When We Are At The End of Our Rope

“For in thee, O LORD, do I hope: thou wilt hear, O Lord my God…Forsake me not, O LORD: O my God, be not far from me. Make haste to help me, O Lord my salvation.” (Ps 38:15, 21-22 AV)

Every once in a while, one is pushed to pray a prayer like this.  I am preaching through Daniel on Wednesday nights.  We are bogged down in chapter two.  Daniel exercises desperate faith.  He is put into a position, not of his own making.  He has nothing to lose.  Trusting God or not trusting God has the same potential outcome.  Unless, that is, the LORD does answer.  Then his faith was well worth it.  This is where we find ourselves.  From time to time we are at the mercy of life’s events.  We did not cause them.  We are not responsible for them.  There is nothing we can do about it.  We have no other option but to trust the LORD.  We know only the LORD can do something about our situation.  It is too big for us.  We cannot control any aspect of what we are going through.  We are at our wit’s end and there is nothing left to do but to trust the LORD.

This is not an easy place to find oneself.  To say times like this are uncomfortable is an understatement.  These times are as close to impossible as one can get.  It is often in the midst of these times we think the end is near.  Often, we recede into our shells and do not want to come out.  We see every day as a dark day.  The sun never shines and we think it never will.  It is the words of the psalmist above that ring hope in the desperate heart.  The downtrodden soul must look up and not down.  He or she must believe there is a God who cares.  He or she must believe there is a God who will answer the prayer of the desperate.  Perhaps not as we would wish, but He will.  David’s words are not without credibility.  He faced some dark days during his earthly pilgrimage.  He faced down giants.  He ran from his family.  For the majority of his life, his enemies wanted him destroyed.  He buried four children.  When David laid his head down and breathed his last breath, he had just watched one of his sons execute another.  David knew the way of sorrow.  He knew what it was like to live a life of desperation.

So, what did he do?  He declared emphatically his hope in God.  His faith may have waivered, but it never failed.  To that end, we can be encouraged.  Just because our faith is challenged and it seems like it will not hold up, does not mean we are failures.  In fact, it means just the opposite.  It means we yielded to the extreme pressures of life without completely giving up on God.  In doing so, we yielded to the ministry of the Holy Spirit in strengthening our faith when we thought it would completely fail.  David here gives us the way out.  Declare your faith in God then assault the throne of grace that You might be able to obtain grace to help in time of need.

He Is In Your Corner

“The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him. The LORD will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged.” (Ps 37:32-33 AV)

There are those among us who have so low an opinion of themselves that they think any and all adversity is the hand of God’s judgment.  They confess sins of which they are not even guilty.  Or, they muse how much they have failed God and therefore are suffering the judgment of God upon them.  They can never live in victory because the Devil has them convinced they are continuously and perpetually displeasing God.  They do not know the way of mercy.  They cannot comprehend it.  Some live this way as their comfort zone.  As long as trouble is part of their life, they feel God is, at the very least, active in their lives.  They do not know how to exist outside of self-condemnation and self-loathing.  They live there because that is the only way they have known.  Therefore, when the wicked treat them harshly, all they can see is guilt and shame whether they deserve it or not.  What they cannot comprehend is trouble as persecution.  Persecution rarely exists in their mind.  It all must be the hand of God which is against them.  And His hand will always be against them.

David, who made some really bad choices from time to time, and also suffered at the hands of those who wanted him dead, had to differentiate between the chastening of God and the persecution of the wicked.  If he did not, he would not be able to effectively lead his people.  He would have been under a cloud all the time.  This is the point of the passage above.  The whole psalm speaks of the treatment he receives at the hand of the wicked.  Perhaps he has Saul on his mind.  Or perhaps it was the Philistines, Absalom, or a hose of others who gave him problems.  What David is saying is that despite the judgment of the wicked that fell upon him from time to time, the LORD would not condemn or judge him.  The LORD would not add insult to injury.  The LORD will not condemn David for sin, whether he was guilty or not if what David is experiencing is persecution from those who hated him.  David knew there would be times of adversity that had nothing to do with God’s justice upon him.  He knew the wicked looked for any opportunity to make his life miserable.  They sought his failure and destruction.  This was part and parcel of being king.  The anointed was a target.

