Just Keep Reading + ”He Turned It”
He Turned It.
“...howbeit, Our God TURNED the curse into a blessing...” Nehemiah 13:32
turned = #2015 - HAPAK - turn, overturn specifically in this verse -“turn into”
*also used in the following:
“Which TURNED the rock into standing water, the flint into a fountain of water.” Psalm 114:8
“He TURNED the sea into dry land: they went through on foot: THERE we did rejoice in Him.” Psalm 66:6
“...TURNED their rivers into blood; and their floods, that they could not drink...” Psalm 78:44, Psalm 105:29
“Then shall the virgin rejoice in the dance, both young men and old together: FOR I WILL TURN THEIR MOURNING INTO JOY, and will comfort them, and make them rejoice from their sorrow.” JER 31:13
“Thou hast TURNED my MOURNING into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness.” PS 30:11
“Seek Him that maketh the seven stars and Orion, and TURNETH the shadow of death into morning, and maketh the day dark with night: that calleth for the waters of the sea, and poureth them upon the face of the earth: the LORD is His name...” AMOS 5:8
OK. (GOD “GAVE” ME THAT VERSE A FEW WEEKS AGO...) my socks are knocked off !!! :)
“Thus saith the LORD, in this thou shalt know that I am the LORD: I will smite with the rod that is in mine hand upon the waters and they shall be TURNED to blood.” Exodus 7:17
“As the days wherein the Jews rested from their enemies, and the month which was TURNED unto them from sorrow TO joy, and from mourning INTO a good day...” Esther 9:22
OK. OK. OK. these verses have me thinking of other things that relate to this concept.
I am reminded of Joseph’s words in the closing chapter of his story: “But as for you, ye thought EVIL against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.” Genesis 50:20
God TURNED intended EVIL into GOOD.
Miriam Webster has lots of definitions for “turn”, but the one that applies here is #5 - INTRANSITIVE VERB: “…to become changed, altered or transformed.”
The dictionary offers an example of “water turned to ice.” But God can do far more than that!!!
I have often thought of God’s creative ability to make something out of nothing...or His ability to fashion things from dust...or how He SPOKE things into existence. But I don’t think I’ve really thought of this: HIS ABILITY TO TURN ONE THING INTO ANOTHER. (Maybe I have, but it feels very “fresh”!) :) He can change the very molecular structure of one thing into something COMPLETELY OTHER !!!
CURSE turned to BLESSING ROCK turned to STANDING WATER
FLINT turned to a FOUNTAIN OF WATER
SEA turned to DRY LAND
RIVERS (of water) turned to BLOOD
MOURNING turned to JOY
MOURNING turned to DANCING
SHADOW OF DEATH turned to MORNING
SORROW turned to JOY !!
MOURNING turned to a GOOD DAY !!
To my human mind, this concept is almost impossible to grasp. One thing being changed to something ENTIRELY different is mind-blowing! ROCK turned to standing water? WOW ! Sea turned to dry land? WOW ! Sorrow turned to joy ? WOW! WOW! WOW!
The simple truth is that God’s creative ability is unable to be understood or comprehended by the human mind. It would “fry our circuits” to even get close to understanding.
“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.” (Isaiah 55:8-9) There is NO LIMIT to His creative ability or His transformative ability. He can TURN one thing into something completely OTHER.
Nowhere does this ring more true than in the church...the person you see walk through the doors the first time won’t be the same person you see in five years!
“Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” Isaiah 1:18
“If any man be in Christ, He is a new creature; old things are passed away; behold all things are become NEW.” 2 Corinthians 5:17
“A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26
(NLT): “I will take out your stony, stubborn heart and give you a tender, responsive heart.”
That change? That transformation? A new tender responsive heart? It will be because “I will put my Spirit within you...” (Ezekiel 36:26) Sins that are red as crimson TURNED snow-white? It will be because My blood was shed and when it is applied to even the filthiest stains, it can erase, eradicate them...turn them from the color of crimson to the color of wool.
If ANYONE...no matter what their past, no matter what their present, no matter the “title” on their nametag...
—LIAR
—DRUG ADDICT
—HATER
—PROSTITUTE
—CHEATER
—THIEF
will respond to the call of God and the plan of salvation laid out in His Word, He will TURN them from one thing into another. He will TURN the fiber of their being into something entirely new. He can take a sinner and make them a saint!! He can turn the worst lives into the best testimonies.
In I Corinthians 6, Paul writes to the church and says, “Don’t you realize that those who do wrong will not inherit the Kingdom of God? Don’t fool yourselves. Those who indulge in sexual sin, or who worship idols, or commit adultery, or are male prostitutes, or practice homosexuality, or are thieves, or greedy people, or drunkards, or abusive, or cheat people— NONE of these will inherit the kingdom of God. Some of you were once like that. But you were cleansed; you were made holy; you were made right with God by calling on the name of the LORD Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.”
King James translates “Some of you were once like that,” as “SUCH WERE SOME OF YOU!” You used to be something entirely different. But now you are washed by the blood of Jesus! You have His Spirit indwelling and animating a previously dead soul. You are not now what you were then! GOD TURNED YOU INTO SOMETHING NEW!
