Of Afflictions and Mercies

“I know, O LORD, that thy judgments [are] right, and [that] thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.  Let, I pray thee, thy merciful kindness be for my comfort, according to thy word unto thy servant. Let thy tender mercies come unto me, that I may live: for thy law [is] my delight. Let the proud be ashamed; for they dealt perversely with me without a cause: [but] I will meditate in thy precepts.” (Ps 119:75-78 AV)

I know I have written about the first verse above.  Affliction from God is a manifestation of His faithfulness toward us.  He loves us and knows that sometimes, the only way to learn lessons is to learn them the hard way.  God does not intend our afflictions for anything but good.  They are sent to bring about a change in us, or to strengthen our trust in the LORD.  Either way, the afflictions of life are a gift from God to be appreciated and not resented.  Yet, afflictions are still afflictions.  They are not pleasant.  Otherwise, they would not be called afflictions.  It is that second verse into the third that is our prayer this morning.  The LORD may send afflictions, but He doesn’t expect us to endure them without His mercy.  The psalmist asks for God’s merciful kindness and His tender mercies to ease the experience of the affliction.  He does not ask for the afflictions to be taken away.  He simply requests God’s kindness to better endure the affliction.

Modern medicine is a miracle.  Things that are possible today were not possible just a few decades ago.  I was recently reading about the vast improvement in cancer treatment and survival.  It was no minor improvement.  When I was a lad, if someone receives a cancer diagnosis, it meant an automatic death sentence.  There was little or no hope.  Much has changed in the last two decades.  No longer the case, someone who is diagnosed with certain types of cancers can survive much longer.  There is also a plethora of treatments and therapeutics for those suffering from this horrible disease.  In our own case, we have learned there are a number of options and just because we are fighting this disease does not mean our lives have to be defined by it.  The affliction is always there.  It will be until eternity comes knocking.  What that doesn’t mean is that we have to suffer with this affliction to the fullest extent.  God, in His mercy, has provided one of the nation’s top specialists to treat our cancer.  He has, in His mercy, provided a health care facility that is on the cutting edge of treatments and technologies.  By God’s grace, we have received a health care team that collaborates across many specialties and maintains effective communication to deliver the best care possible.  I am amazed at how good God has been in all this.  Truly, everything is of the LORD.

Sometimes we fixate on the affliction and ask questions that make no difference to the term or extent of the affliction.  In eternity, the ‘why’ of it all will come to light.  We need not know it now.  It may seem to ease the suffering, but if we did know why, it may only make it worse.  ‘How long’ is another question that may not be the wisest of ones to ask.  If we knew how long the LORD intended our affliction to last, we may seek to end it before the time appointed.  ‘How bad is it going to get’ is another.  Looking down the road to circumstances that may never come to pass is asking for anxiety that doesn’t need to come.  In short, while afflictions last, the mercies of the LORD are the only things that will get us through.  I cannot explain exactly what the mercies of God might be.  God’s mercies can often take various forms.  It could be a verse or two of scripture, a kind text from a friend, or mediation led by the Spirit, which is the mercies He provides.  It could be more information, a test result, or the reassuring words of a health care professional.  The prayers and well wishes of the saints go a long way as we plow through our afflictions.  The mercies of God come in many forms and are more than we realize.  It is not the affliction we need eased.  It is the mercies of God that we need increased!

More Joy Than the Lottery

“I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies, as [much as] in all riches.” (Ps 119:14 AV)

This is quite a remarkable statement.  All riches?  Really?  Not simply rejoicing in God’s testimonies, but in the way of those testimonies.  In other words, our sweet psalmist says that he rejoices in living in obedience to God’s word more than the joy he would receive in all possible riches of the world.  Another interesting observation here is our writer seems to live so that the joy of faith and obedience can co-exist with the joy of all riches.  Note the phrase, “as much as in”.  This suggests our writer was materially blessed, and he enjoyed those blessings; but the joy he received in obeying the LORD was equal or greater.  This means that blessings and obedience can indeed co-exist.  We do not have to be completely destitute in order to enjoy a life of rejoicing before the LORD.  It is all a matter of balance.

Everyone gets the Publisher’s Clearing House sweepstakes entry either in snail mail or in their email in box.  There are dozens of things to win.  From the Jackpot down to a small $50 gift card, the entries are numerous.  You are bombarded repeatedly.  Who hasn’t, in a moment of weakness, begin to dream about winning such riches?  Maybe the reader has gone so far as to enter a time or two.  He or she dreams about what they would do with such a windfall.  Of course, ten percent must go to church.  LOL.  After that, we think of how much we will have to pay in taxes and what would be left to invest or spend.  We dream of a retirement home.  A new car or truck. Maybe a house that would work better for our needs.  We think of family and how to care for them.  We wonder if investment is important, or if we simply choose to spend it all in one big spend.  We may dream of an ideal reno project, a large charity donation, or simply tucking it away for a rainy day.  It is natural to dream of blessings.  But what if they never came?  Would we still be as content?  Do we anticipate the words of God and an opportunity for obedience resulting in joy?  Or do we see the words of God as tedious and unsavory?

