Able To Lead

“For thou [art] my rock and my fortress; therefore for thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.” (Ps 31:3 AV)

It is kind of ironic that David compares God to immovable objects, yet wants God to lead and guide him.  Although that may be ironic, that is not the thought for today.  David is basing his faith for the leadership of God on His immutability and absolute power.  There is nothing too hard for God.  He knows all.  He has a plan.  Nothing will frustrate that plan.  There is no god greater than He.  He is all-seeing, all-knowing, and all-powerful.  The immovable God is omnipresent.  He need not go to where we need to be.  He does not need to go as we go.  He is always there.  The rock and fortress are always present no matter the time and place of our pilgrimage.  Since God is immutable and omnipotent, He alone can be trusted.  Note also David’s motive.  It is not for his benefit or comfort.  David does not seek the guidance of the LORD for his own pleasure.  His motive is glory of God’s name.  David is concerned for the reputation of the God which he claims to love and worship.

There are standards in our life that are absolute.  We often carry them with us no matter the situation.  As a young man, Boy Scouts was a big part of my life.  I cannot endorse them so much today, but decades ago, they were a decent enough organization.  One item that was the tether to the Boy Scout’s adventure, advancement, and maturity was the Boy Scout handbook.  It didn’t matter where we were going or what we were doing, the Boy Scout Handbook was the most essential of our items to pack.  We went on weekend excursions all the time.  Our troop would camp at a park for two days and nights.  We were given a packing list.  Food, cookware, first-aid kit, tent, sleeping bag, and a change of clothes.  Most of all, at the top of the list, was the Handbook.  It contained necessary skills for surviving outdoors.  The book had guidance on ethical behavior.  It contained advice on leadership skills.  Tying notes, basic first aid, and camp set up were common chapters in the handbook.  The thing is, wherever we went, an unchanging standard was with us.  It was our guide.  It had words of wisdom which we would be better to heed than ignore.

God is a person.  Not a book.  He has left us His words.  We have the word of God that does not change.  In the Bible, we will find everything we will ever need.  Peter says, “According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that [pertain] unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue:” (2Pe 1:3 AV) There isn’t anything we will ever face in life that the word of God cannot grant wisdom.  It doesn’t matter if the word of God is thousands of years old.  The wisdom and instruction found therein is timeless.  But I think David is going a bit deeper than the written word of God.  I think He is referring to the person of God.  When David states God is an immovable rock and fortress, he is not limiting God to the written word as the only means to provide such things.  No, I think David is referring to God Himself.  God is the immovable Rock and Fortress.  Therefore, being immutable, He alone is qualified to guide and lead.  Praise the LORD for who and what He is!  Praise the LORD that because of what He is, He alone is capable of being our guide and friend.

Victory of Defeat: What Defines You?

“O LORD my God, I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me. O LORD, thou hast brought up my soul from the grave: thou hast kept me alive, that I should not go down to the pit.” (Ps 30:2-3 AV)

David praises God for a near fatal physical condition.  Either from warfare or illness, David’s life was spared.  There is no record of such an event. There are records of many near misses.  Running from Saul saw a number of them.  When he was older, and his life was in jeopardy, the men of Israel would not let David physically fight anymore.  But there is no record of his suffering from a wound.  There is no record of David suffering from an illness.  When one considers the fact there is no record of such an event, that tells us something.  David, being like all of us, suffered from wounds and illness.  Other than the decline of his health resulting in death from old age, the LORD chose not to mention any setbacks David might have suffered.  In the narrative of his life, they didn’t matter.  They played their part.  As they do for all of us.  But his illnesses or wounds never defined him.  The LORD would not allow it.  This did not prevent David from praise to God for deliverance from such events.  They were a part of his life.  Just not the main point of his life.

