It is good to fear Yahweh

1 Chronicles 16:8-36 

[8] Oh give thanks to Yahweh. Call on his name. Make what he has done known among the peoples. [9] Sing to him. Sing praises to him. Tell of all his marvelous works. [10] Glory in his holy name. Let the heart of those who seek Yahweh rejoice. [11] Seek Yahweh and his strength. Seek his face forever more. [12] Remember his marvelous works that he has done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth, [13] you offspring of Israel his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones. [14] He is Yahweh our God. His judgments are in all the earth. [15] Remember his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, [16] the covenant which he made with Abraham, his oath to Isaac. [17] He confirmed it to Jacob for a statute, and to Israel for an everlasting covenant, [18] saying, “I will give you the land of Canaan, The lot of your inheritance,” [19] when you were but a few men in number, yes, very few, and foreigners in it. [20] They went about from nation to nation, from one kingdom to another people. [21] He allowed no man to do them wrong. Yes, he reproved kings for their sakes, [22] “Don’t touch my anointed ones! Do my prophets no harm!”

[23] Sing to Yahweh, all the earth! Display his salvation from day to day. [24] Declare his glory among the nations, and his marvelous works among all the peoples. [25] For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. [26] For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens. [27] Honor and majesty are before him. Strength and gladness are in his place.

[28] Ascribe to Yahweh, you families of the peoples, ascribe to Yahweh glory and strength! [29] Ascribe to Yahweh the glory due to his name. Bring an offering, and come before him. Worship Yahweh in holy array. [30] Tremble before him, all the earth. The world also is established that it can’t be moved.

[31] Let the heavens be glad, and let the earth rejoice! Let them say among the nations, “Yahweh reigns!” [32] Let the sea roar, and its fullness! Let the field exult, and all that is in it! [33] Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth.

[34] Oh give thanks to Yahweh, for he is good, for his loving kindness endures forever. [35] Say, “Save us, God of our salvation! Gather us together and deliver us from the nations, to give thanks to your holy name, to triumph in your praise.”

[36] Blessed be Yahweh, the God of Israel, from everlasting even to everlasting. All the people said, “Amen,” and praised Yahweh.

I was at the MenAlive Time Out 2024 Faith Ablaze and they recommended we use the SOAR method for these devotions.

Share a quick take: Which one or two points really grabs your attention?

vv 25-26 For great is Yahweh, and greatly to be praised. He also is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods of the peoples are idols, but Yahweh made the heavens.

Observe: What does God seem to be saying and revealing to you?

Yahweh is the creator. I need not fear idols, spirits, etc. but I need to fear Him. Awe of Him should overwhelm me.

In light of the above, fear of Yahweh should keep me from sin. It’s like what Jimmy Swaggart confessed after he fell: “The problem was not that I didn’t love God. I loved Him. But I didn’t fear Him.”

I have a similar danger. I need to fear Yahweh. I love Him, but the fact that I still give in to sin shows that I don’t fear Him enough. He is holy. He does not tolerate sin. I must not allow my trust in His grace and forgiveness to stop me from fearing Him. The consequences of sin are terrible, as we saw in David’s life.

Action: Share what specific action steps that you will now take in light of what God has spoken to you.

When the temptation comes to linger my eyes on those sexy advertisements that pop up online, on those girls in midriff-baring outfits I must bounce my eyes. Remember to fear Yahweh! Remember the wrath of God and the consequences.

Similarly, when I go to sleep, I need to guard my mind. Prepare myself with good thoughts.

Then I can praise and rejoice in God in purity and without hypocrisy. Then I can rejoice together with the heavens and the earth and be glad. I then can join them and say among the nations, “Yahweh reigns!” Let the sea roar, and its fullness! Let the field exult, and all that is in it! Then the trees of the forest will sing for joy before Yahweh, for he comes to judge the earth.

Request for prayer: What is your specific prayer request for yourself in light of this?

Father, You know how hard it is for me to do the above. I want to be intimate with You. I want to honour You and my wife. I want to fear You with great reverent awe and stay far away from sin. I want to celebrate with creation and praise You in purity and holiness. In Jesus’ name, amen.

Mind-blowing

S: John 6

O: Jesus fed 5000 families with 5 loves and 2 fish, then sent the disciples across the Sea of Galilee where they encountered a storm.

I remember Pastor Daniel Ho's joke from maybe 20 years ago: When Jesus came walking on the water to them in the middle of that storm, they cried, "Hantu!" But Jesus replied, "Bukan, Tuhan." 🤣 Indeed, that's pretty much what it says - makes a great pun, if you know Malay. (Hantu = ghost, Tuhan is how "The Lord" is usually translated in Malay Bibles.) That detail is left out in John's account, but is in Matthew and Mark's accounts.

