Sunday, October 12, 2008 “Then there rose up a new King in Egypt"

Sunday, October 12, 2008

“Then there rose up a new King in Egypt"

First From Julie's Keyboard:

Today as I was leaving town, I got behind a vehicle that was somewhat between what you would call a van and a bus combined. It was interesting enough to observe as one window on the back was apparently broken as it was covered with a clear plastic of some sort.

There was indica on the back saying that the vehicle sported a family with eight children. A cute Christian fish symbol was on the back with eight of the same in a smaller size. The remark that etched in my mind as I was taking all of this in said, "A good father will be there for his children."

Wouldn't you know how that would set the wheels turning for me. Yes. A good father is there for his children. I have an excellent earthly father. Just yesterday I was blessed to spend a bit of time with him while he and I picked some grapes and muscadines from his plenteous bounty. I know what it is to say that my earthly father has indeed been there for me, as well as being there for my other three siblings. Thank you, Dad. I love you.

In speaking of fathers, this can be a painful experience for many who may read. Who knows the percentages of fathers absent from the lives of their children? As numerous as the reasons may be, there's bound to be a level of pain with each.

Yet, there's good news! We may all have access to the Father of father's. He is Jehovah, God. Our heavenly Father. He's promised to never leave or forsake us. Though one may experience losses in this life in the area of paternal care, our Father God can and will make up any insufficiency of any nature. Not only will He fill in the gaps, He will bless in overly abundant measures if He is asked to do so.

If it's counsel that's needed, He's certainly there with the Wisdom. If it's discipline that's needed, He knows exactly the right measure to be taken. If it's material needs that aren't quite met, He has an abundant storehouse. If it's love missing from one's life, that's exactly what He Is. We could go on and on and find that anything we could possibly think of that we might need, is found in Him.

A great study to pursue is the names of God. The seven attributes of Jehovah will give us an exstensive picture of all that He is. It's just so much information that one would be challenged to take it all in. That's just how big He is. He can't be contained. Nothing is big enough to hold Him, yet He chooses to live within the heart of each of us who will ask Him to be Lord of our lives. Awesome thought, isn't it?

Should something seem to be missing from our lives, we must check on our relationship with our Father. He fulfills every emptiness. He drives away every discontent. We must focus our thoughts and words on Him and bring Him worthy praise. As we practice this conduct with our Father, we grow in greater measure of our understanding of this precious relationship we have with Him.

As good and precious as our earthly fathers are and can be, they can't be there for us always and in every circumstance. But, the awesome thing is; our Father, God can and will if we trust Him with our life.

I'm happy today to be part of such a royal family. I've nothing to fear. My Father is always there.

Do you know He's there for you today too?

Blessings,

Julie
Scripture References:

I John 3:1-2 "Behold, what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God: therefore the world knoweth us not, because it knew him not. Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is."

Psalm 37:28 "For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved forever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off."

Psalm 27:10 "When my father and my mother forsake me, then the LOrd will take me up."

Hebrew 13:5 "Let your conservation be without covetousness; and be content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee."
El Shaddai (Lord God Almighty)

El Elyon (The Most High God)

Adonai (Lord, Master)

Yahweh (Lord, Jehovah)

Jehovah Nissi (The Lord My Banner)

Jehovah-Raah (The Lord My Shepherd)

Jehovah Rapha (The Lord That Heals)

Jehovah Shammah (The Lord Is There)

Jehovah Tsidkenu (The Lord Our Righteousness)

Jehovah Mekoddishkem (The Lord Who Sanctifies You)

El Olam (The Everlasting God)

Elohim (God)

Qanna (Jealous)

Jehovah Jireh (The Lord Will Provide)

Jehovah Shalom (The Lord Is Peace)

Jehovah Sabaoth (The Lord of Hosts)

__________________________

"Then there rose up a new King in Egypt"

I was reading in the book of Exodus yesterday evening and came across verse 8 in chapter 1. “Then there rose up a new King in Egypt, who knew not Joseph.” I have known this story for all my adult life and read it numerous times before.

But as that phase past my thoughts, this time it occurred to me what had happened. They had forgot their history! You see Egypt had grown and prospered because of the religious influence of Joseph and his family and God’s favor upon them.

Through the wisdom imparted to Joseph, Egypt escaped a great famine in the land and was able not only to preserve itself but the nations around them.

But time past and in their prosperity they slowly began to forget the source of their greatness, even to the point they began to fear the very thing that had given them strength. Why is it do you suppose that we forget so soon?

At one point in time something can mean so much to us, something so profound that others around us marvel, then in the process of time we began to grow distant, we still remember, but the passion has been replaced with simply knowledge.

Then as time proceeds even the knowledge begins to fad away, till there rises up a new generation who new not our history. Now the foundations which lie at our roots, our strength and greatness, are all but forgotten and a new generation with new ideas arise.

