What God is like.

Do you know what God is like?

Get God right?

Originally wrttien 12/23/11

https://soundcloud.com/wkbode/theology101

Psalm 144:3-4

3 O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them, mere mortals that you should think about them?4 For they are like a breath of air; their days are like a passing shadow.

Psalm 144 http://www.youversion.com/bible/nlt/ps/144/3-4

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The impact of this passage depends to some extent on your theology. Simply,

Do you correctly understand  who and what God is?

God is eternal! That is, God has always been and will always be. God is above and outside of time and space. He can enter time and space as we know but unlike us God exists equally beyond past, present, and future.

God is life. All that is life comes from God and is sustained by God. There is no life without God. God is described with some accuracy by three uncommon words, omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.

We say God is omnipotent and by that we mean God has all power. No person, being, or circumstance is beyond the power of God. God or particular members of the God head (Father, Son, or Holy Spirit) do at times choose to work within certain relationships and rules that voluntarily appear to limit his power.

God is everywhere. That is not to say that everything is a God. That is to say that you can be nowhere in heaven or earth that God is absent. You can not escape the presence of God. God's presence is experienced by his grace in greater or lesser ways. But be assured God is there. Rejoice when you are blessed with a greater sense of his presence or if and when he chooses to display his presence in a more physical way. The fact that we know God is everywhere is described as God's omnipresence.

Lastly, God knows everything! Not only is God everywhere but he is aware of everything all at once. Not only all that can be observed by us but in every sense. God knows the thoughts and intents of every heart. All movements and motives of all things are within his knowledge. God not only knows the fact but he also understands everything. God is all wise. His knowledge exists perfectly within his perfect wisdom.

We say sometimes that God is other. What we mean by this is that God is beyond us. Unlike us. God is perfect. He is so different from us as to invoke the Psalmist to say, "O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them.." Do you regard God as awesome? For he is! Do you think sometimes that you know better than God how to rule this world, run the show, fix the situation, treat the just or unjust? You do not know better than God!

God has done no wrong and you have. He saw you. He knows your heart. He was there. So it is even more compelling to read the last verse of this
Psalm, "15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!

Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD." So this verse says you will have a joy in life if you live like you understand that God is in charge! The verse says, God is the Lord! By all definitions God is indeed the Lord. But do you live as if God is the Lord? Do you see him as the source of all life? Your judge and provider. Do you  humble yourself and respond like verses 3 and 4 with a humility of recognition that God is greater and God is good? Isn't this all the more amazing when you then read that God becomes a babe and comes to live and die among us? How much greater is the overwhelming "otherness" of God when you grasp he entered into this world as a man. Lived as a helpless child. Suffered humiliation. And he did all this to rescue a rebellious people. Who are you that GOD would have done that for you?

Psalm 144
A psalm of David.
1 Praise the LORD, who is my rock.
He trains my hands for war
and gives my fingers skill for battle.2 He is my loving ally and my fortress,
my tower of safety, my rescuer.
He is my shield, and I take refuge in him.
He makes the nations submit to me.3 O LORD, what are human beings that you should notice them,
mere mortals that you should think about them?4 For they are like a breath of air;
their days are like a passing shadow.5 Open the heavens, LORD, and come down.
Touch the mountains so they billow smoke.6 Hurl your lightning bolts and scatter your enemies!
Shoot your arrows and confuse them!7 Reach down from heaven and rescue me;
rescue me from deep waters,
from the power of my enemies.8 Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.9 I will sing a new song to you, O God!
I will sing your praises with a ten-stringed harp.10 For you grant victory to kings!
You rescued your servant David from the fatal sword.11 Save me!
Rescue me from the power of my enemies.
Their mouths are full of lies;
they swear to tell the truth, but they lie instead.12 May our sons flourish in their youth
like well-nurtured plants.
May our daughters be like graceful pillars,
carved to beautify a palace.13 May our barns be filled
with crops of every kind.
May the flocks in our fields multiply by the thousands,
even tens of thousands,14 and may our oxen be loaded down with produce.
May there be no enemy breaking through our walls,
no going into captivity,
no cries of alarm in our town squares.15 Yes, joyful are those who live like this!
Joyful indeed are those whose God is the LORD.

God isn't playing God, He is God

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Awaiting His return!

God isn't playing God, He is God

Originally posted on Google Groups 1/10/12
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For the LORD hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites. So they were completely destroyed without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses. Joshua 11:20

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Joshua 11 is an uncomfortable chapter to read, especially if you do not want to accept God as good and right.