Our writer compares obedience to hitting the lottery.  He compares compliance to finding the national treasure, so to speak.  He states that his joy comes from obedience and faith and that even if he were to inherit all riches, it would not replace the joy he feels at pleasing the LORD.  Because they can co-exist without compromising the joy that he feels by faith and obedience, he can see all the riches as something to use rather than something to consume.  All the riches of which he speaks are in the context of obedience and faith.  That is why all the riches are not a burden to him.  This is why all the riches are not something he must deal with in resentment or fear.  They may be great, but it all belongs to God and must be used for God’s glory!  Wealth, in and of itself, cannot make a person permanently happy.  I have caddied for some of the wealthiest of the Chicago area, and I can tell you, they are not the most joy-filled bunch on the planet.  Those who have chosen to live according to God’s perfect law are.  They have learned that pleasing God is the whole point of existence.  Wealth can co-exist.  But wealth cannot replace humble obedience and trust toward God.

Courage To Step Through

“Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, [and] I will praise the LORD:” (Ps 118:19 AV)

You are probably going to laugh, but when I read the verse, the gates of the palace in the Wizard of Oz came to mind.  I imagined very huge gates when upon entering, life changes radically.  If you remember the movie, when the four main characters entered, they went through a great transition.  The Tin Man was polished and oiled.  The Scarecrow was re-stuffed and sown back to brand new condition.  The cowardly lion was bathed, shampooed, and styled.  Dorothy herself was cleaned up, given a new set of clothes and a bow was placed on Toto.  From head to toe, there four went through a process of rebranding that left the old Selves behind.  However, it could not happen unless there was a desperate desire for it.  As the story goes, Dorothy ran away from home and was caught in a tornado.  She was sucked up into the land of Oz.  It was there she understood she was wrong in wanting to flee her Aunt’s authority and from that time forward; she wanted to get back home.  Through one nightmare after another, she arrived at the land of Oz.  She was told the only one able to get her back home was the Wizard of Oz.  To get where she wanted to be all along; it took learning the lessons of the consequences of her actions and the courage to enter the gates of Oz.  What a tragedy it would have been had Dorothy faced all those obstacles to get to the land of Oz then lacked the courage to step through the gate.

The verse prior to our passage above speaks of the severe correction of God.  The Psalmist remarks the LORD had corrected him, yet he was not dead.  That was some severe correction!  But that is not our point.  Our point is simple.  When faced with the gates of righteousness; first, do we want them to open?  Second, will we go through them if they are?  Getting a glimpse of what it might be like inside the gates compared to what is outside is the key.  You see, if Dorothy had not faced the trees that tried to capture her, the monkeys that terrorized her, or the Wicked Witch of the West who wanted to kill her, the horse of a different color or the show of flames in the presence of a projected Wizard might not have seemed all that appealing.  If we are still enticed by sin and it does not appear far less appealing than righteousness, we will never go through the gates.  Not until we can look behind us at the wickedness, we are fleeing with a heart of disdain will we ever walk through the gates of righteousness.  It is not enough to prefer one of the other.  If that is the case, we will consider righteousness and wickedness as a revolving choice based on specifics.  Rather, the gate is a way of life.  It is not a series of ongoing choices over every detail.  It is a choice for a way of life that consists of smaller choices.

The writer of our psalm had had enough.  He had had enough of a life that was not pleasing to God but pleasing to himself.  He suffered the consequences of living a life like that.  He came to the end of himself and asked for the gates of righteousness be opened to him.  He didn’t come to open gates.  He asked for them to be open.  Righteousness was not a choice of preference.  It was a choice of conviction.  Until we face the gates of righteousness and seek the opening of them, we will dwell in the path of darkness.  Until we want the gates to be opened more than we want the pleasures of sin for a season, the gates will remain closed.  Until we are to where, it doesn’t matter what the other side of the gates might look like; all we know is where we are is unacceptable; then the gates will remain closed.  It takes a sin weary soul who is fed up with iniquity to seek the gates of righteousness.  The question is, are you?

Blessed Forever

“And now, LORD, thou art God, and hast promised this goodness unto thy servant: Now therefore let it please thee to bless the house of thy servant, that it may be before thee for ever: for thou blessest, O LORD, and [it shall be] blessed for ever.” (1Ch 17:26-27 AV)

These are the words of David in response to the covenant God had made with him.  The LORD had promised David his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel and that eventually, the Messiah would sit eternally.  The LORD also promised to build him a house and a nation to rival even the most magnificent Gentile kings and kingdoms.  God also promised to give David peace from all his enemies.  This covenant was unconditional.  From time to time, the covenant was suspended.  But it was never nullified.  The LORD Jesus Christ will return and finish the covenant made with David.  So, when the king states God’s blessings are permanent, he isn’t kidding.  The same is true for the saint.  When God blesses, He does not un-bless.  What I mean by that is the blessing happened.  It is a fact or event of life.  It cannot be undone.  The effects of the blessing may ebb and flow, but one cannot ignore that blessings happen.  When the LORD sends blessings, they are forever.  This is easy to forget in times of trouble or trial.  Even when the effects of blessings are persistent, it is easy to grow blind to them, because the overwhelming nature of our current situation obscures it.  If we remember how blessed we are, it might be easier to see it.

As I get older, I am fighting the tendency we older people get as we reminisce.  We look back on the good old days and become discontented with how life is today.  We look back at how simpler life was.  We appreciate how innocent the times seemed.  As we think back to our childhood and how we entertained ourselves with bicycles and skateboards we wonder why life isn’t so easy.  We remember our neighborhoods being mostly safe and one didn’t have to worry when riding all over town.  Then our minds go to our early married years and the joys that raising a family brings.  We remember the first steps, the first words, and the first grade.  We recall our children succeeding in life, playing sports, accepting Christ, and being baptized into the church.  The Awana Awards night, high school graduation, and college graduation all seem so long ago, but are a pleasant memory.  Of course, their wedding day and the birth of our grandchildren are most precious of all.  It is funny how a bit of adversity clouds the memories of all those things.  What is worse is when we compare the blessings of yesterday with the trials of today and walk away resentful.  That should never be the case.  Solomon warns about this in chapter seven of Ecclesiastes.  To think the former days are better than the present is a waste of emotional reserve.  Rather, we should remember the blessings of God are forever.  Nothing can take away what I have just mentioned.  I have three godly sons with three godly wives who love the LORD and serve Him faithfully.  No attack by the adversary can rob me of that.  Most of all, I have a home in heaven promised to me the moment I accepted Jesus as my LORD and Savior.  I am permanently blessed!

