Illness Of Doubt

“And I said, This is my infirmity: but I will remember the years of the right hand of the most High.” (Ps 77:10 AV)

That of which the Psalmist speaks of his infirmity is found in the previous three verses.  He questions the veracity of God’s faithfulness.  Specially towards His people.  He expresses the feeling of being abandoned by the LORD.  In the first part of the Psalm the writer does what he can to encourage his heart in the midst of trouble.  He reminds himself that God hears his prayer (vs.1).  He remembers God’s faithfulness of the past (vs.5).  He remembers those times of rejoicing in the middle of the night (vs.6) And, he diligently searches for evidence of God’s faithfulness (vs.6).  All these exercises come of naught.  He cannot find a remedy for his doubt.  He cannot, because doubt in God’s faithfulness is our infirmity.  What we have to see is even though David is struggling with his faith, he does not quite.  Following verse 10 is a list of things that David does.  He doesn’t give up remembering and searching.  He does not surrender to doubt.  HE fights until doubt is expunged.  He fights doubt until doubt flees.

The more I meditate upon this truth, the more I realize that we have reduced God to an academic subject and minimize His person-hood.  God is not an ‘it’.  God is a ‘he’.  He is a Father.  He is our Creator.  He is our benefactor.  He is our merciful judge.  He is our guide, our friend, our love.  Because God is a person, He has emotions.  Because He has emotions, they are directed towards those whom He has created and whom He loves.  Our infirmity is faith.  We cannot see God.  We read of Him and commune with Him.  But, we cannot see Him.  This lack of complete contact hinders our ability to believe.  In a way, it also grows the depth of that belief.

In our ‘super spiritual’ self, we want to believe we have all faith.  We do not.  We are exposed to trouble and our faith is tested. When that faith is tested, it a grown.  What we cannot do is give up.  We cannot give up exercising those things which build the faith, which at the moment, is weak.  Meditating on the remainder of the psalm will give us the clues we need to endure through deep trouble and come out the other end with deeper faith.  Don’t get too comfortable, though.  For, just around the next corner will be another set of circumstances that might also bring into God’s faithfulness, only to be proven to be true.  It is our infirmity.

Salvation All Around

“For God is my King of old, working salvation in the midst of the earth.” (Ps 74:12 AV)

Asaph, the friend and chief musician of David is the author here.  This Psalm indicates Asaph wrote this Psalm in his later years.  When he states God is his King of old, he is declaring the length of his relationship to the LORD for the majority of his long life.  In the course of that long life, he has noticed that God often works salvation in various and numerous ways throughout the whole earth.  Not just on his behalf.  But on the behalf of many and all.  It is this observation that will keep a man focused and positive in the midst of difficult times.  God is a God of salvation.  He does not rejoice in the destruction of the wicked.  He desires all to come unto repentance.  God exercises His justice because it is part of His nature.  He must.  His first desire, however, is to show mercy and save.

Those things that we see as failures of grace are merely the natural consequences of actions taken by mankind.  Either directly or indirectly.  God could, if He so choose, to cease those consequences.  But that would require absolute and final judgment.  Which will come.  In the mean time, the God of all grace desires to show salvation.  He desires to save the sinner from his sinful nature that blessings of life might abound.  He desires to save us from our troubles if by doing so, we learn life’s lessons that will keep us from making the same mistake over and again.  Our biggest problem is not believing that God can save.  We see it in the lives of others.  Our problem is believing God will save in the issues that are closest to us.  Our own lives or the lives of others close to us, we often fail the have significant faith to believe God’s salvation can come to us and ours.

Asaph had no doubt that God was the God of salvation because he saw it as a recognizable pattern of God’s hand.  He saw it in David’s life.  Especially in David’s life.  Time and again God saved David from himself.  Time and again God saved David from enemies.  Time and again, as long as the desire of David was to walk with God, God raised him up and set him in a solid place.  Asaph could see the hand of God’s salvation on the lives of all as rejoiced that this God of salvation was also his King.  And, He was so from way back.

