Only Truth Delivers

“A true witness delivereth souls: but a deceitful [witness] speaketh lies.” (Pr 14:25 AV)

The first five words of this proverb are powerful!  The king does not elaborate as to who these souls are or how many the true witness tries to deliver.  There is no guarantee that the true witness will deliver all the souls he encounters.  The comparison isn’t in the results.  Rather, Solomon is making a comparison between the two methods.  One speaks the truth.  The other lies.  The intimation is that the true witness delivers trouble souls, whereas the deceitful witness does not.  The difference is in truth versus error.

Truth is in short supply.  We have seen this especially over the last few decades.  Error is the ground of grand conspiracy theories.  Sometimes, poor practices are a result of simply not knowing better.  We have a practice that may have seemed right at the time, but upon further inspection and research, it is discovered there is a better way.  In fact, the current path causes more harm than good.  This is especially true in the field of medicine.  The protocols change over time.  More research is conducted, and it is discovered that the current standard of care does not have the results hoped for, and may even introduce more complications.  This is very common.  It is not necessarily the healthcare professional or the facility that governs treatment that is directly responsible.  They are working of an industry standard that has not evolved into the best care possible.  Treatments are often changed because what the scientist thought was true turned out to be false.  There simply wasn’t enough data, or the data was skewed by an unknown stimulus that the best care at the time did not deliver.  Truth always delivers.  Falsehood never does.

Ego gets in the way.  Truth completely delivers, yet few want it.  Falsehood may bring relief without deliverance, and many want that!  The ego, because it wants to be seen as effective, is lulled into using falsehood.  Those who only want relief affirm the value of the false witness.  He is seen as caring and effective.  The reality of it is that a false witness, at best, merely kicks the can down the road.  He doesn’t deliver anyone.  He makes them twofold the child of the devil.  The true witness must take pleasure in the few he delivers more than the many he could not.  He must look at the eternal results rather than the temporal ones.  There are many religious organizations that bring much relief.  But they do not deliver.  They peddle their falsehoods or half-truths and build a following.  They are seen as highly effective.  Yet there is not deep repentance from sin and faith in the Only Way – Jesus!  I don’t know about you, but I don’t like putting a Band-Aid on a serious injury.  I want to heal it.  As one who is entrusted with truth, it is our obligation to share it faithfully.  It is the only way we can deliver the sin-sick soul.

Under Control While We Are Under

“The day [is] thine, the night also [is] thine: thou hast prepared the light and the sun.” (Ps 74:16 AV)

Our psalmist’s observation is in the light of oppression.  God is not oppressing.  The enemies of Israel are.  The psalmist cites the active hand of a sovereign God.  This verse, by no means, could support the position of a Deist.  It actually accomplished the opposite.  The writer’s plea for intervention is predicated on the fact that God created all things and controls all things.  God controls all things all the time.  Whether day nor night, the times are His.  They are in His hands, and there is no one who can turn Him.  The psalmist further cites the provision of sovereignty which God provides.  The light and the sun are what governs our time.  The sun governs our day and night.  The stars and moon govern our months and seasons.  To summarize, our sovereign God is in control of time itself.  All that happens is under His direct care.  All things are caused or allowed by His mighty hand.  Nothing gets past our God, nor does anything supersede His power to control it.

Now and again, I am amazed at the human body.  Have you owned anything that ran continuously for seventy to ninety years that was self-maintaining, self-generating, and worked regardless of any outside administration?  Do you realize that from the moment your heart beat for the first time, it hasn’t stopped?  That is amazing!  If I ran my car for that entire duration, it would have eventually stopped.  My lungs, from the moment of my birth have not stopped.  They go on night and day.  They go on without my need to think about it.  When one considers how long our ancient progenitors lived, this truth is mindboggling.  Our first parents lived over nine-hundred years.  For the human heart to beat for nine hundred years without stopping is beyond comprehension.  Now, think how much trust you and I have to go to sleep at night.  If our hearts stopped beating or our lungs stopped breathing, we would not have the ability to call for help.  We would be at the mercy of those around us.  Every night we lay our heads down and place our trust in something we cannot control.  Then we wake up.  Our trust was well-founded.

Our psalmist speaks great comfort to us.  During the times we cannot interact with our environment, God has it all.  It is all under His sovereign control.  Most of life is out of our control.  We can choose.  We can act.  We can interact.  But the outcome is never guaranteed.  God controls it all.  It is not so much His control while I sleep that I find comforting.  Rather, if I can totally surrender to the LORD and close my eyes for a much-needed time of rest, there should be no reason to do that same while I am awake.  As the moon and stars govern the times of the night, the sun governs the time of day.  They are set and controlled by the sovereign hand of Jehovah.  If I can rest at night, I must be at spiritual and emotional rest during the day.  He has this!  Going to sleep is a great step of faith.  Living in the day is no less.  Trust the Keeper of it all!

Rejecting The Best for the Status Quo

“And after threescore and two weeks shall Messiah be cut off, but not for himself: and the people of the prince that shall come shall destroy the city and the sanctuary; and the end thereof [shall be] with a flood, and unto the end of the war desolations are determined.” (Da 9:26 AV)

The scriptures are very plain here.  The Jewish Messiah will die for others.  To be cut off is to be cut off from the promises made to Israel.  This means the Messiah must be cut off from the promises to Israel by a judicial act of the Father.  The Messiah must be cut off from the promises made to Israel for the sake of Israel.  What follows is a prophecy regarding the Messianic kingdom that follows a seven-year period.  Putting this all together, the word of Got foretold the death, burial, resurrection, and restoration of the Jewish Messiah for the sake of Israel.  Yet when Jesus Christ came, they either didn’t see it, wouldn’t see it, or did see it and rejected it.  We can pass judgment on Israel for rejecting the obvious, but one has to wonder how many times the New Testament saints are doing the same thing.  Whether it is ignorance, unbelief, or rebellion we can dismiss clear teaching of the word of God for a choice of our own.

There are times we reject something that is perfect for us.  Sometimes we think we have a better option, or that the option we now possess is the best we can have.  Israel was content under the rule of Rome.  In fact, several times the leaders of Israel stirred the people to conclude the same end.  For them at the time, the Pax Romano was more to their liking than the Messianic kingdom.  This sounds a bit silly.  Especially in hindsight.  Rejecting their Messiah also meant rejecting eternal life.  Hell was their end.  The rejected God’s best for them because the best of the world would suffice.  But do the saints of today to the same thing?  All the time!

Our churches are filled with worldliness and corruption.  Sin is at every corner.  The escape from it is our daily walk with God.  This must incorporate Bible reading and prayer.  But it doesn’t stop there.  Otherwise, prayer and bible study become merely a religious exercise.  Both must be done in the context of a relationship.  They are not exercised as an academic curiosity.  God is not a subject to study.  Rather, there is growth that comes by both.  Part of growing as a Christian is enduring through trials and/or correction.  We are told not to faint while under either.  The word of God promises peaceable fruits of righteousness, holiness, and a deeper love for God if we allow the hand of God to have its perfect work.  Yet, we see the risk or stress involved and avoid it at all costs.  Maintaining the status quo is good enough for us.

Our churches are filled with three types of people.  Those who are newly saved and start growing.  There are those who will always continue to grow.  Then there are those who are satisfied with where they have come and have drawn a line in the sand.  They have ceased to grow and will grow no more.  That is what happened with Israel.  They have suffered centuries of warfare and persecution.  For the first time in their history, they lived in Palestine with relative peace.  Their liberties were limited.  But at least there was no trouble on the horizon.  They were overtaxed.  They were victims of imperfect justice.  They lived under the hand of Caesar.  But at least the sun was coming up tomorrow.  At least life was predictable and livable.  Why would they want change?  Even if the promised change was better than they had, staying put was their choice.  This is sad.  But too many people live that way today. The bulk of God’s people are right where Israel was.  There is no desire to grow.  No desire to risk.  No desire to conform.  No desire for Christlikeness.  We are happy with mediocrity, and if Jesus ever did a great work in our lives, we would resent it.  They missed it because they wanted to miss it.  The same is true of many saints.

