No Hide-and-seek

“And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee.” (Ps 9:10 AV)

There was a game we used to play with one of our dogs.  My son, Zack, was really good at it.  This same game he played with his little children.  We have all played this game from time to time.  Hide-and-seek followed by a chase.  With a dog or a child, there is no need to use the neighborhood.  All one needs is a single floor of a house with plenty of doors and furniture.  The dog or child loves to be chased.  He or she will come to find you and then run off as you chase them.  As the distance grows greater, the chaser hides and the game starts all over again.  Either the dog or child can be entertained for hours.  Usually, Zack would tire and the game would end.  The point was, no matter how well he hid, the seeker sought until he was found.  The chase was on.  Giggles or wagging tails were abundant.  There was no greater joy this little one received than finding his or her daddy behind a door, under a table, or behind the couch.

Sometimes, we feel no matter where we look, God cannot be found.  To find Him requires two things.  A clean heart and faith.  He will not be found of one whose heart is not right with Him.  If we seek forgiveness, then He will be found.  Psalm chapter five, in verses four and five, teach us that God cannot dwell with iniquity.  As long as we harbor sin in our hearts, He is far from us.  The other condition of being found is in our passage.  Those that seek Him, trusting in His name, are the ones who find Him.  Faith is so important.  One might say that faith is the most important of all.  It is with faith that we please Him.  Without it, we cannot please Him (Heb 11:6).  The promise to never forsake us is a sure one.  God is always there.  As long as we walk humbly with Him and seek Him with eyes of faith, He is always there.  This is the promise of Ps 9:10.

When Zack would play hide-and-seek with a chase, sometimes there was only one way to end it.  That dog or child never gave up.  It didn’t matter where he hid, they would look and look.  Especially the dog.  He could pick up Zack’s scent and knew he was somewhere in the house.  He would look all over until Zack was found.  The only way to end the game was for Zack to run out into the garage.  The dog or child would look and look.  That is until they came to the conclusion he could not be found.  They lost faith in ever finding him.  Sometimes, Zack had to disappear for quite some time.  Sometimes, up to half a day.  The dog or child lost faith that he could be found.  It did not dawn on them that Zack couldn’t simply disappear.  There had to be a logical explanation as to his whereabouts.  But, alas, how soon they gave up.  Perhaps one of the reasons God feels so far away is we lack the faith to see Him.  We give up way too easily.  We do not spend time in prayer and Bible reading sufficient to meet with God who has not forsaken us.  Perhaps our eyes are on our circumstances rather than on the face of the One who is greater than our circumstances.  Whatever the cause, God has not hidden Himself.  He is only a prayer away.

He Does Deliver

“Return, O LORD, deliver my soul: oh save me for thy mercies’ sake.” (Ps 6:4 AV)

 

The context is that which gives the above verse its depth of meaning.  The entire psalm regards David’s struggle over sin.  Some of it is brought on by the influence of others.  However, not all.  He weeps over his sin.  He asks the LORD not to be angry with him.  Verses two and three are David’s confession at the severity of the consequences of his sin.  At least as it pertains to the inner man.  His bones and soul are vexed.  He hates what he is and wants more than anything to be rid of himself.  So, the deliverance he seeks in verse four is the deliverance every child of God should seek.  That deliverance is deliverance from the old man of sin.  The encouraging truth in this psalm is because David weeps over, and chastens his soul, God hears him!  What a grand thought!

My thoughts go back to Chris, again.   He was an alcoholic who trusted Christ as his Savior.  He lived in his uncle’s house as kind of a caretaker.  But his mother and uncle repeatedly gave him money.  He didn’t work for a living and he took that money to buy alcohol for his habit.  He would rather drink than eat.  I worked with him for about two to three years.  Constantly at his house, we did bible studies together.  We cleaned out his house of all the booze more than once.  However, he could never gain a complete victory over this monster.  Cancer of the liver finally took him.  He died a horrible death because his sin was stronger than he.  What did he miss?  I believe he didn’t realize just how vexed he was which didn’t allow him to weep over his sin.  If he would have taken time away from the easy access to booze that was in his neighborhood and dry out for a time, perhaps he could have seen how horrible his life truly was.  He was held captive to something he could not control because he never came to the end of himself.  There is some good news though.

