The Blessedness of Faith

“Kiss the Son, lest he be angry, and ye perish [from] the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed [are] all they that put their trust in him.” (Ps 2:12 AV)

The application here is very clear.  With the phrase “…perish from the way…” and the word ‘…wrath…’, the student of the scriptures can clearly discern that the context and application is the eternal wrath of God as the lost soul suffers in a devil’s hell.  Therefore, if accepting Christ as Savior is the choice of the lost soul, then he or she will be truly blessed!  This is obvious.  Another consideration is that there are only two choices here.  Either the soul will trust the LORD and be blessed in that trust, or reject the God of mercy and grace, suffering eternal separation because of it.  Again, this is obvious.  There is no middle ground.  There is no position of neutrality.  This thought was turning in my head when the Spirit spoke ever so gently to consider the principle here beyond the application of salvation.  One must wonder if God is displeased when we reject His person or ability because we are too afraid or self-sufficient to trust.  We know the author of Hebrews tells us that we cannot please God without faith.  Again, one has to wonder if a lack of faith would result in some sort of divine response.  But that is not where the Spirit would have me go this morning.  Rather, one word jumps out to me.  That word is ‘blessed’.

How many of us have had our children reject what we knew they would like simply because it was new or felt they could not trust us?  We have all been there.  It might have been the first time they were dropped off at the church nursery.  Perhaps it was the first day of kindergarten.  Maybe it was a ride at an amusement park or the first cast from a fishing pole.  We went camping a lot.  My father took us on many adventures.  Most of the time we reluctantly went because we knew there were risks and discomforts involved.  Once there and actively participating, the experience was enjoyable.  Most of the time, reluctance comes at the offering of a new recipe.  My children used to laugh about it.  My wife loves to try new recipes.  Most of the time they were not worthy of a second try.  So, my sons used to joke about mom’s new recipes all the time.  Guess what happens when you marry.  Suddenly there are certain things mom made that you miss.  Not that your wife is a poor cook.  It is the memories around the recipe that you miss.  Getting children to try new foods no matter how much you know they will enjoy it is a challenge.  They simply cannot see the reward.  All they see is the risk.

The same is true with us.  We are asked to trust the LORD in all sorts of ways over an entire lifetime.  Some are easy.  Some have no other option.  Most, however, have an escape hatch.  This hatch is not provided by God.  It simply exists.  It exists as part of our ability to choose.  The challenge is in believing in the eventual blessing.  David’s statement above isn’t a hypothetical hope.  Trust God, and you might receive a blessing.  No.  David’s statement is one of fact.  Those who let go and let God tend to be more blessed and content; maybe even happy; than those who will not trust God.  It is one thing to trust the LORD with our souls.  What other choice do we have?  Any rational being would take God up on the offer of salvation through Christ.  It is after our new birth that faith becomes rather difficult.  Believing the absolute promise of blessedness if we trust is what gets us over the fence.

He Looks

“He looketh upon men, and [if any] say, I have sinned, and perverted [that which was] right, and it profited me not; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light.” (Job 33:27-28 AV)

This is one of my favorite passages of scripture.  We can easily apply this to salvation.  We know that if repentance is genuine and faith in Christ is solid, then our Savior and LORD delivers us from going into the pit of hell.  We live in the light of His presence for all eternity.  This is a simple concept to understand, and the hope of our eternal future.  However, we wrestle with this truth as we seek to love and serve God in the flesh.  We wrestle with God’s mercy and forgiveness.  Even if we accept it, there is a part of us that thinks we deserve to be perpetually miserable because our sins are so great.  Some have a difficult time living in the joy of the LORD because their guilty conscience will not allow it.  The answer is faith and acceptance.  Part of our downcast souls has to internalize Paul’s words when he says, “To the praise of the glory of his grace, wherein he hath made us accepted in the beloved.” (Eph 1:6 AV)

