The Gift of Life

“I said, O my God, take me not away in the midst of my days: thy years are throughout all generations.” (Ps 102:24 AV)

According to the previous verse, the writer states God weakened his strength and shortened his days.  Then we see this prayer.  We don’t know who the writer is nor the specific circumstances of this writing.  The title of the psalm is, “A prayer of the afflicited, when he is overwhelmed, and poureth out his complaint before the LORD.”  It appears the LORD allowed some set of circumstances, perhaps disease, that had the potential of cutting off the writer's life before he was prepared to go.  The psalmist, in the midst of an overwhelming situation, felt his life may end before he desired it to, so he seeks more time from the LORD.  Matthew Barnes writes, “The psalmist appeals to what God himself enjoyed - as a reason why life - so great a blessing - should be granted to him a little longer. By all that there was of blessedness in the life of God, the psalmist prays that that which was in itself - even in the case of God - so valuable, might yet a little longer be continued to “him.”  In reflection, Job felt just the opposite.  He saw no reason to continue and asked the LORD to take his life.  This writer, knowing of the blessedness and gift that of life which the LORD had given, asks it be prolonged that he might enjoy the gift a bit longer.

Life is a precious gift given directly from the hand of God.  Each individual is unique.  There has been, nor ever will be, someone identical to another.  The mathematical probability that you are who you are is one in one quadrillion.  Imagine that!  To give you an idea of how unique the individual is, if you laid down dollar bills over the entire land area of the United States, that would be approximately one quadrillion dollar bills.  If I asked you to find one specific dollar bill, perhaps with a  specific serial number, you couldn’t do that in ten lifetimes.  Not without help, anyway.  The chance that two of those bills would be identical in every way (serial number, ink patterns, wear and tear, etc) is virtually impossible.  That is how unique the human individual is.  When the LORD created you and me, he created no one else like us.  We are unique.  On that fact alone, we can concur that life is a gift.  The uniqueness of it is a testament to its value.  Why would we want it to end before its time?

We are faced with difficult times.  Between 2001 and 2017, suicides have risen 33%.  One of the major concerns regarding our present pandemic is the rise in suicides.  Under normal conditions, suicide is the tenth leading cause of death.  In 2017 alone, there were more suicides than there were homicides.  That is startling.  Now, faced with the probability of financial collapse and other disasters, suicide will surely spike.  Those inflicted with the virus may also despair of life.  What we cannot do is consider life as a gift only when things are going well.  This is what the writer is trying to share.  It appears by his comments in the previous verse, whatever illness or trouble from what he was suffering meant a shortened lifespan.  At least that was his opinion.  Rather than succumb to a certain end, he desires the LORD to extend his days.  He wishes to live as much as he possibly can no matter the conditions.  This is an attitude which we need to emulate.  Unless we see life as a gift, no matter the quality, we cannot share this writer’s heart.  I am aware you may assume this is easy for me to say.  But there was a time I too despaired of life.  A dark time of life.  A time which I prayed the LORD was done with me and would call me home.  I understand.  Life is a gift.  We should treasure it no matter how hard it might be.  To do otherwise is to insult the giver of that gift.

Only God's Way Works

“And enquired not of the LORD: therefore he slew him, and turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.” (1Ch 10:14 AV)

Speaking of Saul here.  The specific time of this failure was when he sought counsel from the Medium of Endor rather than the LORD.  What is interesting about this was Saul felt he had to turn to the Medium because God was not speaking to him.  It begs the question.  Why kill Saul for seeking another venue of guidance if God wasn’t speaking to him anyway?  It would have been one thing to kill him if the LORD would have spoken to him.  But the LORD was silent.  So, why kill him for something he felt he was forced to do when he had no other option?  Suffering Mediums to live was against the Old Testament law.  Those who practiced with familiar spirits were to be stoned.  But I cannot help but get back to that phrase above.  It is suggested Saul should have inquired of the LORD.  Why?  God wasn’t answering him and Samuel was dead.  What would inquiring of the LORD do for him?  It is assumed nothing.  It is assumed that if Saul went to the LORD, there would only be silence.  In fact, according to 1Sam 28:6, the very reason Saul went to the Medium of Endor was that God did not answer him when he inquired.  The answer appears to be how Saul inquired.  Old habits die hard.

According to 1Sam 28:6, Saul inquired by Urim and by prophets.  The problem was, Urim and Thummim must be done with the High Priest.  Since Abiathar the priest carried off the Urim and Thummim from Nob after Saul slew all the priests there and was with David, the Urim which Saul used was of his own making.  This habit goes way back to Saul's first fatal mistake.  It wasn’t but a few days following his ordination unto the throne when Saul offers an offering upon an altar because he thinks Samuel will not show up on time.  Saul usurps the office of prophet and priest because of a lack of faith.    Now we see him making and using his own Urim to inquire of the LORD.  He again uses the means ordained for someone else and is surprised the LORD doesn’t answer.  It is further suggested the LORD might have answered if Saul would have inquired correctly.  This is why the solution to go to the Medium of Endor was so wicked.  It was another one of Saul’s schemes to force God into his way of doing things.  Saul’s problem was Saul was his own greatest authority.  He refused to worship God the way God demanded.  In creating his own Urim, Saul felt he could force God to answer on his own terms rather than God’s terms.