David’s prayer of brokenness was effective.  He was never perfect.  We know this because of several serious mistakes in his life.  Bathsheba would come a year later.  However, in this psalm, David testifies God did hear him and God did deliver him.  What a hope this is.  The child of God who strives to walk with God knows just how much sin plays a part in his failure.  He is tormented with his own guilt.  The Holy Spirit convicts him of his sin.  He deals with the consequences of that sin and struggles to get his head above water.  He cries out for forgiveness.  Often, he must confront his own lack of sincerity, for he knows as soon as his prayer of contrite confession is over, the old man will rear up again.  He is on a merry-go-round of sin and confession and he just wants to get off that ride.  Well, this psalm is a psalm of good news.  God does and will deliver.  When we weep over our sin and express a sincere and deep desire to overcome it, God will deliver.  Perhaps the reason we have not been delivered as yet is that we lack sincerity.  Maybe God is waiting until we are sick enough of our sin that when He does deliver, we stay that way!  God will answer.  The bible promises.  So, let us weep over our sin that we might be rid of it!

Take A Deep Breath

“Hear me when I call, O God of my righteousness: thou hast enlarged me when I was in distress; have mercy upon me, and hear my prayer.” (Ps 4:1 AV)

Psalm four is the psalm of a good night’s sleep.  It appears David is getting flak from some in his kingdom over concerns of a coming harvest.  They are blaming the king for something which he cannot control.  It reminds me of SimCity.  I used to play that often.  Downloaded the cheat codes so managing a city was a bit easier.  However, I noticed that no matter how successful you were, there were always those who complained.  There was always something to fix or someone to make happy.  It reminded me way too much of ministry.  LOL.  This is where David is.  He compares the trouble of leading to being in distress.  Being pressed in and crushed by the desires and needs of others can become overwhelming.  It can rob one of precious sleep.  What caught my spiritual eye this morning is that one word, ‘enlarged’ as compared to distress.  In other words, God gave David the ability to breathe.

Claustrophobia is one of those phobias that is probably common to most.  It would all depend on the size of the enclosure.  Some can only survive in the great outdoors.  They would rather be outside than inside.  When they are inside, all the windows have to be opened.  A constraint is not a good thing.  Others are perfectly fine with being indoors.  However, close them in a closet with no lights, and after a while, they have to bust out.  They would prefer some constraints.  Then some claim no fear of enclosed spaces, but put them in an MRI machine for more than forty-five minutes, they get a little antsy.  Count me as part of that third group.  There were times when the constraint was not a good thing.  Like the time I drove from western Kentucky to Pensacola, FL in one day.  Eighteen hours of driving.  Not good.  At about hour fifteen, I started to lose it.  That long of a time in a vehicle was not a pleasurable experience.  Or, the time when the doctor ordered a brain MRI with and without contrast.  Those scans, collectively, were almost an hour.  It would have been ok if I could have slept.  But the noise of the scanner didn’t make that possible.  Not good!  May I say, I was in distress.  That is even after they gave me a pill to keep me calm.  All I needed was a bit of space.  Just enough to move my head.  I didn’t need to run outside.  I just needed enough space to feel a bit of relief.

This is what David is referring to.  He is not asking the LORD to solve the situation so that he feels no pressure at all.  He is just asking for a bit of breathing space.  The way he found it was to verbally accost his tormentors.  He did not allow their lack of faith and distress to become his own.  He told them to stand in awe of God.  He told them to trust the LORD.  What David sought was not an end to the situation.  Rather, a change of heart and mind for himself.  There was nothing that could be done when it came to the coming harvest.  By the grace of God, it will be what it will be.  There is no sense in fussing over something one has little if any, control over.  It is best to leave it in the hands of the LORD and breathe.  This is David’s solution.  He just needs a little breathing space.  He just needs to poke his head out of the MRI machine for just a minute and wiggle his head.  Then he can go for another forty-five minutes.  That is all.  Not much.  Just a small relief that the pressures of leading his people can continue.  For this, we can pray.

