Many Wells

“Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation.” (Isa 12:3 AV)

These words of encouragement from the LORD through the prophet do not stipulate when the joy is present.  Perhaps joy is already present and encourages us to continue to draw waters of refreshing from the wells of salvation.  Or, it could mean that when we need joy, drawing from the wells of salvation is our source.  Note also that there is more than one well of salvation.  The word is plural.  How can that be?  How can salvation have more than one well?  It is simple.  We are saved from many things.  We tend to think that salvation is only from our sins and a devil’s hell.  But the word of God uses the word to describe various other forms of deliverance.  The O.T. saint or king could be saved from a physical enemy.  The sick can be saved from illness.  Or the discouraged, anxious, or fearful can be delivered from their emotional turmoil.  It is this second point to which I wish to consider.

It is interesting that the various wells of salvation tend to be something that rarely occurs to us.  For instance, it is common for prayer to be offered for those in physical distress and disease for relief or complete healing from it.  Yet the Bible clearly teaches us that we will all pass from this world unto eternity.  There will come a time when there is no healing.  Or, as in the case of Paul, we could be afflicted by a thorn in the flesh, and it is part of God’s plan for us.  The wells of deliverance may not be what we think we need.  They may not be what we would hope for.  The wells of deliverance are wells intended to increase or bring upon us the joy of the LORD.  Therefore, they are plural.  Our struggle is to keep an open mind as God begins to fill our cup.  We can be like little children sometimes.  We want soda pop, but mom gives us ice water.  Little do we know that the sugar in soda only makes us thirstier and the ice water quenches the thirst. 

God does not have bitter wells.  They are cool deep wells meant for our joy.  The wells of salvation may make things a bit more difficult at first.  No doubt Paul had to adjust his life to work around the throne he would now possess.  Yet if we believe the wells of salvation are our source of joy, then joy is the result.  I love ice water.  The cleaner, the better.  There is no better tasting water than natural spring water from an old-fashioned hand pump.  I am not talking about that tap water bottled as spring water.  I am speaking of water from a well dung on a mountainside that feeds only one home.  Clean and fresh!  The perfect glass of refreshing.  Nothing added.  No fortification.  Direct from the hand of God without human influence.  That are God’s wells of salvation.  All God!  From Him!  All we need to do is receive what He has for us and learn to live in joy.

It Will Show

“A merry heart maketh a cheerful countenance: but by sorrow of the heart the spirit is broken.” (Pr 15:13 AV)

The truth stated is obvious.  Solomon is simply stating that the condition of the heart works itself out in our outward person.  If we have a merry heart, our face will show it.  If, on the other hand, our heart is occupied with sorrow, that too will outwardly manifest itself.  The application is unclear.  We don’t know if Solomon is challenging his children to go about life with a merry heart.  Or if he is merely stating that whatever our disposition of heart, it will reveal itself to all whom we encounter.  It is naïve to think that we can live life with a continual merry heart.  There are great losses along the way.  There are adversaries that drain us of our cheerful disposition.  Some wear their emotions on their sleeves.  The observer doesn’t have to guess what it going on in the heart.  It is as obvious as the nose on one’s face.  Others seem to hide their feelings rather well.  Or worse yet, they bury them deep so they cause little harm.  Or do they?  The point is, we cannot hide what is going on inside.  It works itself out in our disposition.

I don’t know if you are ever tempted to do the following, but I do it all the time.  It started when I was a child.  Our little town had traveling circuses come through from time to time.  The largest ones hit the big city.  However, the smaller ones would stop by our neck of the woods.  They would often set up in county fairgrounds or the parking lot of a large church.  It might be the 4-H grounds, the Legionaries field, the Knights of Columbus Park grounds, or some other venue.  It wasn’t a large circus.  Just a few animals, some performers, and one large tent where the acts would perform.  We didn’t get the lions or the tigers.  We got the poodles.  We didn’t get the one-hundred-foot trapeze.  We got the twelve-foot gymnastic set.  Some acts were local people.  A juggler here.  A magician there.  The clowns were almost always local people whom we would be familiar with.  Hence, the habit I took up.  It was a curiosity for me to try to discover who it was under all that makeup and costume.  If the clown’s identity was undiscernible, that was a treat.  Even more so, I tried to discern if the clown was as happy as his painted face projected.  I tried to see his or her natural lips.  I looked into the eyes to see the person.  I wanted to see the person behind the mask.  It is a habit I carry well into my adult years.  I see the Joker in the old Batman shows or the more modern movies and see the pain behind the smile.

