Present Help in Perceive Trouble

“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea; Though the waters thereof roar and be troubled, though the mountains shake with the swelling thereof. Selah.” (Ps 46:1-3 AV)

This Psalm is a prophetical one.  It specifically looks towards the physical troubles of the tribulation.  The earthquakes, floods, etc are mentioned in this psalm.  The trouble of Jacob’s trouble is compared against the strength and love of God who will safeguard His remnant.  One might contemplate the faith that will be needed to utter the above verse while looking at the earth crack open.

I am not one who does well with extreme situations that are unpredictable.  That is, until I am smack dab in the middle of them.  Moving to an area of the country where tornados are not all that uncommon was not the smartest move if my fear is unpredictable extreme situations.  My best friend is my NOAA radio!  It has taken me a while, but these storms do not freak me out as much as they did.  I am still the first one to dive into the basement.  But as long as that radio is working and the forecast is accurate, I am good.  The present help far exceeds the perceived threat.  Just this spring, there was a tornado that touched down just a few miles from our home.  I was outside listening so that I could learn what the meant by the sounds one hears.  The power lines were all resonating at the same frequency even though all the wind was a hundred feet about them.  The familiar sound of a train on the tracks we distinct, even though we could tell it was safety away.  That NOAA radio told us just where the storm was, how it was tracking, and when we could expect it to be in our area.  As long as that voice was speaking from the radio, giving us information, and warning of any possible hazards, we were good.

Our God is better than a NOAA radio.  The radio can only warn.  It cannot provide or protect.  The tribulation saint will have sufficient warning as founded in the word of God.  Nothing will be a mystery.  What is more, the LORD will provide for His remnant.  Some will be persecuted for their faith. But that just means glory all the more sooner.  We don’t know what the future holds.  But we do know who holds the future.  God is, and always will be, our very present help in time of need.

Highest Motive For Obedience

“I delight to do thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart.” (Ps 40:8 AV)

There are several ways we can look at obedience.  And none of them wrong.  We can look at obedience as a means to avoid harsh consequences for failure.  That motive is fear.  We fear what will happen if we are not obedient.  That is the basic and simplest motive for walking in the law of God.  Then there is duty.  It is our obligation to do the right thing.  This is more a matter of the intellect.  It is right because it is right.  Integrity has a lot to do with this motive.  This motive finds satisfaction in accomplishing something and reaching a goal.  This is a higher motivation than fear.  But the greatest of all motivations is delight.  A simple enjoyment to please the LORD with no presumption of personal benefit.  There is personal benefit and we know this.  But the purpose is pure delight.  Simply to know that we have pleased the LORD by doing as He asks.  This is the highest form of motivation.

Few saints get to this point in their walks with God.  We all start out at level one.  This was the reason we accepted Christ to begin with.  The Holy Spirit brought us under conviction.  He revealed to us our sin and the consequences of it. The truth of a devil’s hell shook us to the core.  We were overwhelmed with guilt and fear.  This fear of consequences still continues.  No matter how old in the LORD we get, there are certain things we do not do because we fear what might come of it if we do.  As we grew in the knowledge of the word of God, the Holy Spirit convinced our minds of the holy nature of right.  We compared right from wrong and He gave us a heart that would desire to do right because we didn’t want to be wrong.  Failure was the fear hear.  Not of consequences, but of not being right.  This is where most of us reside.  But there is a greater motive offered.  The motive to please the LORD in all that we do.  The motive of delight.  Not because our bodies fear the physical consequences of sin.  Not because our minds are tormented by failure.  Rather, because our hearts wish to show our appreciate, love, and honor to the God who made and saved us!  This is our goal.

Personal Benefit of Faith

“Our soul waiteth for the LORD: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him, because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.” (Ps 33:20-22 AV)

There are times when explanation of a verse is pointless.  When the passage is all about God and none of man, it seems almost to diminish from the scripture to expound upon it.  Such is the case above.  The context of the verse is the LORD delivering David from a pagan king. David was running from Saul and he ran right into the kingdom of Abimelech.  The only way he could think of to escape the hand of an enemy was to feign being mad.  And that he did.  The pagan king had compassion on him and sent him away.  This pagan king had more compassion on David than his own father-in-law did.

The Bible clearly teaches us that without faith, it is impossible to please the Father.  Faith and trust are the basis of our relationship with the LORD.  It is the basis of which no other creature can experience with the LORD and it is the deepest of all relationships.  However, there is a benefit to those how trust.  Faith pleases the LORD.  But faith will also please us.

