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.

Accepting Our Times

“And seekest thou great things for thyself? seek [them] not: for, behold, I will bring evil upon all flesh, saith the LORD: but thy life will I give unto thee for a prey in all places whither thou goest.” (Jer 45:5 AV)

These words are spoken to Jeremiah’s secretary, Baruch.  Baruch was tasked with writing down the words of Jeremiah and publishing them to the leadership of a failing nation.  Jeremiah was a celebrity, so to speak.  He lived in the favor of a few kings.  He was also treated well by the Babylonians.  Jeremiah was the premiere prophet at the time of Judah’s fall.  He was the go-to man for the word of God.  As such, it might have been expected that some perks would trickle down to the scribe who served him.  Or, at the very least, some of life’s necessities.  The ‘great things’ Baruch sought would be normal things to us.  The ‘great things’ are not luxuries or things of social status.  All Baruch wanted was a home and a life of relative stability.  These are not necessarily wrong things to desire.  We should all work to that end.  However, in the case of Baruch, Babylon was coming, and when they came, everything would be burned to the ground.  The people of Judah and Jerusalem would only possess the body in which they inhabited.  Baruch was promised more than most would receive.  When the enemy comes, most will lose everything, including their lives.  At the very least, Baruch would be spared a horrible death.  He was not covetous.  Baruch did not desire what others had because he was envious.  He simply didn’t comprehend the full implications of his times.  It wasn’t that God would deny Baruch the necessities of life while others prospered.  No.  All would suffer.

There is a great societal change occurring.  One that our current generation is unaware and one that my generation is having a very difficult time adjusting to.  I have a good friend who worked for the railroad for decades.  He retired a while back and is living off Social Security and a very good pension.  My father retired from a global company many years back.  He received a severance package and partial retirement.  I had a brother who served in law enforcement and was looking to retire on a full pension in middle age and start a carpentry business afterward.  Still another friend of mine is drawing several pensions from global companies he worked for as well as a military retirement and healthcare.  This has all changed.  There used to be a day when companies vied for your labor by offering benefits packages that one could plan on for their old age.  You would learn a trade or go to college and remain with the same one to three employers for your entire working age.  Stability in old age was a given.  Not anymore.  We can argue about why this changed and who is to blame, but that is not the point.  The point is that times change.  They always will.  Before our modern age of medicine, it was far more common to pass away in one’s working years than to retire and live several decades afterward.  Times change.  Expectations must, too.

Serving the LORD in full-time Christian service means that more than likely, full retirement is not possible.  Most preachers have to work well beyond their years of effectiveness.  Most step away from important responsibilities and take on positions of support.  But to walk away from earning a living wage is simply not in the cards.  Most of us pastor small churches that cannot supply any kind of retirement planning.  Some serve in churches that cannot provide basic healthcare.  We could lament what we don’t have.  We could desire what is not possible.  Or, we could be grateful that God uses us for His glory.  We could stop and understand that what was the norm in days gone by is not the norm today.  We can admit that our best-laid plans may not come to pass because there is no way to predict the times in which we find ourselves.  Eternity will even the scales.  What we do have in this world, which we will never have in eternity is opportunity.  Last week, we had a soul saved!  Glory!  As long as we have breath in our lungs, we have opportunity.  Baruch would scribe the largest (per word) book of the Bible.  Baruch would see miracles provided from himself and his boss.  They would never starve.  They may not have had a permanent address, but they always had food on the table and a roof over their heads.

No Need To Fear Sin

“Wherefore should I fear in the days of evil, [when] the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about?” (Ps 49:5 AV)

This may seem like an odd question.  But I understand exactly what David is asking.  Of course, the saint and sinner alike should fear our Creator when sin is our desire.  David is not professing boldness in the day of sin to continue therein.  Absence of fear while in the act of sin is not his pursuit.  Rather, those who hate sin and wage a never-ending battle against it understand exactly what David is saying.  Those who hate sin understand the captivating force that it can be.  Sin is enslaving.  Sin is a pit from which it is impossible to escape.  It is a monster residing just outside our hearts that we cannot tame.  The power of sin becomes more frightening than the consequences from it.  So, David asks a question to put into perspective the power of sin compared to the power of God.  There is no sin from which our God cannot deliver.  Period.  We are not hopeless.  We are not helpless.  Our God can and will deliver!  This is David’s point.