Saul inquired of the LORD.  He just didn’t inquire of God the way God required.  Therefore, he didn’t really inquire of the LORD at all.  The saint that thinks he can work out his own salvation his own way rather than with fear and trembling (Php 2:12) is pushing the envelope of God’s grace.  But that is the majority of what we call Christian today.  Most of God’s people have their own idea of what they will do.  I find it interesting our Sunday School classes are shrinking and sincere searching of the word of God for the purpose of conformity is sorely lacking.  I was saved in 1982.  We live in a different world now.  One of the best ministries my home church offered was discipleship classes.  These classes trained the new believer in the principles of the word of God for daily living.  There was a balance between doctrine and practical application.  These classes sought to ground the new believer in basic Christian doctrine so as to not be swept away by cults.  But it also had as an objective to teach us the basics of godly living.  As we went through the classes men’s hair length got shorter, rock music was cast into the burn pile, we began to dress modestly and appropriately, and we gave to the church.  We learned how to study the word of God and pray.  We thirsted for more and more principles by which we might conform to the image of Christ.  Today, we are more interested in the frosting rather than meat.  It is no more studying the word of God to do things God’s way.  Now, it is more about finding out how much we can do while still calling it Christian.   Saul was killed because he would not respect God’s law.  The same is happening in our churches.  We are dying because we want to walk with God according to our generous interpretation of God’s word rather than strict adherence to it.

Least Desirable is Often the Right Thing

“He that trusteth in his own heart is a fool: but whoso walketh wisely, he shall be delivered.” (Pr 28:26 AV)

There are several truths here that come to mind.  The first is the obvious one.  Jeremiah tells us the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.  Emotions should be the last motivation for making a choice.  Emotions are fickle.  They are unreliable.  They are based on a limited source of information.  We are often moved in our emotions by what we observe, hear, or sense.  Only to find out what we sensed was not the whole truth.  Emotional choices often reject reason.  Common sense is thrown right out the window because we feel we have to make a certain decision.  This is the exact advice which the world gives to itself all the time.  If I have to hear that piece of advice from some source of entertainment one more time, I think I will scream.  Often, a story will lead the viewer to believe as long as one follows one’s heart, then everything will end like a fairy tale – perfect.  Never do worldly influences show the vast majority of times someone follows their heart it ends in disaster.  We know all this.  What I think the Spirit might be asking us to consider is the second half of the verse and how it relates to the heart.

We are selfish people often working things in our own best interests.  It is our nature to consider ourselves first.  This is why following one’s own heart is not only a bad idea, but it is also a slippery slope to immoral or habitual disobedience.  To that end, the Holy Spirit compares following one’s heart to walking wisely.  Which suggests a truth.  Wisdom is contrary to the heart.  Wisdom is from above and is seeded in the mind – not the heart.  Further, wisdom is juxtaposed to the heart.  They are often at odds with one another.  Wisdom, or the mind, argues against the heart.  Therefore, there is a principle here.  One principle I determined to live by early on in my Christian walk.  When wondering what I should do, the Spirit taught me the thing that I least want to do is probably the right thing to do.  The heart wants to do the wrong thing.  It is the thing which I most want to do.  Opposite the hearts’ desire is wisdom saying I should ignore how I feel and do just the opposite.  This is not always the case.  After some time and maturity, the saint realizes what the LORD wants him or her to do is for the best and it becomes what the saint wants as well.

I see this particularly in the realm of romantic relationships.  There is little reasoning going on.  It is all pure emotion.  Then when two people do get married, they begin to see what they got stuck with.  They never examined the wisdom in marrying whom they chose and the will of God was never part of their decision.  Now, there are married to someone who does not share their values.  They are married to someone whose faults they never knew.  They never considered God’s call on their lives and whether a future mate would help fulfill that calling.  Now, they are stuck and trying to make the best of it.  This error is not limited to relationships.  Education is another area.  Career choice still another.  Food is definitely our biggest problem.  Eating what we crave instead of what is healthy for us is a habit of a lifetime.  The mature person will examine his or her heart in the light of God’s word and do what the Bible says rather than what the heart desires.  To follow the heart means a pit of destruction.

