What A Comfort

“He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds.” (Ps 147:3 AV)

What a comfort!  Those of us who struggle to be what God wants us to be can deeply appreciate the verse above.  We have lived, fought, and failed to be what God wants us to be.  We have fallen to the flesh, the world, and the devil.  We have done some good, but not nearly as much as we had hoped.  The thing is, we serve an infinitely merciful God!  As much as we have failed to measure up to the full stature of the LORD Jesus Christ, His mercy goes infinitely beyond it.  We can look back at this past year and celebrate the good that He was able to accomplish through our yielded hearts.  We can praise Him for all the lives that have been touched because He has allowed and empowered us to serve Him as best we can.  Yet, there are those times we wish we could take back.  There are those choices we wish we hadn’t made.  We have caused wounds to the soul and our heart is broken over what we still remain to be.  It is the promise above that gets us up every morning.  It is the knowledge that in the end, He will fix everything!  And I mean, everything!

I haven’t spent a whole lot of my life in the hospital.  I had my tonsils out when I was in grade school.  I spent a few days in the hospital after a severe concussion.  And I had outpatient shoulder surgery.  Other than that, I haven’t had any serious hospital stays.  So, I can only imagine what it might be like for someone who had a serious hospital stay.  Several years ago, my friend Mike rolled his jeep.  He was airlifted to Nashville.  For the first few days, it was touch and go.  He suffered many broken bones but the worst of it was severe head trauma.  I remember being with the family for several days.  They stayed in the lobby of a very large level-one trauma hospital in the Nashville area.  The entire extended family was waiting for this emergency to play itself out to its divinely appointed end.  Whatever that might be.  I still remember the first time I was allowed to see him.  It was not pretty.  He was bandaged and in a body cast from head to almost his toes.  He was in a medically induced coma.  The ICU to which he was assigned was an open unit.  No solid walls were separating the patients.  They were in stalls in a U-shaped pattern around the nursing station.  That way, the nurses could tend to the patients extremely quickly.  All I could think to do was to pray and ask the LORD to spare Mike’s life.  Which He did!

Mike made a full recovery.  It was a miracle.  There was no humanly possible way Mike should have made it through such a tragic accident.  But God is bigger than anything we will ever face and it is His providential care that gets us through it.  When it comes to the battles of life, our God is bigger.  We will fall.  We will bump our knees.  We will cause harm to our lives and souls.  But God is always there.  He will pick us up out of the messes we have created, clean us off, and bind us with the balm of Gilead.  He will heal us and put us back on the road to spiritual growth.  Just like a human father would never allow his child to suffer more than he or she needs to, God will not allow us to go through this life with gaping wounds and shattered lives.  He is in the healing business.  He is in the restoration business.  He is in the business of taking a life wrecked by poor choices and making something beautiful from it.  Our God loves us more than we can ever comprehend.  I, for one, and so grateful for the reminder and comfort He has provided in the verse above.  Praise be to His name!

Remember The Past for the Sake of the Present

“I remember the days of old; I meditate on all thy works; I muse on the work of thy hands. I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.” (Ps 143:5-6 AV)

There is cause for remembering the past.  When it seems as though our present isn’t as good as our past, it is a good thing to remember the past so that we can see God in the present.  He has not changed.  He is still as active in the present as He was in the past.  We simply have a harder time seeing Him in the present than we do in the past.  We can look back and see how much the LORD has changed us.  We can see the day of our salvation as the start of radical change.  Change came quickly and dramatically.  We had long hair, cussed, and did things we would be embarrassed to admit.  All those things were rejected in a moment.  It seemed as though God worked in obvious and dramatic ways.  Over the years, we have had a harder time seeing God work because the changes we see are not nearly as dramatic.  This does not mean God has ceased to work.  He still is working.  He is working just as much as He did on the day we accepted Christ.  We have to be reminded of this.  We have to look at the past as proof of the present.  If God worked as He did decades ago, He is still working the same even though we may not be able to notice it all.

Remembering the past, however, has no value unless it produces a thirst in the present.  This is the psalmist’s prayer.  He remembers the past because he is thirsty for the LORD to do a dramatic work in the present.  Some look at the past with regret over the present.  They wish to go back to the past.  They do not want to be in the present.  They resent the present.  They look at the past as better than the present.  Solomon tells us this is not wise.  “Say not thou, What is [the cause] that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” (Ec 7:10 AV)  This is not what the psalmist is saying here.  He does not resent the present as though the present was not any good.  He is simply asking the LORD to work in the present as He did in the past.  He is looking back with fondness.  He is looking back at what the LORD did for Him and is grateful.  He is not complaining about the present.  He is seeking the LORD’s hand today as it was yesterday.  And, there is nothing wrong with that!

