Character In Good Times and In Bad

“Our heart is not turned back, neither have our steps declined from thy way; Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.” (Ps 44:18-19 AV)

A change of circumstances will test our character.  David, in the above passage, reflects on a severe turn of events.  The LORD required Israel to go through many hard times.  Sometimes, these hard times were for the increase of faith they would produce.  Crossing the Red Sea and the Jordan River was not easy.  Yet, they learned to trust the LORD through it.  Wandering in the wilderness was not an easy time.  Again, they learned faith through it.  Facing their enemies in life and death circumstances taught them principles and integrity.  If trouble came by way of disobedience, then it taught them repentance and obedience.  There were also times of prosperity.  There were times of success against their enemies or the drowning of the Egyptian army.  There were times of God’s provision.  There were times of peace.  Whether it is good times or bad, each will test our character.  The more dramatic, the bigger the test.  We are mistaken to think if we have one or the other, then we will no longer need to be tested.  The opposite is true.  We need a changing life that challenges us in both times.  Whether they are good times or bad, there are areas of our character that need to be proved.  The question is, how will we do in these times of testing?

Jonah and his gourd are a great example.  Jonah was called to preach to the capital city of Israel’s greatest enemy.  He was told to go to Nineveh and preach the judgment of God.  He ran from God and ended up in the belly of a whale for three days and nights.  Having repented of his flight, the LORD had this great fish vomit Jonah onto the shore of this great city.  He kept his word and preached to the city.  It took several days to cover the distance.  He walked and preached.  He walked and preached as he went.  When the whole of the city’s length was covered, Jonah went to the top of a hill to see what would become of Nineveh.  He thought he knew these people well.  After all, they made merchandise of the people of Israel and respected not their God.  Surely fire and brimstone were coming.  Being a desert place, God took pity on Jonah and prepared a monster gourd for him to hollow out and use as shelter from the hot sun.  There he sat.  Hour after hour.  Perhaps for days waiting for the wrath of God to come upon his enemy.  He was elated for the gourd.  His joy was changed into vindictiveness.  He wanted to see God destroy them.  However, a funny thing happened.  The gourd eventually dried up.  As gourds do.  In the meantime, the Ninevites repented and God showed them grace.  Jonah was deeply disappointed both in God’s grace and the dried-up gourd.  Prosperity revealed Jonah’s bigotry and vindictiveness.  Poverty revealed Jonah’s envy and lack of grace.  Extreme situations revealed the true nature of Jonah.

In the above passage, David promises to God that the people will remain faithful, even though at the moment they are facing hardship.  He can say this because he leads them.  David knows the only thing left when all is said and done is his integrity.  He knows there will be good times and bad times.  He knows life has ebbs and flows.  Some of them are rather severe or dramatic.  It is in these times when the people of God must keep their heads about them and do the right thing regardless of temptations or testing.  Whether the wind is at our backs, or walking headlong into a gale, our character is all we have.  It is the only thing under our control.  God controls our circumstances.  We control how we react to those circumstances.  This is David’s point.  In good times and in bad, we will follow the word of God no matter what.

One day left!  Ms Lisa, or Ms Theresa?  Who will win the $20 gift card?  Become a follower and help one of these two ladies spend their gift card on their husband!  Click the blue 'follow' button to the right, or if reading by mobile device, scroll to the bottom, click 'view web version' and do the same.  Don't forget to comment and mention either of these two ladies.  Their husbands are counting on you!

Don't Make It Hard On Yourself

“I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye. Be ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.” (Ps 32:8-9 AV)

Psalm 32 is one of his psalms dealing directly with his anguish over his sin.  His confession, his forsaking, and his desire for mercy are found in the first seven verses.  The next few verses are the LORD’s response to his request.  The word ‘lest’ is confusing here.  The word can be used to mean two opposite things.  The word can mean ‘so that they won’t come near unto thee’.  Or it could mean just the opposite.  So they will come near unto thee.  The latter seems to be the use here.  The instruction from the LORD is simple.  If David is truly sorry for his sin and desires forgiveness and reconciliation, then he must allow the LORD to teach and guide him so that he does not fall again.  The encouragement from God is for David to be led about by the Spirit in an easy fashion rather than a horse or mule who must be led about by bit and bridle.  The injunction is clear.  We should be easily led about by the Spirit of God rather than as stubborn animals that need to be broken.