Then, the next day, when the crowd found him again in Capernaum, they revealed that they were more interested in the physical food of Jesus' feeding miracle than the spiritual food of Jesus' teaching, and he related the manna of the Exodus with himself being the Bread of Life. This is of course before the Last Supper and his sacrifice on the cross, and many left him because he said that their ancestors ate the manna bread and yet died, but if they eat his flesh bread and drink his blood, they would have eternal life and be raised up on the last day.

John tells us that many disciples outside the 12 left him at that point. It just blew their minds when he said we must eat his flesh and drink his blood. How would I have taken it at that point, not knowing about Holy Communion?

A: Jesus may call me to do something difficult and mind-blowing. I must know him well enough and be committed enough to him that I don't run away when that happens. So in the meantime, I need to grow closer and closer to him, to grow in intimacy with him.

P: Father, when the test comes, let me stick with Jesus and what he calls me to do. In Jesus' name, amen.

Expectations

S:	John 5
O:	The paralysed man expected God to work in a certain way if he was going to be healed - that he would need to be the first to get into the pool of Bethesda when the water was troubled. But then he encountered Jesus and had his mind changed. The religious leaders expected the Messiah to follow their interpretation of the Law of Moses, so when Jesus healed the paralysed man on the Sabbath, they were so hung up on that, that they ignored the miracle that happened and persecuted Jesus instead.
A:	I need to beware that I'm not so set in my interpretation of scripture that I'm not willing to consider when perhaps my interpretation is wrong. This needs to be balanced with not being blown by every wind of doctrine.
P:	Father, lead me and guide me by the Holy Spirit so that I will have the wisdom to consider if the doctrine I'm holding on to is correct or not. In Jesus' name, amen.

Lessons from Jesus’ trip through Samaria

S: John 4:1-42

O: This passage recounts how, when Jesus and His disciples set out from Judea to Galilee, He deliberately chose to travel through Samaria. This was unusual because of the deep-rooted enmity between Jews and Samaritans, which had existed since the time of Ezra and Nehemiah, about five centuries earlier. Due to these longstanding hostilities, Jews typically avoided Samaria when traveling between Judea and Galilee. They would often cross the Jordan River, bypassing Samaria by traveling along the eastern side, and then cross back over the Jordan to enter Galilee, avoiding any contact with Samaritans.

Given this historical prejudice, it’s likely that the disciples were surprised by Jesus’ decision to take this route. But, as the story unfolds, we see that Jesus had a very specific purpose in mind.

First, He encountered a Samaritan woman at the well, a woman with a morally questionable past, and changed her life. When she attempted to shift the conversation to theological disputes between Jews and Samaritans—specifically about whether the proper place of worship was Mount Gerizim (the Samaritan holy site) or Mount Zion in Jerusalem—Jesus didn’t allow the conversation to be derailed. Instead, He transcended the debate by saying, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. Yet a time is coming—and has now come—when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.”

When His disciples returned, they were shocked to find Jesus speaking to a Samaritan woman, breaking both cultural taboos: Jewish-Samaritan enmity and gender biases. Yet, Jesus had a higher purpose. After the woman ran off to tell the people in her village about Him, Jesus used the moment to teach His disciples. He urged them to “open their eyes”, pointing out that the fields were ripe for harvest—meaning the Samaritans were ready to receive the Messiah. And indeed, many of them did. Through this encounter, a significant number of Samaritans came to believe in Him, demonstrating that God’s plan extended beyond the boundaries of Jewish prejudice and cultural barriers.

A: Like the Samaritan woman, we too must receive Jesus’ love and salvation, no matter how broken or imperfect our lives may be. Though she initially tried to shift the conversation from her personal sin to theological debates, Jesus gently refocused her attention on the heart of true worship: worshiping God in Spirit and in Truth.

Similarly, we, like the disciples, can often be blinded by our own prejudices. The very people groups we harbor biases against are also the ones Jesus loves and died for. Unfortunately, many Christians today display an unloving attitude of xenophobia, fueling prejudices against other ethnic groups or "illegal immigrants." But this is far from the calling of Jesus. Every foreign worker, every refugee, and every person—regardless of status or background—is made in the image of God and is deeply loved by Him.

P: Father,thank You for the lessons You teach us through the story of the Samaritan woman. Like her, I am often broken, sinful, and lost. Yet, Your love meets me right where I am, offering living water—salvation, healing, and transformation. Help us, Lord, to be open to Your love and grace, no matter how far I  wander.

So often, we, like the disciples, are blinded by prejudice. Open our eyes to see people the way You see them—not as outsiders, strangers, or those to be avoided, but as precious souls created in Your image and deeply loved by You. Tear down any prejudice in our hearts.

