He Keeps Our Eyes Open

“Thou holdest mine eyes waking: I am so troubled that I cannot speak.” (Ps 77:4 AV)

In other words, the LORD does not allow the writer to close his eyes to the reality of his situation.  He holds his eyelids in the condition of being awake.  One might think this is cruel, but there is a purpose for this.  Our inclination is to close our eyes and ignore our trouble thinking that doing so will make it go away or at the very least, to make the situation better.  The problem with this inclination does not make the circumstances that cause the trouble go away.  It is still there.  Turning a blind eye to our troubles can often make it worse.  If we turn a blind eye, we are not reacting or handling the situation so as the fix the circumstances that cause the trouble, to begin with.  There are other reasons why the LORD may want to keep our eyes open to our troubles.  If we have our eyes closed, we cannot see how the LORD is working.  If we have our eyes closed, our ability to exercise faith is diminished.  Having our eyes closed slows the process of maturity.  There is a good reason for the LORD to keep our eyes open to our troubles.

How many times have we been in close calls?  We drive around and times and again, there is a potentially dangerous situation that comes head-on.  We swerve.  We correct.  We avoid a most certain crash.  That wouldn’t have happened if we went into the hazard with our eyes closed.  I am not one to keep my eyes closed unless I know how a situation is going to pan out.  Put me on a roller coaster and I will ride with my eyes clamped tighter than a clam.  I know I will be alright.  To watch what is coming means I tense up and make the experience all the more painful.  However, for the most part, I keep my eyes open.  Just a few weeks ago, I almost met my demise.  A car was racing up the street right towards me.  I saw the whole thing unfold in slow motion even though the car of concern was traveling more than fifty miles an hour.  Without belaboring the details, the offending SUV blew a red light and was beginning to lose control.  He was swerving and there was no time for me to react.  If I opened the car door to hop in, he would have taken the car door off.  If I tried to move, I would have become a moving target which the driver would have tracked, possibly causing him to serve in my direction.  All I could do was to make myself as small as possible and hug my car.  This driver came without three feet of hitting me.  If struck, I would not have survived. 

What to do?  Do I close my eyes and hope for the best?  To I close my eyes and wonder if I will make it?  Nope.  The eyes stayed open.  I would rather see what is coming than wonder about all the possibilities.  We may not like seeing what is coming.  But the LORD wants us to grow.  Ignoring things means we do not need to change.  If we do not change, then we do not grow.  If we do not grow, we cannot grow in intimacy towards the LORD as much as we could.  The grownup faces his problems head-on.  He does not bury his head in the sand and wish it all away.  One more reason why the LORD may keep our eyes open is that we might pray our trouble all the way through.  The more we see it, the more we might pray about it.  The more we see it, the more intelligent our prayer can become.  It is not a cruel thing.  It is responsible.  A parent will force his child to face his troubles.  So, too, will God do for His children.

To Think God Dwells with Man

“So foolish was I, and ignorant: I was as a beast before thee. Nevertheless I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right hand.” (Ps 73:22-23 AV)

 

What a contrast.  The assessment of David is not an insult.  Comparing himself to a beast is not meant to be degrading as such.  What he is doing is comparing himself against the glory of God.  Compared to God, we are nothing more than a beast.  Putting it in a way which we might understand, it would be comparable to say an ox or cow compared to the farmer that governs him.  Not that the farmer is anything like God.  But we get the picture.  The underlined phrase is what stands out to the saint.  No matter how much below the LORD we are, He never leaves nor forsakes.  To think that a God is so far above us that we are nothing but a dumb ox before Him, yet He desires to fellowship is something to wonderous to understand.   This is David’s meaning here.  He cannot understand how so great a God and Jehovah would even entertain the likes of simple men.

I have a wonderful dog.  His name is Toby.  Toby is a Cavalier King Charles Spaniel.  Cav, for short.  Cavs were bread as people dogs.  They were originally bred as feet warmers.  No kidding.  A king and queen wanted warm feet while they slept, so the breed was designed to sleep at the feet of their owners.  The breed loves people.  He literally flips when people other than myself approach.  We could be standing in my front yard and people approach.  He spins around and flips the closer they get.  The closer they get, the more excited he becomes.  Cavs love people and love to be loved on by people.  He is a lap sitter.  He looks for any and all opportunity to sit on a lap.  The thing is because he is a beast, he cannot appreciate what all this loving means from my perspective.  No matter how cute he might be, he is still just a dog.  He does all those disgusting dog things that other dogs do.  I won’t elaborate.  Everyone knows exactly what I mean.  For a human to show affection takes humility on the part of the human.  He must condescend to the state of a canine and meet his need.  He will never understand this nor appreciate this.

