He'll Get His

“By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.” (Eze 28:16 AV)

Through the events of the king of Trye, Ezekiel prophesies the eventual downfall of Satan.  We know this is future tense because the Bible clearly tells us.  When the LORD returns, Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years.  After the 1,000 years he will be loosed from the pit to deceive the nations.  At the commencement of the second battle of Gog and Magog, the devil and all the lost will be cast into the lake of fire forever.   As tormented as we are by the forces of evil, this will come to an end.  This casting out is not a light thing.  God tells the devil that he will be destroyed.  This means that as much as the world wants us to believe Satan will rule hell, he won’t.  Satan will exist in a permanent state of destruction.  He will have no liberty to go as he wishes.  He will have no power to do as he wants.  His end is complete and total torment with no hope of parole.

It is hard to imagine a reality with the force of evil as the major part of it.  We have help by reading of heaven in the word of God.  Our imagination limits us to the total picture of what a perfect place might be like.  One can only get a picture in mind of how human interaction will change without the presence of evil.  I have this app on my phone.  It monitors dispatch calls.  I get a report of all the crime that occurs within my designated area.  The other night there was activity in my immediate neighborhood, and I never knew it.  Apparently, there was a gang of young people attempting to break into cars.  They made the mistake of breaking glass, and someone heard it.  They called it in.  Law enforcement was all around our block, and a drone was deployed.  They eventually caught the young ones who were trying to hide on a property.  It wasn’t too smart to try to break-ins less than a block from our city’s main police station.  I live two blocks from city hall to my south and two blocks to my north is a police substation.  If there were any block in our city that a criminal might want to avoid, it would be mine.  The point is, this happened well after we had turned in for the night.  We had no idea.  Had it not been for the app, I never would have known of the evil that was right outside my front door.

That is the way Satan operates.  Clandestine work is his favorite.  The less he is noticed, the more damage he can do.  Not until he is completely removed will God’s temporal creation realize the scope of evil that dwelled among us.  But one of these days it will be all over.  It will be all over forever.  Those of us who have eternal life by the blood of Jesus Christ can never lose it.  Those who have eternal death will never escape.  One of these days there will be an eternal separation of good and evil.  Good will reside with God.  Evil will be confined to the lake of fire.  This is the patience of all the saints!

Following Hard

“My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.” (Ps 63:8 AV)

The first part of this verse speaks loudly to me!  For the first time in a long time, this writer is of few words.  David was overwhelmed.  At what point in his life he wrote this is unclear.  We do know, because of the mention of enemies, that David was at his wit’s end with those who would do him harm.  Who they were and when this was in not stated.  The title of the psalm places David in the wilderness of Judah.  Although he may have spent more time there than was recorded in the scriptures, this may correlate to his flight into Judah, their initial rejection of him, and his consequent trip to Moab to secure his parent’s safety.  If this is the time of which David speaks, it was a particularly lonely time.  His tribe refused to protect him from Saul.  Saul had killed everyone associated with David.  Therefore, David was forced to flee to Moab and leave his immediate family there.  For the first time, David was all alone with His God.

David is not ashamed to say that his soul followed hard after God.  The picture I have in my head is our wedding reception.  Several weeks after our wedding, my wife’s boss gave us a compliment.  She said she noticed that I followed my wife around like a forlorn puppy.  Where she went, I went.  I followed hard after her.  I know what you are thinking.  Just stop it.  I did this because we were now one flesh.  We were no longer two people.  We were one family.  This was before our wedding night.  This was before our consummation.  We were one.  No longer two.  The thought of being far from her was not a thought I cared to entertain.  It has been that way ever since.  Time has allowed us to be apart.  But not for very long.  It is extremely rare for us to be away from one another for more than a few hours.  Those times when we are apart for days are rare.  It is usually a woman’s retreat, a hunting trip, or an overnight hospital stay that demands our severance.  But these times are extremely rare.  We could say that we follow hard after one another.  There isn’t much space or time that separates us.  And I like it!

When David says that he follows hard after the LORD, I understand this.  It breaks the heart of the saint who truly loves his God that heaven is so far away.  We must accept our relationship as it is.  One of these days, we will see our Savior face-to-face!  Following hard after the LORD will take on a whole new meaning.  Jesus saved my soul over forty years ago.  My biggest regret is that I am not as close to Him as I possibly could be.  Like all of us, sin and life happened.  One of these days, following hard after the LORD will have no competing interests.  One has to wonder who we love the most.  One has to wonder who it is we could not live without.  It should be the LORD.  As a newlywed who follows hard after his new spouse, our souls should follow hard even more so after our God.  He will never leave nor forsake.  He is always there.  Closer than we realize.  So, the question still remains.  Do we follow hard after the God of our existence?

