God is Punctuating History - Disciples Path Ministry

Disciples Path Ministry
Go to content
Articles continuation

God is Punctuating History

Punctuation in writing is used to separate sentences and their elements and to clarify meaning (source-Oxford). I am not alone in believing God has been and still is, punctuating history. This punctuation is provided for all but is understood (received) only by His Believers. Reading the Bible, whether a Believer or not, clearly expresses repeatedly His desire to clarify His message and meaning. Numerous passages in Scripture warn of eyes to see but do not see, and ears to hear but do not hear. Believer or not — the harvest is near!

As an example of God punctuating history, I offer the following: Old Testament Bible scholars report the Book Isaiah, also written Isaias, was written during the 8th century — much earlier than the Book Deuteronomy (roughly 640 B.C.). New Testament Bible scholars report the Book Matthew was written in the 40s A.D. The Book of Luke was written in the mid-50s to 60 A.D. Over 600 years time from Isaiah (OT) to Luke (NT), God is punctuating history with the same message yet the message keeps falling on Spiritually deaf ears.

Isaiah 42:8   I am the Lord, that is My name; And My glory I will not give to another, nor My praise to carved images (NKJV).

Deuteronomy 6:4-5  Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one! 5 You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength (NKJV).

Deuteronomy 10:12-13  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, 13 and to keep the commandments of the Lord and His statutes which I command you today for your good (NKJV)?

Matthew 22:37-40  Jesus said to him, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. 39 And the second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 On these two commandments hang all the Law and the Prophets (NKJV).

Luke 10:26-28  He said to him, “What is written in the Law? What is your reading of it?” 27 So he answered and said, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself.” 28 And He said to him, “You have answered rightly; do this and you will live” (NKJV).

Whether studying or simply reading the Bible, we will find instance after instance of God’s punctuation in use. I have wondered for decades how “God’s people” could make the same mistakes repeatedly. Generation after generation making the same mistakes even though they had the oral and written history of those who went before them. Usually credited to the acclaimed genius Albert Einstein is this definition of insanity: doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result. The people of our Bible were not ignorant. Consider all the “technological” discoveries and subsequent advances they made in all the sciences and the arts! God punctuated their history just as He is punctuating our history today in the 21st century. However, like too many of them, we also freely choose to ignore God and have it our way. God punctuated history to the extent of walking among us incarnate. Still, in our self-righteousness, we chose to ignore Him and His message. I implore you to feed yourself with the word of God continually because anything you do not feed — dies. So how can we continually feed ourselves with the word of God?

To continually feed ourselves with the word of God we must “reset” our priorities regularly. This means we must continually “prune off” our shoulds and our ought to’s in order to have time with God. Life being hectic is nothing new to anyone.

We seem to have a long history of receiving too much too fast. However, with today’s technology, we are bombarded 24 hours a day with information (mostly useless, misguided, and irrelevant – I digress). We have allowed ourselves to be convinced we absolutely need to keep abreast of anything and everything anywhere and everywhere. For example, modern technologies, e.g., computers have out-paced humans to a point we will never be able to keep up. In my opinion, our only hope to contend at all in the realm of computer technology is by AI (artificial intelligence). We can unplug from the constant buzz of information. We can and must get off the grid more and more. In 1 John (v. 21), we are told to keep ourselves from idols.

No one says resetting our priorities will be easy but in the Book of Romans, we are assured the Spirit helps us in our weaknesses (v.26). Paul assures us in his letter to the Philippians (v.13) that we can do all things through Christ who strengthens us.

We must believe in God’s word and not our “feelings” because our feelings will continually form our beliefs. We must take charge of our thinking again because our thinking really does determine our beliefs and thus our behavior. To our credit and our detriment, our behavior is the pure, honest representation of our mind. Again – we must reset our priorities regularly and this can only be accomplished by continual pruning! Our reason for existence is to serve our Creator. The joy of the LORD is our strength so we can just count on Satan attacking the joy in every way he and his demons can come up with. In chapter 3 of Paul’s epistle to the Philippians, he encourages us to be of the same mind (v.16), which is the mind of the LORD. He also shares how he is extremely saddened by so many. Paul shares, “For many walk, of whom I have told you often, and now tell you even weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ: 19 whose end is destruction, whose god is their belly, and whose glory is in their shame—who set their mind on earthly things.

God, our Creator, has given us the Bible. We have the privilege of reading God’s thoughts and even exploring, to a certain degree, God’s mind. God wants to speak to us. He wants to share His message with us. He has even punctuated history to help us understand — yet far too many of us simply take for granted the word of God. Believer or not — the harvest is near!
 
 
Disciples Path Ministry - St. Augustine, Florida
U.S.A.
 
Back to content