This passage has appeared in my devotions before.  Each time I read this passage, a fresh insight is graciously granted.  The Spirit drew my attention to God’s proactive part in our repentance and restoration.  Note in particular that the LORD looks.  He looks upon mankind, and if any say they have sinned, He restores.  He looks!  Sometimes we get in our heads that God is too mighty to condescend to mankind.  We erroneously feel as though He sits on His throne and refuses to engage with the guilty in any way until the guilty approach Him with brokenness of heart.  We think God requires that we grovel to Him seeking mercy that may or may not come.  This is not the God of the Bible.  He proactively seeks those who wish to reconcile.  Yes, He requires humility and brokenness.  But He doesn’t require a broken spirit.  He requires a broken and surrendered will.  But not a destroyed reason to live.

I have known fathers to be so aloof from their children that any type of relationship with him destroyed the spirit.  This type of father limited his interaction to discipline.  There is no affirmation.  There is little encouragement.  As far as this type of father is concerned, the only relationship he and his child had was authoritarian/subordinate.  If the father had to look for an erring child, it wasn’t to reconcile a relationship.  It was merely to fix wrong behavior.  This is not the God whom we love and serve.  He searches for someone who is broken.  Not to break them further.  Rather, to restore and reconcile.  Our God wants a relationship with us.  Our sin is the hindrance.  Our Father knows this.  He also knows we are not naturally inclined to seek reconciliation.  At least not until the Holy Spirit has had plenty of work on our souls.  So, He looks.  And He looks.  His eyes wander to and fro on the earth to see if there is any who desires to know Him.  He looks.  He looks for me.  He looks for you!

Mourning Loss of Ministry

“The blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me: and I caused the widow’s heart to sing for joy.” (Job 29:13 AV)

Job’s testimony of himself was that he was a caring and generous person.  In particular, he shares that those who were hurting often found comfort by his counsel and encouragement.  Job was an incredible man who changed the world for the better.  He used his life to glorify God and minister to others.  Now he sits as the one in need.  It is interesting that Job received none of what he had at one time he had freely given to others.  Somehow, I don’t think his personality changed all that much despite the deep time of adversity he was facing.  I don’t think it mattered to him that his friends were mistreating him.  We know this because he offered sacrifices for his friends, lest the LORD inflict them with His wrath.  It was Job’s nature to do what he could for others.  Those above are the widowed and the dying.  Job went out of his way to help those in the deepest of needs.  One has to wonder if we are the same.

There is no greater trial of faith than death.  Either dying or surviving the passing of another.  Especially when the one passing on is the closest relationship one might have.  Being that precious saint who can ease pain is a great gift.  Serving as a chaplain for a local hospital was a particular blessing.  Never have I grown so much in the LORD is such a brief amount of time.  The experiences are countless.  Crazy things can happen.  But the most precious moments are also part of the experience.  One particular time I was called to a room of a patient who was departing.  There was no family.  The healthcare team had disconnected this patient from all the tubes and such.  They wanted this dear saint to pass into eternity with as much dignity as possible.  As my ministry partner and I entered the room, the saint lay there semi-conscious.  We asked if he wanted prayer.  He said he wanted us to read his favorite scripture passage following the prayer.  We prayed for God’s mercy on the saint’s body.  We asked for a pain-free rest.  We asked the LORD to prepare his heart for his home-going.  We prayed for God’s love to be evident and His presence overwhelming.  Then we read Psalm 23.  We did not get through the whole passage before he passed.  There was no struggling for breath.  There were no convulsions.  This saint passed into eternity as though he had simply fallen asleep.

