Rain For The Soul

“Thou, O God, didst send a plentiful rain, whereby thou didst confirm thine inheritance, when it was weary.” (Ps 68:9 AV)

Some view rain as an inconvenience.  Those who wish for outdoor activities see rain as a spoiler.  Those who are attempting to plant crops find it difficult to do so during the rainy season.  Still others who are building homes or buildings see rain as a day off.  Rain is necessary for life.  Unfortunately, man can be short-sighted, seeing rain as a temporary inconvenience to an otherwise great day.  Rain is needed in order for life to flourish.  Rain brings sustenance to plant and animal life that, in turn, sustains mankind.  Rain is indispensable.  There isn’t much life in a desert.

Rain can often be a blessing of great relief.  As a child, running around in a rainstorm in the heart of summer is a fond memory.  Standing at the food of the Cave of the Winds, Niagara Falls, NY without a poncho in the heat of the summer is another.  Sitting in a tree stand completely protected from the elements while it rained on me and all around me is still another fond memory.  I like rain.  Rain is one of my favorite weather conditions.  I don’t mind it at all.  Direct sunlight, however, is another matter altogether.  If I had to take a pick, seventy-five degrees with a steady rain, sitting on a porch swing sipping coffee is my haven of rest.  There is nothing like sitting on a cabin porch with the sound of raindrops and birds chirping that puts my heart and soul to rest.  Give me a steady rain on a warm day, any day over eighty-plus degrees and sunshine.  I would rather try to stay dry than cool.  Rain washes away all the filth that has accumulated during those ‘nicer’ days.  Rain cools the air.  Rain adds humidity to the lungs and makes it much easier to breathe.  Rain is wonderful.  It refreshes the heart of man and the parched earth of our world.

It is all a matter of perspective.  Those who understand the absolute necessity of rain welcome what little they get.  Those who cannot appreciate the life-giving force of rain wish it would go away.  God sends blessings, but we have a hard time seeing them as such. Sometimes we see the blessings of God as an inconvenience.  We don’t always see them as the LORD intends them.  Our Psalmist makes a significant observation.  For the soul that is weary, the LORD will send rain.  He will pour out the blessing of life-giving force that strengthen us to life another day.  I like what the LORD says a bit later in this same psalm.  HE commands strength!  We are never told to be weak.  We are never told to give up.  We are never commanded to surrender.  We are commanded to be strong.  Accepting the rain is a good part of that.

Maturity and Adversity

“For thou, O God, hast proved us: thou hast tried us, as silver is tried. Thou broughtest us into the net; thou laidst affliction upon our loins. Thou hast caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water: but thou broughtest us out into a wealthy [place].” (Ps 66:10-12 AV)

Not pleasant thoughts, huh?  David plainly states the nature of our maturing process.  TO fail to see the hand of God as the hand of mentoring is to rob oneself of necessary, but precious, experiences.  David compares the maturing process as refining metal.  That requires heat and pressure.  He mentions the mentoring process is like being snared in a net.  One’s liberty is taken and the ability to control circumstances very limited.  Affliction upon the loins is physical illness.  Men riding over the head are adversaries who seem to overwhelm David.  It is like being trampled.  Fire and water are the last two comparisons.  Maturation is like enduring great heat, or the sensation of suffocation by water.  Reading all that is listed above, who would want to go through all that?  For the sake of maturing into Christlikeness, and as David puts it, arriving at a wealthy place, one must go through some difficult and often troublesome circumstances before that can take place.

