responding to God. The nobleman said, “Come with me.” Jesus responded, “Go alone.” You come to God in desperation and plead His help, wanting Him to do what you think needs done. God responds, “I will help you, but on My terms. I will decide what needs to be done.” Naaman the leper sought the help of God’s prophet Elisha. When Elisha told him what to do, Naaman was angry and said, “Behold, I thought that he would surely come out to me, and stand, and call on the name of the Lord his God, and wave his hand over the place, and cure the leper.”259 Elisha told him to wash in a dirty river.

When the nobleman entreated Jesus to help him, Jesus said, “Unless you see signs and wonders you will not believe.” Jesus tells the official that he needs to believe. All the nobleman wanted was for Jesus to heal his son. Believing was important to Jesus, unimportant to the nobleman. Thus the man was trapped: If he refused to go he would show that he didn’t believe Jesus. But if he went he would have no outward assurance that the boy would live. Remember, the official had no history of experiences with Jesus. In all probability this was their first encounter. He was forced to go with only the assurance of Jesus’ Word. Necessity compelled him to walk by faith.

So important is walking by faith to our Lord, that you will find Him often placing you in a position where you are forced to believe. You will find such times uncomfortable, but these are the moments when you learn to trust God.

259 II Kings 5:11

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Job 28-29 Acts 13:1-25 (New King James Version)

Job 28-29
Job’s Discourse on Wisdom
28
“Surely there is a mine for silver,
And a place where gold is refined.
2
Iron is taken from the [a]earth,
And copper is smelted from ore.
3
Man puts an end to darkness,
And searches every recess
For ore in the darkness and the shadow of death.
4
He breaks open a shaft away from people;
In places forgotten by feet
They hang far away from men;
They swing to and fro.
5
As for the earth, from it comes bread,
But underneath it is turned up as by fire;
6
Its stones are the source of sapphires,
And it contains gold dust.
7
That path no bird knows,
Nor has the falcon’s eye seen it.
8
The [b]proud lions have not trodden it,
Nor has the fierce lion passed over it.
9
He puts his hand on the flint;
He overturns the mountains [c]at the roots.
10
He cuts out channels in the rocks,
And his eye sees every precious thing.
11
He dams up the streams from trickling;
What is hidden he brings forth to light.
12
“But where can wisdom be found?
And where is the place of understanding?
13
Man does not know its value,
Nor is it found in the land of the living.
14
The deep says, ‘It is not in me’;
And the sea says, ‘It is not with me.’
15
It cannot be purchased for gold,
Nor can silver be weighed for its price.
16
It cannot be valued in the gold of Ophir,
In precious onyx or sapphire.
17
Neither gold nor crystal can equal it,
Nor can it be exchanged for [d]jewelry of fine gold.
18
No mention shall be made of [e]coral or quartz,
For the price of wisdom is above rubies.
19
The topaz of Ethiopia cannot equal it,
Nor can it be valued in pure gold.
20
“From where then does wisdom come?
And where is the place of understanding?
21
It is hidden from the eyes of all living,
And concealed from the birds of the [f]air.
22
Destruction[g] and Death say,
‘We have heard a report about it with our ears.’
23
God understands its way,
And He knows its place.
24
For He looks to the ends of the earth,
And sees under the whole heavens,
25
To establish a weight for the wind,
And apportion the waters by measure.
26
When He made a law for the rain,
And a path for the thunderbolt,
27
Then He saw [h]wisdom and declared it;
He prepared it, indeed, He searched it out.
28
And to man He said,
‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom,
And to depart from evil is understanding.’ ”
Job’s Summary Defense
29 Job further continued his discourse, and said:
2
“Oh, that I were as in months past,
As in the days when God watched over me;
3
When His lamp shone upon my head,
And when by His light I walked through darkness;
4
Just as I was in the days of my prime,
When the friendly counsel of God was over my tent;
5
When the Almighty was yet with me,
When my children were around me;
6
When my steps were bathed with [i]cream,
And the rock poured out rivers of oil for me!
7
“When I went out to the gate by the city,
When I took my seat in the open square,
8
The young men saw me and hid,
And the aged arose and stood;
9
The princes refrained from talking,
And put their hand on their mouth;
10
The voice of nobles was hushed,
And their tongue stuck to the roof of their mouth.
11
When the ear heard, then it blessed me,
And when the eye saw, then it approved me;
12
Because I delivered the poor who cried out,
The fatherless and the one who had no helper.
13
The blessing of a perishing man came upon me,
And I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.
14
I put on righteousness, and it clothed me;
My justice was like a robe and a turban.
15
I was eyes to the blind,
And I was feet to the lame.
16
I was a father to the poor,
And I searched out the case that I did not know.
17
I broke the fangs of the wicked,
And plucked the victim from his teeth.
18
“Then I said, ‘I shall die in my nest,
And multiply my days as the sand.
19
My root is spread out to the waters,
And the dew lies all night on my branch.
20
My glory is fresh within me,
And my bow is renewed in my hand.’
21
“Men listened to me and waited,
And kept silence for my counsel.
22
After my words they did not speak again,
And my speech settled on them as dew.
23
They waited for me as for the rain,
And they opened their mouth wide as for the spring rain.
24
If I mocked at them, they did not believe it,
And the light of my countenance they did not cast down.
25
I chose the way for them, and sat as chief;
So I dwelt as a king in the army,
As one who comforts mourners.
Footnotes:
• Job 28:2 Lit. dust
• Job 28:8 Lit. sons of pride, figurative of the great lions
• Job 28:9 At the base
• Job 28:17 vessels
• Job 28:18 Heb. ramoth
• Job 28:21 heaven
• Job 28:22 Heb. Abaddon
• Job 28:27 Lit. it
• Job 29:6 So with ancient vss. and a few Heb. mss. (cf. Job 20:17); MT wrath

