September 30, 2021
John 6:67-68 “Then said Jesus unto the twelve, Will ye also go away? Then Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life”
This was a place in the ministry of Jesus when He told His followers unless they joined completely with Him, just as when a person eats bread it becomes part of them, they could not be His disciples. This line in the sand caused people to make a choice and the Bible says in John 6:66 “From that time many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him”. As long as they followed him, watched and were perhaps entertained by, His miracles, filled up on the free food when He fed the multitudes, and thought He was some deliverer that would free Israel from Rome’s domination, they had no personal investment in Him, it cost them nothing. But following the Lord is not about free gifts, feel-good experiences, and spiritual entertainment, it’s about bearing crosses as the Lord said in Luke 14:27 “And whosoever doth not bear his cross, and come after me, cannot be my disciple” telling us there is personal commitment involved else we can’t be followers of the Lord. Although the His twelve disciples didn’t yet fully understand their future of carrying the Lord’s message into the world after His death and the personal cost that meant for them, even their death as martyrs, they understood enough about the Savior to know without Him, there was no future, no eternal life. Jesus had already made such a difference in their lives a life without Him was not an option for them as Peter summed it up in His answer when Jesus asked them if they too were going to turn away like many of His followers. Peter responded there was no other place for them to go, no other person to follow, no other truth to put their trust in for the Words of the Lord were the Words of eternal life. Taking up the cross is the personal choice to commit one’s ways to Jesus and be more than just a casual observer and curious follower, but to take His Words as bread and his life as blood and become transformed into His likeness and this is the determining factor that separates true followers from those who want to walk under His banner but refuse His cross.
We used to sing a hymn based on this thought called “Where Could I Go But To The Lord?” and it calls for us to take a look around at all the world, the flesh, and the devil offers as an alternative to a committed following of the Lord and make a conscious choice. The old-timers would say we need to “nail it down” and then refuse any other notion, temptation, advice, or distraction that’s trying to divert us from the way of the cross and the steps of the Savior. That day, when scores of people who had been tagging along with Jesus made their choice to leave Him and not follow any more must have looked like a day of failure for the ministry of the Lord sort of like when a pastor preaches a sermon very few like and they get up and walk out on him leaving a handful behind in a nearly empty church. But true success is not measured in how many follow, but how many follow with committed hearts and ways, and if we use that as a standard, much of Christendom may not be true followers at all but just religious seekers looking for anything and everything other than Jesus Christ. Billy Graham once quoted the Quaker theologian Elton Trueblood who said, “Our main mission field today, so far as America is concerned, is within the church membership itself.” In the Lord’s time, the Bible declares Mark 7:6 “He answered and said unto them, Well hath Esaias prophesied of you hypocrites, as it is written, This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me”. But when you look to Jesus and receive His gift of eternal life, all your sins are forgiven, the Holy Spirit comes to live inside your body, and your future is secured with the Lord’s family in heaven, you know there’s no other person, no other path, no other Words, no other hope, and no other answer on earth or in heaven but Jesus Christ, the Alpha, and Omega, the only door to heaven, the only advocate with the Father, and the only One who can give everlasting life.
September 29, 2021
Matthew 6:10 “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”
Is God in control? And looking back on what we’re able to understand about history, has He ever been in control at any time? About everywhere we look there’s suffering, pain, lawlessness, greed, deception, and the list goes on as if everything from the uppermost of government to the very basic units of the families and people that make up the human race is completely in disarray and always has been. Even the earth itself is reeling with earthquakes, monstrous storms, flooding, and the odds in favor of being slammed with an unstoppable asteroid. Then there’s the certainty of death in every living thing, human and animal, and the ultimate death by entropy when even the sun will eventually burn out and all life on the earth will completely cease. From that perspective, it sure looks like either God isn’t in control or He has set planet earth and its inhabitants adrift in endless space and will not intervene in their demise. People who do not believe in God or believe if He exists wonder why doesn’t He do something about the human condition and they ask these questions along with others like if God is real why are there Children’s hospitals, why do the innocent suffer, and why is violence allowed? Meanwhile, Christians are encouraged to praise God, sing worship songs, and wear smiles while the world, families, and even churches crash and burn all around them and as for the hard questions like those above, we face them with a sense of bewilderment for a moment then push them to the back of our cluttered minds because they make us too uncomfortable to look for answers, hinted at in 2Timothy 3:7 “Ever learning, and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth”. But by faith, when we trust God’s Word above human reason we know there has never been a moment from the creation of all things until now when the Lord was not in full control.
In heaven, you can be sure there is order, and God’s will is observably done. The rebellion of Lucifer and his followers is long past and the Lord allowed it for a brief period to provide an alternative when He purposed to introduce free will into the human creatures He placed on the earth. Disobedience is not a part of the Holy realm of God and believers look heavenward with a heart and prayer that desires the will of God be done on this earth. All the havoc and mayhem, suffering and sorrow, disorder and death on this earth are here because the Lord is allowing the course of humanity to run from Adam until the return of Christ with people making choices and living with the consequences of those choices and the reality is that humanity is connected by common threads and decisions and actions are not separate entities but they affect others intimately and sometimes globally. Yet for the Lord to interact with each distinct situation to bring immediate judgment, reward, and avengement there would be a constant restricting of mankind’s free will, and as painful and chaotic as it becomes, the Lord has purposed to allow life on this planet continue within the confines of the curse and general laws of nature until the day declared in Revelation 10:5-6 “And the angel which I saw stand upon the sea and upon the earth lifted up his hand to heaven, And sware by him that liveth for ever and ever, who created heaven, and the things that therein are, and the earth, and the things that therein are, and the sea, and the things which are therein, that there should be time no longer”. At that time, creation, as we know it, will be brought to an end and we will enter God’s eternity with a final reckoning day when all wrongs will be made right, all obedience and honor will be rewarded, and sin will be punished and put away forever. We see glimpses of this on occasion here and now and sometimes God intervenes in time and space to perform miracles that change the flow of life but He is fully in control and what seems is not God’s will has already been foreseen and being incorporated in His purpose and plan until the prophecy of 1Corinthians 15:24-26 “Then cometh the end, when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power. For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet. The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death”. Don’t fear the hard questions because for the moment we may not even like the answers but there is a final answer, a final decree when all that seems unfair, confusing, and deranged will be righted as given in Acts 3:20-21 “And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you: Whom the heaven must receive until the times of restitution of all things, which God hath spoken by the mouth of all his holy prophets since the world began”. Until then, may we pray the heart-felt prayer of “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven”.
September 28, 2021
Exodus 16:14-15 “And when the dew that lay was gone up, behold, upon the face of the wilderness there lay a small round thing, as small as the hoar frost (white frost) on the ground. And when the children of Israel saw it, they said one to another, It is manna: for they wist not what it was. And Moses said unto them, This is the bread which the LORD hath given you to eat”
The miracle of manna is often overlooked as one of the most significant miracles in the Bible because it was repeated six days a week for forty years, feeding over 2 million people daily, a total of over 4,500 tons of daily manna. For a 40 year period, that’s 65,700,000 tons or 131,400,000,000 pounds and is an amount too large to comprehend yet every morning they went outside their tents and picked up 6 to 7 pints for each person and on the sixth day, they picked up twice as much so they would have food for the next day, the Sabbath, a day of rest. Some have tried to explain manna away as some naturally occurring plant or seed in the desert but the scriptures say in Psalms 78:23-25 “Though he had commanded the clouds from above, and opened the doors of heaven, And had rained down manna upon them to eat, and had given them of the corn of heaven Man did eat angels’ food: he sent them meat to the full” calling manna corn or bread from heaven and saying it was angel’s food. Also, the miracle of the manna is that it supplied all the nutrition the people needed for 40 years showing it was a complete meal for sustaining their lives, and no matter how much they gathered, little or much, it was always enough Exodus 16:17-18 “And the children of Israel did so, and gathered, some more, some less. And when they did mete (measure) it with an omer, he that gathered much had nothing over, and he that gathered little had no lack; they gathered every man according to his eating”. One remarkable and sad commentary on human unbelief and ingratitude is that they became so accustomed to the daily miracle of manna, for which they didn’t work or worry, they just picked it up freely, they soon turned their backs on God as the Bible says Psalms 78:32 “For all this they sinned still, and believed not for his wondrous works”. Even as time passed, the Jews gave so much credit to Moses, they attributed the manna as a miracle at his hands, thereby dishonoring the Lord who provided it and Jesus rebuked their tradition in John 6:32 “Then Jesus said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Moses gave you not that bread from heaven; but my Father giveth you the true bread from heaven”. It is the way of foolish, proud, sinful humans to try to explain away the wonderful works of the Lord or attribute them in some way, to people.
