3 Ways Christians Can Help America

On this 244th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, our nation is in the midst of several kinds of turmoil. For Bible-believing Christians, it can be discouraging to look around and see our country pushing away God, His Word, and everything we stand for. 

But we are neither hopeless nor helpless. We can fight back by doing the three things God has us here on earth to do. 

1. Pray

God has instructed us to pray for our nation. The most commonly quoted verse regarding prayer for a nation is 2 Chronicles 7:14, where God tells Solomon: 

"If My people, which are called by My name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land."

Although this verse is a promise from God to Solomon, and specifically concerning the Jewish people, that same God is our God, and we are His people. He does answer when we pray, He does want us to seek His face, and He does want to forgive sin. So, I definitely think it is appropriate to use this verse as a reminder of the heart God wants behind our prayers, and of the loving attitude He has towards His people. 

We should also pray for America because of 1 Timothy 2:1-4

"I exhort therefore, that, first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; For kings, and for all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty. For this is good and acceptable in the sight of God our Savior; Who will have all men to be saved, and to come unto the knowledge of the truth."

This brings us to the second way we as Christians can help our country:

2. Give the Gospel

The answer to all the turmoil we see in our nation today is the gospel. Our nation will only change if individual citizens change, and God is the only One who can change the individuals. What our nation needs is for people to accept Christ as Savior and know the peace that forgiveness brings. 

3. Live the Gospel

How are people going to see that God has the power to deliver them from their guilt, shame, anger, fear, disappointment, addiction, worry, bitterness, or anything else, if we don't show them by living in the power of the gospel ourselves? 

Romans 6:4 says, "Therefore we are buried with Him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life."

Because Christ is risen, we have newness of life; not just in heaven, but right here, right now. That newness of life should characterize our daily lives. --After all, we are the light of the world. Matthew 5:16 says "Let your life so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

We can help America by simply being the Christians God wants us to be, praying for our nation, and sharing the gospel. 

So, as you celebrate the founding of our nation, remember that the future of America depends on you and me and our relationships, both with God and with our fellow Americans.

Psalm 37: Truth for Tumultuous Times Part 3

In the last two posts, we've walked through the first 26 verses of Psalm 37, noting how God wants us to respond to times of tumult by resting and trusting, being content with what God has allowed us, and standing firm on the certainty that God will not forsake His own.

Today, we're picking up our passage in verse 27, with the continued theme of responding to the apparent prospering of the wicked by simply doing right. 

"Depart from evil, and do good; and dwell for evermore"

It's amazing in this passage just how many times God tells us why He wants us to respond the way He does. 

"For the Lord loveth judgment, and forsaketh not His saints; they are preserved for ever: but the seed of the wicked shall be cut off. The righteous shall inherit the land, and dwell therein for ever."  (28-29)

Those are encouraging truths, to be sure! Our departing from evil and doing good should be motivated by the fact that we are God's --we belong to Him, and He will preserve us "for ever". The wicked may seem to be prospering, whether with fame, fortune, or success in driving situations or laws to further their own wicked goals, yet the wicked are ultimately acting in vain. God sees, God knows, God will judge. That should motivate us to be living in such a way that the wicked will see that we are different, because we belong to God.  

Next, God paints a picture of what this should look like:

"The mouth of the righteous speaketh wisdom, and his tongue talketh of judgement. The law of his God is in his heart; none of his steps shall slide." (30-31)

This is a good place for us to stop and check our own lives. How is your speech? Is it characterized by wisdom and judgement, rooted in the Word of God? You see, amidst the clamor and chaos of the world, our words should not just echo the din of opinions out there. We should be able to speak with authority from the certainty of the truths of God's Word. 

It is convicting to think how many words I say (or write) each day, and yet how few of those relate directly back to Scripture. I wonder what an impact it would make on our society if we as Christians began to commit to speaking God's truth instead of our opinion.  

God also gives us a portrait of the wicked. 

"The wicked watcheth the righteous, and seeketh to slay him." (32)

If it feels like the wicked have it out for you, it's because it really is true. The current crises in our country have made it even more clear to me that this world really does watch Christians to try to catch them tripping up in some way. 

I'm reminded of several men in Scripture who were watched with evil intent: Daniel and Mordecai come to mind right away, and of course, Jesus, whom the Pharisees were always watching, trying to find an excuse to put Him to death. 

Jesus explained this phenomenon when speaking to the Pharisees,

"Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh it of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." (John 8:44)

Before salvation, sins such as lying and hatred and even murder were natural to us all, for we were sinful human beings, serving Satan. Once saved, the Holy Spirit indwells our hearts and does battle with our sin nature. With God's empowering, we can have victory over the sin which once was just a way of life. The wicked seek to destroy us because Satan seeks to destroy us. Darkness cannot coexist with light, truth cannot coexist with lies. That is why the battle rages. 

But lest we be discouraged by this reminder that the world (and our greatest enemy, Satan) watches us with the intent to destroy, God followed this truth up with another promise:

"The Lord will not leave him in his hand, nor condemn him when he is judged." (33)

God has already won the victory over Satan, and the wicked of this world will likewise perish, but even if it seems that God leaves us in their hand in this life, we will be free from their persecution for eternity to come. In the final judgment, all their efforts to destroy God's children will come back upon their own heads, and we who have accepted Christ's gift of salvation will be pardoned and welcomed home. 