We know David prayed about whatever it was from which he was healed.  Otherwise, he wouldn’t have praised God for deliverance.  It is certainly appropriate to pray for that which ails us.  Otherwise, we suffer needless at the hands of life’s course.  At the very least, the LORD can comfort us through such a time.  David certainly didn’t ignore his trouble.  He went to the throne of God to seek relief.  Whatever form that would take, he would praise the LORD for it.  Whether it was healing as stated above, or strength to endure, or comfort in the midst; David was grateful because he prayed.  The depth of how David felt about his trouble is not in dispute.  His soul was tormented over this ailment.  Whatever it was, he felt hopeless and in despair.  He equated his experience as going down into a pit.  A pit is often used as an illustration of a hopeless cause for which there is only one way of escape.  Yet, the way of escape is far beyond reach.  This is how David felt.  Again, let us remember that outside of David’s deathbed at a very old age, there is no record of his health being compromised to this level of feeling.  These things were not part of God’s narrative for David’s life.  They came and went.  They were there, and they went away.  David plugged on.  He fought on.  Whatever this was did not define what he was.

Trouble is part of life.  There is no harm in pouring out to the LORD how we feel about it.  There is nothing wrong with feeling as though life is as low as it could get.  However, when all is said and done, for those living for the glory of God, these things are not the definition of our lives.  Perhaps overcoming them is.  History of mankind is filled with saints who endured and overcame obstacles for the glory of God.  This is certainly the case of David.  Whatever it was, we do not know.  What we do know is that by the grace of God, he overcame it and served God faithfully.  We may not know the wound or illness that struck him, but we do know he made it to well into his eighties with strength and fortitude of mind and heart.  In a generation that worships victimhood, this is rare.  To find overcomers is not easy.  We all want to be defined by our struggle and not our victory.  This must end.  If we are to do anything for the pleasure and glory of God, pray it through, but them fight through it.  Don’t let the hurdles define you.  Rather, the broken tape at the end of the race is what matters.

Directly from God Means More

“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear [the guilty]; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth [generation].” (Ex 34:5-7 AV)

These words are words from the LORD regarding Himself.  This is His testimony to Moses regarding His nature and the tenor of His relationship with mankind.  He is full of mercy and grace, longsuffering, goodness, and truth.  The manifestation of this nature is the justice mentioned that follows.  Because He is merciful, then He will visit upon those who victimize others.  Even to the third and fourth generations.  What struck me this morning is the source of the words and not the mere words alone.  The fact that God said this of Himself means more than if Moses testified of it.  It would be true regardless.  When a person testifies of the mercy and grace of God, it is limited by their experiences.  When a person testifies of the grace of God, they cannot bestow it.  When the LORD tells us He is fill of goodness, mercy, grace and truth, it means so much more.

Imagine if you will, a police officer stopped you and gave you several tickets.  Perhaps is started with a speeding ticket.  Upon inspection, he noticed you had a taillight out.  Then, as he walked around the car, your registration sticker fell off your license plate.  That is a big one.  The more he looks over your situation, the more trouble it seems is coming.  Praise the LORD, he let you go without being toted off to jail.  Your summons comes in the mail.  You have an appearance date before the judge.  There are perhaps thousands of dollars of fines and too many points on your driver’s license.  This is big.  You go to a lawyer who looks over it all and notices the judge’s name.  He has had much experience with that judge.  He knows him very well.  The lawyer feels his services are not needed because the judge is a reasonable and kind one.  In fact, you visit several lawyers and they tell you the same thing.  You cannot hire a lawyer because they all testify to the kindness of the judge.  That may alleviate some, if not most, of your fears.  Not all.  The date of appearance comes.  You sit in the gallery waiting for your case to be called.  Finally, it is your turn.  When you approach, the judge sees that you are obviously very nervous.  You are sweating.  You are breathing fast.  You are jittery.  You don’t know what he is going to say.  Then he tells you he is a kind and reasonable judge.  He never uses the law to unnecessarily punish the offender.  He tells you to relax because the next few moments will not be so bad.  You bring evidence your car has been repaired, and it was truly registered as the law required.  Seeing you did everything in your power to be compliant and that you have suffered enough, he lets you off.  All the lawyers told you he would be reasonable and kind.  But it wasn’t until those words came from the lips of the judge himself that they because powerful and true.

