Don't Even Go There

“I have refrained my feet from every evil way, that I might keep thy word.” (Ps 119:101 AV)

Notice how keeping the law is dependent upon the environment in which the writer allows himself to be.  The little word ‘that’ makes keeping the word of God the goal while the means to that goal is keeping his life free from any evil way that may make keeping the law more difficult.  Staying out of places of sin makes it much easier not to sin.  What can also be suggested is the writer knows if he is placed in a wicked environment, he is far more likely to fall than if he wasn’t there.  This is not a statement of weakness.  Rather, it is maturity and strength that makes his decision.

How many of us have been tempted to polish off a nice dinner with a fattening dessert?  There are a few restaurants my wife and I like to frequent.  One is very reasonably priced, but the ambience is top-notch.  This place could be a five-star place only if they raised the prices.  The entire experience is excellent.  They know how to time your servings so you don’t feel rushed.  After the mean meal, the waiter or waitress will come around with a tray of desserts.  Some restaurants will use plasticized offerings.  At one time they were authentic food, but they were infused with plastics and now are a mere representation of the real thing.  Some of these are so real that if they were dusted and cleaned every night, you would hardly notice a different.  This restaurant brought out the real thing.  Unless you tell them ahead of time that dessert will not be necessary, you are tempted to order something even if it means you take it home.

Part of the battle for holiness is being in the right place at the right time.  Or not being in the wrong place at the wrong time.  We make it harder on ourselves by tiptoeing around sin, thinking we can defeat it.  It would be better not to go there at all.  Others may think us weak.  After all, the world does this all the time.  They wave a gigantic piece of chocolate cake in front of you, and when you decline, they see you as strong.  However, if you decline the wave to begin with, they think you have no willpower.  Not true.  Simply put, our willpower is exercise much earlier.  If only we could refrain from the mere appearance of evil, then perhaps we would fare better when temptation appears.

Let God Be God - Again

“And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God [was] your king.” (1Sa 12:12 AV)

There is something puzzling about this verse.  According to Samuel, Israel didn’t choose a king until the nation believed Nahash the Ammonite was preparing to invade.  Yet, Saul was anointed to be king prior to Nahash confronting Israel.  How can this be?  There are two possibilities here.  Perhaps that until Israel called on Saul to act as king, they could have rescinded their decision to choose a king.  In other words, up until this moment, Saul was king on paper only.  After he was anointed, he returned to his flocks and herds.  Only when there was a discernable threat did Saul truly become king.  By acting as a king, he became the king.  The other, and more plausible, possibility is that Israel saw Nahash as a threat prior to his invasion and decided Samuel could not lead them through the battle.  In other words, they reacted to a potential threat by circumventing the means God provided, and decided to act in their own measure of prudence.  One can imagine the reaction when Saul rescued them.  It could have been a “We told You so, God” moment.  Never mind that success by the hand of Saul was an extension of God’s grace.  Who knows what would have happened to Nahash the Ammonite if Israel would not have chosen a king?  After all, He opened up the earth once before.

This can manifest itself in so many areas of life.  Preventative steps are wise to make.  However, a preventative step may become greater than the risk we feared.  The problem is, we simply do not know how God would have provided if we exercised a bit of faith and patience.  Sitting and waiting on God is a hard thing to do.  It is even harder if we can think up a way to solve it ourselves.  Waiting for God to act means we are often pushed to the edge of our fears.  Had Israel trusted the LORD with Samuel, the LORD would have provided another judge who could serve just as well.  What they saw was a king who hated God come against them and the only solution was to meet king with king.  A judge simply would not do.  What they forgot was their King was the King of kings.  The opportunity to glorify the LORD through a lowly judge was missed.  Instead, they saw a potential threat and believed the only way to meet that threat was by the means they had devised.  How sad.  But we do this all the time.

