The Rebel

A Series on Lamentations
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Lamentations 5; Jeremiah 29:10-14; Luke 15:11-24 

 

[The book of Lamentations was written by Jeremiah to the Jews in Babylon who had been exiled and were lamenting the destruction of Jerusalem. Known as the “weeping prophet”, his tears flowed from a broken heart for Jerusalem – the “City of God” – and her people. In this series we will look at Lamentations to learn about God’s justice and mercy, the consequences of sin and the hope for redemption.]

  

When I was a little boy, Westerns were the staple of TV. One show that I used to watch was called The Rebel with Johnny Yuma. I can still remember the theme song, sung by Johnny Cash. ♫ “Johnny Yuma was a rebel; he wandered alone” ♫.

 

As a former Confederate soldier, not only was he a rebel in that sense, but also, he was a loner that didn’t fit well with the establishment. In fact, the character of Johnny Yuma was often described as a symbol of rebellious youth.

 

The people of Jerusalem were rebellious. But the difference was that they didn’t rebel against the status quo, they rebelled against the Lord. In the opening verses of Lamentations 5, Jeremiah prayed for the shattered nation.

 

¹ Remember, Lord, what has happened to us; look, and see our disgrace. ² Our inheritance has been turned over to strangers, our homes to foreigners.                             NIV            Lamentations 5

 

Jeremiah also prayed about: their daily necessities like firewood and water, which at one time was free, but now had to be bought; their enemies who pursued and oppressed them; their food which required risking your life to get it; their women who were raped; and their princes who were killed.

 

But Jeremiah realized that the Lord hadn’t shut the door on them completely.

 

¹⁹ You, O Lord, remain forever; Your throne from generation to generation. ²¹ Turn us back to You, O Lord, and we will be restored; Renew our days as of old.                                                 NKJV      Lamentations 5

 

In fact, the Lord spoke to Jeremiah telling him that after seventy years he would bring his people back home from Babylon to Jerusalem.

 

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. ¹² Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.      NIV    Jeremiah 29

 

No matter how much we rebel against the Lord, he still desires to redeem us; to bring us back into relationship with him; to bring us home. Jesus told a parable illustrating this principle – the prodigal son.

 

In the context of Jesus’ parable, the word prodigal means wastefully extravagant or recklessly spending. In his story, a father’s youngest son asked for his inheritance. Once received, he went to a far land where he spent it all on wild living.

 

When he had nothing left and became desperate, he realized that his rebellion was a sin against his father and returned asking for forgiveness. He even went so far as to say that he didn’t deserve to be called his son. But his father wouldn’t hear of it. Instead, he set into motion a big celebration.

 

²⁴ For this son of mine was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found.’ So, they began to celebrate.                      NIV    Luke 15

 

Like the prodigal son, we’re all lost without our Heavenly Father who happily embraces us to welcome us home.

 

Copyright 2026 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

Power and Control

A series on the book of Micah
Week 2 – God's hatred of sin
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Micah 2-3 

[In the book “Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde”, Robert Louis Stevenson explores the struggle between good and evil in human nature. “Two sides of the same coin”, if you will. Similarly, Micah contrasts God’s hatred of sin but his love for sinners. In this series, we will look at both sides of God’s character and what that means for us today.]

  

Power and control! We all want control over our lives. One small way that you can see my desire for power and control is through how I keep my desk and office. They need to be well organized, not looking like a tornado had just blown through it. It helps me feel in control and I have the power to do it.

 

However, the problem with power is that it can corrupt. You’ve probably come across at least one person where that’s been true. Think of a mall security guard who is overzealous to enforce the rules; or a supervisor who micromanages; or a paper-pushing bureaucrat who enforces the rules capriciously.

 

Micah spoke out against those who were not only rich and powerful, but also used it to take advantage of the poor and downtrodden.

 

² When you want a piece of land,
    you find a way to seize it.
When you want someone’s house,
    you take it by fraud and violence.
You cheat a man of his property,
    stealing his family’s inheritance.       NLT   Micah 2

 

Also, in order to show how the leaders of Israel had no respect or compassion, Micah charged them, figuratively speaking, of cannibalism.

 

^2b You skin my people alive
    and tear the flesh from their bones.
³ Yes, you eat my people’s flesh,
    strip off their skin,
    and break their bones.
You chop them up
    like meat for the cooking pot.  NLT   Micah 3

 

Is it any wonder that the Lord judged Israel and Judah. God declared that He was "devising disaster" against them; a disaster that they couldn’t escape. Micah prophesied God’s judgment which came true when they were invaded by foreign powers. The result? Israel and Judah were exiled from the Promised Land.

 

The Lord hates sin, but he loves the sinner. He always provides a way for redemption. Even with these abuses of power, he gave Israel the promise of a future deliverance and restoration.

 

¹² “Someday, O Israel, I will gather you;
    I will gather the remnant who are left.
I will bring you together again like sheep in a pen,
    like a flock in its pasture.
Yes, your land will again
    be filled with noisy crowds!      NLT   Micah 2

Today, he still provides a way for redemption. Despite our sinfulness he gave you and me the promise of deliverance and restoration through Jesus Christ. Paul put it like this.

 

²⁴ What a wretched man I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? ²⁵ Thanks be to God, who delivers me through Jesus Christ our Lord!     NIV    Romans 7

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

 

Now You’re Cooking with Gas!