This is the application I gleaned from this passage this morning.  The words above are not Moses’ testimony of the God whom he got to know.  The words above are not words carried down over the generations that preceded Moses.  When Moses writes these words, they are the words spoken directly by God Himself.  These words are not second-hand words.  These words could not have been misconstrued by generations of tradition.  These words were spoken directly from the lips of God to a man and nation who needed to hear them.  These words are powerful words because of the source and well as the truth.  This is how we need to see the entire word of God.  The word of God was inspired by the Holy Spirit and spoken to man.  God may have used the personality and ability of men to give His word, but it is still His word.  It can be trusted.  Each and every letter, syllable, word, and thought.  It is all God’s word.  We need to see it as such.

Freedom from a Big Heart

“The troubles of my heart are enlarged: [O] bring thou me out of my distresses.” (Ps 25:17 AV)

Boy, do I feel this way sometimes.  Actually, most of the time.  Trouble seems to be on my mind and heart without any relief.  They are mostly self-inflicted; I think.  I noticed the troubles exist.  David is in distress because they are enlarged.  Rather, the troubles, whether real or imagined; are larger than they were in the past.  The problem isn’t the trouble.  The problem is they are becoming so large that they are now a distress.  The troubles are growing at a rate that he cannot maintain.  The distress is caused by troubles of the heart being too large for him to bear.  Like I said, these could be real or imagined.  They could be self-inflicted or influences from without.  David does mention sin.  That is certainly a trouble.  David mentions his enemies as well.  It seems David is facing adversity from all fronts.  That would make it all seem larger than it is.

We all have to deal with our battle over sin.  I, for one, cannot wait until our glorification.  When the old man is finally dealt a death blow, what a day that will be!  The majority of our trouble arises from that old man.  However, one of the ways we can reduce the trouble of our heart is to treat each trouble separately.  If we can see them for the smaller things than that they are individually, it should help to shoulder them all.  The key is the LORD.  David prays!  Prayer is where deliverance starts.  Pouring out to the LORD how we feel is important.  Dealing with our emotional state is a must.  If we are anxious, fearful, proud, overwhelmed, bitter, etc., sitting on these feelings is only going to make it worse.  When David ask deliverance from his distress, that is exactly what he was doing.  He was asking deliverance from an emotional state.  In the psalm, he does ask for deliverance from the situations which he was facing.  But that may take a bit of time.  What he can ask for is deliverance from his emotional state immediately.  That is the one thing he can change.

Note also the plural form of troubles and distresses.  David is not facing one single state of mind or heart.  He is overwhelmed with all sorts of emotions.  His mind and heart are flooded with all sorts of emotions.  Some of them are contrary to others.  This can be very confusing.  He feels guilt over his sin.  He feels fear regarding his enemies.  He feels impatience at the lack of justice on those who would inflict harm.  He feels remorse and regret over those things he has failed to do.  David is flooded with it all.  It is important to address each emotional state, individually and specifically.  David is not asking from deliverance from fear alone.  He is not seeking deliverance from impatience only.  David is not seeking deliverance from regret all by itself.  He is seeking relief from it all.  In short, David is seeking complete peace and contentment of mind and heart.  Perhaps these emotions cannot be overcome in one prayer.  Sometimes, there are emotions we are feeling of which we are unaware.  Regardless, prayer is where it starts.  Identifying them comes next.  Seeking deliverance is the result.

An Acquired Taste

“My son, eat thou honey, because [it is] good; and the honeycomb, [which is] sweet to thy taste: So [shall] the knowledge of wisdom [be] unto thy soul: when thou hast found [it], then there shall be a reward, and thy expectation shall not be cut off.” (Pr 24:13-14 AV)

Honey is an acquired taste.  You either love it or hate it.  My wife cannot stand honey.  Unless it is a minor ingredient in a recipe, she will not consume it.  It literally makes her gag. I have to admit; I didn’t like honey for the longest time.  To me, it tasted bitter.  However, the older I got, the sweeter honey tasted to my tongue.  The initial taste of honey is a bit weird.  It is still a bit bitter.  However, if you let the honey linger just a bit, it is very sweet.  When Solomon states that honey is sweet to the taste, he is telling the truth.  The sweetness of honey requires three things.  First, it requires that we place it on our tongue.  Second, it requires a small bit of patience, waiting for the sweetness to break through.  Third, because we exercise a minute amount of patience, we learn by experience that honey is sweet.  The older one gets and the more mature one becomes, the sweeter the taste of honey tastes.  Solomon’s analogy of wisdom to honey is a perfect one.