It is easy to think we can pretend to be someone we are not.  But Solomon would beg to differ.  We may think we are hiding our hearts well enough to fool most people.  Like the commercials that advertise antidepressants, there is a placard we hold up with a smile on our faces when inside, we preoccupied with the adversities of life.  Or, the opposite can be true.  Life could be grand.  The wind is in our favor and it seems as much is going right.  The blessings of life abound, and we arrive with a glow about us while others do not understand what the joy is all about.  Our optimism is both infectious, but could be a bit intrepid depending on our audience.  The point is very simple.  The condition of our hearts is seen by others.  How that is to be applied depends on the circumstances.  Empathy for the situation of others is important.  So too is the point Paul makes in the beginning of his letter to the Corinthians.  If we are of a sorrowful spirit, we will unnecessarily make others sorrowful and will never receive the encouragement we need.  The truth is obvious.  The observation plain.  As to how that dictates the demeanor is which we are to portend ourselves, the circumstances dictate the manifestation.

God is Overwhelming

“In the year that king Uzziah died I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims: each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, [is] the LORD of hosts: the whole earth [is] full of his glory.” (Isa 6:1-3 AV)

Isaiah’s response to the vision of the glory of God was to fall on his face and see himself as he is.  A completely unclean thing.  God did not condemn Isaiah.  Isaiah condemned himself.  In comparison to the perfect holiness of Almighty God, man is less than nothing.  I can understand a bit of this.  We need this humility.  We need this self-loathing.  Job said as much when God finally spoke to him.  He saw himself as he truly was.  I imagine when we graduate to glory, we may do the same thing.  When seeing Jesus face to face and the glory of God filling the eternal heavens, it will finally hit us that we tremendously underestimated the glory of God.  When the brightness of His glory is vastly brighter than the heavens He created, it will finally hit us with all the truth that abounds that our God is greater than our minds can comprehend.  When the angels and the elders sing so loud that thunder seems but a whisper, it will overwhelm us that we are in the presence of a God infinitely greater than all of our eternal understanding can take in.  If only a sliver of this truth would affect us in our temporal lives, it would make all the difference.

There are powerful things in our world that intimidate the normal person.  A tornado, hurricane, or typhoon come to mind.  A tsunami is not an interesting weather occurrence.  An earthquake is frightening.  Walking among lions must be terrifying.  Swimming with sharks has to be a bit unnerving.  Jumping from a plane cannot be a comfortable feeling.  Being in a submarine while submerged thousands of feet cannot be an easy experience.  Not too far from where I lived was the world's highest concentration of poisonous cottonmouth snakes.  It was populated with an average of 700 snakes per acre.  Not too many people ventured there.  There are things that give us the whillies.  There are things that are simply too much for most to handle.  There are things that demand our utmost respect.  Those who work in medical imagining need protective clothing so regular exposure to radiation does not get them sick.  There are strict protocols when working with pathogens.  The electrician is sure to cut all power before he installs or makes a repair.  The baker wears protective gloves.  The policeman wears a vest.  And firemen wear fireproof gear.  This shows respect for something that can do great harm.  We use hearing protection against loud noises that can cause damage.  The list goes on and on.  We are conditioned to respect things greater than ourselves.  For our own survival we order choices that acknowledge there are things we cannot control and we need to adapt in order to function.

