Off With Their Heads! Or Maybe Just Slaves…Which is Worse?

If the giants came out of the camp and drew the battle lines yesterday, they crossed the line and brought their army to fight alongside them today.  People say “it’s gonna get worse before it gets better…” and that phrase drives me crazy; probably because it often proves to be true.  And so it seems that James, the brother of Jesus, one of the first of the twelve to be martyred, decided to address this issue – “count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.”  I’ve heard many think that just when they couldn’t take anymore-BAM!!!   Something else knocks them flat on their rear.  I personally pray for a couple that I wonder sometimes how they continue on….

Still, I wrestle with this idea of having joy in suffering, joy because of suffering, joy with suffering or anything else that combines the word joy and suffering.  Today I was reading a story in 2 Chronicles 12, where Rehoboam, the son of Solomon chose against serving the Lord and gave his service to other gods and other kingdoms.  As judgement, God sent Shishak, king of Egypt, against  Rehoboam with twelve hundred chariots and sixty thousand horsemen.  God sends the prophet Shemaiah to Rehoboam in mercy with the message: “you abandoned me, so I have abandoned you to the hand of Shishak.”  Rehoboam repents, as he should, and God says with amazing mercy and grace, “they have humbled themselves, so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak, they will instead become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between my service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries.”  So…in mercy, after repentence, after they see the error of their ways before God, punishment is still coming….how would I feel if I were Rehoboam and the people of Jerusalem?

We fail to recognize how great a mercy that God showed us when he sent us Jesus Christ, and how now he considers us heirs with Him when we repent of our sins.

How would I feel?  At first, I would probably feel, “that’s not fair.”  And I would be right, God would have every right to destroy me, humble repentence or not – I sinned, and that’s justice.  Second thoughts?  Rehoboam was having a BAD day – A REALLY BAD DAY!  Nevertheless, God was merciful to him and his people.  In the end, God was setting out to work in Rehoboam’s life, he wanted Rehoboam to learn something, that there is a difference between serving God and serving others, and he will learn the joy between the two.   Rehoboam was eventually going to learn joy through suffering and God would be glorified through destruction of people or slaves of people, justice would be served or mercy would be given.

So when I look at my life, the giants that have risen about me, the problems that never seem to stop and there seems very little rest; have I considered if God has been glorified someway through it?  Has my attitude been humble towards Him?  Glory belongs to the Lord – whether I’ve had a bad day or a good day – problems or not.  I love the Lord, and I want Him to be glorified in my life…even with the suffering.

My Friend And Her Spouse Hurt Tonight

Last night a dear friend of mine watched her father pass from this life into the next…

She hurts, noone can question that.  Everyone in the world would agree that she, of all people, does not deserve such a loss.  She loves her Dad; she loves people in general, but she had a special relationship with her dad.

Her husband, I know, hurts for her too.  He hurts because she does, and he doesn’t really know what to do to make the pain she feels to stop. 

That’s okay guys…take your time.  One of the things I love about our Comforter, the Spirit of our Lord Jesus Christ, is He is eternal.  He has all the time in the world to restore your heart to joy.

