Blessings From Righteousness

"Now therefore hearken unto me, O ye children: for blessed [are they that] keep my ways. Hear instruction, and be wise, and refuse it not. Blessed [is] the man that heareth me, watching daily at my gates, waiting at the posts of my doors. For whoso findeth me findeth life, and shall obtain favour of the LORD.” (Pr 8:32-35 AV)

Living right and doing right has its own pleasures.  No doubt, pleasure is part of our experience from sin.  There is no disputing that fact.  The Bible warns us of the pleasures of sin for a season.  The pleasures of sin are immediate.  They can be very profound.  They can entice to greater experiences of pleasure.  Pleasure from doing right isn’t always immediate.  It takes time to experience pleasures from doing right.  Often, they are not easily recognizable.  Unlike the pleasures from sin, which are intense and fleeting, the pleasures from righteousness are deeper and longer lasting.  I know this by experience.

Following a birthday party, I had much weight to lose.  My church family and friends learned that I liked ice cream cake.  I had four of them in a matter of two weeks.  I had gotten to my heaviest ever.  Something had to be done.  If I didn’t get my weight and AC1s under control, I was looking at diabetes.  So, I went on a Keto style diet.  I severely limited my carbs, but I especially cut out refined sugar.  I love creamer in my coffee.  But that was over half my carb intake in one day.  So, I switched to half-and-half for the first cup and black for every cup that followed.  I immediately lost 20 pounds.  It was amazing.  The longer I was on that diet, the better I felt.  I lost 40 lbs over about seven months.  Things slowed down a bit, and I lost 20 more over the next year and a half.  I didn’t exercise more.  I didn’t count calories.  All I did was back off bad carbs and eat more protein.  At first, I missed the bad carbs and sweets.  Dark chocolate is one of my weaknesses.  Savory bad carbs are another.  Yet after a while, my tastes changed.  I savory piece of jerky with no carbs was preferred over a dark chocolate with raspberry.  A bowl of fruit for breakfast sounded better than a bowl of cereal.  The last few months have been a challenge.  More and more bad foods have crept into my life.  Once the nicer weather came, so did the baked goods, the cookies and candy, and all sorts of temptations.  Birthdays in our house tend to fall in the spring.  All but one are in the span of two months.  That means birthday cake for eight weeks.  The sugar high was pleasurable.  That is for sure.  But I would much rather have a perfectly cooked medium-rare steak with a sweet potato and asparagus.  The pleasures of eating right are extended over time.  The pleasure of eating cake only lasts a few hours.

God knows what He is doing.  His ways are always the best ways.  His ways are for His glory and our benefit.  God is our Father.  Why would He create principles that were designed to make us as miserable as possible?  Would you do that to your children?  No!  Everything you do for your kids is done by love and for their profit.  God would do no less.  Doing right and living right has blessing that come with it.  They are designed as part of God’s creation.  We live right and do right, and the blessings of God will follow.  This doesn’t mean trouble will be absent.  Trouble is part of life.  Rather, by living right and doing right, we increase the blessings of life that follow.  If only we would trust that!

Rest From Something Onto Something Else

"Rest in the LORD, and wait patiently for him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass.” (Ps 37:7 AV)

The encouragement has persecutors in view.  Yet the first nine verses could apply to any situation of duress.  ‘Resting’ is what has me intrigued today.  Resting is ceasing from activity.  Resting is stopping that which is the cause of our business.  Resting has to be placed in an object.  When the day is complete and rest is warranted, one rests in bed.  When I come in from yard work, it is time to rest in my recliner.  When study was our work, we rest our minds and eyes by taking a nap is a certain place.  Rest must occur in or on an object.  Therefore, to rest in the LORD is to cease from that which is causing us to fret and exist solely in the presence of God. 

There’s not much to do in a hospital bed.  Even less if you are visiting someone who is recovering.  But some of the sweetest times I have had were sitting next to someone who was not doing well and simply being there. I have spent hours sitting.  Hours listening.  Hours napping.  Being in the presence of someone else while they are in pain or weary is all they need.  There are other times when simply sitting on a porch with someone with whom you share a life is more profitable than going on a date.  As we sit there, sipping ice cold water or a hot cup of coffee with conversation of things not pertinent to our troubles, is a sweet time to be treasured.  There are car rides that take the better part of a day.  Or an overnight flight to a distant destination.  There is simply laying in bed as the night falls watching something of little value because the presence of someone who loves us occupies the other space.  Resting in the presence of someone means security and affirmation.  Resting in the presence of someone who unconditionally loves us is a very special place to be.

