Double Claim by God

The Bible in a Year podcast is a gem for me. Like most of us in some big or small ways, I have been facing with some sort of a debilitating physical condition for the past several months now. Of course, there are a number of moments wherein I would fall into hopelessness and despair.

Once again, hearing the word of God (thru the BIAY) reminds me and gives me a sense of comfort and pushes me to move forward despite and inspite of my personal circumstances. Like in chapter 43 of Isaiah. It's a long chapter but I will just give you the 1st 3 verses that I think in essence serves my point for today.

Isaiah 43:1-3
But now thus says the Lord,
he who created you, O Jacob,
    he who formed you, O Israel:
“Fear not, for I have redeemed you;
    I have called you by name, you are mine.
2 When you pass through the waters I will be with you;
    and through the rivers, they shall not overwhelm you;
when you walk through fire you shall not be burned,
    and the flame shall not consume you.
3 For I am the Lord your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior.

To borrow Fr. Mike's commentary, God promised the Israelites to "Fear not, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by name, you are mine." This is a double claim from the Lord: I have called you by name and you are mine. And this is so important for the people to hear, because the Israelites are kind of worried about the siege that is going to happen to them, probably feeling the same sense of hopelessness and despair as I do, only worse. But God is promising them this double claim even before the worse season of their lives will happen that God will be with them throughout.

This is so important for me and you to hear as well. Maybe you and I have been asking what if our lives don't get any better, what if we don't get out of this funk, what if you will about to experience the worst season of your life is coming? And yet God knows our lives, He knows our story, He is outside space and time.

God is using or allowing this suffering not to destroy his people but to bring us back to his heart. The message of the prophet like Isaiah is always this, to "Come back to the Lord with all your heart."

So maybe you might need to hear this Word and promise of God as well. Perhaps it might seem today like the Lord abandoned you too, maybe today is the worst day of your life, but God still says today and everyday, "I've called you by name and you are mine."

Let us then instead entrust to the Lord all our worries and concerns, to come back to Him with all our hearts with praise and thanksgiving, because our Almighty Father has claimed us His own, by our name, for He is the God of hope. The God of second chances. Our Redeemer. Our Savior.

Exhortation 2021-8-29

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In Times of Our Spiritual Battle, "Send Judah Up First"

Taken from my community gathering exhortation (April 18, 2021). Edited for the purpose of this blog.

I heard Fr. Mike Schmitz's Bible in a year (a.k.a. BIAY) is taking the podcast by storm. It started just this January of this year 2021.

If you aren't familiar with Fr. Mike's BIAY podcast, basically each episode he would read a book or two from the Bible, chapters and verses based off of Jeff Cavin's Great Bible Adventure color-coded Bible reading plan or timeline as a guide, and then he would follow it up with a short commentary. Each episode runs around 20 minutes on average.

In a few of Fr. Mike's commentaries after reading the book of Exodus, book of Numbers and Judges, he would mentioned Judah a few times. Judah was the 4th of the 12 sons of Jacob. The 12 sons of which the 12 tribes of Israel originated. If you are familiar with Joseph the dreamer, Judah is one of Joseph's older brothers.

Anyway, I learned from Fr. Mike that the name Judah means "Praise" in Hebrew. Fr. Mike said that when the Israelites would go into a battle, the Lord commanded His people to send Judah up first, and God will deliver the land into Judah's hands.* (If there were coronavirus at that time, the tribe of Judah would probably be the original frontliners.)

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This account of God commanding His people to have "Judah go up first" according to Fr. Mike and Jeff Cavin has an interesting significance and got me reflecting its connection to our prayer life and worship time. And that sense and significance from the Lord is that: by Judah going up first, God is saying that Praise must go up first. For Judah means Praise.

Because to say Praise goes up first is to set our day in motion focus on the goodness of God first things first and less of ourselves, our worries or concerns. To have praise go up first is to go into our daily routine and face our trials, difficulties and battle focus on the glory of God first rather than begin our day asking God why we have all these pains and sufferings.

When we take time to see the goodness and glory of God up first, it helps us cultivate the virtue of hope and surrender, the virtue of acceptance and contentment, and the virtue of trust and gratitude, regardless of how we feel. It reminds us that in every circumstances, good or bad, God will be in control, that everything happen and will happen for a reason to which God will intend it for our greater good, and helps bring ourselves an awareness that God surpasses and will surpass all our fears and anxieties. In other words, to have Praise to our Lord go up first reminds us that the artist is greater than the artwork, that the creator is greater than the creation.

Yet we know it is easier said than done. Like St. Peter, sometimes we still take our eyes off our Lord and look at the waves and wind instead, and start sinking walking towards our Lord in the stormy sea. And so we continually ask our heavenly Father for the grace to cultivate this virtue of praise. As we face our everyday trials and spiritual battle, let us strive to keep in mind to send Judah as the Lord prescribed, let us have Praise go up first.

Father in heaven, may your name be praise, may your name be glorified. We lift up our hearts to always honor you, to always praise you. We praise and thank you for you are love, for dying for us, for your salvation. That you are the same yesterday, today and forever. That you are our rock, our fortress, our refuge, our rescuer and shield. We praise you Lord for being the everlasting God, the Creator of the universe. We praise that your ways are perfect and your words true. Holy is the name of the Lord.

“Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a sacrifice of praise—the fruit of lips that openly profess his name.” (Heb. 13:15)

*Judges 1:1-2