Worshiping In the Face of the Enemy

The imagined battle lines were drawn.  Two armies, Israelites and Philistines, had come to slaughter the other into submission.  The giant of a giant army has come to laugh and scoff at the “army of God;” and he states in more definitive terms what the battle lines truly are – man to nine foot, giant man.  Any average soldier imagining themselves fighting this enemy of God were “shaking in their armor.”

Enter David, the shepherd with staff in hand and some food from his father, on a mission to see how his brothers fare in a battle which very well could change the fate of a nation.  Based on the terms the uncircumcised Philistine has laid, David’s concerned father Jesse back home could not only be son-less, he could be cleaning Goliath’s chamberpot and weapons.  It doesn’t take long for David to hear what he considered blasphemy and idiocy spewing from this “champion.” 

David’s worship begins here, “Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should defy the armies of the living God?” David asks.  After some rucous, and a scolding from his eldest brother, David is summoned before King Saul and automatically says EXACTLY what Saul should have said the whole battle.  “Let no one lose heart on account of this Philistine; your servant will go and fight him.”  Here he worships in the presence of this royalty, giving credit to the Lord.  “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God. The LORD who delivered me from the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear will deliver me from the hand of this Philistine.” 

Saul replies the only way he can, “Go, and the LORD be with you.” 

And so he does, with a sling and a stone, to make the strongest worship to God almighty.  “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin, but I come against you in the name of the LORD Almighty, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied.  This day the LORD will hand you over to me, and I’ll strike you down and cut off your head. Today I will give the carcasses of the Philistine army to the birds of the air and the beasts of the earth, and the whole world will know that there is a God in Israel.  All those gathered here will know that it is not by sword or spear that the LORD saves; for the battle is the LORD’s, and he will give all of you into our hands.”

Goliath draws near to attack, and David without hesitation RUNS quickly to meet Goliath in battle, slinging a stone from his bag that sinks into the giant’s forehead and brings him to the ground.  Goliath’s sword is then drawn by the young shephard, and used to take his head, and show the size that the giant always was in his eyes compared to the living God. 

David honored God with his lips and heart through this entire ordeal.  He did it among the army of Israel, amidst the presence of Israel’s king, and then in the face of Israel’s enemy.  And he never stopped. 

I think of the impossibility there must have been for David with just his sling and stone to kill this giant.  I have heard this story countless times in my life before, and I must say that I always thought there was someway that “scientifically” the stone hit Goliath just right.  But the more I ponder it, I think of the IMPOSSIBILITY.  Physically, scientifically, this would have been impossible for me to do, and it must have been the same for David the shepherd boy.  David was as human as I am.  Yet David had God, and he knew it, and that was all he wanted - that made the difference.  Knowing God and glorifying His name was David’s utmost desire.  Not because God NEEDED David’s glory, but because David NEEDED God’s heart and honor.  Nothing less would do.  The very character of David’s LORD did not demand David’s honor, but drew his love, and it gave David the heart of a warrior.  This gave God the opportunity to magnify Himself, not just to the Philistine army, but to the army of Israel, and He did the impossible.

Love God in the presence of your enemies, in your difficulties, seek Him , not His glory, not what He will reward with…HIM.

 

 

When Peter Forgot Worship

Yesterday on the way to work, I heard the song “Voice of Truth” by Casting Crowns.  It reminded me of a time when the movie “Facing the Giants” had first come out.  The ideas both the movie and the song conveys helped me to meditate on Peter, as he stepped out of the boat towards the Lord Jesus Christ amidst a storm.  Isn’t it amazing how we can hear a sermon or a Sunday school lesson so many times but never get the point?  God uses Life experiences to drive home the lessons that will make us just a smidge more like Jesus.  Come to think of it, that’s how Jesus taught His disciples…through real life experiences, but that’s for another blog.