My assistant pastor and I were talking about camping.  He found a tent in a house he recently bought.  This tent was old.  Perhaps WWII old.  That got us talking about camping and I shared one of my most memorable nights out in the woods.  I have had a few of them, but for some reason, this one has always stood out.  My father had several tents.  He had pup tents, a few nylon tents, and then he has three of four cook tents.  The way to describe a cook tent is a three panel tent in the shape of a square.  The open side had a flap that was supposed to act as an extension of the roof.  So, this tent was open on the front.  My mom used to set up two tents facing each other and joined the flaps, making one large cooking area.  Anyway, my Dad took us camping on Thanksgiving weekend.  We went to his tree farm to get a Christmas tree and decided we would spend the weekend camping.  My brother Christ and I decided we were going to try sleeping in the cook tent.  The trouble was, it had one open flap.  Our thinking was, we could stand up in a cook tent and dress.  Impossible to do in a pup or nylon tent.  We tied down the flap, insulated the ground and any opening by which wind could come through.  Then retired to bed.  In the middle of the night, it snowed about three inches.  One would think that sleeping in a canvas tent with an open side would freeze us to death.  I have to admit; the thought went through my mind.  Yet the snow acted as an insulator.  We actually had the warmest tent of everyone there.  It sounds funny, but we were so warm in that tent that we didn’t want to come out.  On the face of it, one would think my father was crazy for taking us tent camping in a snowstorm.  However, it was that experience that thought me things that may look bad may not turn out that way.

There are things that can only be learned by experience.  We can study the word of God all day long.  We can get a head knowledge of the doctrines contained therein.  We can parse verbs, write outlines, and discuss ad nauseam of the nature of our God.  But until we live what we know to be true, we possess an incomplete knowledge.  God will glorify us into Christlikeness.  He will transform us into perfect sinlessness.  This is a promise He has made to all His children.  Yet, there are things that are needed for our maturity that simple transformation cannot accomplish.  We can speak of faith, but until we are tried, faith is a mere concept.  We can speak of discipline or self-sacrifice, but until we are required to crucify the flesh by our own volition, we cannot understand the true nature of the mind of Christ.  Whether we like it or not, there are things that can only be learned by living them.  This isn’t easy.  In fact, the LORD may push us to our limits.  It may be difficult, but it is needed.

Think Before You Pray

“And Joshua said, Alas, O Lord GOD, wherefore hast thou at all brought this people over Jordan, to deliver us into the hand of the Amorites, to destroy us? would to God we had been content, and dwelt on the other side Jordan! O Lord, what shall I say, when Israel turneth their backs before their enemies! For the Canaanites and all the inhabitants of the land shall hear [of it], and shall environ us round, and cut off our name from the earth: and what wilt thou do unto thy great name?” (Jos 7:7-9 AV)

There is so much going on here that I fail to mention it all.  This is one of those times when God tells someone to stop praying.  Joshua had it all wrong.  He assumed God failed to support them and never considered there might be a sin in the camp.  Achan took of the accursed thing from Jericho.  As long as Achan had spoils from Jericho in his tent, the LORD would not be with Israel.  Joshua did not know this.  I find it interesting the argument made by Joshua sounds an awful lot like what his parents said in the wilderness.  Instead of Egypt, Joshua inserts the wilderness.  But the suggestion is still the same.  In Joshua’s early years of leadership, he makes some mistakes.  He shows his immaturity.  There isn’t any single point Joshua is making that struck me this morning.  Rather, the whole tenor of the prayer is what instructs me.  The emotional nature of this prayer that lacks understanding of the facts is what I find applicable.  Joshua works out his feelings.  But his feelings are founded on insufficient facts.  He didn’t know about Achan.  He didn’t know God had withheld His favor because of disobedience.  He simply dumped it all at the feet of God.  Why it was happening did not matter to him.  He was worried about the future, thinking nothing would change.

We all do this.  We process our emotions but fail to seek wisdom.  How we feel is more important that what is.  Perhaps this is the cause for the LORD telling Joshua to get up and stop praying.  His words, although genuine to him, were not helpful.  They may have helped him to feel better, but it didn’t answer why the failed battlefield had occurred or how to fix it.  God never told Joshua the covenants were null and void.  There were unconditional promises made to Abraham, Isaac, and Moses.  Israel was to go in and possess the land.  In his distress, Joshua forgot the one constant in all of this.  God’s faithfulness.  Just because they lost a battle did not mean God had forsaken them.  Joshua was despondent because he let circumstances dictate his response.  He allowed his experience with Israel and God’s response to lead him down a possibility that simply was not on the horizon.  Joshua had to process his feelings.  We all do.  But he should have stopped first to ask for wisdom.