This 40-year heavenly, God-provided bread from heaven miracle is one of the foundation stones of faith for us concerning God’s intent and determination to supply all our needs. The Lord was not going to deliver His people from Egypt in a breathtaking supernatural way then let them starve to death in their journey or expect them to do the best they could to survive. His purpose for them foresaw their needs and He didn’t panic when they crossed the red sea and all of the millions of them were hungry and thirsty any more than Jesus didn’t get flummoxed when He was faced with several thousand hungry people with no vast supply of food for the Bible says in John 6:5-6 “When Jesus then lifted up his eyes, and saw a great company come unto him, he saith unto Philip, Whence shall we buy bread, that these may eat? And this he said to prove him: for he himself knew what he would do”. See the unbelief of the Jews in Psalm 78:19 “Yea, they spake against God; they said, Can God furnish a table in the wilderness?” and the answer to that is yes, yes, and yes. He did, He will, and He always will do it because our Father is faithful to His children and those who trust in him He promises Psalms 34:10 “but they that seek the LORD shall not want any good thing”.
September 27, 2021
Proverbs 17:3 “The fining (refining) pot is for silver, and the furnace for gold: but the LORD trieth the hearts”
The process of refining, heating ore to high temperatures to separate the valuable gold or silver from other elements and impurities, is used as an example of the Christian life when we are going through times of testing or trials. 1 Peter 1:7 says “That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ” and helps us understand that our sin nature and the will of the flesh will not easily give up the things that contaminate our faith and the Lord allows or purposes adversities as a method of refining us because it seems it’s the only way we will change for the good. Sometimes the path through trials is the method God uses to get us to a better place in our relationship with him as in the case of Job, who was doing all the right things at the time trouble came his way but he declared in Job 23:10 “But he knoweth the way that I take: when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold. This is what the Holy Spirit brings to us in Romans 5:3 where the Bible says we glory in tribulations because they produce a stronger, more Christ-like believer.
The Lord is not picking us apart like a moody, hard to please boss but He is doing this for our benefit and in the end, the gold that’s refined in us by the trials brings a fullness of joy, the peace of patience, and the blessing of a greater hope. As bit-by-bit the things that power and feed the flesh are removed from us what remains is more freedom, more rest in the Lord, stronger faith, and a better testimony. Consider Hebrews 2:10 “For it became him, for whom are all things, and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons unto glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings” where the word “perfect” refers to the completeness of salvation not the sinless perfection of the Savior and shows the suffering of our Lord was necessary to produce the finished work of our eternal redemption. Perhaps the lives of Joseph and David bear witness to what it takes for us to become refined and ready to be used for God’s glory. Joseph was mistreated, falsely accused, and imprisoned before the Lord exalted him to a place of great responsibility and honor. David, after killing Goliath, was pursued like a criminal by Saul who was insanely jealous of the young man until the Lord brought the horrendous trial to an end and placed David on the throne. If we could view our troubles, trials, and tests for what they really are, God’s methods of making us better, stronger, happier, and well equipped in His work, it would give us the victory to patiently endure them knowing the Lord is setting us up for something far better.
September 26, 2021
2Kings 5:9-10 “So Naaman came with his horses and with his chariot, and stood at the door of the house of Elisha. And Elisha sent a messenger unto him, saying, Go and wash in Jordan seven times, and thy flesh shall come again to thee, and thou shalt be clean”
The Bible says Naaman was the captain of the army of Syria, and because of his success as such, he was a great man, honorable, and a mighty man of valor meaning he was an elite person to his nation but he had leprosy, an incurable disease at that time. When he heard about the prophet Elisha and that he could perform miracles, he and his servant traveled to Israel seeking a cure. He hoped Elisha would do some great miracle and heal his leprosy but when he came to Elisha’s house, the prophet didn’t even go out to meet Naaman but sent his servant to tell him to wash in the Jordan river seven times and he would be healed. This made Naaman very angry because he wasn’t used to being dismissed in such a way and he refused to do what the prophet said until Naaman’s servant encouraged him saying the prophet had asked him to do only a small thing so why not try it? When he did, his leprosy was healed instantly and this sets a great precedent for us that God’s ways are not always manifested in some mighty act either on His part or ours in obedience but He works as He chooses and never asks us to do above that which He has enabled us. Simple obedience is the Lord’s desire for us and He is not impressed or held to our debit by any great actions on our part just like the story of Naaman where the Lord didn’t want some feat of prowess, sacrifice, or a large sum of money to perform the miracle and when Naaman tried to press gifts upon Elisha, the prophet would have none of it. Seven dips in Jordan was the prescription of obedience and when Naaman humbled his heart and did exactly what the Lord said through Elisha, the Bible says “his flesh came again like unto the flesh of a little child, and he was clean”.
The enemy and our flesh war against us with the lie that we are not good enough, knowledgeable enough, spiritual enough, talented enough, or in some other way, we are incapable of doing God’s will and giving in to such thoughts, many people never follow-through and live in a place of obedience and blessings. Naaman’s highly contagious leprosy had separated him from his family, friends, and would have eventually destroyed him with a slow, agonizing death but simple obedience changed everything including his future. For believers, it is faithful obedience that counts as described in Luke 16:10 “He that is faithful in that which is least is faithful also in much: and he that is unjust in the least is unjust also in much” but before the Lord, it isn’t just faithfulness in the things of God but the Bible continues this thought in verse 11-12 “if therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit to your trust the true riches? And if ye have not been faithful in that which is another man’s, who shall give you that which is your own?”. “That which is another mans”, could mean our employer or the company we work for and unless we show faithful obedience in these things, doors may remain shut for us that otherwise might have provided great blessings. So Naaman returned to Syria healed and whole from a simple act of obedience. May the Lord richly bless all that humble their hearts before Him with a singular desire to obey the Lord in every matter including the smallest, seemingly insignificant ones.
September 25, 2021
Jonah 1:7-8 “And they said every one to his fellow, Come, and let us cast lots, that we may know for whose cause this evil is upon us. So they cast lots, and the lot fell upon Jonah. Then said they unto him, Tell us, we pray thee, for whose cause this evil is upon us; What is thine occupation? and whence comest thou? what is thy country? and of what people art thou?”
When Jonah ran from the Lord and ended up on a ship in the middle of a terrible storm, the men on the ship were afraid everyone was going to die in the storm and laid the blame on Jonah after they had cast lots to determine who was responsible for the big mess they were in. In the verses above, they rapid-fired five questions at Jonah trying to figure out who he was, where he was from, what was his business, and why he had brought this calamity on everyone. Maybe Jonah felt like crawling away somewhere and hiding but he summed up his courage and took responsibility for who he was and the situation he had put everyone in because of his disobedience. His answer is given in Jonah 1:9-10 “And he said unto them, I am an Hebrew; and I fear the LORD, the God of heaven, which hath made the sea and the dry land” and he proceeded to tell them he was running from God and that was the reason for the mayhem they were in. Then Jonah did the unthinkable: after he owned the situation solely, he told the men to toss him overboard because that’s what it would take to calm the tempest, a seeming act of suicide for they were in the middle of a hurricane in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea. It sounded like he volunteered to be instant shark bait. What this reveals about Jonah is that although he’s in an argument with God over the future of the city of Nineveh, which God wants to show mercy but Jonah wants God to destroy, Jonah is a man of integrity, willing to admit his errors and be completely honest even if it means his death. We can’t help but admire his courage and willingness to sacrifice himself for the safety of the others though they were strangers to him and we come away from the story respecting him, understanding him, and seeing him as an example of faith, repentance, and salvation.
Despite our errors and mistakes, we are still the people of God and like Jonah, we should never be afraid, embarrassed, or ashamed to declare who we are, what we are, and who we serve. Some things are difficult to own for we are creatures of prideful hearts and a tendency to place blame anywhere and on anyone but self especially at the cost of humiliation or as it has been called, “eating crow”. In matters of doctrine and religious persuasions, once we have taken a position and defended it for perhaps years and the hint we may be in error surfaces, we are faced with a huge dilemma to consider the costs of denouncing what we have believed and identified with or stop our ears, shut our eyes and continue on even if it means we are fully aware we have been amiss. But may those be blessed beyond measure that, when they see their error like Jonah, they own their sin, confess their missteps, ask forgiveness from God and whoever they have wronged, and take the path of right, never looking back. Consider James 5:16 “Confess your faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed” which is a part of the verses we are given to pray for healing of the sick but its tone is that of having a humble heart that’s willing to acknowledge our flaws, shortcomings, and sins even more readily than we are to point out and name the flaws we see in others. Jonah set us a wonderful example of someone not too proud to admit he was wrong and the willingness to take complete responsibility when we are in error.
