http://youtu.be/NK8VWcw8BOM “The Science is in!”
Would you like to read James McNaught’s novel Sinking Sand”? click here: Sinking Sand
(The views expressed in this blog are my own and should not be taken as inspired in any way.)
Psalm 44:17–26, “All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death. If we have forgotten the name of our God, or stretched out our hands to a strange god; Shall not God search this out? for he knoweth the secrets of the heart. Yea, for thy sake are we killed all the day long; we are counted as sheep for the slaughter. Awake, why sleepest thou, O Lord? arise, cast us not off for ever. Wherefore hidest thou thy face, and forgettest our affliction and our oppression? For our soul is bowed down to the dust: our belly cleaveth unto the earth. Arise for our help, and redeem us for thy mercies’ sake.”
Israel struggled with defeat by their enemies but they said that they had kept the contract. If they kept the contract then they should expect the Lord to keep them and protect them throughout their tenure in the Land. However, there were times before, like their first attack on Ai, when there were secret sins in among the people. They needed to examine themselves and see if they were sinning. On the other hand, if they could say with pure hearts that they hadn’t sinned then they could thank the Lord for He was giving them a chance to rely more closely on Him and understand the full extent of His love even though they were suffering. (Compare Hab 3:17–19, “Although the fig tree shall not blossom, neither shall fruit be in the vines; the labour of the olive shall fail, and the fields shall yield no meat; the flock shall be cut off from the fold, and there shall be no herd in the stalls: Yet I will rejoice in the LORD, I will joy in the God of my salvation. The LORD God is my strength, and he will make my feet like hinds’ feet, and he will make me to walk upon mine high places. To the chief singer on my stringed instruments.)Even though the Lord helped Israel throughout the years, He had a contract with the nation and, with integrity, He kept to the terms of the contract. Israel sinned against the Lord and followed after strange gods so they suffered punishment. Their enemies came and attacked them and the Lord didn’t give them great victories as He had done before. The heathen nations knew that they Lord wasn’t helping them any longer and they cursed Israel. However, the Lord was working to restore Israel to their former place where they kept to the terms of the contract that they had agreed to.
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