From Spring Chicken to Fall Turkey - Fly

“Thou, which hast shewed me great and sore troubles, shalt quicken me again, and shalt bring me up again from the depths of the earth.” (Ps 71:20 AV)

David is speaking of revival in his later years.  He is certain the God who brought him through hard times will revive him one last time so He could do a work for the LORD.  The God who has been with David from the lion and bear all the way to Absalom will be there in his last few years of service.  There are a couple of truths of note here.

First, let us consider service to the LORD can bring one down to the depths of the earth.  David uses the words ‘…depths of the earth.’  The word for ‘…depths…’ means the abyss.  It means the deep sea or the subterranean waters.  That is indeed deep.  One can ask a good question here.  If the LORD is on David’s side, how did he get so deep?  In fact, it is the troubles which the LORD shewed David that brought him to the abyss.  The cause of the abyss was the LORD.  It was the hand of God which brought David to the very end of his strength.  This is noteworthy because many of God’s people will not allow the LORD to do just that.  They will not allow the LORD to show them the depths of the end of their own strength.  They will not allow the LORD to push them to the limit.  They quite far too soon.  This is really an unfortunate thing.  It is at the end of ourselves that we begin to realize where God starts.  It is at the end ourselves that we see just how little these troubles are to an almighty God.

The most important truth here to see is that God does not want to leave us in that abyss.  He wants to bring us back from the depths of the earth.  It really is up to us.  David does not want to stay all used up.  He wants revival.  This is the whole theme of this Psalm.  It is David’s prayer in his older years.  He knows that his strength is diminished.  He knows that he is not a spring chicken anymore.   It is unrealistic to ask for strength of a man half his age.  But that does not mean strength itself is impossible.  He is stating what he knows to be true.  He knows that God will revive him because he has the desire to be revived!  God will bring him back up because earlier in the Psalm he speaks of ministry to a younger generation.  There is still work to do.  God will, and does, revive a used-up generation if they still have the desire to make a difference.  The choice is ours!

Pots to Preening

“Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” (Ps 68:13 AV)

This verse is somewhat obscure and there is some dispute over what these pots might be.  The best explanation which I find comes from the Hebrew meaning of the word which indicates it might be hooks upon which pots for cooking or vessels for preparing kiln work were hung.  This area would have been full of rank odor, soot, and extremely uncomfortable.  Not unlike a kitchen, but much worse.  This psalm is easily understood as a reflection of Israel’s bondage in Egypt and her subsequent exodus from it.  Therefore, the verse above is a statement of promise made to Israel as they suffered in Egypt that has horrible and filthy their condition was at the time, the LORD would rescue them, clean them up, and set them free.

Let’s face it.  As long as we are in this world, we lay among the pots.  Its filthiness is all around us.  It is hard to keep oneself inoculated from it and stay separated and clean.  One cannot go anywhere outside of one’s house without some of the filth of the world clinging to our soul.  We are renovating our house.  Part of the renovation means sanding the hardwood floors.  I cannot believe the places this dust can get.  It is worse than the dust from carpentry work, drywall work, and even paint spraying.  This dust travels between floors.  This dust was getting into our closet which was up one flight of stairs and through a closed door.  It gets everywhere.  And, that is without forced air heat.  This is under no additional air movement.  That is what the world does to the believer.  Sin is everywhere.  It doesn’t have to be forced into circulation.  It is part of our environment.  It clings to the soul and drags the soul down from the presence of a holy God.

Like a dove who is cleansed from the soot of a chimney, the LORD will cleanse His people from the filth of sin.  We may have to live in this cesspool of a world for a time, but if we have trusted in Christ, we will be set free.  Not just set free, but cleansed of the very filth we have come to abhor.  The filth and the stench of our sin and the sin of our environment will be washed by the divine hand of compassion and holiness.  Filth that will be consumed when this world is consumed by the fire of and almighty God.  There will be a time, which will last for eternity, when the beauty of God’s holiness will be our garments and the filth of this world will be forever gone!

