Laugh Because...

 

“Let me hear Your loving devotion in the morning, for I have put my trust in You. Teach me the way I should walk, for to You I lift up my soul.” (Psalms 143: 8)

One possible personal translation of this might be,

“God, cause me to hear Your devoted love of Your redeeming (rescuing) me from my enemies at daybreak, for I have put my total trust in You alone. Teach me know—to perceive, recognize, acknowledge, and confess—You and Your ways in which I should live, for I give You my soul—my whole being. I desire to come before you in total faith, with love, by confession of Your might and sovereignty, so I offer myself to You as Your servant and child.”

The psalmist stated his enemies pursued him, wanting to kill him. Because of this, his inner being fainted in fear. The psalmist grew weary of his enemies’ dogged pursuit of his life. Then he remembered Yahweh God, whom He knows intimately, and His works. This recollection and the writer’s circumstances compelled him to seek God. The writer acknowledged only God could rescue him. None surpasses Yahweh, thus he raised his hands in petition, offering, and praise.

What did the psalmist want? To escape the fear of capture and death. To have peace. How can we be sure of this? Read the rest of this psalm. His requests to God included:

First, in verse nine, the psalmist wrote, “Deliver me from my enemies.” His request came from recognizing God is almighty. The psalmist understood that God is the only being who can rescue him in totality—in heart, mind, body, and spirit. Ultimately, only God had the power to redeem him from every enemy.

Second, in verse ten, the psalmist said, “Teach me to do Your good will. May Your good Spirit lead me on level ground.” The writer wanted more than bodily and emotional redemption. He wanted to know Yahweh better. He acknowledged the existence of the Holy Spirit and requested God's constant presence. The Spirit would teach and guide him to know God and to live his life for God and His purposes. The psalmist asked God to lead him on level ground, without difficulties. Avoiding life’s struggles is a human inclination, but don’t we often learn more by walking with God “through the valley of the shadow of death?” The crucible of fire in our lives grows us. Those are the times of testing, of practicing what we have learned, so we reinforce the lessons taught. The psalmist acknowledged God with his whole being in this verse. He wanted to learn (head and spirit) from God so he would live (body, mind, heart, and spirit) for God.

Third, with verse eleven, the psalmist appealed to God’s reputation. People had heard about His mighty acts and His children. The writer said, “So that people continue to see You as almighty and sovereign over Your people and creation, revive me.” By “revive me,” the psalmist meant more than just for others so they would remember and/or see God. He asked God to show Himself to him so he would not fear that his enemies would overcome him. The psalmist asked God to revive him by the fullness of His favor and love because of God’s righteousness. (God alone knows the right course of action.) The writer stated and requested, by God’s rightness, by His omniscience and omnipotence, to bring the psalmist’s soul (his being) out of distress. The psalmist recognized God’s rescuing of him in his time of distress, which affected his heart, mind, body, and spirit. This rescuing of his life, the writer stated, affected his eternal being, his soul, too. According to the psalmist, God rescues his entire being, not just a portion. God’s righteousness and redemption affected his eternity. God is sovereign over time, including before it begins and after its conclusion. He rescues people from trials and redeems them from eternal separation. God is the God of time, including before and after time. To this eventual and eternal future, the writer stated his hope and his faith in Yahweh God, the self-existent One.

Fourth, because of this recognition of God’s sovereignty and might and his confidence in God, the psalmist repeated his plea in verse twelve. “Because of Your loving devotion to Your people, to me, remove my enemies from chasing and harming me.” He emphatically repeated this by writing, “Wipe out (exterminate) everyone who harasses me.”

The psalmist recognized, remembered, acknowledged, and confessed God as Sovereign and almighty. By his plea, he proclaimed that God, in His omniscience and omnipotence, possessed the ability to rescue him mentally, emotionally, bodily, and in his spirit. This psalmist explained God could redeem him beyond temporal time—for eternity. This man wanted rescuing from his current enemies and believed God could and would fully redeem his being eternally by saving his soul.

In remembering Yahweh God, the psalmist may have laughed, knowing within his entire being that his enemies were incapable of ever separating Him from God (Romans 8:31-39). When your enemies harass and afflict you, do you laugh because you know God with your heart, soul, mind, and body and believe He has redeemed you for eternity as His own child?

Laugh in the face of your enemy.

How? Profess faith in Jesus Christ as the Son of God and your Savior and be saved.