Lord, I lift up the marginalised, the foreign workers, the refugees, and all those who are often seen as “other” in our society. Remind us that You died for them just as You died for us. Give us the courage to extend love, kindness, and compassion to everyone, regardless of race, nationality, or background.

Teach us to worship You in Spirit and in Truth, setting aside distractions, divisions, and arguments that pull us away from the essence of true worship. Fill us with Your Spirit, that we might reflect Your heart of love, unity, and grace to the world around us.

Help us live out the lessons from this passage, that we might be instruments of Your peace and reconciliation in a divided world. Thank You for loving us without conditions, and help us to extend that same love to others.

In Jesus’ name, we pray,
Amen.

 

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Incidentally, I just read this article when I was reading the news earlier today:

Statistics and studies show rhetoric about immigrants and crime is often exaggerated or false. Let’s do our part to be part of the solution and not part of the problem.

This article is specifically debunking some of the falsehoods being said about “illegal immigrants” in USA, but the general idea also applies to us here in Malaysia where people often scapegoat “illegal immigrants” as well as legal “foreign workers.” These people are also made in the image of God.

What's behind recent false claims about immigrants and crime in the US?

More like Jesus, less like me.

S:  John 3:22-36

After this, Jesus and his disciples came into Judean territory, and there he spent time with them and was baptizing. John was also baptizing at Aenon near Salim because water was plentiful there, and people were coming to him and being baptized. (For John had not yet been thrown into prison.)

Now a dispute came about between some of John’s disciples and a certain Jew concerning ceremonial washing. So they came to John and said to him, “Rabbi, the one who was with you on the other side of the Jordan River, about whom you testified—see, he is baptizing, and everyone is flocking to him!”

John replied, “No one can receive anything unless it has been given to him from heaven. 28 You yourselves can testify that I said, ‘I am not the Christ,’ but rather, ‘I have been sent before him.’ The one who has the bride is the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom, who stands by and listens for him, rejoices greatly when he hears the bridegroom’s voice. This then is my joy, and it is complete. He must become more important while I become less important.”

The one who comes from above is superior to all. The one who is from the earth belongs to the earth and speaks about earthly things. The one who comes from heaven is superior to all. He testifies about what he has seen and heard, but no one accepts his testimony. 33 The one who has accepted his testimony has confirmed clearly that God is truthful. For the one whom God has sent speaks the words of God, for he does not give the Spirit sparingly. The Father loves the Son and has placed all things under his authority. The one who believes in the Son has eternal life. The one who rejects the Son will not see life, but God’s wrath remains on him.

O: “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less” is how the NLT put what John the Baptist said. This is the guy that Jesus called “the greatest” of all human beings! (Matthew 11:11 & Luke 7:28). Such a great man, the greatest man, a man Jesus holds up as an example as exemplary, yet, “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.”

And “God gives the Spirit without limit,” and “anyone who believes in God’s Son has eternal life.”

A: If the guy Jesus called “the greatest” had to become less and less and let Jesus become greater and greater, how much more me?

I need to be more like Jesus. I need to be more intimate with God, so that I will flow more in His ways.

P: Lord, make me like You. Please make me like You. You are a servant, make me one, too. O Lord, I am willing, do what You must do to make me like You, Lord. Please make me like You.

Show me how to grow in intimacy with You. In Jesus' name, amen.

 

His Favourite Song Of All

John 3:1-21

Nicodemus, unlike the Pharisees that opposed Jesus, came to see Jesus as he was convinced that Jesus was a teacher sent from God because of his miracles. This prompted Jesus famous saying “You must be born again/from above!” (John 3:7.)

Another gem: “Just as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, so that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.” (John 13:14-15)

Which then leads right into that most famous of verses:

For this is the way God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but that the world should be saved through him.

- John 3:16,17

Indeed, God loved us so much that He sacrificed His only begotten Son for us! That's the inspiration for the song “Favourite song of all”.

Favorite Song Of All 
by Dan Dean (of Phillips, Craig and Dean.)

He loves to hear the wind sing
As it whistles through the pines on mountain peaks
And He loves to hear the raindrops
As they splash to the ground in a magic melody
He smiles in sweet approval
As the waves crash through the rocks in harmony
Creation joins in unity
To sing to Him majestic symphonies

But His favorite song of all
Is the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners now made clean
Lift their voices loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothing more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasing to His ear
As His favorite song of all

And He loves to hear the angels
As they sing, "Holy, holy is the Lamb"
(Holy, holy, holy is the Lamb)
Heaven's choirs in harmony
Lift up praises to the great I Am
(Hallelujah, hallelujah)
But He lifts His hands for silence
When the weakest saved by grace begins to sing
And a million angels listen
As a newborn soul sings, "I've been redeemed!"