We’ve had many dogs through the years.  Most of them rescue dogs.  Two of them we had from pups.  Rescue dogs are almost always a good idea.  No matter the dog, a smart and experienced dog owner can help that dog overcome his or her issues from months or years of neglect or abuse.  We were able to rehabilitate several dogs over the years, but one, in particular, was not so easy.  He was a chocolate springer spaniel mix.  This dog was out of control.  I could not keep him near our small children because he was very wild and uncontrollable.  Unfortunately, we had to resort to a shock collar.  When using one, the smallest setting will usually do the trick.  Then once the dog is trained, using the vibration setting will work.  Once he or she is trained with the vibration setting, the owner can switch to the tone setting.  After successfully training with a tone, then the collar can be removed for simple voice commands alone.  This is the goal.  When starting with the electrical shock setting, one should always start with the lowest and work up until the amount of shock gets the dog’s attention.  With this spaniel, it meant almost full charge.  This dog was so headstrong, it was the only way to snap him out of his nature.  He was so intense and stubborn, we finally had to give him away to someone who used him as a junkyard dog. 

We can learn the easy way or the had way.  It all depends on how leadable we are.  The dog  I have know is extremely leadable.  Toby is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  He is so people-oriented, he doesn’t want to displease me at all.  He never crosses me.  He can sense when something he is about to do is not approved.  He stays right at my side when walking.  If it wasn’t for our city’s leash law, I wouldn’t have to use it.  No bit a bridle for him. Why?  Because he wants to please me.  The LORD is using an example from nature.  If we are to learn to live our lives for the pleasure of God, we have to be gentle and accommodating toward the LORD.  We have to be tuned in to what He wants and be willing to do whatever He wishes.  God warns us not to be stubborn like a wild animal who has to be brought into subjection by, oftentimes, harsh methods.  If we truly are distraught over our sin, then we should cast aside the bit and bridle.  We should be by our LORD’s side always listening and complying with the command of His voice.

P.S.  Two ladies are in a dead heat!  Each signed up three new followers.  They have the end of this coming Sunday to sign up more!  Help you favorite Pastor's Wife past the finish line.  Become a follower by clicking the blue 'follow' button to the right, or if viewing on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom, click on 'view web version' and then find the blue 'follow' button.  Who will win the $20 gift card?  Ms. Lisa or Ms. PB?  It's all up to you!

Childlike Dependence

“Shew me thy ways, O LORD; teach me thy paths. Lead me in thy truth, and teach me: for thou art the God of my salvation; on thee do I wait all the day.” (Ps 25:4-5 AV)

What a humble request by a very humble person!  Perhaps this is where Solomon got it from.  David shows great wisdom here in acknowledging the need for truth, direction, and deliverance.  The only source who can give that to him is God.  But what I find particularly challenging is the very last phrase.  David waits on the LORD his entire waking day for the ways, paths, truth, and salvation of the LORD.  This means he is in constant communication with God to hear His voice for the choices of life.  Every choice.  All the time.  It also appears David is suggesting he will not make a choice unless he has verification from the LORD.  The ways, paths, truth, and salvation must be in line with the will of God.  Again, this is all day long.  Note also that David uses the word ‘teach’ twice.  The other two words he uses are ‘shew’ and ‘lead’.  In the use of these words, David shows his dependence on the constant and obvious leading of the LORD.  In short, David has placed himself in the vulnerable position of listing to the LORD for every choice of life and will not act until he is convinced God has led him thus.