The world does not understand this.  They believe if they heap enough trouble on our heads, then we will die a miserable death.  Not so.  In fact, the more they heap on us, the more we remember that our home in heaven awaits!  We cannot compare the perfection of God's presence to anything we may have to endure here, and the more the world tortures us, the sweeter it all grows.  No matter their effort, the world simply cannot undo the blessings God has given to all those who trust in Him.  As frustrated as they are and ruining what God loves, they cannot undo the blessings of a sovereign God.  David understood this.  Yes, he was not naïve in thinking that all his seed would live perfectly before the LORD.  He knew that given time; man will be what man always is.  The promise was the Messiah.  The promise assured David that he would be eternally blessed in Christ.  And the same is true for us.  We may fail God more than we care to admit, but Christ eternally blesses us.  We may succumb to the flesh or allow our hearts to respond in fear, but in Christ, we are eternally blessed!  Glory!  Praise be to a wonderful and loving God who knows our frame, foreknows all that we will do or fail to do that will disappoint Him, yet choose to bless us instead.  Amazing love, how sweet it is!

Wait For The Wind

“And it shall be, when thou shalt hear a sound of going in the tops of the mulberry trees, [that] then thou shalt go out to battle: for God is gone forth before thee to smite the host of the Philistines.” (1Ch 14:15 AV)

When David was established as king of Israel, the Philistines went up against him several times.  The first time, the LORD instructed David to confront the enemy head on.  The LORD guaranteed victory.  However, the second time the LORD told David to forego the direct approach and environ them around back and go through the mulberry trees.  The strategy was to use the movement and sound of the trees as cover for them to advance on their enemy.  When the LORD sent a wind among the trees, the forces of David were to advance.  When the wind was calm, they were to stay put.  This required David and his men to not only obey the LORD, but move only when God moved.  Waiting had to be hard, but necessary.  When the LORD said to move by the voice of His wind, they moved.  When He silenced the wind, they were to rest and wait.  This is a skill learned wisely by the child of God.  Learning to move in concert with God’s hand is something hard to learn, but once learned, advances the child of God much quicker and with better results.

A plan is only as good as the timing it involves.  We can have the best plan, but if the timing is off, it will not work.  When I was a child, flying kites was a thing.  We grew up not very far from Niagara Falls, so our weather was conducive to kite flying much of the spring, summer, and falls.  The changes in air currents caused by such a force affected the weather around the falls.  We had constant wind.  Must of the time it was a gentle wind.  But every once in a while, it was forceful.  We would go to our local drugstore and buy kites.  We would go home and rip up old clothing to make a tail.  We would assemble our kites and tie string to the center.  A hand made spool with old thread bobbins and a one by six was our spool.  Off we went to our neighborhood park.  Kite in hand.  When we got to the park, we discerned the direction of the wind and if there were any hazards that might tangle our kite.  Then as every child has done, we run against the wind and at some point, release the kite.  Up and up it would go.  Tugging on the string and turning the spool one way or another, the kite would dance in the sky.  However, how many of us have ran into the wind only to find out there wasn’t enough to fly the kite?  Or, once aloft, the wind ceases and our kites come crashing to the ground?  All the intent and planning doesn’t work unless the wind cooperates.  The same is true of life.  Unless we are on the same page with God, all our planning and effort may be for naught.

David knew that if God wasn’t in it and God wasn’t leading, the enemy would have the advantage.  One can imagine David having to stay put, waiting on a breeze.  Have you ever played that stop-go game?  The point is to be the first one to touch the caller as he or she yelled ‘stop’ or ‘go’?  How frustrating was that?  If the caller yelled ‘stop’ and caught someone moving, they had to return to the start line.  I can imagine David advancing one breeze at a time, getting antsy for the battle to begin.  God has a plan.  It is always in His time.  If we charge in before the wind blows, we will not have the advantage.  Part of growing is learning to wait.  Part of maturing is learning that zeal, although very good to have, must be disciplined.  There may be a plan.  It may be what God wants.  It might be a plan that we can trust.  We might have committed one hundred percent to the action plan.  We may have all the resources in place.  We may have trained well and are very well prepared.  But unless the LORD is in it, then we are committing to an action God cannot bless.  We need to learn to wait for the wind to blow to our advantage.  We need to learn to let go and let God lead the thing.  We need to learn the battle is not ours, but the LORD’s.  And He has a time, place, and method for it all.

The Motto of all Mottos

“Not unto us, O LORD, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, [and] for thy truth’s sake.” (Ps 115:1 AV)

When was the last time you framed your prayer for the glory of God alone?  What we need or desire may be important, but where does the glory of God fit in all if it?  This is an important distinction because if the glory of God does not come first, then we may not be seeking resolution according to his will, or we will not accept the answers He sends.  Here is another question.  When was the last time you asked God to exalt Himself, no matter the consequences to you personally?  When we the last time you didn’t care one iota how God would answer so long as He was what people saw?  These are important questions.  This is the key to a joy filled life.  If we prioritize the glory of God alone and do not care about the ramifications any event might have for us, then we dissolve all self-interest and achieve complete contentment.  ‘Not unto us’ suggests the writer does not wish the LORD to consider the needs or desires of the petitioner at all.  What he wants is for God and Him alone to receive all the benefits of His own will.  What a place in which to arrive.