There are situations we dread aren’t there?  Situations come up in life that we fear, or that make us nervous, or we would just rather not face altogether.  These experiences may not always be the same for everyone.  Me admitting to my boss that I jacked a project up scares me to death, but to another person, admitting mistakes to their boss might just be another part of their job.  I hated the feeling of cowardice I felt when friends or family pressured me to ride an amusement park roller coaster; but someone else might just blow off the jeers and teasing and go ride the Himalaya without a second thought.  In Matthew 14:22-33, Peter and the apostles of Christ were all facing something they’d rather not deal with – a storm which threatened to sink them.

I tried to put myself into Peter’s sandals as wave after wave crashed into their boat, threatening to sink them.  Perhaps he is doing his best to secure a sail when he looks up and sees what he believes must be a ghost coming toward the boat on the surface of tempest waves.  Then the ghost shouts over the waves, “Do not be afraid!  It’s me, Jesus!” 

I don’t imagine Peter believed this at first, but he had seen great things from Jesus before.  Back on the shore he had just witnessed and helped Jesus Christ feed at least 5000 people with two fishes and 5 loaves of bread, he had never expected this miracle as he began to pass his basket of fish or bread on to the next hungry person, and the next, and the next, until he finally lost count and the laws of supply and demand were completely defied.  If Christ could do that, surely he could walk on water.  Peter decided it was worth his life to see if it truly was Jesus; he would rather be with Jesus, his master and teacher who he loved, then be in this boat, afraid of sinking.  “Lord!  If it really is you!  Tell me to come to you!”

“Come!”  Christ commanded.

Peter is thrilled!  It is the Lord!  I must be with Him, I must go to Him now!  He throws a leg over the stern of the boat and feels solidity under his toes.  He throws the other leg over and lands flat footed on a foamy wave dissipating into a larger sea.  His eyes fix on Jesus, and he begins to walk, one foot in front of the other into the darkness where only Jesus is. 

Peter’s teacher is out there, making this possible.  He is waiting for Peter to take his hand in fellowship, loving Peter so much because Peter trusted him enough to do the impossible – walk on water – just to be with Him.  Peter is worshiping God through this act of faith.

Then perhaps a wave slaps Peter in the face - cold, wet, and shocking - and he begins to examine his surroundings, looking distracted.  Peter looks down at his feet, among waves of darkness, he looks back and sees the boat which is being tossed like a toy in the water, waves continue to slap his body and fear suddenly grips his heart. Peter realizes he is no longer standing, he is sinking!  And like so many of us do when we realize we are in over our heads (whether we believe in God or not), Peter screams  ”Save me, Lord!”

And Jesus is there…

What would have happened if Peter would have made it to Christ, undistracted by the chaos about him and just desiring the satisfaction, pleasure and glory of Jesus?  We may never understand what we do so many times in our frantic attempt to observe and solve our problematic situations (or ordinary everyday situations for that matter).  We would be so much better off if we would just seek the solutions through the heart of our God; look for His pleasure because He is God and He loves us, and just wants our love in return.  What would happen if we found a solution and asked ourselves, “Would this please Jesus?  Is there another solution that would please Jesus even more?”  This glorifies Jesus, this magnifies His greatness:  When we take what seems big to us, and make it small through our love (our worship) for our bigger God.

 

 

Worship – Who Has the Time?

Wake up late, fix pot of coffee, go pray, get coffee, read bible,  take a shower, get dressed, shave – no, there’s no more time, and I could probably go one more day anyway, eat bran flakes, brush my teeth, grab the rest of the coffee, grab Bible, journal and book (just in case there’s more time later) and head out the door to drop the kids off by 8:10 am so I can be at work by 8:25, my truck time, not the time clock time, because it’s usually 3 minutes fast.  “Whew,” made it.  So far this hasn’t been a bad day, the only thing that would’ve made it a little better would have been waking up earlier so I could pray and read the bible longer.  Scarcely would I think anything to be missing in this fine morning (this type of morning which happens A LOT).