Help for the Helpless

“For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and [him] that hath no helper.” (Ps 72:12 AV)

That last part of the verse is special!  When you boil it all down, how much help do we really have?  David wrote this near the end of his life.  The next Psalm is Asaph’s biography and eulogy of his good friend, David.  It was known of this great king that was the apple of God’s eye.  He and the LORD had a very special relationship.  Despite the failures of his life, he loved God, and God loved him.  No doubt in the course of his life he felt as though he had no one.  Several instances come to mind.  Goliath was one of his first lone challenges.  Just before Saul died and when David took the throne, all his men left him.  Now, he lies on his deathbed and human help will be of no worth.  When compared to God’s help, there is little people can do for you in comparison to what you might be facing.  Don’t get me wrong.  The help of dear saints is absolutely needed and welcomed.  God uses them to meet our needs.  We cannot survive without one another.  But there are times when man’s help, although somewhat sufficient, lacks all that we need.  This is where David was.  Lying on a bed with a nurse at his side and his wife and encouragement, it was not going to change his outcome.  God was the only one who could truly help David.

On one of my darkest days, this truth was made real to me.  Through the changes of life and other issues I was facing, all I could see were dark skies.  There was no sunshine.  There was no sunshine predicted.  As far as the mind was concerned, all hope was lost.  This poor saint found himself at the end of his rope.  There was no more left, and the knot was slipping through my grasp.  If God did not do something soon, my end was near.  In the wisdom of my wife, she called a close friend.  I had escaped to my room and sat there sobbing and rocking back and forth.  Too much loss had happened in a very brief time.  Spiritual issues were coming to a head.  Fear gripped me on every side.  There was no way to turn.  My good friend came to try to console me.  He tried the best he could.  The verses he used were familiar to me, and before he said anything, I knew what he was going to say.  It wasn’t helping.  I finally rebuked him a bit, and that is when he realized that God alone was my helper.  He sat there.  Simply sat there.  He said nothing.  He promised that he would not go anywhere until I was okay.  Other than that last bit of comfort, he simply sat there.  I imagine as he sat in silence, what he was really doing was praying.  I am certain of it.  He went to the throne of my only Helper and interceded on my behalf.  It worked!  His intervention drew me out of a pit of hopelessness deeper than I have ever been before, or since.  That day I learned the reality of the verse above.

The child of God is never without hope.  Never.  Don’t let the adversary tell you otherwise.  There is no failure nor sin that can separate you from your Father.  Repentance and forsaking are asked for, but the Father will never leave.  Ever!  Nor will He ever allow us to go through a trial without Him.  He promises to be with us in the midst of the deepest water we will ever tread.  He will be there.  And He will deliver.  Living in the hope of that deliverance is difficult.  Go far enough down a pit and the sun is blocked out.  All we see are the dark, constraining walls of our situation.  Whether we can see the light or not, it exists.  God is there. He promises to deliver those who have no helper.  Praise be to God!

Quickening Over and Again

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

The last few psalms of David’s book of Psalms are precious.  They are psalms reflecting his experiences in aging.  The above verse is an excellent verse supporting faith in the resurrection.  Although David is referring to his aging physical condition compared to the desire to do all he can for God until his last breath, he does allude to the resurrection as well.  The quickening referred to here appears in the preceding verses closest to this one.  The quickening referred to earlier is a physical strengthening David desires in the present tense.  “Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth….I will go in the strength of the Lord GOD: I will make mention of thy righteousness, [even] of thine only.” (Ps 71:9,16 KJB)  David knows that God strengthened him in the past.  In fact, David is sure to mention that from the womb until the very day that he writes the above passage, that the strength of the LORD is what enabled him.  This same strength will follow him into eternity.  The depths of the earth cannot hold back the strength of the LORD.  Herein is the hope of the LORD.

It is funny how we think an empty tank will never be full again.  However, sometimes the tank needs to be emptied completely and remain empty for a while before it can be filled again.  This often makes the tank healthier.  I discovered something by accident several years ago.  I am a fan of rechargeable electric toothbrushes.  I use a Philipps Sonic toothbrush.  I have used them for over a decade.  Over the course of using them, they appeared to last only a few years.  When brand new, they brush can hold a charge for almost two weeks.  After a few years of using one, the charge lasts only a few days.  I assumed that the life of the battery had seen its limit.  Then I went on vacation.  I deliberately let my toothbrush die and then let it sit for ten days completely dead.  Before I left, the charger lasted only three days.  Upon returning, the toothbrush was charged for 24 hours, and it was back to the condition it was when brand new.  Now, every time the brush beeps at me for low battery, I let it die all the way before I charge it.  If I am away for any length of time, I will run it empty and leave it that way until I return.  The tank had to run dry before it could be filled back up.  It made the tank empty.

David is nearing the end of his life.  His tank ran dry more often than in his youth.  That is not necessarily a bad thing.  In fact, it can be a good thing.  This causes us to rest in the LORD far more frequently than we did many years before.  Our bodies may not be getting stronger, but our spirits and souls sure are.  It is okay to be all used up.  We need to be.  David knew that as God was faithful to quicken him in the past, He will do so in the present and in the future.  Just like the earth and the grave cannot hold us back, life cannot either.  We may have to do the same, but in a more organized or efficient way.  We may not be able to simply muscle through life.  Rather, we will have to pray more.  We will have to read more.  We will have to seek the presence of our Savior more.  If a six-foot hole cannot hold me back, then the devil, the world, and the flesh cannot either.  God will quicken.  That is His nature.  Life is His heartbeat.  To serve Him must be our passion.

Scheduling God?

“But as for me, my prayer [is] unto thee, O LORD, [in] an acceptable time: O God, in the multitude of thy mercy hear me, in the truth of thy salvation.” (Ps 69:13 AV)

An acceptable time has me deep in meditation.  Remember that Paul told us to pray without ceasing.  The ‘time’ here is not a scheduled time as though God turns His ear away from us at certain times of day, weeks, months, or years.  God always hears.  Rather, the acceptable time is event driven.  Prayer is the natural response to an event.  Or at least, it should be.  For David, it was the oppression by his enemies that drove him to prayer.  The time was acceptable because the need was genuine.  As the Spirit leads, another thought appeared.  Perhaps David is referring to sincere prayer.  In other words, prayer is not something we merely schedule because we are told to.  We do not have a prayer time apart from all other conversations of the day.  We do not pray to God for a bit and then forget Him the remainder of our time.  This is insulting.  It is patronizing.  Rather, we are to pray as circumstances dictate how we pray.  Not pray at certain times and then neglect our personal walk with God.  The acceptable time is the time that prayer needs to be made for whatever needs to be petitioned.  The keyword is ‘in’ rather than ‘at’.

Our conversations take this trajectory throughout the day.  We don’t even notice it.  If we are at work, our conversations are guided by whatever is the topic or need at that time.  It could be business related.  Or, it could be a social exercise.  No matter the motive, talking is part of human relationships.  Marriages are the same.  Or should be.  There should be constant conversation.  It need not be restricted to conflict resolution or mutual goals.  There are times when my wife and I simply enjoy the company of the other.  Conversation is guided by what we are trying to accomplish, or what we need, or what we prefer to provide for the other.  The acceptable time is more about what it is that needs to be discussed rather than a set time to discuss all things.  When there is a conversation that needs full attention, we might ask the other, “Is now a good time?”.  The conversation is event driven.  It is sincere.  It is purposeful.  It is planned and should be thought out well.  Spontaneous conversations are best kept light.  Intense discussions should be prepared and planned.  The topic at hand will dictate the acceptable time for the conversation.  In short, there are times when certain things are not said by replaced by other things that could be said.  Silence is not the point here.

