Simply Secure

“The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.” (Ps 116:6 AV)

The idea of being simple has both a negative and a positive implication in the Word of God.  It means naive.  It means simple concerning what one knows and the disposition he may have towards things.  Perhaps he is positive about everything.  Perhaps he is low in knowledge because he doesn’t have the ability or experience to have the knowledge that he should. Then there is the simple that is criticized.  In the book of Proverbs, the simple are those who could know more, but are willfully ignorant.  They pass on life making decision after decision that is harmful, claiming inexperience or lack of knowledge as the culprit.  It is the former of which is in use here.

 As a parent, we allow our children to over commit to something but then keep a watchful eye when it gets too much. We are there to bail them out when they realize they had neither the ability or knowledge to be successful.  When I was a boy, I had a paper delivery route.  No matter the season, a bicycle was more than not, the mode of delivery.  However, New York winters being what they were, there were times when a bicycle was not possible.  There was a time or two that I started off on a bicycle and had to walk it around my route by the end of the evening.  Once such day, when a storm unexpectedly came up, I saw the familiar form of our family station wagon coming up the road.  Stopping at the side of the road, we loaded the bicycle and finished the route.  Foolishly convinced I could do it with the bike, my Mom knew better and came to the rescue.

This is the meaning of this verse.  God often will not help the presumptuous.  That was Jesus’ defense when Satan tempted him to jump from the pinnacle.  Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God!  But there are times when we simply do not have the knowledge or experience we need and are heading head long into a major disaster.  Then, the gracious hand of God places a road block to change our direction!  Praise be to God!

Thank God for the Light!

“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: [he is] gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.” (Ps 112:4 AV)

Let’s admit it.  We live in a dark world.  We are surrounded by the evil of men and our own faults and failures.  Those who think the world is one happy place do not have their heads in reality.  All one has to do is sit in a pastor’s office for about a month and see what issues the people of God are challenged with to see we live in a dark world.  Hope is not ignoring the darkness.  Joy is not trying to convince oneself the darkness isn’t really there.  Peace does not come by trying to redefine what darkness is so it doesn’t see so dark.  Our hope comes with the light that shines in the darkness!

Growing up, our family used to do a lot of camping.  Tent camping.  We had the privilege of learning the skills necessary to live without the creature comforts of home.  Almost every night, there would be a campfire.  Sometimes, we would sit around the fire with our guitars and play folk music.  John Denver and the such.  When nature called, we had a log cabin style outhouse (that never really got completed) about fifty yards away and through some pine trees.  Off we would go.  More times than not, we would forget our flashlight.  It didn’t dawn on us until it was too late that we were stuck in the darkness with no light to get back.  The only light we had was the light of the campfire.  Sometimes, that light was burning out.  We took it for granted the flames would continue to be as bright as they always were.  However, it doesn’t take long for a flame filled fire to burn down to embers.  There we were, stuck in a vulnerable position, with little light to guide us back.  We prayed someone would throw more wood on that fire that it might light the entire woods.  Surrounded by man eating wild beasts (like squirrel or possum) and the ghosts of injuns’ past, we were certain death was eminent.  Somehow that placed the bowels in overdrive and our time in peril was shortened.  “Put some wood on that fire so I don’t die out here in the wilderness!”  On went more wood and we returned, barely with our skin intact!

This is the hope we have.  The Bible as our lamp and guide and the Holy Spirit as or comfort and teacher!  It doesn’t erase the darkness, but it guides us out of the darkness.  And, the closer we get to the light, the less the darkness impacts our lives!

Peace May Be Only A Few Thoughts Away

“I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.” (Ps 104:33-34 AV)

Life has its up and downs.  No one can go through life every day with a glad heart.  There are trials which take some of the joy away.  There are consequences of our own actions that often turns our smile into a stoic face.  There are times when tears flow.  There are times when a sob is the appropriate reaction to an event of moving of the Spirit.  There is the loss of a loved one, particularly one who did not know the LORD, that brings a dark cloud that is not soon to dissipate.  There are changes in the human body that can bring on depression or anxiety.  All these are real and part of our human experience.

However, the LORD has given us what we need to endure and overcome those times.  The meditation of and on the LORD, is the cure for the dark days of life.  How soon we forget this.  It is easy to forget.  We certainly understand one another as we go through these times.  There is often love and grace that abounds from those who love the LORD.  That is part of the healing process.  The most important part is meditation on the LORD.