This is no credit to my partner or me.  All glory goes to God.  The blessing it was to help this dear saint face the unknown was more of a blessing than words can ever tell.  Job did this regularly.  He didn’t do this because he was called into the ministry.  He didn’t do this because he was an ordained minister or trained Chaplin.  This gift requires compassion and understanding.  It requires following the leading of the Holy Spirit and listening to those who need ministry.  It is the ultimate act of kindness, second only to leading someone to Christ.  It is the total emptying of one’s Self for the total needs of another.  There is no remuneration.  There is no compensation.  It is total charity for the sake of someone who can never repay what was done for them.  It is awesome.  Job knew this.  And he knew that in his present state, he could be that blessing for others who had deeper needs than his own.  Job was more concerned with the lack of ability for others than he was his own personal loss.  This is what made Job a great man.

Knowing the Knowable While Accepting the Unknowable

“Lo, these [are] parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 26:14 AV)

A very sound theological statement.  It doesn’t matter how of the infinite is revealed to man, he can never completely know God.  In fact, Job is very correct here.  Because God is infinite in attributes and scope, at best a finite being can only know little.  Some find fear in this truth.  I find comfort.  A God who cannot be figured out is a God indeed!  If God could be dissected and understood, then we become equal to God.  The moment we become equal with God is the moment we do not need Him.  What can be known is the results.  At least as it affects us.  Job asks a follow-up question.  He asks who can know the power of thunder?  That we can know.  The obvious application is that we may not know everything there is to know about thunder, but we can know the sound and how it applies to us personally.

My wife loves the weather channel.  I am finding out that many ladies love the weather channel.  However, I think my wife’s fondness for it might be different.  Many like the human side of the channel.  They are drawn by the deep emotions people feel when disaster upends their lives.  The kinship a viewer feels as interviews of storm victims are broadcast is the attraction to the channel.  My wife, on the other hand, enjoys the extreme nature of weather.  I have son who is the same way.  If opportunity presented itself, I think both would sign up for an adventure with storm chasers.  They like the power of nature.  The LORD has seen fit to send some extreme weather my way.  I have outrun a tornado.  Felt and heard an ice-quake.  We lived in an area that was prone to earthquakes and felt a tremor or two.  Nothing comes close to a Midwestern thunderstorm!  You have to experience it to understand.  I have been through ice storms that brought everything to a halt for a two-week stretch.  There have been a few floods.  Don’t get me started on black ice and super-sized winter snowfalls.  I have even been out on a small craft during a small craft advisory.  Nothing compares to ten-foot swells in a sixteen-foot open-bow boat.  Let’s just say weather is serious!  I may not understand how it all works, but appreciation for what it can do is not lost on me.

This is the understanding Job is trying to convey.  We don’t need to know all there is to know about God.  We cannot anyway.  It also does not figure that the more ignorant we are of God, the more comfort we experience.  This is certainly not true.  Rather, there is a balance to be had.  That balance is found in the word of God.  He has revealed Himself in as much as we are capable of knowing Him.  Theology has bounds.  Those bounds are the natural bounds of the finite compared to the infinite.  These bounds are not in place for some nefarious purpose.  Rather, they are natural.  Mankind is foolish if he tries to understand the infinite.  Even worse, if mankind has the impression that he can know the infinite, it is pride at its height.  We cannot know the innumerable acts and attributes of God.  But we can feel the roar of thunder.  We don’t have to know any more than we are capable of knowing.  Simply put, we must let God be God!

The Right Mind in a Bad Place

“But he knoweth the way that I take: [when] he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10 AV)

I don’t think this idea is a welcomed idea prior to a trial occurring.  Rather, this is perfect for those who are in the middle of it.  I am sure that if Job knew of his pending trial, he wouldn’t have made the statement above.  Rather, he would have done everything possible to avoid it.  No one wants to go through deep water.  No one seeks deep trials as a thing to do.  Who in their right mind would want to suffer?  Not me.  Not Job.  While in the midst of a trial, our hearts can change.  A heart of hope and gratitude can be a result.  Job has his ups and downs.  He has his pleasant moments and his terrible moments.  There are times he speaks of God’s goodness, grace, and mercy.  There are other times he refers to the LORD as an adversary or judge.  The ups and downs of deep waters force to the top our emotional person.  We feel and express our feelings.  The statement above is one of Job’s most optimistic.  He knows it.  But he doesn’t always feel it.