We Never Had It So Good

“The full soul loatheth an honeycomb; but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet.” (Pr 27:7 AV)

Not everything about this mandated isolation is bad.  We are learning a very important truth.  There are things of which we were greatly blessed, yet because they were always there, we never knew just how good they were.  Things like unfettered freedom to get in one’s car and go anywhere one wished to go.  Now, with so many establishments closed, where do we go?  Things like our favorite sit-down restaurant.  The one we go to once a week.  Ordering often the same selection, we grew accustomed to it.  We now realize just how tasty that meal would be if we could just get to it and they were open.  We miss our children and grandchildren.  Video chatting, as much of a blessing as it is, is simply not the same.  When we have enough, or too much of a good thing, we often take it for granted.  We become picky.  We become choosey.  Take it all away, and whatever is available is the best one ever had.

Some of the best meals I have ever had were very basic meals cooked over a campfire.  Growing up with camping a normal activity, we learned how to prepare and cook meals the primitive way.  There isn’t a lot one can create over an open flame.  It would be a hoot to see the cast and contestants of Chopped compete for a week while camping in the wilderness with absolutely no modern amenities.  No refrigeration.  Just a cooler with bags of ice.  No blender.  No stovetop.  No oven.  No pantry.  No flash freezer, fryer, or puree machine.  It would be great.  I can just imagine those pretentious judges try to critique a campfire meal.  As a Scout Master, my father required us to be creative in our menus.  Most would serve a week’s fare of nothing but cereal for the morning, PB&J sandwiches for lunch, and either hot dogs or hamburgers for the evening meal.  He required us to be a bit more imaginative and not take the easy way out.  So, my buddy Scott and I made Salisbury steaks with fried mushrooms and onions, potato wedges, and fresh biscuits in a Dutch oven.  It never tasted so good.  No, that meal could not compare to a similar one cooked in a commercial kitchen by a professional chef, but to us at the time, it may as well have been.  When you have been camping in the wilderness, using a tree as your latrine and taking a bath in a mudhole, anything coming off that campfire was a five-star meal.

Which brings me to our specific application for today.  I have said several times to our church folk that if anything, the absence of fellowship has taught us the value of that fellowship.  I miss my flock.  Something fierce.  I miss the smiling faces and warm pews.  I miss the handshakes.  I miss the special music.  I miss the testimonies.  I especially miss each and every individual who graces Southside Baptist with their presence.  I miss the prayer requests.  I miss the prayer meetings wherein we pair off and pray with one another.  I miss the rustling of pages as multiple Bibles sit on laps and a new passage is announced.  I miss the enthusiasm of our offerings.  I miss the children running around the building playing tag or some other adventure.  I miss the times our more experienced saints share their wisdom, observations, or simple joys of life.  I miss the good-natured bantering between the pulpiteer and someone who is serving.  I miss the laughter.  I miss the sorrow.  I miss the ability to observe the LORD’s Supper and baptism by immersion.  Two ordinances that we are commanded to observe.  I miss the ‘amens’.  And I miss the altar calls.  Perhaps that is what I miss most of all.  I miss seeing the Spirit move among God’s people and their humble response to that work.  I miss seeing God have His way in the hearts and lives of the saints.  Perhaps what we have learned that attending church is not a luxury.  Rather, it is a necessity.  We can see why Paul tells us not to forsake the gathering of ourselves together because the day of the LORD draws nigh.  The close we get to the LORD’s return, the greater will be the need to meet.  In short, I miss each and every one of my flock and it aches my heart that we are apart.  I am praying for a quicker resolution than our governmental leadership seems to want to provide.  I’ve had a lot of the honeycomb, and am willing to have whatever sweetness our God deems my necessary food.

It Only Makes it Worse

“I remembered God, and was troubled: I complained, and my spirit was overwhelmed. Selah.” (Ps 77:3 AV)

At first glance, this verse doesn’t make sense.  How could we remember God and be troubled?  Especially if we are going through tough times.  Which is exactly what Asaph was referring to.  What would cause us to be troubled when we meditate on the person of God?  The second half of the verse tells us.  Again, when the reader sees a colon, bear in mind the writer is expounding on what he meant by what he just said.  In other words, what follows a colon is the immediate context of the statement which preceded it.  So, we can glean from the second half of the verse the writer remembers God in the form of complaints.  Or, he is troubled and by insinuating God is somehow the cause of his problems, or at the very least, unwilling to end to problems, he is troubled.

We can do this subtly.  For instance, we would never blame God for the consequences of our own choices.  But, we can wish we would never have been born.  Every now and again, I think over my life and all the mistakes that I have made.  I wish I could turn the clock back and never make the choice or choices which I think led to a particular reality.  The problem is, I can never go back far enough.  I undo one decision and remember an earlier one.  Like Job, I conclude that to make all things perfect, I should even have existed.  But that is impossible.  So, in a melancholy state, the mind begins to muse and complain.  Again, the insinuation, like Moses after he was called of God, our judgment might have been better than God’s if we didn’t exist at all.  The writer is complaining about problems.  He realizes the more he complains, the more he can find to complain about.  The more he complains, he realized the more he is leveling a subtle accusation against the judgment of God.  This is why he is getting overwhelmed.  His complaints fester on themselves and created more complaints.  Before he knows it, he is having a ‘woe is me’ moment.  It is a pit of despair from which it is difficult to escape.

