Comfort To Overcome Temptation

“Forasmuch then as the children are partakers of flesh and blood, he also himself likewise took part of the same; that through death he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is, the devil…For in that he himself hath suffered being tempted, he is able to succour them that are tempted.” (Heb 2:14, 18 AV)

 

If we just understood how accessible victory over sin was, we wouldn’t fall nearly as much as we do.  Jesus took upon Himself the form of our flesh so that He could be tempted in all points as we.  Declining to be enticed into sin, He is our example and power to overcome it.  The noun ‘succour’ is not a passive one.  In other words, our writer is not speaking of a natural result of salvation in a general sense of overcoming.  He is not speaking of the eternal victory we will have.  The writer is speaking of real-time succouring.  The word means more than securing.  The word means to secure by way of comfort.  The word is often used to describe what a mother does for her baby.  The understanding here is when we are tempted, the LORD Jesus Christ comes to our side with a heart of understanding encouraging us to stay the course.  He will not force our wills.  They are still free.  We still have to decide to turn down the offer of sin.  Jesus will not co-op our hearts and minds.  There must still be a yielding to the power of the Holy Spirit.  What we can know is that no matter how difficult the battle against sin is, we have an elder brother who understands just how we feel and will intercede to the Father on our behalf.

One of the bittersweet aspects of counseling people with sin issues is the ability to understand where they are coming from.  Particularly if it is a sin with which the mentor has struggled as well.  He can often offer insight into what the costs are and what it would take to overcome that particular sin.  When the counselor can empathize with the one suffering, it goes a long way.  Our health care network can gather input from its patients and sends it along to those providing care.  After each visit, there is a brief survey sent to the patient and they have the option to send their observations back to the network.  I know they have because I sent an evaluation back on several situations with input which was some criticism sprinkled with practical suggestions that would improve their care.  After one particular visit, I noticed the health care provider was too clinical and not very personal.  I felt like a lab rat.  There was no connection.  All I was to this individual was a walking test tube of data and a puzzle for his or her curious mind.  Now, this health care provider is the best in the city in which I dwell.  It is difficult to get a visit scheduled.  His diagnostic skills are second to none and with the right data at his disposal can make astounding diagnoses where most others would fail to connect the dots.  He truly is a gifted health care professional.  Following the evaluation, his demeanor changed considerably.  He was far more personal and engaging as a person.  His problem was he couldn’t empathize with patients' health care needs because he hadn’t aged to the same level of challenges.  Having understood their unique (at least to his life’s experiences) situations, he was able to adjust and succour those who were challenged with difficult health care needs.

Praise the LORD we have a Savior who knows every detail where it applies to temptation.  Every possible temptation we could ever be confronted with, He has gone through it.  And then some.  He knows what it feels like when the flesh screams for attention.  He knows what it feels like when the flesh tries to make us believe we cannot live without some deep-seated desire satisfied to the full.  He knows what it is like to battle the mind and discipline one’s thought life to the glory of God.  Jesus knows what it is like to take on the devil.  He knows what a had to head confrontation feels like.  Jesus had to challenge the world that was against Him.  He was forced to endure hardships that we can never fathom.  This same Jesus comes to our side when like temptations plague us.  He knows how it feels.  He knows the struggle between wanting to please the Father and the flesh fighting against it.  Jesus did not have a fallen nature as we do.  He was not pre-disposed to sin.  He was created in the image of Adam.  He did not have an old nature to battle.  But the flesh is flesh.  It doesn’t matter why it desires what it should not have.  It just does.  Therefore, Jesus is always there when we want victory.  He is there to intercede for us.  He is there with an understanding shoulder upon which to rest.  All we need to do is cry out to Jesus and He will comfort us in our struggle to say ‘no’.

Only Temporary

“I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found.” (Ps 37:35-36 AV)

 This has been the case for as long as mankind has been on the earth.  We fret and allow the adversary to cause us anxiety and fear over something that will not be permanent.  David has seen kingdoms larger than his rise and fall.  He has seen his father-in-law’s kingdom chase him all over the countryside, yet one battle was all it took to take him down.  The comparison with a bay tree is very enlightening.  The bay tree is a tree that grows in its own natural soil.  It is not a transplant.  If it is transplanted, it will not survive.  What a picture of all the kingdoms that have risen and fallen.  They spread themselves beyond their borders.  There may be a success for a time, but it will eventually die and return to its original beginnings.  What a picture of every offensive force that has ever taken territory.  It is one of those truths that are timeless.  Why?   “And hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation;” (Ac 17:26 AV)  The LORD determines in His eternal plan were and when nations and kingdoms rise.  As much as they might think they can control their own destinies, the Bible would differ.