When I look at the condition of our churches, I have to agree with the Psalmist.  We need revival.  We need God to do what He did in the 80s.  The latter half of the 70s and into the 80s were marked by great movements of the LORD’s hand on our nation.  It wasn’t a cultural movement like we are seeing today.  It wasn’t a faux revival brought on by a change in music styles or watered-down truth.  It was a true revival where people repented of their sin, were born again, and their lives radically changed as evidenced by holy living.  Because of God’s hand, there was an unprecedented time of church growth and building.  Churches were going up all over the place.  What we see today is a cultural revival.  Electronic communication is the fuel that fosters it.  There is no real change.  Values are not changed.  Behavior is not changed.  There is a form of godliness, but the power thereof is denied.  This lack of real change is not systemic of a certain brand of Christendom.  It is an epidemic.  It is across theological and philosophical strata.  What little numerical growth we see today is because we are selling a product rather than preaching a relationship.  My prayer is that God might work again as he did almost fifty years ago.  Our nation truly needs a real revival right now!  If it does not, our nation and the world will be lost.  I remember the works of old. I remember how God worked.  I ache for these days to return.  Please, God, work again!

Our Maintenance Program

“I know that the LORD will maintain the cause of the afflicted, and the right of the poor.” (Ps 140:12 AV)

 This verse is a great example of an O.T. promise applied in an N.T. way.  This promise is obviously made to a people whom God protects and for whom He provides.  This promise is millennial in nature.  God promises to care for His people in a just and benevolent way.  He does not promise to keep them in safety prior to that.  God made several promises to Israel, but Israel broke the covenant and the LORD had to allow enemies into their nation.  These enemies afflicted them and treated them unjustly.  Eventually, they would be scattered for almost two thousand years.  Therefore, this promise will not be realized until Israel accepts their Messiah, Jesus Christ, and they enter the millennial reign together.  Therefore, we cannot realistically take the promise above as our own.  Surely, we will suffer affliction and be unjustly treated.  As God’s people, we have a target on our backs.  The world, the flesh, and the devil conspire to make our lives difficult.  How we can apply this is spiritually.  God will protect us from spiritual affliction and unjust charges from the adversary if we allow Him to.  The answer is the same answer Jesus had.  The truth of God’s word.

We are spiritually afflicted in many ways.  Discouragement, self-condemnation, anxiety, despair, etc all work to bring us down in spirit and demeanor.  Confusion, life changes, and simple exhaustion can wear us down.  Failure to be what God wants us to be can bring with it baggage that we carry everywhere we go.  Add to this affliction the words and charges of the adversary and you have real trouble.  Like Joshua the priest, we stand condemned.  And rightfully so.  The Devil will not let us forget that.  By the way, what gives someone who is the most wicked of all any moral standing to bring any charges against God’s elect?  The adversary loves to remind you just how much you have failed.  He loves to remind you that you will never be what God wants you to be.  At least not in this life.  He loves to bring up the past.  He loves to use the facts against you.  His charges are valid only in the sense they are true.  What he never reminds us of is the forgiveness and mercy of God.  He wants us to live in constant defeat to the flesh and any way he can make that happen, he is more than happy to try.

We cannot claim the promise above as a promise God has made us in the physical nature of this life.  Affliction and persecution are part of the package we signed up for.  With faith comes a battle.  That battle is relentless and unyielding.  What God has promised us is the strength to endure through whatever our adversary can dish out.  Spiritually, we should be consistence victors.  Just something that should be obvious:  God cannot promise to meet our needs in times of affliction and persecution if they do not exist.  Therefore, the LORD is not promising to remove them completely.  Simply, He is promising to minimize the effects of these times so that we can grow spiritually.  We all want an end to the battle.  But the mature in Christ know these battles will not end until our glorification.  Until that time, the grownup thing to do is to stay in the battle and allow the promise above to empower you through it.

Right Where You Are Supposed to Be

“LORD, my heart is not haughty, nor mine eyes lofty: neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” (Ps 131:1 AV)

This psalm is not intended to discourage attainment or success.  There is no absolute benchmark that applies to all here.  In other words, what is wrong for one may not be for another.  One may work toward a goal or stature in life and be perfectly right with God in doing so.  While another, whose ambition is unbridled, may seek the same stature and be out of the will of God in doing so.  The key is the two verses that follow.  David was where he was supposed to be because, as a weaned child, was content in his dependency upon God and in verse three, he did not lose faith in God.  Or, putting it another way, his faith was in God and not in himself.  David was king!  He was king of God’s people.  There was nothing greater anyone could attain.  He was honored above his fellows.  He sought things that were too high for him in Goliath, a lion, a bear, and Saul.  With God, they were not.  With him alone, they were.   Again, the person that you are will determine the person you are supposed to be.  If self-sufficiency and ambition are your traits, then you are prone to have lofty eyes that exercise themselves in things too high or too great for them.  However, if you can keep a contented and humble spirit all the while trusting in the LORD for the calling at hand, then you must be in the will of God.