Of all the things that God has created which can undo man, non is greater than our God.  But what Isaiah saw was not threatening.  The glory of God was not something he saw as a terror to men no matter his condition or response to it.  Rather, what Isaiah responded to was the entire nature of God.  His holiness.  Himself.  Isaiah responded to the person of God because God is infinitely great and holy.  There is no measure to Him.  To say that God is overwhelming is a tremendous understatement.  If only we had the same attitude.  If only we saw God in this way.  If only, but for a brief moment, we could experience the greatness of God.  I wonder how different we would be.  I wonder how different our prayer lives would be.  I wonder how much it would affect our choices.  I wonder how much the glory of God would change the person that we are.  We trifle with Him.  We approach Him in immature arrogance as if He is our parent whom we can manipulate or charge foolishly.  Not so.  Our God is so overwhelmingly holy and great that when we finally meet Him, we will fall flat on our faces completely and wholly undone.

Perfect Bible!

“The words of the LORD [are] pure words: [as] silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times. Thou shalt keep them, O LORD, thou shalt preserve them from this generation for ever.” (Ps 12:6-7 AV)

For those who are apt to think preservation of the word of God is not promised, just pass on reading the following entry.  I will not entertain fools.  Those who dispute the above passage teach preservation believe that the ‘them’ are the saved.  They do not attribute the ‘them’ to the immediate context of the ‘words’ in the previous verse.  Again, I do not entertain fools.  Even those who, through carnal thinking, believe that languages not being equal cannot guarantee a perfect translation are again ignored.  To take that position would mean that any dialogue with a non-Hebrew speaking individual cannot be perfectly inspired by the Holy Spirit in Hebrew.  This would mean the words of Pharoah, Abimelech, and even Joseph are not perfectly inspired in the Hebrew.  Even Paul’s words that were spoken in Hebrew, as it appears in Acts chapter 22, cannot be perfectly inspired into Greek, of which we find the book of Acts written.  When one abandons the idea of the perfect inspiration, preservation, and translation of the word of God, one becomes his own authority.  Even more so, the scholar (so called) who would deny the perfect inspiration, preservation, and translation of the word of God is challenging God’s promise to do so.  And therefore borders on blasphemy.

One of the easiest ways to get away with something is to pit two authority figures against each other, and while they are debating, you do as you wish.  We did that with our parents all the time.  Everyone knows that without an absolute standard, disunity, antipathy, disorder, and tyranny ensue.  There must be a perfect authority above mankind in order to keep mankind in order.  There cannot be more than one standard of math.  One plus one is always two.  There cannot be competing standards of gravity.  What goes up must come down.  When it comes to metaphysical truth, the same applies.  There must be an absolute truth that is perfect and without error.  If not, then humanity and the church become the nation of Israel as it appears in the book of Judges.  Every man will do that which is right in his own eyes because there is no king in the land of Israel.

We have an electronic bathroom scale.  It is a problem scale.  Every so often, I have to service it.  I have to clean the dust off the feet.  I have to level it and re-zero it.  A few weeks ago, it switched from pounds and ounces to the metric system without the hard switch being thrown.  I tried a few things.  The numbers were a bit more than half of what it would have been in pounds and ounces.  I loved those numbers much better.  All of a sudden, I lost 75 points.  Amazing what a bit of technology failure can do for your self-esteem.  I was all set to purchase a mechanical scale, but decided to check the batteries.  Sure enough, they were beginning to fail.  Bummer.  I replaced the batteries, and my weight was back up where it had always been.  If we followed the logic of the carnal theologian, either number would be acceptable and as accurate as the other.  My weight becomes a preference and not an absolute.  Our willingness to accept the inerrantly translated and preserved word of God does not change the fact that it is.  This is the folly of the carnal academic.  He or she thinks that what is believed is the truth because it is believed.  I dare them to speed, get a ticket, and argue that in front of a judge.  It doesn’t wash.  God’s word is perfectly inspired, perfectly translated, and perfectly preserved.  Nothing will change that!