Last night I had a dream.  A rather vivid one.  I walked into what I thought was an elevator, and the elevator was below my feet.  It was quickly descending, and I was falling after it.  I had the thought to stretch out my body to slow my descent. (Hey, it’s a dream.  Don’t judge!)  I slowed myself enough to grab a ledge and pull myself into a room.  There were a few people in that room, so I yelled for them to help me.  They pulled me into a room only to discover it was a zero-gravity room.  The more the dream progressed, the more I was pulled into circumstances which I could not control.  The odd thing about the dream was I never panicked.  There was no fear.  It was an experience where one circumstance was replaced by another impossible situation.  But there was always a way out.  I could do very little to actuate my deliverance.  The only thing I could do was to react with that which was provided me.  There was no terror.  There was no anxiety.  It surprised me how logical I was and how calm my demeanor.  It was a situation that was completely out of my control, yet all things were in control.

That is how we need to see sin.  Every night I go to bed begging the LORD to deliver me from sin.  That is my number one wish!  I want to be rid of the old man once and for all.  I want to be free from temptation.  God will provide a way.  We simply have to look for it.  Sin is a horrible enemy.  Far worse than the devil himself.  More damage to mankind has been done because we ate the forbidden fruit than could have ever been done by Satan and his demons.  Sin should be feared.  But it should not be feared to the degree that our joy is gone and our fortitude to fight it is absent.  David was asking a great question.  In that question, he was also making a statement.  We can hate sin.  We can fear sin.  We can wish for the day that sin no longer has any presence in our existence.  Our hope is not in our ability to resist.  Our hope is in the God who desires to deliver us from it more than we want to be delivered!

The Best is Where God Is

“Saying, No; but we will go into the land of Egypt, where we shall see no war, nor hear the sound of the trumpet, nor have hunger of bread; and there will we dwell:” (Jer 42:14 AV)

Jeremiah is warning the remnant of Judah to remain in the land and submit to Babylon.  Their inclination was to flee to Egypt with the false belief that they would be better off there.  Note that which Judah sought.  They looked for the absence of war.  They looked for food enough to eat.  They looked for a stable life.  All of which they would have had if they stayed in Palestine.  Staying put was a better bet.  They would have been under the rule of a pagan kingdom.  But at least the threat of war would be over.  They would have enjoyed the protection of Babylon from that day until the Medes and Persians assumed control.  The temple was destroyed, yet Babylon left priests in the land to teach the people the ways of the LORD.  In other words, their liberty may have been constrained, but there was no reason to fear what had just transpired.  As long as they submitted to Babylon and paid their taxes to the crown, life could go on.  By fleeing to Egypt, they would repeat the circumstances they had just suffered.  Egypt was still free.  Egypt would become a prize for a hungry Babylon.  That which Judah sought to escape would follow them there.  It is interesting what people will do to have the perfect life only to bring with them that which they are trying to flee.

If learned over the years that life is full of trouble as the sparks fly upward.  There is no escape from life.  Life will happen.  There is no perfect ministry where all the problems go away.  There is trouble and challenges no matter what path is chosen.  It is like trying to find the path of least resistance when exiting the deep woods.  We seek the game trails that show us the easiest way to get from one point to the next.  We follow those game trails and take the ones that are heading in the direction of our exit.  What we don’t know are the hazards that lie ahead.  Wildlife will act one way while mankind may think there is a better way.  There are no paved roads in the middle of a forest.  There is no lime service in the middle of a desert.  There is a best way out.  That way will still have challenges to overcome.  There are fallen trees, poison ivy, and a creek or river to cross.  There are mountains to climb and rockslides that need avoiding.  The general way out is the safest.  But it is not easy.  I watch a Youtube channel called Modern Mountain Man.  He is an Alaskan Big Game guide from Wisconsin.  They cover some very rough terrain.  One particular adventure found them on the side of a mountain covered in shale.  It was a project getting out of there with their trophy on their backs.  To double back was out of the question.  Their plane was on its way.  The mountain of shale had to be navigated.  It wasn’t easy.  But it was necessary.