The following verse gives another admonition:

"Wait on the Lord, and keep His way, and He shall exalt thee to inherit the land: when the wicked are cut off, thou shalt see it." (34)

I think this encapsulates everything God says in this psalm about responding to the wicked. Waiting on God covers delighting, resting, committing our ways to Him, and being content with what God has allowed. It includes keeping our eyes on God, letting Him order our steps and lift us up when we fall. If I had to choose one thought to give you from this passage it would be this: wait on the Lord. 

But God is not done. There's even more to encourage us!

"I have seen the wicked in great power, and spreading himself like a green bay tree. Yet he passed away, and, lo, he was not: yea, I sought him, but he could not be found." (35-36)

Here, as in verse 25, David gives us his Divinely-inspired words of testimony. This time, he illustrates the truth of just how fragile the rule of the wicked really is. 

I am reminded of the time (long after David's reign) when Jerusalem was besieged, and the hosts of Sennacharib had surrounded the city in all their pomp and might. Yet, when Hezekiah humbly prayed for deliverance, God took care of them in one night, without the Israelites having to do a thing! (2 Kings 19) 

 No matter how mighty the wicked may seem, no matter how strong the forces of spiritual warfare may appear to be, we must always remember that God is infinitely mightier and stronger, and it is He who will triumph --who has already triumphed-- on our behalf. 

"Mark the perfect man, and behold the upright: for the end of that man is peace. But the transgressors shall be destroyed together; the end of the wicked shall be cut off." (37-38)

Here is one last contrast: The end of the righteous is peace, but the end of the wicked is destruction. This should encourage, but also burden us. As easy as it is to talk about "the wicked" and "the world" (and it is Biblical to do so), it can be just as easy to forget that both those categories we speak of are collections of individuals. The wicked are headed for destruction, and while that is obviously meant in this passage to encourage us to do right no matter what they do, it also means that each one of those individuals in the world who have rejected Christ are headed to Hell for eternal punishment. More than anything, they need us to be Christlike testimonies and bold witnesses to the saving work of Christ. 

It is appropriate to pray for God's justice to be done, for that is God's heart: "to fulfill all righteousness", as Jesus said. (Matthew 3:15)  but it is just as much a part of God's heart and nature to pardon. We should never pray for the wicked to be judged without also praying that the wicked might be saved. 

After all, that's what we're here for, right? 

This psalm of encouragement ends by bringing us back to the root of the matter: 

"But the salvation of the righteous is of the Lord: He is their strength in the time of trouble. And the Lord shall help them, and deliver them from the wicked, and save them, because they trust in Him." (39-40)

Whatever happens in this crazy, turbulent, chaotic world of ours, we can rest assured that God is at work, and that our salvation from sin as well as our victory over the wicked are not of ourselves, but of God. It is He who gives us the power to "Depart from evil, and do good".

Psalm 37: Truth for Tumultuous Times Part 2

In my last post, we saw from Psalm 37:1-15 that God wants Christians to respond to the chaos and clamor of the wicked world around us by delighting in Him, resting, ceasing from anger, and doing good.

Of course the reason we can rest in the midst of the wicked world is because we know that God is the Judge of all, and because we trust that He will make it all right in due time. If you haven't read the post, click here to read it.

The next two verses of Psalm 37 continue the theme of how to respond when the wicked are prospering. 

"A little that a righteous man hath is better than the riches of many wicked. For the arms of the wicked shall be broken: but the Lord upholdeth the righteous." (16-17)

It can be so easy to look around and wonder why the wicked seem to "get away with" their wickedness, and even seem better off for it, but we who try to do right just barely scrape by financially. Or perhaps it is that the wicked seem to get far more attention than the righteous. The world shouts their message, but tries to silence ours.

Whatever it is that strikes you as most unfair about our current situation, God again calls us to respond oppositely to the world. The world shouts "that's unfair!" and stamps its feet like a tantrumy child, demanding to be noticed and placated, but God calls us to be content. After all, the little we have is better than their riches, because, unlike them, we have God on our side, and He owns it all!

We can meet unfairness with contentment, because we know God, and because He knows us. Look at the next verses in our passage:

"The Lord knoweth the days of the upright: and their inheritance shall be for ever. They shall not be ashamed in the evil time: and in the days of famine they shall be satisfied. But the wicked shall perish, and the enemies of the Lord shall be as the fat of lambs: they shall consume; into smoke shall they consume away." (18-20)

God knows, and will provide for us. However the wicked seem to prosper, they prosper only for this time. They have their riches for now, but we will have ours for eternity! Again, we are reminded that God sees the wickedness of the wicked, and will judge in due time.

Next, God contrasts the behavior of the wicked and the righteous in another area:

"The wicked borroweth, and payeth not again: but the righteous showeth mercy, and giveth. For such as be blessed of Him shall inherit the earth; and they that be cursed of Him shall be cut off.

Not only are we to delight where the world would worry, rest when the world would rage, and be content when the world would demand recompense, we are also to meet the world's dishonesty and greed with mercy and generosity. Again, we are to respond to the wicked by doing exactly the opposite of what they are doing.