In our young married life, we struggled with paying the bills.  We robbed Peter to pay Paul, so to speak.  We were pushed to the brink.  There were a few days our house was without power.  There were others when there was no food in the pantry.  We made choices based on fear rather than on faith and paid a heavier price for it.  I won’t fib.  Trusting God is difficult.  It is the essence of pleasing God.  If we cannot trust Him, then we cannot please Him.  That is what the writer of Hebrews tells us.  But trusting God means we yield to His hand rather than or our own.  The book of Proverbs tells us to “Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths.” (Pr 3:5-6 AV)  We quote these verses.  But how well do we live them?  Israel reacted.  They chose a king.  The evidence would suggest that they correct.  At least on the face of it.  However, we will never know how the LORD would have delivered them had then decided to trust rather than act.

A Perfect Servant's Heart

“Then said Saul to his servant, Well said; come, let us go. So they went unto the city where the man of God [was].” (1Sa 9:10 AV)

Saul was on a mission.  His father’s flock was missing.  He went as far as the hills of Ephraim.  Gone for quite some time, Saul considers his father’s worrisome heart.  Saul gives up on the flock and decides to return home.  His servant does two things.  First, he suggests they seek the counsel of the prophet Samuel.  After all, they are in the neighborhood.  When it is discovered that Saul brought nothing with him by which he might remunerate the prophet, again the servant had the solution.  He has with him a wedge of silver to pay the prophet for his time and inconvenience.  This servant humbly met the shortcomings of his leader with no pride in his heart nor criticism toward his employer.  This servant understood the role he was tasked with.  He was to assist the leader in accomplishing his calling, no matter what that might mean.  Rather than use the faults of the man whom he served as a means to elevate himself, rather, he came prepared to cover for him so that he could succeed.

For almost two decades I served as an assistance pastor.  I served under five different men.  Each one had his unique set of faults.  As the assistant pastor, it was my job to make up for those faults without drawing any attention to myself.  I wanted these men to succeed.  One had an anger issue.  Another seemed to act a bit impulsively.  Still another was semi-retired and had no ambition to build the church.  Still another had issues with dreaming up big ideas that he simply could not get off the ground.  The fifth had an ego and was a bit abusive.  It would have been easy for me to use their faults as a way to gain an upper hand.  But what did I want with their pastorate?  No, thank you!  Those who come to mind are faithful second men or women.  Our wives do the same thing.  They cover for us like Abigail did for Naboth.  They help us see things we would otherwise not see, as Manoah’s wife did for him.  They have a unique relationship with the LORD that often makes up for our lack of one, as Hannah did for Elkanah.  Our wives often make decisions that safeguard our purity as will as theirs, as Ruth did so very well.  Our wives serve in a manner that is far more precious than anything we could want or need.

Saul’s servant knew of the Seer.  He knew where he was and where he lived.  The servant was informed so that when the need arose, he could offer a solution that his master had not considered.  The servant also showed more faith than his master.  Saul was concerned for his father more than he was concerned for the duty of the moment.  The call of God was upon him, and all he could think about was the welfare of his dad.  Not only was the servant able to keep a level head, but he also had the forethought to bring along some money just in case this opportunity arose.  Imagine.  The servant paid for the master.  How many of us would to that?  This servant exhibited the perfect heart attitude, love, and preparedness needed to be a servant.  Praise the LORD for people like that!

Rejecting His Ways Is Rejecting Him

“And the LORD said unto Samuel, Hearken unto the voice of the people in all that they say unto thee: for they have not rejected thee, but they have rejected me, that I should not reign over them.” (1Sa 8:7 AV)

Israel did not reject the person of the Almighty.  They rejected the methods of the Almighty.  Samuel was the judge and priest of Israel.  He would be the last judge.  The judge who served before him, Eli, was inadequate as a father.  His sons served in the tabernacle with greed and immorality.  They helped themselves to as much of the sacrifices as they wished and had relations with women at that tabernacle.  God judged these two sons, and Eli went to the grave in sorrow.  Samuel was Eli’s replacement.  However, Samuel also did not raise his family well, either.  This caused Israel to see a pattern they wanted no longer.  What did not occur to them is that God replaced Eli with a godly man.  God refused to use Eli’s sons.  The same could happen again.  God could replace Samuel with another godly man and refuse to use his sons.  Once they had a king, they would be stuck.  Succession would carry over, and the thing they feared the most would come upon them.  In the current system, judges were not entitled to crown their sons to follow them.  With a king, the one thing they didn’t want would be the permanent reality.  Rejecting God’s methods while accepting His person is still rejecting Him.