However, we have the capacity to reason.  We can understand, at least in principle, what it means for an infinite God to keep company with a finite man.  We can stop and appreciate what it takes for our holy God to keep company with wicked men.  The question becomes, how much do we appreciate the heart of God?  Do we really contemplate how absolutely absurd it is for God to desire the company with anyone but Himself, let alone pitiful mankind?  This is the wonder which David spake of above.  This took a lifetime to realize.  Perhaps the shepherd boy realized just how pitiful God was to him because of his experience with sheep.  Yet it took a lifetime of self-examination to truly appreciate the truth above.  It still boggles the mind.  Why would God want to keep company with the likes of me?  Especially since I disappoint Him as much as I do!  I may never be able to figure this out.  And that is a good thing!  The more of a mystery this is, the more I appreciate the reality of it.  I am a beast.  I am as dumb as an ox.  Yet the master is always there with a love that I cannot comprehend.  What a marvelous and gracious God we serve!

Strength To Serve In Later Years

“Now also when I am old and grayheaded, O God, forsake me not; until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation, and thy power to every one that is to come.” (Ps 71:18 AV)

There is a reason David seeks the LORD’s strength until the day of his death.  It is not that he might enjoy life and consume all the blessings of life.  He desires God’s presence, purpose, and strength that he might share with the present generation and shew forth what God did do to a future generation.  In short, he desires to live longer and in strength that he might serve the LORD by benefitting younger generations.  Of special note is exactly that which David is praying.  He is praying that God would not forsake him so that this answer would be what would shew a younger generation the strength and power of the LORD.  We don’t know exactly when David wrote this.  However, a certain time comes to mind.  As David aged, he became a liability on the battlefield.  So much so that Joab and the elders asked David to stay behind.  They knew that if the king fell in battle, it would discourage the troops.  His life meant more than his participation in the war.  One can surmise he thought of his waning abilities and was concerned with what his twilight years might mean to the LORD’s kingdom.  Therefore, he is not asking for good health and long life that he might enjoy it.  Rather, he is seeking both that He might be able to encourage a younger generation.

As I write this, I cannot help but think of my situation.  I am approaching the latter part of middle age and will soon be considered by many an old person.  It hit me when AARP sent a mailer out and told me I qualify.  Getting older is not for the faint of heart.  It is a hard adjustment to make when one’s strengths begin to diminish.  Eyesight, hearing, and mental acuity all begin to wane.  Muscle strength, balance, and endurance begin to lessen.  We are hit with the reality that we are not as young as we used to be.  However, there are joys which I experience regardless of the ability to accomplish as much as I once did.  Meeting people and sharing the love of Christ is something I enjoy doing more than anything else in ministry.  Even more than preaching.  I enjoy talking to people I have never met before who are willing to carry on a conversation.  This is something the LORD gave me by serving in the hospitable South.  My only regret is I didn’t learn this earlier.  When I go door-to-door, it is a joy to share the love of Christ with others, even if they do not want it.  This is what comes to mind when I read the verse above.  This is my prayer, too.

What we do with our time and resources tells us a lot of what our goals in life are.  How do we spend our strength?  How do we exert the power of life God gives?  Do we do so with the hope someone will be touched by our ministry by the power and leading of the Holy Spirit?  Do we get up every day with muscles aching which we did not even know we had with the hope God will not forsake us so that we can tell that clerk about Jesus?  Do we waddle to our car as we head off to the doctor’s appointment with the hope a door of utterance is opened?  This is my heart.  Yes, I do want to enjoy the twilight years of my life.  I have the best mate God could ever bless a man with.  She is one in a gazillion.  There is no one like her.  She is my love, my best friend, my help, and my princess.  The LORD has given me six wonderful grandchildren.  I have the best family God could ever give a man and I don’t deserve any of it.  I look forward to growing older and enjoying those blessings of life.  However, the reason I ask for the LORD to forsake me not is so that three times a week I can go out into our community and hand someone a tract.  The reason I hope for strength and power tomorrow is for the opportunity to talk to someone at the checkout, smile at someone having a hard day, or reach out to someone with no hope and use my life as a testimony to God’s love.  This was David’s prayer and this will be mine.