'Cause His favorite song of all
Is the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners now made clean
Lift their voices loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothing more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasing to His ear
As His favorite song of all

It's not just melodies and harmonies
That catches His attention
It's not just clever lines and phrases
That causes Him to stop and listen
But when any heart set free
Washed and bought by Calvary
Begins to sing

That's His favorite song of all
It's the song of the redeemed
When lost sinners now made clean
Lift their voices loud and strong
When those purchased by His blood
Lift to Him a song of love
There's nothing more He'd rather hear
Nor so pleasing to His ear
As His favorite song of all

Now, I don't know if God really does shush all the other sounds of heaven when a newly saved person sings praise to Him, but I do know the Bible tells us “there is joy in the presence of God’s angels over one sinner who repents” so even if the words of this song isn’t exactly correct, the sentiment is.

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Born again or born from above? The NET footnote explains:

The Greek word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) can mean both “again” and “from above,” giving rise to Nicodemus’ misunderstanding about a second physical birth (v. 4). tn The word ἄνωθεν (anōthen) has a double meaning, either “again” (in which case it is synonymous with παλίν [palin]) or “from above” (BDAG 92 s.v. ἄνωθεν). This is a favorite technique of the author of the Fourth Gospel, and it is lost in almost all translations at this point. John uses the word 5 times, in 3:3, 7; 3:31; 19:11 and 23. In the latter 3 cases the context makes clear that it means “from above.” Here (3:3, 7) it could mean either, but the primary meaning intended by Jesus is “from above.” Nicodemus apparently understood it the other way, which explains his reply, “How can a man be born when he is old? He can’t enter his mother’s womb a second time and be born, can he?” The author uses the technique of the “misunderstood question” often to bring out a particularly important point: Jesus says something which is misunderstood by the disciples or (as here) someone else, which then gives Jesus the opportunity to explain more fully and in more detail what he really meant.

 Only begotten son or one and only son?  The NET footnote explains:

Although this word is often translated “only begotten,” such a translation is misleading, since in English it appears to express a metaphysical relationship. The word in Greek was used of an only child (a son [Luke 7:12; 9:38] or a daughter [Luke 8:42]). It was also used of something unique (only one of its kind) such as the mythological Phoenix (1 Clement 25:2). From here it passes easily to a description of Isaac (Heb 11:17 and Josephus, Ant. 1.13.1 [1.222]) who was not Abraham’s only son, but was one-of-a-kind because he was the child of the promise. Thus the word means “one-of-a-kind” and is reserved for Jesus in the Johannine literature of the NT. While all Christians are children of God (τέκνα θεοῦ, tekna theou), Jesus is God’s Son in a unique, one-of-a-kind sense. The word is used in this way in all its uses in the Gospel of John (1:14, 18; 3:16, 18).

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Given the NET's note about ἄνωθεν meaning both “again” and “from above”, I wondered, “Wait, Nico and Jesus would probably have been speaking in Aramaic and not Greek.” Not knowing Aramaic, I asked Venice AI, which replied:

However, it's worth considering that Jesus and Nicodemus would have been speaking in Aramaic, not Greek. The Gospel of John was originally written in Greek, but it's likely that the original sayings of Jesus were spoken in Aramaic. If we consider the Aramaic translation of the word, it's "min 'elyana" (מִן עַלְיָא). The word "alya" (עַלְיָא) can mean both "again" and "from above," so the ambiguity is present in both the original Aramaic and the Greek translation.

Therefore, it's plausible that Jesus' statement was misunderstood by Nicodemus due to the double meaning of the Aramaic word, not just because of the ambiguity in the Greek translation. The author of John likely used this "misunderstood question" technique to explore Jesus' deeper teachings on spiritual rebirth and the connection between heaven and earth.

Water to Wine, Cleansing the Temple

John 2 is very interesting - it has what appears to be Jesus' first miracle, instigated by Mary - turning the water to wine at the wedding in Cana, followed by overturning the tables of the merchants in the temple.

The synoptic Gospels also tell of the cleansing of the temple, but put this incident near the end, not long before the crucifixion - while John puts it very early. The synoptic Gospels don't mention the water into wine miracle.

It's interesting that Jesus had thought his time was not yet, but he gave in to Mary. What do we make of this? Did Mary see that it was time, when Jesus hadn't yet realised  it was time? Luke 2:52 points out that Jesus grew in wisdom - he wasn't born with the full-fledged wisdom of God even though he was God in the flesh.

And the cleansing of the temple? It's true that the people of the time didn't expect narratives to have a strict temporal sequencing, so it could be that this was the same cleansing of the temple from near the end of Jesus' ministry that John is relating here to set the tone for Jesus' ministry in opposition to the status quo. Or it could be a separate incident, though the similarity of the incident with the one near the end in the synoptic Gospels suggest otherwise.