Tend To The Foundations

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous do?” (Ps 11:3 AV)

Foundations.  Often overlooked, but the most necessary part of any structure or living being.  Whether it is a building with a stone foundation, or the human body built upon a skeletal structure, everything in existence needs a foundation.  This is so critical that if the foundations are compromised, the entire structure fails.  The adversary knows this.  He knows that if he can destroy any faith in an absolute, then faith as a whole, fails.  This is why biblical inerrancy is so important.  In today’s seminaries, they question that very thing.  Carnal thinking has invaded our schools and our pulpits.  Even those ministries that boast of creation apologetics will not take a stand on biblical inerrancy by committing to a single perfect translation is any language available today.  It is counter-productive to defend the word of God as reliable and accurate if we cannot point to where it is in perfect form.  However, let us consider an application a bit closer to home.  When we go through hard times, the foundations that we have and refuse to compromise are the foundations that keep our faith strong.  There should be a theological line in the sand that no matter how puzzling, frustrating, or trying our lives might be, that line holds fast.

God’s nature comes to mind.  Not just His physical attributes.  Not merely that He is all-powerful, all-knowing, all-present, eternal, and transcendent.  These are rarely questioned.  His moral attributes are equally sure.  God is merciful.  God is gracious.  God loves us with an everlasting love.  God is a reasonable God who thinks and plans eternally.  He knows all things possible and actual.  Time does not matter to Him.  He exists both in time and out of time.  Our God is the foundation upon all things are built.  Our faith in that foundation is the only hope we have.  Take that away, and what can the righteous do?

I have had the pleasure of helping young men into the ministry.  My role was more of a support role and not a main influence.  One piece of advice for any graduating preacher is to know his theology.  Whether he earns a seminary degree or is self-taught, theology is where most people fail.  Four decades of service to the King, and I can tell you that if a saint comes to you seeking comfort or counsel, most of the time there is a disconnect in their theology.  The foundation is not finished.  Or they have not maintained the foundation they have.  When hardship comes, it is the foundation of God’s love and providence upon which we lean.  When the challenge of direction in life shows, it is the foundation of God’s omniscience that gleams the brightest.  When we feel abandoned and alone, it is the foundation of God’s omnipresence which comforts us.  When doubt and fear gripe the soul, it is God’s omnipotence that strengthens us.  If sin becomes overwhelming, the foundation of God’s parental love, mercy, and mentoring that meets the need.  The foundation is ours to keep.  The foundation is ours to maintain and guard.  If the foundation is destroyed, then our hope is lost.  Guard them.  Tell the adversary that even if they march an ‘alien’ down main street, Jehovah God is still God and mankind is still His love!

Sharpen the Ax

“If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength: but wisdom [is] profitable to direct.” (Ec 10:10 AV)

What is more dangerous?  A razor-sharp ax or a dull one?  What takes more effort to fell a tree?  A sharp ax or a dull one?  The answer to both is the dull ax.  The Latter is obvious.  The former, not so much.  In both cases, the sharper the ax, the safer and more efficient the tool.  Wisdom is compared to a razor-sharp ax.  The application is obvious.  Wisdom would say to sharpen the ax before a task is started.  The fool would pick up an ax without testing it.  And a fool would continue the task without sharpening the ax once it was discovered dull.  The word ‘direct’ is a perfect word here.  The dull edge does not have a decisive direction.  It flies wherever the tree would force it.  The dull blade would be subject to the resistance of the object upon which it was forced.  A sharp edge, however, would dictate the direction against resisting forces.  The sharp edge sets the direction.  Not the resistance against it.

