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.

Try Prayer

“O that one might plead for a man with God, as a man [pleadeth] for his neighbour!” (Job 16:21 AV)

What a great desire from one who was suffering much.  His plea to his friends was that they might refrain from pontificating and start praying.  Since no one was privy to the conversation God and Satan had, no one knows for sure why Job was asked to suffer as he did.  Not even Job heard the conversation.  Even if they were to guess correctly and label Job’s trial as a trial of faith, they couldn’t know that for sure until God revealed it to them.  Therefore, all the conversations these men were having with Job were hurtful and lacked compassion.  It was for naught.  It did more harm than good.  To express the depth of Job’s wish, he compares all the passionate arguments these men were offering and wondered if they, with the same degree of passion, pray to God for him.  If they would simply refocus their zeal on that which could bring change rather than on that which only caused harm, perhaps Job’s situation might have turned all the sooner.

We simply do not pray enough for one another.  We have all sorts of passions.  Passions that may be bad for us, or at best, neutral.  But where is our passion for prayer?  Many years ago, I sat in a meeting of a Booster’s Club for high school sports.  My son was signed up to play some baseball.  As the dutiful parent, I was asked to attend and get involved.  The meeting went two hours long.  For a Booster’s Club!  About eight of us sat around and spoke of a few things.  But the one item that took over an hour to review was the purchase of a hot cheese machine for the concession stand.  The discussion was rather heated.  Over a $600 cheese warmer.  I sat there dumb-founded.  How can people argue this passionately about something they could easily buy out of their own pocket?  It was rather embarrassing.

Over the years, I have spent many hours over varied situations pleading for an individual to change course.  I have pled with drug addicts, unfaithful spouses, depressed saints, and fearful sheep.  There have been equally as many theological answers to what troubles them.  Whether it is a funeral or a hospital waiting room, there comes a time when counsel simply isn’t sufficient.  At that point, prayer is the only tool left.  It is too bad that most do not go there first.  One wonders how different we could process adversity if our instinct was to go to God first.  This is what Job sought.  No more opinions.  No more words.  Just prayer and prayer alone.

Empowerment Comes From God

“«[A Psalm] of David.» Blessed [be] the LORD my strength, which teacheth my hands to war, [and] my fingers to fight:” (Ps 144:1 AV)

The two words, ‘teacheth’ and ‘fight’ could be understood as mere instruction.  But that is not what the Hebrew words mean.  The first means to goad.  The second means engagement.  In other words, skills for battle are useless unless a battle is undertaken.  David shares with us that God not only gave him skills and strategy, but also motivation and strength.  This statement is both surprising and obvious.  When we think of David the warrior, we think of someone who was naturally acclimated toward battle.  He killed the lion and bear with his own hands.  He killed Goliath with a slingshot.  He killed tens of thousands of Philistines.  And the list goes on and on.  One would think that David’s ability and zeal for warfare was who he was.  One would think he would not need much motivation or added ability.  Yet, the statement is necessary because God made him that way, but also empowered him to be that way.  In other words, David may have had some of what he needed because God created him to be a warrior.  Yet, his warrior personality was not sufficient.  God had to empower him and motivate him to be what God created him to be.

Sometimes, the responsibilities of are calling are overwhelming to the point we lose all strength to face them.  We may have some knowledge, yet there still remains a few missing pieces.  Our training can solve some of the challenges, but not all.  Even if our knowledge could carry us through, the sheer volume of what we face becomes discouraging.  Our strength is sapped by the knowledge of what lies ahead.  That does not change a thing.  The mountain is not moving.  It is still there.  It must be climbed.  It must be conquered.  I remember a time when the Tennessee River, the Cumberland River, Mississippi River, and the Ohio River were all at flood stage.  We lived a mile south of the Tennessee.  As the waters rose, there were several counties that were under a flood watch.  The emergency management services asked churches if they would be willing to fill sandbags.  You would think there would be more people than work.  I went to a friend’s church to help out, and it was just me and my son.  The dump truck had dumped sand.  All we had to do was to fill and tie bags.  How are two people supposed to stop the floodwaters of four major rivers?  Especially when one of those two was approaching the later years of middle age.  Outside of the LORD, I don’t know how we did it.  Just the two of us filled all the bags and used up all the sand in our two-hour block of time, for which we signed up.  What seemed impossible was done by the strength of God’s power.

It doesn’t matter who are or what we are facing.  Our challenges are always more than we can manage.  We could be David looking at an enemy that outnumbers him, or Peter who is asked to walk on water.  We could be a Moses who is asked to lead a great nation without all the answers or sufficient strength to do so.  The Bible is filled with people who accepted what God asked them to do regardless of their ability to do it because they trusted in the LORD to both guide and enable.  David was a great man not merely because he did great things.  David was a great man because he believed in and relied upon a great God.  This verse is encouraging.  It should be.  When we are faced with something we do not think we can overcome, then we must remember that we cannot without God’s strength.  Then we must pray for it and rest upon it!

