Daily Mercies

Today, as I sit down to write, there is a lovely cool breeze stealing in through the open window, perfumed with the scent of a fruitful garden on a warm day. The room is flooded with natural light and whichever window I look out of, I see trees. Looking around me, I see many things to be thankful for: my air conditioner, the chair in which I sit to write, (an heirloom from a grandmother), four bookshelves stuffed with books, a laptop, a tablet and a multitude of journals in which to write, my favorite fountain pen nearby, and nick-knacks everywhere that remind me of things God has taught me and people I love. I can hear the muffled voices of my family in other parts of the house, and the street is quiet, with birds singing and only an occasional car passing. This morning, I am struck by just how much there is to be thankful for.

I am reminded of a Scripture passage that has been very dear to me over the years:

“This I recall to mind, therefore have I hope. It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is Thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:21-23)

God’s mercy is not limited to salvation. He has shown Himself merciful on the grand scale of redemption, but He also shows Himself merciful every day. These “daily mercies”, as I like to call them, are all around us, even when we are too self-absorbed or distracted to notice them.They should be a constant reminder of His mercy and care for us.

But don’t get me wrong: the grander demonstrations of God’s mercy are enough for our hearts to live on for eternity, but to those great mercies, He has added innumerable others, little touches of His mercy sprinkled here and there throughout our every day. As Charles Spurgeon once wrote:

“God is so good that every moment of His love demands a lifetime of praise.”*

When I think of all that God has done for me, I cannot help but feel as Jacob did when he told God, “I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, and of all the truth, which Thou hast shewed unto Thy servant”(Genesis 32:10)

 

 

 

*Spurgeon, Charles. The Practice of Praise p.43-44

To Belong

We all have an innate desire to belong. Whether directed towards a family, community or just one person, the desire for belonging can be a powerful force. This is because we were made for fellowship. God designed us to need one another, but if we seek to satisfy our desire to belong apart from a relationship with God, we will never be satisfied.

To feel the bond of belonging to someone or even to a group of someones is the among the most wonderful experiences of the heart, and yet, this side of heaven that feeling is fleeting at best. We are sinful creatures clinging to other sinful creatures, expecting them to supply us with stability, acceptance, approval, and love.

But no one on earth can supply those things perfectly or completely, and we are left feeling empty again. To try to fill up the empty places in our hearts with human affection is like pouring water into a strainer and expecting it to stay full.

The only way to truly satisfy our hearts is to fill them with the love of God. To the aching of our hearts, God replies "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." (John 14:2-3)

Jesus came, died, rose, and ascended for one purpose: to make it possible for us to be with Him. He loves us more than anyone else could begin to love us, and He desires fellowship with us. That place He is preparing will be glorious, and it will be a place of fellowship.

When God allowed John to record what that place would be like, He began by announcing, "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" (Revelation 21:3)

The whole point of heaven is that we will be with the God to whom we belong. Our hearts ache here on earth because this is not our final destination. We are strangers and pilgrims in this world. (I Peter 2:11)

"For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, we have a building of God, and house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" (2 Corinthians 5:1-2)

Our hearts ache to belong, not just to our earthly homes and families, but to our final, perfect, heavenly home, where we will be forever with the Heavenly Father to whom we most wonderfully belong. That ache in our hearts is meant to draw us into closer fellowship with God now, looking forward to an eternity of "in-person" fellowship with Him.

A Candle in the Window

Jesus said, 

"Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid." (Matthew 5:14)

Our world is dark, no question, and we have plenty of opportunity to shine for Christ. I love the picture He uses in this passage to illustrate just how visible we should be. 

As a teen, I caught my first glimpse of Seattle as we made an early-morning airport run. It was still pitch dark out, and I had never seen so many lights all at once! It was a spectacular sight, even from the freeway, miles away. Seeing all that light after hours of driving along the dark freeway was so refreshing!

But imagine with me a city, way up on a hilltop and filled with lights, as Seattle was that dark morning. The city shines so brightly, and gleams so warmly, we can't help but be drawn to it.  The thought of reaching the city and living life enfolded by that hopeful brightness inspires us to begin to walk towards it.