Peter tells us that Job was patient.  The above statement by Job proves the point.  He was a patient man to endure the onslaught of criticism leveled by his friends.  He was patient while at the same time agonizing over questions that had no answer.  It is the ‘gold’ part that we seem to struggle with.  Is the trial worth it?  Will the changes be worth the turmoil?  Will the work that God does through all the loss be worth more than the loss I feel?  As I get older, there are lessons learned that are profound and hard.  Lessons we knew were coming.  Lessons that one cannot prepare for.  There is a time of transition.  We begin to realize there is more time behind us that before us.  We begin to realize that opportunities are becoming less and less.  We look back on our lives and wish we had taken more opportunities or invested our talents much better than we did.  We look ahead and realize that time is short.  We go through a systematic exercise of ends.  There is coming a time when the things we took for granted become less, or cease altogether.  This is a hard thing to adjust to.  The biggest trial of our lives is always tomorrow.  Gold has to be the standard.

Job’s hope was that change would more than compensate for the trial he was facing.  He lost much.  He lost children who could never be replaced.  Things can be replaced.  But relationships cannot.  Those sons and daughters were gone.  There was nothing that could bring them back.  Of all the things Job lost, it was the relationships that would leave a lasting scar.  Sure, God replaced the ten children Job lost with ten more.  But they were ten new and different people.  Job would never know his eldest to take on the family business.  The daughters he lost would never walk an aisle arm in arm with their dad on their wedding day.  There would always be a reminder of that which he lost evidenced by a grave marker and a name.  God compensated for it.  But He could not undo it.  Gold is the hope.  Change is the goal.  Knowing that through all of our deep water, we will be changed into the likeness of Christ is the only result that makes up for the cost paid.  This takes maturity.  This takes a love for God that few know of.  This takes heavenly priority.  This state of mind understands that we were created for God’s glory and change is part of it.  This state of mind sees the hand of God as an extension of His benevolence and grace.  This state of mind treasures the gold far more than what was lost.

The Mathematician is also the Physician

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. He telleth the number of the stars; he calleth them all by [their] names. Great [is] our Lord, and of great power: his understanding [is] infinite.” (Ps 147:3-5 AV)

Of special note is comparing the healing of a broken heart with the knowing of all the stars in the universe.  There isn’t enough computing power in the world to number and name every celestial body in the universe.  The Bible tells us that the heavenly hosts are as innumerable as the grains of sand in the sea.  All the AI power in the world could not catalogue that vast number of individual grains of sand.  The point our writer is trying to make is that the healing of the human heart is immensely simpler than the numbering and naming of the stars.  If God can do the latter, then He certainly can do the former.

The cancer that my wife has is prone to develop heart issues later in the digression of the disease.  If the tumors are functioning, which means they are producing hormones, then a condition called Carcinoid syndrome is the result.  This is caused by too much serotonin in the bloodstream.  In particular, the excess hormone can result in hardened valves.  We had a friend who needed a heart valve replaced because of this syndrome.  The operation is complex.  The heart must be stopped, and the patient placed on bypass.  There are two types of valves available.  There is a mechanical heart valve and a biological heart valve.  The operation typically takes five hours or so.  The most common type of operation requires open heart surgery.  This means the breastplate is open so the surgeon can have direct access to the heart.  Recovery is long and hard.  Although this procedure is routine, few have the expertise required to successfully replace heart valves.  Those patients living in more rural or remote areas must travel to a specialist.  The expertise needed takes years of education and practice.  A successful heart surgeon is in a lucrative career because few can manage the complexities of this type of surgery.