On a personal note, I had a wonderful season of prayer last night.  I coveted with my God that I would spend time in one season of prayer per day in nothing but thanking Him and praising Him for everything and anything the Spirit would bring to mind.  There were other times of day when I can pour out my complaint.  But I have found the more I pour out my complaint the more overwhelmed with life I become.  This is not to say we cannot bring our concerns and desires to the LORD.  But if that is all we do, then we miss how the LORD has blessed us.  We become chicken little seeing a falling sky in everything that happens.  The answer to this dilemma is found a bit later in the psalm.  Asaph decides that when he doubts God’s favor in the present; or better yet, cannot see it; then he will remember God’s faithfulness in the past.  He will rehearse all the great things God has done for him.  The implication being God is doing so in the present even if he cannot see it.  So, let us remember that habitual complaining does nothing productive for the soul.  All it does is make things worse.  The more we complain, the more we become overwhelmed by more things we see wrong.  Remembering God for His faithfulness is the answer.

Responsibility of the Soft Shoulder

“Debate thy cause with thy neighbour himself; and discover not a secret to another: Lest he that heareth it put thee to shame, and thine infamy turn not away.” (Pr 25:9-10 AV)

I know we have written of verse nine in previous devotions.  It is the responsibility of the offended to keep the offense between him or her and the offender.  There is no excuse for publishing abroad the wrong done.  Not even to family.  It should be no one’s business.  Unless reconciliation is impossible and the church must get involved, the matter must remain private.  However, as is the case with most of us, when we are slighted, we feel we must share it with someone.  We want sympathy.  We want empathy.  We want to gain some loyal compadres who will defend our side of the story if it comes down to it.  If we can gain enough support, then our case is, by sheer numbers, the right side of the case.  This is not what the Bible tells us to do.  There are many reasons for this.  First, it cuts off any hope of reconciliation no matter how humble the offender might be.  By getting others involved, he becomes defensive.  He may become hardened.  At the very least, he now feels the victim of mob justice and simply departs without any reconciliation.  He has no hope of a fair hearing, so he departs.  If his offense is a pattern of life, he departs with his offense creating another victim.  Leave it between thee and thy neighbor himself.

What we want to focus on this morning is verse ten.  Particularly, the obligation of the ‘another’.  The one to whom we flee when we feel we have been wronged.  It is assumed the ‘other’ will respond is such a way as to bring shame on the offended.  Note here the ‘other’ does not get to the offender on behalf of the offended.  The ‘other’ puts the accuser to shame for bringing his situation out in the open.  The ‘other’ does not tolerate complaints or accusations.  Even if the charges are legitimate.  He shames the accuser into keeping the matter private and going to the offender.  One wonders how many church problems could be kept to a minimum if the body practices this principle.  If the body of Christ would vow to one another they will not suffer and accuser one wonders how many matters would be considered too minor to cause strife, or how many matters would be handled in private.  I have seen my share of this in thirty-plus years of ministry.  A church can be torn apart because someone feels so slighted, they have to spill it to anyone who will hear.  It is our responsibility to turn a deaf ear, no matter how justified the accuser may feel.  It doesn’t matter if the accusation is true.  There is a process given to us in Matthew chapter eighteen.

What I also notice is the infamy which to accuser must deal with if he or she is in the habit of involving others every time they feel slighted.  The infamy is the accusation that was shared with someone other than the accused.  It is not turned away, or not reconciled.  This only goes to prove the point made earlier.  The more we are tempted to handle the slight in a semi-public manner, the more chance there is of never making it right.  And also note the infamy is inflicted on the accuser and not the accused.  In other words, the accuser has to live with the injustice as a permanent burden in which to carry.  Some people like it that way.  They like to play the victim card whenever they get the chance.  They don’t want reconciliation.  They don’t want to confront the offender and make it right.  They like having the upper hand.  The problem is, they live with that bitterness their entire lives and the offender, never allowed to make it right, repents before God, and learns to live with it.  We are not doing the accuser any favor by lending a sympathetic ear.  We are condemning them to a prison of bitterness of their own making.  Force them to keep it private and shame them for publishing their victimhood status.  Then perhaps they will take it to the offender and finally seek reconciliation.

Yes, God Can Get Angry

“Turn us, O God of our salvation, and cause thine anger toward us to cease.” (Ps 85:4 AV)

This is a hard verse is the sense we do not like to think of God being angry.  We want to remember God as the God of all grace.  Not the God who can be upset with us.  What makes this verse even more uncomfortable is His anger is not static.  His anger is active.  It is towards to people of God.  This should be upsetting.  This should give us pause.  This should make us reflect on just how we are living so as to examine our hearts that they be right and pure before the LORD.  In days past, we would hear preachers expound on the moral attribute of God called wrath.  In the last century or so, and particularly in our previous generation, we hear of God grace (which we should); but almost exclusively.  If we do not accept that God can exercise wrath and anger, then we are not accepting God as He is.  He is and does exercise anger towards those whom He loves.  He does so because of our stubborn disobedience.

