Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Titus 1:2, God, who cannot lie,

in hope of eternal life which God, who cannot lie, promised before time began,
(I'll be going on a little rabbit trail of cross-references here, but you can follow the asterisks to see where they were suggested by those who placed them in this electronic version of the NKJV.)

The New King James translation of the Bible on my handy-dandy iPod touch points to Numbers 23:19 as a related verse.

Numbers 23:19
"God * is not a man, that He should lie, Nor a son of man, that He should repent. Has He ** said, and will He not do? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?

I'd also like to include verse 20 just for kicks because it's cool.
"Behold, I have received a command to bless; He has blessed, and I cannot reverse it."

I also liked comparing these verses with their English Standard translations, which instead of "repent", "make it good" and "reverse" use the words "change his mind", "fulfill it" and "revoke":

"God is not a man, that he should lie, or a son of man, that he should change his mind.
Has he said, and will he not do it?
Or has he spoken, and will he not fulfill it?
Behold, I received a command to bless:
he has blessed, and I cannot revoke it."

Now Numbers 23:19 in its beginning contains three cross-references to:

*Samuel 15:29
And also the Strength of Israel will not lie nor relent. For He is not a man, that He should relent."

*Malachi 3:6
"For I am the Lord, I do not change; Therefore you are not consumed, O sons of Jacob.

*and James 1:17
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow of turning.

The second sentence in Numbers 23:19 also contains cross-references to Numbers 11:23, in which God replies to Moses' bewilderment at a provision of meat for a month until they are sick of it to the people of Israel ("six hundred thousand men on foot") [Num. 11:18-22], and 1 Kings 8:56, in which Solomon rises from prayer and begins to bless "all the assembly of Israel with a loud voice" [1 Kgs 8:54-55] after having brought the Ark of the Covenant into the then completed temple.

Numbers 11:23
And the Lord said to Moses, "Has the Lord's arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what I say will happen to you or not."

1 Kings 8:56
"Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses.

---

I'd really like to share Josh's study today. It has really made me reconsider where my thoughts have been going in planning for after Potter's Field, and what exactly my real intentions and motivations are for those plans. Even if plans are good, am I allowing personal desires to cloud my mind from seeing the very best plans of God?

The Bible is Truth, the Word of God, His revelation to us. He is eternal and absolute, perfect and unchanging. Uncompromising. Unbending. If He says something, it doesn't need to be said 'as a promise' or it doesn't quite count. If He has said it, it is truth indivisible. God does not lie.

Proverbs 16:9
A man’s heart plans his way,
But the Lord directs his steps.
Jeremiah 10:23
O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself;
It is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.
Psalm 37:23
The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord,
And He delights in his way.
Proverbs 16:1
The preparations of the heart belong to man,
But the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.
Proverbs 19:21
There are many plans in a man’s heart,
Nevertheless the Lord’s counsel—that will stand.
Proverbs 20:24
A man’s steps are of the Lord;
How then can a man understand his own way?
Proverbs 21:30
There is no wisdom or understanding
Or counsel against the Lord.
Isaiah 46:10
Declaring the end from the beginning,
And from ancient times things that are not yet done,
Saying, ‘My counsel shall stand,
And I will do all My pleasure,’

I PRAY
TO GOD
THAT HE BRINGS
MY HEART
TO WANT
WHAT HE WANTS
FOR THE REASONS
HE WANTS IT.

Amen.

Written January 28, 2012

1 comment:

  1. I love James 1:17, I find it interesting here in that passage that God is referred to as the father of lights.. Where as we know, Satan is referred to as the Prince of darkness. I am so thankful for God's mercy on us and the direction s that he plans to take our lives.

    ReplyDelete