Terrible, Terrible

“By terrible things in righteousness wilt thou answer us, O God of our salvation; who art the confidence of all the ends of the earth, and of them that are afar off upon the sea:” (Ps 65:5 AV)

When we use the word ‘terrible’, we almost always use it in the sense of morally or ethically unfortunate.  Something that is terrible is distasteful.  Like baloney and orange juice.  Not a good combination!  Or, like the tragic death of a loved one.  That is terrible.  These things have the sense of loss.  A sense of fate interfering with the events of life that rob us of a better outcome.  When the Bible uses this word, it means to inspire dread or awe.  It all depends how one looks at it.  In the above verse, the righteous answers of the LORD are awe inspiring to the righteous, yet stoke dread in the wicked.  The answer or decree of God is what it is.  Our relationship with God will determine how we respond to that action.

I had the privilege to pastor a church in western Kentucky.  Perhaps one of the most significant periods of personal spiritual growth I experienced in quite a while.  One of the admirable aspects which I was blessed to observe was the attitude towards work which those who lived there possessed.  It was almost to a fault.  Work was not a dread.  Work was an aspiration.  Now, granted, it got a little out of hand when work came before God or work was seen as a virtue above all other virtues.  These led to serious personal and family issues.  Nonetheless, I enjoyed hearing of times past on the family farm, struggling and making ends meet by hard work.  As they told the stories of bailing and stacking hay, milking the cows, working on equipment, or daily chores around the farm, they spoke of those things with fondness.  There was no bitterness that Dad made them put in four to eight hours on the farm rather than go to the mall with their friends.  There was no avarice in their voice as they spoke of slaughtering the family pig, preparing the meat for storage instead of spend the day on the river like other young men.  The didn’t see the hardships of life as a dread.  They saw them as a value.

God’s righteousness, to the saint, is an awe.  His ways are not grievous.  He gives us those laws and standards as a means in which to please Him and to bless our lives.  He constrains our liberty, not to make our lives more miserable, but rather, to teach us that joy and peace comes from compliance and restraint.  We stand in awe at the righteous answers of God because God is truth and right!  Because He is consistent in nature and benevolent in His care towards them that love Him.  To the wicked, repentance and faith in Christ is the answer.  To the saint, it is appreciation for who and what God is!  He truly is a God worthy of our awe! 

Sweet Dreams

“My soul shall be satisfied as with marrow and fatness; and my mouth shall praise thee with joyful lips: When I remember thee upon my bed, and meditate on thee in the night watches. Because thou hast been my help, therefore in the shadow of thy wings will I rejoice.” (Ps 63:5-7 AV)

What we meditate upon in the stillness of the evening or the first part of the morning tells us a lot about our relationship with the LORD.  David makes a practice of meditating upon the goodness and the faithfulness of the LORD is spite of life’s troubles when the day comes to a close or when the day breaks at its birth.  He has decided to dwell upon the glories of the LORD instead of any and all other thoughts that could enter his mind.  This is the joy of the day.  The refrain of the evening.

They say that you often dream of the last thing one observes or thinks of when sleep finally arrives.  I don’t know how true that is.  I used to dream quite a bit of flying to London, but there are always difficulties.  I miss my flight.  The plan never gets off the ground.  If it does, it arrives in really weird ways.  It may land on an overpass or arrive at the wrong gate.  My luggage never comes.  Things like that.  I must say, to my knowledge, there were no thoughts of vacationing to London that went through my head just before sleep came.  But this does raise a question.  If our dreams are a reflection of life’s anxieties, why not go to sleep rehearsing just how good God has been.  This might bring about a release from the anxieties of life so that we do not bring them with us in slumber.  Maybe of we spent those quiet times in reflection of the greatness of God, perhaps we would feel more at peace when rest is our abode.  Rather than worry, maybe the old song “counting your blessings” is what we need to do.

God is faithful.  He is faithful all the time.  Our fault lies in that which we desire to meditate upon.  God our Father cares for us far more than we will ever realize.  He loves us enough to sacrifice His only Son.  He loves us for more than we deserve.  He will not abandon us.  He cannot abandon us.  If we would use those quiet moments to think upon the moral character of the One we worship, then joy is the natural result!  Oh, let us think on His goodness towards the children of men.  Let us contemplate just how blessed we are!  Then we can go to sleep and rise again with joy on our lips.