The Psalmist has stated that he (and they) will rejoice because they trusted in the LORD.  The implication is that this joy would not be there if there was no trust.  David had one of two choices.  He could have run again, back into the threat of Saul.  Or, he could trust the LORD with a different enemy who at least did not make the animosity a personal thing.  There were no good options.  He was backed into a corner that forced him to trust the LORD.  It is always better to trust the LORD.  Always.  Specially when it seems like there is no good choice ahead.  It is always better to trust the LORD.  God did not promise David a care free life.  There would be challenges dwelling in the midst of animosity.  Yet, if he trusts the LORD, God will provide.  God will protect.  God does not remove the challenges.  He provides the means to endure through them.

Many people look at faith as a dreadful thing.  We learn over time that faith and trust is the only way to live.  We see the risks but know that to trust the LORD means to rejoice when God moves.  It is the only way to walk with God and experience the blessings associated with a relationship with the LORD!

Mourning Does Eventually End

“Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing: thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness; To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O LORD my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.” (Ps 30:11-12 AV)

Sadness is temporary.  At least it is meant to be that way.  We don’t know the exact circumstance of this Psalm.  It was written at the conclusion of a very deep time of mourning.  It could have been penned at any time of David’s life where he experienced a deep sense of loss.  He buried several children.  His little baby boy born from the affair with Bathsheba.  He buried Amnon because of his actions towards Tamar.  He buried Absalom because of his rebellion.  He buried his parents sometime between his flight from Saul and his ascension to the throne in Jerusalem.  There were times when there was weeping in the night.  There were times when his pillow was wet with tears.  But these times are not intended to last a life-time.  These times are natural, unfortunate, and necessary.  But these times are to be replaced with better times.

Perhaps this is what his son, Solomon had in mind when he penned, “A time to weep, and a time to laugh; a time to mourn, and a time to dance;” (Ec 3:4 AV) He was not born to see the death of his elder brother.  But he was there to see his father go through the other three deaths.  Solomon learned what he learned from his father.  He learned there was a time to weep over the loss of something or someone very close.  But he also saw the correction given to his father by his uncle Joab.  The correction of not rejoicing over victory from an enemy because one was also mourning over the loss of his son.  Solomon saw it was appropriate to mourn.  It was also appropriate to mourn.

Recently, I have had to say goodbye to one of the most important persons in my life.  My dear mother passed away in mid-march.  She was an angle from heaven.  An example of strength, patience, love, and grace.  There was no one else like her nor will there ever be.  We often brag on our mothers as being the best one.  Truly, mine was.  There is a time to mourn.  There is a time to remember her and miss her terribly.  But there is also a time when we can rejoice in the other blessings which the LORD has granted.  David may have lost four sons, but he had far more who outlived him.  I may miss my mother, but the LORD has given me wonderful wife, awesome daughters-in-law, sons that far exceed any dream I may have had, and four precious grandchildren.  I am truly blessed!

Changed Heart Results in Changes Actions

“Examine me, O LORD, and prove me; try my reins and my heart.” (Ps 26:2 AV)

If you are a child of God, your struggle to overcome sin is very real.  Paul’s description of it in Romans chapter seven is overwhelmingly appropriate.  But one thing we fail to realize is the roll the heart plays in all of it.  If there is no heart to want to do right, then chastening or disciplining the will is short-lived.  There has to be a hear to do the right thing in order for the will to be consistent in doing the right thing.

Study after study has shown that organized diets for weight loss do not work.  At least in the long run.  One such study revealed those who have tried organized weight loss programs for weight loss alone soon gained back at least what they lost if not more once they were off the diet.  The thing about those diets is they focus on a gimmick and not on the heart.  I recently read of a man who lost 300 pounds because the thought of not being alive long enough to see his children grow up and get married frightened him.  He decided it was time for a life-style change.  He didn’t follow any strict calorie or point counting diet.  He simple cut out almost all carbs and sugar, changing to a high protein and vegetable diet.  No counting calories.  Not counting points.  No measuring.  None of that.  How did he do it?  The circumstances of life changed his heart about how he viewed food.  Gaining weight after a difficult divorce, he used food as a source of comfort and self-loathing.  But that came to a screeching halt when he realized his sin was killing him.