September 24, 2021
Ephesians 3:20 “Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us”
This verse is often referenced when we are praying for something that seems impossible but it goes far beyond that to show us the Lord is more than enough in any circumstance. In the creation of all things, Genesis 1:20-22 the Bible uses the word abundantly referring to God’s command to all living things to reproduce and fill the earth “And God said, Let the waters bring forth abundantly the moving creature that hath life, and fowl that may fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven” After the flood in Genesis 8:17, again the Lord uses the word abundantly when commanding all living things to repopulate the earth. In Numbers 20:11 the Bible says Moses struck the rock and water came out abundantly to meet the Israelites need and in Psalm 36:8, the scripture says those that trust the Lord will be abundantly satisfied. The mindset that God barely meets our needs or that we are saved but hanging on by a fragile thread is the enemy’s lie in an attempt to picture the Lord as a miserly provider for His people. Our thinking is that Jesus will help us get by meagerly so when we pray with Ephesians 3:20 in mind we miss the meaning of Him doing “exceeding abundantly” which by itself abundantly, meaning above and beyond, is more than enough but exceeding abundantly is above and beyond the above and beyond. When Jesus forgives all our sins that’s abundant forgiveness but it’s more than that because He never remembers them again and forgives past, present, and future all of which exceeds just being forgiven. In John 10:10 the Bible says Jesus not only gives us life which is enough but He gives abundant life which means we overflow with life, more than enough. When we were children in Sunday School, we would sing “my cup is full and running over” but when we became adults our song may well be “my cup is barely full and I’m worried about it”.
In Luke 9:17 Jesus performed a miracle and took 5 loaves of bread and 2 small fish and fed 5,000 people until the Bible says they were filled and that was enough. But after everyone had eaten, there were 12 baskets of food leftover which made the miracle abundant provision, more than enough. We lose sight of these leftovers, proof the Lord is willing and able to go exceeding abundantly above what is needed because that day no one went home still a bit hungry. When Jesus sees the need of hungry people, He doesn’t just sustain He fills Psalm 107:9 “For he satisfieth the longing soul, and filleth the hungry soul with goodness”. I Kings 17 tells the story of how Elijah performed a miracle for a widow woman and her son. She had only enough oil and meal to make one last piece of bread and then she thought they would starve but when Elijah performed a miracle from God, the Lord replenished the meal and oil every day, a testimony to His amazing power to supply not just enough to sustain, but more than enough! Let’s be encouraged to expect not just enough to barely scrape by, but according to His Word, He will open the windows of heaven and pour out blessings for His people. Our confidence in Him is that He is able to do exceeding abundantly ABOVE ALL we can ask or think. May the Holy Spirit help us take the limitation off what our Lord is able and willing to do.
September 23, 2021
Ephesians 4:2 “With all lowliness and meekness, with longsuffering, forbearing one another in love; Endeavouring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace”
Believers are born from above by the grace of God and called to love one another. This means not only to the household of faith but also to the unbelieving world and is an extension of the nature of God for the Bible says 1John 4:11 “Beloved, if God so loved us, we ought also to love one another”. However, this love isn’t just words we say or Christian mantras we repeat, it is love by doing 1John 3:18 “My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth” and is referenced by the previous verse that tells us if we say we love but see someone in need and do not respond to them, it’s proof love isn’t at work in us or as the old adage says, “actions speak louder than words”. When we live out the life of love, it’s simple sometimes because many people stir compassion and desire within us to love them, help them, and overlook their errors. Maybe it’s their personality, the way they communicate, appear, or the way they come across as humble, thankful, and welcoming. But the times when people are abrasive, snide, rude, and appear ungrateful or entitled, our hackles are raised, we want to back off and may be very reluctant to extend mercy and kindness to them. These people test our patience and we might be tempted to walk away especially if their bad attitude spurs our own pride and defenses to think “if that’s how it is, then they can just do without my help”. Yet the call to love is not a calling of conditional treatment or response but is built upon the example of the God who created all things and who demonstrated His love to us despite our indifference and outright contempt of Him. To love others as God calls us requires us to look at how we have disobeyed, disrespected, disregarded, and dishonored the Lord and then see how He treated us with compassion, forgiveness, mercy, grace, kindness, and faithfulness, not just a time or two but repeatedly. Oh, how we rejoice to know His mercy is new every day and His faithfulness, kindness, and love is eternal when it pertains to us but how unwilling we often are to demonstrate the same to someone that is pushing our buttons the wrong way.
Longsuffering is a word for patience and fortitude and is one of the fruits of the Holy Spirit as described in Galatians 5:22-23 and is one of the attributes of God. It is because of God’s longsuffering and mercy we were not instantly consumed because of our sin 2Peter 3:15 “And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation” and in 2Peter 3:9 “but is longsuffering to us-ward, not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance”. The patience of the Lord, waiting while ever so faithfully drawing us to Himself, is our example when we want others to quickly toe the line or change their behaviors and attitudes lest we walk away from them in a big hurry. Longsuffering is paired with forbearance which means to put up with, to endure, and means to restrain oneself from taking action, in this case, of revenge or a demand for justice. Love helps us to resist retaliation even when we have been wronged with the overall goal of endeavoring (laboring, make an earnest effort) to keep unity as peacemakers in the church. This isn’t always easy because the meddling of the enemy and the nature of the flesh are constantly at work to disrupt and destroy the work of God. But when love wins, God is honored, the body of Christ is strengthened, and we are examples of what we are called to be.
September 22, 2021
Ecclesiastes 7:8 “Better is the end of a thing than the beginning thereof”
We are often impatient in our circumstances and handicapped by our limited view of what God is doing and the fact that we can’t see the outcome, can make us interpret the details of situations as bad or that the Lord has forsaken us. But God’s purpose for us is fulfilled in His eternal wisdom step by step and while we can’t see the end of a thing or even understand why and how it’s happening, the Lord not only saw it from beginning to end He foresaw all the steps we would take in our freewill. He wove it all into His plan and purpose for us and this is why we can live with the confidence the end of the matter will be good, an “expected end” (Jerimiah 29:11) because God declared it good before it even started as stated in Isaiah 46:9-10 “for I am God, and there is none else; I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning, and from ancient times the things that are not yet done” and Isaiah 48:3 “I have declared the former things from the beginning; and they went forth out of my mouth, and I shewed them; I did them suddenly, and they came to pass”. Faith in God’s plan and His infallibility tells us we will always get where God has ordered our steps to take us. In it all, God is revealing Himself to us, helping us, as unbelieving as we are, to be patient, learn to trust Him, and all the while building a relationship with us from His end because we can’t do it from ours. If we could but live our Christian life from its inception simply believing God when He tells us to trust Him, that He loves us unconditionally, and will always work everything for our good, what victory, joy, and confidence we’d have no matter what circumstances seem. But that’s not the way our sin nature, our innate unbelief, and our skewed human perspective takes us and we have to learn God’s process and relearn it repeatedly until we have the confidence He meant what He said.
Some things begin with excitement and great hope but change for what seems to be worse and appears to show a contradiction of this verse. Children go astray, marriages have trouble, careers flounder, and we may face illness. But God’s Word remains steadfast and even in events or seasons of our lives where it appears the end will be worse than the beginning God is still working and we are viewing a partially fulfilled matter. Our limited view keeps us from seeing the expected end but the Lord will never fail us and even when it seems He’s not doing anything or helping us, He’s right on track, fulfilling His plan, and His purpose can not be thwarted. The story of Israel is a long-term testimony to this with so many twists and turns in their history it looks as if God has failed to keep all the promises He made to them including the covenant He made with Abraham. Until 1948 it seems the Lord had forsaken them forever but then the miracle of the regathering began and promises made thousands of years ago began being fulfilled. The end of their journey will be glorious and magnificent and remain an eternal testimony to God’s power and faithfulness. In our personal lives we tend to forget the countless times events both big and small seemed to have no solution and no way out then, in their course, the storms passed over and what had seemed to be the certainty of our destruction turned out to be a blessing. The sum of our life is not measured in the mistakes we made, the opportunities we missed, or even the earthly successes we achieved. It is measured by the standard of God’s amazing grace which faithfully accompanied us every step and will faithfully carry us home.
September 21, 2021
Matthew 9:2 “And, behold, they brought to him a man sick of the palsy, lying on a bed: and Jesus seeing their faith said unto the sick of the palsy; Son, be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven thee”
When this paralyzed man was brought to Jesus, the Lord didn’t at first address his physical sickness but He forgave his sins. When He made this statement, it raised the ire of the religious crowd who accused Him of blasphemy to which Jesus responded that it was just as easy for Him to forgive sin as it was to heal, all with the power of His Word and in fact, He forgave the man’s sin to show He had power on earth to forgive sin then healed him of his paralysis. For us, this miracle speaks of our Lord’s zeal and willingness to forgive sin with no demands or conditions on the part of the sinner. He told the man to “be of good cheer” and He is still saying that to a weary, sin-laden, and helpless world for it is the pure message of grace. It reminds us of what Jesus said to His disciples in Luke 10:20 “but rather rejoice, because your names are written in heaven” and gives us clarity that we have a source of cheer, happiness that can never be taken away because Jesus has forgiven us. True rejoicing seems rare even among God’s redeemed who have the greatest reason for it and missing from our churches are the exhorters like our departed brother G.B. Linkous who reminded us that we are forgiven and belong to the ranks of those who are more than conquerors.