God's Tent Is Broad!

“I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.” (Ps 61:4 AV)

For David, the tabernacle was a physical place of worship that Israel visited regularly.  This tabernacle had five pieces of furniture.  The Ark of the Covenant was there.  God’s glory rested on the tabernacle whenever it ceased to travel.  But note here that David says he will abide in the tabernacle of God forever.  Yet as a warrior king, this simply was not possible.  He had to go to the palace.  He had to be with his family.  David has to go out to the field of battle.  He simply could not live in the tabernacle for his entire human existence.  So what does he mean when he says he will abide in the tabernacle of God forever?

The clue we are given is in the punctuation and explanation we find in our passage.  A colon is a very important tool for interpreting a verse.  A colon tells us that what follows further explains that which was just said.  What follows may be additional context.  It might be a clearer definition.  What follows a colon might supply missing information that clarifies an otherwise broad point.  In our passage, what follows the colon defines the ‘tabernacle’ as David saw it.  By including the ‘wings’ of God, David defines the ‘tabernacle’ as far more than a tent located in Jerusalem.  David saw the tabernacle of God as the presence of God manifested by God’s sovereign rule and protection over his life.  The ‘tabernacle’ of which David would abide forever is the perfect will of God and God’s ever-present person.  Even though the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night rested on the physical tabernacle in Israel, David knew that his God was not restricted to that particular place and time.

The same is true for us today.  God is not any more God while was are in church, our prayer closet, or a bible study.  He is just as much God while we are in the car on the way to the market.  God is just as much God and just as present whether we are sitting in a doctor’s waiting room or kneeling at an altar.  God is just as much God if we are fixing a leaking sink or putting the kids to bed as He is during our private devotional time.  David understood this.  He vows that he will abide in the presence of God forever.  Because he does, the sovereign presence, protection, and provision will always be there.  Fear can drive us from it.  Fear can blind us from it.  We can look outside and see the sky darkening and lowering.  We hear the sirens begin to blow and the treetops swaying violently in the wind.  Anxiety grips us.  We wonder if God sees and hears.  He certainly does.  His tabernacle has not moved.  We have.  David accomplished the great things that he did because he remained in the presence of God.  It didn’t matter where he physically was, he strived to stay in the ever-present person of our Creator.

Love Sends You To Your Room

“And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.” (Eze 17:20 AV)

Call me crazy, but I see the tenderness and compassion of God in this verse.  Ezekiel, the prophet of God to Judah, is sharing the reason for the Babylonian captivity.  The net of God will draw all of Judah and Benjamin together.  He will place them in servitude to a pagan king far away from home.  They will cease temple worship.  Their liberty will be severely restricted.  They will be surrounded by those who hate Jehovah.  They will be treated as a conquered people.  This doesn’t sound compassionate or tender, does it?  But note one small phrase: “and will plead with him there.”  I find this very tender.  I find in this pleading a loving Father who wants the best for His child, but the only way to provide it is to reduce that child to nothing so he will quiet himself long enough to listen.  I find in this verse tough love.  But I also find in this verse the patience of God.  I find a God who wants a sit-down with His children in a situation where there is nothing else to do but to listen.

When we think of the chastening of God, unfortunately, we use our childhood experiences as a comparison.  Far too many times our fathers chastened us for their own pleasure.  That is what the book of Hebrews calls it.  Too many times, chastening was more about assuaging anger or feeding an ego.  Too many times, it was inflicted by an impatient heart.  We experienced chastening as an outburst of angry parent.  My dear mother, the patron saint of patience, would rarely explode.  In fact, in my entire childhood this only happened to me once.  My brother and I were messing around at the breakfast table and my Mom’s last nerve snapped.  She had a serving spoon in her hand and threw it at me.  It hit me right above my right eye.  From that day forward, she never lost her temper with me.  Not once!  My father, however, was not nearly as patient.  Serious beating came at his hand.  Did I deserve them?  Most of them.  The thing is, we can misunderstand God’s chastening if we compare our experience against His actions.  God doesn’t easy lose His patience.  If He does, it is planned.  It is not spontaneous.  Therefore, the phrase mentioned above is the norm.  Not the exception.