Wisdom is not easy to take.  In fact, because of our human nature, we often reject it.  Solomon is very specific here.  The knowledge of wisdom is a bit different from wisdom.  In the book of Proverbs, knowledge is the gathering of facts.  Understanding is how those facts work together.  Wisdom is the discipline to apply the principles learned from knowledge and understanding.  Therefore, when Solomon uses the term knowledge of wisdom, that to what he is referring is knowing how principles apply.  More specifically, the knowledge of wisdom is knowing how to apply truth, why to apply truth, and what direct application it has for our situation.  Knowledge of wisdom is perhaps the hardest to bear.  We learn facts.  Facts are facts.  They are neutral.  Understanding is not personal.  We learn how those facts develop into principles.  The hardest thing to overcome is knowing those principles need to be applied.  We oftentimes learn how uncomfortable or life-changing those principles are.

It’s sort of like seeing your doctor and he goes over your lab work.  He points out a few areas of concern.  Perhaps A1Cs are too high.  Maybe one’s cholesterol is a bit off.  There is always the possibility of our blood pressure being too high.  Our weight is definitely not ideal.  The doctor advises some life-style changes.  Diet and exercise are high on the list.  Maybe a medication or two.  More vitamins.  So far, so good.  When it becomes uncomfortable is when he or she tells us these changes apply to us.  Sure, we can tell someone else they need to diet.  But tell me I have to cut back on bad carbs, do more walking, and be sure to take my meds?  Now it becomes a bit uncomfortable.  Applying advice is bitter.  We don’t like to change.  We don’t like to improve.  Yet, when we submit to what is best for us, our souls experience humility, surrender, and a better sense of self-worth.  This is to what Solomon is saying.  Like honey that is initially bitter to the tongue, if we grow up and let the honey set just a bit, it becomes sweet to the tongue.  A brisk walk on a sunny day builds vitamin D3, gives us an outlet for stress, and builds an optimistic spirit.  Cutting back on bad carbs takes off a few pounds.  We have more bounce in our step.  Biting the bullet and getting an organized pill box, taking our meds every day, and regular checkups may seem like a chore.  But we take more pride in our life and what we can do for God.  In short, wisdom is a hard pill to swallow.  Coming to the point where we submit to wisdom might be a bitter taste, but finally, admitting God was right all along is sweet to the soul.

Beware of the Means of Blessing

“And it came to pass, that at even the quails came up, and covered the camp: and in the morning the dew lay round about the host.” (Ex 16:13 AV)

Whatever you do, don’t let your mind wander and research the tie between the quail and the manna.  Praise the LORD that we don’t know the composition of this manna.  The name means, “what is it”.  The Hebrew children could not discern the composition of the manna.  This would make sense.  If they could discern the contents of the manna and how it came to be, perhaps they could duplicate it without dependance on God.  This is not my observation this morning.  What I noticed was the mention of the quail.  There is a relationship of the manna and the quail.  What that is, we do not know.  Somehow, the appearance of the quail in the evening meant manna in the morning.  What we want to notice is it didn’t take long for the children of Israel to lust after the means of the blessing and not the blessing itself.  The means of the blessing became more desirable to the children of Israel than the blessing itself.

Did you ever wonder why Israel brought animals from Egypt, yet those flocks were not sufficient for their food?  Perhaps it wasn’t enough.  Or, perhaps meat alone was not a balanced diet.  Who knows?  What we do know is that Israel lusted after the quail.  They wanted more from God than the manna.  They wanted the means by which the manna came.  We have to remember that Israel existed for ten generations under the care of government assistance.  They labored to build Egypt’s cities.  Egypt, in turn, provided them with the means to make brick, a place to live, and food in their bellies.  It didn’t matter that their masters more than abused them.  Being dependent on a greater power for life itself makes it hard to break away.  So, when they began to complain, it wasn’t that they were starving.  It was that they didn’t, or couldn’t, comprehend self-reliance.  They had sheep and oxen.  They had goats for milk.  They had what they needed, but were so used to Egypt taking care of them, this dependence transferred to the LORD.  Now that God was kind to them and provided manna, they could not shut off the immature need for more.