My dad had many hobbies.  I think the reason he did this was that he had hoped to spark a specific interest in the boys that he had.  He was a photographer, an outdoorsman, a stamp collector, a musician, a model railroad enthusiast, and loved to collect and make model airplanes.  He didn’t much care which one we gravitated toward, but there were a few that were non-negotiable.  The two that we had to participate in were music and scouting.  There was no choice here.  We were required to take music lessons, and we were required to be a scout.  In these activities, my father was the leader or the teacher.  It was his way or no way.  If we dare try a different way, he would take it personally.  There was only one way to tie a slipknot.  There was only one way to triage.  There was only one way to make any given chord on the guitar.  I remember the day that I discovered there was an easier way to make the G chord.  It made it much easier to transition to other chords in the G family.  My did took it personally.  After a while, he thought on it, did some research, and then decided it was ok.  But I remember when I rejected his method while still accepting him.  That may be acceptable for a human relationship, but it is not with God.

God is perfect.  His ways are perfect.  If we reject His ways, we reject Him.  Many do not see that.  How do I know?  Because the vast majority of what is called Christian today rejects the ways of God.  They do not adhere to the perfection of the Bible.  They believe the Bible is up to personal preference.  The commands of God are all seen as preferences.  Nothing is essential.  All things are non-essential.  There is no striving for Christlikeness.  There is no confession of sin, forsaking of sin, and reconciliation with the Creator.  We use Him for comfort and affirmation, but reject Him as ruler and guide.  He is not King of kings and Lord of lords because when He says we must, we determine if we truly must.  His word is our source of courage, encouragement, or emotional support.  What the word of God has ceased to be is the very voice of God for the purpose of guiding mankind into true blessedness.  Before we condemn the children of Israel, perhaps we should take a good hard look into our own hearts.  How much to we reject the ways of God thinking that accepting the person of God is acceptable?

Because We Are His

“I [am] thine, save me; for I have sought thy precepts.” (Ps 119:94 AV)

Three little words are the basis for his plea.  “I am thine”.  Powerful words!  The plea for help is based on the Psalmist's belief and acknowledgement that he belongs to God.  Not merely in the relationship of Creator and being.  It goes deeper than that.  The psalmist declares he is a child of God and, by that fact alone, he can plead for salvation.  The evidence of this relationship is what the psalmist seeks.  Note very carefully the writer does not claim to perfectly live by them.  Rather, he seeks them.  The intimate nature of this verse is what strikes me.  These three little words are words of absolute humility and dependency.  The utterance are the words of someone who has come to the end of himself and has no other basis by which he pleas.  It is unfortunate that he didn’t start there.

If you’ve ever raised sons, you know they can get themselves is quite a pickle.  They act without thinking.  They are adventurous.  They are impulsive.  This is how they learn.  They explore.  They test.  Along the way, there are bumps, bruises, and lacerations.  However, when they do get themselves in a fix, who do they turn to?  It is not anyone who can assist.  Rather, they call out for dad.  Whether it is climbing a tree too high to descend, exploring playground equipment that is too big for them, or racing around and then getting stuck, it is Dad who they call for.  We were at a children’s museum with the grandkids a few years back.  They have this room full of activities.  There are bars, slides, and mesh netting.  Most of it is for children from 4 to 8.  Any smaller, and they would get stuck.  Any larger, and the same might happen.  Our littlest granddaughter decided to follow her older siblings through the maze of nets, ladders, and piping.  When it was time to leave, we couldn’t find her.  In fact, we hadn’t seen her for a bit.  You would think that a trapped child would be crying and carrying on.  Not this little girl.  When it was time to leave and we looked for her, she was as high as she could get, looking out a plastic window at her dad with eyes of confidence, hope, and security.  Why?  Because she was absolutely convinced that she was her daddy’s and everything would be just fine.