The same is true with prayer.  David is not setting apart an hour of prayer times and then ignoring God for the rest of his day.  Rather, he is being sincere and purposeful in his prayer.  He prays without ceasing over things in their time and place.  This way, his prayer is sincere and respectful.  Prayer is not merely to fill time.  Prayer is not reserved solely to fill up the silence.  Prayer should be a conversation we have with the LORD over things that are appropriate at the time.  Otherwise, we are treating God as a therapist who is only there to process how we feel, and then we go on our way.  By using the phrase, ‘in an acceptable time’, David is saying that at that moment, he needs deliverance from his enemies and that specific time was the time to bring it up.  Praise comes at the appropriate time.  Worship comes in the time that is right.  Gratitude or petitioning for the needs of others has its time and place.  For right now, deliverance is the item on the table.  Rambling prayer is not what God wants.  He deserves better.  He deserves our sincere and genuine heart and mind each time we approach His throne!

Especially For The Rebel

“Thou hast ascended on high, thou hast led captivity captive: thou hast received gifts for men; yea, [for] the rebellious also, that the LORD God might dwell [among them].” (Ps 68:18 AV)

For the rebellious, also!  That would be me!  What a great truth.  Jesus Christ brought the gift of His blood to the mercy seat so that we might have the gift of salvation.  He did so for the express reason that the rebellious against God might dwell with God.  WOW!  Just last night, I was contemplating this very truth.  The thought entered my mind of the futility of the existence of man compared to our Almighty God desiring our existence.  It was a tremendous exercise in the motive of our God.  Why would He tolerate such beings?  Why would He allow us to make choices contrary to His pleasure?  Why would He set all this in motion knowing that the very beings He creates will rebel against Him?  Why?  God is a merciful God, full of pity.  He desired to create beings to whom He might show forth that mercy and pity.  The object of that mercy and pity was and is, me.

Let’s face it.  Rebellion is not exactly an endearing quality.  The rebel doesn’t have many friends.  This was true in my class.  This was true in our family.  This is true in the church.  Good people tend to avoid the rebel.  Our class rebel was Mike.  Mike did anything he could to anger our teachers.  It was because of Mike that our class lost many opportunities of kindness from our teachers.  If there was a wrong way to do something, Mike would find it.  He would disrupt our classtime.  He would do disgusting things in the presence of everyone.  He was routinely at the chastening end of instruction.  Bound to his rebellious ways, Mike flunked out of our class.  Then flunked out of the next class.  By the time he was old enough to legally drop out of school, he was two grades behind.  Looking at Mike, most of us only saw the behavior.  We didn’t stop and consider why Mike was the way he was.  We knew nothing of his home life.  We knew nothing of the baggage he brought with him every day to school.  It wasn’t until myself and my father took an interest in him and got him involved in Boy Scouts that we learned of his situation.  His rebellious turned off most.  But it was my father’s concern for this young man that stopped a cycle of bad behavior that could have ended much worse.

Why God puts up with us I will never fully understand.  What we do know is that God created us so that He could be kind to us.  He created us so that He could know us and we could know Him.  Jesus gave the ultimate gift of His life so that our sin account could be totally erased.  He brought gifts to and for men.  He brought the gift of His atoning blood to the Father who sat on His throne as judge.  The Judge saw the blood sacrifice of His Son and accepted the terms of life for sin.  All the rebel needs to do is repent of his or her sin and trust in what Jesus Christ did for them.  It is that simple.  But never let it escape the heart that even while we were rebels, God desired to live among us.

Eco-Promise (sort of)

Ezekiel 39:7 So will I make my holy name known in the midst of my people Israel; and I will not let them pollute my holy name any more: and the heathen shall know that I am the LORD, the Holy One in Israel.

The middle of the verse tells us why God will use modern-day Israel once again.  The fact that God will not allow Israel to pollute his name anymore is clear indication that Israel will pollute the name of Jehovah.  They did so in the past, and it led to the great diaspora.  The great dispersion.  1948 saw the return of national Israel to the land God had given them.  However, by continuing to reject Jesus as their Messiah, they continued to pollute the name of Jehovah.  This is clearly evidenced by the severe lack of moral purity required from God’s people.  Israel is no better than any other depraved nation on this earth.  They have the same issues with immorality, abuse, and worship of ungodly things.  What cannot be lost, however, is that no matter how far from God they get, they are still God’s people.  There is application here for the New Testament Saint.

Every child of God who loves his or her Savior sincerely desires to overcome sin.  If repentance is part of our salvation experience (and it must be or we are not saved) then our attitude towards sin changed.  We abhor it.  Not that we are all that successful in avoiding it.  Temptation comes, and we fall.  What changes is an elevated reaction of guilt and a deep desire to make it right with God.  We didn’t have that prior to our regeneration.  Now, the Holy Spirit convicts to an even greater degree because our person had been born again.  That process has made us much more sensitive to the work of the Spirit.  Looking at the verse above and the promise made to Israel; we have the same promise.  In the sense that we will be made perfectly sinless without any capacity to sin is called glorification.  There will come a day when it will be impossible to pollute the name of the LORD anymore.  Gone will be the sinful part of us that yields do easily to sin.  God will be the old man.  There will come a day when polluting the name of the LORD will be just as impossible for east to become west or up to become down.

This is the hope of all who walk with God.  We hate our failures and sin.  We hate failing to be all that we can be for the pleasure of our Almighty Father.  We hate having to go to His throne time and again to confess and forsake.  We hate it.  More than life itself, we hate sin and want it forever eradicated!  We have that promise.  So, if we have that promise, what would happen if we lived in that promise?  When I started PT following my shoulder surgery, the therapists promised that if I applied myself, then I would regain one-hundred percent use of my left shoulder and arm.  There was nothing but a lack of determination that could stop it.  That drove me past the pain.  That motivated me to higher degree of commitment.  In the same vein, if we are promised eternal perfection, why are we not striving after it now?  It is our hope!  It is our future.

Don't Forget To Rejoice

“He turned the sea into dry [land]: they went through the flood on foot: there did we rejoice in him.” (Ps 66:6 AV)

Can you imagine trying to rejoice when there are walls of water on both sides of you?  Can you imagine trying to rejoice when the entire Egyptian army is behind you and if the pillar of fire were to fade, you would be trapped?  Can you imagine rejoicing when you are trying to get your family and all your belongings across a sea that is abating?  Rejoicing?  Are you nuts?  I think I would run as fast as I could, and when the sea closed upon the Egyptians, then I would rejoice.  Yet our psalmist tells us they rejoiced in the middle of the sea.  To have that state of mind while escaping certain death takes a lot of patience and faith.  Faith, which they would later forget that they had.

When God does a great thing, it is often overwhelming.  Rejoicing, although completely appropriate, is not our natural reaction.  After the shock of what God did has worn off, then rejoicing usually follows.  One of the hardest days of my life was the day of my wife’s cancer surgery.  Up to this point, I had learned to trust my intuition.  When I knew in my heart that something was about to happen, it usually did.  It is a sixth sense by knowing how God works and what He is trying to accomplish before He acts.  It has served me very well over the years.  This sense of God’s leading has put me in places of opportunity.  One such case was going to a hospital for a visit and knowing beforehand that I would bump into a specific someone whom I hadn’t seen in 15 years.  Sure enough, they walked into the hospital the moment I was at the desk inquiring of the patient whom I came to see.  The day of my wife’s surgery, I was prepared to hear the news that she didn’t make it out of the OR.  I was sitting with my son and had the overwhelming feeling that she had passed at noon on the dot.  I remember looking up into the sky and saying goodbye.  We sat there.  In silence.  Thirty minutes later we were called to the consult room where the surgeon was to meet us.  I was prepared to hear the worst.  After all, if all went well, they usually came right to the lobby area.  I was sitting in a private room.  As the surgeon described the surgery and what she accomplished, I was stunned.  My wife was alive.  She did well.  All my fears were abated.  Rejoicing was not my first response.  Shock was.

