The Condition of God’s People Depends on Their Leaders

In the book of 1 Kings, we find that it begins with David, the man after God’s own heart, and ends with Ahab, the worst king ever, to rule over Israel. Israel begins as a powerful nation and ends as a divided nation and with many evil kings ruling over both kingdoms – especially over Israel.

The condition of God’s people depends greatly on the spirituality or the lack of it in their leaders. Whenever Israel had a godly leader, they moved forward in godly ways. When they had a carnal leader, they moved away from God into carnality. The great need among God’s people has always been for godly leaders.

Jesus looked out at the multitudes in His day and saw them as sheep without a shepherd. He told His disciples to pray that God would thrust forth shepherds into the midst of His people (Matt.9:36-38). When God looks at the churches in India today, He sees the same need for godly leaders. The challenge that comes to us then is to satisfy the heart of God in our generation by being the type of men and women He is looking for.

In every generation God needs godly leaders. We cannot depend on the wisdom of the leaders of previous generations. David could not rule over Israel forever. He would die, and someone else would have to take over. What would become of Israel depended on the type of person that the next king would be.

God raises up a godly man to start a work in one generation. He becomes old and dies. Will the leaders in the next generation have only the founder’s knowledge and his doctrines, but not his godliness and his knowledge of God? Then the people will certainly go astray. God needs Davids and Deborahs in our day.

Zac Poonen

Let the Focus of Your Prayer Shift From Your Need to God’s Need

The story of Samuel begins with his mother, Hannah, being barren. It’s interesting to see how many women are mentioned in Scripture as having been barren for many years before having children - Sarah, Rebekah, Rachel and Hannah. They all sought God in prayer, and each of them gave birth to a son who had a unique place in God’s purpose. They did not accept their barrenness. They prayed to God earnestly for children. God granted them their request and each of them had a child through whom God fulfilled a unique purpose.  Many mothers pray for their children while they are still in their wombs. But these women prayed with an unusual intensity. It’s wonderful when a child is born into the world through intense prayer like that. That is how Samuel was born.

Hannah had prayed to the Lord for many years for a child. Finally she made a vow saying, “Lord, if You will indeed look on the affliction of Your maidservant and remember me, and not forget Your maidservant, but will give me a son, then I will give him to the Lord all the days of his life” (1 Samuel 1:11). There was a shift in her focus now. At first, she thought only of her own need : “I need a son.” Then she began to say, “If I have a son, I’ll give him to the Lord, since the Lord has a need as well.” When the focus of our prayer shifts from our need to God’s need, that’s when we begin to get answers to our prayers. The Lord taught us to pray, “Hallowed be Thy name” first of all.

There was great spiritual need in Israel at that time. God’s people had backslidden so badly. Their leaders, like Eli, were terribly backslidden too. Israel had never had a prophet since the days of Moses. Hannah was a person who was alert to her surroundings; and she would have recognised Israel’s need for a prophet. So Hannah continued to pray, “Lord, not only will I dedicate my son to You, but also a razor will never come upon his head. He will be a Nazirite, dedicated to You. If You can use him to restore this nation back to You, he is Yours.”  Her whole prayer shifted from her need to God’s. Very often our prayers are not answered, because they are focused so much on ourselves. It’s wonderful that Samuel was born to such a mother.

When Hannah gave birth to Samuel, she did not forget her promise. She brought her son to the temple and said, “For this boy I prayed. The Lord has given me my petition which I asked of Him. So I have also dedicated him to the Lord; as long as he lives he is dedicated to the Lord” (1 Samuel 1:27-28). She was never going to take him back.  She taught that little boy to kneel down and worship the Lord there. It’s wonderful to have a godly mother like that. Then she sang a wonderful song of thanksgiving to the Lord (1 Samuel 2:1-10). It is more than likely that Mary’s song of thanksgiving (Lk.1:46-55) was inspired by Hannah’s song – for the words are so similar.

Zac Poonen

God Looks For Faithfulness In Little Things

In 1 Kings 19:19-21 we read of Elijah calling Elisha.

Elisha was working hard in the fields with his oxen, when Elijah called him.

Notice first of all, that God always calls those who are working hard and faithful in their secular occupations. Moses was faithfully looking after his father-in-law’s sheep when God called him. David was looking after sheep and fighting with lions and bears. Amos was a hardworking herdsman. Peter, James, John and Andrew were hardworking fishermen. Matthew was sitting at the table working on his accounts. We never see, anywhere in the Old Testament or the New Testament, that God called a lazy man for his service.

