Simply Secure

“The LORD preserveth the simple: I was brought low, and he helped me.” (Ps 116:6 AV)

The idea of being simple has both a negative and a positive implication in the Word of God.  It means naive.  It means simple concerning what one knows and the disposition he may have towards things.  Perhaps he is positive about everything.  Perhaps he is low in knowledge because he doesn’t have the ability or experience to have the knowledge that he should. Then there is the simple that is criticized.  In the book of Proverbs, the simple are those who could know more, but are willfully ignorant.  They pass on life making decision after decision that is harmful, claiming inexperience or lack of knowledge as the culprit.  It is the former of which is in use here.

 As a parent, we allow our children to over commit to something but then keep a watchful eye when it gets too much. We are there to bail them out when they realize they had neither the ability or knowledge to be successful.  When I was a boy, I had a paper delivery route.  No matter the season, a bicycle was more than not, the mode of delivery.  However, New York winters being what they were, there were times when a bicycle was not possible.  There was a time or two that I started off on a bicycle and had to walk it around my route by the end of the evening.  Once such day, when a storm unexpectedly came up, I saw the familiar form of our family station wagon coming up the road.  Stopping at the side of the road, we loaded the bicycle and finished the route.  Foolishly convinced I could do it with the bike, my Mom knew better and came to the rescue.

This is the meaning of this verse.  God often will not help the presumptuous.  That was Jesus’ defense when Satan tempted him to jump from the pinnacle.  Thou shalt not tempt the LORD thy God!  But there are times when we simply do not have the knowledge or experience we need and are heading head long into a major disaster.  Then, the gracious hand of God places a road block to change our direction!  Praise be to God!

Thank God for the Light!

“Unto the upright there ariseth light in the darkness: [he is] gracious, and full of compassion, and righteous.” (Ps 112:4 AV)

Let’s admit it.  We live in a dark world.  We are surrounded by the evil of men and our own faults and failures.  Those who think the world is one happy place do not have their heads in reality.  All one has to do is sit in a pastor’s office for about a month and see what issues the people of God are challenged with to see we live in a dark world.  Hope is not ignoring the darkness.  Joy is not trying to convince oneself the darkness isn’t really there.  Peace does not come by trying to redefine what darkness is so it doesn’t see so dark.  Our hope comes with the light that shines in the darkness!

Growing up, our family used to do a lot of camping.  Tent camping.  We had the privilege of learning the skills necessary to live without the creature comforts of home.  Almost every night, there would be a campfire.  Sometimes, we would sit around the fire with our guitars and play folk music.  John Denver and the such.  When nature called, we had a log cabin style outhouse (that never really got completed) about fifty yards away and through some pine trees.  Off we would go.  More times than not, we would forget our flashlight.  It didn’t dawn on us until it was too late that we were stuck in the darkness with no light to get back.  The only light we had was the light of the campfire.  Sometimes, that light was burning out.  We took it for granted the flames would continue to be as bright as they always were.  However, it doesn’t take long for a flame filled fire to burn down to embers.  There we were, stuck in a vulnerable position, with little light to guide us back.  We prayed someone would throw more wood on that fire that it might light the entire woods.  Surrounded by man eating wild beasts (like squirrel or possum) and the ghosts of injuns’ past, we were certain death was eminent.  Somehow that placed the bowels in overdrive and our time in peril was shortened.  “Put some wood on that fire so I don’t die out here in the wilderness!”  On went more wood and we returned, barely with our skin intact!

This is the hope we have.  The Bible as our lamp and guide and the Holy Spirit as or comfort and teacher!  It doesn’t erase the darkness, but it guides us out of the darkness.  And, the closer we get to the light, the less the darkness impacts our lives!

Peace May Be Only A Few Thoughts Away

“I will sing unto the LORD as long as I live: I will sing praise to my God while I have my being. My meditation of him shall be sweet: I will be glad in the LORD.” (Ps 104:33-34 AV)

Life has its up and downs.  No one can go through life every day with a glad heart.  There are trials which take some of the joy away.  There are consequences of our own actions that often turns our smile into a stoic face.  There are times when tears flow.  There are times when a sob is the appropriate reaction to an event of moving of the Spirit.  There is the loss of a loved one, particularly one who did not know the LORD, that brings a dark cloud that is not soon to dissipate.  There are changes in the human body that can bring on depression or anxiety.  All these are real and part of our human experience.