We want to make God in our own image--not even a true image of ourselves but a made-up, false God.

God fights for his people. God utterly destroys the enemies of his people. God does not want his people to trust in the might of military technology. God  required his people to disable it all, the horses and the chariots.

God controls the hearts of the enemies.

God demands obedience from his people. A couple little footnotes: Joshua and Caleb were the two spies who forty years previous had said God would give them the land, but the other ten spies said the land was too hard to conquer because of the walled cities and the giants.

Chapter eleven here is telling us that the giants are no more in the conquered areas of the land. The descendants of Anak were the giants and now they are gone except in the surrounding areas. We hear more of the giants later, when a boy slays the last of them.

But this chapter here (Joshua 11) is full of war, slaughter, genocide, animal crippling, looting, destruction of cultures, men, woman, and children, killed, and kings killed. This was all done as God had instructed. This was God's plan. This plan was God's plan for over 40 years, in fact for nearly 500 years, since Abraham. Can you trust this God? Can you accept that this is the way God works? Can you praise God for doing this? God's wrath is not a thing of the past. There is coming wrath; it is being stored up, and these are the ways God unleashes his wrath.

We must see God for who he is and fear him, love him and trust Him. 

God has not changed. He is the same now as he was then.

EN
Joshua Chapter 11

Israel Defeats the Northern Armies

1 When King Jabin of Hazor heard what had happened, he sent messages to the following kings: King Jobab of Madon; the king of Shimron; the king of Acshaph;2 all the kings of the northern hill country; the kings in the Jordan Valley south of Galileet; the kings in the Galilean foothillst; the kings of Naphoth-dor on the west;

3 the kings of Canaan, both east and west; the kings of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Jebusites in the hill country, and the Hivites in the towns on the slopes of Mount Hermon in the land of Mizpah.
4 All these kings came out to fight. Their combined armies formed a vast horde. And with all their horses and chariots, they covered the landscape like the sand on the seashore.

5 The kings joined forces and established their camp around the water near Merom to fight against Israel.

6 Then the LORD said to Joshua, “Do not be afraid of them. By this time tomorrow I will hand all of them over to Israel as dead men. Then you must cripple their horses and burn their chariots.”
7 So Joshua and all his fighting men traveled to the water near Merom and attacked suddenly.8 And the LORD gave them victory over their enemies. The Israelites chased them as far as Greater Sidon and Misrephoth-maim, and eastward into the valley of Mizpah, until not one enemy warrior was left alive.

9 Then Joshua crippled the horses and burned all the chariots, as the LORD had instructed.
10 Joshua then turned back and captured Hazor and killed its king. (Hazor had at one time been the capital of all these kingdoms.)

11 The Israelites completely destroyed every living thing in the city, leaving no survivors. Not a single person was spared. And then Joshua burned the city.
12 Joshua slaughtered all the other kings and their people, completely destroying them, just as Moses, the servant of the LORD, had commanded.13 But the Israelites did not burn any of the towns built on mounds except Hazor, which Joshua burned.14 And the Israelites took all the plunder and livestock of the ravaged towns for themselves. But they killed all the people, leaving no survivors.

15 As the LORD had commanded his servant Moses, so Moses commanded Joshua. And Joshua did as he was told, carefully obeying all the commands that the LORD had given to Moses.
16 So Joshua conquered the entire region—the hill country, the entire Negev, the whole area around the town of Goshen, the western foothills, the Jordan Valley,t the mountains of Israel, and the Galilean foothills.17 The Israelite territory now extended all the way from Mount Halak, which leads up to Seir in the south, as far north as Baal-gad at the foot of Mount Hermon in the valley of Lebanon. Joshua killed all the kings of those territories,18 waging war for a long time to accomplish this.19 No one in this region made peace with the Israelites except the Hivites of Gibeon. All the others were defeated.

20 For the LORD hardened their hearts and caused them to fight the Israelites. So they were completely destroyed without mercy, as the LORD had commanded Moses.
21 During this period Joshua destroyed all the descendants of Anak, who lived in the hill country of Hebron, Debir, Anab, and the entire hill country of Judah and Israel. He killed them all and completely destroyed their towns.

22 None of the descendants of Anak were left in all the land of Israel, though some still remained in Gaza, Gath, and Ashdod.