We don’t find Elijah going to Elisha’s house when he was fast asleep and calling him there - because we would have thought he was a lazy man. Jesus also never went to Peter’s house in the evening to call him. He called him when he was fishing.

All these examples show us that God wants us to be faithful and hardworking in our secular jobs, before He can call us to serve Him. If you are not faithful in earthly matters, how can you be faithful in heavenly matters? If you are young and still living at home, then be a faithful son or daughter at home.

Notice secondly, that all these men dropped everything and went, as soon as God called them. We see that in Peter, John and Matthew and also here with Elisha.   God calls those who will respond to His call immediately and wholeheartedly. They may seek to confirm God’s call on their lives with godly people in order to be certain that they are not acting on their own emotional feelings. But once they are sure, they act quickly. God can use only such people to serve Him, because His service requires instant obedience, total commitment and hard work.

So God tests us in our secular occupations, to see whether we are faithful. If you are asked to clean a room and you are careless about the way you do it, or you are slipshod about it, I doubt if God will ever call you to serve Him. Because, if that’s the way you clean up a room that will probably be the way you clean up your heart as well. How then can God use you to clean up His church? It is faithfulness in the little things that God looks for.

Zac Poonen

Testimony of Jesus is the Spirit of Prophecy

In Rev.19:10, we read:    And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said to me, ‘Do not do that; I am a fellow servant of yours and your brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus; worship God. For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy’.

John was so excited that he fell down to worship the one who showed him all these things. In the immediate reply of that angel to John, we see the attitude of true servants of God: “Don’t worship me. Don’t get attached to me”. A true servant of God will always connect you to Christ the Head, and never allow you to be attached to himself. To attract people to ourselves is to get them to worship us. Anyone who does that is not a servant of God, but a counterfeit. He has the spirit of the Antichrist who draws people to himself.

In Christendom today, unfortunately we have many such counterfeits through whom many believers are deceived. Many believers almost worship some preachers. They live by every word that proceeds out of the mouths of those preachers - instead of living by the words that proceed from God’s mouth. They seek to know God’s will through a man, instead of going directly to God - and these preachers encourage them!! This is idolatry!! There is a lot of so-called “prophecy” in some Christian circles today that makes believers dependent on the “prophet”. All such prophets are false prophets.

But here we see the angel saying, “I am just a servant of the Lord, as you are. Worship God alone”.

To hold to “the testimony of Jesus” means that we hold forth today the same torch that Jesus held forth in his earthly life. As He did, we too proclaim, “Blessed are the pure in heart for they shall see God”.

Here we have a clear definition of true prophecy: “THE TESTIMONY OF JESUS”. That means two things basically:

First of all, true prophecy always draws attention to Christ, and exalts Him. When Jesus is lifted up, He draws all men to Himself. The Holy Spirit Who gives the gift of true prophecy always glorifies Christ (Jn.16:14). Any prophecy that draws attention to yourself or to another man or that exalts you or any other man can be written off as a false prophecy.

Secondly, true prophecy proclaims all that Jesus proclaimed in His preaching. There is no compromise in true prophecy. It will be full of grace and truth, but it will speak ALL of the truth - in love.

So to test prophecy, we must first of all know what Jesus emphasised in His teaching. If we read the gospels and see what Jesus emphasised, we will have a touchstone by which to test all that we hear as “prophecies” today. If however, we haven’t studied the gospels carefully, the chances are that we will be deceived. Because 99% of what goes under the guise of “Christian prophecy” today is not proclaiming what Jesus proclaimed.

You just have to read through the sermon on the mount (Matt.5 to 7) and compare it with what you hear in most churches today to realise that.

Zac Poonen

The Principle of Fellowship in Prayer

In Chapter 2 of the book of Daniel, we read about a dream that Nebuchadnezzar had. Nebuchadnezzar called his wise men and told them, “Tell me what I dreamt and its meaning.” Those wise men are a picture of preachers who have no touch with God, but who are deceivers. Such preachers cannot interpret God’s word or the times correctly. Those wise men said, “Only the gods can show you what you dreamt. No human being can do that. It is impossible. But if you tell us the dream, then we will interpret it for you.” Now, we know that if someone tells us his dream it is easy to cook up an interpretation and to pretend that we got it from God! That’s what a lot of preachers do today. But Nebuchadnezzar was a shrewd man. He said, “If you all are really in touch with God, you will be able to tell me the dream as well.”