Be of good cheer are words that take us back to the beginning when Adam and Eve, heads bowed and heart-sick over what they had just thrown away, were driven out of the perfect garden by the Lord as the scripture says in Genesis 3:24 “So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life”. This is the status of sin and it’s not the happy, let’s all have a great time illusion of lies that is palmed off by the enemy and the flesh, it’s the picture of the paralyzed man whose condition is much deeper than his physical state and even if that were healed, he would not be of good cheer. But when the Word of God comes it changes everything and when that blessed Word addresses the real source of our problem it sets us free from the curse that drove us out of the garden and places us in the kingdom of Christ as the Bible declares in Colossians 1:12-14 “Giving thanks unto the Father, which hath made us meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light: Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son: In whom we have redemption through his blood, even the forgiveness of sins”.
September 20, 2021
1Timothy 6:6-8 “But godliness with contentment is great gain. For we brought nothing into this world, and it is certain we can carry nothing out. And having food and raiment let us be therewith content”
The word contentment here isn’t the picture of a person who is so spiritual, so attuned to heavenly things they live in a state of bliss, never desiring anything other than what they have, a sort of Christian nirvana. If that were the case, believers would never have the drive to create, learn, expand personally, achieve goals, and embrace the motivation to become better, stronger, and excel. But it’s from a root word pointing to an inner sense of sufficiency that is a barrier to the lie of the enemy that we don’t have what we need or what is necessary for completeness. Adam and Eve were in a beautiful environment containing everything they need not only to sustain them but to fulfill their desires for creativity and growth, as the Bible says in Genesis 2:15 “And the LORD God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it” where the words dress and keep show Adam and Eve were to take what was created and in their sphere of life and work with it to make it as they desired. There were infinite possibilities for them to create, grow, enhance, design, learn, and create their world exactly as they wanted and they had every reason to have inner peace and sufficiency. But the seeds of discontent were sown into their hearts by the enemy, fostering the lie that their lives were not sufficient and unless they had more, they were being held back from happiness. So, following the lie, they fell from their paradise and landed themselves and all their posterity including us, in the middle of thorns, hard work, sweat, and all other elements of the curse and with that, perpetual discontent until Jesus came, defeated the curse, and restored us to a place we can again find contentment. Through Him we have the power to follow godliness and realize by God’s grace and provisions, we can live a life of completeness, sufficiency, and peace which is great gain (reward, riches).
Those who do not have this inner contentment are continually trying to fill themselves with something or someone to meet this gnawing need within and as with Adam and Eve, they follow the lies of the enemy and this world which pretend to offer the solution but just like addiction to drugs never satisfy the desire but reaches for increasingly more in a wicked cycle of desperate, never satiated yearning. The more we consume, be it substances, relationships, material possessions, or anything else this world offers, the more we want and the very promise of satisfaction which was dangled before our eyes, is shown to be a trap of endless disappointments. The contentment factor is, in part, seeing we came into the world with nothing and will checkout with nothing, and when this truth is internalized with godly wisdom, it shows there’s nothing worth enslaving ourselves to and nothing with value enough to consume ourselves acquiring. Remember the words to the rich fool at his time of death in Luke 12:20 “But God said unto him, Thou fool, this night thy soul shall be required of thee: then whose shall those things be, which thou hast provided?”. Our aim should be to live godly and wisely knowing the Lord will supply all our needs and let this fact settle us, secure us, and be the foundation of our lives. Then with this base of contentment, we can use the talents, opportunities, and resources the Lord has given us to enjoy this life, be a blessing to others and operate within the boundaries the Lord has set for our lives. The simple conclusion of “And having food and raiment let us be therewith content” should be the measurement of the inventory we use whenever we are tempted to pursue happiness, contentment, and self-satisfaction outside God’s will and purpose for us.
September 19, 2021
Romans 13:11-12 “And that, knowing the time, that now it is high time to awake out of sleep: for now is our salvation nearer than when we believed. The night is far spent, the day is at hand: let us therefore cast off the works of darkness, and let us put on the armour of light”
This is a wake-up call for believers and a bidding to check the clock to determine the time. The scriptures tell us it is “high time” to wake up and get up, the phrase high time meaning right now, an imperative sense of urgency to not only get up from our sleep but to get dressed for battle hence the armor of light. There are at least two senses here, the first calling our attention to the swiftly passing years of our lives. The Lord would have us enter His fields of harvest without procrastination and has its example in the words of our Lord in John 9:4 “I must work the works of him that sent me, while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work” where Jesus says He had a job to do and must do it while he is able and has the opportunity for there was a point when He would be arrested, falsely accused, and crucified and the opportunity would be passed. It is the same with us for even though there’s a possibility to do service for our Lord when our age limits us but the time, when we are strong, well-sighted, and full of energy, is the time to put our hand to the Lord’s plow and enter the fields of His labor as the Bible says in Lamentations 3:27 “It is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth”. Another sense is that as time passes, we get increasingly closer to the coming of the Lord and we concern for those that have never trusted Jesus as their Savior. We do them an unspeakable disservice to spiritually sleep away the time while their souls are in jeopardy for it’s as if after we have come to faith and assured of salvation we care not if the rest of the world perishes. Instead of laboring for all the things which pass away, if we would invest in the souls of those around us there would be the joy of their salvation and then reward for us that will never pass away.
It is said that time is the most valuable commodity and gift we have and when we waste it day after day which quickly turns into years, we throw away priceless treasure, just going through the sleepy motions of a ritual of life. As one songwriter said, “we’re playing marbles with diamonds”. But often we are like the Lord’s disciples in the garden of Gethsemane when Jesus was agonizing as no other has with his sweat becoming blood as the capillaries of His body ruptured from the stress and strain of His torment. Through it all the disciples slept, offering no support, no compassion for the suffering Savior and if we imagine that scene as it plays out, we might want to grab those men and say “wake up. Can’t you see what He’s going through?”. This is the force of Romans 13:11-12 saying there will be time to rest one day, time to be free from the responsibilities of a called-out life of service and focus on others but for right now, wake up, get up, and get dressed with the armor of light because we bear the truth that penetrates the darkness of this world and we have words of hope to those trapped and enslaved in sin.
September 18, 2021
Genesis 45:25-26 “And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father, And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob’s heart fainted, for he believed them not”
When Joseph was seventeen, his brothers conspired against him and sold him as a slave to a group of merchants passing by on their way to Egypt. They told their father, Jacob, Joseph had been killed by a wild animal and Jacob grieved his death upon hearing this. Joseph then lived through a series of events in Egypt, all answering to God’s purpose for him, some of which saw Joseph falsely punished and imprisoned. Then the Bible tells how he was promoted to a position of great honor in Egypt and his trials were behind him. When he was thirty-nine, he sent for his father Jacob and his family to come to Egypt and live there in a time of great famine because there was a plentiful supply of food in Egypt. The verses above from Genesis 45 tells of the moment Jacob heard Joseph was alive after thinking him dead for twenty-two years. The Lord could have let Jacob know his son was alive in Egypt at any time during that period of twenty-two years but for some reason, He didn’t, allowing Jacob to grieve his son’s death for over two decades. Jacob was the promised seed, the second generation from Abraham, from which all the nation of Israel would be born yet God would not reveal His plan, and Joseph’s circumstances to Jacob while the Lord’s purpose was being unfolded. Yet for Jacob, it meant years of wondering, questioning, and missing his son, perhaps second-guessing and blaming himself for that day in Genesis 37:13 when he had sent Joseph to the sheep-grazing fields to check on his brothers and where, as Jacob believed, he had been killed. This portion of the story tells us God doesn’t always let us in on what He is doing even though it may frustrate us, test our faith, and leave us wondering what He’s doing and why He won’t just tell us and clear things up.
Whenever people encounter circumstances they can’t understand or can’t find answers as to why something happens the way it did, they sometimes mention Isaiah 55:8-9 “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts”. The alternative it seems is to be angry with God and hold Him responsible for doing or not doing something to change the course of events. In Jacob’s story, when he heard the first news of the death of his son to a wild animal, he could have shaken his fist at heaven and demanded to know why God allowed Joseph to be taken in that way, after all, God controls the universe. Job, trying to make sense of the calamity he found himself in, said “Job 9:12 Behold, he taketh away, who can hinder him? who will say unto him, What doest thou?” and although we can read the book of Job long after the fact and gather some sense of what the Lord was doing, as Job was experiencing it, it was all an unexplained mystery to him. But for us as New Testament believers, we know the Lord is for us, not against us, that He is working all things for our good, that He has ordered our steps, and that every detail of our lives is before Him in His love and interest for us. What He allows us to understand, we do so with a humble heart and thankfulness and what He holds back from our knowledge, we also trust Him with a humble and thankful heart knowing His ways are perfect and that as He did with Jacob, He will reveal all in due season.