Now, imagine that the power goes out suddenly. The city is plunged into darkness, and from our view in the valley, it looks like the city has completely disappeared. There is now nothing but darkness, and however much we strain our eyes to discern the city against the skyline, we cannot. It seems as if the entire city has been wiped off the face of the earth, and we feel that the warmth and brightness we sought has been irretrievably lost.

We stand still for a while, wondering what to do next. Then, someone at the edge of town puts a single candle in their window. From deep in the valley, we look up and wonder: is that really a light? It flickers and glows a little stronger. Yes, now we can tell that there is light up there. It's not just a trick of the eye. The flicker we see is the flicker of a candle, and somewhere behind that candle is a person --a person who is not fumbling around in the darkness, but sitting in the warm glow of the candle's light while the darkness covers everywhere else.

With so much darkness around us, it can be easy to feel like there's been a major power outage. But the truth is, we are not a power grid to be shut off, but a collection of individual candles, each one carefully shielded from the world's attempts to blow it out.

The world's counterfeit sources of light: prosperity, health, wealth, peace, and safety have all become widely unpredictable this year. It's as if 2020 has pulled the plug on everything the world was working towards. There is widespread darkness, hopelessness, and fear. 

But just as a single candle burning in a window can be seen further the darker it gets, just one Christian walking in the light can make a difference. Look what Jesus says:

"Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven."  (5:15-16)

Our light doesn't just illumine our own life, it lights the way for others, drawing the weary ones in the valley to the bright and hopeful glow of Christ. 

So, even when it feels like yours is the only window in the city with a candle shining, remember that even one can make a difference.

"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" I John 1:5

Tune My Heart

One of my favorite hymns over the years has been "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing". As I played it for church recently, I got to thinking about its words which were penned by Robert Robinson in the 1700s. Whether or not you're familiar with these words, they bear reading again:

Come, Thou Fount of ev'ry blessing, 

Tune my heart to sing Thy grace;

Streams of mercy, never ceasing, 

Call for songs of loudest praise.

Teach me some melodious sonnet,

Sung by flaming tongues above; 

Praise the mount --I'm fixed upon it--

Mount of Thy redeeming love.

Here I raise my Ebenezer-- 

Hither by Thy help I'm come; 

And I hope by Thy good pleasure,

Safely to arrive at home.

Jesus sought me when a stranger, 

Wand'ring from the fold of God;

He to rescue me from danger,

Interposed His precious blood.

O to grace how great a debtor

Daily I'm constrained to be!

Let Thy goodness, like a fetter,

Bind my wand'ring heart to Thee;

Prone to wander-- Lord, I feel it--

Prone to leave the God I love;

Here's my heart-- O take and seal it,

Seal it for Thy courts above.

Our hearts need to be "tuned" to sing of God's goodness. After all, if the only thing we had to praise God for was our salvation from sin and an eternity in His presence, we still would have enough to keep us busy praising Him every moment of our lives. 

Charles Spurgeon once said, "God is so good that every moment of His love demands a lifetime of praise."* God's goodness is what, as Robinson wrote in his hymn, binds our wandering hearts to God. We are prone to leave Him, to get distracted and wander off spiritually. But the remembrance of His goodness to us should bring us right back to His feet, hearts tuned to sing His praise. 

Romans 2:4 states that "the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance". When we consider God's goodness, we are naturally led to a deeper realization of just how far short we fall in comparison. A heart tuned to sing God's praise is a grateful heart, but also a humble heart that acknowledges just how much God has done for us, and how gracious He was to do it, considering just how unworthy we are apart from Christ.

So as you get ready for church tomorrow, consider: is your heart tuned?

"I will sing unto the Lord, because He hath dealt bountifully with me." 

Psalm 13:6

*Spurgeon, Charles. The Practice of Praise p. 43-44

What Do You Expect?

I think it's safe to say that this year hasn't gone the way any of us had expected. So many plans have been cancelled, events have been postponed or called off altogether, and our daily lives have been upended. Even as things begin to open up again, things change so suddenly and so frequently, it's hard to make any plans at all. Never before has my generation of Christians (at least in the United States) been forced into such a literal practice of James 4:13-15.

"Go to now, ye that say, Today or tomorrow we will go into such a city, and continue there a year, and buy and sell, and get gain: Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away. For ye ought to say, If the Lord will, we shall live, and do this, or that"

I don't know about you, but it's hard to hold loosely to my plans and expectations about the future, let alone my plans and expectations of what today will look like. Yet, the Bible clearly teaches that we cannot expect things to go as we planned. Honestly, we can't even expect them not to go as we planned.