Joy In Misery

“Let all those that seek thee rejoice and be glad in thee: and let such as love thy salvation say continually, Let God be magnified.” (Ps 70:4 AV)

To me, David’s attitude and faith are something to behold.  It didn’t matter what he was facing, he was able to process his emotions and soldier on.  Oftentimes with a heart of rejoicing even though the odds were stacked against him.  Psalm 70 is no different.  When he utters the words above, he does so in circumstances that were not the best.  We don’t know exactly what the situation was, but he is asking for relief.  Yet, while crying out in this psalm and asking for relief from those who troubled him, he was able to write about joy, gladness, and his efforts to praise God for who and what He is.  This is what really speaks to me when I read of David’s life.  Especially when he failed, I would assume he would lose some, if not all, of that joy.  There were times of great failure in his life.  He failed in judgment.  He morally failed.  And, he failed in the pride of his own heart.  These failures caused quite a bit of damage to other innocent victims.  I would have curled up and died.  But not David.  He confessed.  He sought God’s mercy.  And he soldiered on.  In the above situation, it was trouble caused by some adversary.  Yet again, he soldiers on.  Not merely existing and plodding along.  Rather, with joy and gladness, glorifying the LORD as he does.

I know I have relayed this experience before, but it has stuck with me for more than forty-five years.  Boy Scouts was a big part of growing up.  Lest you get the wrong idea, even though I speak fondly of it, the Boy Scouts I knew was two generations ago.  I could not support them in any way today.  Even though they have lost their way, that didn’t mean that my adolescent years had no value from Scouting.  Anyway, my father did a masterful job of challenging us to train and learn life skills through our outings in scouting.  On one particular weekend, he borrowed the council's canoes as we traveled down the Erie Barge canal.  We were supposed to paddle several miles and then portage the canoes to the trailer Dad had waiting.  It was a rainy and messy day.  Not a nice day to be out in the open.  You can stay only so dry.  If I remember, it wasn’t all that warm, either.  It was just cold enough that we could wear shorts, but we wore jackets as well.  By the time we were out of the canal and carrying our canoes the last few miles, we were half drenched.  As we hiked, puddles were unavoidable.  It soon became apparent we were not going to stay dry.  So, in adolescent fashion, we figured if we were going to get wet, we might as well have fun doing it.  We would stomp in the puddles and yell out, “Cowabunga”.  I think that came from a Saturday morning cartoon.  If we had to do something uncomfortable, we might as well have fun doing it.

David’s life was filled with adversity.  He had many hard times. Some caused by his own faults.  Many were caused by others who reacted to his leadership.  Just because he had to suffer did not mean he had to do so with a downcast spirit.  Yes, there were some hard times wherein there was no other choice.  When Abner died he had a rough time of it.  When Absalom was killed in battle, David was the lowest he could go.  When God refused to save the newborn brought into the world by David’s adulterous affair, David mourned quite dramatically.  These were hard times.  No doubt he had a hard time rejoicing.  Yet, this was not his normal spirit.  When faced with adversity, he could not afford to allow his spirit to be downcast.  He was a leader and example to others. He had to exude hope.  He had to testify to God’s faithfulness.  Others depended on him.  The same is true for us.  There are always others who look at us regardless of our status as an example of how to respond to adversity.  They watch how we react.  They are looking for hope.  We need to leave it with God and walk in joy and gladness, glorifying the LORD as we go.