September 17, 2021
Romans 11:30-32 “For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief: Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy. For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all”
There is a line in the sands of grace that when we reach it in our Bible studies and meditation on God’s Word, and we try to step across it into the realm that answers the question “Did we have anything to do with our salvation?”, we suddenly are in the greatest mystery of our journey. Because sometimes the Bible seems to show our freewill is the vehicle that carries us into the camp of believers with Words such as Luke 13:24 “Strive to enter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall not be able”. But at other times, such as in the verses above, we are left shaking our heads, knowing when we examine the details of our journey, we come away with only one conclusion: It is all of the Lord, and even the times it appeared we had a hand in it, God was actually holding our hand, placing it where it needed to be like a parent guiding their child and directing our steps which without Him, we would turn aside in our unbelief. Some people, who believe God orchestrated every detail of personal salvation and personal damnation by His own purpose and choice, answer their question in this matter by joining either the proponents of what we call the Calvinists or one of the sub-groups such as the moderate Calvinists most of which to distance themselves from the term Calvinists, identify under the banner of “reformed”. Others, convinced while God provided the means and method of salvation through Jesus, He allows man through personal freewill to choose his eternal destination and they land somewhere in the congregations of those who believe likewise. Then there are those, perhaps like you and me, that refuse to commit to either extreme and leave the miracle moment a person believes in Jesus for salvation as a mystery of wonder and singular, eternal significance. It is the most indescribably important personal event in the universe for upon it, hinges the destiny of an immortal soul.
Most Christians probably never think about salvation from these points of view and many know so little of God’s plan of grace they’re still stuck in the medieval theology that God weighs our good deeds against our bad ones to determine our eternal future. But no matter which persuasion you side with, the Bible still says in Jonah 2:9 “Salvation is of the Lord”, Psalms 68:20 “He that is our God is the God of salvation; and unto GOD the Lord belong the issues from death”, and again in Psalms 3:8 “Salvation belongeth unto the LORD”. One view of Romans 11:30-32 is that the Lord is not speaking here directly to individuals but to two groups, Jews and Gentiles, explaining that His display of mercy is upon unbelieving Gentiles as a result of Israel’s rejection of the Lord in their unbelief. Both sides of the coin were floundering in unbelief and God declared it that way that mercy might reign. Yet even now, it touches me on a personal degree because I know the bottom line is that the sum of my failures, sins, unbelief and prodigal wanderings prove salvation is not of me but of the Lord. And that wonderful, baffling moment in time when I was convicted of my sin, drawn to Jesus by the Holy Spirit, and desiring the Lord above all else, that moment when I murmured some words of a prayer which I can’t even remember exactly what I said and by the grace and gift of God I was born again. I can’t explain what happened that Thursday evening over 55 years ago, except I know it happened and now I’m a child of the God who created heaven and earth and is also the Savior of my soul. It’s a mystery and I like a good mystery.
September 16, 2021
Leviticus 23:27-28 “Also on the tenth day of this seventh month there shall be a day of atonement: it shall be an holy convocation unto you; and ye shall afflict your souls, and offer an offering made by fire unto the LORD. And ye shall do no work in that same day: for it is a day of atonement, to make an atonement for you before the LORD your God”
Today, beginning at 6:46 pm EST Wednesday and ending at 7:45 pm EST Thursday, is the Jewish day of Yom Kippur, the holiest day of the year in all of Judaism and is commonly called “The Day of Atonement” as given in the Levitical Law in the verse above. On this day the law provided that sins would be confessed, wrongs made right, and when the Temple was standing and the priesthood in effect, the high priest would, on this day only, take of the blood of the sacrificial offering behind the veil and sprinkle the blood upon the mercy seat of the ark of the covenant in the presence of God and the Lord would accept the blood as an atonement for the sins of the people of Israel for another year. It was a day of prayer and a time for people to afflict their souls with the knowledge of their sins and look to God for mercy and forgiveness in order their names might be written and sealed in the Lord’s book of life. Now, with no temple for over 1900 years since it was destroyed by the Romans in 70ad, no functioning priesthood, and no blood sacrifice for their sins, Jewish people still continue to observe this day with 24 hours of fasting, continual prayer, and scripture reading including the entire book of Jonah which is revered as a book showing God’s forgiveness to disobedient people. They pray for forgiveness from long lists of sins that identify any sin a person could commit, they ask forgiveness from anyone they’ve wronged or hurt, and they pray they are inscribed in the book of life. They attend synagogue services and refrain from working and in Israel, nearly the entire country is shut down, everything closed, and the roads clear of traffic. The importance of this day to believing Jews can be seen in the historical story of the baseball hall of famer Sandy Koufax, Jewish, who refused to pitch game 1 of the 1965 World Series because it was on Yom Kippur.
Our heart goes out to all those who through the centuries and continuing today, have rejected the One nailed to the cross for the sins of the whole world and instead, cling to the false hope of a system that could never take away sin, only push it back one year at a time. The uncertainty of not knowing your name is in God’s book of eternal life is a harrowing thought and the bondage to rules, rituals, repeated liturgies, and empty religious ceremonies is, for those who have been set free by the grace of our Lord, a heart-breaking ordeal because the sum of it all can never give life and peace. When our Lord was brought before Pilate and Pilate determined to set Him free, the Bible gives the Jew’s response in Matthew 27:25 “Then answered all the people, and said, His blood be on us, and on our children”. But soon, in the near future, Jesus will return and present Himself to the nation that crucified Him and they will witness the scars in His hands as recorded in Zechariah 13:6 “And one shall say unto him, What are these wounds in thine hands? Then he shall answer, Those with which I was wounded in the house of my friends” and the promise will be fulfilled spoken in Romans 11:26-27 “And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob: For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins”. Today, on Yom Kippur, as they have for centuries, they seek forgiveness and mercy but true eternal forgiveness and everlasting mercy is waiting for them in the shed blood of the crucified, buried, and resurrected Savior. As they say, “To be continued…”.
September 15, 2021
James 1:5 “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth (scolds) not; and it shall be given him”
God’s Word says in Proverbs 4:7 “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom: and with all thy getting get understanding” and the whole book is devoted to teaching us to desire wisdom and understanding above all else. It seems odd that if it’s all that important why the cultivation and quest for wisdom are rarely mentioned or encouraged in the church and instead, so much emphasis is placed on the knowledge of the world of which the Bible says in 1Corinthians 3:19 “For the wisdom of this world is foolishness with God”. The wisdom that comes from the Lord is evident in the lives of those who honor it such as Billy Graham who said “I read a chapter of Proverbs every day and that teaches me how to get along with my fellow man”. Abraham Lincoln, who was self-educated having only about a year of any formal education, read the Bible exhaustively, carried a New Testament with him, read chapters of Proverbs every day, and quoted the Bible in almost every speech, public conversation, and writings and is recognized as one of our wisest presidents. When we listen to today’s headliners, politicians, and public figures or read their words, there is usually such a wisdom disconnect they are shallow, uninspiring, and out of touch. It’s disgusting and embarrassing when they reflect who America is to the rest of the world but it seems to be where the culture is because we have only to look around us at many people who, with almost every decision they make, prove their lack of wisdom. The absence of wisdom, the abundance of greed, uncontrolled materialism, foundations of deceit, no self-control, and rampant pride all of which can be traced back to the absence of wisdom, has shipwrecked so many lives and families and left people spiritually empty, miserable, emotionally destitute, and financially ruined.
Wisdom isn’t just having an understanding of life and its elements, it’s the basis for every decision we make and when it is not part of our process, we make foolish, damaging decisions that affect us, our families, and our futures. When we grasp the importance of approaching the way we live with wisdom, we see how much better, fuller, and prosperous our life can be and how much better our family is prepared for daily life and the future. Often our state of blessing is in relation to our actions and even though God could continually pour out money, talent, and time on us while we methodically squander it all away, that’s not how it happens and sometimes our cries for help are from our being caught in quicksand situations we jumped into when we failed to use wisdom. When the Lord promised to give Solomon anything he wanted, the Bible says in 1 Kings 3, Solomon responded by asking for wisdom to be the best King he could be and this pleased the Lord. If couples, parents, and grandparents would take this to heart, that God has said wisdom is the principal thing, and ask the Lord for wisdom to be the best husbands, wives, parents, and grandparents they can be, this would be greatly pleasing to our Lord. If employees would ask God for wisdom to be the best worker they can be, not only would the Lord be pleased, they would excel in their careers. In Christianity, we could all ask God to give us the wisdom to be the best servants we can be and this would certainly be in line with our verse for today in James 1:5. Maybe we can pray this prayer together: Lord, I need wisdom from You to make the right choices and that honor You. I need Your wisdom so I can be my best as a husband, wife, parent, grandparent, employee, neighbor, and in everything I do. In Jesus’ Name, Amen.