As to how to apply this, I am searching beyond the obvious.  The obvious application would be to rejoice as a discipline to the miraculous hand of God.  One can always meditate on it a bit later.  One has to imagine what this might have looked like.  Israel was rejoicing and celebrating while crossing the Red Sea.  Egypt had to have heard this and erroneously thought it was presumptuous to do so.  As the Jewish people sang songs of praise and glorified God with a shout, Egypt necessarily had to become more enraged.  Perhaps the joy expressed is what motivated the enemies of God to self-destruction.  Maybe the Devil has more influence over us because we have not motivated him to self-destruction.  Maybe the temporal enemies of the gospel have not collapsed because we as God’s people simple are too stoic in our response to what our great God has and will do!  Maybe rejoicing in the middle of God’s deliverance is the key to getting on the other side.  Maybe a heart of rejoicing is what gets us to higher ground, and not always the result of it!

The Blessing of Being Chosen

“Blessed [is the man whom] thou choosest, and causest to approach [unto thee, that] he may dwell in thy courts: we shall be satisfied with the goodness of thy house, [even] of thy holy temple.” (Ps 65:4 AV)

I can’t get over the words “whom thou choosest”!  Now, I hate to disappoint you, but this is not an entry regarding Calvinism.  Calvinism is heresy.  There, I said it.  It changes the very process of salvation and that, by definition, is a heresy.  If it makes you feel better to call me a heretic if I reject your theology, I’m ok with that!  Rather, I would focus on the fact that in spite of what God knows of me, He still chooses to fellowship with me.  What love!  Note that the satisfaction that follows is tied to the choosing that precedes it.  Perhaps that is why so many believers are unhappy today.  Maybe that is why so many who claim to be a child of God are dissatisfied with life.  Maybe they have forgotten they were chosen with the full knowledge of an omniscient God who has every right to decline our presence.  He would be fully within His holiness if He rejected us all!  Yet He does not.  Those who chose to trust Him, He chooses to grant them an audience.  Why?  It is a great mystery to me!  Love explains it.  But the depth of love is what I trip over.  If I were God, I wouldn’t let me anywhere near me!  Yet He chose me!

Every once in a while, I have the same thought regarding my wonderful wife.  She could have done so much better.  Don’t tell my father-in-law I said that.  He would agree.  LOL.  She is smart beyond smart.  She is funny.  She is a master organizer.  She is my spellchecker, my cheerleader, and my best friend.  I wonder why she ever chose me.  What prompts these thoughts?  When I look at other men and notice what they have accomplished, why she ever chose me, I will never know.  I see what others have done; I watch the strengths of others; I wonder why it is that I have never met my full potential.  I compare all this against her faithfulness and admiration and have to ask that one-word question, ‘why’.  Then I examine my personal failures.  My foolish ways that often cause more harm than good.  There are slip-ups with the tongue.  There are times of laziness that creep in.  There are misjudgments that occur.  She deserves much better.  So, why?  Why did she choose me?  I am still amazed almost forty years later that she chose me when there were far better options out there.  She could have had a much better life.  So, why?  Why did she choose me?

Take that thought and multiply it by a factor of infinity!  That is what God did for His children.  He knows us better than any spouse could ever know us.  Yet, He chose us.  When we err against our spouse, sometimes it is deliberate.  Sometimes it is simple human error.  But when we sin, it is always against God.  It is personal with Him.  Yet, knowing what we would do before we do it, He still chose us.  Now, we can choose to do one of two things.  We can react in paralyzing self-pity.  We can look with deep humility and react in a false humility that is actually pride.  Or, we could appreciate the unspeakable gift of divine affirmation by reciprocating as best we can our devotion to Him!  The first reaction is stated above.  We can choose to be satisfied with the presence of God above all other things.  This means contentment in the person of God rules the heart and mind.  If we were to realize just how blessed it is to be chosen, then all other needs or anxieties would become a far-distant concern.  The one who realized the blessedness of being chosen is the one who is satisfied no matter what follows or does not follow.  Being chosen is the principal thing!

He'll Get His

“By the multitude of thy merchandise they have filled the midst of thee with violence, and thou hast sinned: therefore I will cast thee as profane out of the mountain of God: and I will destroy thee, O covering cherub, from the midst of the stones of fire.” (Eze 28:16 AV)

Through the events of the king of Trye, Ezekiel prophesies the eventual downfall of Satan.  We know this is future tense because the Bible clearly tells us.  When the LORD returns, Satan will be bound and cast into the bottomless pit for 1,000 years.  After the 1,000 years he will be loosed from the pit to deceive the nations.  At the commencement of the second battle of Gog and Magog, the devil and all the lost will be cast into the lake of fire forever.   As tormented as we are by the forces of evil, this will come to an end.  This casting out is not a light thing.  God tells the devil that he will be destroyed.  This means that as much as the world wants us to believe Satan will rule hell, he won’t.  Satan will exist in a permanent state of destruction.  He will have no liberty to go as he wishes.  He will have no power to do as he wants.  His end is complete and total torment with no hope of parole.

It is hard to imagine a reality with the force of evil as the major part of it.  We have help by reading of heaven in the word of God.  Our imagination limits us to the total picture of what a perfect place might be like.  One can only get a picture in mind of how human interaction will change without the presence of evil.  I have this app on my phone.  It monitors dispatch calls.  I get a report of all the crime that occurs within my designated area.  The other night there was activity in my immediate neighborhood, and I never knew it.  Apparently, there was a gang of young people attempting to break into cars.  They made the mistake of breaking glass, and someone heard it.  They called it in.  Law enforcement was all around our block, and a drone was deployed.  They eventually caught the young ones who were trying to hide on a property.  It wasn’t too smart to try to break-ins less than a block from our city’s main police station.  I live two blocks from city hall to my south and two blocks to my north is a police substation.  If there were any block in our city that a criminal might want to avoid, it would be mine.  The point is, this happened well after we had turned in for the night.  We had no idea.  Had it not been for the app, I never would have known of the evil that was right outside my front door.

That is the way Satan operates.  Clandestine work is his favorite.  The less he is noticed, the more damage he can do.  Not until he is completely removed will God’s temporal creation realize the scope of evil that dwelled among us.  But one of these days it will be all over.  It will be all over forever.  Those of us who have eternal life by the blood of Jesus Christ can never lose it.  Those who have eternal death will never escape.  One of these days there will be an eternal separation of good and evil.  Good will reside with God.  Evil will be confined to the lake of fire.  This is the patience of all the saints!

Following Hard

“My soul followeth hard after thee: thy right hand upholdeth me.” (Ps 63:8 AV)

The first part of this verse speaks loudly to me!  For the first time in a long time, this writer is of few words.  David was overwhelmed.  At what point in his life he wrote this is unclear.  We do know, because of the mention of enemies, that David was at his wit’s end with those who would do him harm.  Who they were and when this was in not stated.  The title of the psalm places David in the wilderness of Judah.  Although he may have spent more time there than was recorded in the scriptures, this may correlate to his flight into Judah, their initial rejection of him, and his consequent trip to Moab to secure his parent’s safety.  If this is the time of which David speaks, it was a particularly lonely time.  His tribe refused to protect him from Saul.  Saul had killed everyone associated with David.  Therefore, David was forced to flee to Moab and leave his immediate family there.  For the first time, David was all alone with His God.

David is not ashamed to say that his soul followed hard after God.  The picture I have in my head is our wedding reception.  Several weeks after our wedding, my wife’s boss gave us a compliment.  She said she noticed that I followed my wife around like a forlorn puppy.  Where she went, I went.  I followed hard after her.  I know what you are thinking.  Just stop it.  I did this because we were now one flesh.  We were no longer two people.  We were one family.  This was before our wedding night.  This was before our consummation.  We were one.  No longer two.  The thought of being far from her was not a thought I cared to entertain.  It has been that way ever since.  Time has allowed us to be apart.  But not for very long.  It is extremely rare for us to be away from one another for more than a few hours.  Those times when we are apart for days are rare.  It is usually a woman’s retreat, a hunting trip, or an overnight hospital stay that demands our severance.  But these times are extremely rare.  We could say that we follow hard after one another.  There isn’t much space or time that separates us.  And I like it!