Is complex as the human heart is, biologically speaking, the human soul is vastly more complex.  Healing takes the hand of an expert.  The only one is existence is the Creator of the human soul – Jehovah God.  If we face overwhelming circumstances, or are suffering from deep loss, as God can name and number all the celestial bodies, He can heal your broken heart.  There must be a yielding to the Creator’s hand.  Much like signing a consent form for major surgery, we must yield to the care of the Master Surgeon.  He cannot heal a heart that wishes no medicine.  He cannot bind up the broken heart if it is running from His care.  There is a book that came out many years ago.  The title is, Only God Can Heal the Wounded Heart.  It is a good book.  Some I cannot endorse.  Must most of it is good.  The point of the book is that God can heal any situation of the soul.  There is no need to depend on others.  Although God uses others, He is the author of healing.  If He can number and name all the stars of the universe, surely He can heal your broken spirit.

Hold The Line with a Line

“Every word of God [is] pure: he [is] a shield unto them that put their trust in him.” (Pr 30:5 AV)

The word ‘shield’ is of particular interest this morning.  We often see the word of God as an active agent.  We are asked a question, and we answer with the scriptures.  A doubt comes in, and we study to find an answer.  We study and write to teach or preach.  Scripture verses in greeting cards are often our choice.  We use the word of God actively.  A shield is often passive.  A shield can be held and adjusted as the threat presents itself.  Often, however, a shield is held in place, and the soldier takes cover.  The idea of some ancient cultures was to use a shield as bulwarks of sorts.  Some ancient armies would carry their shields and the upon an enemy advancement, would ram their shields into the ground, hiding behind them like a mobile wall.  They were active as long as the enemy was stagnant.  If the enemy attacked, they were passive.  This is why it is so important to fill the head and heart with the word of God.  There are times of activity.  There are also times of stillness.  It is the latter that we must consider.

Of all the years that the LORD has graciously allowed me to preach, you would think I have the vast majority of the word of God memorized.  I am a horrible memorizer.  That is, as we are accustomed to think of that gift of memorization.  Unless I know why something is the way it is, I cannot memorize it.  I associate the information with cause and purpose.  Not simple order.  You might think this is funny, but I find it hard to recall alphabetical order unless I rehearse the alphabet afresh.  Does W come before or after Y?  Does ‘M’ come before ‘N’?  Sometimes, I have to start the alphabet song to figure it out.  When it comes to the word of God, the source is supernatural and has a way of hiding in your mind and heart without knowing it.  The more stress one is under, the saint would be surprised at just how much bible he or she knows.  Verses the saint has forgotten come back to the front of the mind.  This can only occur if we are constantly reading and studying the word of God.  The ore we put into the mind and heart, the more can be recalled when needed.

I have been reminded of this recently.  Getting into a debate is not my forte.  I cannot remember all the details which I had learn decades ago.  So, when someone very intelligent challenges me, I merely plead old age and go on with life.  When the soul lays in the balance, this is quite another thing altogether.  Peter tells us to be ready to give an answer to those who notice our faith and wonder at our hope.  Shame on us if we do not know the word of God well enough to explain salvation.  What we are ruminating on this morning is something different.  The word of God is a shield. It is a shield to all those who put their trust in it.  This means the word of God must be assumed as the ultimate authority in all matters of faith and practice.  This means we defer to the Bible first.  Not when all other sources have been exhausted.  The shield was carried into battle primarily directed at the enemy.  The shield was the first thing an enemy projectile met.  It wasn’t the foot soldier.  It wasn’t their offensive weapon.  It was their shield.  The same is true with the word of God.  We may not know the exact passage that we need before we need it.  We may not think we have enough Bible memorized.  It amazes me how much the Holy Spirit will bring to my remembrance verses or bits of verses just when I need them.  This is supernatural.  This is divine leading.  This is the Comforter's way of telling us that we are loved and that God cares.  He will take care of us.  His shield is invincible.  Being acclimated toward the shield being our greatest weapon against the adversary is that which needs work.