God is Wooing You

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Quick Summary

Job 36:16 says God is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. God is wooing you, which is enticing, stirring, moving, and persuading us to follow his plan for our lives. His plan leads to a place of free from all restrictions but he does not force us to follow him. God is love and love does not force or control people, love gives the choice. 

Prayer

Heavenly Father, I pray for all those watching, listening, or reading this and their families, friends, and those connected to them. I also pray for our church and governmental leaders. 

Thank you for releasing us from darkness and transferring us into the light, into the kingdom of your dear son. Thank you for your purpose and grace given to us in Christ Jesus before time began. 

I ask that you the father of glory would give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation so we would know you better. That the eyes of our hearts would be enlightened to know the hope to which you have called us, and the riches of your glorious inheritance that is in us, and the immeasurable greatness of your power to us who believe. The same power that you exercised in Christ when you raised him from the dead, and seated him at your right hand in heavenly places, far above all rule and authority and power and dominion,and every name that is named. Not only in this age but also in the one to come. And you put all things under his feet and made him to be the head of all things for the church, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all. 

Heavenly Father, bless us and make your face shine upon us. Let us find grace and favor in your eyes. Expand our borders and our territory. Expand our capacity to receive your purpose and grace, and all that you want to do in our lives, and to let it flow through us so that we do good and are a blessing to people all over the world. Keep your hand on us and help us do TODAY what is right and best in your eyes. And to do it with peace and joy, and confidence in you. And as we do stretch out your hand to heal and do signs and wonders. And keep us from evil and pain. 

Through the mighty name of Jesus. Amen

Communion Meditation

Communion is a good time to examine ourselves. Are we doing what we know to do and doing it with a good attitude? Are we taking time to connect with God each day? 

For several weeks I was rating my levels of peace and joy at the end of the day and I feel God was telling me was to stop rating the levels because the answer is either yes or no. Either you have God's supernatural peace and joy operating in your life today or you don't. There is no middle ground. Did you you have God's supernatural peace and joy functioning in your life TODAY? If the answer is no the solution is simple...Abiding and keeping our eyes fixed on God, trusting that he is wooing us to a spacious place free from restriction. Sometimes we are still waiting for what we are believing for, but this is the time to learn to trust and rest that God is still guiding the process even if you can't see his hand on it at the moment. He is still with you working everything for good. 

The death of Jesus marked the transition for all time from the Law to the New Covenant of grace where God is wooing us to an abundant place. This is a covenant, which is a partnership. God has promised to give us everything he has and do everything he can to make us great. Our role in the partnership is to stay focused on him, keep praising him, keep believing and trusting in him even when it looks like things are not going the right way. Our role is also to give others the same grace he has given us. 

Yearly Cycle Updates

Last week we talked about Genesis 15:1 where God tells Abraham that he is his shield and very great reward. The word reward is the Hebrew word sakar, which means wages, pay, or in your service. God is in our service. Jesus was among the people as one who serves, and if we have seen him we have seen the Father. To be great in the kingdom is to serve and God is not going to ask us to do something he doesn't do. God is serving us and wants us to get to the place where we trust him with the things we are worried about so that we rest and focus on serving others. 

God also told Abraham that he was his shield. God is our shield. One of my daughters is at the age where she is learning to process mean things that other kids do. She was in a bad mood the other day and I was trying to cheer her up but it wasn't working. So, I asked God what to say to her and his response was to talk about the "mentality shield." 

I once came across the story of Trevor Blake, who has built some very successful businesses. He said that one of the most important keys was to develop a mentality shield. When he was a kid he would envision an invisible shield around him and the mean things people do or say would be deflected by the shield. He wasn't going to let these things change his mood. 

Part of our role in the New Covenant is giving other people the same grace God has given us. This means continually doing good for them even if they are evil to us. There is grace available to help with this and when we stay out of strife and in love it keeps God's grace and power flowing, but when we get into strife it shuts off the flow of grace, because we are out of position. God has promised to be a shield for us. If we will keep trusting that he is working for our good and stay in love then he will handle everything. 

In Psalm 18:35 David said God gave him the shield of victory. In the Old Testament there is a phrase that is repeated over and over which is "In the Spring of the year when kings go to war." Jesus made us to be kings and priests. In the Spring God's enemies would often attack, but God is our shield. As we are growing and expanding into new things there will often be some battles to win and things to overcome, but God has given us the shield of victory. David never lost one battle, God gave him victory in every battle he faced. When we face battles or challenges in life the key is to stay focused on God. We may say "God, we don't know what to do, but our eyes are on you." One of the greatest ways we fight the fight of faith is to keep our mentality shield up and keep our eyes fixed on God no matter what is going on. Jesus said we would have troubles but to be of good cheer because he has overcome the world. He always causes us to triumph. 