Beauty Among Ugliness

“Though ye have lien among the pots, yet shall ye be as the wings of a dove covered with silver, and her feathers with yellow gold.” (Ps 68:13 AV)

It is amazing how many different opinions arise from this verse.  However, the majority of sources that I have accumulated seem to agree on the children of Israel, or a certain tribe or tribes are spoken of here.  Some think it is Israel while in Egypt.  Others tend to think it was two tribes who were content to work a common task of tending to sheep rather than help their fellow countrymen take the land of Canaan.  I tend to favor the former because of the tenor of the verse.  I don’t see any rebuke.  Therefore, my understanding here is a promise to the slaves of Egypt as they tended to the kiln pots.  They slopped in the mud and hay, making bricks for a hard taskmaster.  Yet there was a promise.  A promise that one day, they would be cleaned up, and the beauty of their holiness would show forth among the drab surroundings around them.

It is hard to understand the comparison unless one is familiar with doves.  The species of doves found in Israel are called Streptopelia Turtur.  Our midwestern and European doves are rather plain in comparison.  The Jewish dove is exactly as described above.  The chest is a silver brown.  On its neck are three stripes of white accented by black.  The wings are a bronze or gold color accented by black outlines.  It is a beautiful little bird.  Doves are common where I am.  We have mourning doves.  These little birds, compared to the others which may surround them stand out.  We used to have a bird feeder at our former house.  It was common to see dozens if not hundreds of birds around that bird feeder.  Most of them were ugly birds.  Blackbirds and black starlings were the most common. But from time to time, doves would venture in.  What a contrast!  In our verse, the writer is comparing Israel as it worked in the mud.  Mud and the Jewish dove have a bit of the same hues.  However, if that dove is cleaned off, he would really stand out!

We live in a cursed world.  We lay among the pots.  We are in the filth.  It is all around us.  But that does not mean we have to assimilate to it. There is also the future tense of the verse to consider.  The Psalmist tells us we shall be as the Jewish dove.  There is a clean-up process.  The dove that is covered in dust is a dull bird.  Doves do that once in a while.  As all birds do.  Whether it is water or dust, the bird will shake himself with dust or water to rid himself of mites.  A dove often will use the dust of a field as the means to suffocate his mites.  Then he will hit a puddle to wash off the dust and dead mites.  While he is covered in dust, he is pretty much monochrome.  Yet, when that clean water washes away the dirt, he comes forth a beautiful bird indeed.  This is the saint.  We have the filthiness of the world clinging to our souls.  The dirt of this world sullies the glory of God which lies beneath.  A cleansing of the washing of the water of His word can wash it all away.  We don’t have to live in our filth.  We don’t have to wear the filth of the world.  We can be a picture of the glory of God for the world to see and be drawn to Christ who shines forth in our lives.

Blessed To Share

“God be merciful unto us, and bless us; and cause his face to shine upon us; Selah. That thy way may be known upon earth, thy saving health among all nations.” (Ps 67:1-2 AV)

The blessings of God are not open-ended.  That is, He does not bless that we might consume those blessings upon our lust.  They are for our pleasure.  But the blessings of God have multiple purposes.  The first is that He alone might be worshipped and glorified.  Another is represented above.  God blesses that His children might share what God has done for them to a lost and dying world.  In particular, the way of the LORD might be known and when it is known, the saving health of the LORD might also be known.  This implies a more specific application than mere blessings.  These blessings are blessings from obedience to His word and faith in His person.  When God blesses, then we can share how these blessings came.  That is, in walking by the way of the LORD.  The opposite is true. If we walk contrary to the will of the LORD, then there is no health.  So, the comparison is between walking with God and walking against God.  When those who do not know the LORD notice the blessings of our life, it is an opportunity to expound on the value of obedience and faith, pointing them to the LORD who gave us His will that they might be blessed as well.  Starting with salvation in Christ.

Training others to do a task is a normal part of life.  You train your children how to tie their shoes, how to read, or how to ride a bicycle.  You train co-workers on how to accomplish a common goal.  You train your students in the doctrines and application of the word of God.  Training others is a natural part of life.  We pass on the skills that others need or want.  From learning to play an instrument to cooking a wonderful meal, we learned from someone who already possessed the skills we sought.  Several years back, I used to play rhythm guitar in a bluegrass gospel group.  I went as far as I could go in my skill with that instrument.  Which was fine.  I enjoyed playing something I could play with enough proficiency to contribute to the overall outcome.  However, one of those times of jamming, I got a bit curious.  I watched our mandolin player.  A newbie brought his mandolin along and I was watching him.  He wasn’t very good on that instrument, but he could pluck a tune or two.  So I figured if he could do it, I might be able to have a go at it.  So, our regular player showed me a few chords and we switched.  He took my guitar and I took his mandolin.  That was all it took for me.  I went out and got a mandolin and began watching MandoLessons.com.  A few lessons and I was off to the races.  Why?  Because someone was able to accomplish something I was not and his ability spurred me on to try it myself.  When I showed that interest, someone took the time to teach me.  I noticed something I wanted and without someone there to show me, that desire would have passed on unfulfilled.