David knows what living in trouble looks like.  Thirteen years on the run from a father-in-law who wanted him dead followed by serving as king with constant battles and administration would demand rest in the presence of God.  He knows of what he speaks.  Getting away from all that would trouble him, even for a brief moment, and spending the time in prayer of praise and affirmation is what he needed.  Rest.  Rest is from something.  But rest is also in something.  Rest means to come away from that which causes activity and existing in a state of being that requires nothing of you.  Resting in the LORD is shutting the door of fretting, fear, anxiety, doubts, persecutions, etc. and existing only in the presence of the LORD.  Resting.  What a wonderful word.  Resting in God is the only true rest that will make our journey through life a victorious one.  Rest.  What a great word!  Rest.

Mountains and Hills

“Truly in vain [is salvation hoped for] from the hills, [and from] the multitude of mountains: truly in the LORD our God [is] the salvation of Israel.” (Jer 3:23 AV)

Judah was told to submit to Babylon as they were carried away into captivity.  The king and the princes we specifically told not to flee the city in hope of protection.  They were not to flee into the mountains.  They were not to flee into Egypt for protection and help.  If they did, the Babylonian army would overtake them and destroy them.  They ignored the words of the prophet and fled, anyway.  The prophecy came true.  Most were killed in battle.  The king was captured, his eyes put out, and sat at the table of servants of the sovereign.  The last thing he saw before he was blinded was the death of his sons.  Rather than obey the LORD and endure through hard circumstances, they trusted in the mountains and hills.  They failed miserably.

The center of God’s will is always the best place to be.  We may not like it.  It may not be easy, but fleeing is never a good idea.  This is our first instinct when the hand of God is active.  Adam and Eve fled from the presence of the LORD.  Jonah fled to Tarsus.  Peter fled from the presence of the LORD when he denied the LORD three times.  The book of Revelation tells is the rebellious will flee to the mountains, wishing for the mountains to bury them alive rather than to repent from their sin.  The word ‘vain’ is a good word here.  The word means pointless.  Note also that there are a multitude of hills and mountains.  Many escape routes in place to escape the will of God.  We have our mountain of pleasure.  We have our mountain of self-sufficiency.  We have our mountain of critical thinking.  We have our mountain of supportive relationships.  We have our mountain of financial security.  We have our mountain of mobility.  We have all sorts of mountains.  We have all sorts of hills.  If God’s way gets too hard, we have an out.  But salvation is only from one place.  Salvation is only from God!

God’s way is the best way.  It is not always the easiest way.  God’s plan is the best plan.  Our plans have hidden hazards.  God’s way is always the holiest way.  Our way is a way of self-interest.  The hills and mountains may look secure.  I am familiar with both.  Having lived among hills and mountains, they can be foreboding, but they are always safe.  Short of a landslide, mountains and hills are good places to live.  That which we see as protection is also a hindrance against impending threats.  These hills and mountains can be a fortress.  The thing we forget is that God is infinitely greater than any mountain of hill upon which we trust.  It is far better to trust in the LORD than in anything else.

A Devastating Disconnect

“Yet thou sayest, Because I am innocent, surely his anger shall turn from me. Behold, I will plead with thee, because thou sayest, I have not sinned.” (Jer 2:35 AV)

Israel strikes me as a nation that hasn’t a clue what sin is or even that they are suffering because of it.  Jeremiah, known as the weeping prophet, is sent to an unrepentant Israel as they face two generations of captivity.  Jeremiah preaches to Judah and Benjamin prior to and in the midst of their carrying away into Babylon.  At this point, they have gotten so far away from the LORD that they are offering their children as sacrifices to a false god.  The blood of the skirts is a descriptive way of saying the blood of babies.  Either the blood was newborns offered or the aborted babies of a pleasure-laden society.  Relative morality was the illness of backslidden Israel.  In someways, it still it.  Not to pick on Israel, but humanity as a whole is the same.  We develop our own sense of morality, justify it be some sick way of thinking, and then have the audacity to ask God to deliver us from trouble.  What I see above is a nation that did not have a clue as to what sin was, nor realize the consequences when they came.  Much like where our nation sits today.