There have been people, down through the ages, who understood what this meant.  It really didn’t matter what happened to them.  As long as the LORD was glorified in whatever He chose to do.  This is the core of Christlikeness.  For the glory of God!  Down through the ages, there have been groups or individuals who use this phrase as a motto.  Most of the time, it wasn’t for the glory of God.  It was for the furtherance of some agenda.  The phrase sounds great.  But what does it really mean?  It means all pretense and expectation is removed.  It means that no matter the outcome or what personal cost one would pay, ultimately, God is the one who shines the brightest.  ‘For the glory of God’ means the individual is lost in the cause or the catastrophe.  It means that when all is said and done, the individual or group by which God gets His glory is forgotten and all that people remember is God alone! 

There are two concerns our psalmist has.  Truth and God’s mercy are what he seeks.  His desire is for truth and the mercy of God to be what everyone notices and not the means by which they came.  Isn’t this the case with the great commission?  Isn’t that what the church wants? Don’t we want the truth of salvation to go out and the proof that God desires to show mercy?  Why do we serve?  Why do we build?  Why do we do what we do?  The psalmist wanted the world to know that God is the God of all truth and it doesn’t matter what others think, feel, or could figure out.  God is absolute and His truth stands.  This would include His standard for holiness.  We should also want everyone to know that God is a God of mercy.  He desires to forgive all those who seek His forgiveness.  There is no one whom He will turn away.

When we consider the verse above, an obvious question arises.  On a personal note, how much of what we seek from God or out of life is self-serving?  How much of what we seek, the goals we have, or the needs we express is about us as opposed to the LORD?  ‘For the glory of God’ should be the motto of every being.  Especially the child of God.  If we can get there, there is no telling what God can do to change the world.

A Way Through For Those Who Wish To Persevere

“And in Jerusalem dwelt of the children of Judah, and of the children of Benjamin, and of the children of Ephraim, and Manasseh;” (1Ch 9:3 AV)

There is a debate regarding the ten tribes of the northern Jewish kingdom.  There are some misguided individuals who believe the ten northern tribes are lost to history.  If they were to read their bibles, especially Revelation, they would know the ten northern tribes are not lost.  The verse above is the reason.  Ephraim is that portion of the ten northern tribes that dwelled on the west side of the Jordan river while Manasseh is that portion that lived on the east side.  When Assyria invaded the north, a portion of the ten northern tribes escape to Judah and Benjamin.  Hezekiah, the king of Judah, built out Jerusalem with a wall to protect these refugees.  The suburbs of Jerusalem actually outgrew the city proper by a large margin.  When Babylon carried away the remaining nation of Israel a few hundred years later, it took the entire nation.  All twelve tribes.  It was this carrying away that kept the twelve tribes intact.  A YouTube channel on biblical archeology bears this out.  The host uncovers significant evidence of the twelve tribes of Israel remaining intact even though they were in captivity for 70 years.  What we need to consider this morning is that God is a God who honors His promises even in the midst of hardship, correction, or trials of faith.  He will not give up on us, no matter what.  If He said He will do it, then He will do it.

The LORD does not promise life will be easy.  In fact, it is often through the hardest times of life we learn the greatest of lessons.  But if we want to make it through, He provides the way.  The older one gets, the more time and effort it takes to recover from a setback.  Especially a health issue.  When we were young, four to six weeks was all we needed to overcome surgery, a broken bone, or a strained muscle.  Not so when we get older.  When we were younger, our youthful activity was our therapy.  When we get older, off to rehab, we go.  It takes more effort.  It takes more dedication.  But one thing we have that the youth have not gained yet is patience.  We know it will take some time.  We are resigned to the fact we are no longer youthful.  We know what lies ahead and can see the end from the beginning.  Therefore, we are more apt to commit to long-term endurance more so than those who want instant results.  Endurance is our middle name!  Perseverance is the battle cry of the silver-crowned!  If there is a way, we will find it!

God always provides a way to persevere for those who wish to.  Laying down and crying uncle is not the response God wants.  It matters not whether our circumstances were self-inflicted or a trial of faith.  It doesn’t matter if the enemies of the cross have put a big target on our backs.  If we want a way through or out, God will provide it.  Many years ago, I found myself in a pickle.  I had made a series of unwise choices.  I was trying to get out of the woods.  I found myself trapped.  There seemed to be no way out.  The only choice I had was to go back up the mountain and try a different route.  Sweaty, weak, and tired, I didn’t think I could.  But the LORD provided the strength I needed.  It wasn’t easy.  But it was my way out.  The LORD provided a way for disobedient Israel to survive His correction.  God is not without compassion and faithfulness.  Yes, they needed what they had coming.  It would hurt.  But God was good to them and provided a way where they could grow unto holiness and God could honor His covenant.  The same is true for us.  The LORD is not out to destroy us.  He has our backs.  He only wants what is best.  He always provides a way for those who want to persevere.  The question, do we want to?