“If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9)

The psalmist recognized God’s might and sovereignty and offered himself to God as His servant and child because of his trust and belief in God. Do you?

More Than Your Past

 

The king (Josiah) also desecrated the high places (the pagan shrines) that were east of Jerusalem on the south of the Hill of Corruption-the ones Solomon, king of Israel, had built for Ashtoreth, the vile goddess of the Sidonians, for Chemosh, the vile god of Moab, and for Molech, the detestable god of the people of Ammon. 2 Kings 23:13 (NIV)

Have you felt you will never overcome what you did or what someone did to you? Have you thought you will never be good enough? Everyone has considered themselves like this at least once, most people more than once. Whatever has caused you to see yourself as insignificant, tainted, and sinful, God can change and remove. Consider what happened on the Mount of Olives during Josiah’s time.

In 2 Kings 23, the writer tells us, after king Josiah read aloud the Book of the Covenant of God with the Israelites, he went to the Mount of Corruption to tear down and destroy the shrines to false gods and idols. During the reigns of his father and grandfather (Amon and Manasseh), they and the Israelites erected shrines throughout the land of Judah. They chose to believe in and offer sacrifices to the gods of other nations, just in case their God, I Am, was not the only true god. Josiah knew from his studies, belief, and relationship with the LORD God that He is the only God; no other exists.

The Mount of Corruption is the Mount of Olives. This mount is about 1 mile from the temple in Jerusalem. Josiah did not have to look far from his palace or the temple to see the corruption by shrines to idols and false gods. He removed and destroyed the shrines and poles from the temple, then walked to the Mount of Olives and did the same.

God created the Mount of Olives. He called it good. People are the ones who corrupted it, but God could make it holy again. Often God makes places holy with the help of people, like Josiah. Other times, He does it by Himself because He is the only one who can.

Just as God created the Mount of Olives, He made each person. When He created people, He said humanity was good. Over time, because of humanity’s sin nature, each person corrupts him or herself and/or considers him or herself corrupted by what other people did to him or her. God made a way for each person to be made new-to be remade and cleansed. Nothing can keep us permanently away from God, not sin, pain, abuse, rape, neglect, or anything. He has power over all these. God loves us when we consider ourselves unlovable. He desires to be in a relationship with us. Because of God’s love, He made a way for our sin and the sins others put upon us to be washed away so we can be clean and made new by Him. Jesus made this possible for each person who believes in Him as the Son of God and confesses and repents of his or her sins. We can never do enough or be good enough to earn this salvation. This salvation God offers to each person redeems us from how we consider ourselves and our sinfulness to His beloved and holy child. Jesus’ redemption He offers freely to people who believe in Him is His paying the price for our sins. He bought our freedom from sin and death.

Consider the Mount of Corruption. Josiah desecrated the shrines, poles, and land on which they stood. He redeemed the Mount for God’s purposes with His righteous indignation of destroying these shrines and idols. We see Jesus sitting on this Mount of Olives centuries after Josiah destroyed the idols. Josiah dedicated it for God’s use, not idol worship. Often Jesus taught His disciples on the Mount of Olives, called the Mount of Corruption in Josiah’s time. What God redeems; no person can blemish eternally.

Just as God created the Mount of Olives and sent His servant Josiah to give it anew to Him by desecrating the shrines, idols, and land on which they stood, so He can redeem you from your past and sins. If you have believed in Jesus Christ for salvation and the forgiveness of your sins, He redeemed you. Jesus saved you. No lies Satan or any person says about you and your past can change that. God made you and redeemed you. Paul said it this way in Romans 8:31b-39.

If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare His own Son, but gave Him up for us all-how will He not also, along with Him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died-more than that, who was raised to life-is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall trouble or hardship or persecution or famine or nakedness or danger or sword? As it is written: “For your sake we face death all day long; we are considered as sheep to be slaughtered.” No, in all these things, we are more than conquerors through Him who loves us. For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, neither height nor depth, nor anything in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord. [NIV]

If you have not accepted God’s love and trusted in Jesus Christ for redemption, you can today. Just pray to God saying you believe Jesus is His Son who died for your sins so you can receive salvation and forgiveness and live with Him forever. Confess your sins to Him and repent of them asking for His help not to do them again. You need only do that. Once you profess faith in Jesus and confess and repent with your whole being, God redeems you. He saves you from your past and your sins. Nothing will ever be able to separate you from God again, not your past or your future. You are more than a conqueror, more than a survivor of whatever you lived through in the past. God redeemed you, made you His own child, and consecrated you for Himself. He made you holy. He remade you and declared His recreation good.