It is important to believe God is not after you!  He is not active in your life only when times of disobedience or doubt are the point.  The LORD is our biggest cheerleader!  He wants to see us succeed.  He wants to see us trust Him for everything.  He wants to see us change into Christlikeness.  He is not out to get us!  His mercy is everlasting.  His love is unchanged.  Yes, there are times when the LORD uses the actions of the wicked to correct us.  He did that with Israel.  Just because God does this occasionally, does not mean every time we suffer at the hands of the wicked that God is displeased.  Give yourself a break!  Maybe what the LORD is trying to do is to show you how much He is in your court every time trouble comes, so that you can accept His love and affirmation.   God will not condemn you nor judge you in every moment of adversity.  Praise be to the God who loves us more than we could ever know!

Different At All Costs

“And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the children of Israel, and say unto them, I am the LORD your God. After the doings of the land of Egypt, wherein ye dwelt, shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan, whither I bring you, shall ye not do: neither shall ye walk in their ordinances. Ye shall do my judgments, and keep mine ordinances, to walk therein: I am the LORD your God.” (Le 18:1-4 AV)

This is going to become more important to remember the closer we get to the LORD’s return.  It is already difficult enough to live holy and separated from the unbiblical laws and warped values of our lost world.  Israel had come out of bondage to a sin-sick and pagan nation.  Egypt was known for utter wickedness and godlessness.  From there, Israel went to a land infested with all sorts of twisted morality and horrendous sin.  They went from the frying pan to the fire so to speak.  God commands His people to follow His holy law and not to take the example of those with whom they would dwell.  They were to separate themselves from the customs and practices of the godless and walk in obedience to the law God would give.  How similar to today, huh?  We live in an ever-increasingly wicked world.  There is simply nowhere to go once you step out of your home or church where the filth of the world isn’t thrown in your face.  It is all around us.  This doesn’t excuse our capitulation to it.  We are to stand strong in the perfect law of liberty.  We are to live in the holiness of Christ.  Regardless of what surrounds us, we are to be different.

It is interesting what follows in Leviticus chapter 18 are the laws of marriage and intimacy.  Forbidden is the taking of near kin as a spouse.  Forbidden is homosexual relationships.  Forbidden is interspecies immorality.  Forbidden is immorality with a corpse.  What follows in chapter 18 is morality is intimacy.  And this is exactly where our world is headed.  Not towards godliness, but as far away from it as they can get.  On the one hand, it should not surprise us.  What the world is capable of should not come as a shock.  When a senatorial aide filmed himself and another male aide in the practice of a same-gender immoral act, the world was not shocked at the actual act, but where it took place.  How sad.  The day we are no longer shocked and appalled at the behavior of mankind is the day we have lost our spiritual separation unto what God calls holy.  Sin is so pervasive, we are simply calloused to its presence.  It is not that we approve of it.  We don’t because God does not.  The question is, where are the voices that speak against it?  The fact our children are being groomed to accept what God calls twisted and sick and we do little or say little against it, is an indication the body of Christ is sick as well.

Israel fell because it tolerated and then accepted the customs and wickedness of its God-hating neighbors.  We know there is little we can do about it.  The law is what the people say it is and what they are willing to tolerate.  Without revival, I fear our world is only going to get worse.  A conservative revival is fruitless without a spiritual one.  Good people may reject the insanity, but if they do not turn to Christ and accept Him as both LORD and Savior, what little revival comes will flame out as fast as it came.  Our world needs Jesus Christ very badly!  He is the only answer to what ails us.  He is the only one who can clean up this world and make it livable again.  Until that time, the people of God cannot; must not; capitulate to the sickness that envelops us.  We must fight back.  We must build barriers in our homes that keep it out.  We have to say no to those sources of evil that wish to mar us with their lack of values.  We cannot become like the world.  We cannot accept in our hearts what we see as something God tolerates.  We must resist in our souls the filth that surrounds us.  We must!

Four Words Only God Can Speak

“Draw out also the spear, and stop the way against them that persecute me: say unto my soul, I am thy salvation.” (Ps 35:3 AV)

These are words we need to hear more than we would like to admit.  The sweet psalmist asks the LORD to remind him just where his salvation comes from.  And, not a simple statement of fact is sought.  No.  The Psalmist desires the voice of God to speak deep in his soul this timeless truth.  God is his salvation.  Not a passing verse.  Not a silent affirmation.  Rather, David, amid deep troubles and trials, is seeking the LORD to speak deep within him and assure him that God alone is his salvation.  He knows this in his head.  But he needs to hear it deeper than his heart.  He needs to hear the voice of God affirm his desire and power to save so deeply that his entire person can be at peace.  He is not looking for an explanation.  He is not asking for a complicated dissertation on how God is his salvation.  Four simple words are all he seeks.  And he seeks those words from the mouth of God.