Our human nature desires to grow.  This means pushing ourselves in ways that result in that growth.  We want to be further down the road and accomplish more than we did in the past.  Our human propensity for competition drives us toward accomplishment.  We strive for the master.  We want that first-place trophy.  We want to be the head of the class.  We want accolades above our peers so we can have a sense of self-worth.  We have to be unique.  We have to be the best version of ourselves that we can be.  It doesn’t take long before we figure out we cannot be the best at most that we try.  I have a brother who was constantly competing against me.  If I tried something, he had to try it, too.  The problem was, no matter what I tried, he always exceeded where I was merely average.  After years of trying to find that one special skill that no one else could match, you come to the conclusion you are not all that special.  At least not any more special than anyone else.   Every young person goes through the same self-evaluation.  Teen depression can sometimes be traced back to this struggle to find Self.  The whole teen experience can be summed up in the verse above.  It is a learning curve of what is too high or lofty an ambition that it cannot be successfully pursued.

God made us and not we ourselves.  He knows what part in life we are to play.  He is the master builder.  He is the creator.  He is the one who has the entire human race in perfect balance so that we accomplish His perfect will.  He knows how and why He designed us.  To be less or more than He intended is to bring great harm to Him, us, or both.  Knowing our place and being content in that place is the point here.  David, because of what God called him to do, concerned himself with great matters.  These great matters were not great for him.  Because he was able to keep a child-like spirit and never become self-sufficient, he was exactly where he was supposed to be.  It isn’t the measure of the calling of a man that makes the man.  It is his attitude and faith while discharging that calling that makes the man.

Never Say Die

“Many a time have they afflicted me from my youth: yet they have not prevailed against me.” (Ps 129:2 AV)

That‘s the spirit!  Never say ‘die’.  The LORD has a theme going on here.  Yesterday, the LORD promised to keep our feet from slipping.  Today, we see the Psalmist's resolve played out over a lifetime.  He may have lost some battles, but he has not lost the war!  He won’t let himself lose the war!  The writer knows how weak and frail he is.  He knows the adversary is mightier than he.  He knows the adversary is relentless and will not cease to attack as long as he has breath in his lungs.  He knows the war is life-long.  At times, it is tolerable and can be overcome with little effort.  However, most of the time, the battle is more than he can bear.  What he will not do is to allow the enemy to win the war.  He will take a blow or two.  He will suffer loss.  But he will not allow the enemy the satisfaction of beating him.  Not in the least.  He has God on his side!  Sometimes, he doesn’t lean on the LORD as he should.  Sometimes the desires of the flesh get the better of him.  He brushes himself off.  He polishes the armor.  He picks up the sword of the word of God.  And, he recommits to the war.  He may get knocked down.  He may even suffer serious injury.  But he will stand in the power of God’s might as long as he walks this earth!

The measure of our resolve is measured by what it takes to keep us down.  Because of where my son and his family live, they keep a German shepherd as a guard dog.  This dog protects the family from all sorts of threats.  Human threats are the most serious.  They also have natural threats from wildlife that would normally bring serious hurt to anyone confronted by it.  He sent me a clip of his faithful dog fighting off one such threat.  He was fighting off a rather large lizard.  Normally, lizards are not all that serious.  Very few are poisonous.  But lizards tend to carry very serious bacteria in their mouths.  If bitten by one, illness and death can follow.  Not from a venom, but from the deadly bacteria that live in its mouth.  My grandchildren would not know this.  Not unless they have been trained.  Even so, they are still very little and may not understand that it is better to leave wildlife undisturbed rather than to interact with it.  Anyway, this dog was trying to chase this lizard out of the backyard.  It was a herculean task because the lizard could not find any break in the fence through which it could escape.  The exchange between these two animals went on for quite some time.  The dog would pin the lizard against the fence and it would lash out at the dog.  At one moment in the clip, you could see the lizard panting for air.  It got really tired.  That is when my son called off the dog and allowed the lizard to casually saunter off to safety.  That lizard took a bit or two.  It was injured.  But it was never going to turn tail and run.  It would face that dog until one of them was dead.

We need that same resolve!  When it comes to the challenges and battles of life, turning tail and running may cause more harm than good.  Flight is not always the best option.  Perhaps it is for a first encounter.  If the threat persists, a fight is the right response.  The thing is, God is our strength.  He is our mighty tower.  We do not have to fight these fights alone.  We can go to Him when the adversary is clearly too large for us to handle.  We can run to His shadow.  We can call upon our Champion to stand before the adversary!  We can claim the blood of Christ as our defense.  There is no reason to cower before the enemy.  There is no reason to give up hope.  There is no reason to tap out.  God is on our side and no matter what, we will win the war no matter how many battles we might lose along the way.