Wings Are Better than Caves

“Be merciful unto me, O God, be merciful unto me: for my soul trusteth in thee: yea, in the shadow of thy wings will I make my refuge, until these calamities be overpast.” (Ps 57:1 AV)

This life is full of calamities.  Not all is a calamity, but there are enough to be sure we know there are some.  David is speaking directly of Saul.  He was hiding in a cave when he penned this Psalm.  Perhaps few of us can truly understand what it is like to have a father-in-law and his army hunt you down.  Few of us can comprehend when one’s own family has turned on him.  Now, that is a calamity.  Yet, we are faced with calamities of our own.  Our failing health is something of which we will deal until the day of our death.  The loss of a loved one is a special kind of hurt.  When our children or grandchildren face difficult times, perhaps turning their backs on the LORD.  These are also calamities.  What ever we face which is impossible to face alone is a calamity.  It is in those times we often need the LORD the most.

It is also in these times that we realize just how important a daily walk with God is.  We realize that had we known the future of these calamities, we would have spent far more time investing in our relationship with the LORD.  There is a difference between going to the LORD when you have spent time with Him every day as opposed to going to Him when one barely goes to Him at all.  It is quite sad to see.  As a hospital chaplain and pastor, I have had the experience of praying with patients in dire circumstances.  There is difference between the prayer of a faithful saint and the prayer of an occasional one.  There is a difference between those who suffer calamities while walking with God and those who suffer calamities only to search for God in the process.

Something I have learned the older I get.  We do not depend upon God nearly as much as we should.  We tend to want to do as much as we can on our own and only ask the LORD for help when we are so far into a fix that there is no way out.  If we were wiser, we would walk with God in complete dependence from the first minute of the day until we rest are head at night.  Perhaps this is the saving grace of your older years.  One begins to understand the truth of how truly dependent he is on the God who saved him.  He begins to understand just how helpless he is and how gracious God is.  If we could only do this from the first day of our salvation to the last day of eternity!

Strangers Can Become Friends

“For strangers are risen up against me, and oppressors seek after my soul: they have not set God before them. Selah.” (Ps 54:3 AV)

The interesting thing about this verse is the people to whom David refers as strangers are in relation, closest to him.  He is speaking of Saul, of course, and also of the Ziphites.  The Ziphites are inhabitants of Ziph, a town in the tribal territory of Judah.  David is from Judah.  This psalm is written in reflection of their loyalty to Saul over him.  They informed Saul of David’s hiding place within their territory.  This being the area of Judah, the least they could do was not mention his whereabouts but also honor the king by not providing David with necessities of life.  They, at the least, could have remained neutral.  They didn’t and that is why David refers to them as strangers.  The acted exactly opposite of what they were and became strange people in the process.

We have a saying when someone acts the exact opposite of what we expect resulting in some harm to us being done.  “I don’t know you!”  We do know them.  And rather intimately, too.  What we are saying is that we never knew they were the person which we are presently witnessing.  They have become a person that we didn’t know.  A stranger.  David is lamenting the fact that people he thought he knew turned out toe be completely different than what he expected.  This is one of the loneliest times in the service of a leader.  When others of whom he has come to rely turn out to be something different than what he thought they were, all of a sudden, that leader becomes very lonely.  He realizes for the first moment there are times when it is just he and the LORD.  He loves his people.  But he realizes that part of leadership is being in front.  That means there are times when there are very few at one’s side.

This is when a leader will truly understand the importance of a personal and intimately close relationship with the LORD is of the highest priority and value.  It is when he realizes that in order to lead, all others are following.  It means that although he can depend upon people for his success, there are some times when the only one he upon whom he can depend is the LORD.  It is at that exact moment when the world consists of he and the LORD alone.  It is in those times when God becomes the most real.  Yes, there will be times when people become strangers.  Saul remained that way.  But the Ziphites did not.  They changed.  And people will do just that.  They may be strangers one day, but don’t give up on them.  They may be your closest friends tomorrow.

Never Stop Being a Kid

“Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” (Ps 50:14-15 AV)

This statement comes on the heal of mentioning all the offerings of worship Israel would make.  They were required to do so by law.  This we know.  But sometimes, religious duty can minimize true worship.  It is one thing to perform some rite, quite another to have a deep relationship with the LORD.  What the LORD is stating here is that what He desires from His people more than religious duty is a heart that will depend upon Him and be thankful for what He does for them.  He desires a people that will keep their promises.  He desires faithfulness over form.