We are not speaking of mere prayer alone.  Often, we pray and when we are done, our mind goes off on that which is consuming us.  This meditation in the practice of think on and of the LORD in the stead of that which is torturing us. When those dark days come, and the will, remembering to praise the LORD in the midst and meditating upon Him might just make those days a little bright and definitely a little shorter.  At the quiet times of the day, particularly in the morning and the evening, we need to make it a practice to meditate upon the LORD!  In the lonely times of the day, we need to meditate upon the LORD.  When the Devil shows up to convince us that even with God’s grace we will never amount to anything, it is time to meditate on the LORD.  When it seems as though we are the only ones going through the mill, it is time to meditate upon the LORD!

Sanity Shall Return

“For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.” (Ps 94:14-15 AV)

We are now reading several Psalms with the Exodus and wilderness wandering as its main theme.  In context, this is a promise to a new generation that even though God is asking them to wander as the old nation dies off, He has not forsaken this nation.  Israel is a picture of the life experience of the New Testament saint.  The Exodus pictures salvation.  An exodus from the world of sin unto service for God.  However, there are parts of us that must die off.  The old man must be crucified afresh.  He must be brought to the Cross and left there.  This is a life time struggle.  Sometimes we feel as though we fail more than we succeed.  No matter how we feel, we must be assured the LORD has not cast us off forever.

What struck me this morning as particularly precious was the remedy!  Judgment (or wisdom) shall return so that the people would follow after righteousness.  Every child of God, no matter what stage of growth he or she is in, desires righteousness.  The new man, which is created in righteousness, yearns for the purity of holiness.  The Spirit which dwells within reinforces that desire.  This is the purpose for Romans chapter seven.  How to accomplish this, we know not.  Yet, in the context, we see a glimmer.  We see that judgement returned.  The old man had enough sense to get out of the sin of Egypt.  That showed wisdom.  But he didn’t have enough wisdom to trust the LORD when asked to take the land of Canaan.  As the old man died off in the wilderness, the new man experienced hardship because of it.  God was with them and provided for their needs.  The new man learned that God is good and trustworthy on contrast to what the old man felt.  Judgment returned because the new man was renewed in the knowledge of God’s faithfulness!

So, here is the good news for the world-weary.  God has not given up on us!  He has not given up on you.  AND HE NEVER WILL!  Eventually, spiritual sanity will return and you will be crossing the Jordan.  Until then, learn the lessons well!  They are meant for your benefit!

Faithfulness Is The Key To Fruitfulness

“Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the LORD [is] upright: [he is] my rock, and [there is] no unrighteousness in him.” (Ps 92:13-15 AV)

Faithfulness, and not physical ability or energy, is the source of fruitfulness!  Call it my mid-life crisis.  Call it whatever you wish.  But I am deeply concerned with what can be accomplished for the glory of God with the time I have remaining!  Most are condemned for such a concern.  However, me thinks it is a good concern to have.

Of note is what the Psalmist points to at the answer to his concern.  It is faithfulness to a worship life.  Note also the distinction drawn between the courts of the LORD and the house of the LORD.  There is a difference.  Faithfulness to the inner most presence and worship of God is what produces faithfulness on the outside.  And, lest some misguided or ignorant saint may misunderstand the meaning of worship, this worship here is public worship founded up the sacrifice and service of God’s people!

Faithfulness to the house of God is so important.  Far more important than today’s professing Christian desires to give it.  I am claiming this verse as a promise!  The Bible clearly says that if I am faithful to the house of God, then He will bless that faithfulness with fruit – EVEN IN MY OLD AGE!  Blessed be the LORD for all the benefits He has bestowed upon me!

Boldly Humble

“Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I [am] poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I [am] holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, [art] good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” (Ps 86:1-5 AV)

Perhaps the one of the reasons David was a man after God’s own heart was his belief in the power of prayer.  I know that I have referenced this before, but the book of Hebrews tells us to go to the throne of God with boldness.  If we look at David’s statement that he is holy, we agree that is pretty bold.  David made some serious mistakes in his life.  Yet, he was able to say that he is holy.  David was not perfect.  He was a sinner just like the rest of us.  Yet, he was able to say that he was holy.  How?  In fact, in verse five, David’s prayer includes a request for forgiveness.  How can one be holy and at the same time, ask for forgiveness?

Herein lies the secret to the boldness commanded in Hebrews 4:16!  “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” This boldness is not arrogance.  This boldness is not confidence in self.  This boldness to refer to oneself as holy comes at the grace of God.  In the Old Testament, it was based upon the promises of the law.  That if the Jewish worshiper would offer sacrifice with a humble and contrite heart, asking forgiveness for his sin, then God would consider him holy.  This is not works!  The sin was temporarily imputed to an animal.  A third party. God had to accept that offering as valid, but still grant forgiveness by His grace.  Since Calvary, Jesus is that perfect sacrifice.  Our sin has been imputed to Him.  Thus, God the Father sees us as holy!  Not because of what we have done, but because what Jesus has done!