The Fatherhood of God is something I think many saints do not fully appreciate.  The Fatherhood of God means that our Creator interacts with us as a father would with his child.  There is instruction.  There is encouragement.  There is affirmation.  There is correction.  And yes, there is even salvation.  This plea from the foundation of a Father/child relationship is a powerful one.  Like my son, who saw his daughter trapped in a maze of ropes, bars, slides, etc. and moved with compassion rather than impatience, our Father does the same.  He desires we cry out as children and claim our right as His children for His strength, wisdom, affirmation or whatever we need.  This is not being needy.  It is being humble and dependent.  It is the basis for our relationship with Him, and it is the basis by which we receive that which we seek.  “I am thing” is a hard thing to ignore.  It works with me every time.  When my children stated the obvious — that he was my son and I was his father, denying a legitimate need was impossible.  I couldn’t do it.  Neither will the LORD.  Claim your position as His child.  You are His and you absolutely need Him.  He is not there to be our servant.  We cannot ask as a petulant child might ask.  Rather, we can cry out in humility, dependency, and faith to a Father who is not ashamed to call Himself Father.  Praise be to God.  I am His!  I always will be.  No matter how much I have disappointed Him, I am still His.  Forever!

When God Goes Camping

“And the Philistines were afraid, for they said, God is come into the camp. And they said, Woe unto us! for there hath not been such a thing heretofore.” (1Sa 4:7 AV)

Boy, do we need God to come into the camp!  There is no fear of God in the eyes of the world.  We have totally gone after our own ways.  Not since the days of Noah has the whole of humanity gone after wickedness.  We need God to come into the camp!  The words of the Philistines are profound.  They had enough capacity for fear that they recognized the hand of God when they saw it.  The same could be said for those who will live during the tribulation.  The Revelation of Jesus Christ tells us that those who suffer during those seven years will curse God to His face, yet they will refuse to repent.  The Philistines repented in as much as they returned the Ark to Israel.  The tribulation dweller will not.  God needs to come into the camp.  Not only is the world calloused, but God’s people have become so, too.  As a preacher, I can testify to a lack of movement among God’s people.  The days of altars with tear-stained spots are gone.  The days of life-changing decisions, deep repentance, crying out for the mercy and grace of God, and a clear moving of the Holy Spirit are in the past.  Any revival that is reported is more than likely not a genuine one.  I know that will offend, but let me ask you a question.  How much are repentance and forsaking a part of what is commonly believed to be a revival?  I would dear say not much.  Revival is when God’s people get right with God.  The result is that the lost come to Christ.  We need God to come into the camp.

Some read the account of the cleansing of the temple as only one event.  Some commentators go so far as to assume an error was made by one of the gospel writers.  How sad.  Rather than take God at His word and assume His word is perfect, criticism robs the bible student of a great truth.  At the very beginning of His ministry, our LORD visited the temple.  He made note of the commercialization of worship.  There were profiteers making a living off of people’s worship.  They would exchange money at a profit.  They would sell sacrificial animals and an exorbitant rate.  The house of prayer had become a hose of thieves.  So, the LORD visited the temple at overturned the tables.  Money went flying.  He was not the timid, meek Savior most want to make of Him.  Jesus was a Savior full of wrath at what worship had become.  What a way to start a ministry!  The second occurrence came at the end of His ministry.  He repeated the same cleansing that occurred three years prior.  Israel didn’t learn its lesson.  God came to church and overthrew everything.  He had to do it again three years later.  We would like to think that once God does a drastic thing such as angrily throwing tables around would permanently fix a problem.  Not so.  God came to church and dramatically stirred things up.