We are more than what people have done to and with us and more than what we have done to ourselves. We can be who God sees us-cleansed, forgiven, and loved eternally. We do not have to stay a mount of corruption. We can be as God intended, like the Mount of Olives, a place He uses to show and share His love and the Gospel. God will renew-remake-us and call us good as He intended when He first created humanity. On our own, we are never enough. God makes us whole and new by the sin judgment His Son, Jesus Christ, paid for our salvation. He redeems of us from our past and sins.

Will you accept His love and redemption He freely offers to you?

Snatched and Delivered

This Bible study is the fifth in the Colossians series. The first Bible study is Background of Paul’s Letter to the Church at Colossae. In that study, we learned of the cultural, political, religious, and philosophical thoughts that occurred in Colossae at the time of Paul’s writing his letter to the Colossian Christians. The second Bible study in this series is Identification. In that study, Paul introduced himself and Timothy and taught about their identification with Jesus and the believers at Colossae. With the Bible study entitled Thanksgiving in Colossians, Paul prayed with thanks to God for the growth of the Christians in Colossae. This growth showed in their love for God and the saints, and their bearing of fruit and maturing in their faith. Paul identified Epaphras, the founder of their church, as a “beloved fellow bond-servant,” one who willingly submitted to Christ as Paul taught him. In Glorious Might, Paul continued praying over the Colossian Christians in supplication for them. In these verses, Colossians 1:9-12, he told them he prayed for them daily that they would grow in Christ so they would be well-pleasing to God. Paul prayed for God to fill them with the knowledge of His will with all spiritual wisdom and understanding so they would please Him in all respects by bearing fruit in good works. He asked for God to increase their knowledge of Him, strengthen the them with all power, and give them steadfastness and patience. Paul ended this prayer for the sanctification of the Colossians by asking that they joyously give thanks to God who qualified them to inherit eternal life with the saints in the kingdom of His Son.

In Colossians 1:13-14, Paul explained who is the Father of verse twelve who gives these gifts for which he asked for the church in Colossae. The Colossian Christians knew about Jesus from Epaphras’ teaching. The Jewish believers in Jesus knew about Father God. Paul taught the Colossae believers who the Father is so they would know Him and His gifts as Paul prayed for in verses nine through twelve.

Rescuer

“For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son…” (Colossians 1:13 [NASB])

To understand this verse, we must understand well the Greek meanings of the original words. Paul said, “For He (this refers back to the Father in verse twelve) rescued us. The word “rescued” comes from the Greek word rhuomai, which means to snatch up or out for oneself. Father God snatched from danger and for an eternal relationship with Him “us,” the Colossian Christians, Timothy, Epaphras, himself, and each believer in Jesus Christ. God didn’t snatch them away from the fire and tell them to go on their merry way. He snatched them out for Himself because He loves each person and wants each to have the best in life, not just what is merely good. Only God gives the best. The musings and thoughts of people, and for the Colossian people the musings of the early Gnostics, never could be good enough. Nothing Gnostics or any person thinks can ever save people from an eternal death separated from God. Only by God’s snatching people away for Himself from Satan gives people the best. Paul explained next what God’s best is.

In this part of the sentence, Paul said, the Father snatched the Colossian believers from the domain of darkness. What is the “domain of darkness?” The word “domain” means a place where a person or being has authority and power over others. This person or being has power over how one lives. This one has authority to establish morality for that dark domain. For Paul, a spiritual power ruled over this domain. He made this point with his next word, “darkness.” Jesus said He is the light of the world in John 8:12. So, the spiritual power who ruled in this darkness has morals and authority opposite of Jesus’. That being is Satan. Jesus’ moral authority always comes from His characteristic of goodness. This means Satan’s moral authority comes from his evilness. When Satan exercises his moral authority on people, they do things of which God does not approve. Satan blinds people not to see or think of God. He makes them ignorant of divine things and leads them deeper into ungodliness and immorality. What Paul wrote in this verse means God snatched out for Himself believers in Jesus from the spiritual power and influence of Satan’s immorality and ungodliness.