Before we open our heart to the LORD, perhaps asking for understanding might be the prudent thing to do.  How many of us have processed our feelings only to discover those feelings were based on limited information or incorrect assumptions?  We go down a road that has a dead end or cliff at the end.  We go down a dark tunnel when, in reality, it is a mere road block that can be overcome.  We start our prayer with worry and anxiety rather than start it with a humble request for understanding and wisdom.  Joshua did the same here.  Knowing why something is the way it is and what might be changed just might be better medicine than dumping it all and picking up the pieces afterward.  Joshua was a great man.  Very few could have led Israel the way he did.  Yet Joshua was still human.  He made some rookie mistakes early on.  This was one of them.  He learned, however.  He never did this again.  He learned to go to the LORD, seeking wisdom and understanding, before he processed his emotions.  May we do the same?

Love I better Than Life

“Because thy lovingkindness [is] better than life, my lips shall praise thee.” (Ps 63:3 AV)

We do so much to stay alive.  That is only natural.  I have been to the doctors more in the last six months that I ever did in my twenties.  I imagine this is only going to become more common.  We live in an amazing place.  Health care in our city is better than most.  If you need a specialist no matter how rare the ailment might be, there are several to choose from.  In my wife’s case, the protocol for her cancer was invented by her primary oncologist.  She has one of the top doctors in the world when it comes to her rare cancer.  Where we go for our health care needs has whole building dedicated to specialties.  If you have a problem, there is a wing or building for that issue.  Just last week, I went to visit one of our members after she delivered a child.  The Children’s Hospital is huge.  I almost got lost.  Most hospitals around the country are not as large as our Children’s hospital here.  The health care industry is determined to help you live as long as you possibly can.  Perhaps to a fault.  Life, regardless of quality or purpose, seems to be the primary goal.  When it is, life is the lens by which we determine all our choices.  Yet, David says there is something far more important that life itself.

The older one gets and the more he or she walks intimately with God in obedience and faith, the more real the above verse becomes.  As you age, your health begins to fail.  You have to come to terms with life coming to an end.  It forces you to reevaluate priorities.  Some make travel a priority.  Others seek out retirement and relaxation.  Still others take up hobbies or activities one surrendered in earlier years.  Family and relationships become an increasing priority.  All these priorities shed light on what we value.  But I like what David’s song writer says in Psalm seventy-three.  “Whom have I in heaven [but thee]? and [there is] none upon earth [that] I desire beside thee.” (Ps 73:25 AV) This psalm was written about David by his song writer at the very end of David’s life.  It was obvious to his good friend that David had grown so close to the LORD he wanted nothing more than the presence of the God who loved him.  When life begins to fade, all those priorities just listed become secondary to God’s love for the soul.

It is too bad it takes a lifetime to learn this.  We are so busy with the things of life that we fail to make God’s love in the highest esteem.  The verse above is one that no one would argue with.  We would all agree to the truth of it.  Yet, that is not how we live.  If our life is threatened by adversary or circumstance, breathing is the highest goal.  We are concerned with what will happen.  That is only natural.  It may be natural, but it is not spiritual.  Perhaps when the uncertainty of life becomes a momentary concern, we can remember that God loves us infinitely greater than the impulse to breathe.  David is telling us that if he had to make a choice, the love of God would trump a heartbeat any time.  No wonder it is said of David that he was a man after God’s own heart.  He was a man deeply loved by God and loved Him in return.  So, next time our life seems to be jeopardized, let us remember that God loves us more than we can ever know and is far more precious than the breath of our lungs!

Trust The Echo

“God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power [belongeth] unto God.” (Ps 62:11 AV)

When the LORD has to say something more than once, we had better listen and believe!  It seems in this psalm, David is sharing an experience of great adversity.  There seems to be a good number of men of low degree (low social stature) who are conspiring to ruin David by slander.  At leas on the face of it, they seem to be having some degree of success.  Whatever the specifics, this is far greater than normal.  A king is a target, no matter how well he may be ruling.  Criticism is to be expected.  It comes with the territory.  Yet, what David is describing is magnified beyond what would be considered normal.  We don’t know exactly to what David is referring.  There is no biblical reference to a single event.  David is not one to whine, either.  He is a valiant warrior.  He faced adversity most could not understand.  So, for David to complain to the degree he wrote Psalm 62, the reader has to assume that it is bad.