This may sound odd, but hear me out.  I would not want to worship a God who did not get angry.  Don’t get me wrong.  I don’t like it when He is.  A God who does not get angry is a God who does not hold His creation accountable.  If God is all grace, then we do whatever we want to do with little to no consequences.  A God of all grace and no anger is a God who does not love.  For anger is the emotion expressed when love is violated.  When His saints choose to ignore His word and do as they please, they are doing despite to the blood of Christ.  We are insulting the very nature of who and what God is.  Worse, we say we love Him, but by our actions, we are revealing just the opposite.  Anger is the appropriate response when threatened by an outside influence.  God is not threatened in the sense anything will be successful against Him.  That is for sure.  His glory can be robbed.  His love can be spurned.  His character can be questioned.  When things like this happen, the LORD is justified in exercising anger towards those who would be forward enough to challenge or disrespect Him.

We do not like to think of God as angry.  That doesn’t change the fact that He can be.  We avoid thinking about it.  Like a child who knows his father is angry with him, we run to the opposite side of the house or run after our friends until we think it safe to return.  We avoid reality because we believe, in time, our father’s anger will abate.  That may be true in the earthly sense.  But not when we are speaking of an omnipresent and omnipotent God.  There is no place we can run.  There are no places we can hide.  Let the anger do its work.  It is important to meditate on the fact we disappoint the LORD and from time to time He is a bit upset.  When we do, we can begin true repentance on a more personal level.  We seek forgiveness not because we feel guilty and need that feeling to go away.  We do not seek forgiveness because we feel shame and need to pacify our conscience.  We do not ask for God’s mercy because we hope not to suffer consequences.  We seek God’s forgiveness because we realize we have angered Him.  We realize that we affected our relationship with God in a personal way and we had no right to do that.  We ask forgiveness because we have offended Him and He deserves much better.  Yes, God can be an angry God.  And that is a good thing.  His anger motives us to seek reconciliation for personal reasons apart from any benefit we might receive.  We seek forgiveness because God is a loving God who we have insulted.  And we are truly sorry.

Critical Corporal Punishment

“Withhold not correction from the child: for if thou beatest him with the rod, he shall not die. Thou shalt beat him with the rod, and shalt deliver his soul from hell.” (Pr 23:13-14 AV)

Corporal punishment is not only endorsed but also encouraged in God’s word.  There is something about physical pain that tells a child he should not do what he just did again.  In recent years, corporal punishment has been seen as cruel and barbaric.  The academics and more enlightened of our world seem to think God’s way is no more an effective method.  They seem to think time outs, mere logic, dialogue, rewards, or bribery are better suited to raise a child.  The problem with this belief is it is purely naïve.  This idea that corporal punishment is so yesterday actually causes more harm than good.  The belief that if you love your child, you would never chasten him with physical punishment completely ignores how the real world works.  When that child grows up, he is shocked at the circumstances of his actions.  He wonders why the Police Officer didn’t take the time to lecture him on the safety of obeying traffic laws and let him go on his merry way.  He is astounded all that bad food he had eaten for his entire adult life now clogs his arteries.  This child grows up thinking there are no physical consequences for his actions and becomes a snowflake when reality hits him in the face.  Corporal punishment is merely a micro-example of the real world.  If we live contrary to the principles of the word of God, things happen.  These things are unavoidable.  These things are set.  These things will not bend.

There was an episode of a sitcom my wife and I watched years ago.  The main characters practiced sound discipline for their children.  Their children were well behaved.  There came a day when a friend came over to play.  This friend was a rotten little boy.  He would entice his hosts into all sorts of behavior that was unacceptable in the home of the host.  This rotten little boy would act one way in private, but then be a perfectly well-behaved boy in front of the adults.  It took a bit of investigating until blame could finally be leveled.  As the host tried to talk to this young man’s parents, they claimed their son was a gifted child.  They claimed that basic correction was impossible with him.  Verbally or physically correcting him was not going to work – or so they claimed.  Their scheme involved role-playing and disassociation techniques.  That is until this ‘gifted’ little boy lost his patience with his own father and kicked him in the shins.