I admit, it is hard to be generous to a greedy or stingy person. But isn't that what God does for us every day? Notice also that our generosity is fueled by His own. We can give because we are blessed by God, and are destined to "inherit the earth". I could go down a theological and eschatological rabbit trail here, but I'll save that for another day. The point is, we can afford to be generous, because everything we have has been provided by the One whose provision is limitless! He is more than capable of refilling anything we pour out to others. As my pastor likes to remind us, you just can't out-give God!

This generosity is not just financial, though. We are to be just as generous with our mercy. The knowledge of the eventual judgement toward which the wicked are heading should provoke pity in our hearts. After all, they are hurtling headlong into the hands of the Just and Righteous Judge, whose laws they have broken. It ought to burden our hearts, to motivate us to do all we can do to seek their salvation. After all, the greatest mercy we can ever show is to point a hell-bound sinner to Christ!

I'll end this post with some of the most encouraging verses in this passage. Against the backdrop of the darkness of this wicked world, God holds up a bright gem of hope:

"The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord: and He delighteth in his way. Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with His hand. I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. he is ever merciful, and lendeth; and his seed is blessed." (23-26)

Here is a real life testimony of God's hand of blessing on the one who walks in His ways. When the world tries to trip him up, the Lord is there to catch him. When he gives generously, the Lord provides his needs. Despite the hopelessness of the world, God is there, and has promised to take care of His own.

Psalm 37: Truth for Tumultuous Times Part 1

We live in a day when society at large is clamoring for many things. I'm not here to get into politics, but I do have to acknowledge that many of the things being pushed for right now are contrary to the word of God. The outright, unashamed wickedness being applauded by the world and even some Christians is appalling to say the least. Our streets are filled with protests that end with looting and violence, hatred and bigotry are hurled by both sides of the protests, and let's not forget that a pandemic is still raging. It can seem at times like the world, or at least our part of it, is spinning out of control.

But then, there's God.

Psalm 37 is a striking call to God's people to trust Him during tumultuous times. In the very first two verses, we are encouraged to see past our fear of the wicked, and our envy of their apparent success, to the truth of God's ultimate control over the situation.

"Fret not thyself  because of evildoers, neither be thou envious against the workers of iniquity. For they shall soon be cut down like the grass and wither as the green herb."

We are also told how we should respond to times when the wicked seem to prosper:

"Trust in the Lord, and do good; so shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou shalt be fed. Delight thyself also in the Lord; and He shall give thee the desires of thine heart.

We are to trust in the Lord, to continue to do good, just as He has commanded. We are to delight in Him. --Have you ever noticed how worry and delight cannot coexist? When we are delighting in the Lord, we will not be worrying about the wicked. 

Those things we worry over, those concerns and burdens, the desire for the wicked not to prosper any more; those are the hearts' desires we can trust God with. He may not do exactly what we would desire the way we think it should be done, but we do know that we can take our desires to Him, knowing that He will do what is right and best. Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth often says that God's will is what we would choose if we knew all that He knows. We can trust God with our heart's desires.

Not only are we called to delight in the Lord, we are to commit our way unto Him,

"Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in Him; and He shall bring it to pass."

Again we are told to trust Him. But again, we are told the result --and it is glorious!

"He shall bring forth thy righteousness as the light, and thy judgement as the noonday."

No matter what the wicked do or say, God will never be fooled. He will one day recognize the faithfulness of those who meet the onslaught of wickedness with a consistent, Spirit-filled righteousness. I don't know about you, but to me, a "well done" from God is well worth having to bear the censure of the world.

The next verse calls us to something surprising: rest. With the wicked seeming to prosper, society applauding them and pressuring us to applaud along with them, we're supposed to rest?

But that's exactly what God says to do:

"Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him: fret not thyself because of him who prospereth in his way, because of the man who bringeth wicked devices to pass."

Notice that the way we are to rest is by waiting patiently for the Lord. I don't know about you, but I often have a hard time waiting, and an even harder time waiting patiently. Interestingly enough, when we look around at the world and see the individuals swept up in the chaos of riots, what characterizes them?

Impatience.

They want justice. That's not wrong. But they want it now. That's where the riots come from. These rioters are too impatient to wait for the due process of the law.  Our country is built upon principles and laws that make provision for the lawful pursuit of justice. Rioting is not one of them.

These concerned citizens have the right to protest, to publish their pleas for justice, their opinions about what the problem is, and their plans for a solution. In our age of technology, they can do this via poster, newspaper, magazine, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, television, documentary, not to dismiss the venerable tradition of the old-fashioned mailer. But any effort at change requires a measure of patience.

The same holds true to us as we watch changes taking place in our country and our society that serve to pull people farther away from God. We watch, we worry, we fume at times over the blatant wickedness being held up for approbation, but God calls us to rest.

Why? For the simple reason that He is the Judge of all, and will surely make everything right in the end. In fact, it's not just rest and patience that are required.

"Cease from anger, and forsake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil"

When we are resting in the knowledge of God's perfect justice, we not only will be able to rest in Him, we will "cease from anger, and forsake wrath". Did you know that impatience with God's justice system results in anger? And anger unchecked will result in evildoing.