What David does mention, on more than one occasion, is how the LORD is the only source of his strength.  No less than ten times David makes mention that God is his salvation, refuge, or strength.  It is easier to count the verses which do not contain this truth than those that do.  David is repeating the truth that God is more than capable of meeting his need while in times of deep destress.  This is why David shares that the LORD has spoken more than once.  God spoke it once, then David took up the refrain and oft repeated it.  The constant reminder from his own pen was sufficient to meet the needs of his weakness.  Praise the LORD He is often an echo chamber or repeated truth that brings strength to the heart.

However, this begs a question.  How often do we need to hear a truth before we are willing to accept it and live it?  How often does the LORD need to affirm us before we are willing to put it all in His hands?  I like what David says in the first two verses.  He never claims that he will remain unmovable.  At the end of verse two, David says he will not be greatly moved.  He doesn’t say he won’t be moved.  He won’t be greatly moved.  This is a great comfort to me.  There are times when the adversity of life moves me.  I am human.  I have fear.  I have anxieties.  I think too much.  However, if God is my strength, those things will not overcome me.  I will not be greatly moved.  Why?  Because God has repeated more times than I care to count that He is the great and almighty God who controls all things.  He will not ask me to go through anything that I cannot handle.  As long as the LORD is there, then I am more than a conqueror.  Does that mean life will be stress free?  Absolutely not.  What it does mean, as David is trying to say, when adversity seems too great to overcome, reminding one’s Self that God is the Rock that is higher, the tower to which we flee, the wings by which we are covered, and the strength of our souls, is the means by which we weather these great storms.  So, the most important question in all of this must be asked.  How often does God have to remind us that He is able?  How often does God have to state that He is our strength and salvation?  How often does He have to remind us of something we already know before we can completely trust in Him?

Stunned By God's Anger

“Even all nations shall say, Wherefore hath the LORD done thus unto this land? what [meaneth] the heat of this great anger?” (De 29:24 AV)

Israel is given two chapters of blessing and cursing.  If they obey the LORD and love Him with all their heart, then the LORD will bless them. If they fail to follow the law and reject the LORD, then there are cursings that follow.  I find it interesting the list of cursings is three times and long as the blessings only to show we are more prone to failure than we are to obedience.  One of the cursings is the destruction of Jerusalem and the people carried away into captivity.  This happened first to the ten northern tribes, then to Judah and Benjamin.  They went after the false gods of the nations around them and God judged them.  The words above are words of the pagan nations around them.  They are confused.  They do not seem to comprehend the wickedness of false worship.  To them, it may have seemed wrong, but not to the degree that God punished them.  They cannot comprehend how God can become so angry with His people that He would dispossess them and destroy their country.  To the heathen, God’s anger is always extreme.  They cannot compute that a God who claims to love also will become so angry that He destroys.

The lack of ability to acknowledge and see God’s anger is not something that should lack in the hearts and minds of God’s children.  God has a plethora of emotions.  All of them are right, infinite, and holy.  God is indeed love.  But God is also justice.  God is mercy.  But God is also anger.  God is compassionate.  But God is also indignant.  He owns and exercises His attributes infinitely and in balance.  To refuse to see God’s anger in not a trait the child of God should desire.  Yes, God is love.  But He is also a chastening God.  What struck me is the willful ignorance of those who would ask such a question.  They are so far removed from who and what God is, their expectations of what God should be is totally unrealistic.  But this also reminds me of saints who refuse to entertain the possibility that their ’bad luck’ might be the hand of God that has come out against their disobedience.  The ‘why me’ Christian thinks that life should be nothing but good times and if it is not, then God is unfair.  Believers like this sit stunned at the least bit of adversity because someone has misguided them or failed to teach them the proper way of looking at our relationship with the God who created us.