A true servant of God will experience some supernatural things in his ministry. If you are truly anointed by God, you will have some supernatural experiences. You may go to a place where you don’t know anyone, and you preach God’s word there. And that word will be so exactly according to the need of some people sitting there that they will think that somebody had come and told you about their problems. It is this element of prophecy that we need to have in our ministry. We must seek for it if we are to have it. The Bible commands us, “Earnestly desire to prophesy” (1 Cor. 14:1).

When Daniel heard about this problem, he was calm. He handled the situation with great wisdom (Dan. 2:14). Here was a young man who had great wisdom! Do you have to make mistakes when you are young? No. Some people say that young people will have to make many mistakes. Daniel didn’t. We don’t read in the Scriptures, of a single wrong thing that Daniel did in his entire life. He was a unique man like Joseph – who was another young man about whom almost nothing wrong is recorded. Why not make these young people your examples and say, “Lord, I don’t have to do foolish things like other young people do. I want to follow the examples of these men who lived in humility and the fear of God right from their youth.”

But I must admit that it is very rare to find such young people. Most young people that I know do a lot of foolish things - mainly because they won’t submit to their elders. They imagine themselves to be very clever, and thus end up doing a 1001 foolish things. That is the hard way to learn. But there is a better way. If you humble yourself and live in the fear of God and submit to authorities God places over you, you can learn from your youth without doing the foolish things that others do. Daniel is a wonderful example of that.

How did Daniel get the answer to the dream that Nebuchadnezzar had? First of all he had faith that God would reveal it to him. He went to God. He called his friends (Dan. 2:17). There is a tremendous value in fellowship in prayer when we face a problem that is too difficult for us. Daniel understood the principle of fellowship in prayer. He was a new covenant man living in old covenant times. His attitude was, “Let me not pray about this all by myself. Let me get my three brothers to join me and let us pray together.” And they prayed together and he said, “Let us ask God to show us mercy and reveal this to us” (Dan. 2:18).

They began their prayer with a time of praise. This is always a good habit. They said, “Praise the Lord for His sovereignty. He is the One who determines the course of all events in the world. He is the One who removes kings and sets others on the throne. He is the One who gives wisdom to the wise and knowledge to the scholars. He is the One who reveals deep and mysterious things. We thank and praise You, God, because You have given us wisdom and strength” (Dan. 2:20,21). Any time you find that you can’t get through in prayer, you should start praising the Lord. Think of God’s greatness and praise Him - and you will find the atmosphere clearing up immediately.

-- Zac Poonen

Don’t Be Afraid of Being Slandered

“And to the angel of the church in Smyrna write: The first and the last, who was dead, and has come to life, says this: I know your tribulation and your poverty (but you are rich), and the blasphemy by those who say they are Jews and are not, but are a synagogue of Satan. Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, that you may be tested, and you will have tribulation ten days. Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who overcomes shall not be hurt by the second death.” (Rev. 2:8-11)

The church in Smyrna faced the “blasphemy of those who say they are Jews” (Rev. 2:9). Slander is something that all of God’s faithful children have to face. Notice here that the slander and opposition that this church was facing was from those who called themselves God’s people - “those who say they are Jews, but are not, but are a synagogue of Satan” (Rev. 2:9).

Those Jews were religious people, who studied their Bibles (Genesis to Malachi). Yet the Lord called them “a synagogue of Satan”, because they were hypocrites. That is why they persecuted the true disciples of Jesus.

Many a synagogue that was started by God-fearing Jews degenerated into a synagogue of Satan over a period of time. In the same way, many churches that were started by God-fearing believers, have also degenerated into “churches of Satan”, in God’s eyes, today.

Opposition for the true disciples of Jesus today, comes not just from heathen religions (which is understandable), but also from “those who say they are Christians, but who are not, but are a church of Satan”.

Today, if we said that a so-called Christian “church” was “a church of Satan”, many would accuse us of being un-Christlike. But they forget that it was Jesus Himself  Who rebuked Peter  saying  “Get behind Me, Satan” (Mt.16:23), and that it was Jesus Who called this group of religious people “a synagogue of Satan”. He would use exactly the same strong language today to rebuke “churches” that have drifted from their calling.

Jesus warned His disciples, “They will make you outcasts from the synagogue;  but an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering service to God. And these things they will do, because they have not known the Father, or Me.” (Jn.16:2,3).

What He said then that the people in a synagogue would do to His disciples, was in later centuries done by “churches” too. In the middle ages, God fearing disciples of Jesus were killed by “Christian” inquisitionists.