We need God to come into the camp once again.  We need a drastic and dramatic moving of the Holy Spirit.  We need God to come to the camp!  We need to feel uncomfortable again.  We need to come under deep conviction again.  We need God to come into the camp.  We need to feel godly and holy fear.  We need to see our sin as wicked as God sees it.  We need God to come into the camp!  We need to face our faithlessness and the offense that it is.  We do not want to trust God because something else is telling us that we cannot trust Him.  The world seems to be a greater influence than the Creator of it all.  The Devil seems to think the church is his personal playground.  The flesh rules every moment of every day.  We need God to come into the camp!  Our families know more about a Disney character than they do the God who made them.  Our homes are ruled by amusement.  We know more about our fantasy league than we to about prophesy.  We need God to come back into the camp!  Family prayer time does not exist anymore.  We use the events of life as a distraction from more spiritual concerns because to do so requires a bit of discomfort.  We have quenched the work of the Holy Spirit and wonder why our pews are slowly becoming empty.  We rely on tradition more than on truth.  We are in a rut of slowly dying out, and we cannot shake the apathy.  We need God to come into the camp!  When God came into the camp, the Philistines reacted.  They did the only thing they knew to do.  They recognized God for who and what He is and fearfully worshipped Him by respecting the Ark.  When God comes into the camp, we are compelled to do something!  We need God to come into the camp!

Trusting God's Holiness More that Fearing Man's Wickedness

“[There is] none holy as the LORD: for [there is] none beside thee: neither [is there] any rock like our God.” (1Sa 2:2 AV)

These words were spoken by Hannah on the birth of her son, Samuel.  Her husband Elkanah joined her in this song of praise.  This was no small matter.  The answer of a male child meant more to her and her husband than merely giving birth to their firstborn.  Elkanah was of the tribe of Levi.  Specifically, he was of the family of Kohath.  The Kohathites were responsible for the maintenance of the tabernacle.  Elkanah had a second wife, by whom they had at least two sons.  According to the law, those sons were to begin service in the tabernacle beginning at age twenty.  The Bible suggests Peninnah did not offer her sons to the service of the tabernacle.  This ensued a relationship of torment, false accusation, and self-righteous condemnation.  Hannah was at the end of her rope and pled with God for a son.  She vowed to fulfill her duty and present her son to the service of the tabernacle.  In spite of the immorality and greed found at the tabernacle, Hannah vowed to be obedient and leave her son in the care of God.  When the LORD blessed Hannah with Samuel, she not only praised God for answered prayer, but made the statement above regarding God’s ability to keep her son from harm.

There are many ways in which to apply this, but the LORD has given me a different way than the obvious.  Normally, we would see the omnipotence of God.  Hannah was barren for many years.  Her husband had given up on her ever being able to bear children.  The miracle that Samuel was might have been see only through the lens of God’s ability to create life.  However, note how Hannah begins her statement.  She references the holiness of God.  Why?  Why would holiness be the first reference to a God who can do all things?  There are several reasons this might be the case.  First, the law required the Kohathites to serve.  Peninnah’s sons were not.  The family was living in disobedience.  Hannah knew the only way for the family to live in obedience was for the LORD to honor His holiness.  The LORD had to provide a servant by His own hand.  But I think Hannah’s statement goes even further.  By recognizing the holiness of God, she is also laying her faith in His holiness and not the holiness of Eli and his sons.  This took no small faith on Hannah’s part.

Hannah had faith that we can admire.  No doubt we should avoid circumstances that might cause us to fall.  Putting Samuel under the care of a priest who could not raise his own sons seems to be unreasonable and risky, to say the least.  But her confidence was in the holiness of God.  Not the holiness of people.  We are often disappointed by the sins of others.  Lest we become self-righteous, let us remember that we are equally wicked.  If we ever get to the place where we rank people based on their sins as the means to elevate Self, we are in a dangerous place.  Too many Christians refuse to interact with the world out of distaste for its sin.  Rather than trust the holiness of God to be greater than the wickedness of man, they live in a bubble of self-righteousness.  Hannah shows tremendous faith in God to overcome a fallen world, and she did not condemn Eli nor his sons are far more wicked than herself.  We are all in this boat called fallen humanity, and no one has the moral right to judge others as much worse than self.  Rather, we should learn to trust God’s holiness above the sin of mankind.  And that would include our own.