When David says that he follows hard after the LORD, I understand this.  It breaks the heart of the saint who truly loves his God that heaven is so far away.  We must accept our relationship as it is.  One of these days, we will see our Savior face-to-face!  Following hard after the LORD will take on a whole new meaning.  Jesus saved my soul over forty years ago.  My biggest regret is that I am not as close to Him as I possibly could be.  Like all of us, sin and life happened.  One of these days, following hard after the LORD will have no competing interests.  One has to wonder who we love the most.  One has to wonder who it is we could not live without.  It should be the LORD.  As a newlywed who follows hard after his new spouse, our souls should follow hard even more so after our God.  He will never leave nor forsake.  He is always there.  Closer than we realize.  So, the question still remains.  Do we follow hard after the God of our existence?

God's Tent Is Broad!

“I will abide in thy tabernacle for ever: I will trust in the covert of thy wings. Selah.” (Ps 61:4 AV)

For David, the tabernacle was a physical place of worship that Israel visited regularly.  This tabernacle had five pieces of furniture.  The Ark of the Covenant was there.  God’s glory rested on the tabernacle whenever it ceased to travel.  But note here that David says he will abide in the tabernacle of God forever.  Yet as a warrior king, this simply was not possible.  He had to go to the palace.  He had to be with his family.  David has to go out to the field of battle.  He simply could not live in the tabernacle for his entire human existence.  So what does he mean when he says he will abide in the tabernacle of God forever?

The clue we are given is in the punctuation and explanation we find in our passage.  A colon is a very important tool for interpreting a verse.  A colon tells us that what follows further explains that which was just said.  What follows may be additional context.  It might be a clearer definition.  What follows a colon might supply missing information that clarifies an otherwise broad point.  In our passage, what follows the colon defines the ‘tabernacle’ as David saw it.  By including the ‘wings’ of God, David defines the ‘tabernacle’ as far more than a tent located in Jerusalem.  David saw the tabernacle of God as the presence of God manifested by God’s sovereign rule and protection over his life.  The ‘tabernacle’ of which David would abide forever is the perfect will of God and God’s ever-present person.  Even though the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night rested on the physical tabernacle in Israel, David knew that his God was not restricted to that particular place and time.

The same is true for us today.  God is not any more God while was are in church, our prayer closet, or a bible study.  He is just as much God while we are in the car on the way to the market.  God is just as much God and just as present whether we are sitting in a doctor’s waiting room or kneeling at an altar.  God is just as much God if we are fixing a leaking sink or putting the kids to bed as He is during our private devotional time.  David understood this.  He vows that he will abide in the presence of God forever.  Because he does, the sovereign presence, protection, and provision will always be there.  Fear can drive us from it.  Fear can blind us from it.  We can look outside and see the sky darkening and lowering.  We hear the sirens begin to blow and the treetops swaying violently in the wind.  Anxiety grips us.  We wonder if God sees and hears.  He certainly does.  His tabernacle has not moved.  We have.  David accomplished the great things that he did because he remained in the presence of God.  It didn’t matter where he physically was, he strived to stay in the ever-present person of our Creator.

Love Sends You To Your Room

“And I will spread my net upon him, and he shall be taken in my snare, and I will bring him to Babylon, and will plead with him there for his trespass that he hath trespassed against me.” (Eze 17:20 AV)

Call me crazy, but I see the tenderness and compassion of God in this verse.  Ezekiel, the prophet of God to Judah, is sharing the reason for the Babylonian captivity.  The net of God will draw all of Judah and Benjamin together.  He will place them in servitude to a pagan king far away from home.  They will cease temple worship.  Their liberty will be severely restricted.  They will be surrounded by those who hate Jehovah.  They will be treated as a conquered people.  This doesn’t sound compassionate or tender, does it?  But note one small phrase: “and will plead with him there.”  I find this very tender.  I find in this pleading a loving Father who wants the best for His child, but the only way to provide it is to reduce that child to nothing so he will quiet himself long enough to listen.  I find in this verse tough love.  But I also find in this verse the patience of God.  I find a God who wants a sit-down with His children in a situation where there is nothing else to do but to listen.

When we think of the chastening of God, unfortunately, we use our childhood experiences as a comparison.  Far too many times our fathers chastened us for their own pleasure.  That is what the book of Hebrews calls it.  Too many times, chastening was more about assuaging anger or feeding an ego.  Too many times, it was inflicted by an impatient heart.  We experienced chastening as an outburst of angry parent.  My dear mother, the patron saint of patience, would rarely explode.  In fact, in my entire childhood this only happened to me once.  My brother and I were messing around at the breakfast table and my Mom’s last nerve snapped.  She had a serving spoon in her hand and threw it at me.  It hit me right above my right eye.  From that day forward, she never lost her temper with me.  Not once!  My father, however, was not nearly as patient.  Serious beating came at his hand.  Did I deserve them?  Most of them.  The thing is, we can misunderstand God’s chastening if we compare our experience against His actions.  God doesn’t easy lose His patience.  If He does, it is planned.  It is not spontaneous.  Therefore, the phrase mentioned above is the norm.  Not the exception.

One can imaging a father who removes his child from everything.  He sends him to his room.  He lets him stew a bit over what is coming.  Dad is wise enough to know that if he goes up too quickly, emotion will be the major influence in any conversation.  The child is removed from his toys.  The child is removed from his siblings.  He is removed from to comfort of his mother.  Everything that could distract or minimize the infraction is removed.  When dad does go to the room, he is going to try to reason with his child.  Sending him to his room is not the punishment.  Sending him to his room isolates him from everything and anything that would get in the way of instruction and correction.  When dad does reason with his erring child, it is not to make himself feel better.  Ego is put aside.  He reasons with his child and tries to help him see why his choices were wrong and the consequences that could come as a result.  The word pleading is more than reasoning.  It is reasoning with a heart of compassion and understanding.  It is reasoning with the knowledge of what will come if the arguments are not heeded.  Pleading is reasoning with the deepest of concerns.  So, when God sent Judah and Benjamin to Babylon, He was sending them there so He could have their ear.  He wanted their ear because He foresaw what would become of them if they didn’t heed His commandments.  There is compassion here.  There is understanding.  There is love.

Above The Murmur

“Let them wander up and down for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied. But I will sing of thy power; yea, I will sing aloud of thy mercy in the morning: for thou hast been my defence and refuge in the day of my trouble.” (Ps 59:15-16 AV)

We have a choice.  We have a choice in how we will go through life.  I think it ironic that the degree of adversity is greater for the grateful than the ungrateful.  Those who grudge are doing so over a meal.  The grateful sing of mercy in the midst of trouble.  Our thought for the day is the first two words.  “Let them”.  David refuses to allow those who are complaining to dampen his grateful heart.  His eyes are focused on the right things.  He is not obsessing over his troubles.  Rather, he chooses to see God’s intervention in the midst of his trouble.  Mercy is valued much higher than resentment infiltrates.  It is all about perspective.  David has purposed in his heart that the complainers will not sully his joy-filled heart.  He has purposed in his heart that God has done for him far more than he deserves.  It is not a naïve attitude regarding his troubles.  He is not ignoring them.  Rather, David knows how blessed he is.  Not because of the absence of trouble.  Rather, because of God’s mercy in the midst thereof.

I have read the above passage several times, and verse fifteen makes me chuckle.  This is not a ‘let them eat cake’ type of comment.  For those who don’t know, those words are traditionally attributed to Marie Antoinette in response to a famine in France.  It is traditionally said that she uttered those words as a nine-year-old princess in response to the complaining of the poor that there was no bread to eat.  If there were no bread, then there was no cake, either.  These words are used to show the indifference of a privileged class had toward a peasant class.  This is not what David is sharing.   Rather, he has his own set of troubles.  Perhaps he had food on his table, but as the king of a nation, he had much bigger problems.  It was not that he was calloused toward those who were begrudging their need for a meal.  Rather, he would not allow their constant complaining to cause him to lose focus on the mercy of God.