Take the recent protests, for example. The people were protesting because they wanted justice. Yet their protests began long before our justice system even had time to hold a hearing concerning the three officers involved. They wanted "instant" justice. Sounds like impatience, right? Then, as they protested, they became more and more angry, and their anger, once unleashed, led to certain of the protesters committing injustices of their own: looting, destroying others' property, injuring, and even killing others.

This is what God is commanding us not to do in the face of injustice. We are to patiently wait for God's justice, to allow our trust in His timing to remove all anger from our hearts. We are to do good instead of evil, refusing to allow anger to make us act in a way that reflects the wicked actions that made us angry in the first place.

There is good reason for us to trust. God Himself says it:

"For evildoers shall be cut off: but those that wait upon the Lord, they shall inherit the earth.

For yet for a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.

But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.

The wicked plotteth against the just, and gnasheth upon him with his teeth.

The Lord shall laugh at him: for He seeth that his day is coming.

The wicked have drawn out the sword and have bent their bow, to cast down the poor and needy, and to slay such as be of upright conversation.

Their sword shall enter into their own heart, and their bows shall be broken."

(Psalm 37:9-15)

Take heart, weary Christian, God will act in due time!

True Peace

We live in turbulent times.

Last night, my little town's four-block downtown was scheduled to be the site of a protest. You've probably heard the horror stories of the recent protest-turned-riot trend; buildings set on fire, stores looted, people hurt or killed.

As my family and I settled in for the evening, we weren't sure what to expect. I remembered a video someone had posted on social media earlier in the week from a city where protests were happening. Throughout the video, you could hear sirens and what sounded like someone shouting through a megaphone in the background. Would that be the soundtrack to our evening? We were only a short walk away from the protest, so if anything catastrophic unfolded, we would be sure to hear it.

So, we settled in for the evening, waiting, wondering, but oddly enough, I've never felt more safe. I had a sense of inner certainty that whatever the evening might bring, it would not be more than we could handle, because we were resting within the protection of our heavenly Father's care.

That is true peace.

One thing I think everyone can agree on is that we want peace for our nation, our states, our communities. We don't want to have curfews, or be in fear of our city being set on fire, We don't want to turn on the news only to hear of more violence or discord.

But collective peace comes from individual effort. Until we can be at peace individually, until we can be self-controlled and measured in our individual responses, until we are set free from the slavery of our own individual hatred and bitterness towards others, there will be no peace. And each of these individual qualities can only be addressed within the heart of the individual.

Instead of shouting or chanting or lying on the ground, what if the outrage sparked by recent events caused Americans to respond with quiet strength, to look first within and see what was in their own hearts, and then, having dealt with the beam in their own eye, to try humbly and patiently to help their brothers remove the specks from theirs?

Whichever side you may be on, there is no denying that the vehement, violent, destructive responses are fueled by individual hate. It is hate that motivates the individual to throw bricks, set fires, or shout in people's faces. That is not peace, love, or tolerance.

"There is no peace, saith the Lord, unto the wicked." (Isaiah 48:22) For the Christian, the state of our communities, our nation, and the world is not what determines whether or not we have peace. It is natural that the wicked be without peace, for we were not designed to have peace apart from God.

In John 16:33, Jesus says, "These things have I spoken unto you, that in Me ye might have peace. In the world ye shall have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world."  He tells us we will have tribulations, but then tells us to be of good cheer. Humanly, that makes no sense. If we're going to be experiencing trouble, why would we be happy? Because Jesus has overcome. He is in control, and He is stronger than any force of evil we will ever face. Whatever trouble comes to us must first pass through His loving hands.

I read John 14 this morning in my time with God, and I was struck by Jesus' statement in verse 27. "Peace I leave with you, My peace I give unto you: not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid."

A Christian's peace is not the peace of the world. The world has peace only when everyone is getting along and everything is going well. Its peace is dependent upon circumstances. As Christians, our peace transcends circumstances. No matter what is happening, no matter who opposes us, no matter how bleak our circumstances, we can be at peace, because we trust the One who is overseeing and orchestrating those circumstances for our good.

This is the same reason Christians can choose a measured response to wrongs committed against them or their loved ones, because they trust that God knows what He is doing in allowing those wrong things. Justice is right and good, but must be obtained through appropriate measures, and with a heart of forgiveness --not condoning the wrong, but extending to them that forgiveness which we ourselves have received from God.

So, how's your peace? Are you resting and trusting, or fearing and fighting?

Sweet-Smelling Fragrance

Our neighbors have a bush growing along their driveway that gives off a sweet and abundant fragrance. Walking by it, I always take a deep breath, and savor the beautiful aroma. It's not too strong, not overpowering, just unobtrusively sweet.

As I was walking by the plant recently, I took a deep breath and the Holy Spirit convicted my heart that I had not been like that plant this week. Specifically, I was reminded that my speech had been far from sweet (though it had been abundant). In fact, with all the negative, complaining things I had said, I had very closely resembled a skunk cabbage!