It astounds me just how corrupt we can become and not seem to know just how corrupt we are.  It is like adapting to horrible circumstances and then calling it normal.  We live in an urban area.  Morals are fleeting at best.  We have a population that has no clue as to what acceptable behavior looks or doesn’t look like.  For instance, if it is not locked down, it will get stolen.  My dumpster has two bungee cords keeping the lid closed tightly.  If we don’t do that, squirrels or rats will get inside.  Every Tuesday, the service comes to empty the dumpster.  They removed the bungee cords, but did not put them back on.  So, they lay on the ground or on my porch.  The other day, an individual came through the alley and took one of the cords.  He needed it to strap things down on his little cart.  About a week later, a lady drives into our alley and stops right under my living room window.  She proceeds to dump dog waste right in the alley.  Our dumpster isn’t more than ten feet from where she discarded the waste.  Just a bit more effort and it would have gone where it belonged.  Things like this happen every day.  People behaving badly without a clue that their choices are wrong.  They see nothing wrong with it.

We are all like this to one degree or another.  We have a sense of right and wrong that is convenient.  When we are called out on it, we are shocked.  If the Bible didn’t have something to say about it, we wouldn’t believe it.  It is crazy!  Even when the Bible does teach us right and wrong, we still argue it away with our own set of values.  We use arguments of convenience.  “It was written for a different people and time”.  “The translators didn’t have a correct way of describing this sin, so it really isn’t wrong”.  “The Bible is outdated and doesn’t apply to me”.  Etc., etc., etc.  Only when we suffer inescapable consequences are we then moved to reconsider.  May the LORD help us to be more tender and humble toward the sacred things of God.

Live And See Good

“What man [is he that] desireth life, [and] loveth [many] days, that he may see good?” (Ps 34:12 AV)

That is a good question.  Not all do.  Some see life as a toil.  Some see life as a series of one problem after another.  As the human race descends further and further into wickedness, the despondent pray unceasingly for the return of Jesus Christ.  Others have the opposite view of life.  They see life as one blessing after another.  Each day is a day of new possibilities.  Each day is a challenge to overcome and rest one’s head at the twilight of the evening.  He or she rejoices that the versities of life were not the final determiner of the kind of day he or she had.  The question that David poses is an open-ended one.  The answer is for the soul to determine.  I think there needs to be a balance.

Today is our national holiday of celebration.  We celebrate that 250 years ago, our forefathers threw off the chains of oppression.  They refused to constrain their God-given liberty for a king who reigned from an ocean away.  It took some doing.  A war ensued and lasted eight years.  It cost 25,000 American lives.  The British and German armies lost even more.  Between the two sides, the war cost in the hundreds of millions of dollars.  Today, we are celebrating this event as monumental for the US and for the world.  Yet, there are those who correctly observe that our nation has strayed far from its Judeo/Christian roots.  We have accepted and legalized immorality that 250 years ago would have ended much differently.  We have allowed foreign belief systems into our nation that threaten our existence.  The America that used to be is quickly changing into an America that God can no longer bless.  We want to see good once again.

The psalmist asks a question.  He asks if there are any who wish for a long life and the goodness that can come from it.  He seeks those who will work for the betterment of mankind.  He is not seeking those who want to throw their hands in the air, hide in the basement, and wish for the end.  The king is building a nation.  He is seeking servants and soldiers who believe that God can do anything.  He is looking for souls who believe in a future.  He is looking for strivers and not surrenderers.  David asked a question.  He asks an excellent question.  Who among us desires a long life and wishes to see good come upon the earth once again?  May I pose the same question to my countrymen?  Who among us wishes to live long that they might affect some good on our nation?  We need revival.  We need a stirring of the Holy Spirit so that the forces of evil are defeated.  We need those who believe in Biblical liberty and will work!

Joy and Trust

“Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he [is] our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name.” (Ps 33:20-21 AV)

Joy and trust go hand in hand.  This may not seem the case.  To trust means one must take risks until the object of that trust is found to be faithful.  Once the object of trust is verified as trustworthy, celebration ensues.  For instance, swimming lessons were stressful for me.  There was the first time I jumped into the shallow end of a pool.  Death loomed!  But my instructor guaranteed that I would not drown.  He was right.  I jumped in, stood on my feet, and I was alright.  A few more times and you couldn’t keep me out of the water.  Then the day came when we graduated to the deep end.  He had taught us well.  We learned to tread water, swim a few strokes, and hold our breath so we would float.  We learned to turn on our backs.  It was time to take the safety net of the pool floor away and learn to trust our instructor once again.  With a reach pole in hand, he told us to get in.  We let go of the side of the pool and floated on our backs.  Once we got the hang of it, we were told to jump in.  After a while, you couldn’t keep us out of the deep end.