As noted, “rescued” means to snatch out. So, once God snatches believers out of Satan’s domain, He puts them in His perfect place. The Father, by His grace given to repentant sinners who believe in Jesus, extends His mighty hand to snatch believers out of Satan’s domain of darkness. He puts them in His holy place, where no immorality and godlessness exists. He puts Christians in the “kingdom of His beloved Son.” Jesus’ godliness and divine moral authority reign in His kingdom. Because His Spirit lives in each believer, Jesus’ authority reigns in their hearts. They no longer need fear Satan, but “be filled with the knowledge of His will in all spiritual wisdom and understanding,” be strengthened with all power according to His glorious might, be steadfast and patient, and joyously give thanks to the Father for giving them the hope of an inheritance in His kingdom. (Col. 1:9-12).

Deliverer

“…of His beloved Son, in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.” (Colossians 1:13c-14 [NASB])

Beloved

The Father snatches people from Satan’s grip. He rescues them and sets them on moral, godly ground in Jesus’ kingdom. The Father’s Son is not a mere mortal He used to affect His plan of salvation. This Son is beloved by the Father. The word “beloved” comes from the word agape, of which Paul wrote in verses four and eight when he spoke of the Colossians’ love for the saints and their love in the Spirit. Agape love comes from God’s character and is a pure, unselfish, and visible love. First, God acts based on this love, then His snatched-out children act on it. 1 John 4:8 testifies, “The one who does not love does not know God, for God is love.” [NASB] Further in 1 John 4:16, he wrote, “We have come to know and have believed the love which God has for us. God is love, and the one who abides in live abides in God, and God abides in Him.”

God is love, and this love comes from His character. This agape love for people occurred before He formed them, as He strove to lead, provide, and protect them, and when He came in flesh with His Son’s birth, life, and death to cleanse people from their sins. Paul said in verse 13, the beloved Son of God reigned in the kingdom of righteousness and the children of God He snatched from Satan lived in Jesus’ kingdom. Just as the Father loves the Son and the Son loves the Father, this same love flows to people. God’s heart, His pure and unselfish love, desires that He snatch out each person from Satan’s dominion of darkness and to live in the beloved Son’s kingdom. He acted on this love by sending the Son to show His love by living a sinless life and dying a sinner’s death as the sacrifice for all sins for those who believe in Him and repent of their sins. Jesus’ sacrifice of pure love made it possible for people to live no longer in Satan’s domain of darkness, but in the kingdom of light.

Redeemed

With most of verse thirteen, Paul told the Colossian Christians who the Father is. With verse fourteen, He told them how God transferred the Colossian Christians from the domain of Satan to the kingdom of His Son. Paul told them it came because of redemption, the forgiveness of sin. Redemption is an old word and so we need to understand its context to grasp the depth of its meaning. It comes from the Greek word apolutrosis, which means a ransom caused by payment. In slave days whether that be ancient, medieval, renaissance, Victorian, or modern times, people could indenture themselves as bond-servants to have a debt paid by the one to whom that person would serve. The only way that person could have freedom from their servile position was by repayment of the indenturing loan. This purchasing gave to the person what they had previously forfeited, their lives in exchange for a debt. For people sold into slavery, the only way for release from slavery was for someone to pay the slaveholder. These examples emphasize the distance between where the rescued person now stands and what had enslaved that person, a debt, whether or sin, destitution, or entrapment. God caused that distance for the person because of His payment of the redeeming price and snatching the person away from slavery to Satan, sin, and death. Christ paid that redemption price for sin with His sinless death on a sinner’s cross. Redemption by Jesus allows the redeemed person to see God’s work of grace, the greatest of His riches (His Son), given for payment of his/her death penalty. That defines God’s grace.  Jesus’ cross redeems us and puts a distance between believers and Satan. Satan cannot cross the bridge of the cross because he is unholy. He has no power over Christians’ salvation or eternal life with God. Jesus is the deliverer of the redemption payment for people. He delivers people from sin to salvation, from godlessness and immorality to godliness and morality.

Redemption came with a great price for God. That price was the sacrificial death of His sinless Son, who died as a man on a sinner’s cross. Redemption moves Christians from the domain of Satan to the authority of Jesus. Yet, redemption is more than just Jesus dying and people believing in Him as the Son of God. We must understand people are sinners. They are unholy. Holy God will not be where unholiness is, just as dark and light cannot be in the same place. For sinners to be in God’s presence, forgiveness of sins and cleansing from sins must occur, too.