Psalm 139: The Effective, Loving, Ever-present God

Psalm 139: The Effective, Loving, Everpresent God

Recently a friend of mine asked if I had ever meditated on Psalm 139.  I’ve read a portion of it, but have never sincerely looked at it extensively…until today. Before I really go into my thoughts on just a few of what I feel are the main verses of the passage, I would like to say I believe in the sovereignty of God; He can do what He wants…period.  I know I will never understand all He wishes to do in my life despite the kind of person I am, but He does.  That’s one thing I’ve learned from this passage. Secondly, we know that God has endowed his creation man with a free will, and God is glorified when, despite of all we’ve done, we accept Him as He is, Holy, Sovereign and all. “O Lord, you have searched me, and known me.”This to me is the heart of Psalm 139.  God knows me, He understands me, and understands my thoughts far off or near.  He knows them as I think them; He knows them years down the road.  The Lord knows me so well that there is no word on my tongue or lips that God doesn’t know before I say it.  He is also behind me and in front of me.  He “comprehends” where I go, and when I just lie down…he understands my motivations for getting up in the morning and going from place to place and my motivations for going to bed - whether I’m tired or lazy.  If he knows that, He surely also knows why I stay in bed, and whether or not I believe I have any reason for getting up. God knows me; I heard it once said, “God is above me looking down, below me looking up, to my right side looking left and left side looking right, he is within me looking out.”  He knows my outside, every dimple, every pimple, every pucker, and every imperfection.  He knows my inside, every hair, every blood cell, every blood clot, every fat cell…He knows me.  He knows my heart, sinful motivations, sinful feelings and sinful flesh.  I’m a sinner, and he knows that…saved by grace, by Jesus Christ, but a sinner just the same…and with all that information that God knows about my person…verse 5 says He has “laid His hand upon me.” I cannot “flee from God’s spirit,” even if I wanted to.  This doesn’t mean I can’t go out from His grace and sin, it just means God is everywhere and ever present, no matter where I go, He is there.  God will orchestrate life to bring me back as a child of God, and as a sinner, orchestrate life to bring sinners to Him.  But even when I want to hide, when I say “surely the darkness shall fall on me,” even then God shall light the darkness so nothing may hide in the darkness.  He is there, and nothing will hide from Him, no secret sins.  He knows them, even the dark secrets of our past, it doesn’t surprise Him, He makes night to day and darkness and day are one to Him, because it is ALL light. “Oh that you should slay the wicked, O God!”  This passage seemed strangely out of place to me, until I thought that maybe the wickedness would be within me.  It makes sense.  After all that trying to hide my sin, hide in the darkness, and I now see how I am before a Holy, righteous God because of His light, would it not make sense to ask Him to slay the wickedness within? Can this sin within be  my enemy?  Who else might say that I am “my own worst enemy?”  Couldn’t all of us?  I think I’m on the right track in this line of thinking as the next section of verses say, “Search me, O God, and know my heart…see if there is any wicked way within me.” My friend asked after reading this Psalm 139, “How can God forgive me if He knows I’m going to screw up again anyway?”  Because He knows you, and mercy is in His disposition, He’s sovereign and He can, and He also knows He gave you a free will.  He has faith in Himself and His Word, and He knows His light will eventually lead your free will to saying “Search me, O God!  Try me!”  God is God, and He made a Way, and Jesus is sufficient for us, even when we doubt ourselves.  I see this passage as joyful.  If God knows me this well, how can I lose when I trust Him and Him alone?  Not trust Him and myself, but just Him.  And guess what?  We don’t have to understand it all….just trust Him, He does…He’s God.  Even the Psalmist said, “such knowledge is too wonderful for me: It is high, I cannot attain it.”  God is God, He is love, He puts His hand on me, He lights up the shadows and sin I’ve hidden (that’s a good thing), and He looks for us to cry out to Him because He is God, and he loves us, whether we understand it or not.

How Did Christ See Men? How Do I See Men?

Who has believed our report?
      And to whom has the arm of the LORD been revealed? 
      For He shall grow up before Him as a tender plant,
      And as a root out of dry ground.
      He has no form or comeliness;
      And when we see Him,
      There is no beauty that we should desire Him. 
      He is despised and rejected by men,
      A Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief.
      And we hid, as it were, our faces from Him;
      He was despised, and we did not esteem Him.  