September 14, 2021
Jeremiah 8:15 “We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!”
This day, 28 years ago, Israel’s Prime Minister, Yitzhak Rabin, and the Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat met on the South Lawn of the White House, shook hands, and sealed a peace treaty we’ve come to know as the Oslo accords after years of bloody warfare. The Middle East and the rest of the world paused and held their breath hoping this was the beginning of the end of a series of wars and deadly battles that had raged since the 1920s when both Jews and Arabs laid claim to the territory which was controlled by Britain at the time. On May 14, 1948, the State of Israel was declared and the fighting for control of the area increased and has raged ever since with only a few breaks for times of temporary peace. Bible teachers and students, especially those holding to dispensationalism, saw these times as a reason to believe the fulfillment of the prophecies concerning the restoration of Israel was evident before the world’s eyes and with that, a greater awareness of the appearing of our Lord became a theme of worship, music, preaching, and books of prophetic events. The Oslo Accords fit into this doctrine for the Bible says in 1Thessalonians 5:3 “For when they shall say, Peace and safety; then sudden destruction cometh upon them, as travail upon a woman with child; and they shall not escape”. But, as we know, the Oslo Accords, for which Yitzhak Rabin, Yasser Arafat, and Shimon Peres all received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1994, didn’t bring the peace hoped for and in less than 2 years the violence began anew. Recently, there has been a big worldwide push to bring the Middle East, especially Israel and the Arabs, back to the bargaining table to forge out another more comprehensive plan for peace since the conflict involves Iran, Jordan, Syria, and Egypt and they are supporting terrorism and supplying arms to other countries around the world. These plans for peace, keep pointing to what may lie just on the horizon for the Bible teaches through a promise of peace the antichrist will win the confidence of many in Daniel 8:25 “and he shall magnify himself in his heart, and by peace shall destroy many”.
Even though the world, by its own will, cannot ever be at peace no matter how many treaties they make and give a pledge to, there is peace coming through Jesus Christ who is called “The Prince of Peace” (Isaiah 9:6). Many places in the scriptures confirm this as in Isaiah 32:15-18 “Until the spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting places”. Salvation brings us to a place of peace with God but the whole world is under the curse of sin and soon the King of Kings and Lord of Lords will come with healing, blessing, and peace. Ezekiel 34:25-26 “And I will make with them a covenant of peace, and will cause the evil beasts to cease out of the land: and they shall dwell safely in the wilderness, and sleep in the woods. And I will make them and the places round about my hill (Jerusalem)a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come down in his season; there shall be showers of blessing”. (This is where we get the Hymn, “There Shall Be Showers of Blessing “) Until then, we will seek peace (1Peter 3:11), follow peace (Hebrews 12:13), practice peacemaking (Matthew 5:9), sow peace (James 3:18), and live in peace (2Corinthians 13:11). 2Thessalonians 3:16 “Now the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means. The Lord be with you all”.
September 13, 2021
1Peter 5:6-7 “Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt you in due time: Casting all your care (anxiety) upon him; for he careth for you”
Verses 6 and 7 constitute a sentence and form a thought about our state of mind and position before the Lord God. Believers who have humbled themselves have completely submitted everything concerning their lives to the will and wisdom of the Lord and are holding nothing back. Our possessions, position, plans, predicaments, pride, and purpose are laid before His feet and we claim only to be His child and willing to accept what He has for us without reservation. I know some like to look at the story of Jacob in Genesis 32 where he wrestled with the Lord as if we have some duty to argue with God until we get what we think we want but Jacob was wrestling with the Lord about his own self for as his name Jacob held it’s meaning, he was a deceiver a trickster and the Lord changed his life that day, renaming him Israel meaning prince of God. It’s also important to remember from that day forward he was not the same because he was injured in the event and walked from that day on with a limp, a constant reminder that any blessing he received that day was given at the hand of God. So our verse reads we should humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God (the only place in the New Testament this phrase occurs) that He will lift us, give us dignity in His timing. This submission of humility is not a natural state for us because of our stubborn, insolent flesh and our natural sin is to reject the mighty hand of God, His ways, and plans for us. We all, like Jonah, want what we want and in our haughty pride, we run away from God’s best for us like spoiled brats. But step by step, us kicking and stumbling, the Holy Spirit leads us to the foot of the cross and we see Jesus, all-wise, all-powerful, all-loving, and full of mercy and we begin yielding to His will as He did to the will of His Father in the garden before His arrest. As it is well said in the words of the old hymn, “Have Thine own way, Lord, Have Thine own way; Thou art the Potter, I am the clay. Mould me and make me after Thy will, While I am waiting, Yielded and still”.
It is then we can find the comforting point of the second part of this sentence that tells us to cast all our anxiety upon Him. Most of the teaching goes straight to this part, telling us to lay our burdens on Him and we wonder why it doesn’t seem to work because Christians are often just as anxiety-ridden as the world around them even though they’re told repeatedly Christ is our burden bearer. It’s because we lack the complete submission that proceeds the emptying of the anxiety on Him. The worries come from feelings and thoughts that everything is out of control, we’re trapped in our circumstances, things are not going to work for our good, we are not able to fix a problem, we’re going to fail, the odds are against us, and so on with all the pressure on us to escape disaster and misfortune. Our enemy and our unbelieving flesh fans the fire of this uncertainty to keep us from a life filled with joy and peace and all the time our God cares for us, meaning He has a watchful care of intimate interest and loving affection, as He said in Psalm 103:13-14 “Like as a father pitieth his children, so the LORD pitieth them that fear him. For he knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust” where the word pitieth means He has kindness and compassion. It is the will of God that we live in the light of Philippians 4:6 “Be careful for nothing (do not be anxious about anything) but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God”.
September 12, 2021
Proverbs 16:11 “A just weight and balance are the LORD’S: all the weights of the bag are his work”
The Levitical Law taught this principle: Deuteronomy 25:15-16 “But thou shalt have a perfect and just weight, a perfect and just measure shalt thou have: that thy days may be lengthened in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee. For all that do such things, and all that do unrighteously, are an abomination unto the LORD thy God” and is a reference to honesty in buying and selling. Scales used to measure out items must be calibrated in integrity so that when a seller sold a certain weight of something or a measure, like a bushel, of things, the buyer would not get cheated. This was so important that God promised long life to those who practiced honesty. Compare this to the warning in Psalm 55:23 which says deceitful men will not live out half their days. The verse above, Proverbs 16:11, says that when fairness, honesty is practiced, it belongs to the Lord and that He was the one that established justice, equity, truth, fairness, and honesty as “all the weights of the bag are His work”, referring to the bag sellers kept their weights of standard measurements in for use with their scales. The principle laid down in the law, declares deception to be an abomination, a thing that causes disgust or hatred, to the Lord.
With this in view, when we step back and consider what God sees in this country as He watches the perversion of judgment and justice, the slimy back-room dealings of politics, the unabashed lies of the media, the twisted deception of science-falsely-so-called, and the God-bashing by the sacred cow of education, we should take notice with alarm. Add to all that the personal sins of our nation that decries righteousness and glorifies all that God hates and consider if false weights and measures are an abomination to Him, there should be no doubt in our mind that all is not well with him concerning the future of our nation. As He described the condition of Israel using a human body as a metaphor in Isaiah 1:6 “From the sole of the foot even unto the head there is no soundness in it; but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores: they have not been closed, neither bound up, neither mollified with ointment” it is an identical diagnosis of our present culture. We are like a terminally ill, sick man, teetering on the brink of collapse but arguing he doesn’t need a doctor or medical treatment because there’s nothing wrong with him. This devotion is not just about the open, legal, and publicly accepted lawlessness growing more common daily but about the outright pervasiveness of dishonesty and deceit from the White House to the most common of people and in every institution, corporation, government office, news outlet, and county hamlet. As the book of Ecclesiastes sums it up: Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man. For God shall bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil”.
September 11, 2021
Jeremiah 25:32 “Thus saith the LORD of hosts, Behold, evil shall go forth from nation to nation, and a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth”
The twenty years since America’s 9/11 terrorist attacks seem to have gone by so quickly yet there is a generation now out of school and in the workforce that has no memory of those events because they were too young or hadn’t been born yet. Those of us who were raised during the cold war and as children, lived under the shadow of possible enemy atomic bomb attacks, can remember how those terrorist attacks brought back the feelings of America’s vulnerability by enemies that were not invading our nation with waves of soldiers but by taking aim at us from afar, plotting our destruction in secret and invisibility. And 9/11 was the beginning of an onslaught of attacks from multiple directions with enormous hurricanes, wildfires, flooding, drug addictions, the collapse of moral barriers, upheavals in government, and now, a virus invisible to the eye yet unstoppable in its power to infect, disrupt, maim, and kill without discrimination. The very foundations of families and communities have been shaken to their core and still, it all intensifies. Our powerless, rambling, incoherent, foolish, and fickle leaders that babble doublespeak and meaningless slogans, promises, and nonsensical malarkey look brazenly into the cameras as if they carry some weight of believability and we’re remotely interested in their warped opinions. Yes, we’ve come a long way since that day when the towers fell but it hasn’t been an upward trajectory but a downward spiral with the average citizen loading up on guns and ammo, with the foreboding of evil days ahead. Then there are those, so removed from reality with their heads stuck in mindless entertainment, injecting themselves with the putrid brainwashing of the pollyannish media and culture gurus that keep stammering we’re headed in a good direction because we’re finally erasing our history, casting off the chains of Puritanism, and embracing the diversity of anything goes, all that was good is now evil, and what was evil is desirable and chic. Meanwhile, we look back and remember that day when almost three thousand lost their lives suddenly and unexpectedly and our nation was changed and wonder will this country ever see days of hope, happiness, security, and faith again?