Sure-footed

“He will not suffer thy foot to be moved: he that keepeth thee will not slumber.” (Ps 121:3 AV)

We know this promise is prophetical and Messianic in nature, but the same principle applies to all of God’s children.  This promise is not one of absolute tranquility and prosperity.  Jesus went to the Cross, after all.  Jesus was not protected from every adversarial situation possible.  He suffered hunger.  He suffered loss.  He suffered pain.  He suffered thirst.  Jesus did not live a carefree life without trouble or trial.  This is not the meaning of the promise.  Clearly, it did not work out that way.  Rather, the promise is one of divine purpose in balance with divine protection.  Both must be considered.  God will not allow us to suffer hardship that would cause us to lose hope and strength in His person.  He will not allow us to be tried above that which we are able.  This is the meaning of the first part of the promise.  The wind may blow us around, but the storm will not uproot us.  The second half of the verse is the foundation of the first half.  A God who does not slumber is both active and attentive.  He knows exactly what is going on and is involved in the circumstances of life.  What I particularly take away from this promise the my unmovable foot!  That is all I pray for.  Not the removal of all trouble, but when it happens, I will endure through it with the glory of God as my standard.

Learning to ice skate was an adventure.  Ice skating and swimming were two skills upon which my father insisted we learn.  The latter made complete sense.  It was a safety thing.  If we learned to swim, we could go near water without my parents being nervous.  Ice skating, on the other hand, was for pure enjoyment.  Living in an area of the country where ice was available from November to April, ice skating was one of those things we did to keep ourselves occupied.  We all learned the same way.  My father got us these strap-on double-bladed skates that strapped on over our boots.  Onto the ice, we would go.  Between our father’s legs.  He would hold us up and teach us the find our balance.  Then he would show us out to glide.  Once we seemed to get that down, he would hold us by one hand rather than by two between his legs.  All the while, we would slip and sometimes fall.  But he was always there to hold us up, right us, and get us back on the way to learning how to skate all by ourselves.  It didn’t take very long.  An hour or two and we were flying around the rink.  Dad didn’t keep us from getting hurt.  Getting hurt was sometimes the only way we would learn.  Dad didn’t promise us we would sprain an ankle, bruise a knee, or maybe even cut a lip.  What he did do was to keep us from life-changing injuries or getting discouraged. 

What I see in the promise above is not the absence of all trouble.  I don’t see the LORD promising that no matter what life might bring, I will never be stressed, fearful, or worn out.  What I do see is a promise of endurance.  What I do see is the promise that I might bend, but because God doesn’t sleep, I will not break.  What I do see is even though I might fail the LORD more than I care to think about, in the end, He will enable me to do more for Him than I realize.  What I see is not perfection in this life.  I don’t see a promise of absolute success in all that I do.  I don’t see the end of all battles.  What I do see is an ever-present God who has my life and soul in the palm of His hand and He will keep me in the center of His will no matter what!  Praise the LORD!

Merry Christmas

“But when the fulness of the time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, made under the law, To redeem them that were under the law, that we might receive the adoption of sons.” (Ga 4:4-5 AV)

Merry Christmas!  God is so good!  No matter what life may bring to our table, the best gift of all cannot be forgotten.  Jesus came to earth and endured the wrath of the Father so that we might have forgiveness of sins.  He came under the law and fulfilled the law.  He offered Himself as the perfect sacrifice tested under the law and without sin.  This He did for every soul ever created.  No exceptions.  He died for all.  All the sinner must do is repent from sin and unbelief trusting solely in what Jesus Christ has already done.

There is a difference; a big difference; in the celebration of Christmas depending on one’s relationship with the Savior whom we claim to celebrate.  For those who worship Him as both LORD and Savior, this holiday has a much deeper meaning.  For those who have never accepted Christ as both LORD and Savior, the holiday seems more like an observation of tradition than an act of worship.  Don’t get me wrong.  I grew up lost.  Christmas was very religious to our family.  This was a heritage passed down which I deeply appreciated and still appreciate.  There were several traditions I wish I had continued with my own family but never did.  My parents did a perfect job of keeping this holiday a sacred one.  Regardless of the gifts under the tree or the other Germanic traditions that came along with Christmas, we were never afforded the opportunity to forget that Christmas was about a babe in a manger who would grow up to be our Savior.  As special as those years were, Christmas did not come truly alive for me until the Christmas of 1982.  That was the first year I celebrated Christmas after receiving Jesus as my LORD and personal Savior.  It was different.  It was far more personal.

This is what I pray for.  I pray all the lost souls of the world would realize there is a personal Savior who wants to save them from their sins, come into their hearts, and give them the gift of eternal life.  The most expensive or largest gift under the tree cannot be compared with the forgiveness of sin and eternal affirmation from a God who loves without limits.  So, if you don’t know Jesus Christ personally.  If you have no peace in your heart concerning your relationship with God.  If you cannot remember a time when you accepted Jesus Christ as your personal Savior and He radically changed your life, why not make this Christmas the most important of all?  Ask Him!  Receive Him!  You’ll never celebrate Christmas the same way again.