So, what can we expect?

I ran across Psalm 62:5 this morning. "My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from Him"

We wait upon God when we keep our eyes focused on Him, waiting humbly for Him to unfold His will for our lives. It is a moment-by-moment seeking of God, looking for His hand at work, holding our plans on open palms instead of tightly-clenched fists. To wait upon God is to expect only that whatever He does will be done for our good. It is to rest in the knowledge of God's goodness.

The rest of Psalm 62:5 mentions some things we can always expect of God:

• He will be our source of salvation and deliverance v.7
• He will be the only object worthy of our glorying in v.7
  
• He will be our source of strength v.7
• He will be our refuge v.7
• He will be trustworthy v.8
• He will be attentive to our prayers v.8
• He will be omnipotent v.11
• He will be merciful v.12
• He will be just v.12
  

In a world where we don't know what will happen next, we can confidently expect that God will still be God; unchanging, good, and sovereign over all creation!

When God Thins Your Garden

God periodically takes me through seasons when He seems to remove my close friends. It may be that they get married or have kids, or move away, or simply become too busy to spend time with me. This invariably coincides with some time off, and I end up racking my brain to try to think of a friend to come over or to go on a trip with me, only to realize that there's no one left.

During those times, it can feel like I've been forgotten, left out, or left behind. But the reality is that God is doing a purposeful work.

It's a bit like a garden. You see, a good gardener plants his (or her) seeds, and then lets them grow up together until they need more room. Then, the gardener will uproot some of the plants and transplant them or discard them to give the seedlings that are left more room to grow.

That is what God does with us. He sometimes removes a friend we've been growing alongside in order to give us both more room to grow.

I can look back at those seasons when God has "thinned" my garden patch and see how God has used the absence of friends to help me grow stronger and closer to Him in ways I never would have otherwise. My friends are a help, certainly, but they can also become a distraction, and I think sometimes God wants to clear away the people I lean on so that I have no other option but to learn to lean fully on Him. 

Seasons of thinning can be lonely, and naturally so, since we were designed for fellowship. But in those lonely times, we can take comfort in the fact that God has allowed these limitations for a good purpose. Our loneliness reminds us to seek His face, to learn that His presence is enough for this season. After all Romans 8:28 applies to the seasons of  "thinning" just as much as it does to the seasons when we are surrounded by friends. As Elisabeth Elliot once stated, "God never does anything to us that isn't for us."*

We are not forgotten, we are not left out, we are not left behind. God has merely cleared some space for us to grow. The thinning is not a punishment, but a blessing, if we will only yield to God's purpose in it and look to Him for comfort and peace.

And remember, each season of life is just that: a season. We are simply to accept each one as it comes, trusting that God knows what He is doing.

"For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end." (Jeremiah 29:11)

*Elisabeth Elliot, Be Still My Soul: Reflections on Living the Christian Life. Revell: Grand Rapids, 2003. p. 27

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.

Why Church is Important (even when it doesn't feel like church)

I don't know what church looks like for you these days, but likely, it looks different than it's ever looked before. As our church has begun the process of reopening, I know many of us have struggled to get back into the routine of "in-person" church. 

For some, the challenge has been to break away from the pull of comfort. Inertia can be difficult to overcome, whether we've gotten used to sleeping in on Sundays, or having a cup of coffee in our pajamas while we watch a livestreamed service. The struggle to break away from comfort is real. 

And why is it a struggle to go from couch to church service? Because comfort feeds our flesh, and Satan most definitely does not want us to break away from a habit our flesh enjoys. 

But that's not the only challenge these days. For many, the greatest challenge is that church just doesn't feel like church anymore. 

In our state, the coronavirus restrictions require us to have no more than 25 people in the same room, which necessarily limits how many people can interact with each other. We are also required to wear masks when inside the building, which, again, makes things very different. There are no hugs or handshakes, no passing of an offering plate, there's no choir, and any special music is prerecorded. 

I have heard many people say that they wonder if it's even worth going to church, if this is what church is going to be like. Perhaps we should all just stay home and watch the service on our couches.  Why put ourselves through all the effort of showing up, if it's not going to feel like church?