The world wants us to think that life can be relatively easy.  The world wants us to chase a dream that doesn’t exist.  They sell many products or opportunities to make life ‘perfect’.  But it isn’t.  It never will be.  To compromise the things of God for the sake of an empty promise is not wise.  That which we fear the most will still come upon us.  Judah fled to Egypt thinking they would escape the sword.  All they did was to show the enemy the best way to bring the very sword which they feared.  Trusting God in our circumstances is always better than to seek an escape that will never come to pass.  Judah learned the hard way that life stinks.  Judah learned the hard way that God’s way, although not always easy, is still the best.  Life with God has its ups and downs.  Life without God will still have them, but they we be far worse.  It would have been better for Judah to trust the LORD than to seek their own escape.

Imperfect People and Perfect Friendship

“So Zedekiah the king sware secretly unto Jeremiah, saying, [As] the LORD liveth, that made us this soul, I will not put thee to death, neither will I give thee into the hand of these men that seek thy life.” (Jer 38:16 AV)

Note the plural ‘us’ and the singular ‘soul’.  No doubt my writing assistant will have a field day trying to understand that grammar.  Zedekiah was a king appointed by Nebuchadnezzar.  His authority to act was limited.  Jeremiah was thrust into three different prisons.  There was nothing the king could do about that.  It seemed there were other princes who had more authority than he did.  But one thing he could do and that was to protect the life of the prophet.  Zedekiah may not have been the perfect friend, but he was an adequate one.  Being grateful for friends is important.  Regardless of their flaws, they have the means to be a blessing.  I am sure Jeremiah did not lament the fact that Zedekiah failed to act courageously and simply lose Jeremiah completely.  No, I am sure he was grateful that Zedekiah took Jeremiah from the pit of mire and set him in the court of the prison.  It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was what Zedekiah could do.

Close friendships look beyond flaws.  After all, we all have them.  It is not that we ignore the flaws.  Rather, we value friendship far more than we resent flaws.  Zedekiah had his issues.  He ignored the advice of his friend Jeremiah and fled from Nebuchadnezzar.  As a result, he went into Babylon with his eyes put out.  Having seen his children murdered, it would be the last thing he saw.  The city was burned to the ground.  If he would have listened to his friend, he would have been treated with honor and the city would still stand.  In spite of all this, Jeremiah and Zedekiah were still one soul.  They had enough in common to warrant a close relationship.

There is something that also struck me as worthy of more consideration.  The one with the flaws saw the stronger as a closely knit soul.  Yet Jeremiah never disputed his characterization.  The stronger accepted the characterization as genuine.  The man of God did not roll his eyes at the emotional bond which Zedekiah described.  He accepted it as the real deal.  We may be the stronger of the two.  Accepting close relationships may not be as beneficial to us as it is the weaker.  As Paul so eloquently described such a situation in Romans 14, there is a mandate to love the brethren no matter what we may think of ourselves of the benefit we may or may not receive from such a relationship.  Jeremiah and Zedekiah were knit together as one soul because of their separated relationship with God and their love for Israel.  Each had their own set of baggage they brought to the relationship.  That didn’t stop them from being knit as one.  I think the reality of close relationships is fleeting.  The more private we become, the more comfortable we are in our aloneness.  Our standards are too high.  We have all we need in the privacy of our own minds.  That really is too bad.  Somewhere out there are people who need you, and we need them.  We just have to learn to accept their imperfections as they accept ours.

The Reality of an Unseen Battle

“Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high [places].” (Eph 6:11-12 AV)

We forget that our warfare is real and often unseen.  The things that are seen tend to get far more attention.  The spiritual realm around us is often ignored.  When someone makes it a major concern, we tend to think it an exaggeration.  But the spiritual warfare around us is far more real than we realize.  Paul suggests that if we do not acknowledge this war nor defend against it, this war will have the better of us.  A study on the armor of God is warranted.  But unless the warfare on that which is not seen is ignored, the armor of God is meaningless.  Life gets so busy that we forget there are demons and devils that wish to do the child of God harm.  We cannot see them.  So, we think they are less than real.  But they are not.  They are no less real than the air we breathe.

There is a saying that describes an early warning against something deadly.  It is called a canary in the coal mine.  In other words, if there is a sound coming from the engine of your car but no lights are warning of pending faults, the sound would be a canary in the coal mine.  Or, perhaps a scan shows a small spot, but all the blood work and other labs show no problem.  That spot might be a canary in the coal mine.  If prices continue to climb and our wages stay the same, the rising grocery bill is a canary in the coal mine.  The phrase comes from the practice of using caged canaries in coal mines to warn of dangerous levels of gases rising before it affected the miners.  “Proposed by John Scott Haldane in 1895, canaries were used because their rapid breathing rate and small size made them more sensitive to carbon monoxide and methane than humans…Miners carried the birds into shafts; if the canary became distressed or died, it signaled the presence of invisible, odorless toxins, giving workers time to evacuate…The practice began in the early 1900s and continued until 1996 in Britain, when electronic sensors officially replaced the birds.” (AI generated information) The point is, there are hazards all around us of which we are unaware until it is too late.