The Good In The Bad

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.” (Ps 119:71 AV)

Affliction can come in several forms.  Affliction does not always mean chastisement.  Affliction can be a trial of faith.  Affliction can also simply be our normal human experience.  Affliction is any set of circumstances that change ease into discomfort.  The Psalmist has enough maturity and insight to realize affliction, in all its forms, does the soul good.  In particular, the person is afflicted in body, mind, or spirit so that he can learn to live in obedience to the word of God.  We know this, but we often miss the connection.  We notice that after an affliction, we tend to walk with God a bit easier.  That is until times of prosperity arise.  Then the temptation is right around the corner.  We attribute the revival to our enhanced prayer life amid the affliction.  What we often miss is the affliction itself has a way of cleansing disobedience, anxiety, or wrong thinking from our person.

As I write this, I am on day six of a flu bug.  It hit me pretty hard.  The fever is relentless.  I am waiting for the moment it breaks.  But this bug is a bit different.  The fever is not leaving en masse.  It is slowly improving.  Something different.  I’m pretty sure it isn’t COVID.  I don’t have the upper respiratory issues I had the last time I went through that.  This is more a fever, aches, congestion, and fatigue sort of thing.  I love all the sleep!  It is awesome.  One thing I noticed.  Sin doesn’t seem nearly as close to me as it was when I was well.  And for that, I am so grateful.  Impulses of the flesh, mind, and will are not nearly as strong.  Praise the LORD!  I have lost twelve pounds in a week.  I think it is time to write a weight loss book!  With Lisa’s cancer, I have found the LORD changing me personally into a better form of me.  He has enabled me to become far more patient and gracious.  I am more kind than I have ever been before.  Priorities have changed.  What I thought mattered the most, was all of a sudden, not all that important anymore.  What the Spirit has shown me is the afflictions of life have a way of whittling away all the stuff that keeps us from being what God wants us to be.

I know we don’t want to be afflicted.  It is contrary to our nature.  We wish life could be trouble-free.  But that is pie-in-the-sky thinking.  Life doesn’t work that way.  We live in an imperfect world partly because mankind has made it that way.  We live in failing bodies.  We exist with trouble all around us.  The way to navigate these times is to dwell on the positives of affliction.  Affliction has a way of drawing us closer to the LORD in ways that peace cannot.  Affliction has a way of silencing the old man enough that the new man can walk closer to God in obedience and faith.  I may not like the fever, multiple hot showers during the day, shortness of breath, aches and pains, or taking medicine every six hours.  But what I do absolutely love is the closeness and cleanliness I feel towards the God who loves me and saved me!  So, praise be to God for the affliction He allows or sends.  It is for my good.  And for yours as well.

Return For The Right Reason

“The LORD said unto my Lord, Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool. The LORD shall send the rod of thy strength out of Zion: rule thou in the midst of thine enemies.” (Ps 110:1-2 AV)

The Father speaks to the Son here.  The Son is told to sit on the right hand of the Father until the Father puts His enemies in subjection to the Son.  When He does, then strength will come out of Jerusalem and the Son will rule over His enemies.  There is a companion passage to this in Revelation.  “And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become [the kingdoms] of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” (Re 11:15 AV)  This revelation is for the consolation of those who are looking for the appearance of our LORD and Savior, for sure.  But more importantly, this passage is a statement for the glory of Jesus Christ!  We will look for the coming of Christ.  We will pray for it.  But ultimately, Jesus is coming again to reclaim what is rightfully His.  He is coming for His own glory first and foremost.

It is common for us to forget the glory of God is God’s priority.  Yes, He loves mankind enough to send His Son to suffer and die for us all.  What grace!  But what He does He does for His glory, first.  Those who do not understand God may think this to be arrogant.  But quite the contrary.  God is the Creator of all things.  He is the omnipotent and only wise God.  Besides Him, there is none else.  God is the all-knowing and ever-present sovereign God who has all things in the center of His will.  God is not simply the greatest of all beings.  He most certainly is that.  God is also infinite in His existence.  He has no beginning or end.  He is infinitely greater than the combination of all that exists.  He has no bounds.  He is the greatest without limits.  For God not to seek His own glory would be less than who and what He is.  To not exercise His glory above all He has created means He ceases to be God.  When God, in the person of Jesus Christ, returns to earth, it will be for the comfort of His people, yes.  But more importantly, He will return because He alone deserves all glory due to anything or anyone.

Every night, I pass off into sleep while praying for the return of Christ.  Every night without exception, the last thing I ask for is the return of Jesus Christ to this planet so that He might stop all the wickedness that is so pervasive.  Rather than seek His return for how it might benefit all mankind, maybe I should seek His return because He alone should be worshipped and glorified before all men.  Do I want Jesus to return?  Absolutely!  And, for many right reasons.  Wickedness is making victims of our most helpless of all people.  Babies are killed in the womb for nothing more than convenience’s sake.  Children are being mutilated and brainwashed by groomers who project their own perverted hearts onto the most helpless as a way to legitimize their rebellion.  As horrible as those things are, the most important motive for the LORD’s return is His glorification.  Not our comfort.  Perhaps when God’s people begin to pray in that manner, then the return of Christ will be closer than when we had first believed!