I am convinced that prayer is the untapped source of power in our churches, pews, and personal lives.  If we were to just realize how much could change if we approached the throne of God with confidence in the blood of Christ and plead for that which God desperately wants to do for us, things might just radically change!  We are nothing. We are worthless.  But it is Jesus Christ who paid that debt and because of His righteousness imputed to us, we now have worth to a holy God!  Let us find that balance between boldness by the imputed righteousness of Christ and our own humility and worthlessness!

Victory is closer than we think

“Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, [and] Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.” (Ps 81:13-14 AV)

If we only understood how near our victory lies!  There was a time in Israel’s young history in which they had the opportunity to conquer all their enemies.  It would have reshaped the entire history of mankind.  It dates way back to the time when they had the opportunity to enter the promised land the first time!  They had just left Egypt.  Egypt, their greatest of all enemies, lay in ruins.  God had brought this formidable enemy to its knees by ten devastating plagues and an unsuccessful swimming lesson in the Red sea.  The LORD directed Moses to the southern entrance of the land of Canaan where the LORD has commanded them to enter and take the land.  After ten of twelve spies returned with a report the venture would mean suicide, they balked at God’s word and wandered in the wilderness while an entire generation who had seen the greatest display of God’s hand in the nation’s history died off.  This one failure of faith and obedience would start a trajectory of disobedience and rejection.

If we only knew how close our salvation truly is.  The psalmist teaches us that God would soon subdue our enemies.  Not when He gets around to it.  But soon. The condition is faith and obedience.  What struct me this morning was the word ‘soon’.  All the LORD is asking for is a little faith.  Discipline can only come by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.  Discipline to overcome our enemies is something we do not have within ourselves to accomplish.  The LORD enables us to do this. The devil, world, and flesh are all more powerful than whatever will power we can muster.  It takes a supernatural force to overcome it.  There is one thing we can control.  It is completely within our power to control it. That is, surrender and faith.  Yielding to the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit is the one thing we can do.  If we do that, then the Father promises His intervention is not far, but soon!

The Honest Cook

“So he fed them according to the integrity of his heart; and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands.” (Ps 78:72 AV)

God is a kind, merciful, and benevolent God. But He is also a God with perfect integrity.  His emotional response to our genuine needs is governed by His integrity.  The context of this statement is the history of Israel’s wilderness wanderings following the exodus from Egypt.  Asaph records the successes and failures of the nation.  He recalls the hand of God to protect, guide, provide, and even chasten when necessary the people as they wander for 40 years in the deserts of Sinai.  All through this experience, God meets with this nation according to the integrity of His heart.  They may not have always gotten what they wanted.  But they did get what they needed.

I have a very wise father who did the best job he could in raising his children.  He may not have been a perfect father, but then again, none of us are.  When it came to providing things that we needed rather than what we wanted, he excelled.  It wasn’t the material things that he struggled to provide.  We grew up poorer than some, but a little better than others.  We did not starve.  That’s for sure.  Yet it wasn’t the food on the table or the clothes on our backs that were the most important things he provided.

He provided character and integrity.  He provided experiences, mostly around the outdoors, that enriched us more than a trip to a popular vacation getaway.  He taught us how to survive in the woods if needed.  He taught us to work for what we wanted rather than to always have it given to us.  He taught us that reading and studying are a passion.  But the biggest lesson he ever taught me was that principles are worth standing for.

God may not always give us what we want.  But He always gives us what we need.  That requires integrity.  When your children cry out as though they are hurting in a deep way because of something they think they need, it takes integrity to say ‘no’.  It takes integrity to allow your child to suffer so that he might learn inner character that he can learn no other way.  It takes integrity to risk a relationship when your child throws a temper tantrum.  But God can do no other.  We are not cheated.  We are not abused.  We are not mistreated.  We are cared for by a God who has integrity!

Not Dead Yet

“Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto [this] generation, [and] thy power to every one [that] is to come.” (Ps 71:18 AV)

We don’t know exactly when David penned these words or under what circumstances he penned them.  But if life is any indication, he may be thinking these things during his mid-life crisis.  As his stronger years are behind him and the energy levels begin to decrease, David begins to wonder what he might yet accomplish for the LORD.  He is not in a state of regret; as most who approach their mid-life crisis.  Regret over failures or lack of accomplishment.  What David is doing is asking the LORD for continued strength and opportunity so that he might continue to accomplish a work for the LORD.