New ideas are wonderful, they keep us fresh and excited, flavor our lives and prosper our society. But new ideas must be laid upon some foundation, therein lies the danger, forgetting our foundation, the principle aspect of who we are and what we are doing. Egypt forgot that, it cost them dearly.

There are fundamental principles upon which all that is good and right are built, these principles deal with who we are and establish what we will become, new and fresh ideas built upon these principles will prosper us and cause us to increase and fulfill our destiny, those laid elsewhere will cause us to stumble and lose our way.

Lets take a moment to remember some of these principles, you know, the one’s our founders were moved and influenced by, governed their lives by, established their families upon, established our laws according to and upheld by, the principles that once permeated our society and formed our culture.

These lie at our foundation, all that we are as Americans rest upon these fundamental pillars. Lets look and see if our new ideas are being built upon them, or perhaps if we in the process of time we are losing our way and forgetting who we are and what we are to be about.

"The government of God is the only government which will hold society, against depravity within and temptation without; and this it must do by the force of its own law written upon the heart.

This is that unity of the Spirit and that bond of peace which can alone perpetuate national purity and tranquility, that law of universal and impartial love by which alone nations can be kept back from ruin. There is no safety for republics but in self-government, under the influence of a holy heart, swayed by the government of God." ---- Lyman Beecher (1775- 1863). 1831, in a newspaper article he wrote entitled, "The Spirit of the Pilgrims."

One of Abraham Lincoln’s earliest political enemies was Edward Stanton. In one speech he called Lincoln a “low, cunning clown.” In another he said, “It’s ridiculous to go to Africa to see a gorilla when you can find one just as easily in Springfield, Illinois.”

Yet Lincoln never responded. When he was elected President and needed a Secretary of War, guess who he chose? Edward Stanton.

When friends asked why, Lincoln said, “Because he’s the best man for the job.”

Years later as the slain President’s body lay in state, Edward Stanton looked into the casket and said through his tears, “There lies the greatest ruler of men the world has ever seen.”

His animosity had been broken by Lincoln’s long suffering, non-retaliatory spirit.

1922 Iowa Supreme Court rejected the assertion that only one side of the Decalogue was important to American law, declaring:

The observance of Sunday is one of our established customs. It has come down to us from the same Decalogue that prohibited murder, adultery, perjury, and theft. It is more ancient than our common law or our form of government. It is recognized by Constitutions and legislative enactments, both State and federal. On this day Legislatures adjourn, courts cease to function, business is suspended, and nation-wide our citizens cease from labor.

ABRAHAM LINCOLN, 16th President of the United States: In proclaining a National Fast Day, March 30, 1863. "It is the duty of nations as well as of men to own their dependence upon the overruling power of God, to confess their sins and transgressions in humble sorrow and to recongnize the sublime truth, announced in the Holy Scriptures and proven by all history: that those nations only are blessed whose God is the Lord."

"We have been the recipients of the choicest bounties of Heaven. We have been preserved these many years in peace and prosperity. We have grown in numbers, wealth and power as no other nation has ever grown. But we have forgotten God.

We have forgotten the gracious Hand which preserved us in peace, and multiplied and enriched and strengthened us; and we have vainly imagined, in the deceitfulness of our hearts, that all these blessings were produced by some superior wisdom and virtue of our own.

Intoxicated with unbroken success, we have become to self-sufficient to feel the necessity of redeeming and proserving grace, too proud to pray to the God that made us! It behooves us then to humble ourselves before the offended Power, to confess our national sins and to pray for clemency and forgiveness."

(An atheist group has now filed a federal suit over the law that designates a National Day of Prayer.) - - - - OneNewsNow - 10/11/2008 4:15:00 AM
SAMUEL ADAMS, signer of the Declaration of independence: "May every citizen in the army and in the country have a proper sense of the Deity upon his mind and an impression of the declaration recorded in the Bible, "Him that honoreth me I will honor, but he that despiseth me shall be lightly esteemed."

ANDREW JACKSON, 7th President of the United States, referring to the Bible: "That book , Sir, is the Rock upon which our republic rests.

HOUSE JUDICIARY COMMITTEE, 1854: "The great vital and conservative element in our system is the belief of our people in the pure doctrines and divine truths of the gospel of Jesus Christ."

U.S. SUPREME COURT, Church of the Holy Trinity v. United States (1892): "Our laws and our institutions must necessarily be based upon and embody the teachings of the Redeemer of mankind. It is impossible that it should be otherwise; and in this sense and to this extent our civilization and our institutions are emphatically Christian."

Abraham Lincoln warned in 1837, "At what point then is the approach of danger to be expected? I answer, if it ever reach us, it must spring up amongst us; it cannot come from abroad. If destruction be our lot we must ourselves be its author and finisher. As a nation of freemen we must live through all time, or die by suicide."

The hope lies not in the restoration of America’s former grandeur, but in the restoration of America's original purpose as "one nation under God."

May God bless each of you,
David