23 So Joshua took control of the entire land, just as the LORD had instructed Moses. He gave it to the people of Israel as their special possession, dividing the land among the tribes. So the land finally had rest from war.

NL

Jozua 11
Israël overwint vele volken
1 Toen koning Jabin van Hazor hoorde wat er allemaal was gebeurd, stuurde hij een dringende boodschap naar koning Jobab van Madon, de koning van Simron, de koning van Achsaf,2 alle koningen van het noordelijke bergland, de koningen van de Vlakte, ten zuiden van Kinneroth, de koningen van de laaggelegen gebieden, de koningen van het bergachtige gebied van Dor in het westen,3 de koningen van Kanaän, zowel uit het oosten als uit het westen, de koningen van de Amorieten, Hethieten en Perizzieten, de koningen van het Jebusitische bergland en de koningen van de Chiwwitische steden op de hellingen van de berg Hermon in het land Mispa.

4-5 Al deze koningen reageerden op de boodschap door hun legers te mobiliseren en zich te verenigen om Israël te vernietigen. Hun gezamenlijke legers, met heel veel paarden en strijdwagens, kwamen bijeen en sloegen hun kamp op bij de bronnen van Merom.
6 Maar de HERE zei tegen Jozua: ‘Wees niet bang voor hen, want morgen om deze tijd zal Ik hen allen in de macht van Israël overgeven. Dan moet u de pezen van hun paarden doorsnijden en hun strijdwagens verbranden.’7 Jozua en zijn troepen verrasten het vijandelijke leger bij de bronnen van Merom en vielen aan.8 De HERE gaf dat enorme leger in de macht van de Israëlieten, die het achtervolgden tot aan Groot-Sidon en een plaats die Brandend Water werd genoemd en in oostelijke richting tot aan het dal van Mispa. Geen enkele vijand overleefde deze veldslag.

9 Jozua en zijn mannen volgden de aanwijzingen van de HERE op. Zij sneden de pezen van de paarden door en verbrandden alle strijdwagens.
10 Op de terugweg veroverde Jozua de stad Hazor en doodde haar koning. Hazor was eens de hoofdstad geweest van een verbond van al die koninkrijken.11 Alle inwoners werden gedood, waarna de stad werd verbrand.12 Daarna bond hij de strijd aan met de andere steden van de verslagen koningen en maakte ze met de grond gelijk. Alle inwoners werden gedood, zoals Mozes had bevolen.13 Behalve Hazor stak Jozua echter verder geen enkele hooggelegen stad in brand.14 Alle buit en het vee van de verwoeste steden hielden de Israëlieten voor zichzelf, maar de inwoners doodden zij.

15 Want dat had de HERE zijn dienaar Mozes opgedragen. Mozes had die opdracht op zijn beurt aan Jozua doorgegeven, die deze dan ook uitvoerde. Alle aanwijzingen die de HERE Mozes had gegeven, voerde Jozua nauwgezet uit.
16 Zo veroverde Jozua het hele land: het bergland, de Negev, het land Gosen, de laaggelegen gebieden, de vlakte van de Jordaan en de heuvels en laagvlakten van Israël.17 Het gebied van de Israëlieten strekte zich nu uit van de Kale Berg dicht bij Seïr, tot Baäl-Gad in het dal van de Libanon, aan de voet van de Hermon. Jozua doodde alle koningen die in dat gebied heersten.18 Er was een lange oorlog voor nodig om dit resultaat te bereiken.19 Geen enkele stad kreeg de kans met Israël vrede te sluiten, uitgezonderd de Chiwwieten uit Gibeon, alle anderen werden met geweld veroverd.20 Want de HERE zorgde ervoor dat de vijandelijke koningen de strijd aanbonden met de Israëlieten in plaats van om vrede te vragen, zo werden zij genadeloos gedood, zoals de HERE Mozes had opgedragen.21 Gedurende deze periode roeide Jozua ook alle reuzen uit. Dit waren afstammelingen van Enak en zij woonden in het bergland in Hebron, Debir, Anab, Juda en Israël. Hij doodde hen tot de laatste man en maakte hun steden met de grond gelijk.22 In het land Israël werd er niet één in leven gelaten, maar in Gaza, Gath en Asdod zijn enkelen overgebleven.

23 Jozua nam het hele land in bezit, precies zoals de HERE Mozes had opgedragen. Hij gaf het aan de Israëlieten als hun erfdeel en verdeelde het onder de stammen. Toen kon het land zich eindelijk van het oorlogsgeweld herstellen.