This is what we are raising.  This is why we have the generation of the snowflake.  They cannot adjust to adversity because Mom and Dad never forced them to go through a bit of it when they were younger.  They wonder why hardships happen and completely miss the point that sometimes hardships are a result of choices.  They get involved in substance abuse and are shocked when a friend dies of an overdose.  It is seen as a romatic way to go and there is a complete disconnect with reality.  They cannot see bad things happen because bad choices are made.  All because Mommy and Daddy wanted to be liked more than they wanted to be loved.  God is clear.  Physical chastisement is the mode of correction we are to use.  Words alone may work some of the time.  But not all of the time.  When my son wouldn’t listen to me, a bit of corporal punishment was in order.  This trained him to immediately respond when given a command.  If not, it could mean greater harm than the corporal punishment which might ensue.  So, trust God when He tells you that corporal punishment is an indispensable tool in the child-rearing challenge.  Obey His word and your children will be the better for it.

Night Seasons are Times for Decompression

“I will bless the LORD, who hath given me counsel: my reins also instruct me in the night seasons.” (Ps 16:7 AV)

Note the dual nature of night season ministry.  There is the LORD who counsels.  But there is also the reigns of the writer that also instruct him.  The Hebrew word for reins means the seat of emotion.  The word literally means the kidney.  Other times, the bowels are mentioned as the seat of emotion.  Perhaps our need to evacuate when we feel intense emotion is why our ancients used internal organs as a means to describe emotions.  At any rate, what we see here is a time when the counsels of God and the emotions which we bury are examined one against the other so that we can learn and grow.  Note also that both the counsels of the LORD and the feelings of the writer are instructive.  Emotions are a part of what we are.  They reveal more truth than we might at first consider.  We know the Bible teaches the heart is deceitful above all things.  We know that feelings or emotions are not a good barometer of truth.  However, emotions are a watershed of truth as to who we are and how we process our lives. 

Years ago, I was given the opportunity to train as a PTSD counselor.  I served as a volunteer chaplain at a local hospital.  The staff chaplain was a general in the US Army Reserves.  As such, he had experience in this area.  We were asked if any had experienced something traumatic which might fall under the consideration of PTSD counseling.  I shared I had tragically lost a brother, seen someone take their own life, and was a victim of armed robbery.  He had asked how I dealt with it.  First and foremost, enjoying the indwelling of the Holy Spirit sure helped a lot.  If it were not for Him, I wouldn’t have survived.  Secondly, talking out one’s emotional experience brought on by these events was key.  It was important not to bottle it up inside.  Processing the emotional shock which these events cause is extremely important.  As a pastor, we deal with many intense circumstances of life.  It is in the job description.  From marriages breaking up to terminal prognosis, to death, and life, we are faced with many overwhelming situations.  We are expected to be the voice of calm assurance and faith.  We are asked to hold it together while others lose it.  When we are finished with these opportunities, there must be time for decompression.  Otherwise, the man of God will burn out.  This is where the night seasons come in.

We have to learn how to deal with the varied emotions which we experience daily.  How we feel about something may not accurately reflect the reality of the situation, but the feelings are real.  These night seasons are the quiet time of day when all else is removed and we are faced with our hearts.  Our reins are free to flow as they will.  Like the rein of a horse that is tied to a post, as long as there are other considerations at hand, they remain tied to that post.  They are not free.  Once the reins are freed, they flow and snap in the wind.  The counsels of the LORD takes the reins and steers them into what the rider wants the horse to see or where he wants it to go.  Those reins are not a figment of our imagination.  They are not immaterial.  In large part, they determine the direction of our choices.  They give the motivation to choose one thing over another.  How we feel is important.  But how we feel must be married to the counsels of God lest we head down the wrong path.

We may not appreciate the night seasons.  This is often when anxiety, fear, stress, anger, lust, or all sorts of emotions come out.  There is nothing there to compete with the attention of the mind.  They flow freely.  Some do not like the night seasons for that very reason.  Now that life has come to a quiet repose, they are faced with the ugliness that has been stored inside.  Like we were taught in PTSD, the only way to get past the wall is to confront those emotions, express those emotions, then define those emotions into the will of God.  Sitting on them will only cause more harm.  The night seasons are a time to reflect.  A time to reflect on who we are and why we are what we are.  The night seasons are a time when we can listen to the heart is it is examined and shaped by God’s counsels so that both can instruct us into what God wants us to be.

Loving Poverty

“He that loveth pleasure shall be a poor man: he that loveth wine and oil shall not be rich.” (Pr 21:17 AV)

The word ‘…loveth…’ here means to have an affection for.  It means to be inclined to possess or experience.  The understanding is a desire that overrides all prudence and discipline.  Pleasure and things are not necessarily wrong to experience or possess.  However, if our lives are organized around an affection for those things, suffering a lack of needs is our result.  This is an old truth.  This is a truth of which we are all aware.  We know this.  Yet, we struggle with it because we live in such an affluent society.  We are bombarded with the idea our lives should be filled with nothing but pleasure and luxury.  We are told the objective of life is to enjoy it.  We are brainwashed into thinking all hardship can be avoided.  We have the idea of comfort and ease preached to us from the time we leave for the office until we rest our heads at night.  Again, our lives do not have to be non-stop misery and trouble.  No one is suggesting this.  However, if we make it our life’s ambition to experience nothing but pleasures and the accruing everything our hearts can desire, we will wind up empty and miserable.