More In Control Than You Think

“He maketh the barren woman to keep house, [and to be] a joyful mother of children. Praise ye the LORD.” (Ps 113:9 AV)

Sometimes we forget just how much a sovereign God controls all things.  We think our choices make the world go around, but in reality, what participation we have in the works of God is minor compared to what He accomplishes by His own means. God is the God of the impossible.  We have to remember that.  Our contribution to the impossible is minimal at best.  Thinking of the conception of a child, we assume the two people involved are completely in control of the entire process.  Yet this is not true.  The suggestion above is a woman is barren for a period of time beyond the hope of ever conceiving.  The writer is not referring to a young lady who had yet to wed.  Rather, this lady is someone who has been married for some time and is trying to conceive.  No matter the attempt made, being with child was out of her control.  Sometimes, the natural processes at work are seen as just that.  We tend to forget just how much in control God is.  This is important to remember when we are faced with something out of our ability to change.  Like the barren woman, try as she might, she wasn’t with child.  No matter the effort, unless a sovereign God did the impossible, she would never experience the joy of her purpose.

Things that are impossible with us are possible with God.  Things that are out of control with us are not with God.  Particularly where purpose of life is the concern.  As stated above, the woman felt her purpose was to rear children and keep the home.  The one problem was, she had no children, nor could she bear those children.  There are duties of life that are universal for all.  Repenting from sin and accepting God’s grace through the blood of Christ is one of them.  Sanctification, or the transformation into Christlikeness, is another.  For men, the purpose of life is to lead a home.  For ladies, their purpose in life is to assist their husbands in doing so.  The purpose of humanity is to know God by faith and walk with Him in obedience and faith.  To do otherwise would be to fail.  These purposes do not come automatically.  We have to do our part.  And, the LORD does His.  His part is the majority part.  Thinking again of the barren wife, modern science can help.  Again, we think we have more influence than we do.  Anyone with experience is infertility knows efforts fail more than they succeed.  The divine hand of God is still required in order to create and sustain life.

So, what is our application for today?  Something that we frequently say but never take the time to consider just how true it is.  We often say that God is the God of the impossible.  Normally, what we mean is that God does what we cannot do, but what we can do is much.  This is not the thought here.  Rather, what we can do is very little.  That which is impossible is far more common than we care to admit.  We cannot control our involuntary muscle movements.  We cannot control our breathing.  We cannot stop our heart from beating.  That is, we cannot, by a sheer act of the will, control our involuntary muscle movements in any way we wish.  We may slow our breathing.  But we cannot, by a mere wish, stop breathing.  We can manipulate our heart rate only so much.  We cannot, by a mere act of the will, stop our heart.  We cannot control digestion.  We cannot control our nervous system.  There is much within the shell of our flesh that is impossible for us to control completely.  We cannot control the weather.  We cannot control the beliefs of others.  There is much out of our control.  Far more than what is in our control.  This is where a sovereign God comes in.  God truly controls all things.  It would be prudent to remember this.  It would also be a good thing to remain humble toward One who controls all things.

Ouch. That Was Stupid

“Thorns [and] snares [are] in the way of the froward: he that doth keep his soul shall be far from them.” (Pr 22:5 AV)

I have to admit, the word ‘forward’ struck me this morning.  I thought I knew what it meant, but I wasn’t certain.  When I did open a dictionary, I discovered I didn’t know the meaning.  I assumed it meant stubbornly rebellious.  Sort of like be presumptuously disobedient.  Not so.  The word means distorted.  The understanding here is forwardness is the deliberate act of leaving what is the right way for another way.  The motive or degree matters not.  It doesn’t matter if the errant is stubbornly presumptuous or simply carried away by temptation.  Either way, the choice is deliberate and self-determinate.  The way in which he or she chooses to go is the point here.  The result is what we want to consider.  When we veer out of the way God intended for us, there are thorns and snares waiting.  Thorns are immediate consequences.  Snares and lingering ones.  We cannot live contrary to the word of God and not expect there to be harmful consequences as a result.

I know something of thorns and snares.  I have spent innumerable hours hiking in the underbrush looking for delicious fare for the table.  Sometimes, one must go right through the thorns to kick up dinner.  A few nights before my wedding day, all the male relatives on my wife’s side decided they would go out and hunt racoons.  That was back in the day when racoon pelts were worth something.  They decided the best way to help my future father-in-law pay for our wedding was to fill his truck with racoon.  Actually, that is one of my fondest memories.  What a tradition!  Better than any bachelor party I could have ever had.  So, a few hours after dark, off we went.  They released the hound.  He treed several coons that night.  However, I received a battle scar in the process.  My in-law’s land is in the wilderness.  It is thick with thorn apple bushes.  It literally has an infinite number of wild grape bushes that went to thorns.  To get through his woods unscathed, one needs Kevlar from head to toe.  I was new to the woods and seeing as how geometry was my favorite class during my high school years; I figured the shortest distance between to point was a direct line.  That may be so, but in a wilderness infested with thorny adversaries, it is not the wisest way.  I suffered a deep scratch in my nose, which was scabbed over for our wedding day.  Needless to say, my wife was not happy with her dad.

When reading the verse above, one cannot help but notice that the way of the forward inherently contains thorns and snares.  The thorns and snares are there whether the forward go there or not.  Traps and injuries infest the way.  The forward puts himself in that situation rather than the situation being accustomed or created for the forward.  I could have chosen a better way to the tree which held my quarry.  I could have taken a moment and thought my steps through.  I could have asked for advice from those older men who had done this dozens of times.  I could have held back and let someone else take the shot until I had learned how to do so without injuring myself.  Thorns and snares are cruel teachers.  They really do not care what the cause of motive was for the one entrapped.  Consequences are what they are.  There is no mercy.  The best way the forward can avoid the thorns and snares is to slow down, think it all the way through, remain humble, and follow the way laid out by the LORD.  If I would have taken my time that night and looked around, would have found some game trails that would have led me to where I needed to be.  If I would have considered the consequences as avoidable rather than inevitable, I would have found a better way.  We don’t have to suffer as much as we are.  We can avoid some of the trouble we experience.  Especially the trouble which we bring upon ourselves.