AR

يشوع 11
هَزِيمَةُ المُدُنُ الشَّمالِيَّة
1 وَحِينَ سَمِعَ يابِينُ مَلِكُ حاصُورَ بِهَذا، أرسَلَ رَسائِلَ إلَى يُوبابَ مَلِكِ مادُونَ، وَإلَى مَلِكِ شِمْرُونَ وَمَلِكِ أكشافَ،

2 وَإلَى مُلُوكِ المِنطَقَةِ الجَبَلِيَّةِ الشَّمالِيَّةِ وَالصَحْراءِ، وَإلَى مُلُوكِ كِنَّرُوتَt وَالنَّقَبِt وَالمُرْتَفَعاتِ الغَرْبيَّةِ، وَإلَى مَلِكِ دُورَ غَرْباً.

3 وَإلَى الكَنعانِيِّينَ فِي الشَّرْقِ وَالغَربِ، وَالأمُورِيِّينَ وَالحِثِّيِّينَ وَالفِرِزِّيِّينَ وَاليَبُوسِيِّينَ الَّذِينَ فِي المِنطَقَةِ الجَبَلِيَّةِ، وَإلَى الحِوِّيِّينَ السّاكِنِينَ جَنُوبَ جَبَلِ حَرْمُونَ فِي مِنْطَقَةِ المِصْفاةِ.

4 وَخَرَجُوا بِكُلِّ جُيُوشِهِمْ، جَيشاً عَظِيماً جِدّاً، كَعَدَدِ حُبَيباتِ الرَّملِ عَلَى شاطِئِ البَحْرِ، وَمَعَهُمْ خُيُولٌ وَعَرَباتٌ كَثِيرَةٌ.

5 وَاجتَمَعَ هَؤُلاءِ المُلُوكُ فِي مَكانٍ اتَّفَقُوا عَلَيهِ، وَجاءُوا وَخَيَّمُوا مَعاً عِنْدَ جَدْوَلِ مَيرُومَ لِيُحارِبُوا إسْرائِيلَ.

6 وَقالَ اللهُ لِيَشُوعَ: «لا تَخَفْ مِنْهُمْ. فَغَداً فِي مِثلِ هَذا الوَقْتِ، سَأُسَلِّمُهُمْ جَمِيعاً لإسْرائِيلَ لِتَذْبَحُوهُمْ. فَشُلُّوا خُيُولَهُمْ، وَأحْرِقُوا مَرْكَباتِهِمْ بِالنّارِ.»

7 فَأتَى يَشُوعُ عَلَيهِمْ مَعَ كُلِّ جَيشِهِ فَجأةً عِنْدَ جَدْوَلِ مَيرُومَ وَهاجَمُوهُمْ.

8 وَنَصَرَ اللهُ إسْرائِيلَ عَلَيهِمْ، فَهاجَمُوهُمْ وَطارَدُوهُمْ إلَى صَيدُونَ العَظِيمَةَ وَمِسْرَفُوتَ مايِمَ، وَإلَى وادِي المِصْفاةِ فِي الشَّرقِ. وَاستَمَرُّوا فِي مُهاجَمَتِهِمْ حَتَّى لَمْ يَبْقَ أحَدٌ مِنْهُمْ حَيّاً.

9 وَعَمِلَ يَشُوعُ بِهِمْ كَما قالَ اللهُ لَهُ، فَشَلَّ خُيُولَهُمْ وَأحْرَقَ مَركَباتِهِمْ بِالنّارِ.

10 فِي ذَلِكَ اليَومِ، التَفَّ يَشُوعُ وَهاجَمَ حاصُورَ وَسَيطَرَ عَلَيها، وَقَتَلَ مَلِكَها بِالسَّيفِ. وَكانَتْ حاصُورُ رأسَ هَذِهِ المَمالِكِ.

11 وَقَتَلُوا بِالسَّيفِ كُلَّ حَيٍّ فِيها، وَقَضَوْا عَلَيهِمْ تَماماً. حَتَّى لَمْ يَبْقَ كَائِنٌ يَتَنَفَّسُ. وَأحرَقَ يَشُوعُ حاصُورَ بِالنّارِ.