No matter what the world wants to sell, the saint should not buy.  We should not be anxious about the battles we perceive God is losing.  He is losing nothing.  The bay tree reminds me of a tree that used to grow in the front yard of my previous house.  The locals call it a water maple.  This maple tree often grows in areas that have plenty of groundwater.  They grow fast.  The problem with the water maple is the roots are shallow.  They have to be to get the water they need to grow as fast as they do.  The thing is, with the water maple, it grows so fast it cannot sustain itself.  The base of the tree and main branches often cannot contain the weight of new growth.  New growth also saps moisture from its support branches and trunk.  Eventually, the tree collapses under its own weight.  Every year I had to take my chainsaw out to the front yard and cut up main branches that had fallen off.  It made for an endless supply of firewood.  But within just a few years, the tree fell over.  Roots and all.  It grew fast and tried to sustain rapid growth.  It simply could not.  This is what happens with the wicked powers that be.  They cannot sustain their own success.  Eventually, they collapse and recede back from whence they came.

This aggression is not limited to physical force.  This temporary aggression does not necessarily mean a wicked power takes territory.  The aggression can also be philosophical, spiritual, cultural, or any other aggression against God’s sovereignty.  It simply will not stand.  Every year about this time, The Exodus with Charlton Heston is easily found on broadcast or paid TV.  The thought that the movie portrays is God’s deliverance for a people to liberty.  Although that is a major consequence of their deliverance from bondage, it is not the most pressing reason for their liberty.  They had voluntarily given up their habitation and bounds which the LORD destined for them when Jacob took his family down to Egypt for bread.  Over time, they were enslaved by the Egyptians.  When freed, they were led to the land originally given to them by God to Abraham.  The land of promise.  They had lost their borders.  God restored them more than once.  The latest was the great regathering following the 1948 agreement to re-establish Israel as a nation.  The point is, we can take encouragement that the forces that be may think they are taking ground that will never be surrendered, but the LORD is greater than them all.  What the powers that be never take into consideration is the imminent return of Jesus Christ.  He is returning and all things will revert back to where they should be.

The Wise Still Teach

“And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.” (Ec 12:9-10 AV)

This really struck me this morning.  The manifestation of the wisdom of the preacher is his faithfulness to his duties as the preacher.  He still taught the people.  He still taught the people because he saw teaching as a wise thing to do.  Or, he still taught the people because he continued to be wise.  His faithfulness to his duties is further manifested by the diligence he shows in preparing the proverbs he shares.  He gives good heed.  He seeks out more wisdom.  He sets those kernels of truth into a cohesive presentation. He double-checks his insight against the word of God so they are based on sound truth.  The foolish messenger shows no wisdom when he keeps a pattern of silence.  The messenger who knows some truth and who chooses not to share that truth with those who need it is not a wise person.  This encouragement is not just for the preacher.  It is for anyone who has the wisdom of years and can share that wisdom with a generation that needs it.  The preacher could be a parent.  The preacher could be a teacher, a co-worker, a neighbor, or a total stranger.  As long as there are souls who need the wisdom of the word of God, there is a job to do for the one who is versed in it.  To be wise is to share wisdom.

In Paul’s first letter to Timothy, the elder Preacher gives the younger Pastor some advice on relationships between church members.  In particular, Paul advises the young Pastor on how different generations should interact.  He advises the younger generation to respect the elder generation and not to accuse them, criticize them, or devalue them.  The younger generation is to value the elder generation because they have wisdom and experience that could be of great help.  Paul also admonishes the elder generation to share the wisdom they have with the younger set.  Especially in the area of marriage and family.  This cooperative relationship benefits both.  The younger generation, whether they like to admit it or not, need their parents, pastors, deacons, and elder saints.  Although details may be different, the wise writer of the passage above clearly teaches in the same book that nothing really changes.  As I said, the details may be different, but the nature of things is always the same.  Those getting up in age have seen different variations on the theme their whole lives.  They have seen patterns that do not change just because the details do.  For the seasoned saint, we can begin to think we come of an age when it is someone else’s responsibility to teach the younger.  Not so.  If we are wise, then we will continue to seek out teachable moments for those who need that which the LORD has graciously shared with us.