For anyone who has seen the movie “One Night with the King,” you would probably be interested in the book “Finding Favor with the King” by Tommy Tenney, also author of the “God Chasers” series which I heard was great, though not necessarily my style.  Like the movie, this book is based on the biblical scripture of Esther, a story of a young Jewish girl who was taken and forced into a beauty pageant of sorts for the hand of King Xerxes of Babylon (and Queen of his kingdom).  She took a bad situation that she wasn’t able to escape and made the best of it, winning Xerxes heart and eventually becoming the salvation of the Jewish race.  Tommy breaks this story down into detailed principles and gives lessons which ultimately teach us how we should worship the King of Kings as Esther worshiped her would be husband and King.

I never knew there were so many lessons in the book of Esther.  Though many very good principles, which could be preconceived opinions of the author rather than biblical fact, the basic premise is that we must worship the King for who He is.  The King of Kings is looking for those who love HIM; rather than His royalty, His riches and His blessing. 

I think so many times we get so busy that we do things just because we’ve always done them.  Even “church stuff” like reading our bibles, attending Sunday worship services, praying, singing with raised hands are often for us to satisfy OUR spiritual taste buds for the week, check off our church checklist and move on to whatever is next on the agenda.  Very seldom do we consider that God has this crazy idea that church is for HIM.  We are for HIM.  Mission work is for HIM.  Reading our bibles is for HIM.  It is He who is glorified when we start to do things just because we love Him.  

In the Bible we see the church as Christ’s bride.  I love my bride.  She is my wife, my love, my beloved.  I love to do things for her just because of that love I have for her.  I also love when she does things for me just because too.  In fact, I love her most when she honors me with her actions, it could be anything (cleaning my truck, rubbing my back, saving her money to buy the best grill she could find, etc) I would give her the world when she seemingly does nothing except for the sheer fact that she loves me.  So too should we do just because we love our Lord.  On the other hand, if my wife comes in and showers me with kisses every time she sees me just to grab some money from my wallet so she can go blow it on whatever (kind of like we do when we do our daily bible reading and pray just so we can hopefully cash in on His blessings) I would be deeply disappointed, and probably even feel a bit used.  Now I’m sure my wife would never admit to using me in this way (would we admit it to God?), but facts are still facts, especially if it happens on a consistent basis. 

How many times do we run to God when we get ourselves into trouble or need some kind of boost in confidence?  When was the last time we loved God just because He is who He is?  He is the church’s husband, maybe the church should start acting like a good wife instead of an adulteress who only comes home when she wants something.  Maybe we should give God something of our time like devotions FOR Him, instead of doing our devotions for getting FROM Him?  Think about it.

Intensity Of Our Lord

Monday morning I woke up thinking to seek God; the Sunday School message I taught the day before suggested all Christians should do so.  We should all seek God with a gazelle type intensity with a fervor and passion that can do absolutely nothing but bring glory and honor to Him.  The problem was, it was difficult to find Him that morning. 

So immediately this story came to mind…

And behold, the LORD passed by, and a great and strong wind tore into the mountains and broke the rocks in pieces before the LORD, but the LORD was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the LORD was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the LORD was not in the fire; and after the fire a still small voice.

1 Kings 19:11-12

The things that I have reflected from this passage gives me more of an idea of how the character of God is.  It amazes me that as the Lord passed by a wind went BEFORE Him.  I tried to place myself in Elijah’s shoes, standing on a mountain and knowing the Lord is passing by, but before He passes, chaos goes before Him, such a strong wind that rocks and mountains were torn in pieces!  Not only this unnatural wind, but an earthquake, and if that wasn’t enough -  fire!  And all of this goes before the Lord.

What an intensity must go before Him!  Then I realized this is the same God I serve.  And He is with me because I have faith in His son Jesus Christ.  My actions should reflect what a God I serve as well, the same Jesus who’s spirit is within me should be living the same type of intensity in my everyday world.  When this type of life is lived, people start to look, but they shouldn’t see God in all the zealousness and determination that His servants serve Him with, they should be able to listen and hear the still small voice that is behind it all – motivating and powerful.  It is in that still small voice that people begin to find peace and salvation, when they look BEHIND the wind, earthquakes and fire my life brings through the Spirit of God.