God is good to us.  He really is!  We may not always see it, but He is.  Why He loves us so, I will never understand.  What Israel had a hard time with was trusting that God’s best for them was the best for them.  When the LORD told them to go up the first time and conquer Canaan, they balked at it.  This meant for 40 years, they would wonder.  The children of the fearful learned how to trust the LORD.  They saw their shoes last an entire lifetime.  They saw God provide in miraculous ways.  They were the first generation in ten generations who learned a little of self-reliance.  They also saw the cost their parents paid for not trusting the LORD.  When they crossed Jordan, the manna ceased.  They never complained.  They never lusted after that which God had not determined for them.  Other than Achan who took of the accursed thing, the people of God learned to be satisfied with what God had determined.  One might think that if God never related the quail with the manna, they would never have lusted after it.  Perhaps.  But they would have lusted after whatever else the means of bringing the blessing to them happened to be.  The short of it is, we need to be satisfied with the blessings God has already given without demanding more!

Bearing Your Cart

“But God led the people about, [through] the way of the wilderness of the Red sea: and the children of Israel went up harnessed out of the land of Egypt.” (Ex 13:18 AV)

The people of Israel were cruelly used as forced labor for Egypt and the building of their cities.  They suffered in bondage for four hundred years or so.  Ten generations lived and died in the chains of slavery.  God sent Moses and Aaron to lead them out of Egypt into the land of promise.  After ten plagues, Pharoah finally lifted his grip on God’s people and let them go.  Notice above that they went out harnessed.  This means they harnessed their oxen to carts and pulled their belongings out of Egypt.  They took with them the God given burdens of life.  They replaced the burdens man placed on them with the yoke God provided.  They did not go from Egypt free from burdens.  Left fled Egypt with burdens placed upon them by a loving God.  But burdens they carried.  Liberty does not mean freedom from all burdens.  Liberty carries with it responsibility.  Israel had to learn that lesson in the wilderness.  For 400 years, they had a government that provided for them as long as they remained slaves.  Now they were on their own.  They carried with them responsibility for themselves.  It only took three days, and they were complaining to God about water.  They wanted someone to care for them.  They had forgotten they came out harnessed.  They came out from under the burden of Egypt.  But they came out under the burden of self-responsibility.

Life is full of responsibility.  One might use the Bible word and refer to responsibility as a calling.  We all have similar callings.  We are called to a holy life.  We are called to raise a family.  We are called to serve in a church.  We are called to share the gospel with others.  We are called to minister to the lost, leading them to the Savior.  There are many callings that are germane to being a human being and a Christian.  We also have specific callings.  Some are called into a professional career.  Others are called to be the guide of the house and the encourager to a husband.  Some are called to serve on the mission field.  Others are called to be a business owner or one in authority.  Some are called to be laborers, faithfully serving their employer as a testimony of their faith.  There are those whom serve in the military, as first responders, or in the healthcare industry.  We have amazing people called to work with technology.  Bless their hearts!  There are an infinite number of specific callings.  The thing is, there is always a calling.  Paul instructs in Titus the responsibilities of the young and old; of the man and woman; of the married and unmarried.  In his first letter to the Corinthians, Paul gives advice to the single adult, to the married adult, to the Jew, to the Gentile, to the master, and to the servant.  He counsels them to abide in their calling (think responsibility) until the LORD changes that calling.

The thing is, we need to understand we are harnessed.  God liberated us from sin not to set us free to our own whims or desires.  He liberated us from sin and placed a harness to replace the overbearing yoke of sin.  Listen to Jesus. “Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke [is] easy, and my burden is light.” (Mt 11:29-30 AV) Jesus does not say to repent and reject sin, accept Him as Savior, and go have a lifelong party.  No.  There is a swapping of yokes.  Even in eternity, we will be serving Almighty God.  There will be a yoke there, too.  We were created harnessed.  We breathed our first breath with the purpose of responsibility and service.  This never ends.  Praise the LORD!