The foolish one will sit on what he knows.  The callous one will allow others to needlessly suffer because, for one reason or another, he says nothing.  Perhaps he is worn out.  Perhaps he has lost an edge and thinks he has nothing left to say.  Maybe, he sees others who are adequate and feels he can retire from the wisdom-sharing business.  Not so!  The wise person helps those who need that wisdom.  The age of the messenger matters not.  As long as one has wisdom that another does not, and that wisdom is needed, then the one with it must share it.  That is a mark of wisdom.  That word ‘still’ is so convicting.  That word ‘still’ is so challenging.  Solomon, like his father David, shared his insight with his sons until the day he died.  Even upon his death bed, he shared what he knew and how he thought his son should rule.  Solomon’s wisdom followed after him.  Even after his death, those that followed compiled proverbs no one knew existed and found themselves in the canon of scripture.  The wisest man on earth shared what he knew beyond the grave.  ‘Still’.  Are we wise in continuing to help others with the truth we know?  Or, are we foolish and keeping it all to ourselves?

Investment In Difficult Times

“Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.” (Ec 11:1 AV)

 If we are not aware of the culture of the times, we may think this is something hard to believe.  If you cast your bread on the water, a bird flying by might help himself.  Or, a panfish may nibble away at it.  If you cast your bread on the waters, it will dissolve.  It certainly wouldn’t be there after many days.  If cast on a river, the current would sweep it away.  In any way you might look at it, it seems highly improbably that if you threw your bread on the waters you might find it again after many days.  Even if you did, there is a real possibility you would not gather it again.  So, what is our beloved sage speaking of here?  What principle can we glean?  No pun intended.  Our writer is speaking of casting seed for making bread upon a flooded field that after many days, the seed will take root and produce a crop.  There are several takeaways from this.  The writer is teaching the principle of investment.  He is making the simple statement that if one wishes to reap, he must sow.  There is another point to be made here as well.  Realizing fruit by one’s efforts takes time.  The reader is encouraged to cast seed upon the waters.  However, it is after many days the Sower shall find that seed returning fruit to his account.  What we want to cast our attention upon today is one little word – ‘waters’.  We want to note it is not the fields upon which the Sower sows.  We also want to notice the plural nature of the waters.  Not just a single body of water, but multiple bodies of water.  This suggests there has been a flood and the fields are not the easiest to sow.

I have slopped around in flooded fields before.  Hunting the edges of fields that have yet to be prepared for planting, one must trudge through some really hard stuff.  I have lost a boot or two.  As the mud builds up on the boot and weighs it down, it will soon slip off the foot, and one steps right into a mound of mud.  I cannot imagine how sowing seed in such conditions would be an easy task.  Then there is the impression that casting seed on standing water may not be an effective way of sowing the field.  The farmer might also assume the seed will rot away before the water dries up.  In reality, casting seed on the water is an effective way of doing the sowing.  The seed does not stack.  It stays all at the same level.  The wind and current of the water may cause the seed to be swept into one area, but if you use the wind as your friend, you could stay put and allow nature to assist you in the sowing.  This water, from a simpler perspective, does not appear as advantageous.  It makes sowing harder.  It unpredictably scatters the seed, and it may cause some of the seed to be lost.  This is our imperfect perception.  The writer states just the opposite.  Get the seed out there even in less than perfect conditions and you will reap after a while.

We are too impatient.  We want to see immediate results.  We want to see the shoots spring up and the fruit grows out.  We want to see our barns full before the root even takes ground.  We want to see results from our efforts and if we don’t, we give up.  The more impatient we are, the more the waters will seem cumbersome.  The more impatient we are, the less effort we will extol in following up with the seed that has been scattered.  The waters take time to abate.  The waters make our chore to sow all the more difficult.  But the waters are there for a reason.  They are there so the seed can have the best possible set of circumstances upon which to spring up.  Take courage.  The seed will drop in the fertile and well-watered ground.  Some will spring up into everlasting life.  It is for this we must patiently wait.

Of Breath and Hope

“For to him that is joined to all the living there is hope: for a living dog is better than a dead lion.” (Ec 9:4 AV)

 The idea of Ecclesiastes is the point of life as if there was no God.  In attempting to prove life can be lived without a God, the writer proves just the opposite.  In the above verse, Solomon is simply stating that when one dies, there is no longer any hope.  That is if there is no God.  If there is no God, then once a body has ceased to live, there is no hope of change.  All things return as they were.  The body rots in the grave as is turned back into the dust from whence it came.  That is it.  There is nothing else.  Again, this would be true if there was no God.  In this verse, we can actually see the conclusion from the perspective of creation with a God.  The conclusion is the same.  If there is a God, once life ends, there is no hope of change for those who reject Him.  For those who know God, there is no hope left of affecting God’s kingdom by service and faith.  When death comes, that is the end of temporal opportunity.  No more chances to overcome sin by an act of our own volition.  No more chances to share the gospel with those who do not know Him.  No more opportunity to please Him by serving Him in His creation.  All is permanently set.  What I see above is encouragement.  I see a challenge to all those struggling to overcome faults or faithlessness.  I see a truth that as long as there is breath in our lungs, then there is hope for change.