Sweet Meditation on the Greatness Of God

“Bless the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, thou art very great; thou art clothed with honour and majesty…My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.” (Ps 104:1,34 AV)

Space would not permit me to quote all the verses that fall between these two.  The writer masterfully illuminates all that God does which leads him to believe God is very great.  It is well worth the read and meditation.  What struck me was the simple truth of the statement above and the reaction this truth had on the writer.  God is very great!  He is greater than our minds can comprehend.  God can become common to us.  He can lose His luster.  God can begin to appear as less than He is because we have forgotten.  Not because He has lost any of what He is.  He is very great.  Because He is, our meditation of Him should be sweet resulting in gladness of soul.

Life has a way of obscuring our sense of God.  We get busy or overwhelmed.  We get discouraged or we get upset.  Life has a way of taking on a life of its own.  It seems we do not have enough time in the day to meditate on the greatness of God.  We nod off to sleep quickly and if the LORD gets a few minutes of our time, that would be generous.  And we wonder why we struggle so much.  Perhaps if we took the time to remember the LORD and how great He is, we would perceive life a whole lot differently. 

The Psalmist takes the time to rehearse all that God is and does.  He does so in the context of things we observe, but cannot understand.  Some of it concerns creation.  Other statements regarding how the LORD patiently works with fallen mankind.  The list is rather extensive.  If we were to stop and meditate on all that the universe is and all God does for us, we cannot help but agree with the writer.  This meditation becomes sweet because we realize that the God who is very great loves us with everlasting love.  Our meditation on the greatness of God becomes sweet because if He can do everything He has done, then whatever we are going through is not too big for Him!  What a wonderful psalm.  A simple one.  One that we need not study hours on end to understand.  A simple reminder that God is great and if we were to meditate on that greatness, our hearts would be full of gladness.

Our Responsibility

“Say among the heathen that the LORD reigneth: the world also shall be established that it shall not be moved: he shall judge the people righteously.” (Ps 96:10 AV)

This a hard message to preach considering the heathen have the misconception they are running things.  Regardless, it is still true.  The heathen believe they have kicked out God or that God is a deist who is not concerned with the affairs of human beings.  This is not so.  As the book of Revelation shows us, the kingdoms of this world will become the kingdoms of our God.  When Jesus comes back, there will be a reckoning.  So, what is our job?  We are to speak the truth even they will not hear and they will mock us to scorn.  Get ready for it.  But it doesn’t matter.  They must know what is coming.  They have to know they are in peril.  This is our obligation.  This is our duty.

God needs no verification.  This is what Nebuchadnezzar figured out.  This powerful regal figured out the God of heaven rules among the children of men.  If they have the misconception they rule, it is God who allowed for this strong delusion.  Daniel is our example.  He preached the truth and took a great risk in doing so.  He did not hold bitterness in his heart for the persecution he suffered. Daniel told it like it was and let the chips fall where they may.  This was especially true when he interpreted the writing on the wall.  The writing on the wall foretold the doom of the kingdom that we to befall Babylon that night.  It wasn’t a pleasant message.  The gift that followed meant nothing.  The end of all things was coming and there was no time to waste.  Repentance was demanded yet ignored.

Our conversations are softened to the point we are trying too hard to not offend those who need the truth.  There is no easy way to tell someone they are lost and in need of salvation.  Especially if they are confident in their own religion or righteousness.  The message must go out.  How horrible would we be if we sat on the only means of deliverance and never said a word to those who will suffer torment in hell forever?  The closer we get to the coming of Christ, the more difficult this will become.  But it must be done.

The Promise of Righteousness

“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)

The meaning here is straightforward.  The context is Israel’s exodus and their experiences in the wilderness.  Specifically speaking, the LORD makes a comparison between Israel’s misfortunes during those forty years and has and will be coming on the heathen for their treatment of God’s people.  Both Israel and their pagan neighbors suffered at the hands of God.  But they suffered for very different objectives.  The heathen, and Egypt in particular, suffered the judgment of God for their treatment of Israel and these judgments were motivated solely by justice.  There was no hope of a national repentance and coming to the one true God.  The judgment of God upon the unrepentant was drastic and thorough.  There was no coming back from it.  On the other hand, the people of God suffered the judgment of God, but for a very different purpose.  They needed to learn to trust and obey God.  Sometimes the only way to learn this is by very hard lessons.  What I particularly enjoy is the underlined promise above.  When the LORD works with us to teach and correct us, we will learn to live in righteousness.  I know sometimes we may doubt this.  Especially with more failures than successes sometimes.  But it is a promise nonetheless.