I knew there was a verse somewhere that referenced a "sweetsmelling savour" in the context of speech. So, I did what any 30-something smart phone user would do: I pulled up my Bible app and did a quick search. It was Ephesians 5 I had been thinking of. Here's what it says:

 "Be ye therefore followers of God, as dear children; and walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us, and hath given Himself for us an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweetsmelling savour." (1-2)

At first glance, the reference to the "sweetsmelling savour" appears to apply only to Christ's sacrifice for us. Of course that would be a pleasing sacrifice to God! But notice that this description of Christ's sacrifice is preceded by a command to be "followers of God" and to "walk in love, as Christ also hath loved us", --In other words, we are to do as Jesus did: to love others by giving ourselves for them.

This still didn't seem to connect with the way the Holy Spirit had convicted me about my speech, but then I read on. The next two verses were the "aha" moment for me and reminded me why I had expected this passage to be connected to how a Christian should speak:

"But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks."(3-4)

This instruction about our speech directly follows and is connected with the thought that our love and sacrifice for others ought to mirror Christ's love and sacrifice for us. This is shown (at least in part) by what we choose to say.

Read over the list again. The first three items are sins that should not even be discussed: Matthew Henry puts it this way: "these sins must be dreaded and detested in the highest degree".  In other words, I don't need to be telling or listening to descriptions of  what the wicked are doing and saying in these areas. (An obvious application here would be reading tabloids that give all the "juicy details" of a scandal.)

The next three on the list have to do with joking about things that should be taken seriously. I have to admit, as I looked back over the week, my speech was measuring up pretty well. But then there's the last item on the list: "But rather giving of thanks".

There it was.

I had been whining and complaining, griping about so many things --No wonder my speech wasn't sending up as sweetsmelling savour to the Lord! And not only that, my ungrateful words of complaint were not a sweet savor of Christ to the world around me, either. 2 Corinthians 2:15 says:

"For we are unto God a sweet savour of Christ, in them that are saved, and in them that perish"

There's more to that thought in the verses that follow, but notice that we are a sweet savour both to the saved and to the lost. And lest we think that this is somehow unconnected to our speech, we have verse 17 which continues the line of reasoning:

"For we are not as many, which corrupt the word of God: but as of sincerity, but as of God, in the sight of God speak we in Christ." 

Not only is our speech supposed to be from a heart of thankfulness to God, it is supposed to be sincere and true --our speech is to be consistent with the truths of God's Word. That is another way my speech failed the test of Scripture this week. By complaining and griping, I was essentially declaring that God is not good.

If I believe that God is good, I will have no reason to complain about anything, because I can take any circumstance, any little irritation or annoyance, and apply to it the truth that God has allowed it for a good purpose to make me more like Him.

Charles Spurgeon is noted as having said, "I have learned to kiss the wave that slams me into the Rock of Ages".  --That sounds like a man who has fully embraced the truth of Romans 8:28. His words give off the "sweetsmelling savour" of a grateful and faithful heart.

As we spend time more time than usual at home with family, it can be easy to grow too comfortable and begin to voice complaints or speak negatively to and about others. One way we are to show the love of Christ to those around us is to speak in a way that fills our homes with a sweet savor of Christ.

So, how does your speech smell to God and to those around you today? Are you a rose or a skunk cabbage?
 

The Illusion of Safety

We live in a day where safety has become a daily concern. Slogans such as "Stay safe, stay home." are flashed across all forms of media, and debates rage over what measures we should be taking to ensure our own safety and that of those around us. Masks or no masks? Quarantine inside or getting out in the sunshine? Open up or stay closed? Arguments abound, but no one seems to be able to come to a sound consensus.

A news article about a White House staff member's recent Coronavirus diagnosis posed the question,

"If Coronavirus is in the White House, is anyone really safe?"

The truth is, the idea of safety is an illusion. At least, from a human point of view. There is no sure-fire way of keeping ourselves protected from Coronavirus, cancer, car accidents, airplane crashes, or simply tripping over our own feet and sustaining significant injury.

Sounds pretty hopeless, huh?

On a human level, it is. We can never ensure 100% that we will be safe or healthy, or that our friends and loved ones will be so. There will always be the possibility of illness or accident, always the possibility that the next breath we take will be our last.

So where is the hope in all this? Proverbs 21:31 reminds us that

"The horse is prepared against the day of battle: but safety is of the Lord."

So yes, we should eat our veggies and wash our hands. We should follow the guidelines set out by medical professionals that are working so hard to find new ways to combat disease, but we should also remember that all this is vain if we are not looking to the Lord to keep us safe.

We must also bear in mind that God's idea of safety may not match our own. We like to be left alone in our own little world, with things exactly the way we want them, but God's desire is not to make us comfortable; it is to make us more like Him. So, "safety" might mean taking away something that is hindering your relationship with Him. It may look like plunging you into the midst of sorrow, so you can find that He is your true source of comfort. It may even look like allowing illness or injury to get your eyes off the distractions in life and back onto Him.

Whatever God allows, we can be sure that if we have accepted Christ's payment for our sins, we are God's children, and as such, whatever happens to us must first pass through the filter of God's loving care.

Shining in the Darkness

Our world is in chaos. Some are sick, even dying, others are facing another month of unemployment, wondering how they will pay their bills. Many are isolated from those dearest to them. As summer nears, the sun shines bright and warm and the days grow longer, but the world still feels immersed in darkness.