A person sins when he/she misses the mark; they do not live holy lives. No person can live a holy life without the help of God. Likewise, no person can become holy without the help of God. Jesus redeems a person from the domain of Satan and puts him/her into the kingdom of light when the person believes in Him as the Son of God and when that person confesses and repents of his/her sins. This person regrets his/her sins and way of life and gives his/her life completely into the hands of God. God snatches the person away from Satan. He redeems him/her from his/her old way of living and sends the Spirit to live within him/her to guide that person in His moral way of living as a redeemed and cleansed child of God. Jesus paid the redemption price for each soul from the one who enslaves each person. He paid this price because of His agape love for us from before He created us. God’s agape love now lives in each Christian. That Christian should live out each day the faith, love, and hope God gives so other people will see Him and want to follow Him.

Thoughts to Consider

God snatches us for Himself away from Satan, sin, and eternal death. He transfers us to His Son’s kingdom. Jesus delivers us by paying the redemption price to buy us from the one who enslaved us and returns us to Life. Jesus is the way, the truth, and the life. [John 14:6] Jesus will save us from our sins and the death we deserve when we believe He is the Son of God and confess and repent of our sins. He is our deliverer. As we live with God daily in obedience to Him, we mature as Christians. Maturing as a Christian means pleasing God in all respects, increasing in the knowledge of Him, and receiving His strength with all His power. Redemption should cause us to look at God’s grace and realize we do not deserve it. We do not deserve God’s riches. We sinners deserve death. But God, in His love and mercy, gave the greatest of His riches, His Son, to die on a sinner’s cross, to redeem and forgive us, and reconcile us to Him.

Questions to Consider:

•  Do you live in the darkness of ungodliness and immorality?
• Do you recognize you are a sinner?
• Do you want the path of your life to change, to be moral and godly?
• Do you want God’s grace to snatch you for Himself out of Satan’s hand and save you?
• Do you want Jesus to redeem you from your slavery to sin?
• Have you asked Him to forgive you and to save you?
• Are you already a Christian, but recognize you have sin in your life you want Jesus to forgive so you can be in a right relationship with Him?

Today is the time for each person to consider his/her life and decide if they want to live in the domain of darkness or the kingdom of the Son.

For next week, reread Colossians 1 and focus on verses 15-20.

“He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For my Him all things were created…” (Colossians 1:15-16a [NASB])

Drops

On that dark and gray-clouded day

“What happened, what occurred?” the people asked.

            The stranger in the crowd, “Who is that man?”

            The follower on the rock, “My teacher. What wrong has He done?”

            The mother gasping in heart-pain, “My son. What did He do?”

            The solder standing at cross-beamed timbers, “Surely, He’s who He said.”

Then a lone woman fell on her knees at the base of Life, looking up in wonder at the greatest miracle ever heard, ever seen     

            as anguish crossed his face

            as His eyes looked upward

            as His words rang out true.

And as His blood drops fell before my bent knees, “I knew I was unworthy to be in His sight.

            then anguish crossed my face as I considered my sin-stain unworthiness

            then my eyes looked upward, and I knew love

            then my tears fell before His feet.

Unworthy though they be,

            my tears dropped one, then two, three and four.

            first around His blood drops,

            then increasingly more

            as my heart broke at my sin

            as I looked on His glory

                        drops of pain, aware of my sin

                        drops of gratitude, aware of His love

                        drops of thanks, aware of my redemption

                        drops of love, recognizing this Man as my Savior divine

                        drops of Joy, aware of my new story to tell.

Sin-stain. Love-gained. Redemption made Free.

Risen from the grave

Risen from my knees

His story because of my story.

I must tell

            of a woman on her knees weeping into blood drops

            of so great a love given my heart and soul made clean

            of His great love shared for the world to return

Redemption provided

Blood-death given

So all could be cleaned

                           forgiven

                           redeemed

                           made new

To live now and eternally with the God who never gave up on me.

Blood drops. Tear drops now mingled.

The lone woman now redeemed.