I know that sometimes we can spend too much time thinking about the corrective hand of God that we are discouraged.  The reason we are discouraged is that we forget the end result of it.  I am in the process of learning a new skill.  This one is particularly difficult given my age.  It is not a physical one.  Rather, I am trying to learn something that may benefit me later in life, but more importantly, will please someone I love very much.  This person will be shocked if the LORD helps me pull this one off.  It is a secret.  Not many people know this and I intend to keep it that way until I can use this skill for the sheer pleasure of someone whom I know will be deeply impressed and grateful.  In the process of learning this skill, I have to practice a lot.  I have to commit at least thirty minutes a day to going over drills repeatedly.  I have virtual instructors who help me with it.  Sometimes, they are not nice about it.  Sometimes, they make me feel silly.  Sometimes, they remind me of how many times I have made the same mistake.  There is affirmation throughout.  But there is also honest feedback on where I need more work and where I need to improve.  The outlet I am using to learn this skill will allow me to advance to new skills at will.  It is not success-based.  In other words, you do not have to master a skill to which you have been exposed before new skills are introduced.  I don’t do that because if I did, I would forget what I have learned.  Rather, I stick with the practice sessions until I am sure that I have it down.  The thing is, constant feedback and correction will lead to success!

The same is true with living in obedience and faith.  It is a learning process.  We make mistakes or we fear when God is able, and the LORD takes us through this with instruction and correction.  It is not a time to be discouraged.  Rather, it is a time to thank almighty God for His love and patience.  Rather than reject us like He does the unrepentant, He commits to our growth.  What a wonderful God we have!  He loves us!  He loves us enough to promise us that we will eventually succeed.  It may take dying off in the wilderness, but we will make it to the promised land of holiness and righteousness.  We may have to suffer at the hands who hate God, but in the end, we shall shine forth in holiness.  The promise above shouldn’t be shunned.  How we get there shouldn’t be avoided.  What a promise we have that if we yield to the hand of God, we will without a doubt, be transformed into perfection and holiness.  Glory, Hallelujah!

It Will Change Your Life

“Blessed is the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O LORD, in the light of thy countenance.” (Ps 89:15 AV)

The joyful sound is a reference to corporate worship sung at the Tabernacle or Temple.  The suggestion is a sound of worship and praise that was loud and consisted of many voices. The Hebrew definition of the phrase ‘joyful sound’ is, “alarm, signal, sound of tempest, shout, shout or blast of war or alarm or joy”.   This joyful sound was not a mere single ‘Amen’ in the back of the building.  This joyful sound was the entire congregation praising God with one voice, in unison, with response or psalm.  With trumpets, harps, and other musical instruments accompanying surrendered congregants, the sheer volume was overwhelming.  For the cursory attender, this would have been life-changing.  The suggestion goes even further.  If the cursory attender were to come faithfully and allow the tumultuous worship of the gratefully saved affect him or her, he or she would then more faithfully walk in the presence of the LORD’s countenance.

It is of the LORD that as I contemplate this passage and write this entry, I sit here with Handel’s Messiah playing on my TV.  For those unfamiliar, Handel’s Messiah is a masterpiece composed more than two hundred years ago.  George Frideric Handel sought a friend who would lay out the scriptures that would clearly tell the story of man’s fallen condition and the redemption that can be found in Jesus Christ alone.  According to historians, Handel composed this work in twenty-four days.  It is so well known that many have heard the most famous of this work – the Hallelujah Chorus.  It is so well known, that the chorus occurs in movies, television, and commercial ads.  As I sit here, I am listening in particular to the portion that recounts the crucifixion of Christ.  In particular, the choral entry based on Isaiah fifty-three and verse six.   “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD hath laid on him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa 53:6 AV)  As the choir ends this entry, I find tears of humble gratitude welling in my eyes.  The masterpiece has a way of boring the sculptures deep in the heart.  As another historian mentioned, a king congratulated Handel on his work and called it royal entertainment.  To which Handel responded that he did not intend to entertain, but change the life of the listener. I think he succeeded.  At least with this listener.

The thing is, as wonderful as Handel’s Messiah is, it pales in comparison to what we will experience in heaven.  That being said, we rob ourselves of the presence of God when we do not experience His presence in a way that can only be experienced in public worship.  We can be very intimate with God in the solace of our prayer closet.  God and the saint alone in the privacy of an inner chamber cannot be equaled.  But God did not create us to be solitary.  He created us to share our experience with God in a congregational setting as well.  There is something to be said of the presence of God when a multitude gathers to worship Him with clean hearts and humble spirits.  There is nothing else like it.  Once we participate in such an assembly, we will never see God the same way again!  This is the psalmist’s point.  To be exposed to a multitude who love God and desire to praise Him and only Him is life-changing.

Take The Fool's Challenge

“I will hear what God the LORD will speak: for he will speak peace unto his people, and to his saints: but let them not turn again to folly.” (Ps 85:8 AV)

This is what we do.  How pitiful are we?  We do not learn the easy way, do we?  We often get into trouble only to have God rescue us and we go right back to it.  This was Israel’s pattern and no matter how spiritual someone may pass themselves off as, it is their nature, too.  We are all like this.  We return to our folly.  Over time, however, we do learn.  But not after several hard lessons.  I look at that last phrase as both a challenge and a rebuke.  Perhaps more like the former than the latter.  Time and experience eventually cease the folly.  Yet, there is more folly to take its place.  This is Solomon’s point in his books of wisdom.  One cannot help but read these two books and walk away realizing just how foolish we can be.  If it wasn’t so sad, it would be humorous.  The ironic thing about this verse is the writer states he will hear when God speaks because when God speaks He does so in a comforting manner.  Because He does, we are encouraged not to take that for granted and return to our folly.  This is the key to success.  If we do not take God’s words for granted and truly appreciate His compassion and mercy, then folly becomes more difficult.