The same is true with biblical principles of life.  They notice how well behaved your children are.  They notice how much you and your spouse respect and love one another.  They notice your good health.  They notice you don’t stress over finances.  They notice how much more happier and content you are compared to others around you.  They notice the absence of anxiety and fear.  In short, they notice the blessings of God on your life and want to know how it is you arrived.  This is why the LORD blesses.  He wants to do the same for them and He has done for you.  Most of all, He desires to save them from their sin and hell the same way Christ saved you.  When we receive a compliment from the lost world for the blessings God has bestowed, most say thank you and go on.  We drop the subject.  What we fail to see is their observation is a subtle way of asking how you accomplished these things.  What do we do?  What should we do?  If we have the secret sauce to a recipe, we don’t hide it.  We share it.  This is what God intends for those whom He has blessed.  Share what God has done because God is a big God.  He will not run out of blessings.  He wants to love others as He loves you.  So share the goodness of God so those who desire His goodness can be healed of the sin-sickness which plagues them.

God Is Always Good

“Thou crownest the year with thy goodness; and thy paths drop fatness.” (Ps 65:11 AV)

It is almost a given the last few years have been rough.  The world is rapidly changing and not for the better.  One cannot turn on the news without hearing non-stop bad news.  It’s enough to drive one into a serious bout with depression.  If we are not careful, we will focus only one the bad news and not the blessings of life.  The writer above suffered from the adversity that never seemed to wain.  David had his share of bad years.  The Bible relays much of David’s sufferings while he fled from Saul.  Those were not happy days.  However, David could still share the blessings of God reflected in the verse above.  Whether we can see it or not, God’s blessings are always around us.  It is a matter of perspective.

This holiday season is going to be interesting.  As I was watching a commercial for some new toy, I couldn’t help but think if the toy would even be available on our shelves.  Then my mind went back about forty years.  I remember Christmas shopping back in the seventies and eighties.  At that time, my parents required we use some of our paper route money as Christmas money for our parents and siblings.  In our little town, we only had a couple of department stores.  There was not a whole lot of selection.  You just went around and picked the best representation of your appreciation for the person in mind.  My mind went back to simpler days.  The days when there were only three T.V. channels.  I wondered if this year’s holiday season will bring our nation back to times when we appreciated the more basic things of life.  Perhaps we don’t need the newest technology.  Perhaps we don’t need the flashiest toy.  To say that we were not blessed fifty years ago is to misunderstand how wonderful life was then.  Snow was our new toy.  A fresh coat of wet white stuff meant we could go outside and build a fort.  We have some very lean years back then.  Growing up in a family of eleven siblings, food was not plenty.  Christmas, although there were gifts, there were not loads of them.  Looking at our life, one would think we were suffering.  But we didn’t know that.  Why?  Because we saw the blessings of God rather than that which we did not have.

God blesses us whether we can see it or not.  He does this day by day.  He does this month by month.  And, He does this year by year.  No matter the wars, the diseases, the financial troubles, or the stress on the supply chain, the fields are still growing crops.  The cows are still in the fields producing milk.  The flowers still bloom.  The babies still play.  The dog still wags his tail.  The saints still sing.  The preaching goes on.  And the Bible is still on our laps.  We are coming up on Thanksgiving.  A special day where we remember that through adversity, God still provides.  After those pilgrims suffered as they did, God met them with an amazing bounty of provision.  If we are of the right mind and we can look for the blessing of God, then we can see how much God has blessed us this past year.  We have grown closer to the LORD.  We have paid our bills.  We have survived much adversity and also have the awesome privilege of sharing the love of Christ with others.  God is good.  And He is all the time.  Let us remember how truly blessed we are and it will carry us through the hardest times of life.