Like the 9/11 attacks, Covid came on us suddenly and unexpectantly and further changed the way we live and the way we view life. Now, with the recent surge of the Delta Variant, all our attempts to get back to normal after months of quarantining are taking their toll as we continue to argue over vaccinations, masks, government policies, and school safety. But when we look at Jeremiah 25:32, a prophecy revealing God’s judgment upon the world at large, the words of evil going forth from nation-to-nation sure sound like terrorism and Covid for both fall into the category of evil and both are affecting all nations around the world. Three thousand died in America in the 9/11 attacks but as of today, in the US, over 656,000 have died from Covid, and worldwide, over 4.5 million. It raises the question, was 9/11 our wakeup call which, after the initial shock wore off, we went back to the same hog pens we were in before the tragedy? Did the prayers the politicians prayed on the steps of the Capitol the day after the attack and the prayers prayed throughout the following days come from a repentant heart of a nation acknowledging that without God’s protection, we are sitting ducks for the enemies attacks? America, the light of the world, founded on principles straight from the Holy Bible of justice, truth, hope, faith, integrity, and family. America with multiple churches on every corner and home to millions of Christians with all their teachers, ministers, musicians, and podcasts now floundering in drugs, alcohol abuse, greed, innumerable excesses, pornography, human trafficking, perversions, and in spirituality, apostasy as if there was no warning lesson learned from 9/11 as if our return to faith in God was just a pretense of the moment. Covid is with us and is not going away for now but what lies ahead may make Covid look like a summer stroll in the park. According to Jeremiah 25:32, “a great whirlwind shall be raised up from the coasts of the earth”, an image of a destructive, destroying hurricane of judgment blowing on the nations of the world.
September 10, 2021
Psalm 84:11 “no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”
On one hand, we know that as believers, our righteousness is imputed to us by faith in Jesus (Romans 4:22-24). Yet because we are free from sin, we are also free from the power of sin (Romans 6:14), and by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, we can live as God’s grace teaches us, described in Titus 2:11-12, aiming for a life lived uprightly as stated here, in Psalm 84:11, the word uprightly meaning morally sound, whole, and undefiled. Sure, we wobble and stumble sometimes and need God’s correction to help us get back on track but Christians have the desire to please the Lord in all aspects of their life and anything apart from a life lived with such desire is suspect and needs the careful examination as described in 2Corinthians 13:5 “Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you, except ye be reprobates?”. Our imputed righteousness comes with our new birth and is credited to our account as children of God, carrying His name and sealed with His Spirit, eternal heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Jesus. Yet just as we want our children to make choices of good for their lives, the Lord is pleased when we choose to follow His ways and pattern ourselves in the image of Christ. If, as fallible parents, we had a child that was disobedient and self-willed, we would still love that child and do good for it but we would be less apt to shower it with extra gifts until it stopped the destructive, headstrong behavior. Our infinitely good Father in heaven rewards His children when they walk in His ways and pursue Godliness and it’s on this ground that Psalms 84:11 rests: when we walk upright before Him, He has promised He will not hold back His treasures of goodness from us. It’s not that we do what is right to obtain what we think we want, but that we do what’s right because we belong to the Lord and desire to please Him above all, and with that way of life comes the open windows of heaven’s blessings. This is akin to a verse we look at recently in a previous devotion, Hebrews 11:6 “he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him”.
Several years ago, in the 1990s, Christians were caught up in a campaign of slogans, tee-shirts, wrist bands, hats, youth campaigns, and sermons based on the question “what would Jesus do?” or WWJD. This was a revival of interest in a book written in 1896 by Charles Sheldon titled “In His Steps: What Would Jesus Do” carrying the idea that we should purpose to follow Christ’s example and do what is morally right in every situation especially when interacting with others. When we continue to do what is right, sowing to the Spirit, even though Psalm 84:11 is an Old Testament promise, it is fulfilled for us in New Testament grace in Galatians 6:9 “And let us not be weary in well doing: for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not”. From another view, when we sow to the flesh there’s a harvest of calamity, distress, failures, and chaos to be expected just from the general law of sowing and reaping. Christians who make fleshly choices, ignore the principles of truth, live in compromise, and pattern themselves after a God-hating world should expect trouble and not be surprised when it comes for the warning is given as in Colossians 3:25 “But he that doeth wrong shall receive for the wrong which he hath done: and there is no respect of persons”. Yet those who persist in walking uprightly, doing what’s right day after day, will always reap the good in their season for the faithful and true God promised no good thing will He hold back from them.
September 9, 2021
Psalm 84:11 “For the LORD God is a sun and shield: the LORD will give grace and glory: no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly”
This verse is about the blessings and provisions we receive from the Lord and in this current age of confusion, uncertainty, and absence of lasting peace, believers can be comforted knowing the faithfulness of our God to care for His people has never and will never change. The beginning declares the Lord God to be a sun and a shield and takes our mind back to Israel’s plight after they had left Egypt and were in the harsh environment of the Sinai Peninsula where God provided a cloud to shield them from the heat of the sun during the day and a pillar of fire at night to ward off the chill of the desert nights. Here in this verse is the only time in the Bible the Lord is specifically called the sun and speaks of His light of truth in the darkness of the world and even the darkness of our flesh. Perhaps few people give God thanks for the light He shines upon them and their life and never consider that this light is linked to salvation for when Jesus began to preach, the Bible says Matthew 4:16 “The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death light is sprung up” and the reference to Jesus as the light is given in John 1:4 “In him was life; and the life was the light of men” followed by verse 9 “That was the true Light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world”. We walk the journey of life in the light of the Lord and we do not stumble in the world’s darkness of sin, unbelief, falseness, snares, and ways of death for the true light now shines. While we are aware of the status of this world and our culture and while we know what’s being said on the news and social media, we are not influenced or driven by it because the light of God reveals the truth and the truth sets us free (John 8:32).
But not only a sun, He also calls Himself a shield, which speaks of protection, and by its definition, we know the Lord has put us in a place of safety and the fiery darts of the enemy, the raging storms of life, the wars and words of those who seek our demise, and all else that comes against us encounters the Lord our shield. He stands between us and all the forces that are against us for we are hidden (Colossians 3:3). Cancer came against me and the surgery was uncomfortable and resulted in a drastic change in our lives but my God my Shield protected me in ways I could not foresee and now, God has blessed these daily devotions and more people read them than I was ministering to in person. The Lord knows what will come against His people and promised He will always make a way for our escape with the added assurance He will never allow more than we can bear. He affirmed to Abraham in Genesis 15:1 “Fear not, Abram: I am thy shield, and thy exceeding great reward” and David declared in Psalms 3:3 “But thou, O LORD, art a shield for me; my glory, and the lifter up of mine head”. The aspect of a shield was image-rich in Bible times when soldiers carried swords, spears, and shields but in our daily lives, the reference has shifted to things like bullet-proof vests and other items of defense but the bottom line is the same: our God is our creator, our heavenly Father and we are valuable to Him, loved by Him, and protected by Him. He owns our souls, oversees our lives, and has secured our future. He is our sun and our shield.
September 8, 2021
Joshua 6:1 “Now Jericho was straitly shut up because of the children of Israel: none went out, and none came in”
When Israel crossed the Jordan River and began their possession of the land God had promised them, they faced the fortified city of Jericho with its famous walls and when the people of Jericho saw the Israelites coming, hundreds of thousands of them, they shut the city gates and remained locked inside. What usually doesn’t make its way into the telling of this story, because it isn’t given in the Biblical account but in the archeological excavations, is that Jericho wasn’t a huge city by any means, inhabited by about 2500 people. But as such, it was one of the largest, if not the largest city the Israelites would face, and with it comes the account that became the miracle of faith, courage, and inspiration which filled Joshua and God’s people with determination to trust the Lord and conquer the Land given to them through the promise to Abraham. The story was not so much about fighting and winning as it was about insurmountable walls that seemed impossible to overcome. God could have easily destroyed Jericho and all the other enemies without any assistance from the Israelites but He planned a joint effort which, on their part, involved the obedience of faith and effort. As a type, it points us to the conclusion that the battles and enemies we face could all be easily removed from our path if the Lord chose, but He wants our involvement and with it, we learn the lessons of trust and patience. There’s something about going through the battles, even when we know it’s only by God’s grace we are succeeding, that draws us to Christ, strengthens our faith, and gives us experience and hope. The details of the battle of Jericho with all the marching, trumpet blowing, and shouting were a source of national pride for Israel and became the teaching material parents would use to build their children’s trust in the Lord God as the retelling of the account wove its way into not only their nationalism but their spiritual foundations as well.