One of the worst ideas to ever infiltrate the church is this idea of retirement.  It is ok for the secular world.  But there is no place for it in the church or the home.  Granted, physical work will take a physical toll.  This toll has to be paid.  And it can be in retirement.  However, as we discussed in a recent Sunday School lesson, the soul and spirit are regenerated at the point of salvation.  They are growing and increasing.  The body is redeemed at death.  It is in a constant state of deterioration.  Although our physical bodies do effect our minds and emotions, with proper spiritual maintenance, they can remain healthy and useful long into our twilight years.

Which brings me to our point.  There is no retirement in family or church life.  Not until our bodies give out!  David is looking for the opportunity and strength to continue.  He wants his life to mean something and accomplish something right up to the very last minute!  I have to agree.  As someone who is staring down the last third of his life, I want to go out in a blaze.  Not in a flicker!  I feel extremely blessed to have the privilege to preach and teach the gospel.  I have seen too many preachers fall into the trap of retiring from the pulpit because they think the only way to build a church is with youthful preaching and leadership. Hogwash!  What we need is revival in our middle age!  And that goes for those in the pews too!  Stop retiring and get moving!  You’re not dead yet!

Our God of Salvation

“[He that is] our God [is] the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord [belong] the issues from death.” (Ps 68:20 AV)

It is really easy to forget this.  Eternal salvation isn’t the only salvation of which our LORD is God.  He is the God of all salvation.  Even the salvation which we need from one moment to the next.

There are many things from which we need to be saved.  We need to be saved from the Devil.  He is a wicked and evil tormentor.  He is a demon that wishes to make our lives ineffective and even disastrous.  Not that he is intent on harming us for the mere pleasure.  He is intent on harming us because it harms the LORD.  There are trials from which we need salvation. Trials that bring us to the brink of ourselves.  They test our strength and our faith.  First Corinthians chapter ten and in verse thirteen is a wonderful promise of God’s salvation to those struggling in their faith.  The enemy which we face every waking second of our lives is ourselves.  This is the greatest of all things from which we need salvation.  Our minds are bent towards wrong thinking.  Our hearts are impulsive and bent towards self-pleasure.  Our choices are often the wrong ones.  We are the greatest things from which we need salvation.

The opposite of God’s salvation is our own strength and effort.  It is not the truth that we sit idly by and wait on God to do everything while we do nothing.  Even Salvation from hell requires we ask for it.  However, as human beings, we place more pressure or confidence on ourselves to get us out of that which we are in when we have a God of salvation who can do it far better than we can ourselves.  Even if we thought our actions alone would reverse the current course, if God so choose to, He can circumvent our actions and continue the circumstances (or even make it more difficult or challenging).  There is a saying, “Do what you can, or are obligated to, and leave the rest to God!”  God desires to save us from all sorts of messes.  If we would only trust Him, humbly ask Him, and leave it with Him!

Easier Said Than Done

“In God [is] my salvation and my glory: the rock of my strength, [and] my refuge, [is] in God. Trust in him at all times; ye people, pour out your heart before him: God [is] a refuge for us. Selah.” (Ps 62:7-8 AV)

That’s a hard thing to do, especially when it is us who messes up!  God is better than we will ever deserve.  He truly is.  Prophet after prophet has declared the goodness and mercy of God.  Jeremiah, in the book of Lamentations, has correctly observed that God is totally within His rights to consume us, yet it is His mercy that keeps His wrath from just that. Job, after losing all that he had rightly observed that he did not deserve anything from God and that he was a totally and completely fallen man.  The poor sinner who came to the temple and had nothing by which he could every offer a holy and righteous God accurately cried out, “Lord, have mercy on me, a sinner.”

 Although the context of this Psalm is the trial of faith David endured while escaping from Saul, the thought of David’s claim to integrity and righteousness continues to course through my mind.  He claimed righteousness.  Yet he was a sinner just like the rest of us.  His righteousness was still by the mercy of God, but verified in the law.  He was by no means perfect.  Far from it.  However, the LORD provided the means by which he could be seen as righteous.  And that was the law.  For us, it is by the blood of Christ.  That is our claim to righteousness.  However, that doesn’t seem to easy the struggle of faith in God at all times.  Especially when we have failed Him!