Reality

God loves

People rebelled

Prophets foretold

                                   Angels heralded

Shepherds followed

Wise men sought

                        Cattle lowed

Jesus was born

Angels sang

Shepherds bowed low

Wise men worshipped

Kings sought

People rebelled

Jesus taught  

healed  

forgave

People came

People rebelled

Jesus was crucified  

was sacrificed

---

Jesus redeemed

resurrected

ascended

God loves

gives grace  

offers forgiveness

   waits for you

People accept

People rebel

What will you do? 

Zebulun, “Anyman”: A Deuteronomy 33:18-19 Devotional

“Of Zebulun he said, ‘Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going forth and Issachar in your tents. They will call peoples to the mountain. There they will offer righteous sacrifices; for they will draw out the abundance of the seas and the hidden treasures of the sand.’” Deuteronomy 33:18-19 [NASB]

In Deuteronomy 33, Moses blessed the twelve tribes of Israel before he died and they crossed the Jordan River to take possession of the Promised Land. Verses eighteen and nineteen are the record of Zebulun’s and Issachar’s blessing. Zebulun was Jacob’s tenth son who was born by Leah, his first wife. Zebulun was her sixth son. She named him Zebulun, which means exalted, hoping Jacob would look upon her with favor and exalt her as his favorite wife since she gave him six sons.

The tribe of Zebulun participated in the life of the nation of Israel is a couple significant ways. First, though, we must understand that tribes’ settlement of their part of the Promised Land. Joshua gave them their part of land in the northern part of Israel in the area that would later be called Galilee. Asher’s territory was between them and the Mediterranean Sea. Naphtali was to their north and Issachar was to their southeast. Josephus, from his studies, concludes the northeastern border of Zebulun’s land touched the Sea of Galilee or Sea of Chinnereth.

Remember the LORD’s command to the Israelites when they entered the Promised Land. He told them to kill and destroy completely the people who lived in Canaan – the Hittites, Amorites, Canaanites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (Deuteronomy 20:16-17). When Zebulun’s men entered this land, they failed to obey the LORD completely in this. Judges 1:30 recorded, “Neither did Zebulun drive out the Canaanites living in Kitron or Nahalol, who remained among them, but they did subject them to forced labor.” They were like the other tribes of Israel who did not drive out completely the inhabitants of Canaan. Like all humankind, his tribe was not one hundred percent faithful to God. We can relate to Zebulun’s tribe.

We must note, though, that Zebulun returned to the LORD. Judges 4:6 and 5:18 show they returned to do the work of the LORD. Deborah, the priestess, told Barak to get the men of Zebulun and Naphtali to make an army to fight Sisera for the Israelites who Jabin, king of Canaan, took as captives. Later in Israel’s history, after King Saul died, David aimed to transfer Saul’s kingdom to himself. He asked the different tribes to send men to battle for him during that transition. Zebulun sent 50,000 men (1 Chronicles 12:33). When King Hezekiah ascended to reign over Israel two hundred ninety four years after David’s reign began, he called the tribes of Israel to join him in keeping the Passover in the LORD’s temple as a way to atone for the sins of his father, Ahaz. Zebulun’s men went to Jerusalem, destroyed the idols, and participated in the Passover (2 Chronicles 30:10-23. These latter two instances can be seen as fulfillments of the blessing Moses gave over that tribe about calling people to the mountain - Mount Moriah, where God’s temple was, and Mount Zion, where David’s palace was. Besides this, the blessing stated, “they will offer righteous sacrifices” (vs. 19). They did this with Hezekiah and probably at other times in their history.

As noted, Zebulun, as a tribe, was not beyond redemption. They were unfaithful to God and His covenant, but later returned to Him and obeyed Him. God told the Israelites in Deuteronomy 30 if they repented and returned to Him, He would hear them and return them to their land. The LORD said he would circumcise their hearts and their descendant’s hearts so they would love him with all their heart and soul and live. God said the Israelites would again obey the Him and follow His commands (Deuteronomy 30:1-8).

We are not unlike Zebulun or the other tribes of Israel. God calls to each of us to turn to Him. Whether we have never believed in His Son, Jesus Christ, as our Lord and Savior and so have never turned to God or if we are Christians, but have turned away from God’s ways, God will forgive and accept us if we repent of our sins. He wants to be our God and bless us. We can be like the Zebulunites who call people to the mountain (to God’s house) and offer righteous sacrifices to God (Deut. 33:19). God loves us and calls us to Him. We must decide for ourselves whether we will hear, listen, and heed His call. That is shamar.

What will you decide to do today?