God is Wooing You

Job 36:16 NIV says God is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food. God is wooing you to a spacious place. He has a plan or charge for your life and he is wooing or persuading you to follow it. Think of Abraham, he was fully persuaded God was able to do what he said. How did he get fully persuaded, God wooed him. We did not choose God, he chose us. Think of the apostle Paul, God chose him. The same was true of the disciples.

God is love, he is gentle and kind. He is not going to force you to step into what he has for you, he will always give you the choice. Satan is the opposite. He puts pressure on us and tries to trap and ensnare us in order to take away our freedom. God woos us in order to set us free. 

In Job chapter 36 a young man named Elihu is speaking. In the story of Job everything is going wrong for Job. He was attacked from every direction. His children all died, his businesses and finances were wiped out, and he had some sort of terrible ailment in his body. Three friends of Job visit and begin to condemn him, but then a young man named Elihu speaks up and rather than condemning Job he speaks of the greatness of God. At the end of the story of Job, God shows up and says that the three friends of Job are not speaking correctly about him, but God mentions nothing about Elihu, and Job also never offered an argument to Elihu like he did to his other friends. 

Here is what Elihu says in Job chapter 36...

36 Elihu continued:

2 “Bear with me a little longer and I will show you
that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
3 I get my knowledge from afar;
I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4 Be assured that my words are not false;
one who has perfect knowledge is with you.

5 “God is mighty, but despises no one;
he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
6 He does not keep the wicked alive
but gives the afflicted their rights.
7 He does not take his eyes off the righteous;
he enthrones them with kings
and exalts them forever. (If we believe in Jesus we are righteous and God has already seated us in heavenly places with Christ, the king of kings.)
8 But if people are bound in chains,
held fast by cords of affliction,
9 he tells them what they have done—
that they have sinned arrogantly.
10 He makes them listen to correction
and commands them to repent of their evil. ( If things are not going well we can seek God and he will show us how to make the corrections needed)
11 If they obey and serve him,
they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity
and their years in contentment.
12 But if they do not listen,
they will perish by the sword
and die without knowledge.

13 “The godless in heart harbor resentment;
even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
14 They die in their youth,
among male prostitutes of the shrines.
15 But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering;
he speaks to them in their affliction.

16 “He is wooing you from the jaws of distress
to a spacious place free from restriction,
to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.

Here are the Hebrew words found in Job 36:16 

Wooing = suth in Hebrew which is translated as incite, lure, persuade, stir up, move, and mislead. 

The fear of man is a snare trying to lure us into a bound up place but God is wooing us to freedom. The translation of mislead threw me off for a second, but then I remembered that when God took the people to the promised land he didn't take them on the straight path. He circled them around in order to avoid war. He misled them on purpose because it was a better path. In my own case when I was going through my Miracle Year it led to a place of tremendous freedom but for most of the year it looked like I was going the wrong way. 

God out of love is doing whatever he needs to do in order to get us to a place of freedom. 

Jaws = peh in Hebrew which is translated us mouth, edged, or two edged sword. 

Distress = tsar in Hebrew which is translated as narrow, tight, enemy or adversary. 

Looking at this we could say God is trying to persuade you away from the mouth of the enemy or the trap of the enemy. He is trying to take us to a spacious free place.

Free from Restriction = mustaq in Hebrew which is translated as free from restraint and not paralyzed or frozen with fear. 

Laden = machath in Hebrew which is quietness and rest. 

Doing some research on this scripture I found that this passage is one of the hardest to translate in the whole Bible and that no two translators translate it the same way. Looking at all of the potential meanings there are a number of ways to translate this. 

God is wooing us from the mouth of the enemy or adversary so that you are freed from all constraint and freed from being frozen in fear or not knowing what to do so that you enter a place of quietness and rest where your table is loaded with food. 

Here is one more passage of scripture to meditate on from Psalm 23 in the MSG version. Sometimes the MSG version is good for different language and insights. 

Psalm 23 MSG

1-3 God, my shepherd!
I don’t need a thing.
You have bedded me down in lush meadows,
you find me quiet pools to drink from.
True to your word,
you let me catch my breath
and send me in the right direction.

4 Even when the way goes through
Death Valley,
I’m not afraid
when you walk at my side.
Your trusty shepherd’s crook
makes me feel secure.

5 You serve me a six-course dinner
right in front of my enemies.
You revive my drooping head;
my cup brims with blessing.

6 Your beauty and love chase after me
every day of my life.
I’m back home in the house of God
for the rest of my life.

God's beauty and love are chasing after us every day. He is wooing us to an abundant place but he gives us the choice. Spring is a reminder that God wants to do something new this year. Where is God wooing you to? He is trying to lead you to a place of freedom so follow his lead.