I am deeply concerned for our present generation.  They seem not to care about anything other than immediate pleasure.  All one has to do is observe our addiction to our smartphones.  As our liberties are whittled away on the pretense of eternal physical life, we are completely oblivious because we cannot put our phones down.  Our passion for personal improvement is dulled by the newest app.  We could not care less what freedoms are lost as long as we score the highest score while we save the universe or spell the most words.  We are numb to the draconian executive orders coming off the printing press because we are too busy posting or reading our social media accounts.  It doesn’t bother us we are micromanaged as long as we can fill our souls with the abundance of scintillating stimuli of dancing ions as they mesmerize us unto a stupor.  There was an episode of Star Trek: The Next Generation called The Game.  Commander Riker returns from shore leave with a game one wears and plays.  It is designed to stimulate the pleasure centers of the brain while minimizing higher functions.  It was designed by nefarious aliens intent on controlling all their adversaries.

What concerns me is this same cultural cancer is infecting our churches.  The saints of God are in pursuit of a trouble-free life.  We don’t know what hardship is.  When it is thrust upon us, our first instinct is to get out of it.  What we fail to do is understand why and for what purpose the LORD may have designed such an event.  The very definition of the Christian life is to deny self, take up the cross, and follow Jesus.  This love for pleasure and things is the greatest of all enemies to the cause of Christ and the maturity of the believer.  All one has to do is look at the waistline of this writer and one can easily discern the writer struggles with this too.  We are facing something in our nation and churches that will test the true maturity of the believer.  Will we remain faithful even though we cannot meet?  Will we continue to support the work of God even though we are not assembled?  We watch our own church and pastor while he live-streams, or will we ‘channel surf’ different venues to take in a more entertaining man of God?  We are faced with unprecedented times.  What we love will rise to the surface as we react to severe life changes.  What do we love?  Do we love the LORD more than anything?  Or, do we desire pleasures and things only to be disappointed in the end.

Some Golden Daybreak

“My soul waiteth for the Lord more than they that watch for the morning: I say, more than they that watch for the morning.” (Ps 130:6 AV)

The word ‘wait’ or ‘waiteth’ have various means.  It could mean to serve, as to wait on tables.  It could mean to tarry like waiting patiently for your name to be called.  Here, the word means to hope for, anticipate, or expect.  This form of waiting has faith as its foundation.  This type of waiting looks for and fully expects, a certain end.  This Psalm is one of the Psalms of Degrees.  Psalms of Degrees; meaning to go up or down as in a thermometer; were the Psalms sung at the entrance of the tabernacle as the penitent ascended into the tabernacle or descended from it.  The particular Psalm was, more than likely, sung as the penitent ascended the tabernacle mount or temple stairs in anticipation of meeting with God.  There is a particular anticipation which the saint should feel.  We should look for the return of our LORD as those who watch for the morning.  We should desire the fellowship of God as those who earnestly look for the sunrise. 

It has been almost three years since my wife and I moved from the country back to a large city.  For the most part, we have lived in the country.  I grew up in a small city.  There are pluses and minuses to each.  The city is wonderful if you like convenience and security from threats like the weather or wildlife.  However, privacy is an issue.  Peace and quiet are hard to find.  Country living is great for those who like a slower pace of life.  For those who like the absence of traffic noise or simply like to see the stars at night, it is the place to live.  If we like wide open spaces to play and feel free, then the country is where we need to be.  But, things are farther apart.  In the case of an emergency, help us not nearly as quickly.  Finding things we need takes a bit more effort.   Neighbors are farther apart and a bit less reliable in the case of a simple need.  If given the choice, I would rather live in the country.

We recently acquired a new member of our family.  We were gifted a purebred Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  He loves to get up early.   These dogs are people dogs and he does not like to be away from us for any length of time.  So, when morning comes, he needs his attention.  This means I need to get out of bed in the wee hours of the morning.  He needs to go out.  More than that, he needs to sit on my lap and take a nap.  As the robins and other songbirds have made their arrival, I was reminded how much I love the early morning.  As a turkey hunter, there would be many mornings I would find myself sitting under a tree and watching the woods wake up.  That is what I miss most from country living.  The morning.  As the fog lifts and the birds begin to sing, there is nothing more peaceful and beautiful to me.  The early morning speaks of hope, newness, anticipation, and peace.  As the reddish-purple clouds begin to lighten the darkness of the night, one can see a critter scurry about to find food, a mate, or return to a den.  It is still cool.  The heat of the day has not yet arrived.  Super comfortable.  When I worked the graveyard shift, I would go out the back door at the break of dawn just to see the sunrise anew.  This is the idea of this verse.