Empathizing With The Suffering

“And Pharaoh rose up in the night, he, and all his servants, and all the Egyptians; and there was a great cry in Egypt; for [there was] not a house where [there was] not one dead.” (Ex 12:30 AV)

As I was reading this verse, a mental picture came to mind.  It helps that this particular event has been depicted on the big screen.  I don’t know how far apart the Hebrews and Egyptians lived.  Perhaps they were removed enough that the sound of mourning never came to them.  However, I don’t think the Hebrews were completely immune from the sounds of suffering, either.  The Bible does implicate there were some Hebrews who didn’t follow the instructions of Moses, thus losing their firstborn.  There had to be some sounds of agony echoing through the ghettos.  The Ten Commandments with Yul Brenner and Carlton Heston depict this night as one filled with the cries of those who suffered loss.  I would almost say such an experience would be maddening.  I could not help but wonder what they were thinking or how they must have felt.

I have attended many emotional funerals.  I have officiated many as well.  It is particularly difficult to keep on point and accomplish comfort and closure when there are some are completely falling apart at the loss of someone who they deeply loved.  No judging, mind you.  People must process their loss the best way they can in order to accomplish closure and healing.  I remember one funeral where a lady in the front row continuously lost it.  Her mourning stretched my sermon from ten minutes to twenty minutes.  There was another time, in the same funeral home, sat family on the opposite side of the immediate family began to experience deep mourning.  Still another time when a very well-known member of the community was eulogized and a large part of the room began to noticeable weep.  I am sure there were some who were irritated.  Perhaps some thought it was a show.  Yet most, knowing what it was like to lose someone and having far more grace than those who are naturally critical, exercised better judgment and empathized with those suffering loss.  At a funeral, there are number of reasons why someone might attend.  At my mother’s viewing, my little league coach came.  WOW.  There are some, however, who have little or no emotional reason to come.  They come because they were acquainted with the deceased or his or her family.  To one of the aforementioned funerals, some who came did so merely because the deceased was a business associate, client, or vendor.  Some feelings may have even been adversarial.  Yet, out of respect for the deceased or family, they came.  They empathized with the loss of those who were left behind.

When I read this, I wondered how the Jewish slave must have felt.  Humility may have kept them from feeling adverse emotions at the suffering of their captors.  I imagine the wailing was overwhelming.  I imagine they could hear the agony in the cries coming from afar.  Perhaps they felt a twinge of vindication, but I don’t imagine it lasted long.  Only a very cold person would feel joy over the suffering of those who had once tormented them.  The book of Proverbs warns us not to rejoice over the all the wicked.  The book of Revelation teaches is that the patience of the saints is the justice inflicted on those who persecuted the saints.  There is a fine line between avarice and satisfaction.  As God’s people, our first desire for the enemies of God should be grace and forgiveness.  We should want them to experience the same grace we received.  We should pray for and seek the reclamation of all souls, no matter how they might have treated us.  If they refuse, empathy should not cease.  If we are gleeful at the fall of those who hate God, there is a part of us that dies with it.

Learning to Trust One Snake at a Time

“And the LORD said unto Moses, Put forth thine hand, and take it by the tail. And he put forth his hand, and caught it, and it became a rod in his hand:” (Ex 4:4 AV)

I had a thought here.  When the snake appeared, Moses jumped back.  Either he was unnaturally afraid of snakes, or this snake was of the variety that could do harm.  Then I wondered if Moses ever put that rod back down.  He had to at some point, right?  Did he sleep with it?  Did he do everything one handed?  From the time he took up that cobra until the day he died, did he put down the rod?  If that rod was the same he carried into Egypt, we know he put it down at least one more time.  When his rod devoured the rods of the Egyptian magicians, Moses threw us rod on the ground.  Then he had to take it back up again.  Again, I wonder how long it was before Moses trusted the LORD enough to put that rod back down and pick it up again.  I wonder if the first time he put it down after picking it up if it turned back into a snake.  That had to be interesting.  Mind you, I cannot prove the rod Moses had at the challenge of the priests of Egypt was the same rod Moses used when he parted the Red Sea.  It would figure they would be one and the same.  However, I cannot prove it.  If it was, then there is a profound principle to observe here.