Exclusive

“And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.” (Re 21:3 AV)

 

What a truly wonderful thought.  We know this verse refers to the second coming.  When Jesus returns, all His enemies will be removed.  What is left of the human race will all be redeemed by the blood of Christ and the 1,000-year reign begins as one large church service.  All souls will know Jesus Christ as their LORD and Savior.  There will not be one lost soul among them.  For the first time since Adam and Eve, God will be the God of all the human race.  No more false gods.  No more rebellion against our Creator.  No more estranged souls from the presence of God.  But what I also see here is the tenderness of our Creator and God.  Note the phrase, “…and God himself…”.   As if to say that when Jesus returns, there is something a bit different between He and the human race.  There will be no other relationship that will supersede the soul’s relationship with Christ.  He and He alone will be their God.  This relationship is one of mutual love and desire.  God, Himself will be their God.  And no other.

Knowing that you belong to someone and someone belongs to you is a tremendous feeling.  I can still remember the day I realized my wife was mine and I was hers.  There was a sense of security, purpose, and comfort knowing the LORD had blessed us with one another.  It was two days after our wedding.  We had gone to Toronto, Canada for the first few days of our honeymoon.  Then off to Montreal and Quebec.  It was that Monday when I realized the permanence of our relationship and the nature of that permanence.  We had gone to the science museum and were walking to the subway station.  It was a bright sunny autumn day.  My wife, not really a museum person, convinced me there were better things to do with a day, so we were off to the city center.  Eaton’s beckoned.  As we were walking towards the subway, hand-in-hand, I realized that only death could altar my new reality.  There was no threat to this relationship.  We had made vows to one another that we meant as seriously as any two people could mean them.  When we promised to be exclusive one to another, that was that!  There was no guessing regarding the future.  Unless death came, I would always be there for her and she would always be there for me.  There was no other possibility!  What a feeling!

When we speak of God Himself being our God, it is much like that above.  In this life, we have many gods that vie for our attention.  There are human relationships that want us to put our God second.  There are temptations of the flesh to which we fall that cause a temporary estrangement between us and our God.  There are demands on our time and devotions to the LORD.  Work and life require our attention.  So many requirements and temptations that rob us of a truly intimate relationship with God.  There is coming a day when that will no longer be the case.  When the trumpet blows or the LORD calls our number, at that point in time, God Himself will be our God.  Alone!  There will be no other demands on our affections.  There will be no temptations of the flesh that draw us away from our God.  He will be our God and we will be His people.  Exclusively.  No other challengers.  What a day that will be!

Our Savior Will Come To Save the Day

“And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war.” (Re 19:11 AV)

 

What a wonderous prophecy.  This promises the LORD Jesus Christ will return to Earth and war against those who would permanently reject Him.  In a day when tolerance is the theme of our conversations, the idea of a warring Savior is rarely, if ever, preached from our pulpits.  But that doesn’t change a thing.  In our passage, the LORD judges and makes war in righteousness.  This is not up for debate.  It is not going to committee and then to the floor.  It is His was or death.  One or the other.  Every single soul that stands against the righteousness of God will be severely dealt with.  They will come to a certain and eternal end.  There is no dispute.  There is no debate.  This is no litigation.  There is no discussion.  If the soul had rejected the grace of God by the offering of Jesus Christ on Calvary’s cross, then he or she will be dealt with by the LORD’s justice and judgment.  Today’s saint doesn’t like to think of their LORD in that way.  But it is part of our Savior that is just as much of Him as His grace and mercy.  Like it or not, the LORD will make war against those who hate him.