When I was a little lad, our neighborhood parks had young adults who would spend all day with the kids who came from the area.  We would meet in the activity building that doubled as a changing house for the park ice rink.  This activity building had all sorts of equipment for the kids to use.  If you wanted to play baseball or softball, there were bases, bats, balls, and occasionally gloves.  If you wanted to play horseshoes, there were pegs for the put and shoes in a locker.  There were jump ropes, shuffleboard discs and poles, and even volleyballs and nets.  There were tennis rackets and balls as well.  If there was something that could be played at the park, the city stocked each neighborhood park with the necessary equipment.  But the city went even further.  The staff at these parks provided learning activities for the kids.  Most arts and crafts, but occasionally there were science or nature-type activities. Especially when it rained.  My siblings and I used to go there because hanging around the neighborhood was boring.  The thing was, the staff had really interesting projects for us to do.  It wasn’t simple coloring, cutting, or pasting.  Some of the things they had us do were a bit more complicated.  That was a good thing.  It forced us to pay attention and learn.  The finished product was displayed and we had to listen and follow our teacher if we were to build the same thing.  The age of the children involved was usually somewhere between six and twelve.  Old enough to understand and follow, but not too old where we would think we could do it all by ourselves.  We had to follow instructions and could not get ahead or our birdhouse, log cabin, or pinwheel wouldn’t work out.

There is a childhood humility missing in today’s churches.  Because we have more information at our fingertips, we think we do not need God nearly as much as we do.  We are more intellectual than our forefathers, but we are not any wiser.  We think because we can find any answer to any question with a click of a mouse or a tap of the fingertip, we are independent and in need of no one.  Including God.  The availability of information caused us to lose innocent and pure faith.  We are self-sufficient.  We are self-determinate.  We are the captain of our own ships.  We don’t need advice.  We don’t need an objective opinion.  When we do seek one, it is usually from someone with the same perspective as us.  We do not need God anymore.  This is pretty sad.  David and Solomon were both wise enough to realize their deep dependence on God.  Solomon, the wisest man to ever live, knew that after all the wisdom God had given him, he really didn’t know much.  Solomon failed was David succeeded.  David never outgrew God.  Solomon did.  He has so much knowledge and wisdom, he stopped seeking and submitting to the direction of God.  Our wish is that we never lose that childlike dependence on the leading of the Spirit of God in all things pertaining to life and godliness.

P.S.  Two ladies are in a dead heat!  Each signed up three new followers.  They have the end of this coming Sunday to sign up more!  Help you favorite Pastor's Wife past the finish line.  Become a follower by clicking the blue 'follow' button to the right, or if viewing on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom, click on 'view web version' and then find the blue 'follow' button.  Who will win the $20 gift card?  Ms. Lisa or Ms. PB?  It's all up to you!

Do We Really Love Him?

“I will love thee, O LORD, my strength. The LORD is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower.” (Ps 18:1-2 AV)

Note the promise here and upon what that promise is based.  David promises to love God.  He does so because of the facts that follow.  God is his rock.  He is that stable influence in his life that is always consistence, reliable, and faithful.  He changes not.  God is his fortress.  He is to whom David can flee when he needs a sense of safety amid the many threats that come upon him.  God is his deliverer.  When that which does become overwhelming seems to stall his hope and joy, it is God who rescues him from that which threatens him.  God is his strength.  He is the source of life to which David resolves when life seems too much to bear.  It is His word that gives promises upon which to lean that he fall not headlong into hopeless despair.  It is God’s strength that David has learned to trust.  Especially above his own human and limited strength.  God is his shield or buckler.  A God who stands between the saint and the enemy.  A buffer that makes the blows much easier to bear.  God is David’s horn of salvation.  He is the authority upon which David resides to know he is safe from eternal harm.  And, God is David’s high tower.  He is that source of hope which seems to stand in the distance, showing the way of life and grace.  The tower to which those who need to see things from a different perspective flee and begin to see things as God sees them.  David promises to love God for all that He is above, and more.

A funny thing happens as we grow older.  We begin to appreciate more and more what we had when we were younger.  Especially when we consider all that our parents did for us.  Most of it went unnoticed.  If we did notice, it was usually undervalued because we did not see the significance of it until much later in life.  Some of those things we didn’t realize until well into adulthood.  One of those things was my father’s pattern of protecting us from harmful peer pressure.  He didn’t do this by making a whole lot of rules.  He accomplished this by providing a better alternative.  It was Boy Scouts, paper routes, household chores, and a large family.  My father also paid to have us all educated in religious schools as opposed to the public school system.  He made friends with good families that had children our own age.  Recently, the LORD allowed me to reconnect with one of the best friends I ever had.  He was my best friend from first grade to about eighth grade.  All of these things worked together so that my father could provide a safe childhood free from the temptations of bad company and frequent temptations.  I didn’t fully appreciate it until well into my adult years.  One has to wonder how different our relationship would have been had I seen this sooner.