In another place, Paul writes, “For ye were sometimes darkness, but now ye are light in the LORD: walk as children of light.” Ephesians 5:8
God TURNED you from darkness TO light !
Let me never judge a soul by what I see in this moment. Let me look down the road ahead and see with eyes of faith what they CAN BE. Let me have a vision for what God can TURN them into. I was once told, “You think everyone will be a preacher.” LET IT BE!! Give me faith for every life...words that speak hope to those that are still on the other side of “were”. Let the church reach those who don’t yet know the hope of the Gospel and the TRANSFORMATIVE power of Jesus! Let us live the words written by Jude in 1st century: “...and of some have compassion making a difference: and others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire; hating even the garments spotted by the flesh.” Make us a generation of firefighters! Pulling lives out of the fire... compassionately RESCUING them from the sin that blinds and ensnares them. Let our churches be hospitals for burn victims — the wounded and crushed lives who know no other way. Let our churches and arms ooze with the love of our compassionate Savior. Let us know how to take off grave clothes and replace them with bandages. Give us grace to love with truth that refuses to allow souls to ignore their sin, but gives them grace and hope to come out of it and rise about it. No matter the label on their strain of sin, God can TURN them into a SAINT ! Let me never forget where I was before “WERE”...let me never forget my own desperate need of salvation, my need to be TURNED. And let that memory fuel my love for every lost soul & struggling saint!
He can TURN the very core of what anyone is into something entirely different...something band new!!!
He can TURN
CRIMSON STAINS white as SNOW
A STONY HEART to a TENDER, RESPONSIVE HEART
A SINNER into a SAINT
But turning requires turning. Being changed requires us to TURN from sin and self. In order to be transformed, we must “TURN from our wicked ways,” (I Chronicles 7:14) in repentance. Acts 3:19 says, “Repent ye therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, when the times of refreshing shall come from the presence of the LORD.” There are 2 steps given here: 1. REPENT 2. BE CONVERTED. This to 1. Have a change of mind and express sorrow for sinful state and actions and 2. “EPISTRETHO” — to return, TURN BACK, come back. (Thayers) When we repent, we have a change of mind, and when we convert, a change of direction. We TURN. We TURN from sin to righteousness. We TURN from our will & way to His will and way. We TURN from selfishness to selflessness. We TURN from lies to truth.
And once we repent, we are then instructed to be “baptized every one of you IN the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of sins.” (Acts 2:38) Baptism is where forgiven sins are washed away. The crimson stains of sins are buried in the waters of baptism and the white-as-snow righteousness of Jesus is placed on us and imputed to us. His name is assigned to us when we are “buried with Him in baptism.” (Romans 6:4, Colossians 2:12)
Then, the most incredible TURN of all ! The greatest miracle — “You shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” God fills dead souls with the power of the Holy Ghost, evidenced by the initial evidence of speaking in a language they’ve never known before. (Acts 2,10,19) God fills a dead soul with power and life. “You shall receive POWER after...the Holy Ghost is come upon you...” (Acts 1:8) “...out of his belly shall flow rivers of LIVING water.” (John 7:37) (P.S. v.38 says very specifically, “This spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him SHOULD receive!”) He turns DEATH to LIFE through the Holy Ghost.
And once we receive the Holy Ghost it is a life of constant TURNing. Daily surrender. Daily death. Daily transformation.
As Paul puts it in 2 Corinthians 3:18 —“And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the LORD, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the LORD who is the Spirit.” (ESV) We are born again and enter the process of sanctification: we are TURNED into His image a little at a time, “from glory to glory.” We are TURNED into who He is as we walk & talk with Him one day at a time. We are TURNED.
And if we will stick with the long & arduous process of sanctification, there will come one final TURN...one final transformation:
“Behold, I show you a mystery; we shall not all sleep, but we shall all be CHANGED, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised incorruptible and we shall be CHANGED. For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, “DEATH IS SWALLOWED UP IN VICTORY. Oh death, where is thy sting? Oh grave, where is thy victory.” (1 Corinthians 15:51-53)
One of these days, Jesus is coming back, and we are going to be changed: TURNED from one thing into another! God is going to do the unimaginable!
CORRUPTIBLE turned to INCORRUPTIBLE
MORTAL turned to IMMORTAL
DEATH turned to VICTORY
Final victory for every saint...every one who has turned...every one who used to live on the other side of “were.”
This goes back to the line that set this thought in motion: “But God TURNED the curse into a blessing.” (Nehemiah 13:2) Every sting finally extracted from the curse set in motion way back in the garden of Eden. “Oh death, where is your sting?” It’s gone. No more stinger. The curse is now a blessing. “Even so, Come, LORD Jesus.”
This thought has been blowing my mind. Fresh hope from the Word of the One who can still who can still change the molecular structure of one thing into another!
“But God TURNED the curse into a blessing...”
Thank you for joining me for this journey!
Go grab your Bible and your journal!
I look forward to the power of this habit in your life. This is Unedited.