When I sat in the waiting room waiting for the surgeon to appear, there were only four words I wanted to hear.  And she did not have them.  When I sat with my son in the courtyard as my wife was in surgery, we talked quite a bit.  He said a lot.  We affirmed one another.  We encouraged one another.  But the four words I needed to hear were not his to utter.  As we sat in the anteroom waiting for the surgeon to update us on the surgery, the four words I needed the most did not come over the intercom.  When We sat in her room and she was so out of it she wasn’t with us, the four words I needed to hear could not come from the staff.  After each treatment and visit our oncologists and GI doctors explained the technical facts of her diagnosis.  They explained the progression of the disease.  They told us what treatments she would eventually face.  No one said the four words I needed to hear.  We went to a support group where Zebras and caregivers alike shared common experiences, suggestions, and mutual support.  What a tremendous help they were.  But none was qualified to speak the four words I needed to hear.

Only God Himself could speak those words.  Only God Himself could reach as deep as those words needed to go.  “I am thy salvation” are the four words I needed to hear the most.  No human could speak those words truthfully.  No matter how smart or successful they were in life, none of them were qualified.  Even if they could utter those words, they could never go where God can go.  Only He can go to the soul.  That is what I needed and that is what the LORD gave me!  He is our salvation!  There are times when we need to hear those words and feel those words deeper than any human being can place them.  Only that which divides asunder soul and spirit can go there.  That is why I don’t understand why we wander from the only One who can meet our deepest hurts, worries, anxieties, and fears.  He alone can say, “I am thy salvation” and in the process, bring the soul to contentment and peace.  Next time your world is turned upside down, try praying the prayer David did above.  You’ll be amazed at the depth to which God can meet your needs.

Fearfully Content

“O fear the LORD, ye his saints: for there is no want to them that fear him.” (Ps 34:9 AV)

The word want is often used in the word of God to mean need.  The implication here is those who fear God will not suffer need because God will care for them.  He will care for them as they obey His word.  The principles of blessing associated with obedience are universal.  If we follow the book of Proverbs, our needs will be met.  But more so than that, as we saw yesterday, those who trust in the mercy of the LORD shall see it.  This statement of David is an incredible one.  Respect and honor towards God guarantees His watchful eye over our journey of life.  I can testify to this in many ways, but recent events come to mind.

My mechanic was after me because the tires on our car were not the best.  I was having to inflate one of them every three days.  It would not hold air.  We made the appointment and then tried to figure out how we were going to pay for it.  We arrange to do so in a less-than-optimal way.  But that Sunday, the LORD provided the funds through the generosity of the saints.  The generous gift covered almost the entire amount.  What a blessing!  Then, we planned a trip back east.  Lisa has stage four intestinal cancer.  This means she cannot stray too far from a bathroom.  A one-day trip turns into a two-and-a-half-day trip.  We booked tickets on the train but someone generously provided flights.  These were genuine needs we had and the LORD provided them.  We did not expect these things to happen the way they did, but we did pray about them.  God honored those prayers, in part, because we relied on Him and trusted Him to do for us what we needed even if it was what we had already planned.  God is good to those who love Him and seek to honor Him.

We may not always succeed.  In fact, we fail far more than we are comfortable with.  We fall into wickedness.  We fail to trust Him as we should.  Even though the LORD demands perfection, He is gracious to understand we are failable.  He may desire perfect holiness, but He knows as long as we live in this flesh, we will struggle with it.  Despite our nature and resultant choices, He loves us and cares for us far more than we realize.  If we are satisfied with His presence, our wants and needs drastically reduce.  If we are content in the compassionate and wise presence of our Creator, there isn’t much we need.  God sees to this.  All we need to do is trust Him and honor Him.  That’s all.  Just trust and obey.  There is no other way; to be happy in Jesus; than to trust and obey.

According To Our Faith

“Let thy mercy, O LORD, be upon us, according as we hope in thee.” (Ps 33:22 AV)

Those last six words can be concerning.  They can also be encouraging.  If we have little faith, the LORD intervenes in measured ways.  If we have great faith in the mercy of God, He will do marvelous things.  The ministry of our LORD Jesus Christ bears this out.  He could do nothing among His earthly kin.  They simply could not see Him as the Messiah.  They would not recognize His divinity.  On the other hand, it was the Gentiles who showed the greatest faith.  Repeatedly, He would say the words, “thy faith hath made thee whole”.  It was the faith of the one seeking mercy that measured what God was willing to do for them.  We could look at this both ways.  We could look at this as a challenge to grow our faith.  We could see it as a rebuke and the lack of God’s hand as the evidence.  Or, as I wish to do this morning, encourage one another that your faith in God is not wasted.  God sees your faith and is moved by compassion because of it.  The more dependent on God you become, the more He is pleased to bless that dependence.