One can imaging a father who removes his child from everything.  He sends him to his room.  He lets him stew a bit over what is coming.  Dad is wise enough to know that if he goes up too quickly, emotion will be the major influence in any conversation.  The child is removed from his toys.  The child is removed from his siblings.  He is removed from to comfort of his mother.  Everything that could distract or minimize the infraction is removed.  When dad does go to the room, he is going to try to reason with his child.  Sending him to his room is not the punishment.  Sending him to his room isolates him from everything and anything that would get in the way of instruction and correction.  When dad does reason with his erring child, it is not to make himself feel better.  Ego is put aside.  He reasons with his child and tries to help him see why his choices were wrong and the consequences that could come as a result.  The word pleading is more than reasoning.  It is reasoning with a heart of compassion and understanding.  It is reasoning with the knowledge of what will come if the arguments are not heeded.  Pleading is reasoning with the deepest of concerns.  So, when God sent Judah and Benjamin to Babylon, He was sending them there so He could have their ear.  He wanted their ear because He foresaw what would become of them if they didn’t heed His commandments.  There is compassion here.  There is understanding.  There is love.

Above The Murmur

“Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” (Ps 59:15-16 AV)

We have a choice.  We have a choice in how we will go through life.  I think it ironic that the degree of adversity is greater for the grateful than the ungrateful.  Those who grudge are doing so over a meal.  The grateful sing of mercy in the midst of trouble.  Our thought for the day is the first two words.  “Let them”.  David refuses to allow those who are complaining to dampen his grateful heart.  His eyes are focused on the right things.  He is not obsessing over his troubles.  Rather, he chooses to see God’s intervention in the midst of his trouble.  Mercy is valued much higher than resentment infiltrates.  It is all about perspective.  David has purposed in his heart that the complainers will not sully his joy-filled heart.  He has purposed in his heart that God has done for him far more than he deserves.  It is not a naïve attitude regarding his troubles.  He is not ignoring them.  Rather, David knows how blessed he is.  Not because of the absence of trouble.  Rather, because of God’s mercy in the midst thereof.

I have read the above passage several times, and verse fifteen makes me chuckle.  This is not a ‘let them eat cake’ type of comment.  For those who don’t know, those words are traditionally attributed to Marie Antoinette in response to a famine in France.  It is traditionally said that she uttered those words as a nine-year-old princess in response to the complaining of the poor that there was no bread to eat.  If there were no bread, then there was no cake, either.  These words are used to show the indifference of a privileged class had toward a peasant class.  This is not what David is sharing.   Rather, he has his own set of troubles.  Perhaps he had food on his table, but as the king of a nation, he had much bigger problems.  It was not that he was calloused toward those who were begrudging their need for a meal.  Rather, he would not allow their constant complaining to cause him to lose focus on the mercy of God.

Putting it another way, we can allow the ‘downers’ to bring us to a place where we cannot see the mercy of God.  We can see the clouds and not the rain.  A few days ago, we had severe storms.  We received in one afternoon what we would normally get in a month.  When that happens, I have to go to the church and make sure we didn’t get water into the basement.  Every time there is a north-driven storm, there is a real possibility of spending a few hours cleaning up a water spill.  Praise the LORD we were dry.  The ground was so parched that three inches of rain barely watered the lawns.  We can look at the downed trees, the flooded basements, or the mud-covered sidewalks and lament the storm.  Or, we could be grateful that our farmers might have a good yield this fall.  It is all about perspective.  David decided he could do nothing about their complaining.  So, let them complain.  No sense in trying to stop it.  You can’t.  No sense in confronting it.  It won’t change a thing.  Rather, he will focus on the mercy of God.  He chooses to see God’s faithfulness.  He would rather see the goodness of God as his primary focus than adversity and the definition of life.

Revealing The Obvious

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh [them] shall have mercy.” (Pr 28:13 AV)

I saw this a bit differently this morning. The first question that popped into my head is from whom are we hiding our sins?  From whom are we covering up our transgressions?  If from other people, does that mean that each time we sin we have to go to a human confessor and spill the beans?  If that be the case, then those religions that have human intercessors as a necessary office for God’s mercy are correct.  The above verse states that confession and forsaking result in mercy.  It is implied that to whom the sinner confesses is the same who grants mercy.  That would rule out a human agent for the granting of general mercy.  No, Solomon might be implying that the sins committed are against another person and only be confessing and forsaking them can the sinner receive mercy from his victim.  Yet I don’t think this is what he is implying.  Rather, I think the wise king is saying that he who covers his sin from God is walking in the wrath of God, and only be confessing and forsaking can he receive mercy from God.