I am reminded of the passage in Exodus 10, where God brought the plague of darkness upon the Egyptians. It was a supernatural darkness, a darkness unlike any they had experienced before. The Bible says it was "darkness which may be felt". The land was covered with "thick darkness", but notice the difference between the Israelites' homes and the homes of the Egyptians:

"They saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days: but all the children of Israel had light in their dwellings"

Exodus 10:23 

The world around them was dark, the people isolated and afraid, yet the darkness couldn't touch God's people. 

This may seem like a dark time to those around us, but in reality, the light of God's goodness, sovereignty, love, mercy, and every other attribute of God is still shining, for God does not change. He is not hindered by any part of our current crisis. He is still at work, still powerful, still loving.

"If I say, Surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me. Yea, the darkness hideth not from Thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to Thee."

Psalm 139:11-12

Nothing --not even the darkness of a world thrown into crisis-- can come between us and the love of God. As Romans 8:38-39 states,

"For I am persuaded, that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord."

When the world looks dark to you, look to Christ, for He is the Light of the world. In fact, I John 1:5 says,

"This then is the message which we have heard of Him, and declare unto you, that God is light, and in Him is no darkness at all."

It is only in our relationship with God that we can keep the darkness at bay. While others wallow in hopelessness and depression, we can confidently live in hope, joy, and the certainty that God will use all this for good. After all, in God there is "no darkness at all".

But we aren't just supposed to keep this light to ourselves. Unlike the Israelites so long ago, we are not just to enjoy the light, but to shine it into the lives of others. In Matthew 5:16 Jesus commands us:

"Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."

The darker the world seems to those around us, the more they realize their need of the light, and the more opportunity there is for radiating the light of Christ into the darkness of those around us.

So how does God want you to shine your light into someone's darkness today?

Finding the Purpose of Your Wilderness

Have you ever been in the middle of nowhere? I remember once, on a trip with my sister, driving away from the highway into a terrain of low hills, with nothing but dirt as far as eye could see. It was late summer, and the ground was dry and dusty. The road was good, but the farther we got from “civilization”, the more I began to feel the suffocating feeling of being far from human help with no cell phone signal. 

My imagination began to conjure up “what-ifs”. The car could break down, we could get a flat tire, we could be on the wrong road entirely and not realize it until we ran out of gas, hopelessly far into the wilderness… all this ran through my thoughts within the space of a minute, then sped back through for another lap. Round and round they raced. I asked my sister how long it would be until we got there, and her reply bought me a few seconds of relief before my imagination got to work again. -I was so happy when we finally pulled into the dusty little town to which we were going!

There’s just something about being in a wilderness that is panic-inducing. I think for me it is because in a wilderness I become acutely aware of the fact that I am helpless, needy, lacking necessary resources, and completely cut off from human aid. 

I got to thinking about wildernesses today as I pondered the current state of our world. We are helpless in the face of this virus. We are needy and lacking necessary resources as workers are forced to stay home and companies reel with both the loss of business and a lack of workers. In addition to our economic resources, some other daily resources are in short supply: grocery stores have been out of staple food items, toilet paper, and cleaning supplies. Healthcare professionals in many places are facing a lack of masks, equipment, and medicine. 

As so many states and nations issue stay-at-home orders and social distancing has become the norm, we have become a people cut off from human aid, both physically and emotionally. We cannot gather together in person for encouragement or socialization, we cannot reach out to touch another person for fear of imparting or receiving a deadly illness. As masks become a more widespread precaution, we are even unable to smile at others when we do see them out in public.

Yes, this moment in history does feel very much like a wilderness.

And yet, did you know that God often takes His servants into a wilderness in order to fulfill a specific purpose? A quick scan of Scripture reveals many of God’s servants being sent into a wilderness for several purposes. Perhaps God will use one of these to encourage you today about your corner of the wilderness!

    1.      To meet with God

Moses was sent into the wilderness, where he met God, who spoke to him from the midst of a burning bush. It was in this encounter that Moses’ walk with God began. As far as I can tell from Scripture, Moses went into the wilderness viewing God solely as the God of his fathers, distant and impersonal. But by the time he left the wilderness, God was his own God, the God whom he now served and spoke with directly.

Perhaps this is you. Perhaps your wilderness is for the purpose of making God your own, of beginning or developing a true relationship with Him. Perhaps God has slowed your life down so that you will have no excuse but to take time to get to know Him.

    2.      To build your faith:

Israel spent over 40 years in the wilderness. Yes, it was in judgement for their unbelief and disobedience when they first got to the land, but God always has a loving purpose behind His judgements. He is just, but He is also merciful.

In the wilderness, their faith was tested and built over and over again. With every fresh difficulty came a fresh opportunity to learn to trust God, and to see that He is trustworthy.

The Disciples also found themselves in a wilderness at one point, and it was there that they brought to Jesus a lack of resources. They didn’t have food for the multitude, and it was too far for them all to walk to the nearest supply, but Jesus did a miracle and showed them that He was not hindered by their lack of resources.