In thinking through this for myself, I realized there were two basic questions that needed to be answered: What is the purpose of church, and can that purpose still be fulfilled with the regulations that are in place?

To answer the first question, I checked my initial thoughts against what Ryrie had to say in his Basic Theology. I came up with three purposes for meeting as a church. 

1. Church is for the purpose of corporate worship. Honestly, I think this might be what is tripping many of us up. Satan wants us to think church is for us, when really, church is for God. Whether singing, reading from God's Word or hearing it preached, telling our friends about an answer to prayer, or even giving, every part of our church experience should be focused on God. Worshiping together is a major function of the church. 

2.Church is for the purpose of fellowship. Now, this is where most of us will get teary-eyed, thinking about all the fellowship we used to have at church before the pandemic.  And it's true, our fellowship is somewhat limited by all the rules and regulations, but I was convicted by Ryrie's description of what fellowship is all about: 

"The goal... is to increase the health, strength, commitment, and numbers of the body"*

With this in mind, think about what you're missing. Is it the opportunity to strengthen, nurture, or build a fellow Christian up in the Lord? Or are we just missing chatting with our friends about our week? 

3. Church is for the purpose of meeting physical needs through giving. There are lots of passages I could quote on this one, but I want to point out that this isn't just about weekly tithes and missions giving. This is about that one single mom who comes to church burdened because she doesn't know how she will pay her rent. She asks for prayer, and after the service, a church member puts an envelope in Pastor's hand with just the amount she needed. --That's not going to happen over livestream. 

But let's assess each of these: I'm going to use my church's situation as an example, just because that's what I'm familiar with. 

First of all, can we still worship together? You could say, the answer is "yes and no". No, we can't all of us worship together in the same room. But yes, we can worship together. In our case, each group can have up to 25 people worshiping together. But even on Wednesdays when we're only livestreaming,  and there's just three of us sitting in the sanctuary, it's still church. Remember, Jesus said, "For where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them." (Matthew 18:20) 

So can we justify the effort of coming to church even if our group ends up with only two or three people? Certainly!

Next, there's fellowship. Can we still increase the health, strength, commitment, and numbers of the church? Again, the obvious answer is "yes, but not as much as usual." However, we make the most impact on those with whom we have a relationship. Much of our interaction at church tends to be with those we're familiar with. But now that we have smaller groups, and people thrown together who usually may not have interacted as much at church, we have an even greater opportunity to fulfill the purpose of fellowship. We will naturally find ways to communicate with our particular friends, but what about others in the church? This limitation (and it is a limitation) of fellowship could actually be turned into a great opportunity. The dividing up of God's people could actually lead to greater unity when we come together later on.  So, is it worth the effort to seek to strengthen and nurture those with whom we "do church" each week? Definitely! 

Finally, meeting physical needs through giving. While we don't pass a plate around at our church, there is still a way to give in person. But of course, there is still online giving, so why should we make an effort to be at church because of giving? It is because of instances like I mentioned above. In the course of fellowshipping, we often discover needs that people wouldn't have told us of otherwise. Perhaps it is a need God will prompt us to pray about, or perhaps He will prompt us to meet that need, but my point is, meeting together gives the church an opportunity to find out about needs so that God can use the church to meet them. Is this still possible in a smaller group? Of course it is! In fact, people might be more comfortable sharing needs in a smaller group. 

If you still need an answer for the question of why church is important when it doesn't feel like church, go back to the first point again. Church is about God. Church is important, because God is important. Surely honoring Him is worth the effort!  

* (Ryrie, 499)

A Sinless Response to Suffering

This week I began reading through the book of Job in my time with God, as I do at least once every year. It's amazing to me just how rich a book this is, and how often it gets overlooked by Christians who label it as one of the "hard" books, right up there with Leviticus and Ecclesiastes. I won't say it's necessarily easy to read 37 chapters of anguish of soul, but there is so much for us to learn about God and our own trials through this account of Job's experiences. 

This time, as I read through the first two chapters, I was struck by what God said about Job's response to suffering. 

God allowed Satan to test Job's faithfulness by taking away all he had: livestock, servants, wealth, and, worst of all, his children. He was left with just his wife and the three servants who had escaped to bring Job word of what had happened.

Think about the enormity of his loss.