 (Isaiah 53:1-3) 

Walking amidst a crowd of marketgoers,  it’s easy to get lost.  I am nothing but a mere consumer myself,  to shop for fish, or dates, or olives, or chickens, or goats, or sheep, or doves; I find I am another face in this crowd.  You can hear the constant buzz of shoppers and friends and neighbors.  I watch the people who pass by me to the right, as more of the same walk along side me on my left.  Some glance at me, but most look the other way when my gaze meets theirs.  Their faces are fresh, their hairs are clean; unmarred by the sweat that this day at the marketplace will bring.  Some are so concerned with their lives; they wonder how they will survive if customers do not buy, while the shoppers wonder how they will survive paying such hefty prices for survival.  Some hardened faces are hardened with a look of constant concentration, always weary that their fellow countrymen will take advantage of them.  Groups of young women have already gathered, watching their mothers shop, or talking and laughing with their young women friends.  A religious leader’s boisterous voice can now be heard loud and clear down the street, and it sounds as though he’s coming this way.  Ah, yes, here he is, giving shillings to those poor blind and maimed sitting just outside the market.  He prays loudly so all can hear, and a dirty, lame, beggar dives at his feet to thank him for his holiness and mercy.  This gathering is not one of silence.  Here, I am not in a crowd of silent onlookers but in a crowd of life and vitality.  For this is what life consists of, and I am among them…just another man, buying just another fish, or olives, or chicken, or goat, or sheep. 

Today when I pray, I will pray for these who I pass by and those who pass by me.  I will pray that God’s will be done.  Someday I will be baptized among them, I will be crucified for them, and I will be glorified by them; though I once shared glory with my Father, I am no better than they.  Today, I will silently pray, because not one of them recognizes me for who I am; but I recognize them for all they are. I’m just another face in this crowd of marketgoers, and shepherds, and Pharisees and tax collectors-those who God has sent me for.

I hope that I can see others as Christ might have.  Many didn’t even acknowledge who He was, but that didn’t matter to Him.  May I never take other’s lack of acknowledgement of me as reason to not acknowledge Christ to them.

3rd and 4th Spoke – “Fellowship and Witness”

Point 1:  “Staring At The Threshold”

Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they may be saved.  (Romans 10:1)

Imagine lying at the door of Death.  It is inevitable that you will be going through that door, sooner than those around you.  Maybe you have a disease, the doctors won’t tell you much, other than you do not have much time, and there’s nothing they can do to help you.  You are staring at the threshold of Eternity, not standing at it, mind you…you have time, but only by the grace of God.  But you don’t believe in God, at least, not Heaven and Hell anyway….that’s what you’ve told yourself, but you always pray to Christ for forgiveness and peace when the going gets REALLY rough. 

Now, here you are, scared because you might be wrong.  You don’t know of course, who can?  Yet you will find out sooner than anyone else.  If you are right, you will close your eyes and fade from existence; this life being all you had.  If you are wrong?  If you choose not to believe what that close Christian friend told you about Christ or what that stranger said when he told you about the death and ressurection of Jesus, just for you, what then? 

Such is the attitude I need to have towards those who do not believe in Christ.  If they HAD TIME to choose, to look at deaths door, what would they choose?  What if they had no idea what was on the other side?  What if you were the only person to help them decide – Heaven by believing or Hell by ignorance?  If I could just get a glimpse of most people this way, would my uncaring attitude change?   People who scoff at the LORD, those who hear the Good News and refuse to believe, may change their tune if they just knew the end was coming.  If I can take this attitude, would I ever give up praying for them, no matter how cruel they treat me or who I stand for?  Or would I just not care because of their indifference?  If God were to give them all the grace, just one more day, one more hour, then I should try to picture what that person may do if he or she stood at the threshold of Eternity.  God forbid, they should reject the witness of our Lord in love, and step into Hell, after my heartfelt warning and affirmation of Christ’s love towards them!  But some will, we just can’t give up hope until hope is gone…because as long as God gives that person the grace to take one more breath, he may also give them one more breath to choose to follow Him and believe that He is Lord. 

For my fellow believer, my attitude changes towards you as well if I can take this attitude towards the unbeliever; because you are united with me in a cause if you share the same burden.  We have a common goal, to love the world one soul at a time that our Lord will be glorified.  I will help you, you will help me, and “fellowship” continues.  And my-”uncaring attitude” towards people besides myself, ends.  May we all “stare at the threshold” before we have to walk through it, for ourselves, but most importantly-for eachother.