We saw that we love God.  But why?  Or, we wonder why we do not love God more.  Perhaps what we need to do regularly is to take stock of who and what God is to us.  Perhaps we need to review our journals and rehearse exactly what it was God has done for us.  Maybe, as we read our devotions each day, enter some sort of example that God has done for us that resembles that which we just read.  Perhaps we should ask others what they see.  Maybe there are things God is doing for us to which we are blind, but others notice.  One thing is for sure.  We could all love the Father a bit more than we do.  David’s promise to love God for all that He is to him.  It is the least he could do.  And it is the least we could do, too.

P.S.  Two ladies are in a dead heat!  Each signed up three new followers.  They have the end of this coming Sunday to sign up more!  Help you favorite Pastor's Wife past the finish line.  Become a follower by clicking the blue 'follow' button to the right, or if viewing on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom, click on 'view web version' and then find the blue 'follow' button.  Who will win the $20 gift card?  Ms. Lisa or Ms. PB?  It's all up to you!

Give Up To Win

“Have mercy upon me, O LORD; for I am weak: O LORD, heal me; for my bones are vexed.” (Ps 6:2 AV)

This verse is both transparent and honest.  The context in which David makes this request is his struggle with sin.  He admits he is not as strong as he wishes he was.  Verse one asks that God be not angry with him.  That is also a good thing to desire.  The place David is right now is a good place to be.  That is, having sinned against the LORD.  David admits something we all need to admit.  He comes to terms with how weak he is against sin, and how weak he is because of it.  Knowing one’s limits is the first step in overcoming any challenge.  When it comes to sin, we must come to terms we cannot fight it on our own.  We don’t have the ability.  Our flesh, heart, and minds desire what they cannot have.  The natural man will fall when confronted with a choice to do wrong.  As we mature, this becomes less of a reality.  But the inclination towards sin is still present.  It is a consequence of Adam’s sin which he passed down to us all.  The old man was crucified with Christ.  Yet it is not destroyed.  The crucifixion of the old man is so that it might be destroyed.  As long as it hangs around, there will be battles.  The more hopeless we realize that we are, the easier it is for the Holy Spirit to empower us to overcome.

Living with an injury or recovering from surgery is an experience in adaptation.  One must learn what can be done differently versus what cannot be done at all.  I am a bad patient.  I hate relying on others to help me do what I need to do.  Several years ago, I was recovering from shoulder surgery.  I had a three-inch bone spur filed off my left should bones as well as some length removed because the bones had grown longer to compensate for the spur.  During the first few weeks of recovery, my shoulder was to remain completely immobile.  My arm was placed in this weird sling that was then strapped around my chest.  For the first week, I could not take it off even to take a shower.  My wife was in her glory!  She wanted to fuss over me more than I could endure.  As I said, I don’t like to be dotted upon.  I want to do things on my own.  She would not have it.  I wouldn’t either.  That is until my dear mother-in-law set me straight.  She gave me the fifth degree of how I was being a bit pig-headed by not allowing my wife to help me with things I could not do on my own.  It is a hard thing to admit you are helpless.  I had to learn a lesson about how helpless I truly was before I could get the help that I needed.

The same is true with our struggle over sin.  We are helpless.  We need the ministry of the Holy Spirit far more than we are willing to admit.  Paul was quick to confess this towards the end of his ministry.  Romans chapter seven is Paul’s verbalization of his battle with sin.  It is a classic expression of what the saint feels when he is faced with the reality of his limited ability to live a holy life.  He could not do it on his own.  He didn’t have the will to do it.  He knew if he was going to live a life of godliness to the glory of the Father, then it could only be done by the intervention of Jesus Christ and the empowerment that comes from the Holy Spirit.  We often fail because we will not admit we cannot accomplish what we know we need to do.  We fail because we are trying to live right by our own strength.  This simply will not work.  We speak of full surrender.  Maybe we need to surrender to the fact that surrender is the beginning of victory.  One of the many sacred oxymorons of the word of God.  To be victorious, we need to give up.  This was where David was.  This is where Paul was.  This is where we need to be.