One of the hardest cases to deal with while serving as a chaplain is helping a patient deal with regret.  Those who lay at death's door all of a sudden go through a time of self-evaluation which should have happened decades ago.  They sob over lost opportunities with children.  They weep over unfaithfulness towards one’s spouse.  They regret all those times they got drunk and now lay in bed with a rotted liver.  They lay there, often very much alone with their thoughts, wishing they could turn back the clock and make different decisions.  They are trying to find some kind of peace.  Some form of encouraging words that will assist them as they pass off into eternity.  More times than not, there are no words.  The agony of wasted opportunities or foolish life choices plagues their mind.  As they slip off into eternity, the pain of what they failed to do is written on their faces.  As a chaplain, there is little one can offer.  We can speak of God’s forgiveness.  This is the only hope they have.  That is the only hope any of us have.  We can share that even when they cannot forgive themselves, God can forgive them.  We can share that mankind may never forgive them.  But God always does.  This is the only hope of peace at such a time as this.

For those who are not quite there yet, there is even more hope that God’s forgiveness.  Prior to divine forgiveness, repentance must occur.  That is a change of mind and heart that results in a change of direction.  The saint who wishes to avoid as much regret as possible can change the direction of his or her life.  As long as we are among the living, there is still hope for a different life.  We are not destined to live in any way at the mercy of failure.  Failure does not have to be a forgone conclusion.  We do not have to look in the mirror and think that what we see is the best it will ever be.  As long as our lungs operate, there is hope.  As long as we have our abode on this sin-sick orb, there is a great chance the Holy Spirit can and will do a work with our plagued hearts.  There is always hope.  We are not helpless.  We have the indwelling of the Holy Spirit that cleanses us from all sin.  He enables us to live for the glory of God.  All we need to do is to yield.  I don’t know about you, but I do not want to lay on my death bed wishing my life could have been radically different.  I know there will be some regret.  It is inevitable.  But my hope is that from this day forward, and every day until my home going, the Holy Spirit will perform a work in my wretched heart that this soul might please the God who created him and redeemed him.  May God do a work in all our hearts before our body ceases to live!

Our Final Epitaph?

“I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:” (2Ti 4:7 AV)

 Here is the epitaph every preacher wants on his tombstone.  To be able to make this statement is quite something.  To be part of the eternal word of God is something else.  Paul is an incredible person.  He was saved from a very religious background.  Whatever his belief, zeal was not a problem.  He was just as full of zeal when he persecuted the saints before his conversion as he was after he was knocked off his horse.  Paul was a man of zeal.  When he committed, he did so with everything he was.  He didn’t do anything halfway.  When he fought, he put everything in.  In fact, Paul tells us,  “But I keep under my body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, when I have preached to others, I myself should be a castaway.” (1Co 9:27 AV)  Paul has a level of self-discipline and sacrifice that few have or will ever know.  When he makes the statement above, he does so with the fullest conviction that he tried his hardest.  He may have made mistakes, like going to Jerusalem, but his mistakes are few and far between.  No one can dispute his zeal.  He had that right up to the end.

Finishing is under-rated.  Finishing well, even more so.  How we end is just as much a factor as to how we start.  Most start out well.  But we get tired out.  We get burnt out.  We fight one too many battles.  We look forward to retirement.  We back off allowing others with more energy to take the initiative.  We have it in our minds there is a time to slow down to a trickle when we could do so much more.  Our Apostle went out with his foot on the gas.  He could look back at his ministry and sleep, knowing he had done all that he could.  We know Paul was not perfect.  There probably were missed opportunities.  He probably failed to speak to someone when he should have.  But his overall pattern of life was to do the work of an evangelist.  He spoke more than he remained silent.  He allowed the light of the glorious gospel to speak loudly through his life.  When placed before kings and princes, he did open his mouth.  He did testify of the grace of God which appeared to all men.  Paul did not make an excuse.  Seldom were the times when he was asked to dial it back a bit.  He knew this life was temporary and he only had so much opportunity to represent the kingdom of God to men.  Paul was able to declare his epitaph because it was the truth.  When I read Paul’s words, I ask myself, is that something I will be able to say at the close of my life?  What will mark my final days?  Will I see the face of my Savior with a clear conscience, knowing that no matter what ills came my way, I did all that I could do for the kingdom of God?  What is there left to do?  I am content with the status quo, or do I still dream of the possibilities that lie ahead?  Have a grown too weary to be of any good to the gospel call?  Will I finish with as much commitment as I started?  Will I see a ministry heading uphill rather than downhill?  Can I repeat the words of Paul with a clear conscience?