Acts 13:1-25
Paul and Barnabas Are Sent to the Gentiles
13 Now in the church that was at Antioch there were certain prophets and teachers: Barnabas, Simeon who was called Niger, Lucius of Cyrene, Manaen who had been brought up with Herod the tetrarch, and Saul. 2 As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy Spirit said, “Now separate to Me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” 3 Then, having fasted and prayed, and laid hands on them, they sent them away.
Preaching in Cyprus
4 So, being sent out by the Holy Spirit, they went down to Seleucia, and from there they sailed to Cyprus. 5 And when they arrived in Salamis, they preached the word of God in the synagogues of the Jews. They also had John as their assistant.
6 Now when they had gone through [a]the island to Paphos, they found a certain sorcerer, a false prophet, a Jew whose name was Bar-Jesus, 7 who was with the proconsul, Sergius Paulus, an intelligent man. This man called for Barnabas and Saul and sought to hear the word of God. 8 But Elymas the sorcerer (for so his name is translated) [b]withstood them, seeking to turn the proconsul away from the faith. 9 Then Saul, who also is called Paul, filled with the Holy Spirit, looked intently at him 10 and said, “O full of all deceit and all fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease perverting the straight ways of the Lord? 11 And now, indeed, the hand of the Lord is upon you, and you shall be blind, not seeing the sun for a time.”
And immediately a dark mist fell on him, and he went around seeking someone to lead him by the hand. 12 Then the proconsul believed, when he saw what had been done, being astonished at the teaching of the Lord.
At Antioch in Pisidia
13 Now when Paul and his party set sail from Paphos, they came to Perga in Pamphylia; and John, departing from them, returned to Jerusalem. 14 But when they departed from Perga, they came to Antioch in Pisidia, and went into the synagogue on the Sabbath day and sat down. 15 And after the reading of the Law and the Prophets, the rulers of the synagogue sent to them, saying, “Men and brethren, if you have any word of [c]exhortation for the people, say on.”
16 Then Paul stood up, and motioning with his hand said, “Men of Israel, and you who fear God, listen: 17 The God of this people [d]Israel chose our fathers, and exalted the people when they dwelt as strangers in the land of Egypt, and with [e]an uplifted arm He brought them out of it. 18 Now for a time of about forty years He put up with their ways in the wilderness. 19 And when He had destroyed seven nations in the land of Canaan, He distributed their land to them by allotment.
20 “After that He gave them judges for about four hundred and fifty years, until Samuel the prophet. 21 And afterward they asked for a king; so God gave them Saul the son of Kish, a man of the tribe of Benjamin, for forty years. 22 And when He had removed him, He raised up for them David as king, to whom also He gave testimony and said, ‘I have found David the son of Jesse, a man after My own heart, who will do all My will.’ 23 From this man’s seed, according to the promise, God raised up for Israel a[f] Savior—Jesus— 24 after John had first preached, before His coming, the baptism of repentance to all the people of Israel. 25 And as John was finishing his course, he said, ‘Who do you think I am? I am not He. But behold, there comes One after me, the sandals of whose feet I am not worthy to loose.’
Footnotes:
• Acts 13:6 NU the whole island
• Acts 13:8 opposed
• Acts 13:15 encouragement
• Acts 13:17 M omits Israel
• Acts 13:17 Mighty power
• Acts 13:23 M salvation, after