This hatred of the disciples of Jesus will reach its peak during the time of the Antichrist and the Babylonian “world church”. We must be prepared to face it when it comes. That is why we must not be afraid of the little slander and opposition that we face from so-called Christians these days.

We must never be afraid of being slandered - for Jesus Himself was maligned. He was called a gluttonous man, a false teacher, a blasphemer, an insane man, a demon-possessed man, a half-breed and one who had Satanic power (Lk.7:34; Jn.7:12; Mt.26:65; Mk.3:21,22; Mt.12:24; Jn.8:48).

He told His disciples, “A disciple is not above his teacher, nor a slave above his master. It is enough for the disciple that he become as his teacher, and the slave as his master. If they have called the head of the house Beelzebul (a Jewish title for Satan, the prince of demons), how much more the members of his household!” (Mt.10:24,25).

Peter exhorts us saying, “Keep your behaviour excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may on account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.” (1 Pet.2:12).

God’s promise to us is, “No weapon that is formed against you shall prosper; and every tongue that accuses you in judgment you will condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord. And their vindication is from Me.” (Isa.54:17). So we need not fear slander. The Lord Himself will vindicate us at the right time. Until then we can afford to keep quiet and ignore what ungodly people say about us.

Seek to have Largeness of Heart

In 1 Kings 3:16-28 we have an example of Solomon’s wisdom. Two prostitutes stood before him for judgment one day. They were living in the same house and had delivered babies within a few days of each other. One night, one of them accidentally rolled over her child while sleeping, and killed it. When she realised what had happened, she immediately exchanged her baby with the living one. In the morning, when the other woman realised what had been done, she claimed her living child back. An argument arose between them then, as to whom the living child belonged to. How was Solomon going to decide in a situation like this? God gave Solomon wisdom. Solomon suggested that the living child be divided into two, and one half given to each woman. The first woman, whose child it really was, said, “No, please don’t kill it. Give it to the other woman.” But the second woman said, “No, kill it. You can have half and I can have half.” Immediately everyone knew who the true mother was. Then Solomon said, “Give the child to the first woman.” All Israel heard of that judgment and feared the king because they saw how God had given him wisdom.

Here is how we can apply Solomon’s wisdom today: Suppose two brothers are working together in a church and they fall out with each other. One of them then splits it into two and pulls out with his group. Is he the true mother? Certainly not! The true mother would say, “No. Don’t divide the church. You can have the whole church to yourself.”

Don’t ever split a church of believers. It is far better to leave the church intact, pull out yourself, go elsewhere and start an entirely new work, without causing a split in the first church. God will bless you. If God wants to give you that church to lead, because you are the true mother, He can even kill the other woman one day and give you the child. He killed Saul and gave the kingdom to David. He can do such things today too. But don’t ever cut a living baby into two. Don’t divide a church. Go and work somewhere else. Let God give you everything from His own hand. Don’t ever grab or divide.

That’s the principle I have followed whenever I have disagreed with a church’s leadership. I didn’t try to split the church, to get some of them to follow me. I went elsewhere and said, “Lord, let me start from the beginning all over again. Give me another child. I won’t fight for that one.” And I can testify today that God has blessed me abundantly in my work, because of that attitude. So I would recommend that to you.

In Chapter 4:29, “God gave Solomon wisdom and very great discernment and breadth of mind, largeness of heart, like the sand that is on the seashore.” Remember Solomon was a very young man. So young people can ask God to give them all these four gifts mentioned here. Not only wisdom, discernment and breadth of mind but also “largeness of heart, like the sand that is on the seashore”. This means (for us) a large heart that can take in all of God’s people who are like the sand on the seashore (Gen.22:17).

Consider a brother who belongs to another denomination, who disagrees with us about water-baptism or speaking in tongues;but God has accepted him. Our prayer should be, “Lord, give me largeness of heart to warmly receive him - even if he doesn’t work with me or agree with me.” I want as many brothers and sisters as God has children!

Consider a child of God who has a conviction on some matter that is different from ours. Can we accept that person? I remember once when a sister came to me for baptism and she was wearing some gold jewellery. Now, I have a conviction that gold should not be worn by believers. That is my understanding of 1Timothy 2:9 and 1 Peter 3:3. And this sister was wearing gold. Would I baptise her or not? The Lord asked me one question at that time: “Would you say that I have accepted her?” And I said, “Lord, as far as I can see, she is truly born again and so you have accepted her.” Then the Lord said, “How can you reject one whom I have accepted?” So I baptised her - with her gold! She may get light on that matter later; but it is not my business to judge her. I want to accept all those whom God has accepted - even if their convictions are different from mine.