A Lenten series on Mountaintop Moments
– Noah on the mountains of Ararat
(Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Genesis 8:20-9:17 

[In this Lenten series, we will be looking at Mountaintop Moments. These mountains are more than just geographical features. They symbolize divine encounters and moments of revelation, faith and transformation. In other words, meeting God on the mountain top.]

 

When doing homework during high school, there were times when I would get stuck, especially with math. But I didn’t worry about it because I’d ask my dad for help. The only thing is, he’d never just give me the answer.

 

Instead, he asked me questions that made me think through how to get the answer myself. And when I finally understood and the light would come on, my dad would always say, “Now you’re cooking with gas!” I had no idea what that meant, but I knew he was praising me, and I would beam with confidence and pride.

 

There was a time in ancient history when things got really, really bad. The Lord saw how wicked people had become. In fact, the world was full of evil and violence to the point that the Lord regretted that he ever created mankind.

 

Because of this, the Lord said that he was going to “destroy every living thing — all the people, the animals and even the birds of the sky”. But not Noah, because Noah “walked faithfully with God”.

 

Therefore, even though there was no large body of water within miles, the Lord instructed Noah to build an ark. The reason that an ark would be needed was that the Lord was going to bring a flood upon the land.

 

It took Noah decades to construct it. You can imagine the abuse that he received from the wicked people for building such a large boat out in the middle of nowhere. And the cost must have been staggering. Yet, by faith, he continued.

 

Finally, when it was done, he boarded the boat along with his family and all the animals that the Lord had told him to take. When it stopped raining, the water slowly receded, the land dried and the ark settled on the mountains of Ararat.

 

Can you imagine what it was like for Noah when he got off the ark? They had lived there for thirteen months and when they came out, everything was dead… including all the people. It must have been shocking!

 

Yet, Noah’s first response was to build an altar to the Lord and make a sacrifice to him. The Lord was pleased with his sacrifice. And maybe sensing that Noah needed some reassurance, he blessed Noah and made a covenant with him to never destroy all life on earth again by a flood.

 

On the mountains of Ararat, Noah had a personal encounter with the Lord. And like my dad’s praise of “Now you’re cooking with gas!”, the Lord blessed and praised Noah for his faithfulness and righteousness.

 

From this story, we can learn a great deal about the character of God. We can see his redemptive nature. That even when mankind is rebellious, evil and violent, he always provides a means for redemption and restoration.

 

That’s what Jesus Christ did on the cross. Now, all we need to do is to get on the boat and listen for our Heavenly Father to say, “Now you’re cooking with gas!”.

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

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www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com

 

The Biggest Move You Can Make

Series on “I am Joe’s Favorite Verses”
Jeremiah 29:11
 (Click on the link below to read the verses.)
Jeremiah 29:1-23 

[Many years ago, there used to be articles in the Reader’s Digest titled “I am Joe’s ___” with the blank being filled with a body part or organ. Over the years, I’ve written down verses that are meaningful to me on 3x5 cards. In this series we’ll be looking at some of my favorite verses. In other words, “I am Joe’s Favorite Verses”.]

 

What’s the biggest move that you’ve ever made?

 

For me, it was when we moved from Lansing, Michigan to Columbus, Ohio. It’s about 250 miles. We packed all our worldly possessions into a 26-foot U-Haul truck and drove it to what seemed like a foreign land.

 

But it wasn’t so much the logistics of packing and driving that made it such a major move. It was the fact that we knew only four people in Columbus. On top of that, my wife was born and raised in Lansing, and I had spent virtually my entire life in Michigan. We were leaving all our friends and everything that was familiar to us.

 

Basically, we were starting over. We had to find where to shop for groceries, a doctor, a dentist, a church, friends – everything was new. Even the culture was different. It was a much bigger city. And you had all those rabid Ohio State fans.

 

Over a period of twenty years, Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babylon, invaded Judah on three separate occasions. During his final invasion, he destroyed the city of Jerusalem including the Temple! Thousands of Jews were forced to leave their homes and move to a foreign land. It must have been traumatic!

 

Once in Babylon, the exiles were starting over. They had to learn a new language, find a job, a home, ways to meet their educational and religious needs - everything was new.

 

To make it even worse, they had been forced to leave the Promised Land. The land that the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, had promised when He made an eternal covenant with Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.

 

However, Jeremiah prophesied that they would return to their homes after seventy years of living in exile. But there were false prophets who didn’t trust the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel. They tried to take control by making promises of a speedy return to their homeland.

 

Because of this, Jeremiah, who was still in Jerusalem, wrote a letter to the exiles in Babylon. His letter confronted the message of the false prophets. He gave the Israelites true hope. And he showed that they could trust the Sovereign Lord.

 

¹¹ For I know the plans I have for you,” declares the Lord, “plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you hope and a future. NIV

 

Like the false prophets, there are times when I don’t trust the Sovereign Lord and try to take control of my life. At that point, the biggest move that I can make isn’t from Lansing to Columbus, but from my head to my heart to my knees.

 

This is what the Lord said, ¹² “Then you will call on me and come and pray to me, and I will listen to you. ¹³ You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart”.            NIV

 

Following these verses, the Lord Almighty, the God of Israel, promised the people of Israel that he would return them to their homeland. The Sovereign Lord provided restoration for them. And through Jesus, he provides restoration for us today.

 

Copyright 2025 Joseph B Williams

Feel free to share this blog with others.

www.lifelinebasketball.blogspot.com