However, the LORD has given us what we need to endure and overcome those times.  The meditation of and on the LORD, is the cure for the dark days of life.  How soon we forget this.  It is easy to forget.  We certainly understand one another as we go through these times.  There is often love and grace that abounds from those who love the LORD.  That is part of the healing process.  The most important part is meditation on the LORD.

We are not speaking of mere prayer alone.  Often, we pray and when we are done, our mind goes off on that which is consuming us.  This meditation in the practice of think on and of the LORD in the stead of that which is torturing us. When those dark days come, and the will, remembering to praise the LORD in the midst and meditating upon Him might just make those days a little bright and definitely a little shorter.  At the quiet times of the day, particularly in the morning and the evening, we need to make it a practice to meditate upon the LORD!  In the lonely times of the day, we need to meditate upon the LORD.  When the Devil shows up to convince us that even with God’s grace we will never amount to anything, it is time to meditate on the LORD.  When it seems as though we are the only ones going through the mill, it is time to meditate upon the LORD!

Sanity Shall Return

“For the LORD will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance. But judgment shall return unto righteousness: and all the upright in heart shall follow it.” (Ps 94:14-15 AV)

We are now reading several Psalms with the Exodus and wilderness wandering as its main theme.  In context, this is a promise to a new generation that even though God is asking them to wander as the old nation dies off, He has not forsaken this nation.  Israel is a picture of the life experience of the New Testament saint.  The Exodus pictures salvation.  An exodus from the world of sin unto service for God.  However, there are parts of us that must die off.  The old man must be crucified afresh.  He must be brought to the Cross and left there.  This is a life time struggle.  Sometimes we feel as though we fail more than we succeed.  No matter how we feel, we must be assured the LORD has not cast us off forever.

What struck me this morning as particularly precious was the remedy!  Judgment (or wisdom) shall return so that the people would follow after righteousness.  Every child of God, no matter what stage of growth he or she is in, desires righteousness.  The new man, which is created in righteousness, yearns for the purity of holiness.  The Spirit which dwells within reinforces that desire.  This is the purpose for Romans chapter seven.  How to accomplish this, we know not.  Yet, in the context, we see a glimmer.  We see that judgement returned.  The old man had enough sense to get out of the sin of Egypt.  That showed wisdom.  But he didn’t have enough wisdom to trust the LORD when asked to take the land of Canaan.  As the old man died off in the wilderness, the new man experienced hardship because of it.  God was with them and provided for their needs.  The new man learned that God is good and trustworthy on contrast to what the old man felt.  Judgment returned because the new man was renewed in the knowledge of God’s faithfulness!

So, here is the good news for the world-weary.  God has not given up on us!  He has not given up on you.  AND HE NEVER WILL!  Eventually, spiritual sanity will return and you will be crossing the Jordan.  Until then, learn the lessons well!  They are meant for your benefit!

Faithfulness Is The Key To Fruitfulness

“Those that be planted in the house of the LORD shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; they shall be fat and flourishing; To shew that the LORD [is] upright: [he is] my rock, and [there is] no unrighteousness in him.” (Ps 92:13-15 AV)

Faithfulness, and not physical ability or energy, is the source of fruitfulness!  Call it my mid-life crisis.  Call it whatever you wish.  But I am deeply concerned with what can be accomplished for the glory of God with the time I have remaining!  Most are condemned for such a concern.  However, me thinks it is a good concern to have.

Of note is what the Psalmist points to at the answer to his concern.  It is faithfulness to a worship life.  Note also the distinction drawn between the courts of the LORD and the house of the LORD.  There is a difference.  Faithfulness to the inner most presence and worship of God is what produces faithfulness on the outside.  And, lest some misguided or ignorant saint may misunderstand the meaning of worship, this worship here is public worship founded up the sacrifice and service of God’s people!