There is a process in raising your children that is hard of which to get accustomed.  The process of which I speak is the process by which your young children grow up and depend less and less on the influence of their parent.  I remember the times I taught my children how to tie their own shoes.  The days they learned how to ride without training wheels.  The day they got their driver’s license.  And, the day they got married.  Particularly when they learned to do something hands-on, inevitably they would say, “Dad, I can do it myself.”  A proud moment, but also a sad moment.  Knowing we are needed is one of the fundamental emotions of a person.  The need to be needed.  God is no different.  His desire is to do what only He can do.  His desire is to be God.

We take the reins of our life and think that we can handle it all by ourselves.  To some extent, that is true.  But God desires to do so much more for us that we are incapable of doing ourselves.  He also desires the feed-back of gratitude.  Everyone likes to hear they have made a difference.  It is not an ego thing.  It is a purpose thing.  Knowing that we have served a purpose gives us reason for our existence.  God, who is eternal, created a being to which He might show Himself for who and what He is.  He is God.  A God of mercy and of grace.  This is the God who He desires to be.  But that can only happen if we depend upon Him and thank Him for it.

Right To The End

“For this God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death.” (Ps 48:14 AV)

The ‘this God’ is the God who is described in the psalm and being a refuge and righteousness.  In particular, as it pertains to the city of Zion.  The Psalmist rehearses the understanding that God will establish the city of Jerusalem in such a way that it will affect the entire world tow the glory of God.  But it is not this fact that we want to consider.  It is the later part of the verse upon which we wish to meditate. 

God’s promises are absolute.  When it comes to Jerusalem, they are unconditional.  Christ will return and Zion will be the center of rule and law.  It will be the center of worship to which all must come.  These promises are certain and unalterable.  This us upon which David makes the observation at the end of the psalm.  As certain and unalterable as the restoration and glorification of Zion will be, so to will the guiding had of God be upon those who trust in Him.  I have to admit, there was a time that I suffered great anxiety over this.  As I found myself getting older and family more distant, I greatly feared life as old age is knocking at the door.  Where will I live?  Who will take care of me?  Will there be anyone around who will care enough to drop by and say hello?  These things tormented my mind.  But then, the peace of God simply took residence in my heart and mind.  God will guide me, and everyone else who has trusted in Christ, until the day of our death.  He will never leave us nor forsake us.  He will not abandon us in the hour of our greatest need.

Years ago, I had the privilege of caring for the spiritual needs of an aging widow who was suffering from aggressive Alzheimer’s.  Her son was wounded while serving our nation and couldn’t visit nearly as often as he would have liked.  He called our church looking for someone who would visit with his mother.  This I did for about six months.  I saw her quickly succumb to this horrible disease, but I also witness something so beautiful it was encouraging.  Her last days were spent, sitting in a chair in the hallway, speaking to God in open prayer.  She was speaking to Him as though no one else was in the building or even on the planet.  She was totally unaware of her surroundings.  Totally oblivious to all things but God.  It was something to see.  If God is that real to a dying woman, then He will be equally real to us.  To me.

Leave and Cleave

“Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father’s house; So shall the king greatly desire thy beauty: for he is thy Lord; and worship thou him.” (Ps 45:10-11 AV)

Over the years, I have had the privilege of helping young people unite in marriage.  Part of that process is counseling.  A practice, I am sad to say, is woefully neglected in today’s churches.  Part of the sessions is helping this young couple to understand they must distance themselves from their extended families, at least emotionally, for the sake of one another.  The ‘leave and cleave’ verses are often used.  However, inadvertently, the bride may make the comment that the husband is the one who is to leave and cleave.  The bride has no instruction.  In those verses, she is absolutely right.  Nowhere does it tell a daughter to leave and cleave.  Does than then mean she can balance her relationships of family and husband as though they are equal?  Not according to the above verse.  If she wants her husband to desire her greatly, she must forget her extended family.  Or, to put it in our language, the more she values her husband above her extended family, the more he will desire her beauty.