Perhaps God is giving you an opportunity to learn to really trust Him. Look around you. Are there difficulties you can’t solve yourself? Those are the difficulties in which your faith can be the most effectively built as you learn firsthand that God is worthy to be trusted. God often removes our resources so that we can learn to trust Him to provide, just as the disciples had to trust Jesus to feed a multitude with just five loaves of bread and two small fish. (Matt. 14)

    3.      To prepare you for service

David spent years in the wilderness watching sheep, during which time God was preparing him to fight Goliath. He then spent years in the wilderness again while running from Saul, and was prepared to be king by the development of his leadership skills and the strengthening of his character. But more importantly, both of David’s wilderness periods were preparing his heart by teaching him first of all to delight in God, and then to wait upon God. He was being prepared spiritually as well as physically and mentally.

John the Baptist also lived in the wilderness until it was time for his ministry to begin. His was a solitary time, so far as I can gather, and it prepared him to hold fast to the truth God had for him to proclaim, no matter if people agreed with him or not. It prepared him to be bold with the truth and to stand firm, even when it meant prison and death.

Perhaps this time is a solitary time in which God desires to knit your heart to Himself, preparing you for later ministry through this time of decreased distractions. Perhaps the lack of human companionship is meant to teach you to delight in God, and perhaps the uncertainty of this time is meant to teach you to wait upon Him. (A book I’ve been listening to recently is Waiting on God by Andrew Murray. I highly recommend it!)

    4.      For Victory

Jesus Himself was led into the wilderness, not just to fast for forty days, not just to be tempted by Satan at the end of that time, but, --perhaps most importantly-- to have victory over temptation and the tempter.

Perhaps your corner of the wilderness is a corner fraught with temptation. This is the time to get close to God, cry out for His help, search the Scriptures for the truths that combat the lies Satan is using to try to trap you, and to finally experience the victory Christ has already won on your behalf!

Whatever the purpose is in your particular corner of this “wilderness”, know that it is a good purpose, for the will of God is “good, and acceptable, and perfect”. (Romans 12:2) Look to God, and ask Him to show you what He desires to do in your heart. Seek Him, dear reader, for He has promised to be found of you.

“And ye shall seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall search for Me with all your heart, and I will be found of you, saith the Lord”

Jeremiah 29:13-14a

“For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”

Luke 11:10

Pursuing Excellence

When you think of excellence, what images come to mind? Perhaps you see in your mind's eye medals and trophies, or a musical virtuoso playing before a large crowd. Perhaps the idea of excellence conjures up visions of someone intimidatingly good in the area in which you feel yourself the least skilled. Or perhaps to you, excellence is some far-off and maybe impossible goal toward which you press, unsure if you will ever attain it.

A look at a modern dictionary will give us synonyms like "perfect", "preeminence", "superiority", and "supremacy". These descriptions can make the quest for excellence seem to be a daunting matter, indeed! Yet at the same time, the very fact that one does not somehow "arrive" at excellence suddenly or by accident is part of its charm. After all, the pursuit of excellence is a pathway one follows, not a destination one reaches.

Excellence isn't all about external accomplishments, either. It takes internal excellence to achieve external excellence. For the Christian, excellence in any external endeavor is completely dependent upon spiritual excellence within.

I have been thinking about this a lot recently, as writing has begun to morph into more than just a hobby. A while back, I came across a quote by William Wordsworth which says

"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart".

This quote captivated me, and the more I thought about it, the more true it seemed. Writing is essentially the "breathings" of one's heart on paper. This brings to the Christian author a grave responsibility: if I am writing out of what is in my heart, I must make sure my heart is filled with Christlikeness. If my heart reflects Christ, so will my writings. To reflect Christ is, after all, my primary goal as a writer.

This brings me back to the thought of internal excellence. According to Scripture, Daniel was a man of "an excellent spirit". In fact, twice he was called so in the book which bears his name.

In reading through the first six chapters of Daniel which form the narrative section of the book, it is interesting to note just how many accomplishments Daniel is said to have had. He was known for wisdom and knowledge, he was known to have understanding, he was even said to have been ten times wiser than all the king's wise men, of whom he ended up the chief.

These all are aspects of outward excellence, but the source of Daniel's outward success can be found in Daniel 1:8, where we see him purposing in his heart to obey God rather than the pagan king. This resolve of righteousness is a hallmark of inward excellence, and can be seen again and again throughout the book of Daniel as he speaks boldly to the rulers he serves, telling them of the one true God to whose graciousness those same rulers owed everything they had. This boldness before the most powerful men in the land was rooted in that initial decision to serve God first of all.

This same resolve can be seen in Daniel 6, when he again stood firm in the face of pressure, this time praying to his God openly, though he knew it  meant endangering his life. I had never noticed before, but there is no record of Daniel trying to defend himself or convince the king of his loyalty or that the law had been unjust. He apparently just took his death sentence calmly. --I don't think he likely had any idea of God stopping the mouths of the lions. He probably thought he would be torn to pieces before he hit the bottom of the pit, as his enemies were later on.

Yet through all this, Daniel remained steadfast and faithful, wise, never sacrificing righteousness for expediency or even personal safety.

What a challenge to us, for we live in a day of far less social pressure and persecution. If Daniel could stay strong in the face of certain and very painful death, can we not remain strong for Christ in the face of angry words or disapproval?

The key is the heart. Daniel had a heart whose greatest desire --even greater than that of personal safety or even of life itself-- was to please God. That is what I want my heart to be, for then when I write, I can indeed fill my paper with the breathings of my heart, and know that those breathings will bring glory to God.

