Mountains and Hills

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

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

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

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

A Devastating Disconnect

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

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

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

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

Live And See Good

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

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

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

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

Joy and Trust

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

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

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

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

A Praise!

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

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

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

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

No Divine Grudges

“In a little wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting kindness will I have mercy on thee, saith the LORD thy Redeemer.” (Isa 54:8 AV)

What great news!  God holds no grudges!  This promise is given to Israel.  They are facing many years of captivity among those who hate God.  They disobeyed God for centuries.  They neglected the Sabbath, which was the greatest of errors.  Neglecting the Sabbath and worship, which was naturally a part of it, brought on much worse behavior.  Israel fell into deep sin from immorality to idol worship.  It was so bad that God stated they were worse than the lost nations around them.  Israel was brought to almost nothing.  First, the ten northern tribes went into Assyria as captives.  Then Judah and Benjamin followed to Babylon decades later.  The city of Jerusalem was burned to the ground.  The temple was destroyed and the city walls broken up.  There was nothing left but a small remnant who would care for the land by farming and herding.  But note what God tells Israel.  The wrath He exercised was but for a moment.  Because He redeemed Israel from the world and Egypt, His mercy and kindness would be everlasting!  They will be restored as the Messianic kingdom arrives.  Israel will be, once again, the declaration of God’s holiness to a lost world!  God redeemed them.  He will never forsake them.

The New Testament saint has been redeemed to the Father by the blood of Christ.  We are His, and He is ours.  Correction is a part of life.  We were corrected by our parents.  We were corrected by our teachers.  We were corrected by our employers.  It is part of being a fallible and rebellious soul.  What God promises to do is to always affirm after He has corrected.  When my sons were little, there were many times correction was needed.  Sometimes it was harsh.  Most of the time it was meager and gentle.  In those harsh times, the inclination of my son would be flight.  Being harshly corrected was not something that brought joy.  His first instinct would be to flee my presence and process what had just happened.  But a wise pastor once advised his congregation that the moment after correction is inflicted, hold your child tight.  Comfort him or her.  Love on that child so he or she knows that correction is temporary and never changes his or her standing before Dad.  This is great advice.  I have used it several times.  Correction without affirmation breeds insecurity.  Correction with corresponding affirmation fosters humility and security.  God in no less understanding!

Here is something that will blow a few brain cells.  Compare the adjectives before wrath and kindness.  God’s wrath is little.  His kindness and mercy are everlasting.  Now, consider how we perceive His wrath.  We perceive it as something that is almost impossible to endure.  We experience the wrath of God (a saint can experience this. Just not eternal wrath) and think we will come to our end because of it.  The measure of His anger is more than we can quantify.  Yet God calls His anger little.  That would make sense.  He possesses all of His attributes without limit.  They are without measure.  By meting out His wrath by measure, it is by definition little.  Yet His mercy and kindness are everlasting.  They are in duration, unlimited.  In quantity, they are without measure.  So, if we feel that the correction of God is more than we can bear, just consider His kindness and mercy.  They are infinitely greater than His displeasure!  Hallelujah!

Freedom From the Trap of Fear

“The fear of man bringeth a snare: but whoso putteth his trust in the LORD shall be safe.” (Pr 29:25 AV)

The fear of man can be one of two things.  It could be the fear we have towards others, or it could be the fear that is inherent to being human.  Fear is an emotion given by God.  It is meant to keep us safe from rational and manageable threats.  Fear that is irrational or fear of things that cannot be avoided is not permitted.  The answer to both fears is trust in the LORD.  We do not naively think that safety means bliss.  The king wrote this proverb.  There were wars, there were threats to his life, there were administration challenges, and there were enemies within the gate.  As the king reigned, there were plenty of potential threats.  As I age and come to terms with life as a hard challenge, I am beginning to realize the safety that God often provides is more emotional and spiritual than it is physical.  Endurance through tribulation is what we seek.  Not the absence of it.

The LORD has really met with me recently.  Many changes of life.  As a friend and I often joke, getting older is not for the faint of heart!  My wife is sick with cancer.  She has been stable for the last four years.  The expectation was that she would be stable for several more years.  Typically, those with her type of cancer, grade, and metastasis can live decades with this cancer.  So, a change is her cancer was not expected.  Longevity, it seems, is not in the LORD’s plan.  A recent PET scan shows disease progression.  Today is the day we meet with our oncologist.  She has one of the worlds foremost experts in this area.  No wonder the LORD moved us from one state to the next.  He knew she would need the best.  To say that fear was a problem would be a tremendous understatement.  To say that fear gripped my soul would not be an exaggeration.  Fear is before and behind.  It surrounds the mind.  It is everywhere you look.  There is no escape.  Fear of the future is not something we had planned on.

Solomon knew this.  Fear is captivating.  Fear is immobilizing.  Fear is a torment.  We don’t have to live that way.  According to our sage, the answer is not in trying to find an answer.  The answer is not in our own strength.  The answer has been and always will be, trust.  We have the best healthcare in the world.  We are going to a clinic and doctor that specializes in this disease.  Yet, they cannot cure it.  At least not yet.  As we age, our bodies will fail.  There is nothing anyone can do about that.  As good as they are, there is one inevitability that we will all face.  So, the LORD is our only hope.  He is our trust.  We cannot trust Him for immortality in this life.  We cannot trust Him for a trial-free life.  What we can trust Him for is His presence and strength as we navigate the troubles of life.  He is there.  He is always there.  “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) Note that Solomon says to trust with all your heart.  You cannot trust with all your heart if you also fear.