All we can do is pour out our hearts to the LORD and plead with a merciful and loving God that, in spite of our failures, He will have mercy on us.  The world does not understand this.  Carnal Christianity does not understand this.  But this is the nature of our relationship with the LORD.  Confession and conformity.  In return, a Spirit enabled faith that will trust the LORD to respond according to His nature.  He is too good for us!  But He delights in His mercy, love, forgiveness, protection, and provision for those who will cry out in humility and faith!

Hard Things Needed

“Thou hast shewed thy people hard things: thou hast made us to drink the wine of astonishment. Thou hast given a banner to them that fear thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth. Selah. That thy beloved may be delivered; save [with] thy right hand, and hear me.” (Ps 60:3-5 AV)

Experience is a hard teacher.  In the context, David is referring to competing priorities.  There are two weaknesses which he was trying to address even though he had resources for only one.  He was spread too thin.  His hard lesson was one of practicality and maybe even a little pride.  Could have been an issue of over commitment, not realizing just how limited he was.  Pride will do that to a man.  Nevertheless, the LORD allowed David to learn a lesson here.  A lesson the people learned and could only learn be experience.

There are many lesson, hard lessons, we can only learn by experience.  There are mistakes of misjudgment because of our lack of wisdom or experience.  As in making a well-informed decision, but not well informed enough.  We thought it was the right thing to do at the time. And, if there was no other information, it probably was the right thing to do.  We come to find out later there were questions we should have asked.  There are other hard lessons we need to learn.  Lessons of the consequences of sin.  Lessons that have to be learned because we ignore rebuke when offered.  Lessons that are hard enough that we will not pursue the sin again.  Then there are hard lessons of faith.  Lessons that can only be learned by trusting the LORD even though it seems it cannot possibly go right.  These lessons are often some of the hardest.  Lessons that, at the time, seem to have no rhyme or reason.  Lessons that push us to our limits only to have the LORD come through and make us feel ashamed for our lack of faith in Him!

These hard things are not easy.  That is why they are called hard.  However, these hard things are necessary.  Reading of them in the Bible is not sufficient.  The wisdom, rebukes, and challenges of the Bible are only information unless they are applied.  They are mere facts on a page.  Eternal truths which lay unused and unproven.  Truth must be lived.  And when it is, it is often a hard thing.

Stagnate Fear

“God shall hear, and afflict them, even he that abideth of old. Selah. Because they have no changes, therefore they fear not God.” (Ps 55:19 AV)

Change for the good is a good thing.  Change for the worse is not.  Life is a process of change.  Nothing stays the same.  In my passage, the indication is no change for the better is equal to no fear of God.

There are many areas of our lives that are strongholds.  Many areas which we fall repeatedly.  Many areas in which we refuse to change even though we know they are required of us to change.  When we refuse to change, then what we are saying is we do not respect the LORD enough to fear His law or His holiness.

There really is no exception to this rule.  We are all like this.  There are areas which we refuse to change and become stagnate in our spiritual growth.  Areas that often cause great harm sometime later.

The real concern is if lack of change becomes our overall way of life.  Then it is time for a serious check-up.  A check up to see if we really are saved, and if so, if we really are growing in the LORD.  The passage above also shows us the LORD afflicts for the purpose of change.  If, after affliction, we do not change, then there really is no fear of God.  Change is good.  Change is necessary.  Change means growth.  But most of all, change means our relationship with the LORD is where it needs to be.

Fear Not

“God [is] our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; [Though] the waters thereof roar [and] be troubled, [though] the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.” (Ps 46:1-3 AV)

This passage is a millennial passage.  It speaks of the remnant escaping to the wilderness under threat from the anti-Christ.  It speaks of them going off to be protected by the Messiah in the wilderness while the judgements of the tribulation period are raging about them.  They will feel the tremors of the earthquakes.  They will feel the extreme heat, the shortened days, the stars falling from the skies, etc.  The will experience most of what the rest of the world will experience.  Yet, without fear.

When this picture enters my mind, I imagine the Jewish people trekking out of Jerusalem and Israel in the same manner they did Egypt.  The scene from The Ten Commandments runs through my mind.  Millions of Hebrews, walking into the desert, yet singing their psalms.  Trumpets blow, priests offer praise, and fathers teach their children of the faithfulness of God.

Sure, there are several bouts of fear.  But the overall spirit is one of hope, anticipation, and praise. As God’s people, we should be fearless!  The truth of who and what God is does not change because our circumstances change.  Even if the world if falling apart around us, God is still God.  How quick we are to forget just how mighty a God we serve!  How quick we are to fear things we cannot see nor are certain just because we cannot see or touch the LORD.  Living by faith is a privilege.  But it is also a struggle.  If the children of Israel can overcome fear by trusting in the God they have for thousands of years, then the church can do no less!