Now look at his response:

"Then Job arose, and rent his mantle, and shaved his head, and fell down upon the ground, and worshipped, And said, Naked came I out of my mother's womb, and naked shall I return thither: the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord." (1:20-21)

First, he acknowledged his grief. He rent his clothes and shaved his head, as was customary in the culture of the day. But then, in his grief, he fell down upon the ground and worshipped. 

He acknowledged God's right to take what He had given Job in the first place. He did not blame God, he did not even ask why. He just surrendered to God's will. 

And then he praised God. 

What a remarkable thing to do. I don't know if I would think to praise God in light of such grief and loss, but that is what Job did. And lest we think he was somehow harmfully repressing his emotions, look at God's view of Job's response:

"In all this Job sinned not, nor charged God foolishly." (1:22)

Job sinned not.

Right there, in the midst of a magnitude of loss most people will never even come close to experiencing, Job responded sinlessly. He did not blame God, he did not argue with God. He simply accepted what God had allowed and chose to praise Him in the midst of his grief. Though Job was a sinner, just like you and I, this was one thing God said he did right.

But Job's testing was not over: Satan again accused Job before God, this time citing Job's health as the source of his faithfulness to God. So God in His wisdom --and yes, in His goodness, too-- allowed Satan to bring upon Job an ailment that would cause constant and intense suffering. Then, in the midst of his physical and emotional agony, his own wife tells him to "curse God, and die." Supportive, huh?

This was Job's response to her:

"What? Shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?" (2:10)

This response shows Job's unshakable commitment to the truth that God has the right to do whatever He deems best. How ungrateful we are to eagerly take His blessings, only to complain when He allows them to be removed, as if they were ours all along!

I'm reminded of a quote from Anne of Green Gables, where Marilla tells Anne, "God does not want you for a fair-weather friend". 

When suffering comes, it is easy to focus on the trial, seeing nothing but darkness around us, but Job's response shows us that when darkness surrounds us, when pain engulfs us from every direction, we can look up and find peace of heart in knowing that God is in control. 

God approves of this response as well: "In all this did not Job sin with his lips." (10)

The sinless response to suffering is to look up, acknowledge God's sovereignty, and trust His unchanging goodness. It is to surrender to God's will, and to praise Him, not just in spite of, but because of what He has given and taken away. In short, it is to trust Him.

 Fully. Completely. Stubbornly. 

Trust Him. 

"Behold, we count them happy which endure. Ye have heard of the patience of Job, and have seen the end of the Lord; that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy."

James 5:11

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!

Fully Persuaded

Abraham was old. His wife Sarah was old. God had promised a son, but they had waited year after year, until both were long past the age of childbearing. But then God told them that within the next year, Sarah would give birth to their long awaited son, just as God had promised.

Romans 4 says about Abraham,

"Who against hope believed in hope, that he might become the father of many nations; according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be.

And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara's womb:

He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, giving glory to God;

And being fully persuaded that, what He had promised, He was able also to perform." (4:18-21)

God had promised something that was literally and physically impossible, but Abraham chose to believe it, to hope "against hope", trusting that God would be both able and faithful to keep His promises.

He was "fully persuaded".

He didn't just hope, he believed in hope. It was a definite choice to trust the faithfulness of the One who had promised. Neither did he allow the impossibility of the thing promised to shake his trust. He "staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief". In fact, he didn't even let himself dwell upon the impossibility, "considering not" the fact that neither he nor his wife were even capable of conceiving a child. God had waited until all human hope was gone, until even the possibility of hope had disappeared. --And aren't you glad He did?

We can look back at Abraham and be encouraged by God's faithfulness and power, or we can be tempted to dismiss it. We might think, well, that was so long ago, and it was for Abraham, that was different. But it's really not. Thousands of years later, we still have things God has promised to us in His Word. We still have things that seem --or perhaps are-- humanly impossible, that God asks us to believe He will do.

 A modern day example of faith in the face of impossibilities is Adoniram Judson. He knew God was calling him to take the gospel to foreign lands, but at that time, there were no American missionaries, nor were there any churches or societies prepared to send any. He tried to convince the missionary society in England to send some American missionaries out, but they declined. Then, after much effort, many disappointments and roadblocks, he and his wife Anne set off, with another missionary couple, for India. Through a lengthy series of circumstances, God redirected the Judsons to Burma, where Adoniram served as a missionary the rest of his life.

