CHAPTER 5 Verse 1-3 The vanity (emptiness) and temporary nature of wealth. God is NOT against His children having money. Would YOU want your children to be poor? What God does NOT want is wealth to destroy His children – which frequently IS the result of wealth. He does not want wealth to be our GOAL but merely a tool to be used for the Kingdom of God. How empty – to work your whole life for something that has been “corrupted” and become “corroded”. What a waste! Verse 4 This reveals that these riches come from fraud and mistreating employees. NOTICE: The Lord hears the cries of the underpaid, mistreated, defrauded employees! Verse 5 To those looking at the life of the wealthy it seems that they had “pleasure and luxury”. Indulging in all that money can provide doesn’t bring joy or peace. Verse 6 In the end, there is condemnation – justice for the oppressed. Those who died as a result of the lack of proper income are seen as being “murdered” – the fault lies with the wealthy who defrauded the poor. Verse 7 We must wait patiently for the Lord to return. He is waiting for the final harvest of souls (people). Before the harvest the farm must receive both early rain [in the Spring, after seeds are sown, to establish a good root system] and the latter rain [in the summer – to ‘set’ the fruit]. Verse 8 Our part – our responsibility – to “establish” our heart. To be firmly established on the Word of God, deeply rooted and grounded on it. Verse 9 We are supposed to treat each other with our heart focused on the return of Jesus. We want to stand before Him free of condemnation. Verse 10 Prophets frequently waited years to see the fulfillment of their prophecies. We will need to patiently wait to receive some of the things God (the Word) has promised. Patience is NOT just waiting – it’s keeping a good, positive, faith-filled attitude during the wait. Verse 11 “Enduring” speaks of patiently waiting during a time of pain, hardship, or difficulty. Job is given as an example. NOTICE: the result of Job’s patient enduring was DOUBLE – great increase of everything that was stolen from him by the devil. Why? God is compassionate and full of mercy…this is how He feels about US! COMMENTS/INPUT/QUESTIONS??
Posted on: Tue, 18 Jun 2013 21:37:49 +0000
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