The Prayer of the Righteous

“All this is come upon us; yet have we not forgotten thee, neither have we dealt falsely in thy covenant. Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way;” (Ps 44:17-18 AV)

David predicates his prayers often on the established fact of his righteousness.  He was a man after God’s own heart.  A man who loved the law.  This didn’t mean David was a perfect man.  In fact, have failed miserably in several areas of life.  He was an adulterer, a murderer, and a liar.  The difference between David and Saul, however, was his respect for the law in that when he failed, he followed the law to make things right.

We have no righteousness.  Our righteousness is in Christ!  Every time I read of David’s defense of his own righteousness, I know that I cannot make those same claims.  That is, in my own righteousness.  What we can do is make our plea in the righteousness of Christ.

The doctrine of imputation means that the Father took our sin and placed in on His Son at the cruel cross of Calvary.  In turn, He took the righteousness of Christ and placed in on us.  In essence, the act of God’s justice for the saint was to swap places of the sinner with His Son so that when He sees the sinner who has accepted that gift of salvation, what He sees is the righteousness of His own Son.

This doesn’t mean we should ignore the battle for practical righteousness.  In striving for godliness, we are striving not to prove ourselves, but rather, to please the Father who gave us His Son! I can ask forgiveness for all my shortcomings and sin, but I have no righteousness of which to claim.  My righteousness is not my own.  Praise the LORD!

Chasten Thyself

“O LORD, rebuke me not in thy wrath: neither chasten me in thy hot displeasure. For thine arrows stick fast in me, and thy hand presseth me sore. [There is] no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger; neither [is there any] rest in my bones because of my sin. For mine iniquities are gone over mine head: as an heavy burden they are too heavy for me.” (Ps 38:1-4 AV)

The house I grew up in was constantly under renovation.  My father, transformed every room, one by one.  Our walls were the old lathe and plaster type with blown in insulation.  Living in western New York, that meant a hefty heating oil bill.  So, one by one, we would remove the old lathe and plaster, discarding the blown in insulation, and rebuilding it with modern insulation and sheetrock.  One afternoon, when all but myself were down in the dining room eating lunch, I was admiring what would be my bedroom.  Without thinking, I leaned on a piece of sheetrock suspended between two sawhorses.  I heard the crack!  Knowing my father would be angry, I snuck down to the garage, mounted my bicycle, and rode off.  I spent the afternoon running!  Dinner was always at 5:00 sharp!  No excuses.  When 5:00 came, my place was empty.  I was still riding.  6:00 came and I still wasn’t home.  7:00 came and my place was still empty.  Finally, as the sun was beginning to set and I knew I had no other place to go, I returned.  Going up to my father’s study I was resigned to prepare my funeral!  This was not going to be pleasant.  I timidly knocked on his office door.  He told me to come in.  I confessed to cracking the sheetrock.  I asked what my punishment would be.  And what he said next shocked me to the core.  He said, “I think you’ve punished yourself enough.”  And that was that!

David was kicking himself for his sin.  What he was asking for is mercy.  How refreshing!  We need to feel so bad for our sin that punishment is not needed!  David knows what it feels like to be chastened of the LORD.  He describes the anger of the LORD.  He wants to avoid it.  He does so because the burden of his own sin was heavy enough.  This is the heart of the truly repentant!

The Greatest Blessing!

“Blessed [is he whose] transgression [is] forgiven, [whose] sin [is] covered. Blessed [is] the man unto whom the LORD imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit [there is] no guile.” (Ps 32:1-2 AV)

Mankind may never understand the greatest blessing of all.  To be forgiven!  That is the greatest need and the greatest of all divine blessings.  To know the LORD has covered our sins in the blood of His own Son is what the human soul yearns for, yet too often rejects.

Many try to seek forgiveness and acceptance in objects or people.  They seek to salve a guilty conscience by drowning it out with drugs or alcohol.  They try to find acceptance in illicit relationships.  They try to silence the shame of their sin by distracting it with career, work, business, or hobbies.  The only comfort that can feed the desperate soul is forgiveness in the arms of the God of all grace!

When life gets overwhelming or the trials of life too hard to bear, the cure is often to remember how forgiven we are.  No trouble or trial will ever be as heavy as the burden of sin which we carry day in and day out.  No issue of health, finances, relationships, or career will ever be so heavy as the guilt and shame we bear over what we have done.  To understand the burden has been lifted by the grace of God through Christ is to live in true liberty.  Our contemporary generation does not understand this.  They erroneously believe liberty is the freedom to live as one chooses thinking God will look past it.  All this does is compound sin.  Their souls are pacified by shallow music very light on doctrine and heavy on emotion.  What they truly need is the liberty from sin which only forgiveness and repentance can bring.  Praise God we are forgiven.  The truth shall make you free!