When I think of folly, I cannot help but think of my attempts to master the Southern culture.  It is not easy.  Especially for someone who was born and raised in the Northeast.  These two cultures are not just different.  They are diametrically opposed.  They are polar opposites.  What one culture is, the other is not.  In one sense, the reader might think it would be an easy transition.  Simply do the opposite.  But it is like trying to learn to drive on the opposite side of the road with the steering wheel on the other side of the car.  Just do the mirror opposite of what you have learned.  Not as easy as one might think.  Learning to speak the language and understand the nuances of the culture was a challenge.  And that is putting it mildly.  Folly was a regular practice.  I would constantly say the wrong thing or fail to say the right thing.  The hardest thing was trying to pick up on what was said but was never spoken.  There is a hidden language one must be very aware of.  Often what was never said is more important than what was said.  I felt like I was walking on eggshells the whole time I lived there.  Embarrassment was a regular thing with me.  But these people were very gracious.  They tried to help their Yankee pastor as much as they could.  Some things were simply beyond help.  I would learn.  But then I would unlearn.  I found myself time and again kicking myself for some miscommunication.  Folly was a daily occurrence.

We fail God every day.  Every day we are into sin either deliberately or by ignorance.  To say we are not is to fail to be honest with God and Self.  We can read and memorize the book of Proverbs all we want.  We can pray and seek the power of the Holy Spirit.  But until our heavenly glorification, we will be a bit foolish from time to time.  We can do one of two things.  We can either succumb to our foolishness as a hopeless condition that will never be cured here on earth.  We can give in to our foolishness and cease to battle.  Or, we can see it as a challenge.  We can look at our choices, chuckle, and then weep, and get back on the horse again.  We can seek God’s forgiveness even though we shake our heads at how foolish we have been.  God forgives.  Time and again and without number.  Then, we can look at our hearts and lives and determine the foolishness will not return.  That is our choice.  We either give in to foolishness, or we battle it.  Which will it be?

The Hand Of The Master

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

This is a particularly powerful verse when one considers the context.  This verse is one of great hope for those who desperately wish to be completely transformed into Christlikeness, but find ourselves failing more than we would like to admit.  The entire psalm is the history of Israel’s failures to trust the LORD and walk in obedience.  The psalm relays God’s response to Israel’s failure.  He corrects them.  He restores them.  He instructs them.  And He provides leadership to motivate them.  God never abandons Israel.  He never will.  Then we read the summation of the entire psalm in the last verse.  God knows what He is doing and He will guide us into glory as only He can.  He will work with us, molding us more and more into Christlikeness even though we disappoint Him time and again.  What I see above is great hope!  Hope that regardless of how far I am from what God wants me to be, He will never stop shaping me into what He wants me to be!

In High School, I took a lot of art classes.  We worked with a lot of different mediums.  We worked with paints and pencils.  We worked with stone, clay, and wire.  Sometimes, it was simple sketches with pencil and paper.  At other times, we build sculptures.  Because we were limited to class time, our work took weeks to complete.  There was another reason we took our time.  If we rushed, our work would not turn out as we wished.  Depending on the material, what was done in a brief forty-minute time slot had to dry and set before we could continue.  Otherwise, the work would be unstable.  At other times, we needed to walk away and give our imagination a rest so that when we came back to it, we had a fresh perspective.  We could work on the piece from a different angle.  There were other times when we walked away and let the work rest.  As it did, it settled into what it naturally would be.  We could complement what it had become and add or take from it to make it more attractive.  There were times when the piece needed to age so when we worked on it again, the hardening process would protect it against undo damage from later work.  Art requires imagination.  But it also requires a lot of patience.  A piece rarely comes in an instant.  It is a process of adding and subtracting over an extended period of time until the artist is convinced there is nothing left to do that will make the work more perfect.

We are much more than a piece of art to the LORD.  We are souls for whom Christ died.  We are His precious children whom He loves individually and infinitely.  He desires our conversion more than we ever could.  When we fail to trust or fall into sin, as much as it bothers us, it bothers Him infinitely more.  Yes, He is offended.  It hurts that we disobeyed or we do not trust Him as we should.  But even more so, like an earthly father, He is moved with compassion because He knows what we could be.  He knows what is possible and when we fail or fall, we do not reach that blessed potential that we are granted in Christ.  Our Father will never give up on us!  Never! By His skillful hand, like an artist shaping a masterpiece, He will guide us through life converting us into Christlikeness until we take that majestic image of Christ as our own.  He will never cease.  He loves us too much to quit.  Praise be to God that He is the God of all hope!  Praise be to Him!