Putting it another way, we can allow the ‘downers’ to bring us to a place where we cannot see the mercy of God.  We can see the clouds and not the rain.  A few days ago, we had severe storms.  We received in one afternoon what we would normally get in a month.  When that happens, I have to go to the church and make sure we didn’t get water into the basement.  Every time there is a north-driven storm, there is a real possibility of spending a few hours cleaning up a water spill.  Praise the LORD we were dry.  The ground was so parched that three inches of rain barely watered the lawns.  We can look at the downed trees, the flooded basements, or the mud-covered sidewalks and lament the storm.  Or, we could be grateful that our farmers might have a good yield this fall.  It is all about perspective.  David decided he could do nothing about their complaining.  So, let them complain.  No sense in trying to stop it.  You can’t.  No sense in confronting it.  It won’t change a thing.  Rather, he will focus on the mercy of God.  He chooses to see God’s faithfulness.  He would rather see the goodness of God as his primary focus than adversity and the definition of life.

Revealing The Obvious

“He that covereth his sins shall not prosper: but whoso confesseth and forsaketh [them] shall have mercy.” (Pr 28:13 AV)

I saw this a bit differently this morning. The first question that popped into my head is from whom are we hiding our sins?  From whom are we covering up our transgressions?  If from other people, does that mean that each time we sin we have to go to a human confessor and spill the beans?  If that be the case, then those religions that have human intercessors as a necessary office for God’s mercy are correct.  The above verse states that confession and forsaking result in mercy.  It is implied that to whom the sinner confesses is the same who grants mercy.  That would rule out a human agent for the granting of general mercy.  No, Solomon might be implying that the sins committed are against another person and only be confessing and forsaking them can the sinner receive mercy from his victim.  Yet I don’t think this is what he is implying.  Rather, I think the wise king is saying that he who covers his sin from God is walking in the wrath of God, and only be confessing and forsaking can he receive mercy from God.

This begs another question.  If God can see all things, how can we cover our sins from Him?  How can we possibly keep anything from a God who sees all things and knows all things?  My mind went to Adam and Eve.  When they partook of the forbidden fruit, their first instinct was to pervert what God had made good and cover it up.  I also noticed that our wise sage did not say to uncover sin.  He simply stated to confess and forsake.  Adam and Eve continued to be clothed.  They did not forsake the necessary actions required because of their sin.  Therefore, uncovering our sin is not for God’s sake.  He already knows about it.  Uncovering our sin is for our sakes.  The pretense must come down.  Humility and honesty must rule.  It makes no sense to attempt to hide something from God who knows all things.  It makes no sense to cover up what God already knows.  Mercy can only be attained through transparency.  A brutal examination of our hearts is needed.  The act itself is just the beginning.  Knowing why we did what we did and why it is so wrong is the point.  Examination is more than skin deep.  Examination goes to the heart of sin itself.

Lastly, let us also notice that the attainment of mercy is ongoing.  The phrase ‘shall have’ is a continuous state.  In other words, if our habit of life is to go to God confessing and forsaking, then mercy is a constant reality.  Confessing and forsaking are not one-time actions.  Our sin is far greater than that.  Rather, confession and forsaking should be a habit of life.  A word of advice, however, is that the LORD’s prayer (as a model) involves far more than confession and forsaking.  It involves praise for God, requests for our basic needs, and the welfare of others.  If all we do is go to God for confession and forsaking so that we can attain mercy, our motive may not be as pure as it should be.  Praise be to God who gives us continuing mercy as we seek forgiveness of sin and victory over sin!  Praise God for His mercy!  It endures forever!

Are You Marked?

“And the LORD said unto him, Go through the midst of the city, through the midst of Jerusalem, and set a mark upon the foreheads of the men that sigh and that cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof.” (Eze 9:4 AV)

Ezekiel was tasked with examining the hearts and actions of people prepared for judgment.  If there were people who were bothered by the sins of the nation, they were marked.  Those who were not were destined for destruction.  Those who went to temple, offered their sacrifices, and wept for the sad condition of Israel were marked.  Those who did little to nothing were left.  Those who prayed for their nation that revival might come were marked.  Those who showed no concern for the pending judgment of God were left.  God does care about those who care about Him!  God does notice the saints who weep for their nation.  God does mark those who care that their fellow citizens hate God and pray for them with passion and deep sorrow.  God does notice those of His people who care enough to do all they can for a wicked nation even if it is prayer and fasting alone.  The question is, are we thy type of saint who cares enough to sigh and cry for our nation?

Never in a million years did I ever think I would see what is happening today.  But I imagine almost every generation has said the same thing.  My generation is the generation that made murdering babies in the womb legal.  We normalized a brutal choice to end to life of the innocent.  Labeled as health care, it is not.  It is selfishness couched at the end of a surgical table.  However, my generation still shunned homosexuality.  If they were part of our culture, they were seen as an outlier not to be taken seriously.  In most forms of entertainment, their lifestyle was seen as a mockery of normal life.  Today, homosexuality is celebrated.  The very thought of permanently mutilating a child for the sake of rebellion by adults was seen as sick and disturbed.  Today, if you do not affirm the right of a parent to mutilate their confused child, you are seen as the mentally unstable individual.  Words have no meaning.  A person can be created female yet with a straight face, call themselves a man.  An individual can be created as one person, yet demand they be addressed in the plural.  Our nation is sick!  Substance abuse, pornography, and broken homes are normal.  Our churches are closing only to be replaced by instant gratification.  There is no ability to think beyond an eight-inch screen.  Eternity is a word.  It is no longer a concept of eventual reality.  There is no concern for death because we cannot internalize the reality of it.  Salvation is so far from the mind because the mind is destroyed by the inability to think.  If Jesus does not come back soon, there will be no human race to save.  We will be like mindless zombies with no spiritual identity.  Fantasy becomes reality, and reality ceases to exist.

God is looking down.  He is wondering if the people of God are sighing and in tears for the condition of the human race.  Our great nation, once the beacon of spiritual light to a dark and dying world, has long past extinguished the light of truth.  We have become the purveyor of all that is evil.  Hollywood, Silicon Valley, stadiums, and sound studios have supplied the world with everything it needs to escape the reality of God.  No doubt the world has always been evil.  But with the industrial age evolving into the electronic age, evil has multiplied.  Our great nation that sent out missionaries and transformed the world is not sending forth disciples of Satan to corrupt the same world.  Our nation was founded upon Judeo/Christian principles, values, and ethos.  Now that has all been replaced by secular perversion.  Where is the sighing?  Where is the crying?  Where are the intense prayer meetings that could change a nation?  It has happened before.  It can happen again.  Are we marked in the mind of God as a saint who is disturbed by what one sees rather than thinking it is all as it has always been? 

Possessing is Praising

“And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy [endureth] for ever.” (2Ch 20:21 AV)

Four times the Bible uses the phrase ‘beauty of holiness’.  The other three instruct to worship therein.  This is the only one that instructs to praise the beauty of holiness.  This is significant.  The other three regard the condition of the one who offers worship.  Beauty of holiness is the condition of the saint as well as the condition in which he finds himself.  More than likely, the temple or tabernacle.  Yet above, we see the instruction to admire and praise the condition of holiness.  The first has to do with our preparation toward and appreciation of the holiness of God.  The latter is more of an observance of the quality of holiness.  It is this idea that we would like to consider.

There are several ways in which we can admire the beauty of something.  We can go to an art museum and admire the work of very talented people.  We can gaze upon the masterpieces and stand in wonder how any human being could create such a thing.  Being an artist in my high school years, I certainly appreciated the talent it took to be very good at it.  I am reminded of the Museum of Science and Industry in the city of Chicago.  The clock exhibit is one of my favorite exhibits.  Hanging on the walls and standing on the floor are clocks of all sorts.  From clocks so small that looking at every part requires magnification to clocks so large they take up a room.  There are clocks that are so accurate, the inaccuracy of them cannot be discerned without serious computing.  There are clocks that run on all sorts of types of power.  There are spring-run clocks, electric clocks, clocks that run on moving water, and there are even clocks run by gravity.  There is one that is run by the rotation of the earth.  We can admire their beauty.  We can praise their master’s hand that made them.  Yet, what we cannot do is take them home with us.  The master’s artwork stays in the museum.  The engineer’s timepiece remains on display.  This is not the type of praise to which our writer is speaking.