Remember the first time you had to spank your child?  They sat stunned!  What was that for?  Why did Dad just do that to me?  Why is he angry?  So what if I threw my bowl of cereal on the carpet because I was made?  Surely it doesn’t warrant a spanking.  If our toddler reaches from something he is not supposed to touch, and we swat his hand, he looks at us in deep shock.  He is amazed that his parent would do such a thing.  This is before tears.  This is before the fit.  This surprise comes because the child cannot comprehend their disobedience earned a swat equal to the infraction.  They simply do not see what they did wrong on the same level as the swat they just received.  This is immaturity.  This is lack of humility.  This is entitlement.  This is a child who believes his or her parents exist for the sole purpose of making them happy.  It is a shame that we as God’s children are shocked at what the LORD does or allows for our benefit and maturity.  We sit shocked that God would allow such things.  To be stunned at the hand of God because one has determined God’s actions to be unequal with our behavior is a trait of the lost.  If we know our Bibles as well as we claim, we would understand God’s grace in that we never do receive the full extent of what our sin deserves.  Praise the LORD.

Joy Is A Choice

“And thou shalt offer peace offerings, and shalt eat there, and rejoice before the LORD thy God.” (De 27:7 AV)

Put yourself in their shoes.  They were fixing to cross Jordan.  They buried their parents and grandparents in graves they would never visit again.  They literally survived forty years of wandering in the wilderness by the skin of their teeth.  There was no permanent settlement.  They lived the life of nomads.  They almost lost everything several times over.  Now, they cross the Jordon River and are immediately paced with two major battles.  Looking at their future, it will be filled with war, toil, and death.  This instruction is to the generation that would cross Jordon.  One of the first things they were commanded to do is to rejoice.  That is particularly difficult when one realizes what the immediate future might hold.  I can see how the allurement of the wilderness would be hard to leave.  One may have to wander and never have a home, but at least they were at peace.  Yet, there is it.  The command to rejoice.  This sounds kind of odd.  We normally think of joy as a spontaneous emotional response to exterior circumstances.  Yet, the LORD commands the people to rejoice regardless of exterior circumstances.  Therefore, we are to conclude that joy is something we can choose to feel.

We’ve all gone through that miserable teenage stage where misery seems to be our most faithful companion.  If anyone can rain on a parade, it would be a hormonal teenager.  There was this TV commercial featuring a family with an adolescent son and a teenage daughter.  This commercial featured different activities the family did while on vacation.  In each activity, the daughter could be found with a scowl on her face.  Her mission was to make everyone else as miserable as she was.  The tag line at the end was this vacation spot was so effective; it could relax the worst spirit out there.  Then the camera showed the teenager with a smile on her face and a chuckle under her breath.  While watching this, my wife and I remarked this young lady didn’t need a vacation.  She needed an attitude adjustment.  Have you ever been sent to your room because of a sour disposition?  I have.  How is that fair?  I may have had a bad day at school, got bullied, then found out the girl I liked thought I was no better than a pile of garbage.  How are my parents supposed to know all that?  It didn’t matter.  If I had a miserable attitude, regardless of circumstances, I had to answer for it.  The only way that could be fair is if our disposition was more of a choice than a response.  As far as my parents were concerned, attitude was a choice for which we were accountable.

Joy, as well, is a choice.  It all depends on what we wish to dwell.  Israel could have obsessed about the loss of family.  They could have preoccupied themselves with potential battles in the future.  They could have worried themselves over the struggles that a new nation would face.  Unpredictable weather might be a concern.  How are they to survive until the land could be settled?  Where would their food come from?  How many families would be left fatherless because they were conquering the enemies of God?  What of the two-and-a-half tribes on the other side of Jordon?  No doubt, the fathers and husbands worried day and night for them.  No excuses.  When they entered the land of Promise, even though great hardships still await, they were to rejoice.  They were to find things to be grateful for.  They were to rest their troubled hearts and spirits in the benevolent hand of God.  They were to rejoice that God choose them and that given a bit of tragedy, joy comes in the morning.  The command to rejoice is just that.  A command.  We can choose to be miserable, anxious, or frustrated.  Or we can choose to rejoice.  The ball is in our court.