Learnable Bible Study Podcast

Christians all over the world fast personally at different times and corporately as local assemblies at different times. In the Christian calendar lent is a time that Christian all over the world fast. A dip into church history showed that lent started around 100 AD, since then annually fasting has been in the Christian calendar.

Now let’s rewind to more than 70 years prior to the book of Zechariah

The Lord sent his word by His spirit through the prophets. This happened when things were rosy and life was all as it should be. But the children of Israel would not listen or obey the words of the Lord. The repercussion to the continuous disobedient of Israel led to them being taken captive to different parts of the world. In captivity, the children of Israel continued fasting in the 5th and 7th month as an act of worship. They were doing this over and over again. But the question they sent Shenezer to ask reflects the expected results of their fasting was not materializing so they enquired should we fast again? They didn’t receive a yes or no reply.

God replied, can you really say you were fasting for Me says the Lord?

It's in the middle of the night and you need something urgently: who do you go to, how quickly will they respond and most importantly why will they respond to you.

Today we read a parable of Jesus.

1. Ask and keep asking and you will receive

2. Seek and keep seeking and you will find

3. Knock and keep knocking and the door will be opened.

Going on my afternoon stroll I pondered on Nehemiah 3, it was so wonderful to see everyone was working in unity to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem.

And next to them Zadok son of Baana repaired and the next section was to be built by the men of Tekoa. Amongst these Tekoa men were some men called nobles. These noble men will not put their hand to work under their supervisors.

I wondered who declared these men noble. What makes one man noble and the other not? It’s us; we measure people by the plumb line of men: rich, influential, courteous, civilized and the list goes on.

These nobles may have considered their supervisors beneath them and would not receive instructions about the walls from them. I guess if their supervisors had fitted their own criteria they would have joined in the building. The supervisors might have been younger, not as experienced or poor.

To men these men seemed noble but to God they weren’t. Their names were not even mentioned.

As I walked, favouring the paths with more grass to cushion my feet, I wonder how many times I remove my eyes from the goal and concentrate on the supervisors.

Looking around me and the world we live in, the elder must lead; the rich and influential must have the first say, the only say in between and the last say. But when God puts supervisors above us, how do we react?

Do we think; goodness me I can do a better job than Reuben. Reuben is so young or inexperience. I can see a lot of zeal in him but he is not mature enough to pull this through. We question Reuben’s background and eloquence. We think he is not smart enough. He doesn’t know how to talk to people. He doesn’t carry everyone along. Reuben cannot do anything praiseworthy in our eyes.

So also the nobles of Tekoa thought and did not put their hands to work in the rebuilding of Jerusalem’s wall. Were there no other nobles in the other families that rebuild other parts of the wall?

The names of the people recorded that rebuild the wall would be what I term the nobles of God. What did these men do to be God’s nobles? They were obedient to the instruction to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem. Their focus was on God not the background of their supervisors.

There is a purpose we must all fulfil and at different times and places in our lives God will allow supervisors above us that don’t measure up to the plumb line of men. Would we be submissive and see God instead of our various supervisors?

Let us remember, King Josiah was 8 years old, King David was a Shepherd boy, Tamar was an outsider, Rahab was a prostitute, Peter was an illiterate and our Lord Jesus Christ earthly father was a carpenter.

God’s nobles obey irrespective of the person or circumstances trusting God to make everything beautiful.

Distractions and how to avoid them

When instruction comes in piece meal are we irate or are we willing to obey God? Trusting Him to see us through.

Parable of the Labourers in the vineyard Matthew 20:1-16

Rabbis or teachers use stories to teach their students about philosophy of life.

Jesus taught with parables not to confuse his listeners but to provoke their thoughts.

Here is a parable of a boss who hired workers and paid them the same wage at the end of the day.

The master went out early in the morning to hire workers to work on his farm and agreed to pay them a penny per day. After a few hours, he went to the market to look for more labourers who could be of use on the farm. He told them he was going to pay them fairly. Then he went out to look for more labourers again at different hours of the day even to the eleventh hour. He paid them equally in the end but not everyone was happy.

New Paths open to us from time to time, with mixed emotions. We would explore how Joshua and the Israelites tackled their new path

Setting goals is important, but what is more paramount is the plans we lay down to achieve these goals.

The 2nd Espionage

We have Joshua in this passage. He has recently been made the leader of the over 1 million Israelites to lead them to the promised land. Now they were on the verge of crossing the Jordan river to enter.

Joshua who was one of the 12 spies publicly sent by Moses about 40 years earlier now is sending just  2 spies secretly

The spies crossed the Jordan river and spied out the land, especially Jericho. Where they encountered an innkeeper. Who hid them on her rooftop behind flax. Gave them the load down of the state of Jericho. This innkeeper professed her faith in Yahweh and made an oath with them to save her family.

Rahab the innkeeper was also a prostitute: her keen eyes were able to recognize the spies. She hid them from the king’s army and formed an alliance to save her family. She let the spies down through a scarlet rope from her windows which was part of the walls of Jericho.

Joshua: A former spy  and now leader used the lesson from what happened 40 years previous in sending 2 spies and doing so secretly. Israel entering the promised land meant they would be at war. While he knew God was fighting for them Joshua still did his due diligence before going to war. To access his  opposition.

Jericho is known for the walls that surround the city. As these spies moved around they came upon Rahab, an innkeeper and prostitute. The first thing Rahab does was to hide these men on the roof. And shortly afterwards the king's security came to ask for the men. She sent them on a wild goose chase. She hid the spies which is a great risk to her own life if the army or the king were to discover.

Raheb testifies that it was common knowledge that the God of Israel fought for Israel.

The state of mind of the Jerichoans. Her own  personal conviction that the God of Israel was the only true God indicates the reason why she got involved in the spy expedition.

The spies repeated  Rahab’s testimony of their victory and the power behind them the Israelites were known to their enemies even more than the Israelites knew. They also informed him of the oath they had made to Rahab as we would see in Joshua 6:17 -

Due diligence: While we have God’s promises and help and God will do His part, so we need to do ours. We need to do a comprehensive appraisal of the situation and evaluate

Raheb recounts Israel victory one after the other and states that they had already won. The whole of Jericho was already afraid of the intending war. Just like the scriptures says

1 John 4:4 - Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome them: because greater is he that is in you, than he that is in the world.

He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world.  - Do we know this and act according or are we acting based on just our physical strength

Rahab acted on her conviction. She aligns herself and her family with the God of Israel. Her testimony forms part of the spies report.  The spies report was not based on the produce or the military might or the walls of Jericho, rather  it was based on the testimonies of the victories the Lord had secured for Israel which even their enemies knew about.

The scriptures tells us in Revelation 12:11

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.

Recount the testimonies of the Lord over and over. Count your blessing over and over and experience your overcoming. Let your previous testimony swing you to action.

Can God's nature be compared to man's nature?