It Is All Temporary

“Behold, the days come, that all that [is] in thine house, and that which thy fathers have laid up in store unto this day, shall be carried into Babylon: nothing shall be left, saith the LORD.” (2Ki 20:17 AV)

These words are words from the LORD to Hezekiah following his very unwise act of allowing Babylonian visitors to see all his wealth.  I’ve always assumed the LORD judged Judah because of this one act, but upon think of it a bit more, I don’t think that is the case.  Hezekiah was responsible for the greatest revival that had ever occurred in Judah.  He went so far as the remove all the high places.  This hadn’t been the case since David’s time.  Hezekiah cleansed the temple, re-instituted the Passover, and cleansed the priesthood.  God blessed him for his faithfulness, courage, and integrity.  At the height of his reign, Hezekiah thought it was a good idea to show a potential enemy all that he had been blessed with.  He showed them the treasures of his palace as well as the treasures of the house of God.  Again, I always thought this was the reason God judged Judah.  NO doubt the treasures of Judah were a motivating factor in Babylon’s invasion.  This morning, the Spirit led me to think of these words a bit differently.

Hezekiah would become ill and was told of the prophet to set his house in order.  At the time, he had no son to assume the throne.  It would have passed to a different descendent of David.  Hezekiah wept and prayed.  The LORD gave him fifteen more years.  Three years later, his son, Manasseh, was born.  Manasseh reigned for 52 years and when he was done, Judah went further into idolatry than they had ever gone before.  It was because of his wickedness, and the wickedness of all those idolatrous kings that preceded him, that God brought judgement.  Solomon, because of his wives, introduced the kingdom to idol worship.  Israel had been carried away several decades earlier, and Judah never learned the lesson.  Babylon would invade and carry it Judah into captivity.  But it wasn’t because Hezekiah was prideful over God’s blessings.  It was because of the idolatry of all those kings that reigned before and after him.  That begs the question.  What was the issue then?  What was the thought the prophet was trying to convey?  What lesson can we learn?

What I think was going on was the LORD’s rebuke to Hezekiah not to be prideful over temporary blessings.  All the riches and relationships God had blessed Hezekiah with would be lost in two generations.  It reminds me of the condition of our present world.  And in particular, our nation.  We pride ourselves on our wealth and success.  We think we are the envy of the world.  We think the world could not function without us.  We think we are the originators and guarantor of all that is good and beneficial to mankind.  We see our currency as the world standard.  We see ourselves sitting at the head of the table.  No doubt, God has blessed us greatly.  No other nation is doing more for foreign missions than ours.  No other nation has more gospel preaching churches than ours.  The ideas of the Bible built our nation.  Yet, we squandered it all away for the flesh.  We turned our back on God and because we have, the LORD will judge us.  Yet here we are, still bragging about how blessed of God we are.  On a personal note, we can do the same thing.  We don't stop to think that we can lose all the blessings that God has given us in a moment.  One ill-timed tragedy can cause us to lose all that we have saved up, all that we have planned, and all that we have acquired.  Hezekiah’s sin was pride.  God wanted him to put those blessings into perspective.  Present blessings are no hedge against future failures.

But Do Thou For Me

“But do thou for me, O GOD the Lord, for thy name’s sake: because thy mercy [is] good, deliver thou me.” (Ps 109:21 AV)

Aren’t the first five words a bit peculiar?  Those first five words seem a bit demanding and immature.  It may seem a little self-centered.  At least that is how we would take it if someone approached us with the same words.  However, this is not the case above.  The writer is in the throes of persecution from those who hate God.  He sees what seems like prosperity for those who treat him so badly.  He cannot explain why it is so, but he does have confidence in the justice of God.  Regardless of the short-term success the enemies of God seem to have, the writer knows it is temporary at best.  He is not envious.  He is not bitter.  All he asks is that God would act on his behalf.  The reason the word ‘but’ is there is because the writer seems some progress of the ungodly against him.  He sees that if God doesn’t do something, the enemy will triumph over him.  He sees the success of the ungodly as an extension of God’s favor, in a manner of speaking, and is asking for the LORD to be as merciful to him and it may seem He is being toward those who are abusing him.  This cry is from someone who is as low as he can get.  His situation overwhelms him to the point he cannot see what God has already done for him.  He has convinced himself the mercy of God has been silent and the only way he can receive the mercy for which he seeks is to make it very personal.  He is not seeking mercy that is common to all.  He is pleading as a child of God for God’s mercy on him based solely on that relationship alone.

When my wife spent a week in the hospital after her cancer surgery, the call button was her friend.  I have sixty years of experience with health issues.  I have spent several times in a hospital bed and many years on the care team.  I have seen the health industry from both perspectives.  The care my wife received was beyond phenomenal.  The hospital in which she stayed and to which she goes if she has a need caters to cancer patients in a way I have never seen before.  She spent her time in the critical care unit.  This means she has more personal nursing care than would normally be the case.  Each nurse had a station right outside the rooms they were caring for with a window that could look inside.  My wife had nurses, doctors, medical students, and other professionals treating her as though she were the only one in this hospital.  But that button made her care very special.  You see, many decades ago, the nurses and doctors would have had times when disconnecting the call button became a deep desire.  There was a generation when health care was not nearly as personal as it is today.  When my wife pressed that button, she didn’t have to wait very long.  Someone immediately spoke to her over the call device, and she never had to wait more than three minutes for the help she needed.  But do thou for me was an important request.  It was one born out of desperation on the patient’s part, and pity on the caregiver’s part.