I remember once concerning some issue, the Lord asked me, “How long did you take to understand this matter?” I admitted that it had taken me some years. Then why couldn’t I be patient with that person who was taking time to understand the issue?

We all need largeness of heart. When we are young, we tend to be zealous and narrow-minded, narrow-hearted, and we accept only those who agree with us on every issue. I am ashamed to say that I was like that when I was young. It was one of the many foolish attitudes I had. But as I grew older, and knew the Lord better, I discovered that I needed to have largeness of heart.

--  Zac Poonen

Walking in the Light

The Bible says in 1 John 1:7 that we cannot have fellowship with God if we do not walk in the light. If we walk in the light, we certainly can't hide anything, for the light exposes everything. The man who walks in darkness is the one who has something to hide in his life. If we walk in the light, our life is an open book. We can then invite people to examine our private life, our account books and everything. There is nothing we want to hide. It doesn't mean that we're perfect. No, it only means that we are honest.

The first thing that God requires from all of us is honesty - absolute honesty. If we are willing to be honest first, many of our other problems will be solved very quickly. We will progress in leaps and bounds in our spiritual life if we live by this fundamental rule of honesty before God and men.

But you'll find that this is a battle. You may say, "I'm really going to take that exhortation seriously. I'm going to be honest from now on." But you'll find before the week is out that you're tempted to be an actor again, and to seek for the praise of men rather than the praise of God. So you have to determine to fight that battle and win.

It is a great grief to God that there are so many Christians today who have been born again for twenty, thirty or forty years, but who haven't progressed spiritually because they have not learned this fundamental lesson of being honest. We can't progress if there is hypocrisy in our life. Our prayers will not be heard. We can have all-night prayer meetings; but we are wasting our time. Our prayers will not be heard if we do not get rid of hypocrisy first.

We must recognise that our true spiritual worth is what we are before God and nothing more than that. Our spiritual state is not determined by our knowledge of the Bible, nor by how much we pray, nor by how many meetings we attend, nor by what the elders or others in the church think of us. On the contrary, ask yourself, "What does God, who can see into every area of my life, think of me?" The answer to that is the real measure of how spiritual you are. We need to remind ourselves of this daily, or else we may find ourselves becoming actors again.

I love those words that Jesus said about Nathaniel, "Behold, an Israelite indeed, in whom is no guile" (John 1:47). If Jesus could say that about you and me, that would be a greater commendation than almost anything else. Nathaniel was not perfect. He was imperfect. But he was honest about his imperfections. He didn't pretend to be something that he wasn't. That's where he was different from Ananias and Sapphira.

-- Zac Poonen

Three Tips for Husbands and Wives

1. Love expresses appreciation: There is a whole book on married love that God has included in the Bible – the Song of Solomon. All married couples should read that book – to each other! It’s amazing to see there how Almighty God expects a husband and wife to talk to each other! And that book is inspired Scripture just as much as the other books in the Bible!

Let me read you a few extracts from this book, so that we can all learn to appreciate each other as husbands and wives. We are all misers when it comes to expressing appreciation. We are quick to criticize, but very slow to appreciate. We look at people and find so many faults in them. That is human nature. And that is how the Accuser, the Devil gets a foothold within us. On the other hand, God gets a foothold within us, when we look at others and find something to appreciate in them. Each of us can examine our own conduct here.

See what the husband says to his wife here in Song of Solomon (from various verses in the Message Bible):

“You're beautiful, my dear love, from head to toe - beautiful beyond compare and absolutely flawless. You’re as lovely as the ravishing visions of my ecstasy. Your voice is soothing and your face is ravishing. Your beauty, within and without, is absolute, my dear friend. You’re a paradise.” “You've captured my heart. You looked at me, and I fell in love. One look my way - and I was hopelessly in love! My heart is raptured. Oh the feelings I get when I see you and the stirrings of desire I have. I'm spoiled for anyone else!”. “There is no one like you on earth, there never has been, and there will never be. You are a woman beyond compare.”

And now listen to what the wife says. This is her response: “And you, my dear lover are so handsome! You are one in a million. There's no one like you! You’re golden – you’re a rugged mountain of a man. Your words are warm and re-assuring. Your words are like kisses and your kisses are all words. Everything about you delights me. You thrill me through and through! I long for you and I want you desperately. Your absence is painful for me. When I see you, I will throw my arms around you and hold you tight. And I won’t let you go. I am yours alone and you’re my only lover and you’re my only man.”