Why Does He Bother

“What [is] man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? And [that] thou shouldest visit him every morning, [and] try him every moment?” (Job 7:17-18 AV)

We often use these words as humble words of gratitude toward a God who bestows blessings.  However, the context of them is just the opposite.  Job had lost much.  We know very little of the details of his entire life.  What we do know of his life was manifested in what he lost.  He was a successful businessman who owned vast holdings.  He has three thousand employees.  He had ten children who lived nearby.  And he was in relatively good health.  He lost all of this because Satan charged Job with being shallow.  He assumed that if God allowed tragedy upon Job that Job would deny God.  His accusation was meant to condemn all of mankind.  If men obeyed and trusted God because of the wonderful benefits that result from it, then their relationship to their Creator is shallow at best.  If Satan were right, then God had no expectation of any depth of relationship with His precious creation – man.  Upon this context, we find the words of Job.  He wonders what it is about mankind that intrigues the Creator so much.  Why is it that God cares to visit mankind and lay upon him tragic events that lead to personal maturity?  What is it about mankind that causes the God of the universe to be so intimately involved with them?  What potential worth does mankind have that God wished to invest His hand upon them?

Some of us go through this.  Often, regularly.  We wonder what our Savior and God sees in us that He would even bother with us.  We take stock in what we are and conclude that what we are is polar opposite of what God wants us to be and scratch our heads wondering why the Creator ever bothered.  Knowing how much trouble we must be for a Creator who has far more important things to do; like operating the infinitely complex universe; to be concerned for us boggles the mind.  Why bother?  Why does He care?  To take that to the extreme, why does God care about the smallest of details?  What cosmic reason does He have to concern Himself with some minor flaw like fear and anxiety that inhabits the human heart?  Why bother?  The complex nature of His creation makes our existence almost infinitely negligible.  Like one grain on all the beaches of our world, if it were to disappear, not one person but God would notice.  That is how insignificant we are compared with all that God has created.  Why bother?

To answer the question is to see the motive.  Because He does care!  Why bother?  Because He cares!  A wondrous truth regarding God is that His attributes are infinite.  That means His capacity to care and be involved in the lives of every individual with equal concern is infinite.  He cannot run out of mental ability needed to know the details of every human soul.  He has infinite love.  Therefore, His capacity to sacrifice and provide is without limit.  He involves Himself with the individual life of every soul because He can and He wants to.  The fact that He does is the stamp of value He places on us.  He cares and He bothers because we are.  Nothing more, nothing less.  He bothers because He made us and we exist.  There is no other worth we bring to Him that motivates the Creator to love His creation.  He bothers because we are an extension of His creative nature.  His imagination and desire are why we exist.  We exist so that He can care.

God Knows and Will Know

“When my spirit was overwhelmed within me, then thou knewest my path. In the way wherein I walked have they privily laid a snare for me.” (Ps 142:3 AV)

I’m intrigued by the little word, ‘then’.  In a cursory reading, the word might imply that God did not know the path of the writer until the writer was overwhelmed.  For a God who knows all things actual and possible, this seems like a theological contradiction.  But there is more than one way to understand the word ‘knewest’ and there is more than one way to understand the omniscience of God.

There is a great debate is the now much the Son of God ‘knew’ and didn’t know.  When the gospels speak of Jesus becoming aware of something, there is an idea out there that Jesus restrained His omniscience in the same way He restrained His omnipresence.  There is a problem with that position.  His willing restraint of His omnipresence was required in time and space to fulfill the requirement of death for every soul.  He did not need to restrain His omniscience to do the same.  Yet, there is support for the above position.  Scriptures referring to the Christ child growing in wisdom are a good argument.  However, there is a better understanding of the omniscience of God.  That is, the difference between knowing something as a fact or future fact, and knowing it as an experience.  In other words, God knew from eternity past that I would be created and born.  But He didn’t know as an event in time my birth until it happened.  He knows all things factually.  He will know all things experientially.

This understanding is crucial.  If all that God knows are facts, then He is disconnected from my experiences.  If He only knows things as they happen, then He does not know the future nor can He plan for it.  Rather, He knows all things as facts that have happened, are happening, or will happen.  As they happen, He experiences them and is vested in the entire experience of the event.  When the psalmist tells us that God knows the path that I take, it is far more than information alone.  He knows the path that I take as an event in time and an experience to be witnessed.  So, when our writer tells us that God knew his path when he was overwhelmed, it is more than merely knowing he would be overwhelmed from eternity past.  It is much deeper than that.  When God came to know the overwhelming condition of the spirit of the writer, God experienced his child’s troubled heart in real time and empathized with it.  In short, God may know everything about us from a factual standpoint.  But He will also know everything about us from an experience standpoint.  What we feel, He will feel.  When we are troubled, He is troubled.  When we are overwhelmed, He knows our distress.  This is the God whom we love and hope in.  Praise be to God!