The praise of which he is speaking is admiration of the holiness of God to the point that one seeks to possess it.  It is not merely admirable because of its quality.  It is praised because it can be attained.  The desire for it can be met with a striving after it.  Praise is mere lip service if we don’t also see the advantage of owning it.  The highest form of praise it attaining that which we find admirable.  This is the point here.  We don’t praise the holiness of God because we really don’t want it.  Sin is far more attractive.  This is not what God intended.  He intended for us to see the beauty of holiness and strive after it.  If we walked into an art museum and the curator told is, we may walk out with one work, it would take us a while to choose the one we liked the best.  We would examine them all.  We would list the advantages of each.  We would narrow it down to a few.  We would think about it.  We would weigh our options.  When the choice was made, we would be assured it was the best available.  The holiness of God should hold an even greater place in our minds.  The holiness of God cannot be compared to anything else.  If it were an artwork on display, it would stand alone, and apart; far and above anything else in the halls.  To praise the holiness of God is to possess the holiness of God at any cost!

Unfruitful In Obedience

“For thou [art] not sent to a people of a strange speech and of an hard language, [but] to the house of Israel; Not to many people of a strange speech and of an hard language, whose words thou canst not understand. Surely, had I sent thee to them, they would have hearkened unto thee.” (Eze 3:5-6 AV)

What I found odd here is that people who spoke a different language and who could not initially understand the prophet would harken more to what he said than those who grew up with the word of God.  The language barrier alone would have complicated any attempt to reach those who needed the truth the most.  I have found it generally true that ministry to the lost tends to be easier than ministry to the saved.  By that I mean that when a saint sows the seed, it is easier to minister to those who respond than it is to those who are around it all the time.  Yet God did not send the prophet to where he would be accepted.  He sent His prophet to where he was needed!  Ezekiel could not lament the place to which he could have been sent because he was sent to another place that would produce little to no discernable fruit.  He was sent to the rebellious house of Israel.  He was sent to an adversarial group.  Obedience is measured by our willingness to follow, not by the results that come of it.

Ministry can be discouraging if we are too focused on results.  Sometimes we pass over ministry because we do not think anything will come of it.  Today, we followed up with a few contacts.  It was in a part of town that most people would avoid.  When traversing the streets of the inner city, one would think there would be little to no fruit that would come from ministry there.  We see poverty and horrible conditions, and some would think ministry in such a place would be destined to fail.  How sad.  These are people.  They are no less human beings than those living in much better homes with well-manicured grounds.  Christ died for everyone.  Not just for those who can help the church grow, give to its ministries, and build a kingdom for the glory of God.  I saw much today.  I spoke to someone whose voice was partially paralyzed.  We went to a group home of those recovering from drug abuse or worse.  They had cats all over the place to keep the mouse population under control.  I saw a lady vomiting at a telephone pole.  Such human suffering and much to do.  Yet, who will do it?

Ezekiel was not sent to a people who would respond to his preaching.  He was not sent to a people who would learn to speak his language so that they could know the word of God.  He was not sent to a people who would come to the LORD in droves, build a nice building, and give him a good standard of living.  He was sent to a people who would not listen.  They never would.  He was sent to a place that would see no converts.  If Ezekiel were a modern-day missionary, he would probably be dropped from support of many churches for a lack of effective ministry.  That is too bad.  As long as he was doing what God asked him to do, results didn’t matter.  This is the lesson for us today.  We are to go where God calls us.  Even if no one hears, we are to go.  We are to go no matter how many are saved.  If all we see are closed doors, it doesn’t matter.  If all we get are rude comments and threats, it doesn’t matter.  What God is looking for are people who will do as he asks no matter the outcome.  That is a prophet whom God can use!

We Are All In The Same Fish Tank

“Our fathers have sinned, [and are] not; and we have borne their iniquities.” (La 5:7 AV)

This is an unfortunate reality of sin.  It affects more than the single sinner.  It often trickles down into future generations.  Sin also affects victims.  Directly or indirectly.  No one sins in a vacuum.  The words of Jeremiah resound with the awful truth that some Israelites will be born in captivity because of what their forefathers have done.  All one must do is use a bit of mental exercise, and the reality of this case will settle in.  There were those who died, or soon perished after Babylon’s invasion of Judah.  Those who died were far more guilty of the sins of the nation than those who were born in Persia.  It doesn’t require much imagination to see how those born in captivity might resent the many generations who preceded them and caused their current situation.  One can almost imagine some child born fifty years from the day they were carried away wondering what he has done to deserve such a fate.  Yet, that is the way of God’s plan.  We suffer individually.  But we also suffer corporately.  There is no perfect nation on Earth.  There never was, nor will there ever be.  As long as man lives on this planet, sin will abound.  Where sin abounds, consequences are sure to follow.  Understanding this goes a long way toward enduring life as it is.

We can complain all we want regarding the fairness of God, but it doesn’t change a thing.  In the mind of God, corporate responsibility is a thing.  Even if we are not directly responsible, by association, we are indirectly responsible.  One of the most annoying events of my childhood was practicing for the High School JV basketball team.  There were several unpleasant drills.  The most unpleasant were suicide drills. There were two ways our coaches administered them.  There was the single accountability way.  That was, if you were the last one to finish the drill, you did it all by yourself the next time.  Then there was the corporate drill.  It was timed.  If the entire team did not finish, then the entire team did it again and again until they completed the drill in the allotted time.  For those unfamiliar, suicide drills were sprinting drills set at different distances.  Running to the quarter-court line and back to the back-line; then to the half-court line and return to the back-line, then to the three-quarter court line and back to the back-line and so forth.  At each destination, the runners had to bend down and touch the line.  Needless to say, we were not pleased with the slowest of the team.  This taught us that failure had ramifications for the entire team.  The same is true of military drills.  There are marches, obstacle courses, etc. that are done corporately.  If one is too slow, the entire platoon does it all over again.  Why?  Because failure could mean the life of your fellow soldier.

Many years ago, I pastored a church that made rules for pastors who abused their situation.  They limited vacation time to two weeks a year.  If the pastor took more than two weeks off, he had to pay for his own pulpit supply.  This came about because one of their previous pastors was away more than he was present.  There was the requirement that the pastor pay for his own utilities.  This took over half of his salary.  But this came about because one of their previous pastors was very wasteful.  This church also required the pastor to cover his professional expenses and submit them for reimbursement.   On such a low salary, not much ministry was done.  This came about because one of their previous pastors abused the church credit card.  As the pastor, past behavior impacted my ability to do ministry.  Was it fair?  Not in the least.  Did I complain?  No, it was the hand that was dealt me.  The point is simple.  Life is full of trouble.  Just ask Job.  Some of it was caused directly by our own choices.  A lot of it was caused by someone else.  That is the way God set it up.  We can complain.  But it won’t change a thing.  We can think God is unjust, but that would be a lie.  It is what it is.  All we can do is pray for God’s presence and strength.  Eternity will take care of it all.

Fear Not an Infinite God

“Thou drewest near in the day [that] I called upon thee: thou saidst, Fear not. O Lord, thou hast pleaded the causes of my soul; thou hast redeemed my life.” (La 3:57-58 AV)

What a verse of praise!  Especially when one considers the context.  The book of Lamentations is Jeremiah’s verbalization of Judah’s response to the severe chastening of the LORD.  After hundreds of years of disobedience, idol worship, and Sabbath neglect, the LORD’s grace ran out.  He sent Assyria against the north.  He sent Babylon against the south.  He had had enough.  As Jeremiah spies the condition of the inheritance of Judah and Benjamin, he is brought to tears.  As he sees the destruction of the temple, the city wall, and the homes of all those who once resided in Judah, he is moved to despair.  But among his deep remorse over the condition of his people, he is able to see God’s grace.  He knows this condition is temporary.  As soon as Israel and Judah have learned the hard lessons of disobedience and faithlessness, God will bring them back to their land.  Even though the hand of God is heavy upon them, it is no reason to fear.  God still loves them.  He has made a covenant of grace with them.  He will not forsake them.  He we return to them as they return to Him.  He will bring them back.  He will redeem them.  He will plead the cause of their souls.

