Bible In One Year-Day 115 (Friday, April 25, 204)

Two basic things are possible for the flesh to do; goodness and wickedness. Both of them are not acceptable to God considering two scenarios in chapters4-6 of 2Sam. The first one is in 2 Samuel 4:8 “And they brought the head of Ishbosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king, Behold the head of Ishbosheth the son of Saul thine enemy, which sought thy life; and the LORD hath avenged my lord the king this day of Saul, and of his seed.”

These men thought they did the king well by killing the son of Saul, not knowing that it was sin. It became a sin to them because they had a hidden agenda; they killed to obtain favor with David. Where were they when Saul was seeking for the life of David? To appease David’s favor they decided to kill Saul’s son. The good they did was by the flesh, and therefore, not acceptable by God.

The second scenario is in 2 Samuel 6:6-7 “And when they came to Nachon’s threshing floor, Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it; for the oxen shook it. And the anger of the LORD was kindled against Uzzah; and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God.”

Uzzah meant well but he violated some rules on ground, Numbers4:15. God’s command should be handled with high esteem. Moses admonished Aaron not to be sentimental and emotional about the death of his sons when God killed them for the strange fire they brought into the sanctuary, Lev10. Samuel quickly left Saul and prayed for him from afar. Uzzah was so emotional in his service to the Holy thing of God, but God did not accept that gesture. In doing good, make sure you do not violate God’s word because it will not be accepted. Any good you do must be led by His Spirit; this is the only one that glorifies God. Peter enjoyed grace when he jumped out to cut off the ear of Jesus’ arrester. But at one time, we saw how Jesus rebuked him for trying to stop divine agenda from coming to pass. In these two times, Peter was lead by emotion and on the two occasions he was wrong because he viewed the situations from man’s angle;

MLB Matthew 16:23 “But, turning around, He said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan, you are a snare to Me; for you are not taking the divine view but man’s.”

In as much as our emotion is appreciated by God it should be controlled by the Holy Spirit and tailored towards obedience (i.e. doing the will of God) and not disobedience. Every good done by the flesh has no mark before God according to the following scripture;

John 6:63 “It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: …”

This is the truth behind the statement of Jesus to the ruler who had a discussion with Jesus in Luke18:18-26 (Matt19:16-26). This man considered himself as good for obeying the Ten Commandment in the flesh. Jesus, knowing his position, corrected his misconception of the things of the spirit. The practice of religion in the flesh is never acceptable to God. This, of course, is the more reason, why many get frustrated if after obeying all the laid down laws, rules, they still get no result. This is why God has given us His Holy Spirit to be our Help in pleasing Him. If your not putting on pants (trousers) or earrings as a woman is done religiously, it has not made you righteous before God because the flesh profits nothing. When you follow the law, you fall from grace but when you walk in the spirit, everything you do is right before God because you are led by His Spirit which cannot go wrong. The only goodness accepted to God is that which is led by His Spirit.

Galatians 5:4 “Christ is become of no effect to you, whoever of you are justified by the law; ye are fallen from grace.”

Galatians 5:16-18 “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But if ye be led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.”

Saul thought of reserving good sheep for sacrifice to God not knowing that he was already disobeying God. This is why we need to allow the Holy Spirit to express the goodness of God the Father through us and not our emotion. To expound more on the action of Uzza is much bigger than the scope of this commentary, but I will make some clues clear as much as possible; within human reasoning, there was no justification for his death. In the Old Testament, the word of God was so sacred; it comes upon men as a power or spirit. When it comes, everything about man is suspended; his emotion, will, intellect and sometimes his senses. As soon as this happens, the mouth is what opens up in response to expressing the mind of God. That is why you see “Thus saith the Lord” only in the Old Testament. In essence no part of human being is mixed with the word of God, He never needed man’s help, and there was a veil between the holy of holies and the outside. Any attempt to chip in human effort corrupts the word of God. Moses was guilty of this when he struck the rock instead of speaking to it. That same word of God came and wrapped himself in human flesh and that is what we call Jesus;

John 1:14 “And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.” From that moment human emotions, will and mind became useful in expressing God, but under the control of the Spirit. In most places in the gospel, where Jesus was about to minister, the Bible says “and He was full of compassion” In this wise, the emotion of man, his will and mind became that of God. The Holy Spirit is given to us as a promise to pattern our lives to conform to the word of God in the likeness of Jesus; this is the works of the Holy Spirit. Once the Holy Spirit fills you, God’s nature, which is love (Gal5:22-23) starts manifesting in you. That is why you see that in the time of the Apostles, before they ministered, the Bible says “was full of the Holy Spirit” The Holy Spirit then uses our emotion, will and mind to express the nature of God. By the help of the Holy Spirit, the word of Godcould be mingled with man as did in Jesus. Jesus, as sacrifice for sin, removed the veil and by this believers receive the Holy Spirit which helps us gain access to God the Father;

Ephesians 2:18 “For through him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.”

The fullness of the Holy Spirit in us makes our will, emotion and mind become that of God. Under the law, Uzzah was guilty for trying to stabilize the shaking Ark. The good by the flesh and its wickedness, none is acceptable to God, “the flesh profiteth nothing … the Spirit quickeneth” Do not be led by the flesh but by the Spirit. Our reading for today is 2Sam7-9. Keep the fire burning and alive.

Galatians 6:8 “For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting.”

Luke 6:33 “And if ye do good to them which do good to you, what thank have ye? for sinners also do even the same.”

Luke 6:35 “But love ye your enemies, and do good, and lend, hoping for nothing again; and your reward shall be great, and ye shall be the children of the Highest: for he is kind to the unthankful and to the evil.”

Hebrews 13:16 “But to do good and to communicate forget not: for with such sacrifices God is well pleased.”

Acts 10:38 “How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power: who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the demon; for God was with him.”