P.S.  Two ladies are in a dead heat!  Each signed up three new followers.  They have the end of this coming Sunday to sign up more!  Help you favorite Pastor's Wife past the finish line.  Become a follower by clicking the blue 'follow' button to the right, or if viewing on a mobile device, scroll to the bottom, click on 'view web version' and then find the blue 'follow' button.  Who will win the $20 gift card?  Ms. Lisa or Ms. PB?  It's all up to you!

AND THE WINNER IS....

 After a month of hard work by my original followers, we have a tie.  Mrs. PB and my wife each signed up three new followers.  So, we are into sudden death.  For the next week these to wonderful ladies will go head-to-head for the $20 gift card.  If you want to help either, you must become a follower by clicking the blue 'follow' button to the right, or if reading from a mobile browser, scroll to the bottom and click 'view web version' and do the same.  Don't forget to leave a comment and vote let us know if Mrs. PB or Lisa was your influence.  Stay tuned!

Faith Overcomes Ignorance

“Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve? Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?” (Job 39:1,2 AV)

 There are things we can know in a general sense.  But much of what can be known is not known.  Not when we boil it down to details.  In our passage above, the LORD is challenging Job.  He is asking Job if he can know for certain the exact time when a wild goat, or all wild goats, will give birth.  We can know, generally speaking, the month in which goats will birth.  What we do not know is the exact time they may bring forth.  Modern technology may make that immensely easier.  We can place a goat on a machine that will give us much information as to the time the ewe will bring forth.  We can watch contractions.  We can watch heart rhythms.  We can watch the breathing.  We can watch much.  But until that exact moment comes, our guesses are just that.  Educated guesses that may or may not be correct.  In short, we can guess, generally speaking, the events of the future.  But the particulars are beyond our grasp.  This was God’s point with Job.  Job may be able to know some things.  But unless he is God, he cannot know most things.

My thoughts went to the future.  We know some things are certain.  If the LORD does not rapture us out of here, we will experience a natural death that man has experienced since our first parents partook of the forbidden fruit.  We know it is a certainty.  We just do not know exactly how.  We know the world is going to precipitously fall away from God and because it will do so, circumstances of life will get much harder for everyone.  We may even know, generally speaking, what will happen.  Our indication can be found in the Book of Revelation.  How that plays out to us individually, we may not know.  All those curses of the tribulation will have indicators before the rapture.  Like the foothills of a mountain range, things will happen as we approach the tribulation that will play a part in the tribulation even though the church will not be there.  We can read Farmers Almanac all we want, but that doesn’t mean we will know exactly how the weather will pan out come the winter colds and storms.  All one has to do is watch a weather channel to know we can generally know what will happen.  Yet, until we have every detail, we know nothing for certain.  Ignorance of the details of the future; the events leading up to the rapture, future laws that will impact the church, and the day and hour of Christ’s return; requires that we live by faith today.

This is the burden of our limited brains.  We cannot know for certain any future fact.  At least in the details of those facts.  We know the sun will rise tomorrow because the tribulation has yet to occur.  We know winter will come.  We know next summer will see some heat.  We know if the LORD does not call us home or we are not raptured, we will get a day older, a year older, and perhaps decades older.  We know some.  It is by this knowledge that make plans.  What we do not know is far more.  This is what Job wrestled with.  He knew in the latter days, the LORD will return and he will be with Him.  He just didn’t know why God allowed what He did.  This ignorance can be frustrating.  Or worse, frightening.  I have visited many church members going for medical procedures that were terrified.  It is not that the doubted their salvation.  It was fear of the details of the future.  Job was a righteous man.  Righteous more so than any before him, and perhaps with the exclusion of Christ, after him as well.  That didn’t alleviate his frustration over what he didn’t know.  Nor couldn’t know.  And that is the rub.  It is not that we don’t know but could know.  It is the fact we cannot know which is hard to accept.  Thus, we must live by faith because only an omniscient God knows all things and controls all things.  Surrendering our need to know is a hard thing to do.  Job had a hard time with it.  But he finally did.  And that is when God blessed him.  Perhaps the LORD is waiting for you to surrender your need to know so that He can bless the faith that follows.