It is ok to look out for number one every once in a while.  It is ok to be one’s own advocate.  It is ok to make our requests personal.  This cry of “But do thou for me” is one of deep humility.  It believes God has refrained intervention; not to be cruel; but rather, to help the desperate one see just how much the LORD cares for them.  “But do thou for me” is a cry for pity.  It is a cry for a response from a God who is not only sovereign and capable but also feels deep emotions toward the one crying out.  “But do thou for me” are five words spoken from a broken soul who needs the presence of God just as much, if not more, than a solution to his or her situation.  “But do thou for me” is not a selfish request where others would be put out if God did something for the petitioner.  “But do thou for me” is the cry of a child who feels alone even though he really isn’t.  It is a cry of desperation.  It is a cry for affirmation.  “But do thou for me” is a request for God’s love as manifested by deliverance and not mere deliverance alone.  It is personal.  It is intimate.  It is humble.  It is child-like.  “But do thou for me” are five words we must speak often because it is by those five words that God becomes very real to us.  “But do thou for me” is precious.  These five words move the heart of God to the depths of our soul.  Speak them sincerely.  Speak them often.  Speak them quickly.  Speak them now!

Inviting Trouble

“A brother offended is harder to be won than a strong city: and their contentions are like the bars of a castle.” (Pr 18:19 AV)

This is a good thing to remember as we interact with others.  We take it for granted that we can say what we want to say or be what we want to be without any consequences on others.  Granted, there are souls who live to be offended.  There is nothing you can do or say that will make them happy.  They are looking for any reason to be offended.  It is a matter of control.  If they can always be offended, then they control the relationship.  It is a grand way of manipulating people into doing or being for you what you want from them.  This proverb in not for them.  Rather, we wish to consider there may be times when we say or do something that is clearly wrong.  Solomon does not cast judgment on either the offended or the offender.  The proverb is simply a statement of observation.  It could be offense is necessary.  Or, it could be accidental.  Either way, offense causes a change in the relationship and sometimes it is irreversible.  There is also another observation to be made here.  Note the offended initiates strife or contentions that may not be relevant to the original offense.  Once offended, any fault becomes a fault worth striving over.

Years ago, in a previous church, we had two saints who almost came to blows.  The whole thing started over a misunderstanding that could have been easily resolved.  One party shared well wishes with the spouse of another and it was blown way out of proportion.  This initial disagreement snowballed into a full-blown feud between two families.  In one particular altercation, these two people and their families went to the same revival at a sister church.  Neither knew the other was going to attend.  Am I glad I wasn’t preaching that meeting!  Talk about quenching the spirit.  One would think they would leave while avoiding the other.  Not so!  They had it out in the parking lot in front of all the guests assembled.  This continued for almost two years until one party realized they were fighting a losing battle and decided to attend elsewhere.  Now separated by two counties, these two parties ceased to bicker.  But there remained an undergirding of resentment, envy, and anger.  These two parties could not reconcile, and any fault was a large one.

The point is simple.  Being offensive may not be avoided.  However, if it can be avoided, it should be.  The sternest of warnings here is once offended, further strife over unrelated issues will be a never ending reality.  If we are not careful to watch our tongue, demeanor, or actions, we are inviting a whirlwind of strife to follow us all our days.  The brother whom we offended will offer contentions for the remainder of your relationship.  What I am startled as is the pride of man that will not allow him to apologize whenever he can if he had been an offense to someone else.  Yes, sometimes we are an offense by design.  It must be that way. But most of the time, we are an offense by ignorance, pride, or malice.  Saying one is sorry hurts no one.  Apologizing is not a show of weakness, but a show of strength.  The bars of contention are as hard as iron, and the longer we allow it to go on, the more difficult it is to break through.  Better to reconcile before the bars get to think and numerous.  All it takes is humility and love.

The Miracle of One

“And when Athaliah the mother of Ahaziah saw that her son was dead, she arose and destroyed all the seed royal. But Jehosheba, the daughter of king Joram, sister of Ahaziah, took Joash the son of Ahaziah, and stole him from among the king’s sons which were slain; and they hid him, even him and his nurse, in the bedchamber from Athaliah, so that he was not slain. And he was with her hid in the house of the LORD six years. And Athaliah did reign over the land.” (2Ki 11:1-3 AV)

It is amazing to me how many little things had to come together in order to assure the incarnation as promised to David.  Especially where it involved the faith and actions of a human being.  Here is a great example.  God promised David that his descendants would sit on the throne of Israel until Christ comes.  Jesus Christ would also be a descendent of David.  Here is a situation where that promise almost did not come to pass.  Athaliah was the wife of the king of Judah.  She was the daughter of Jezebel, wife to Ahab, king of Israel.  Jezebel was the daughter of a pagan king.  Ahab married outside of his people.  Jezebel brought with her Baal worship and together, they led Israel to sin more an all other kings combined.  Consequently, God judged the house of Ahab, which would have included Athaliah.  God raised up a man named Jehu who executed the judgment of God on the house of Ahab, but could not get to Athaliah.  Athaliah, seeing she was a dead woman walking, decided to kill all her children and rule Judah herself.  Her daughter, Jehosheba, snuck away with the only one to survive this slaughter, Joash.  In short, it was the faith and courage of one young lady that kept the throne in the line of David and kept alive the line by which Jesus would come.  Faithfulness changes the world!

