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Awesome Hands - part 156: "Called by the name of the Lord" - Discussion

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Awesome Hands – Part 156

“Called by the name of the Lord”

October 19, 2019

Last study we covered the curses of the Lord, and for this study we will be blessed to cover the blessings of the Lord.

The verses for consideration today are found in Deuteronomy 28. There are two times that the word “hand” is mentioned here, though they are a few verses apart, so we will cover a few verses in-between as well.

Deu 28:8  The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto; and he shall bless thee in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee.
Deu 28:9  The LORD shall establish thee an holy people unto himself, as he hath sworn unto thee, if thou shalt keep the commandments of the LORD thy God, and walk in his ways.
Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee.
Deu 28:11  And the LORD shall make thee plenteous in goods, in the fruit of thy body, and in the fruit of thy cattle, and in the fruit of thy ground, in the land which the LORD sware unto thy fathers to give thee.
Deu 28:12  The LORD shall open unto thee his good treasure, the heaven to give the rain unto thy land in his season, and to bless all the work of thine hand: and thou shalt lend unto many nations, and thou shalt not borrow.

Obviously, there is a lot being said here, and while going into depth would take several studies, I am going to focus on a few points of interest as I am led of the Lord to do so.

The first verse tells us the Lord’s blessing will be upon our storehouses, as well as all that we set our hand, i.e. work, to do. Likewise, He will bless us in the “land” which the LORD gives to us.

I looked up the word storehouse to make sure it was what I thought it was, and it is indeed a 'barn'. However, it is only mentioned one other time in Hebrews, so I thought I would read that as well to give us some context on what the Lord thinks about “storehouses”.

H618

'âsâm

Total KJV Occurrences: 2

barns, 1

Pro_3:10

storehouses, 1

Deu_28:8

Pro 3:10  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

I also read the entire section of Proverbs 3, but the verses that caught my attention during this study are Pro 3:3-10.

Pro 3:3  Let not mercy and truth forsake thee: bind them about thy neck; write them upon the table of thine heart:
Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man.
Pro 3:5  Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding.
Pro 3:6  In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.
Pro 3:7  Be not wise in thine own eyes: fear the LORD, and depart from evil.
Pro 3:8  It shall be health to thy navel, and marrow to thy bones.
Pro 3:9  Honour the LORD with thy substance, and with the firstfruits of all thine increase:
Pro 3:10  So shall thy barns be filled with plenty, and thy presses shall burst out with new wine.

I know there is a lot packed into this set of verses as well, but there are some profound things being said in these verses which lead up to “thy barns shall be filled with plenty”.

Writing mercy and truth upon the tables of your heart, thereby finding favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man, is something we don’t often talk about.

While we do talk about trusting the Lord with all of our heart, and not leaning to our own understanding, is this something we do all the time as is required?

Acknowledging the Lord 'in ALL WAYS' seems to be VERY important to our paths being directed by the Lord. When I emphasize our it seems to that there is a difference between our goals and the Lords from the perspective of us.

The Lord works all things after the counsel of His own will; yet, we live that will from our perspective and under the rule of living in the bounds of time. The Lord isn’t restricted by time.

Being not wise in our own eyes and fearing the Lord is HUGE when you clearly grasp the implications to your spiritual health. When you are not wise in your own eyes and you FEAR the LORD, you have HEALTH to your NAVEL/belly and to the very CORE of your bones.

Examine that statement for a second. Look at your life, and examine what it is YOU are WISE in your own eyes about.

Are you wealthy and have some savings? Are you wise in your own eyes for having built up that savings? Are you healthy as an ox, as the saying goes, and you somehow are wise in your own eyes that you alone accomplished that?

Do you have a healthy marriage which gives you wisdom in your own eyes?

Do you take pride in being “down to earth” because you are not so wealthy, but you are rich in spirit from the Lord?

Do you have a great story of how you are where you are now, but if circumstances would have been slightly different, you might be some where else in this point in your life?

Do you have children who love you, lots of friends, admiration from co-workers and peers, etc.?

I could go on and on, but what is it in your life that can cause you to be WISE in your OWN BLIND EYES?

The Truth is, without the Lord we can do NOTHING.

Joh 15:5  I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.

Php 4:13  I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me.

Isa 64:6  But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags; and we all do fade as a leaf; and our iniquities, like the wind, have taken us away.

Rom 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek.
Rom 1:17  For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith.

Rom 3:23  For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 13:8  Owe no man any thing, but to love one another: for he that loveth another hath fulfilled the law.

Joh 5:19  Then answered Jesus and said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these  also doeth the Son likewise.

If Jesus Christ can do NOTHING of Himself, then what chance do we have of somehow being more powerful than Jesus in doing something of ourselves?

Likewise, Jesus told us in John 15:5 that without Him we can DO NOTHING. Therefore, we can do nothing without Jesus, and Jesus cannot do anything of Himself and tells us we can do NOTHING without God the Father.

Putting this all together, we see that we can do nothing of ourselves, but we obviously  ….. do stuff in life.

Notice the Lord tells us in Deuteronomy 28:15, “The LORD shall command the blessing upon thee in thy storehouses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto”.