Faith is grown brick by brick.  It does not come all at once.  Trust is something built one step at a time.  We are in the winter.  That means there are very weird people who are risking their lived to walk out on ice and fish in the middle of freezing temperatures.  The first day out on the ice pretty much does the same way.  The fisherman will pile all his equipment on a sled and trail it behind him be a considerable distance.  If he breaks through, he has an anchor to put him out.  He creeps along the ice, watching for cracks, listening intently to the ice’s reaction to his weight, and watching the ice to see if he can tell how thick it is.  When he get to a specific point, he trusts in an ax to see how thick it is.  He does this every so often on the way to his spot.  He tests the ice.  He observes if it is trustworthy.  Step by step.  Test by test.  Then he arrives at his spot.  He pulls is sled the remaining distance.  He fires up the gas powered auger.  Drilling down, he sees the ice is six inched thick.  Thick enough to handle any weight, including an SUV.  Now he is finally confident that he will be safe.  However, as he knows, the ice is thinner, closer to the shore.  It takes a few times of walking before he is confident that ice will stand as well.  Trust in the ice is grown step by step.  Not all at once.

Moses had to release his grip on that rod at some time.  It may have been that very night.  I imagine it took several times to release that rod before he was confident God would protect him.  The first thought I had was an amusing one.  I can only imagine what Moses thought the first time he realized he had to put that rod down.  But then the Spirit made this thought a bit more challenging.  Moses had to learn to trust the LORD with a snake before he could learn to trust the LORD with a nation.  It is not easy.  Believe you me!  Learning to trust the LORD is not for the faint of heart.  God puts events in our lives to build our trust in Him.  By incrementally harder events, we are learning that He can be trusted.  It is not my first choice.  As someone who hates surprises, events meant to build trust are particularly difficult for me.  As someone who thrives on managing, having a situation out of my control is not preferable.  Unfortunately, or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, holding onto the snake and learning to let it go is necessary.  It is the only way we can learn how powerful and benevolent God truly is.

Giving Up The Perfect Life

“Now Moses kept the flock of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Midian: and he led the flock to the backside of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, [even] to Horeb.” (Ex 3:1 AV)

I have to hand it to Moses.  Moses had it made.  He was out of corrupt Egypt.  He was no longer under the tutorship of a pagan who worshipped false gods and thought himself to be one as well.  He was away from the conflict of conscience of being a Hebrew, yet not enslaved to the labors of Egypt.  He didn’t have to witness the suffering of his people or his family.  Moses was a shepherd.  He lived a quiet and peaceable life.  Serving with his father-in-law, he had no greater responsibilities than the tend to some flocks.  Moses had a beautiful wife and a new son.  Life was good.  Outside of his parents and siblings still in Egypt, there would have been little incentive to return and rescue anyone.  Yet Moses had something most of us don’t.  He has a sensitive conscience and the desire to please God, even if it meant introducing much trouble to his otherwise quiet life.  Once he surrendered, life would never be quiet again.

The measure of a man is his concern with God’s will, regardless of what it might be or what it might mean.  Jonah is the opposite of Moses.  He saw the need, but loved his life a bit too much.  Called to be a prophet during the reign of Jeroboam II, Jonah had little concern for the things of life.  Jeroboam II was a secular king whose reign brought much prosperity.  He tolerated the orthodox Jews among him and never persecuted the men of God.  This secular peace meant Jonah’s ministry was rather prosperous and free of hard times.  He lived wealthy.  He lived well.  Then the LORD called him to preach at Nineveh.  Nineveh was the one place he did not want to go.  Nineveh was responsible for raiding the two and a half tribes to the east of the Jordan river.  To say he was biased would be an understatement.  He disliked the Ninevites and thought them unredeemable.  So, when God knocked on Jonah’s door, he would not allow his heart to move with compassion for those without God, nor did he see the overwhelming responsibility of obeying the word of God, no matter what.  Jonah lacked what Moses had.  A sense of calling that ran deep.  A sense of calling that was greater than anything he would lose.