When I think of this passage, I think of an old-time western.  One of those spaghetti westerns.  A crotchety but highly principled marshal must leave the territory.  He is on a trip back east or maybe to a remote fort somewhere.  While he is away, the territory is lost to a band of profiteers who manipulate, cheat, and kill.  They terrorize the territory and the town seat.  They intimidate the judge, deputy, and town businessmen.  Any newcomer is immediately brought under their thumb.  This group of thugs is relentless.  What makes this even worse is the ring leader of this gang has a vendetta against the now absent marshal.  In particular, the marshal's family.  They terrorize his wife, children, and extended family.  They steal and pillage anything they want off the marshal's homestead.  The graveyard is filling up quickly with the victims of this gang.  The marshal's picture is used for target practice.  His license to practice his craft is burned.  His nameplate is melted down for more bullets.  The marshal becomes the brunt of jokes.  Going to the saloon, there is a likeness pinned to the wall and over time, the townsfolk learn to disdain the marshal to the point of using this likeness as a dart board.  One can imagine how his wife and children feel.  This is her husband.  This is their father.  The abuse is relentless.

Soon, however, the marshal returns.  He sees the corruption that has enveloped his town.  He sees the torment his wife and children have endured.  He is moved to do something about it.  The quickest gun in the west takes on the whole gang.  He pulls out the peacemaker and deals with the entire lot of them from the center of the town.  One by one, he cuts them down like the evil men they are.  No one shot lands on him.  He is so quick not even one shot comes close.  All bad guys are gone!  Justice is served.  This is the attitude every believer should have.  We are the bride of Christ.  The world is insulting our husband.  They are mocking Him.  They are abusing that which is important to Him.  They are making martyrs of those who love Him.  They use His name as a curse word.  They are burning His houses, stealing what He rightfully owns, and making His creation miserable.  When He returns on His white horse, it all comes to an end!  In the meantime, we can have compassion as we try to win those who hate Him to His glorious grace.  But please, keep in balance, the understanding that He is the brunt of all that is wrong and He will return to set it all right.

All Will Praise Him

“Who shall not fear thee, O Lord, and glorify thy name? for thou only art holy: for all nations shall come and worship before thee; for thy judgments are made manifest.” (Re 15:4 AV)

 

Spoken by those who are martyred during the tribulation period.  They will see unprecedented rebellion against God and His Christ.  They will see the rise of the Antichrist.  They will see Israel flee into the wilderness.  They will see the 144,000 killed by the midterm.  They will see the two witnesses executed, then rise again after three days.  They will see one judgment after another with the world reacting in deeper rebellion.  They, too, will be martyred for their faith.  They will see all this and wonder at the worthiness of God to receive the praise which He deserves.  The question above is one of common sense.  If God can send all this, who is it that will not fear the LORD?  To do otherwise is beyond foolish.  The question above is one of consolation.  Not of the coming vindication for their martyrdom.  Rather, the coming consolation that our precious Savior will finally be worshipped as He deserves.  There is coming a time when every voice on the planet will worship the King of kings.  In a concerted unity of voice, all of living mankind, along with the redeemed and glorified saints, will join in glorious worship of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.

The day after I received Christ, I realized just how much the world hates Jesus.  It was really eye-opening.  Especially as it was expressed in television and radio.  I was a rocker.  So to speak.  I listen to popular rock and roll.  Not really the acid stuff, but not the pop-rock stuff either.  Anyone who listened to this garbage was well aware of the subject matter.  Mostly immorality and drug or alcohol use, lyrics began to shift a bit.  From sins of the flesh to blasphemy, it began to be popular to sing songs that degraded anything secular.  Someone addicted to that music soon lost any respect for God or godly things.  Then there was the garbage coming out of Hollywood.  The same shift happened there, as well.  Back in the infancy of television, there were wholesome programs that taught principles.  Then a bored audience demanded wickedness.  Soon, wholesomeness was replaced by filth.  This filth then transitioned to blasphemy.  It really hit me one day when I was at work and we had tradesmen doing work in the building.  They used profanity in every other word.  It was so bad I had to ask them if they needed a dictionary so they could learn new English words since their vocabulary was pretty much limited to curse words.  Letting them know I was a Christian, I demanded they stop using my Savior’s name in vain.  It hurt.  Every time they blurted out the name of the LORD as a curse, it stuck in my heart.  I can understand how the tribulation saint will feel when their Savior is insulted far more than He is now.