Freedom Through Truth

"Then Jesus said to those Jews which believed on Him, If ye continue in My word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

 And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

They answered Him, We be Abraham's seed, and were never in bondage to any man: how sayest Thou, Ye shall be made free?

Jesus answered them, Verily, Verily, I say unto you, Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.

And the servant abideth not in the house for ever: but the Son abideth ever.

If the Son therefore shall make you free, ye shall be free indeed."

John 8:31-36

This passage is often quoted, but I had not really pondered it until recently. As Jesus said, the Truth (God's Word) does make us free from sin, but often we seem to be defeated by the very sin we were supposed to be set free from. Positionally we are free: we have God's divine empowering to say no to sin, but practically, we tend to live like sin is still our master.

This passage made me realize that it's not just a matter of doing better (although we do need to obey the Spirit's promptings), but actually choosing to believe God's Word over Satan's lies.

When I don't feel free, there's always a lie somewhere in my thinking.

It might be the lie of "it's not that big a deal..." or, "Only a little won't hurt anything" or, "I just can't help myself..." or any number of lies Satan might use to get us off course, but freedom only comes when we believe the truth of God's Word and choose to reject the lies of Satan.

So when you don't feel free, recognize that there's a lie somewhere, and go digging for the Truth instead!

Only by Pride

Every once in a while I have a day where it seems the world is out to get me. I know, of course, that this is not true, but it seems that way nevertheless. (Ever notice how one’s feelings can so easily fail to correspond with reality?)

On those days, whether it is friction with family, disappointment with other drivers in traffic, or a classful of students who seem bound and determined to make their day (and mine) as unpleasant as possible, by the end of the day it can feel like there is conflict all around me.

The reality usually is that there are only one or two people actually being difficult, and the rest is all the result of my grumpy attitude’s skewed perception.

Of course, God knows all about us, and has anticipated the contention we so commonly experience in life. Instead of turning outward in selfish anger from a bitter, grudging view of how everyone else is to blame, God directs us toward ourselves:

“Only by pride cometh contention: but with the well advised is wisdom” Proverbs 13:10

So there it is: the only source of contention is pride. I therefore have the responsibility to meet contention with humility. It is very rare that I have experienced contention in which my own pride has had no part. There is almost always something I can humble myself and ask forgiveness for in any situation of contention.

Taking a situation from the perspective of humility not only helps us to avoid contention (if we can be humble in the first place, contention won’t have a chance to appear), it also helps with the resolution of contention.

When you’re holding onto a grudge or a grumpy attitude there’s nothing that takes the wind out of your sails faster than having someone come in humility and apologize for something you were partially responsible for. Like I said, it’s usually not hard to find something I could have done better in a given situation. Being the first to ask forgiveness is hard, (what an understatement!) but it goes a long, long way towards mending the rift caused by contention. I Peter 5:5 says we should be “clothed with humility”, which is crucial, for as it goes on to state, “God resisteth the proud, and giveth grace to the humble”.

If we hold on to that feeling of the world being against us, we are in reality refusing the grace God offers for every situation in our lives. –Perhaps it feels like the world is against us because we are pridefully holding on to our “rights” and God is –faithful to His Word—resisting us.

When we respond in humility, however, we open up the floodgates, as it were, for God’s grace to work. We are in agreement with God’s perspective of us as we really are in His sight, and we can more readily see others in the light of that reality as well. Instead of focusing on their faults, we see our own, and are reminded that we are sinners in need of a Savior, just like anyone else.

Humility will also prompt obedience, whether restitution or asking forgiveness, or simply praying for the person with whom the contention was happening. Whatever action the Holy Spirit prompts, pride will balk at it, but humility will embrace it.
So, next time you’re tempted to grumble about the people God puts in your life, remember that you are a sinner saved by grace, and accept God’s grace in humility.

Book Review: Let Me Be a Woman by Elisabeth Elliot

When one of my friends recommended Let Me Be a Woman as our next book club read, I was thrilled! I had heard of this book from several people, and I have always found Elisabeth Elliot's writings to be helpful and insightful, so I jumped at the excuse to spend some time with this little volume.

The book itself is not very long, and although there are 49 chapters, each one is only a few pages. it made a good "filler" read for when I had just a few spare minutes here and there. 

That having been said, this book has a great deal of substance. Written as a sort of letter to her daughter on the occasion of her marriage, this book contains some powerful arguments against the modern feminist movement. It was originally written in 1976, but the message is still vibrantly true and needful today. 

The overall premise is that God has designed women to be the most fulfilled when they are fulfilling the purpose for which He has designed them. 

Simple, right? 

But what the Bible clearly teaches about God's design for women is so very different from the feminist perspective, and there have been many arguments put forth against the Biblical model of womanhood. This book combats some of the most common of these arguments. It also gives some excellent perspective on how God intends for marriage to work and some good advice on some points to consider before entering marriage. 

This is my favorite quote from the book:

 "The fact that I am a woman does not make me a different kind of Christian, but the fact that I am a Christian does make me a different kind of woman. For I have accepted God's idea of me, and my whole life is an offering back to Him of all that I am and all that He wants me to be."