We have a very short supply of those with the disposition of Moses.  Where are the men called into ministry without any guarantees?  Where are the men who know the cause of Christ is something that demands an answer?  Where are the saints who will inconvenience their quiet lives for a greater good?  When I read the entry above, I could not help but place myself in the life of Moses.  This tired saint is looking forward to retirement.  If retirement is even a possibility.  My age bracket is learning really quickly that retirement is more than likely out of reach for most of us.  But I am right there with Moses.  Give me a cabin on a lake with no man-made sounds and I am there!  Give me a wood-burning stove, wind whispering through the pines, and a fishing rod anytime I want and I would be living the dream.  Too many saints are pursuing the perfect life and getting way too comfortable with our lovely planet.  God cannot do great things because His people won’t commit to being used for great things.  We need more men like Moses.  We need more women like Mary.  We need saints to surrender their quiet, perfect life for a cause greater than life itself.

Holding Pattern

“Hold up my goings in thy paths, [that] my footsteps slip not.” (Ps 17:5 AV)

We forget how much we are dependent on the power of God to live in the word of God.  Most of what we do is on our own strength.  To some degree, that is ok.  God does hold us accountable for our choices and there are times when we can make the right ones in the might of our own strength.  However, to assume that is true all the time is to invite failure.  David certainly understood the request above.  There were times his integrity carried him through.  There were many times when the LORD strengthened him to do the right thing.  Then there were those times he relied on his own strength and failed miserably.  Knowing the hands of God are under our arms, ready to catch us and keep us from falling, is the strength we need for every day and every moment of our pilgrimage.

Growing up in the north, ice skating was a recreational must.  My father made it a goal to teach his children to swim and to skate.  The swimming thing he delegated to the Red Cross.  The skills of ice skating were his alone to impart.  I and my siblings went through the same rite of passage.  My father would pack up the family and take us to the local rink.  Those of us who knew how to skate would lace up and hit the ice.  There was always one or two of us who did not.  My sister and I were in such a case.  Being ten months apart and learning for the first time in the same winter, my dad had to switch between us two.  First thing was to learn how to lace up double-bladed ice skates.  He took the first one out and attacked me or her to the side panels.  Then the other would follow.  At first, he would hold us up by the armpits.  He taught us how to glide.  Then he taught us how to push off.  The rink walls worked good enough to stop.  Once he got one of us started, he would go back and get the other.  Once we got our balance, he would skate behind us.  Rather than holding us up, he would place his hands under our arms so that if we began to fall, he would catch us.  Whether we needed those hands or not, knowing they were there if we started to fall often kept us from doing so.  It didn’t take but a little bit and we were off on our own.  Every once in a while, after a hard fall, he would have to come and pick us up.  We knew that someone bigger and more experienced, who also had our best interest at heart, had our six.

David is also emphasizing the nature of the path.  He is concerned that he might slip.  But even more concerning is the worry that he might slip from God’s path.  While reading this passage, I could not help but go back to those years as a three or four-year-old.  Not having learned how to walk or run for no more than a year or two, my father knew it was important to teach us how to skate.  Reading the above passage, I could not help but remember what it was like.  I could not help but to recollect the emotion.  The feeling of my father towering over me with his hands under my arms, ready to keep me from falling.  Knowing I was safe in his watch care made me braver and more confident to learn.  Sometimes, we get too old and experienced in the LORD to remember how desperately we need Him.  We forget what it was like to be a spiritual babe.  We forget what it was like to fuss and fight for every little inch of maturity.  We forget just how fragile life is and we tend to rely on Him less and not more.  Now that I am getting up there in age, I am reminded just how much I truly need Him.  The closing of this pilgrimage will find me in impossible situations.  There will be hard times wherein the only way I can make it is with God’s total care.  I am glad David wrote this.  We should live this way every day.  God is there.  He will hold us up.  So, we can go through life, no matter the stage, and have boldness in the path He has chosen.