This doesn’t mean we are without indicators.  A sour disposition.  A hopeless mind.  A relentless struggle with persistent sin.  A heart of frightful doubt that debilitates and paralyzes.  These could all be indicators of a spiritual war.  The indicators are subtle at first.  Gone unchecked, they can become spiritually disastrous.  Spiritual warfare should never be taken lightly.  That is why the beloved Apostle gave us the means to overcome.  The armor of God is our defense.  It begins with a relentless commitment to the word of God and prayer.  It all starts there.  Although our entry today is not the cure, but rather, being made aware that the battle exists in the first place.  The canaries nor the miners could see the methane or carbon dioxide.  They could not smell them.  To light a match would explode the mine.  Working with flames for light, this was important.  The canary was a life-or-death tool.  But there would be no canary unless the mining company acknowledged the existence of deadly gas.  It started with admitting that a potential danger existed.  That is where we are today.  We have to admit there is a battle that rages all around us, and we are the chattel.  We are the object of this battle.  As the forces of evil and righteousness battle it out for our souls, we are in the middle.  We have to open our eyes to the reality of that which we cannot see so that it cannot end in disaster.

Joy From Our Words

“A man hath joy by the answer of his mouth: and a word [spoken] in due season, how good [is it]!” (Pr 15:23 AV)

One has to wonder how much misery we live in because we do not know how to tame the tongue.  There are two ideas here.  Solomon, the wise king, shares that joy comes through our verbal responses and the quality of our response is measured by appropriate timing.  It is that first idea upon which I need to ruminate.  If there is joy lacking in my life, it could be a lack of verbal skills that is the cause.  If joy does not rule my life, maybe it is time to look at how I verbalize my thoughts.  Or better yet, if I should verbalize them at all.  The issue we have as preachers is that we muse more than most.  This is how we learn.  We ruminate over our observations.  We meditate upon the word of God.  We watch, we learn, we investigate, and we conclude.  Wisdom comes in knowing what to say, when to say it, or if it needs to be said at all.  Humility is needed to understand that we may not be right.  Even though we have turned it over again and again, it might be that we will never have all the information needed, nor does it mean that even if we did, we simply do not have it right.  There might be more than one possibility.  Joy is the result of a wise tongue.  At least in the example above.

There are a lot of life changes that occur as one ages.  They happen faster than at any other time of life.  Learning and adjusting is difficult at best.  Given the time constraints, it is almost impossible.  The marriage relationship changes.  Parents age and pass away.  Children grow up, get married, have children, and move away.  Health issues arise that will never be completely resolved.  Financial pressures, retirement (if possible) looms, and a sense of purposelessness sets in.  Survival is about the only thing that motivates the aging adult.  Along life’s path, I have met two types of aging people.  There are those who can find joy no matter their circumstances, and there are those who are constantly complaining and can never have a happy day.  It is the rare person who can find the balance between the two.  One wonders why that is.

Perhaps it lies in how we choose to respond.  Solomon says that joy is a result of a wise tongue.  An answer is nothing more than a verbal response to a question or situation.  Solomon is not suggesting that reality cannot play a part.  We have hard days.  No one is suggesting that in the battle of your mind you have to be naïve toward the unfortunate.  No one is saying that if the sky falls, you have to hold your arms out and wish for it to crush you.  There needs to be some thought.  There needs to be some consideration.  One has to understand his or her circumstances to the best of one’s ability.  We need to know the choices that we face.  We need to know what might be or what might not be.  We cannot go through life with blinders on just because we want to be happy.  That is not what Solomon is suggesting.  Rather, our response to all that we see or know is the source of our joy.  We can either verbalize the obvious and bring ourselves and others down, or we can know the obvious and choose to react with joy.  In spite of it all, we can respond with a positive outlook because we have heaven as our home and the Father as our unchanging relationship.  We can choose to either become a victim of life or a victor over it.  The choice is ours.  Response is everything.