We live and serve in a dark world.  Evil surrounds us.  Trials are a way of life.  Hardship is the common human condition of which we all share.  There are many blessings in life.  Jesus has promised to give us life, and that more abundantly.  Equally so, life is compared to warfare, a pilgrimage, and a race.  Life is a balance between the blessings of God and the consequences of our existence.  The anticipation of the morning is what gets us through.  Knowing we have a time of personal devotions of which the world cannot invade is what gets us through the hard times.  It is the earnest looking forward to that gives us the ability to endure.  Knowing things will not always remain as they are is the hope which renews the soul.  Experiencing times of regeneration from experiences of the past speak loudly to the near-empty reserves of our tattered souls.  Believing with all our hearts that when the sun rises, our strength will be renewed day by day is that keeps us faithful in the long dark nights of this life.

So, I am not ashamed to put my name among those who seek the LORD like we do the morning.  Don’t get me wrong.  I appreciate the opportunity to serve the LORD and endure for His name in any way He would require.  I feel privileged to be put on the front lines of the spiritual warfare to which He has called us.  I am more than glad to take up the standard and fight for as long as I have breath in my being.  But, like a soldier proud to serve his country amid an honorable warfare, I still look forward to the end of my tour.  I know my General and master is returning.  I know He is coming back.  I know the new day will dawn with joy in our hearts.  I know this will all come to an end and we will stand with our Redeemer.  As the morning sunrise, we look with aching hearts for the One who died for us!  Oh, for the morning!

A Candle of Hope

“For thou wilt light my candle: the LORD my God will enlighten my darkness.” (Ps 18:28 AV)

Psalm eighteen is one of the Psalms which David writes upon the death of Saul and all those who sought his life.  No doubt those eight years of flight were dark.  The last sixteen months were particularly so.  Finding the need to dwell in Ziklag of the Philistines lest Saul continues to seek his life, it may have given him a bit of respite, but it certainly wasn’t the time of his life.  Those sixteen months were not exactly filled with joy.  His own parents were on the other side Jordon with the Moabites.  His family was in Judah.  David was all alone.  Right before the battle that took Saul’s life, the Amalekites invaded Ziklag as David and his men were in Gath.  They came back to a burnt-out city.  They came back to all their wives and children kidnapped.  David’s men wanted to stone him.  This is now low David had gotten.  When word came back that Saul was dead, it was like someone lit a candle in a very dark room.  It may not have been a flood of overwhelming light, but it was enough to encourage his heart that God still cared.  The darkness may not have been completely eliminated, but enough light was given that there was no hope for the future.  Hope is a powerful thing!  We don’t need a whole lot.  One candle may not seem like a whole lot of light.  But in a pitch-black room, one candle is all one would need.

Years ago, I went through an initiation that today would probably be considered a bit on the non-PC spectrum.  This initiation required each individual to be dropped off in the woods in the pitch-black darkness with nothing more than a poncho and a sleeping bag.  No flashlight.  No tent.  No pillow.  No matches.  No water.  No food.  Just a sleeping bag and poncho.  What made this worse was it was an early summer night where temperatures still got down into the fifties and it was raining.  We had no idea where we were or how to get back to camp.  Each boy was separated far enough that we couldn’t see each other.  We were sworn to twenty-four hours of silence.  Failure to survive the night or speaking the next day automatically meant one had failed the test.  By far, the most miserable night of my life.  Mosquitoes were relentless.  The slow drip of the rain was like a loud drum beat.  I’ll have to confess.  I cheated.  I wore a watch that had a bright backlight to it.  It was bright enough to see a few inches in front of my face.  Bright enough to kill each little bloodsucker that came around.  Bright enough to watch the hours go by which brought the hope of sunrise.  This little light was all I needed to survive the night.  As long as I could see the hours ticking by and knowing my guardians would arrive early, it was the hope that I had.  I didn’t need much.  I didn’t need a roaring bonfire.  All I needed was the light of my Timex watch to endure the torture of the darkness.

This is the power of hope.  Hope that only God can give.  This hope is available to the child of God by the Word of God.  The more we read of the goodness and faithfulness of the LORD, the more we are encouraged through these dark times.  We have hope which the lost world does not have.  We have to remember this.  We may be impatient with those who think pestilence is the worst the world can thrust upon us.  But it is not.  We have to remember they are reacting this way because they have little hope.  They do not know the LORD nor have the comfort of eternal life.  We have both.  We need to stop listening to the voices that would rob us of hope.  We are not saying we should remain naïve regarding the seriousness of this, or any other set of circumstances.  Absolutely we should take prudent precautions.  But not at the expense of hope.  God is still in control.  He knew from eternity past 2020 was going to bring about this challenge.  The pride of man has thrown this upon us.  God did not.  God is a merciful God who gives us the way out.  That way out is repentance and faith.  We have hope.  Our hope is in eternal life and a God of all grace.  The darkness is still there.  But there is a candle lit.  The candle of hope!