Heralds Digest

“Then she made a vow and said, “O LORD of hosts, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give Your maidservant a male child, then I will give him to the LORD all the days of his life, and no razor shall come upon his head.”” ‭‭I Samuel‬ ‭ 1:11 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/1sa.1.11.nkjv   Man’s common concept of gifts from God is God’s release and man’s receipt. Similar to childish disposition, Man’s release of gifts received from God usually requires enormous persuasion. However, Hannah underwent an unusual bargain with God in order to have her womb opened by God: She promised to give Samuel back to God, if God ever considered her prayer for a release of the gift. And She painfully fulfilled her promise to God. Unfortunately, many of such promises are made by desperate people at the crossroads of life, but went unfulfilled. Actually, all of God’s gifts (children, wealth, talents, career, et...

“So he said, “You have taken away my gods which I made, and the priest, and you have gone away. Now what more do I have? How can you say to me, ‘What ails you?’ ”” ‭‭Judges‬ ‭18:24‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/jdg.18.24.nkjv The long wait for a reliable cure for COVID-19 or any disease on pandemic scale can be frustrating. But as long as the search is attracting consistent investment of time and earthly resources, there is hope for solution in the end. Unfortunately, the search for medicine for the soul do not always enjoy the same level of comfort and hope, without the help of the true God. Like Micah, the people of Dan and the isolated men of Laish, man engages in the business of life by searching for god in his man-made privacy, prosperity, and peace. And the man-made privacy, prosperity, and peace are always unsecured and unreliable. Since they are destructible and degradable, the ailment resulting from their inevitable loss is awful. When Micah expressed his awful predic...

“And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.”” ‭‭Joshua‬ ‭24:15‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/jos.24.15.nkjv A reflection came up in a recent family devotion “With respect to Christians’ expression of their love for the Lord, why do we always do what we do not mean?”. Of course, if the children of Israel in the days of Joshua have kept their promise to serve the Lord, the fragile world peace accords and the instability in a drive for mutual coexistence in the world would have been a fiction. Even in our contemporary days, many leaders of influence in the Christian Faith have risen with sincere hearts to change their world in total commitment to the Lord. Unfortunately, majority of these leaders have been brought down at the height of t...

““And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways and to love Him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments of the LORD and His statutes which I command you today for your good?” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭ 10:12-13 ‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/deu.10.12-13.nkjv   Liberal hearts pride themselves in the freedom to make their own rules. Howbeit, they can hardly submit to the enforcement of their self-made rules. And in spite of the understanding of the clear motives of personal goods in God’s rules, divine rules and regulations are unacceptable ways of life to souls that are doomed on the self-destructive pathway. When Israel exhibited her passion for liberal lifestyles under the leadership of Aaron, even Moses paid a heavy price in order to re-subscribe for God’s rules and regulations for the stiff-necked children of Israel and the respect of God’s commandme...

“Honor your father and your mother, as the LORD your God has commanded you, that your days may be long, and that it may be well with you in the land which the LORD your God is giving you...You shall walk in all the ways which the LORD your God has commanded you, that you may live and that it may be well with you, and that you may prolong your days in the land which you shall possess.” ‭‭Deuteronomy‬ ‭ 5:16 , 33‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/deu.5.16,33.nkjv     The importance of loyalty and respect for constituted authority at home, workplace and the society is emphasized here in Moses’ review of God’s commandments. For an experience of long life and prosperity, the distinction between obedience and respect is however clarified. The call to obedience is to God, while the call to loyalty and respect is to our fathers and mothers or people in position of authority over us. And since both calls guarantee long life and prosperity, woes often seem to confront life at the c...

“Therefore you shall not oppress one another, but you shall fear your God; for I am the LORD your God...The land shall not be sold permanently, for the land is Mine; for you are strangers and sojourners with Me.” ‭‭Leviticus‬ ‭25:17, 23‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/lev.25.17,23.nkjv   Claims to the legitimate rights and privileges in landed property or community services are designed to be monitored by the issuance of legal documents, like the certificates of occupancy, immigration papers, citizenship cards, travel documents or passport, etc. Notwithstanding, the concept of perpetual payment of property taxes and the payment for renewals of these legal documents are clear reminder to property owners and citizens that government still retains the power to revoke the right to ownership, if certain state laws are infringed upon. Likewise, God retains the sovereign right or interest in the usage or occupancy of the promised land, occupied by His people. Whether the promised...

“Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”...And whenever the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone, then Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.” ‭‭Exodus‬ ‭34:9, 35‬ ‭NKJV‬‬ https://www.bible.com/114/exo.34.9,35.nkjv   Without any doubt, there appears to be nothing more profound in mount Sinai than the merciful management of the gracious glory of God among the wilful wickedness of the wayward.  The management of the disturbance between the camp of Aaron and the camp of God took Moses another 40 day-and-night transfiguration experience at mount Sinai. And if God must also go with any man in our world, fully loaded with increasing frivolity and fearless wickedness, there can be no alternative to a daily dose of the gracious glory...