Pray For Others as You Pray For Yourself

“O my God, I trust in thee: let me not be ashamed, let not mine enemies triumph over me. Yea, let none that wait on thee be ashamed: let them be ashamed which transgress without cause.” (Ps 25:2-3 AV)

David does an interesting and noble thing here.  Even though he is going through a rough time, he does not forget to pray for others who may be going through an equally hard time.  This is actually therapeutic.  If, when we are troubled, we think of the needs of others, ours don’t seem and bad as we once thought.  Now, no doubt, ours are real and serious.  However, there are others out there who are equally troubled and who might just as desperately need the prayers of the saints as well.

Anyone who has had to spend some time at the hospital can understand this.  We are assigned a room and often that room comes with a roommate.  This roommate may or may not have a more serious issue than we.  However, as we come to understand their problems we suddenly feel as though our burden is a little easier to bear.  In fact, that door swings both ways.  As our roommate understands our problem, he too might begin to feel a slight improvement.  It really has nothing to do with a physical change in our prognosis.  The simple fact that someone else understands and cares is enough to ease, if even so slightly, our burden.  And by taking on the burden of another, in a strange and miraculous way, it eases our ever so slightly.

So, when we pray earnestly for our own needs, these burdens will lighten if we also include the burdens of others.  If we dawn the garment of self-centeredness and also remember that others have equally or worse situations, then ours may not seem so heavy that we cannot bear through it.  Pray for others as we pray for ourselves!

Unchanging Silence

“O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent. But thou [art] holy, [O thou] that inhabitest the praises of Israel.” (Ps 22:2-3 AV)

This psalm is the psalm of Calvary.  It is the words and thoughts of Jesus as he hung on the cross.  Verse one of this Psalm are the very words which Christ cried out and what follows are the thoughts or emotions which he had.  The LORD cried out for his Father, who for the sake of sinners like me, turned His back on His own Son.  Now, the Son is crying out for the presence of the Father. Yet, the Father will not answer.

What caused the severing of the Father and the Son was my sin.  The sin of all mankind caused, for the first and only time, a separation in the Godhead.  The Father rejects the Son because the Son bore on himself the wickedness of all.  When the Father refused to hear the Son, it was my fault!  Which brings us to our devotions.

There are times when we feel the LORD is not listening.  It is just a sense of things.  It is the silence of the Divine voice that we mourn over.  We wish to hear His voice as we stumble through our hardest time.  But it is not the Father’s fault.  This is the point of verse three.  Regardless of what we feel or think we sense, God is holy!  Period!  He does not change His character to accommodate sinful men.  He still expects holiness.  If we cannot (and we cannot) provide holiness, by Jesus Christ, it will be provided for us!  The bottom line is this, if we cannot hear or do not sense the voice of God, then the fault always lies with us and not with Him!

Tough Love

“The LORD trieth the righteous: but the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth.” (Ps 11:5 AV)

Note the measure of love which the LORD shows towards the righteous is to try them.  Which means, the measure of the LORD towards the wicked is to not try them.  Kind of odd, isn’t it?  If the righteous are doing righteousness, why continue to introduce circumstance of trials?  Why not give those things to the wicked?  If those who are good receive challenging times from the LORD, then wouldn’t the wicked receive a whole lot worse.  In fact, they do; but I digress.  The point to be made is the LORD loves His righteous children so much that He tries them so as to produce more righteousness.  More faith.  The trying is an extension of God’s love so that we might grow thereby.  The wicked are left alone (in a matter of speaking) that they might devolve into more destructive wickedness.

My father was very wise in this respect.  At the time, we didn’t really appreciate it.  But what he was doing was building character in his children.  He was a Scout Master.  With my father, the lazy way was never tolerated.  If we were going to do something, it was the right way and the best way.  Not necessarily the easiest way.  There was an event we participated in every February.  They called it the Klondike derby.  Each troop would build their own Alaskan style dog sled beforehand.  We would then push or pull this contraption from station to station and compete is scouting skills like first aid, knot tying, fire building, etc.  The individual troops had the option of camping overnight.  They could either show up on Saturday morning and compete that day.  Or, come the night before and spend the night in sleeping bags and tents in a New York February!  Guess which option my father choose.