Having been taught many outdoorsman skills, I can attest to the truth above.  Having to fell trees for my father, a sharp ax was a must.  He taught us how to sharpen and an.  It took time.  We had no grinding stone upon which to turn the ax head.  It all had to be done be hand.  We took sticks and stabbed them into the ground at a thirty-degree angle at the base to each other.  Like an ‘A’ without the cross stroke.  Four or more sticks lined in two rows at the precise angle for the sharpest edge.  We simply lay the ax head against one side or the other we used the sticks as a guide to sharpen the ax to a fifteen-degree edge on both sides.  First, we would start with a course file.  Working our way down, we would end with a fine whetstone.  This took a bit of time.  In our immaturity, we thought we could have easily chopped a tree or two down in the time it took to sharpen an ax.  Every few trees, we would use the whetstone to hone the edge.  Keeping the ax sharp meant more time in the beginning, but less time and effort over the long term.

Have you ever heard the phrase “work smarter, not harder”?  This is the idea here.  The more wisdom we get, the easier life becomes.  It is hard work gaining that wisdom.  There are hard lessons to learn.  I have scars on my body to prove it.  There is the left hand that was crushed in a mixing bowl that has been slightly crippled since.  I have burn marks from pizza ovens.  There are scars from knives and axes to prove the proverb true.   We often complain of the hard times of life.  But some of them are our own doing.  Being foolish comes with scars.  The answer is to whet the blade.  The answer is to learn from our mistakes.  The answer is to go to the word of God, learn it, hide it in the heart, then ask the Holy Spirit to bring it all to remembrance.  A dull ax hurts a bunch.  I know.  A sharp ax will bury itself in the trunk of a tree.

Not Always Straight, But Always Right

“Consider the work of God: for who can make [that] straight, which he hath made crooked?” (Ec 7:13 AV)

When comparing the way of the LORD with the way of man, usually we think of the way of the LORD as straight and the way of man crooked.  This is not without cause.  The word perverse or perverted means to make crooked.  Yet Solomon reveals that it is appropriate to think of the work of God as crooked and that it cannot be straightened.  The discrepancy is in the first case, sin is involved.  In the latter, it is the plan of God for our lives.  Which brings us to our thought.  God’s plan for our lives is not the easiest and straightest of all paths.  There are turns.  There are twists.  We call that change.  As much as we want life to be one straight line without any twists and turns, it is not.  God has a path for us.  It transverses in a generally straight line.  His plan for us is to learn two things.  We need to learn obedience and faith.  This means some crooks in the path are necessary.  Both quick and gentle turns are required.  Sometimes solid obstructions are necessary.  We don’t learn the easy way.  Experience is a hard teacher.

Automatic vacuums and sweepers are becoming common.  My son has one.  It is common to see a small dog riding one.  The technology of these sweepers can see obstructions and change direction.  It does so rather effortlessly and without dramatic fashion.  Prior to today’s technology, it wasn’t always that way.  In earlier objects, it was a blunt force that caused the object to change direction.  Prior to proximity sensors, it was a jolt that reset the direction and speed of the object.  The interaction between the object and the solid obstruction could often be violent.  A jarring encounter would reset something inside the toy or tool, and it would reverse direction, going off in another way.  The problem was that the other way may also involve an obstruction.  If this toy or tool encountered a corner, it took some doing to get free.  Forward, back, turn ten degrees and do it again.  Several impacts later, it was finally out of trouble.  Today’s technology ‘sees’ a possible obstruction and avoids it all together.  Sometimes we are like that old technology.  We bump into the solid sovereign hand of God and have to change course.  It stings a bit.  But we are pointed to a fresh direction.

Life is full of adjustments.  Some major.  Most minor.  These adjustments are part of God’s plan to mature us into Christlikeness.  As much as we want to avoid them, as continue as we are, we would never get to where we are going without the hurdles of life.  God knows what He is doing.  He always does.  Trusting Him stinks sometimes.  It is rarely easy.  Faith is a principal thing.  Without it, we cannot please God.  Therefore, we must embrace the crooked path of life.  We must see it as God intends it.  The crooked path is all part of growing in the nurture and admonition of the LORD.  The crooked path of life makes God more real and far closer than He has ever been before.  Praise the LORD for the crooked path of life.