Faithfulness is integrity based.  It is not emotionally based.  Faithfulness requires we see the moral character of the principle involved and commitment to that principle or goal is a matter of character.  This is why faithfulness is in such short supply.  We live in an emotional and shallow generation.  If we don’t feel it, then it is not worth our attention.  Faithfulness sees a cause and is duty bound to seeing that cause become a definition of life.  Faithfulness is not driven by results, but rather, by a sense of right and wrong.  I have a friend who is the epitome of faithfulness.  God used him in ways that he will never realize.  The scope of what he did for the LORD cannot be understated.  I watched him take care of a very difficult situation and marvel how the LORD used him to solve an issue that would make a normal man crumble.  He oversaw the dissolution of a failed church.  As the head deacon at the time, it was his responsibility to financially and legally dissolve the work.  The reason for its end is not the point.  That can be debated time and again.  The point I am trying to make is that he shouldered that responsibility, knowing it was nothing more than a huge headache, a legal challenge, and quite frankly, he was tasked with doing it by himself.  No pastor helped him.  The few members that were left went elsewhere.  He worked with lawyers, financial professionals, and ecclesiastical guidance to ensure the LORD’s name was not compromised.  This is a man whose character screams faithfulness.  HE shouldered a job because it had to get down even though it wasn’t fun.

Jehosheba took a great risk.  She hid her little brother as the sole survivor, knowing her mother would never stop looking for him.  She hid him for six years so that when he was old enough to reign, with the help of the high priest, her mother would be dethroned and executed.  That is something!  Knowing your faithfulness will adversely affect those closest to you is not easy.  Knowing the choices you must make will offend those who love you dearly is not a light matter.  But it is one that needs to be done.  We owe our faithfulness to God first!  He comes first.  On a different tack, you never know what your faithfulness might mean in the greater scope of things.  Perhaps Jehosheba understood the promise made to David and fully appreciated what it meant to keep her little brother alive.  Yet, she may not have known just how significant the Messiah would be to all of mankind.  It was this young lady’s courage and faithfulness that resulted in Jesus coming.  And it was a key part of the salvation of untold millions.  By her simple act of courage and faithfulness, a Savior came by way of David to save my soul!  And yours!

The Wicked Have a Purpose

“The LORD hath made all things for himself: yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.” (Pr 16:4 AV)

What does that mean?  The LORD has made the wicked for the day of evil?  I thought the LORD hated evil?  I thought the wicked were the enemies of God?  Why would the LORD create something, or someone, whom He knows would never love nor follow Him?  We see the answer to the latter question in the verse above.  The wicked are made for the evil day.  But what does that mean?  The day in which evil comes, or to which the wicked participate.  So, what is the writer referring to?  The wicked are allowed to continue on the earth for the purpose of the evil which they will produce, which works according to the plan of God.  Evil does not necessarily mean morally wrong.  It simply means circumstances not in the temporal favor of the one on whom it is afflicted.  A disease can be seen as an evil.  A storm can be seen as an evil.  In our case above, an invading army is the evil.  In other words, the LORD made Babylon, Assyria, Greece, Rome, and the kingdom of the Antichrist so that they might inflict evil on the whom the LORD wishes to chasten.  Namely, the people of God.

God is very clear these governments were the hand of God on His people for their correction.  They, the people of God that is, had wandered far from God.  They had begun to emulate their pagan neighbors.  They began to do some very ungodly things.  They went after false gods.  They sacrificed their children as human sacrifices on altars to heathen deities.   Sodomy was rampant.  Israel had become a filthy place.  So, the LORD sent Assyria and Babylon to capture Israel and Judah.  These heathen kingdoms carried away to Jewish people to live and serve in a pagan nation.  They were removed from their land and forbidden to fully follow the Old Testament ceremonial law.  Some may consider this counter productive toward God’s stated goal of a holy people.  After all, wouldn’t they simple double down on the pagan ways of the heathen once they lived among them?  The thing is, as Esther shows us, the people of God can be in the highest positions of the land and curry favor from the king, but in the end, they are still hated.  This is the conclusion Israel had to come to so that when Nehemiah desired to return and build the walls of Jerusalem, many would want to return with him.

So, what it he application?  The church had largely become nothing more than a business that pushes the gospel rather than a sacred institution that wins and disciples saints.  We have taken the ideas of the business world and incorporated them into the house of worship because we are looking for customers rather than converts.  When we devise means to attract the world, we have surrendered that which makes us what God designed us to be.  When we have Christian Schools that teach more secular subject matter than sacred, we are shocked the government seeks to enforce mandates it has for secular schools.  When we have businesses within or building and charge our patrons for those services, we wonder why the government wants to rescind our 501©3 status.  I know of a few churches that ordained every employee, so the church didn’t have to pay the employer’s portion of the social security tax.  They wished to keep separate church and state.  I whole heartedly agree.  If that is your goal, then perhaps one must develop ministry that wouldn’t open to door for government intrusion.  In short, we may not always agree with the authorities the LORD has in place, but they are often the arm of God’s correction.  It could be the LORD brings persecution from the powers that be because the church needs a deep revival.  We need to focus on the gospel itself and not the wall street methods of propagating it.  We need cleansing.  We need to throw out the world’s methods of building a work and get back to what makes the church unique!  When we stop trying to entertain people into the pews and start attracting them by lifting Christ up, then maybe the wicked need not bring the evil.