Hence the wonderous promise above.  Knowing there will be a time when everyone present will worship the LORD with a true heart of respect and honor.  No more cursing.  No more profanity.  No more sick humor, so-called, that degrades the LORD in the most profuse ways.  Once the millennial reign of Christ begins, that is the end of all rebellion.  The vast majority will still turn their back on Him when the 1,000 years are up.  But their insurrection will be quickly defeated.  In the blink of an eye.  Almost like it never happened.  For those who are saved and love their LORD, we look forward to the day when all will speak well of Him.  We look forward to the day when all opposition is destroyed.  We look forward to the day when every musical refrain is about Jesus.  What He is and what He has done will be trumpeted throughout all of creation and all praise Him as He deserves.

Our Defense Against Truth

“And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation, and strength, and the kingdom of our God, and the power of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” (Re 12:10-11 AV)

 

Whether we like it or not, the Devil is always there to accuse us in the presence of God and our enemies of those things which we have done.  His accusations are not without merit.  He is correct in his superficial observations.  As when he accused Joshua the high priest of apparent hypocrisy in the book of Zechariah, the Devil does all that he can do to discourage the believer from victorious living and serving.  With Joshua the high priest, the Devil correctly observed Joshua was serving as the high priest with sullen clothes.  He was not properly cleansed and his garments were threadbare and stained.  His assertion was Joshua was unworthy to stand before God in the office of a high priest.  In this, Satan was correct.  However, the solution was not agreeable to the Devil.  God replaced Joshua’s situation with cleanliness and holiness.  God’s holiness was imputed to Joshua that Joshua might serve before the LORD.  This is essentially exactly what the saints listed above also did.  When accused of wickedness, they didn’t try to defend themselves.  They didn’t try to outweigh their sin with their own righteousness.  They overcame the accusations by the blood of the Lamb and the proof of their worthiness as it is found in the word of God!

Who hasn’t had the annoying little brother or sister who made it their life’s mission to rat you out to Mom or Dad?  We have all had that nemesis.  No matter what we did, you would inevitably hear, “I’m telling Mom!”  This little monster soon gives up when Mom or Dad lectures him or her on tattling.  However, there is the coup de grace of tattling.  When this little miscreant waits until his or her older sibling is enjoying something at the hand of a parent that he or she finds it her responsibility to cancel that blessing by ratting out the elder.  Perhaps my youngest son would approach me and my middle son as we were enjoying a hunting or fishing outing.  He would come up with something that he felt would end such a wonderful experience.  “Dad, do you know what he did?”  And then out with it, he would come.  Or, he might wait until one of his siblings was having a good time with friends or extended family.  He would wait until all were having a good time.  He would then blurt out what he thinks would be an embarrassing act in which his sibling transgressed.  In these times, I would often respond that I knew of the infraction and, number one, it was none of his business.  And secondly, I had taken care of it already.  Whether I had or not, it was resolved.  What I would not allow is for a tattle tale to have any power over his victims no matter the truth of the matter.

This is what the blood of the Lamb and the word of our testimony accomplishes.  It removes all the power from our adversary.  He is right.  I did all those things.  He is right.  I deserve hell.  He is right.  I have no right to stand before, let alone, walk with God.  He is right.  There are far more righteous individuals than I.  He is right.  I have no worthiness nor expectation of grace.  He is right in all his assertions.  But what he conveniently leaves out is God’s mercy and grace.  I am not going to suffer because Jesus died for me.  I am worthy because God sees me through the imputed righteousness of his Son.  I will not burn in hell because the offering of Jesus and the cross and His consequent resurrection has given me the victory over death and hell.  He can say all that he wants.  I have no defense of my own.  But what I do have is more than adequate.  I have the blood of the Lamb and the word of my testimony!  Praise be to God and Him alone!