2. Love is quick to forgive. Love is slow to blame but quick to forgive. There will be problems between husband and wife in every marriage. But if you put those problems on the back-burner, they are sure to boil over (That is, if you give those problems a LOW priority – instead of settling them immediately – then those problems will get worse). So be quick to forgive and be quick to ask for forgiveness. Don’t wait until the evening to do that. If you get a thorn in your foot in the morning, you will take it out immediately. You won’t wait until the evening. If you hurt your spouse, you poked him/her with a thorn - take it out immediately - ask for forgiveness immediately, and be quick to forgive.

3. Love is eager to do things together with one’s partner – and not alone: How different the history of man would have been, if when the Devil came to tempt Eve in the garden, she had just said “Let me consult my husband first before I take a decision”. Oh, what a different story it would have been then! Remember that all the problems in the world arose because one woman took a decision on her own, when God had given her a companion whom she could have consulted, before taking that decision. True love does things together. Two are always better than one.

-- Zac Poonen

God Waits for Man’s Sin to Become Ripe for Judgment

The people of Canaan, whom God commanded to be killed, were being punished just like Sodom and Gomorrah was punished and like the world in Noah’s day was punished. The whole earth had become corrupt in Noah’s time with sexual sins (Gen.6:11).  The Canaanites too were indulging in degrading sexual sins and Satan worship. And so “the land itself spewed them out”. (Leviticus 18:24, 25). Deuteronomy 9:4 and 18:10-12 give us clear reasons as to why God destroyed the Canaanites. Where there are polluting influences in any nation that defile and corrupt the land, the only thing to do is to punish such a nation by eliminating the people – lest their influence spread and corrupt others too.

A God of love destroys some people just like a kind doctor amputates a man’s foot when the gangrene in his foot is so severe that it threatens to destroy the whole body. If you saw a doctor sawing off somebody’s leg, and did not understand medicine, you would imagine that the doctor hated that man. But actually the opposite would have been true. The doctor was doing it in love. God also acts in love for the world when He cuts off certain people who would otherwise corrupt it. Wiping out the world’s population at the time of the flood was an act of love, so that the human race could be preserved without being totally controlled by demons (Gen.6:2 – where the “sons of God” refer to God’s creation - the angels who fell). The apostle Paul once smote a man with blindness because he was leading another person astray (Acts.13:8-12). I have heard of cases of people who were smitten dead by God because they opposed a revival. So what we read of in Joshua was not the murder of the Canaanites. It was surgery for the world.

Many years earlier, when Abraham was living in Canaan, there were Canaanites there. But God did not destroy the Canaanites then. God waited for over 400 years, because, as He told Abraham, the Canaanites were not “ripe for judgment” at that time (Gen.15:16). We pluck mangoes when they are ripe. God also waits for man’s sin to become ripe for judgment, before He judges. He judged Sodom and Gomorrah when their sin was ripe.  So too with the Canaanites.

After Israel had occupied Canaan for 700 years, when they committed the same sins as the Canaanites, God drove them out of the land too. The Assyrians came and captured them. One hundred and twenty-five years later, when Judah, the southern kingdom, rejected the messages of God’s prophets and ripened for judgment, God sent the Babylonians to destroy them too. God is not partial. Whether it be the Canaanites or the Israelites or the people of Judah, His standards are the same. If His people keep on violating His standards and ignoring His prophets, He performs the same surgery on them too. God does the same with us too. If God were to excuse your sin, it would prove that He did not love you. If a father were to allow his children to live with their diseases, it would prove that he did not really love his children.
-- Zac Poonen

Most mentioned humans in the Bible

An interesting Bible fact regarding humans mentioned in the Bible is that David is mentioned more time than Jesus!

*  David is mentioned 1118 times
*  Moses is mentioned 740 times**
*  Aaron is mentioned 339 times
*  Saul is mentioned 338 times
*  Abraham is mentioned 306 times
*  Solomon is mentioned 295 times
*  Jacob is mentioned 270 times
*  Joseph is mentioned 208 times
*  Joshua is mentioned 197 times
*  Paul is mentioned 185 times
*  Peter is mentioned 166 times
*  Joab is mentioned 137 times
*  Jeremiah is mentioned 136 times
*  Samuel is mentioned 135 times
*  Isaac is mentioned 127 times

**Note: The second most commonly occurring name in the Bible is "Jesus", which occurs 973 times.
---anudhinamanna