But what if we have not served as Paul served?  What if we did not do all we could have with opportunities of the past?  What if we were too timid or too lazy?  Can we make up for it?  Absolutely!  There is still time to make full proof of one’s ministry.  We can overcome our faults.  By the power of the One who dwells within me, I can have an impact in the place where God has planted me.  There are souls all around us.  All we have to be willing to do is to finish well.  Maybe there are things we should have done in years gone by.  But we don’t have to compound the fault by neglect today.  Perhaps there were missed opportunities in the past, but there are open doors today.  Yesterday may be gone, but tomorrow has not come.  As long as there is breath in our lungs, there is more than enough opportunity to make up for lost days, months, or years.  So, do we give up on the hope of repeating this verse at the close of our days?  Never.  The fight is measured by how it ends.  Not how it is going.  So, get back up and that horse and recommit to charging the enemy.  Do it in such a way that Paul’s life verse can be yours, too.

Wishing For The Past Is Not Wise

“Say not thou, What is the cause that the former days were better than these? for thou dost not enquire wisely concerning this.” (Ec 7:10 AV)

 

This is something we do more frequently the older we get.  We wish for the former days because we think they were better than what we are currently enduring.  Each age and each generation has its problems.  Yes, I agree, that humanity is drifting further and further from God.  This necessarily means the world will seem like a worse place.  It will appear former days were better.  But the writer is not speaking of the general condition of the world.  Rather, he is speaking of the individual’s experience through life.  His observation is a general one as well.  For example, a young man may go off to war and is taken as a prisoner of war.  He may languish in a dark cell somewhere for decades.  Surely he can say his former days were better than his present life.  The key phrase in the above verse is, “what is the cause”.  In other words, things getting worse seems like a deliberate direction of life and the aspiration is to return to a life that one cannot have rather than enduring through the one he does have.  It is a complete waste of time to yearn for the past.  It is a waste of emotional reserve in the spirit and heart.  No one can time travel.  It is impossible.  As much as I may want to return to better days, it is impossible.  So why waste what happiness I do have in wishing for something I cannot have?

The fact there is an inquiry indicates someone occupied with these thoughts is trying to figure out how to return to better days.  Israel wandered in the wilderness because they wasted their opportunity to except their future when the LORD presented them.  They were asked to enter Canaan shortly after the exodus and declined.  They simply didn’t think God could give them victory.  So, for forty years they wandered.  They lived in the former days and were never able to leave them.  Not until that generation died off did the nation get to where the LORD wanted them to go.  This is the trap of wishing for the former days.  If we wish for them and attempt to repeat them, we will never grow into our future.  We will stay in a never-ending holding pattern.  We will be discontent no matter what we do.  We will live in the former days and then remember why they were not tolerable.  So, we will seek the former days of the former days.  Contentment is the key here.  Being where God wants you and when God wants you with peace in your heart and faith in your soul is what makes the present days as pleasant as the former used to be.  We tend to forget the struggles and trials of the former days and only remember the good times.  This is what trials tend to do.  They tend to come with enticements to escape and even though we cannot physically change our trials, we can wish for former days as a way to cope.  This is not wise.

There are both blessings and trouble that await us tomorrow.  It is not all bleak.  We can look at the direction of our nation and we can agree, that it is hastening its distance from God.  In the past few decades, our great country has accelerated its apostasy.  In a not too distant past, the lines between right and wrong were blurred.  Then they were erased altogether.  Now, new lines are being drawn.  What was once wrong is now right and what was right is now wrong.  The former days are better.  In a way.  What we do know is the further from God mankind gets, the closer we are to His return.  The future days will be better than the present days and the former days combined!  This is how we need to react to our present days.  We are foolish to wish for days to which we cannot travel.  We are wise to wish for days that will eventually come.  There will come a day want the clouds will part.  We will either graduate to glory, or the LORD will come back.  Either way, our present days are only temporary and there are far better days coming.