If we could begin to appreciate just who and God is to us, it would radically change our lives.  We begin by remembering who and what God is.  He is the omnipotent Creator of all things.  His being is past human understanding.  He is infinite in all His attributes.  There is no end of His power, He presence, and His providence.  His intelligence is immeasurable.  It has no limits.  There is no comparison.  We could imagine what an ameba would be to us.  But that would not even come close.  To say that God is meek would be an understatement.  With unlimited power, He keeps it under constraint so His beloved creation is not swallowed up by His mere presence.  What are we to Him?  Substantively speaking, we are less than a speck.  To bring the example of the single-celled organism back into mind would be insufficient.  Both we and the organism have a finite existence is space and time.  There is no comparison.  Even if we were to fill the known universe with one being and we the rest, it would still not come close.  We are so insignificant that there barely exists any description of note when compared to the rest of the known universe.  To say that we exist by the grace of our Creator who be a monumental understatement.

So, when the LORD tells us to fear not, that is a big deal!  It is a challenge to us.  But it is a condescension for Him.  For the Creator so say that His being is under restraint so as to have a relationship with those whom He has created is a hard concept to grasp.  Add to that our rebellion against so great a Creator and we can begin to understand just how hard it is to be free of fear.  Yet, He tells us to fear not.  How amazing is that?  Further, to know that a Creator as infinitely great as He can manage such delicate and frail beings as the human soul boggles the mind.  He does!  He is infinitely more skilled that the best nano-surgeon to ever live.  He operates in such finite details that no computer ever created can compute all the variables involved.  As I sit and write this, my mind is short-circuiting over just how miraculous a God-to-wicked-man relationship truly is.  If He tells us not to fear, it is because He has it all under control.  If He tells us not to fear it is because an infinite God loves a finite soul more than he could ever appreciate or understand.  Praise be to God!

He Never Forsakes

“For Israel [hath] not [been] forsaken, nor Judah of his God, of the LORD of hosts; though their land was filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel.” (Jer 51:5 AV)

Those who wish to segregate secular apostate Israel from spiritual Israel in order to cancel God’s covenant with that nation forget one thing.  If God would cancel His covenant with Israel, what is to stop Him from canceling His covenant with backslidden saints?  If He does, then at what point does He do that?  After one sin?  After a thousand sins?  Where is the cut-off?  That is the problem with rejecting eternal security.  No one can tell you the exact infraction or timing when one could lose their salvation.  The whole application of eternal security is in that second word.  Security!  Israel will enjoy to covenants made to Abraham, Isaac, and David.  It will be limited to those individuals who accept Jesus as their Messiah.  But the nation will indeed enjoy those covenants.  Where those who are anti-Israel err is misunderstanding their ability to judge who those individuals may or may not be.  Or, how many of them will turn to Christ.  The secular Israel they condemn today just may be the redeemed Israel that emerges during the tribulation.  The nation they wish to hate today will turn to Christ.  How many of them?  We don’t know.  But enough so that the covenants can and will be honored.

But what of the New Testament saint?  What can we take away from the above verse?  The God who told Israel,  “Be strong and of a good courage, fear not, nor be afraid of them: for the LORD thy God, he [it is] that doth go with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee.” (De 31:6 AV) is the same God who tells the church, “[Let your] conversation [be] without covetousness; [and be] content with such things as ye have: for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee.” (Heb 13:5 AV) This is of great comfort to the saint who battles sin.  We hate sin.  We wish the LORD would call us all home and perfectly transform us into the image of His sinless Son!  We look for the day of our glorification!  It cannot come soon enough.  What we have to fight is the doubt which arises in the meantime.  We struggle over sin each and every day.  We often fail.  If the above-mentioned heretics had their way, then none of us could be guaranteed God’s love or salvation.  We would all be condemned no matter how deep our faith.  Rather, we must trust in the eternal grace of God!

Children have a way of trying to earn the love of their parents.  Sometimes they have to.  The immature mind cannot comprehend unconditional love.  In their immature relationships with one another, behavior determines love.  If a toy is not shared, they are enemies.  If a rivalry over a relationship happens, dislike is the result.  It isn’t until a child approaches adulthood that he or she begins to understand this concept.  In many ways, we are like children who are still trying to earn the love of the Father.  We cannot, because it is given by grace.  The more we try to earn it, the more sin becomes an issue.  Once we realize and trust that God will not forsake us no matter how poorly we have lived for him, our motive changes.  We will begin to live right before God because we have a grateful heart.  Not because we want something from Him.  We love Him because He first loved us!  So, take the verse above as an encouragement and a challenge.  God will never forsake His children.  No matter how much sin has mounted up, God is always there.  He is not leaving.  He loves You too much to turn His back on You.

Remember Your Restingplace

“My people hath been lost sheep: their shepherds have caused them to go astray, they have turned them away [on] the mountains: they have gone from mountain to hill, they have forgotten their restingplace.” (Jer 50:6 AV)

It’s that phrase, “they have forgotten their restingplace” that speaks extra loud this morning.  Jeremiah is referring to Judah and Israel as they return to Palestine.  They had suffered a number of years removed from their land.  Assyria invaded Israel, or the ten northern tribes, in 723BC and carried away the vast majority back to modern-day Iran.  In 586BC, 137 years later, Babylon would carry Judah and Benjamin back to modern-day Iraq.  It would be 207 years of captivity for Israel and 70 years captivity for Judah and Benjamin, which they were given liberty to return to their land.  By decree from Cyrus, king of the Medes and Persians that people were allowed to return to their homelands so that houses of worship might be repaired or rebuilt.  Jeremiah alludes to this time.  They are returning after generations of absence.  Their shepherds, or their leaders, failed to prepare them for this return.  They failed to keep alive the idea of their resting place.  They had not only forgotten the way to their resting place, but they had forgotten the idea of their resting place.  Forgetting a resting place can be caused by sin.  But it can be caused by many other factors.  Remembering the resting place is the point.

There are a few places that are special to us.  These places often brought the deepest tranquility and the obvious presence of God that we remember them for the rest of our lives.  For me, two of them were at the lakeshore of Geneva Lake and Lake Michigan.  There was also my father’s pond at Fillmore, NY.  Lake Remick in Phelps, NY.  But there were other places as well.  There were the dried marshlands of Necedah Wildlife Refuge.  There was The Widewaters of the Erie Barge Canal.  Several of these places involved Boy Scout camping.  There was one place that I will never find again.  It was on the shores of Lake Ontario.  We had a weekend of camping, and it must have been in the spring or fall.  I remember because it was particularly cold and gray on Friday and half a day on Saturday.  I remember it because the drizzle and cold made for a quiet experience on the lake.  There were few scouts who came out that weekend.  The weather was not agreeable.  But my dad and I went.  It was alone on the shores of the lake, and other than a few seagulls, there wasn’t much else.  A few rowboats scattered here and there.  The water was still, but moving.  The wind was a very gentle breeze.  The drizzle and fog mixed.  It was quiet.  It was peaceful.  For those few minutes I stood there, life was as complicated as the breeze in my face.  Gone was the peer pressure.  Gone were the anxieties that all teens face.  It was a resting place.  I cannot find that again.  I don’t know where it might be.  Life took over.  I got married.  Had children and grandchildren.  I found my calling.  The business of life is what took me away from my resting place.

It is sad that we tend to allow the things of this life, whether simple business or sin, to rob us of the memory of our resting place.  There should be a place where we can spend some time with God in quiet rest.  The activities of life have not yet begun, or they are done for the day should draw us to that resting place.  It is so sad that, like the Israelites, the things of life have robbed us of the memory of finding our resting place.  We have forgotten what it was like.  It has lost its value.  We don’t seek it as we once did.  No problem.  We can always find a new resting place.  But finding that resting place is absolutely necessary, lest we forget that one exists at all.