12 وَسَيطَرَ يَشُوعُ عَلَى كُلِّ هَذِهِ المُدُنِ المَلَكِيَّةِ، وَأمسَكَ بِمُلُوكِها وَقَتَلَهُمْ قَتلاً بِالسَّيفِ، كَما أمَرَ مُوسَى خادِمُ اللهِ.

13 لَكِنَّ جَيشَ إسْرائِيلَ لَمْ يُحرِقْ أيَّةَ مَدِينَةٍ مِنَ المُدُنِ المَبنِيَّةِ عَلَى تِلالٍ، إلّا حاصُورَ الَّتِي أحرَقَها يَشُوعُ.

14 وَأخَذَ بَنُو إسْرائِيلَ غَنائِمَ هَذِهِ المُدُنِ وَحَيواناتِها، وَأمّا النّاسُ فَقَتَلُوهُمْ بِالسَّيفِ حَتَّى أفنَوْهُمْ، وَلَمْ يَترُكُوا كَائِناً يَتَنَفَّسُ.

15 كَما أمَرَ اللهُ خادِمَهُ مُوسَى هَكَذا أمَرَ مُوسَى يَشُوعَ، وَهَكَذا عَمِلَ يَشُوعُ، فَلَمْ يَترُكْ شَيئاً أمَرَ اللهُ مُوسَى بِهِ إلّا وَعَمِلَهُ.

16 فَسَيطَرَ يَشُوعُ عَلَى كُلِّ المِنطَقَةِ الجَبَلِيَّةِ وَالنَّقَبِ وَأرْضِ جُوشِنَ وَالتِّلالِ الغَربِيَّةِ وَوادِي الأُردُنِّ وَمِنطَقَةِ التِّلالِ فِي إسْرائِيلَ وَمُنخَفَضاتِها،

17 مِنْ جَبَلِ حالَقَ المُمتَدِّ نَحْوَ سَعِيرَ إلَى بَعلَ جادَ فِي وادِي لُبنانَ إلَى الجَنُوبِ مِنْ جَبَلِ حَرْمُونَ. وَأسَرَ جَمِيعَ مُلُوكِهِمْ وَقَتَلَهُمْ.

18 وَكانَ يَشُوعُ فِي حَربٍ مَعَ هَؤُلاءِ المُلُوكِ لِفَترَةٍ طَوِيلَةٍ.

19 وَلَمْ تَعمَلْ مَدِينَةٌ مُعاهَدَةَ سَلامٍ مَعَ بَنِي إسْرائِيلَ إلّا الحِوِّيُّونَ السّاكِنُونَ فِي جِبعُونَ. فَقَدْ هَزَمَ بَنُو إسْرائِيلَ كُلَّ تِلْكَ المُدُنِ فِي الحَرْبِ.

20 لِأنَّ اللهَ ذاتَهُ قَسَّى قُلُوبَهُمْ لِمُحارَبَةِ إسْرائِيلَ، لِيُهلِكُوهُمْ تَماماً بِلا رَحمَةٍ، فَيَقْضُوا عَلَيهِمْ كَما أمَرَ اللهُ مُوسَى.

21 فِي ذَلِكَ اليَومِ، ذَهَبَ يَشُوعُ وَأهلَكَ العَناقِيِّينَt مِنَ المِنطَقَةِ الجَبَلِيَّةِ، مِنْ حَبْرُونَt وَدَبِيرَ وَعَنابَ، وَمِنْ كُلِّ المِنطَقَةِ الجَبَلِيَّةِ فِي يَهُوذا، وَمِنَ المِنطَقَةِ الجَبَلِيَّةِ فِي إسْرائِيلَ. فَقَدْ أهلَكَهُمْ يَشُوعُ مَعَ مُدُنِهِمْ تَماماً.

22 وَلَمْ يَبْقَ مِنَ العَناقِيِّينَ أحَدٌ فِي أرْضِ بَنِي إسْرائِيلَ، سِوَى بَعْضِهِمْ فِي غَزَّةَ وَجَتَّ وَأشدُودَ.

23 فَسَيطَرَ يَشُوعُ عَلَى كُلِّ الأرْضِ بِحَسَبِ كُلِّ ما أمَرَ اللهُ بِهِ مُوسَى، وَأعطاها يَشُوعُ لإسْرائِيلَ مُلكاً لَهُمْ حَسَبَ حِصَصِ قَبائِلِهِمْ. حِينَئِذٍ، اسْتَراحَتِ الأرْضُ مِنَ الحَرْبِ.

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