Applying this to the saint, we see how important our relationship is to the LORD Jesus Christ.  He doesn’t want to be one love among many.  He desires to be our greatest love.  He doesn’t want to have to share equal time with our human relationships as though He is of less value.  A husband doesn’t feel all that special of his wife honors her father more than him.  She becomes more of a sister then she does the love of his life.  So, too does it affect our relationship with Christ.  By treating Him with less than He deserves, it does affect how He feels about us.  Yes, He loves us unconditionally.  But we are not talking about love.  We are talking about desire.  We are not talking about sacrificial acts of benevolence.  We are talking about the desire of whatever beauty He has bestowed upon us.

Christ said that whosoever loved father or mother more than Him was not worthy of Him.  I wonder if He didn’t have this principle in mind.  I wonder if He was not trying to tell His bride that He should be number one.  I wonder if He was not trying to tell us that if we love our human relationships more than we love Him, it is a bitter insult to what He has done for us.  All that sacrifice and love; the provision and protection; the encouragement and correction; is presumptuously consumed that we might value our parents, spouse, children, grandchildren, and friends more that the Groomsman who bestowed those relationships to begin with.  If we want the LORD to desire us with all our hearts, then we must put Him first.

Sin Is Truly Destructive

“I said, LORD, be merciful unto me: heal my soul; for I have sinned against thee.” (Ps 41:4 AV)

We seldom stop and meditate upon how damaging sin can be.   We divorce a spouse and see only the emotional scars that hinder our ability to trust.  We take up some vice and only see the disease that follows.  What we do not see is the deep harm sin does to the soul.  It changes not only our emotional health.  Sin not only changes our physical health.  Sin is so destructive that is changes our very person.  It changes us deep down inside.  The very person whom we are.

I read just the other day that suicide is becoming increasingly common.  The rate has jumped precipitously in the last few years.  According to the column, the rate has increased 48% just in the last few years.  If God, or Christianity is the problem, one would think that the rate would drop.  If hindrance of moral liberty was keeping us miserable, the plethora of laws that now legalize immorality should mean we are less depressed, not more.  If the laws against vices are overturned and our citizenry has more liberty of self-indulgence, surely, we should be happier, not less.  Then why the sudden increase in depression and suicide?  According to some research, there is an epidemic of depression.  It is so bad that our medications are finding their way through our water treatment systems and into the ecological edges of our world.  Fish, in the Great Lakes, have a measurable amount of anti-depressants within their bodies.  Our medications to overcome our anxieties is so high, that fish in our lakes are not medicated against it.  Why?

Sin effects not just what we are, but who we are.  We have gotten to the point where we can cope with the physical and even the emotional effects of sin.  What was once abnormal is now the new normal.  Broken homes, addiction, out of wedlock births, co-habitation, etc, are all seen as normal and without consequences.  Mankind has forgotten we are designed by a Creator that did not make allowances for sin.  Even if we can tolerate and live above the physical consequences of sin, the toll it takes on the inward man is uncontrollable.  It will change not just what you are, but who you are.  And not for the better.  The only hope is salvation in Jesus Christ.  That is the only hope mankind has against the insurmountable damage sin does to the soul.

Just Ask

“Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.” (Ps 38:21-22 AV)

David’s concern here is not unique to him.  He is not so much in doubt as to whether God can help him as he is God will help him.  He is not pondering the omnipotence of God.  He is considering the plan or divine will of God.  Not ‘can’ God help him, but ‘will’ God help him?  That is a struggle of which ever child of God endures.  We are not in doubt of the limitless power of God.  He has created all that we see.  He can make something out of nothing.  He is the governor of all that He has created.  It is all subject to His divine will.  We wonder whether God will do something.  Oft times, our doubt comes over the attribute of grace.  Will God show grace?  Will God care?  Will God supply our need?  Will God continue to show compassion.

There are several reasons that cause us to wonder such a thing.  But I think the one that causes us the most doubt is our own wickedness.  Even though we confess our sins and repent of them, there is a small part of us that feels there is something which we must do in order to earn God’s grace or favor.  There is a small part of us that sees our failures as the closing of God’s benevolence for the rest of our earthly lives.  We can never measure up to the holiness of God and therefore, God will never show us favor.  If that is the case, we do not understand the grace of God.