What are we setting our hands to do? The answer is: everything we do, we are setting our hands to do. However, what is the purpose of the thing we are doing? Are we “doing all that we do to the glory of God” or are we just getting by?

Deu 28:10  And all people of the earth shall see that thou art called by the name of the LORD; and they shall be afraid of thee

The name of the Lord is a specific thing to be named by; yet, how can all the people of the earth SEE if we are not among all the people of the earth? The answer is that we are in the presence of “all the earth” when we interact in any way with anyone we encounter in our lives, whether they be a stranger, foe or friend.

Proverbs 3:4 told us that we will find favor and good understanding in the sight of God and man, but how can that happen with the “in sight of man” part if we are not in the sight of man?

Pro 3:4  So shalt thou find favour and good understanding in the sight of God and man

Mat 5:13  Ye are the salt of the earth: but if the salt have lost his savour, wherewith shall it be salted? it is thenceforth good for nothing, but to be cast out, and to be trodden under foot of men.
Mat 5:14  Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid.
Mat 5:15  Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house.
Mat 5:16  Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Brothers and sisters, this world needs a lot of light to shine into it. We are the ambassadors of Christ to the WORLD and to the EARTH.

With all that I have just said, I am not saying that in this ambassadorship we can do anything on our own to be this ambassador. However, that is what and who we are. We cannot be hidden.

Whatever we are doing has an impact on a future son of God, and everyone will be a future son of God. We need to be presenting ourselves in the ways we have learned to be “the light of the world”.

If we be afraid, let it be FEAR of the Lord and not of men. Our ideas, thoughts, emotions, actions and reactions should all be a reflection of the Light that is in US.

I am in front of a lot of people all the time. I interact with customers and people I work with. I see strangers at the store. I interact with people online through texting, websites, web chats, webcams, etc.

In all of these interactions, I pray I am reflecting the light that is in me because I have been called and chosen to be faithful to being the VERY light of the WORLD.

Joh 17:6  I have manifested thy name unto the men which thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them me; and they have kept thy word.

1Jn 2:15  Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
1Jn 2:16  For all that is in the world, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:15  I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.
Joh 17:16  They are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.
Joh 17:17  Sanctify them through thy truth: thy word is truth.

Sometimes, I see a lot of judgments of being “in the world”, and these things are not good. You may have all experienced these things yourselves while in the various denominations you were called out of.

Being in the World is our very calling. We are to be among darkness but not be OF that darkness.

Everyone knows what the Lord’s prayer is, but they often ignore one very important ACTUAL prayer which the Lord prayed for us Himself.

“I pray not that thou shouldest take them out of the world, but that thou shouldest keep them from the evil.”

Jesus didn’t pray that we be taken out of the world, but that we be kept from evil. Isn’t that interesting? Jesus prayed this and tells us that we are the Light OF THE WORLD.

How then is all of this connected to our verses of study for today?

Look at the mindset we should have if we want:

1) Blessings upon our storehouse

2) Blessings upon all that we set our hands to do

3) Blessings in the land which the Lord gives us (YOU are the LAND)

4) Blessing to be the holy people of God

5) All the people of the earth shall SEE WE ARE CALLED BY HIS NAME and be afraid (fear of the Lord in us)

6) Blessed with plenteous in goods, fruit of the our body, fruit of the cattle, fruit of the ground, IN OUR LAND

7) Blessed in the GOOD TREASURE of the Lord, RAIN unto our LAND in it’s season, to BLESS all the work of OUR HANDS

8) We shall lend but not borrow

How is it we obtain these things?

1) Keep His commandments

2) Walk in His ways

I don’t know about you all, but that seems like a very FAIR list of blessings for LOVING the Lord with all our heart, soul strength and mind and loving our neighbors as ourselves. I simply just restated the verses of Deuteronomy 28:8-12 where we see two listings of the word “hand”.

How can we love our neighbors if we aren’t AMONG our neighbors?

The answer is that we are among our neighbors anytime we are “in the world” among those to whom the Lord desires that we be the Light of the world.

I will end this study by connecting a few thoughts that are often overlooked.

1Jn 2:16  For all that is IN THE WORLD, the lust of the flesh, and the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life, is not of the Father, but is of the world.
1Jn 2:17  And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof: but he that doeth the will of God abideth for ever.

We are not OF the WORLD, but we are IN THE WORLD. When you connect this with being the Light OF THE WORLD, it should be easy to see that you have to be IN the world in order to not be OF the world.

Why?

Light is called from darkness, but it must be IN DARKNESS to be called forth from it.

We must be in the world, while being the Light of this world, so that we can be examples to all of mankind (those to whom we are sent in our lives) in order to plant seeds that can be watered and increased by the Lord.

Who else can give examples to a dying and decayed EARTH and WORLD other than the sons of God following the example of the Son of God?

We are sent to the EARTH that everyone is. We are sent into “all that is IN THE WORLD” to be LIGHT where there is only darkness. We are the conduits being used to accomplish this.

Therefore, while we examine this aspect of it, let us keep reminding ourselves of the reward we are after in the age to come while also not denying that there ARE BLESSINGS we can and do receive NOW in this age.

Review my list above to see some of those blessings.

For now, I hope you were edified and blessed by this study.