When we go to the LORD and ask forgiveness of sin, desiring to overcome the sins of which we feel guilty, if the heart is not changed concerning those things, then the will is destined for failure.  When David asks the heart be proved, he is asking the LORD to test and strengthen the heart.  Give a heart willing to change one’s actions.  Not a will that is changed with a fleeting heart that motivated it.  Change the heart and the will shall follow.

Sincerity and Faith in Prayer

“Hear the right, O LORD, attend unto my cry, give ear unto my prayer, that goeth not out of feigned lips.” (Ps 17:1 AV)

The word ‘…feigned…’ means, “Invented; devised; imagined; assumed.” (Webster’s 1828).  In the Hebrew, it means false.  These lips are sincere.  These requests are down right genuine.  They are the kind of words that mean what they say and say what they mean.  These are not flowery words meant to impress.  These words are not mere words to fill the air.   These words are not words meant to impress with no real deep-rooted belief they will be considered.  In this verse, unfeigned words in prayer is directly related to the faith those words will be heard.  Most of us struggle with private and public prayer because we do not believe with every fiber of our being that God hears us.  Faith in an attentive divine ear goes a long way in creating sincerity in our words.

My wife and I are going through changes as we age.  Funny changes.  Changes that if you don’t know how to laugh at yourself, it is going to be a horrible experience.  Changes like the hide and seek games we play with ordinary life style objects.  Like car keys.  Or the ever-entertaining memory marathon.  Try to remember something one just heard less than ten minutes later.  My wife told me she needed foaming hand soap for the bathroom.  I went to the health care product section, got my two things, and could not for the life of me remember what she said she needed.  Hilarious!  The change that is getting the most laughs is my failing hearing and her habit of talking to herself.  Now, up until just recently, my wife would talk a at a volume level a few decibels higher than most.  I had no problem hearing her.  However, as she ages, her voice is becoming more soft-spoken.  She speaks out loud to herself as a way of remembering things or processing a thought.  The problem is, I cannot tell if she is talking to me or not.  Even if she does make a comment intended for my ears, it may not be all that important because she doesn’t know if I can hear her.  It is rather humorous.

Let’s face it.  Some, if not most, of our prayer life is spoken with the failure to truly believe God hears us. They are words that fill the air with less sincerity or faith that is possible.  It is not that we are failing.  It is simply that we fail to truly grasp the idea that God hears our prayers!  If we confess our sins, pray according to His will, and seek those things in the name of Christ, then God hears.  Every last word.  So, the next time we struggle wondering what to pray, we need to take a moment and meditate on the fact that God will hear every word.  He is there.  He is listening.  He wants to hear.  Let is remember and have faith that He does.

Eyes Forward

“I have set the LORD always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth: my flesh also shall rest in hope. For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.” (Ps 16:8-10 AV)

What is so precious about the verses above is the context of them.  This passage is a prophetical one regarding the death, burial, and resurrection of Christ.  I know there is a great dispute over exactly what happened in those three days, but it misses the point.  Because of our sin, the Son of God suffered the wrath of God.  He suffered temporary separation from His Father and co-equal God.  It was an experience none of us will ever experience.  That is, if we trust Christ as our Savior.  If not, we will suffer an eternity separated from God and our Creator.  What enabled Jesus Christ to endure the horrible experience of the crucifixion and salvation of mankind was the two verses preceding his experience in what the Psalmist calls hell.  He knows that even if He suffers the punishment meant for all mankind, God His Father is still in control.

These verses of hope are spoken in the midst of the darkest hour a person can ever experience.  Perhaps David is writing this psalm as he flees from Absalom, or upon learning of Absalom’s death.  That had to be the darkest time of his life.  It is in these times when we cannot forget that God is always there and that He will not leave us in this condition.  As long was we set the LORD always before us.  Which means something significant.

In the midst of our deepest troubles, we can get so overwhelmed with the circumstances of them that our eyes drift upon those circumstances and off from the LORD.  If we are not careful, these circumstances can overwhelm us and we will sink in them.  Years ago, my father-in-law thought it was a good idea to fish the Empire State Lake Ontario trout derby.  The problem was, he has a little sixteen-foot open bow boat and we were in 12-foot waves.  There was a small craft lake advisory out and we shouldn’t have been on the water.  It was terrifying.  When we went down below the swell, all we saw was water on all sides.  When we were above, we saw other craft and the land.  I thought we were going to die!  Praise the LORD my father-in-law came to his senses and we went back in.  But that experience taught me a great lesson.  As long as one keeps his eyes in the right place, what happens around him will not affect him so much.