We do not deserve, nor can we earn, the grace of God.  Otherwise, it would be no more grace.  Is it the fact that we cannot earn or nor do we ever measure up that makes grace what it is.  I think of our missionaries and the humility it takes for them to constantly ask for the assistance of God’s people.  There are some that ask with the attitude of entitlement.  Others ask with false sense of humility.  These are few and far between.  The majority ask because they are humbled and know they need to ask in order that God might meet their needs through the resources of God’s people.  These are the heroes on the field.  These men and women can teach the rest of us something about grace.  God often meets their needs in dramatic and miraculous ways.  They have their needs met because they truly understand the nature of God’s grace and are not too proud to ask for it.

Love On 'Em Anyway

“But as for me, when they were sick, my clothing was sackcloth: I humbled my soul with fasting; and my prayer returned into mine own bosom. I behaved myself as though he had been my friend or brother: I bowed down heavily, as one that mourneth for his mother.” (Ps 35:13-14 AV)

How we are treated should not determine how we treat others.  David’s Psalm here is a comparison between how he treated those who did not necessarily support him and how they treated him.  He empathized with them when they suffered illness or death.  He prayed and fasted for them.  He humbled himself and treated all like a brother or sister.  He treated them with tenderness and grace.  He did so because they were under his care.  As king and shepherd, he tended to his flock with tenderness and compassion regardless of how they responded.  This is the true heart of a shepherd.

There is something humbling and cleansing about this.  It is one thing to love on your toddler who really doesn’t have any ability for malice.  But love on your teenager or adult child who has the ability to judge and condemn.  That takes another whole level of humility and grace.  I remember those days.  I remember the days wherein my sons felt their dad wasn’t always right. (I am not, by the way.  Even though we like to think so).  There is push back.  There is challenge.  I have been so blessed to have three sons who never, not one time, ever rebelled.  Even though we may have come to loggerheads from one time or another, they always respected their father and never ever violated that respect.  That does not mean we didn’t have our disagreements.  Usually over a biblical doctrine or principle.  But that is the time for growth for both parties.  A time for the younger to question what he has been taught so that he can make his belief system his own, and a time of humility and patience for the older, knowing that his role has changed.  I wouldn’t trade those days for anything.

The same is true for a shepherd.  There are times when the sheep will nip at your heels.  They don’t see it that way.  But that is what it is.  Gossip, slander, and roast preacher for Sunday dinner is the norm.  One must remember it is not always rebellion.  They have to work these things out.  They have to study them out for themselves.  Which means they will be critical of the shepherd. Love on them anyway.  The shepherd will also grow because of it.

The Bad Taste of Bit and Bridle

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” (Ps 32:8-9 AV)

There are two choices here.  To be led by the eye of the LORD or be led by restraints like a domesticated animal.  The Psalm is regarding the failures of David and his confessions of them.  He is agonizing over these sins and finally confesses them.  The trouble in his heart is the guilt he feels while harboring these sins within.  He is finally relieved of the internal strife by the act of confession and repentance.  Upon this the LORD gives the above advice.  It is better to be led about when we choose to be led about than to be forced to be led about like an undomesticated animal. 

I love dogs.  They are very special animals to me.  Outside of a horse, I don’t think there is another animal that can connect with his human owner like a dog.  All of the dogs I have owned have come from a shelter.  That is, except for one.  Camo, a fox hound mix, came to us as a pup.  He was all hunting dog.  Not the best breed to have as an indoor pet.  He was a bit high strung and aggressive so we got a second dog to try to balance out the personality issues.  This second was a lab/blue heeler mix.  It was rather funny to watch then interact because the fox hound was focused on hunting.  He would lay at the back-patio door and stare at the birds feeding at the feeder.  He was intently focused on them and the occasional rabbit all day long.  The lab wanted to socialize and play.  Anyway, their personalities were extremely different.  Camo, the fox hound, had to be on a leash at all times and even though he was leashed trained, if a bird or rabbit made an appearance, his nature exploded into pursuit.  The lab, not so much.  He could be guided with a look.  His name was Kimber.  The best dog I have ever had.  A head nod and glance would send him to a corner to lay down.  A glance to his food dish would give him liberty to eat.  A look of disapproval would send him to his house.  A glance of comfort calmed him when storms blew in.  He was so in-tuned with his owner that a simple glance would be all that was needed. The desire to please is what drove him.