Much of that time, however, was filled with hardships and sorrows. During a war between Burma and England, he was incarcerated in a prison camp, where prisoners were deprived of food, chained together, with no shelter from the sun, rain, or insects. His wife brought him food for a time, but she became ill and he had to give their baby into the care of a stranger. After the war was over, Judson traveled back to their missionary station in Rangoon, only to find it deserted. Their few converts had been dispersed or discouraged by the war and its aftermath, and it seemed they would have to start all over. Through all this, the Judsons trusted God. They were known for saying, "The future is as bright as all the promises of God."

And it was. Though Adoniram Judson's life was filled with hardships and sorrows, God used him to bring the gospel to the previously unreached Karen people, and to translate the Bible into the Burmese language.  Judson's efforts are still bearing fruit to this day. Though he had times when he struggled to see God's purpose in the things which God had allowed in his life, Judson clung to the truth that God would keep His promises. He, like Abraham, was "fully persuaded", and God was fully faithful.

Which of God's promises seem impossible to you? Will you choose to trust, to be fully persuaded that God can perform that which He has promised?

"Faithful is He that calleth you, Who also will do it."

1 Thessalonians 5:24

The Magnitude of Small Things

I recently finished my tenth year of classroom teaching. It seems like just yesterday I was sitting in my first staff meeting, trying to comprehend all the ins and outs of how a school worked. In thinking back over the last ten years, I would have to say that one of the most significant things I have learned is the importance of small things. Small victories build upon one another, as do small defeats. Small kindnesses make big inroads into hearts. Small adjustments make big differences. Small weaknesses lead to big failures.

We naturally want to accomplish big things. We want our work to be meaningful, to make a difference. And it can be easy to get discouraged when your biggest efforts seem to yield only small results.

The prophet Zechariah ministered in a time of just such discouragement. The people of Israel had returned to the land after their exile in Babylon, and had begun to rebuild Jerusalem. You can read in Ezra and Nehemiah about all the opposition they faced from within and without as they attempted to build.

When the foundations of the temple were laid, those who remembered the glory of Solomon's temple wept because the second temple was so much smaller. Their work of rebuilding of the temple stirred up heavy opposition, and I think they must have wondered at times if it was really worth the effort. We know that God sent the prophet Zechariah to encourage them, and after assuring the people that the temple would be finished, the remarkable statement is made:

"For who hath despised the day of small things?"

Zechariah 4:10a

There is more to the verse than that, but basically, God assures them that His might is behind their efforts. Though their strength, their materials, their abilities may have been small, His are limitless!

That would have been encouraging to the post-exilic Israelites, for sure, but what about us? We are just as prone as the Israelites of old to "despise" small things, counting them as of little importance, perhaps even worthless.

But God doesn't see it that way. Everything has importance to Him, because He made it. From the great expanse of the universe to the very smallest electron, He made it all, and has a purpose for each and every part of His creation. He has a purpose for every millisecond of your life, and for the very smallest of your joys and sorrows. It all matters to Him.

I recently entered a writing contest for the first time. Although my entries did not make it into the finals, I did get the judging sheets back for each one. To my perfectionist sensibilities, my scores seemed like a "small thing" --I had hoped to do much better. But as I read through and analyzed the scores and comments, I began to realize that they weren't as low or as negative as I had initially thought, and that there was much to be encouraged about, as well as some things I needed to work on. Because I swallowed my pride and examined the "small things", I was encouraged in my writing instead of being discouraged by my need to grow in my writing skills.

It takes humility to look at the small, the inadequate, or the seemingly unimportant things in life and trust that God can indeed use them. At the same time, it takes faith to look at the large, overwhelming problems looming overhead and trust that God is bigger, and that He can use even your small strength to overcome them.

I am reminded of one of my favorite hymns by William Cowper:

"God moves in a mysterious way

His wonders to perform;

He plants His footsteps in the sea

And rides upon the storm.

Ye fearful saints, fresh courage take;

The clouds ye so much dread

Are big with mercy, and shall break

In blessings on your head.

Judge not the Lord by feeble sense,

But trust Him for His grace;

Behind a frowning providence

He hides a smiling face.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain;

God is His own interpreter,

And He will make it plain.