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June 1

 

Joel 1

We are starting a new book in the Exile Stream today. We are reading from the Modern English Version this week.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

God’s response to the nations sinfulness is the theme that Joel is driving at.  There are hints of restoration and promises that God will come and pour Himself out and bless in ways the world had yet to see.  But the theme that arises in this book is “the day of the Lord.” The Lord is going to come and bless those who are His. He is also going to come and judge those who are against the Lord and His workings.  Many may remember those dreaded hours of in trepidation when they had disobeyed and mother when she stated, “wait until your father gets home!”  The time between that statement and the arrival was uh, rather stressful for youngsters.  There is an element of that here when Joel articulates “the day of the Lord.” They should be scared and/or in total awe of this imminent event.  Perhaps we are jumping ahead,  as we will be in Joel today and for the next two Wednesdays.  Be that as it may. It is one of the earlier prophecies to Judah.  It was written a century after the nation split [at the earliest]. ca. 830 B.C. nothing specific of the date is known beyond that.

 
1 – Joel is the son of Pethuel and that’s all that is assured of his identity.
A plague of locusts have stripped the country and the vineyards are devastated, the wheat harvest is gone, food is scarce and there is nothing to eat as well as there being nothing to sacrifice to the Lord on the altar.  The Lord is not concerned with that part -the absent sacrifices-  for the people have been offering sacrifices to God and yet having hearts that were NOT THERE.  They may as well be dropping an offering in the plate and then shaking their fists and hollering, “hey God, you got my offering now leave me alone this week, ok!, you hear me, ‘sky-guy’ ?”     … pretty bad, huh? yes it is. So God is getting their attention  These locusts left nothing green and Joel is using the situation to teach a colossal lesson.        Joel, speaking for God, wants repentance. He wants Judah to change and have a transformed heart for Him.  He wants prayer, a mind for him, fasting, He wants Judah seeking His face.  God is dead serious with these Judeans.  He wants them hungry for Him, and he’s made them hungry to prove His point.  The granaries and storehouses are empty as are the fields, the animals are so hungry that they are dizzy, the grasses have been devoured by fire. Joel states some rather piercing symbolism when he writes that even the beasts of the field are longing for God.  Now to get the Judeans to long for God – it’s a great plan, but how?
Posted on

May 30

 

Psalms 62-68

We are in the Wisdom Stream today using the Modern English Version.

 

Commentary by Dr. Drake Travis

“Lord God, we will praise you all our lives and and do so with all our breath and that being a present far too small, we will continue to praise you for eternity.  Amen.”
 
some of the Psalms we read today are the all time classics that comfort souls throughout the world and throughout all time.
 

62 – David has trust, rest, peace and salvation in God alone. Nothing else brings him such relief as the Life-Giver Himself; His God.  David’s troubles merely pressed him further into a deeper faith.  David had no confidence in man or fellowship or contacts; “connections” as the phrase is used today.  This all was vapid to David.  Even power and wealth – David saw through it as the road to nothing that appealed to David as having eternal value.  David saw God as ever merciful and fair, and David was resolved to be of the same spirit for David always trusted in God

 
63 – David is in the wilderness and he is so trained in his heart to desire God that his thirst for Him is his top reminder as he is hunting for water.  How many of us in this situation would be thinking, “hey God, y’trying to kill me? Am I supposed to dry up and blow away? really? Let’s get some water to me or me to some water or something, huh!!?”  No David thinks, “God I long to be secure in you and with you as much as I want water in a desert.”  This is David’s devoted heart.  This Psalm probably accompanies his season of hiding out from Absalom. He is distressed but confident that he will be restored. David’s words for God are akin to what we see in one searching the earth over to find a lost loved one.  It’s a touching passage of Scripture.
 
64 – David is praying earnestly for protection from enemies and their plots to ruin him.  These evil men use words and weapons and are calloused by evil and their commitment to be evil.  David wants God to shoot them down. David simply wants them gone and away. David knows that God delivers and watches over the steadfast.
 
65 – There is a rhapsody of worship, praise and thanksgiving as all the earth is blessed as far as David can see.  The harvest is come in, is still coming in; the fields, oceans, orchards – there is abundance and shouts of joy are going up.  All this bounty is simply indicative of the salvation God grants.
 
66 – This Psalm is a song that is sung even today.  God is calling for worship from all the earth.  All are to sing and rejoice, in all the nations. God has blessed in so many ways and tales of his deliverance are retold.  This calls for us to bring our offering and our lives to God.  He is good, He saves, He hears, He has mercy and will not turn us away.  This is cause for coming to Him in worship, is it not?
 
67 – This Psalm is an inspiration for missions to be launched into all the earth for God wants His praises and name to be across the earth.  In doing this God blesses the nations of the earth, the peoples of the earth as well as those who take His Name to all the earth.
 
68 – God and His victorious army is marching.  The enemies will scatter as God rises up.  Those who are deserted/orphaned God will place in families.  God meets all needs and provides for this who are with Him in His cause.  There is so much to tell of the God; our God who advances. He is as majestic as the mountains in all their splendor.  God will be victorious and all the people of the earth (those who fight Him as well as those who fight for Him) will pay Him tribute.  Singers sing and dancers dance before the Lord.  Great kings are drawn to the Lord.  There is never too much that can be said about the wonders of God and the deeds and service He warrants from people coming from so many nations to come and worship in Israel where He dwells.