The LORD is reminding us that life is better when we willingly follow Him.  Life is much harder when we are forced into it be the circumstances that bind us.  Camo never was a contented and happy dog.  Kimber was all contentment.  The LORD has designed His creation to be happiest when they are in submission.  Not just in forced submission.  Rather, surrendered submission as an act of the will is what makes us the most contented and secure of all.

To The End

“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.” (Ps 30:11-12 AV)

There is a greater purpose for deliverance than to relieve our troubles.  Although that may be the primary reason for praying to that end, it is not the purpose for relief.  One of the primary reasons of relief from our problems is that we might praise the LORD and serve Him faithfully.  Most of the time, when the LORD takes our troubles away, we almost immediately forget the very God who saved us.  This is the whole record of the book of Judges.

Over the past few years, I have suffered from a malady.  One that many suffer from.  After some research, the LORD led me to a supplement that miraculously overcame this problem.  To me, it was a miracle drug.  Not a prescription.  Rather, a natural supplement that met every problem of which I suffered.  When I meet people with the same issue, I immediately extol the virtues of this supplement.  It made that dramatic of a change in my health.  Better than any prescription a doctor has ever sent my way.  What a wonder!  One wonders if we would do the same for the LORD?  When He turns our troubles to blessings and relief, why do not we let all know what the LORD has done?  That is the purpose.  When we trusted Christ as our Savior, we told everyone we knew.  Over time, because of rejection after rejection, we have ceased to express what the LORD has done for us!  Why?  That is a reason why the LORD saved us!

David knew that God took care of Saul on his behalf.  God took away all the hindrances for David to serve a King.  God did not take away Saul and the Philistines so that David could sit in his palace and relax.  He did not take away the thorns in his side so that he could take a few extra days off from public worship.  God saved David to the end that he might praise and serve the LORD.  We are not consumers.  We are servants.  God is not here for us.  We are here for God.

Three Ingredients to Fearlessness

“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the LORD is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?” (Ps 27:1 AV)

If we were to list a group of verses to memorize that would apply throughout our lives, verses like the above would be on that list.  David asks a question which has an obvious answer.  The obvious answer is the challenge of the question.  If the LORD is our light, salvation, and strength, then there should be no fear.  Absolutely none!  If there is, one, two, or all three are missing.

The word ‘…light…’ here can mean several things.  It can mean understanding.  It can mean the light of life, prosperity, our joy.  But the primary meaning is the light of day, day break, dawn, or light of face.  The best way I can explain it is the feeling one gets when the sun finally hits one’s face after spending the last hours of the night in a cold deer stand.  Shivering from the cold, when that bright sun hits the face, all the cold disappears from the bones.  The warmth which the sun gives is indescribable.  If the LORD is that light, then we do not have to fear the darkness of uncertainty or the coldness of the world.  His is our warmth!  We delight in His presence.

Salvation is what the LORD is all about.  To save us from our sin, death, and hell.  Along life’s way, He will save us from troubles.  He will guide with His hand and if there are trials of faith, they are only designed to make us stronger.  If we have trusted in Christ, He is our eternal salvation and by life or by death, we shall be saved from all our troubles.  Those things we fear are only temporary at best.  When eternity starts, they will all be in the past.

God is not only our strength, but our strength of life.  The book of Colossians tells us that by Christ, all things consist.  He is the one that keeps all things going.  We are alive because our Savior lives.  We are not the source or our own strength.  He is.  We fear because we believe we are the ones who are to get us out of all our fears.  But we cannot.  We are not our own strength.  He is!  We must abide in His strength and not our own.  Yielding to the power and control of the Holy Spirit is the key to abiding in His strength.  If our unlimited God is our strength, then nothing can overcome us!

If these three are present, then there is no fear.  This is what David is trying to teach us.  Let the LORD be the light of your life.  Let the LORD be the salvation of you soul.  Let the LORD be the strength of your constitution.  Then there is nothing that will be feared.