The thing with joy is that in order for it to grow, risk must come.  Risk must increase.  Where trust and faith are concerned, there must always be a greater step.  You are born.  The greatest risk you take is to stand on two feet for the first time.  Then there is the first day of school.  The first major exam.  The first driver’s test (hopefully the last)!  There is the day you were engaged, got married, and had children.  There were times your children were sick or injured.  Now, as you approach the twilight years, there is illness, financial insecurity, and loneliness.  As each step of faith increases, those in the past don’t seem nearly as big as they did when you went through them.  With each step of faith, God becomes more real.  The joy may not be exuberance.  It changes.  The joy that comes from trusting the LORD becomes humbling and awe-inspiring.  One experiences the hand of God in ways that would seem impossible.  Joy comes because God is faithful.

At times, faith may be stressful.  Trusting is difficult.  It requires that we yield to One greater than ourselves.  We trust Self.  Trusting someone else does not come naturally.  The feeling of vulnerability is uneasy.  But it is like getting married.  When you profess those vows, you are putting all your trust in the hands of another.  It is her hands in which you are placing your heart.  It is in his hands that you yield.  Yet when those vows are exchanged and you know your trust was not placed in vain, then there is no greater joy.  Outside of salvation itself, knowing someone will love you and commit to you no matter what is the beginning of a life of joy that defies human understanding.  God is far more faithful than a spouse.  He is there when no one else can be.  He loves us with an everlasting love.  He is our Father who will always provide, protect, and guide.  He is there.  He will never leave.  All He asks is that you trust in Him so that your joy might be full.

A Praise!

“For my thoughts [are] not your thoughts, neither [are] your ways my ways, saith the LORD.” (Isa 55:8 AV)

To many, this is a familiar verse.  We often use it as a proof text for the infinite nature of God.  All His attributes are infinitely possessed.  There is no measure for any of His attributes.  He is infinite in scope and in time.  Because He is infinite and we, finite, His ways are past finding out.  Because He dwells both in and out of time, and we are limited to time, there simply is no comparison.  The context applies this verse as a subtle rebuke to errant Israel, but also a verse of hope in that God will do for Israel what Israel cannot begin to appreciate.  Because His ways are not our ways nor His thoughts identical to our thoughts, we live in wonder of His hand.  He is able to do above and beyond what we ask or think.

We got a scare this past two-weeks.  Lisa’s PET scan came back with changes to her cancer.  With the type and grade of cancer she has, that would have been terrible news.  With her cancer, the tumors are typically extremely slow-growing. According to most research, it takes up to ten years for fresh growth to appear.  Someone could have this cancer in their late fifties or early sixties, then die of old age never knowing they were living with it.  So, when there was fresh growth indicated in only eighteen months, we were prepared for some concerning news.  In my mind, I was already devising a plan to live and thrive without my only half.  In my mind, I was organizing my life as a single adult.  I was beginning to prepare for what I believed was inevitable.  Then came to incredible follow-up doctor’s appointment.  It started out strange.  Our oncologist was talking to us about secondary issues Lisa has been having.  We spent a good twenty to twenty-five minutes on complications from her surgery.  We thought this was a bit strange believing her cancer had come back.  Then our doctor finally got around to Lisa’s scan.  Her prognosis was that one spot had always been there, but was not showing up.  The other, which was far more serious, was physiological and not indicative of new cancer growth.  In other words, it was a false positive.  GREAT NEWS!

One would think that receiving such news would result in a joy so dramatic that it was uncontainable.  But that was not our reaction.  Rather, we received the news with humility and grace.  We are in the presence of God, stunned by what He has done for us.  The hand of God can be rather awesome.  And I mean that in the most somber of ways.  When the LORD moves heaven and earth for the saint, he is never the same again.  I liken it to the parting of the Red Sea.  No doubt there was great relief at the hand of God when they realized Egypt was no longer a threat.  But imagine looking the Red Sea parted one side against the other.  The water would have stood several hundreds of feet tall on either side.  No doubt they rejoiced at the hand of God.  Moses wrote a song to reflect just that.  I can imagine the average Israeli standing at the brink of the sea.  A child would have been giddy.  He or she cannot comprehend the scope of what God was doing.  But the adult would be stunned.  Never before had they seen God do such a thing.  This is exactly how we felt.  His ways are not our ways.  The miracles of God are truly miracles when we cannot comprehend just how God does a thing.  Praise the LORD that we cannot!