Faithfulness to the house of God is so important.  Far more important than today’s professing Christian desires to give it.  I am claiming this verse as a promise!  The Bible clearly says that if I am faithful to the house of God, then He will bless that faithfulness with fruit – EVEN IN MY OLD AGE!  Blessed be the LORD for all the benefits He has bestowed upon me!

Boldly Humble

“Bow down thine ear, O LORD, hear me: for I [am] poor and needy. Preserve my soul; for I [am] holy: O thou my God, save thy servant that trusteth in thee. Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily. Rejoice the soul of thy servant: for unto thee, O Lord, do I lift up my soul. For thou, Lord, [art] good, and ready to forgive; and plenteous in mercy unto all them that call upon thee.” (Ps 86:1-5 AV)

Perhaps the one of the reasons David was a man after God’s own heart was his belief in the power of prayer.  I know that I have referenced this before, but the book of Hebrews tells us to go to the throne of God with boldness.  If we look at David’s statement that he is holy, we agree that is pretty bold.  David made some serious mistakes in his life.  Yet, he was able to say that he is holy.  David was not perfect.  He was a sinner just like the rest of us.  Yet, he was able to say that he was holy.  How?  In fact, in verse five, David’s prayer includes a request for forgiveness.  How can one be holy and at the same time, ask for forgiveness?

Herein lies the secret to the boldness commanded in Hebrews 4:16!  “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need.” This boldness is not arrogance.  This boldness is not confidence in self.  This boldness to refer to oneself as holy comes at the grace of God.  In the Old Testament, it was based upon the promises of the law.  That if the Jewish worshiper would offer sacrifice with a humble and contrite heart, asking forgiveness for his sin, then God would consider him holy.  This is not works!  The sin was temporarily imputed to an animal.  A third party. God had to accept that offering as valid, but still grant forgiveness by His grace.  Since Calvary, Jesus is that perfect sacrifice.  Our sin has been imputed to Him.  Thus, God the Father sees us as holy!  Not because of what we have done, but because what Jesus has done!

I am convinced that prayer is the untapped source of power in our churches, pews, and personal lives.  If we were to just realize how much could change if we approached the throne of God with confidence in the blood of Christ and plead for that which God desperately wants to do for us, things might just radically change!  We are nothing. We are worthless.  But it is Jesus Christ who paid that debt and because of His righteousness imputed to us, we now have worth to a holy God!  Let us find that balance between boldness by the imputed righteousness of Christ and our own humility and worthlessness!

Victory is closer than we think

“Oh that my people had hearkened unto me, [and] Israel had walked in my ways! I should soon have subdued their enemies, and turned my hand against their adversaries.” (Ps 81:13-14 AV)

If we only understood how near our victory lies!  There was a time in Israel’s young history in which they had the opportunity to conquer all their enemies.  It would have reshaped the entire history of mankind.  It dates way back to the time when they had the opportunity to enter the promised land the first time!  They had just left Egypt.  Egypt, their greatest of all enemies, lay in ruins.  God had brought this formidable enemy to its knees by ten devastating plagues and an unsuccessful swimming lesson in the Red sea.  The LORD directed Moses to the southern entrance of the land of Canaan where the LORD has commanded them to enter and take the land.  After ten of twelve spies returned with a report the venture would mean suicide, they balked at God’s word and wandered in the wilderness while an entire generation who had seen the greatest display of God’s hand in the nation’s history died off.  This one failure of faith and obedience would start a trajectory of disobedience and rejection.

If we only knew how close our salvation truly is.  The psalmist teaches us that God would soon subdue our enemies.  Not when He gets around to it.  But soon. The condition is faith and obedience.  What struct me this morning was the word ‘soon’.  All the LORD is asking for is a little faith.  Discipline can only come by the empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.  Discipline to overcome our enemies is something we do not have within ourselves to accomplish.  The LORD enables us to do this. The devil, world, and flesh are all more powerful than whatever will power we can muster.  It takes a supernatural force to overcome it.  There is one thing we can control.  It is completely within our power to control it. That is, surrender and faith.  Yielding to the will of the Father and the power of the Spirit is the one thing we can do.  If we do that, then the Father promises His intervention is not far, but soon!