We undercut who or what we are all too often.  We do not see what God has done for us and instead, only see where we have failed.  We do not give God credit for the work He has done and seem to think we are little to no different than many years ago when Jesus saved us.  Whether we realize it or not, we have grown.  And, we continue to do so. We also assume we grew by leaps and bounds and the older we get in the LORD, the less we tend to spiritually mature. This, again, is a fallacy.  I can say with certainty the LORD is changing me at a consistent pace from the day Jesus became my beloved until now.  Which, by the way, is over forty years of walking with God.  We simply cannot see it.  Think about it.  Look at what the LORD requires of you today and ask yourself if you would even think about attempting that twenty years ago.  Probably not.  We get to the age when we realize that what the LORD requires is not as big of a deal as we thought it would be.  God is able to do above what we ask or think.  Sometimes, it is not a matter of faith, but rather, a matter of zeal.

This is David’s thoughts here.  I don’t think he is looking at these words in the critical vein.  I think he is asking as one who has great faith.  He has run from his father-in-law, faced down giants, went into battle vastly outnumbered, and faced down a lion and a bear.  David does not strike me as one who struggled too much with faith.  So, when he makes the request above, he is doing so as one who fully trusts the LORD.  He did have his times of weakness, though.  He compromised with a pagan king because he was worn out and thought Saul was near to killing him.  David did allow his flesh to get the better of him.  He did fear what Absalom could do.  David had his moments.  But his overall character of living was founded on the faith he had in God.  So, when we read the promise above, let us look at it from the perspective of faith we do have, rather than the faith which we do not have.  We love and serve a great God.  He can do all things.  We trust Him and that trust grows with each and every time He shows Himself strong on our behalf!  Mercy is on the way because you trust Him!

Bird's Eye View

“Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight of any bird.” (Pr 1:17 AV)

 This proverb is written to the wicked.  It is a statement reflecting the futility of fraud.  Or, putting it another way, if crime is your profession, you will have to work really hard at it because most are not fooled.  All one has to look at is the fraudulent emails we get and the vast majority know they are fraud.  Solomon is extolling honest work over labor of deception for profit and sustainability.  What I heard from the Spirit this morning is this proverb from the perspective of the bird.  Most birds are not fooled by traps.  Their eyesight is far too great not to notice something is off.  That is, if they are looking for it.  If we are to avoid falling into sin we have to be looking for the trap.  If we are constantly aware of the dangers around us, then it would be vain for the world, the devil, and the flesh to lay a trap.  It all depends on how we are looking.

I have done enough spring turkey hunting and have seen enough fall geese sets to know this statement above is absolutely true.  To harvest a turkey takes a lot of effort and hard work.  To start with, the hunter has to get up, get dressed and loaded up, locate a bird, and get set up at least an hour before sunrise.  This means, depending on how far you have to go to get to your woods, getting up sometime between two and three in the morning.  Sunrise is around five-thirty, so that gives you about two hours to get dressed, drive to your woods, walk around and locate a bird with an owl call, set up your decoys, and settle in for about an hour before you start calling.  The older the bird, the more it can tell the difference between a real hen and a hunter.  So long before the season starts, the hunter is listening to tapes of real hens and learning how to call.  He practices with all sorts of calls because one call may not work on a certain day or time while another will.  He becomes a master caller on all types of calls.  At the first gobble, the game begins.  Your job is to reverse what comes naturally to the male turkey.  He is used to strutting in an open area and gobbling the hens in.  You have to entice him to break that instinct and come looking for you.  Not an easy task.  The success rate for turkey hunters is rather low.  Even more so than deer.  Why?  Because of the above proverb.  Above all else, that bird wants to live.  That is his highest priority.  His watchful eye is intently scanning the situation for anything that seems off.  An eyeblink from a hunter can spook him.  Trust me.  I have seen it happen.

If we are the potential victim, then it is up to us to intently scan and examine everything around us.  We are either a sucker or a survivor.  One or the other.  If we are looking for traps, we will find them.  If we know the enemy wants nothing more than to put a shot across the bow or take us out entirely, then we will be looking for it.  Too many of us go through life without a care in the world.  We wait until the enemy strikes and then try to overcome the circumstances.  It would be much wiser not to suffer the consequences to begin with.  This is what a bird does.  It assumes life is full of hazards and looks for them.  We must do the same.  Jesus said, “Watch ye therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man.” (Lu 21:36 AV)  Sound advice!