We never did win the derby the next day.  We were so exhausted and wet from staying the night before, it was a miracle we even crossed the finish line.  But what my father taught us could not be learned by the warmth of car or a dry bed.  His pushing was an extension of his love!  That is exactly what the LORD does for us!  It is a privilege to be tried!  Otherwise, God wouldn’t love us!

Divine Attitude of Sin

“For thou [art] not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee.” (Ps 5:4 AV)

We forget many times just how serious God’s feelings are effected by sin.  Although God is merciful, gracious, and loving, He is still holy, just, and right!  God hates several things.  It is clear in the Word.  Sin is at the top of the list.  There is nothing in wickedness from which God derives pleasure.  If there is no pleasure, then there is total hatred.

In our contemporary world were God is all love and no displeasure, the ‘Christian’ mind cannot even comprehend how a holy God can hate anything.  The post-contemporary mind cannot fathom a God who would hate what he or she does.  That just doesn’t compute.  In today’s ‘Christian’ mind, we have muddied the understanding of unconditional love.  We think that God will love us no different no matter what we do.  We believe His attitude towards us or demeanor towards us will not change no matter what choices we make.  We believe that God loves us just the way we are and have no motive to change more and more into His holiness.  What a crock!

God hates sin because sin destroys what He had created to be perfect.  Sin repulses Him!  He loves the human soul enough to send His only begotten Son to die for the very sin which He hates!  That is love!  But that doesn’t mean God’s attitude towards sin has changed on iota!  Sin matters!  Wickedness matters!  What we need to do as God’s children is to ask the LORD for the same hatred of sin which He possesses!  Hatred enough of sin that we will flee from it!

Taking Our Licks

“Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me. Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?” (Job 40:6-8 AV)

Another thought occurred as I read this passage.  It is almost the same as chapter 39.  Yesterday, we remarked that only God can get away with telling someone who had suffered as Job to grow up and stop complaining.  But here is another thought.  The fact Job took this from the LORD without reacting in anger, rebellion, or resentment speaks to his depth of character and spiritual maturity.  In fact, the Bible tells us a little later that Job abhorred himself and repented in dust and ashes after the LORD rebuked him.  The measure of a man’s character is how much rebuke he can sustain.

A normal person would have to be consoled months and years on end before he can be told there might have been a spiritual objective to the hardship just suffered.  It is more the norm for a person to get angry at pointed rebuke and head on down the road, seeking the affirmation he desires rather than face his spiritual needs.  Most who are soundly rebuked in the privacy of a church service will get offended and go down the road where the preacher will let them live their lives without any interference. 

I sat in a pastor’s office once who had no children of his own.  He proceeded to rebuke me for my lack of parental discipline towards my sons.  I sat there for fifteen minutes as he attempted to instruct me on how I was letting my sons run the house.  He had some valuable insight, but most of it was not applicable.  In fact, the LORD has allowed my wife and I to raise three preachers.  So, it appears as though we did a few things right.  But here is the point.  I never left his church!  He was my best friend!  Even though he rebuked me, I sat there at took it.  When God rebukes, how we react reveals much of our maturity and character.

What Only God Can Say

“Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said, Who [is] this that darkeneth counsel by words without knowledge? Gird up now thy loins like a man; for I will demand of thee, and answer thou me.” (Job 38:1-3 AV)

Only the LORD can get away with telling Job what needed to be said.  No one else was qualified.  There is sat, mourning over the loss of his children, his wealth, and his health.  What bothered him most was the reason for it all.  He questioned God’s judgment in the sense that he believed it would have been better if he would have never been born.  No one would ever accuse Job of being whiny or complaining more than his situation would warrant.  He had every right to be depressed and confused.  Where is faltered was to assume God may have made a mistake, or that God could have chosen a different path.  When we question the will of God because things are not the way we wish, only God is the one who can get away with the statement above.

Sometimes we need to be told to stop the complaining and grow up!  Life is hard.  Life is tragic.  Life is not one big party contrary to what the world wants us to think.  There isn’t one magic pill which we can take to make all the pain go away.  Hardship is that which God allows which brings us up into Christlikeness.  What the LORD is asking Job is:  Who are you to question what I cause or allow?  Who are you to question my methods?  Who are you to wonder if I made the right decision?  ONLY GOD CAN ASK THOSE QUESTIONS!

When push comes to shove, we need to hear that from time to time.  We need to understand God is God and He is accountable to no one!  He is sovereign and all powerful.  And, as much as it might hurt or as uncomfortable as it might be, we are in no position to complain or question the hand of God!