This begs another question.  If God can see all things, how can we cover our sins from Him?  How can we possibly keep anything from a God who sees all things and knows all things?  My mind went to Adam and Eve.  When they partook of the forbidden fruit, their first instinct was to pervert what God had made good and cover it up.  I also noticed that our wise sage did not say to uncover sin.  He simply stated to confess and forsake.  Adam and Eve continued to be clothed.  They did not forsake the necessary actions required because of their sin.  Therefore, uncovering our sin is not for God’s sake.  He already knows about it.  Uncovering our sin is for our sakes.  The pretense must come down.  Humility and honesty must rule.  It makes no sense to attempt to hide something from God who knows all things.  It makes no sense to cover up what God already knows.  Mercy can only be attained through transparency.  A brutal examination of our hearts is needed.  The act itself is just the beginning.  Knowing why we did what we did and why it is so wrong is the point.  Examination is more than skin deep.  Examination goes to the heart of sin itself.

Lastly, let us also notice that the attainment of mercy is ongoing.  The phrase ‘shall have’ is a continuous state.  In other words, if our habit of life is to go to God confessing and forsaking, then mercy is a constant reality.  Confessing and forsaking are not one-time actions.  Our sin is far greater than that.  Rather, confession and forsaking should be a habit of life.  A word of advice, however, is that the LORD’s prayer (as a model) involves far more than confession and forsaking.  It involves praise for God, requests for our basic needs, and the welfare of others.  If all we do is go to God for confession and forsaking so that we can attain mercy, our motive may not be as pure as it should be.  Praise be to God who gives us continuing mercy as we seek forgiveness of sin and victory over sin!  Praise God for His mercy!  It endures forever!

Are You Marked?

“And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (Eze 9:4 AV)

Ezekiel was tasked with examining the hearts and actions of people prepared for judgment.  If there were people who were bothered by the sins of the nation, they were marked.  Those who were not were destined for destruction.  Those who went to temple, offered their sacrifices, and wept for the sad condition of Israel were marked.  Those who did little to nothing were left.  Those who prayed for their nation that revival might come were marked.  Those who showed no concern for the pending judgment of God were left.  God does care about those who care about Him!  God does notice the saints who weep for their nation.  God does mark those who care that their fellow citizens hate God and pray for them with passion and deep sorrow.  God does notice those of His people who care enough to do all they can for a wicked nation even if it is prayer and fasting alone.  The question is, are we thy type of saint who cares enough to sigh and cry for our nation?

Never in a million years did I ever think I would see what is happening today.  But I imagine almost every generation has said the same thing.  My generation is the generation that made murdering babies in the womb legal.  We normalized a brutal choice to end to life of the innocent.  Labeled as health care, it is not.  It is selfishness couched at the end of a surgical table.  However, my generation still shunned homosexuality.  If they were part of our culture, they were seen as an outlier not to be taken seriously.  In most forms of entertainment, their lifestyle was seen as a mockery of normal life.  Today, homosexuality is celebrated.  The very thought of permanently mutilating a child for the sake of rebellion by adults was seen as sick and disturbed.  Today, if you do not affirm the right of a parent to mutilate their confused child, you are seen as the mentally unstable individual.  Words have no meaning.  A person can be created female yet with a straight face, call themselves a man.  An individual can be created as one person, yet demand they be addressed in the plural.  Our nation is sick!  Substance abuse, pornography, and broken homes are normal.  Our churches are closing only to be replaced by instant gratification.  There is no ability to think beyond an eight-inch screen.  Eternity is a word.  It is no longer a concept of eventual reality.  There is no concern for death because we cannot internalize the reality of it.  Salvation is so far from the mind because the mind is destroyed by the inability to think.  If Jesus does not come back soon, there will be no human race to save.  We will be like mindless zombies with no spiritual identity.  Fantasy becomes reality, and reality ceases to exist.

God is looking down.  He is wondering if the people of God are sighing and in tears for the condition of the human race.  Our great nation, once the beacon of spiritual light to a dark and dying world, has long past extinguished the light of truth.  We have become the purveyor of all that is evil.  Hollywood, Silicon Valley, stadiums, and sound studios have supplied the world with everything it needs to escape the reality of God.  No doubt the world has always been evil.  But with the industrial age evolving into the electronic age, evil has multiplied.  Our great nation that sent out missionaries and transformed the world is not sending forth disciples of Satan to corrupt the same world.  Our nation was founded upon Judeo/Christian principles, values, and ethos.  Now that has all been replaced by secular perversion.  Where is the sighing?  Where is the crying?  Where are the intense prayer meetings that could change a nation?  It has happened before.  It can happen again.  Are we marked in the mind of God as a saint who is disturbed by what one sees rather than thinking it is all as it has always been?