The enemy has used many writers and critics through the centuries attempting to explain away the miracle of Jericho some going as far to argue the vibrations the Israelites caused while marching along with their trumpets caused cracks in the walls. In the same way, he still provokes the unbelief against the workings of the Lord in our own time attempting to discredit the truth that the same God who brought down the Jericho walls is working in us and through us to perform miracles in our lives. Every child of God sees miracles of His grace and our lives are a testimony that the Lord has put His stamp of approval on us if only we would see it through the eyes of faith and call the miracles for what they are. We have a living testimony to help build our own children and grandchildren in the faith if we would just keep telling them our personal Jericho stories, giving glory to God without taking credit for ourselves. All of us have seen walls come tumbling down because God is for us and He wants to show Himself strong and faithful on our behalf. The three little words “Jesus did it” might draw the ire and sneers of this unbelieving world but they carry the weight of eternal truth. I can imagine a little Jewish child, years after Jericho, getting tucked into bed and saying to their parent, “would you tell me the story again about how the Lord caused the walls of Jericho to fall down flat?”.
September 7, 2021
Proverbs 18:10 “The name of the LORD is a strong tower: the righteous runneth into it, and is safe”
In ancient times when cities had walls for protection, and even in medieval days where kingdoms had castles, they often incorporated a strong tower in their design for ultimate defense. This was usually a thick-walled, tall structure where, in the case of a severe attack by the enemy, people could enter even if the gates of the city had been breached. The tower held a supply of food and water and had narrow windows where archers could defend it and the people inside could have fresh air. When attacks came, knowing there was a place of refuge and safety was comforting in the days when cities and towns were vulnerable to marauding armies, bands and gangs of robbers, packs of wild animals, and wars between nations and provinces. This verse in Proverbs declares the strength and safety of the name of the Lord and reveals the power that resides in His name. The name of the Lord represents who He is, all His character, and attributes and when it is spoken or meditated on, the name brings the sum of the Lord’s greatness with it, and from it emanates His glory and honor. Consider the account when Moses asked God to allow him to view the Holy One, and the Bible says the Lord shielded Moses and let him get a glimpse and when this revealing took place, the Bible says Exodus 34:5-7 “And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD. And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty”.
In New Testament grace, the Bible says Romans 10:13 “For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” where the name of the Lord is the strong tower of salvation and stated again in Acts 4:12 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved”. When Peter and John were visiting the temple and saw a lame man sitting there, the Bible says Acts 3:6 “Then Peter said, Silver and gold have I none; but such as I have give I thee: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth rise up and walk” and the name of the Lord was the strong tower of healing. Paul and Barnabas were confronted by a woman with an evil spirit trying to sidetrack them from their gospel preaching mission and the scripture says in Acts 16:18 “But Paul, being grieved, turned and said to the spirit, I command thee in the name of Jesus Christ to come out of her. And he came out the same hour” then the name of the Lord was the strong tower of deliverance. Wherever we are and whatever situation we’re in, the name of the Lord should always be ready on the tip of our tongue to speak words of truth, help, encouragement, deliverance, and faith for ourselves and those around us. Our faith in His great name should always be telling us that in His name, we are fortified, secure, equipped, protected, blessed, anointed, and safe no matter what our circumstances are. David told Goliath right before he killed him 1Sam 17:45 “Thou comest to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a shield: but I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom thou hast defied”. This same David said in Psalm 9:10 “And they that know thy name will put their trust in thee: for thou, LORD, hast not forsaken them that seek thee”.
September 6, 2021
Psalm 116:1 “I love the LORD, because he hath heard my voice and my supplications”
When we narrow the focus of our Christian life to its two main elements declared by our Lord, to love God and love others, it raises the question, do we really love God or do we just say we do because we know we’re supposed to? It’s not a matter of trying to make this more complex than it needs to be but we know how it is to love a spouse, children, grandchildren, a best friend, or even a pet and we know the thoughts, feelings, and level of commitment such a love involves. The desire to be with someone, to hear their voice, to care for them above your own self, and to participate in their life are all a part of relationships built on love, and yet here’s what the Lord says, Jeremiah 2:32 “Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? yet my people have forgotten me days without number”. Maybe it’s the invisibility of God that makes our relationship with Him different but for most of us, loving the Lord is a growing, continuing event we experience step by step and it’s to this we look at in today’s devotion to encourage us all to pursue the Lord as we remember the words from the Hymn, I Want to Love Him More: “His children He will not forsake, when troubles press them sore; But in their souls’ sweet peace awakes, I want to love Him more. O Prince of life, sweet Prince of peace, who dwelt on earth below, my faith in Him will never cease, I want to love Him more”.
The Psalmist says he loves the Lord because He listens to our voice and prayers and this sets the groundwork for meditating on the goodness of God in our desire to love Him more. When we know our creator, creator of all that is, cares so much for us He takes a personal interest in what we say and what we pray, He’s no longer just a God we hear about in church or cry out to whenever we’re being bowled over in life, but He’s reaching out to us in a way that few people ever do by proving He’s interested in us and listening. The Lord initiated the relationship we have with Him and the Bible says 1John 4:19 “We love him, because he first loved us” telling us He made the first move by demonstrating Love, mercy, and grace when we were unlovable. Our God is close to us as He says in Jeremiah 23:23 “Am I a God at hand, saith the LORD, and not a God afar off?” and it is by His desire and purpose that He determined to love us even while we had no desire for Him. On His side of the equation, He is faithful, loyal, giving, kind, compassionate, patient, merciful, and understanding. He came to us when we couldn’t and wouldn’t reach out to Him and then He promised to never leave. And then we are told Romans 8:38-39 “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”. He has all the bases covered and is completely doing what He promised by loving us as no one else can. Will you say it with me, “I Love The Lord !”
September 5, 2021
Psalm 100:4-5 “Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations”
Thanksgiving and praise go hand in hand and early this morning when my wife and I woke up, she said “I just want us to start the day remembering what the Lord has done for us and give Him thanks”. We started talking about how He has been with us through so many trials, brought answers to situations that seemed impossible, answered prayers we didn’t know how He would do it, and blessed us by being faithful to His promise that He will supply all our needs. One specific prayer we began praying a couple of years ago was that He would bring us to a place of rest and peace, free from the world’s conflict, drama, and stress and that’s exactly where we are now, brought here by the grace of God. Compared to where we’ve been in our journey in the past, our life is quiet, simple, and free and fulfills the Word of God in Colossians 3:15 “And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to the which also ye are called in one body; and be ye thankful”. Can you see how the hand of God has led you in your life, directing you to where you are now? Can you remember times you cried out to Him for His help because you were in messes and situations that were miserable, or dangerous, or dark and hopeless and He showed Himself to be more than enough, a friend faithful and true? We enter His gates, into His presence because we know Him in reality, not just in some abstract, philosophical sense but we have seen His mighty working in our lives, we have experienced His power and presence, we are a testimony that He is real, and our very history from our birth until now is a story told of the goodness, mercy, and grace of God.
There are other ways to view life, that it is a series of coincidences, circumstances, and a product of cause and effect, genetics, environment, and luck or lack thereof. We can develop a victim mentality or outlook, believing we are at the mercy of forces we can’t control and if we are not content in our life, we can blame the universe, our parents, other people, or any number of things to help us explain away why we can’t be at peace. But for those who trust in the Lord, who believe and are sure He is their creator, sustainer, Savior, and hope, theirs is a life of praise, thanksgiving, blessings, and promise. Look at Psalm 27:13 “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living” and see how it explains the difference between people who live without the hope (they’re the fainted ones meaning they give up or lose heart) and those who, by faith, see the Lord’s goodness. Everyone, saved and not, goes through the same trials, obstacles, trials, and uncertainties of life but believers never have to face it alone because the Comforter, the Holy Spirit is with them and He brings the assurance of God’s Word and His eternal presence into their life-events good or bad and points their face to the Lord in hope. We are thankful unto Him for our past is under the blood, sins are eternally forgiven, He is with us now, and our future is full of promise.
September 4, 2021
Lamentations 3:25-26 “The LORD is good unto them that wait for him, to the soul that seeketh him. It is good that a man should both hope and quietly wait for the salvation of the LORD”
These are perilous times with many loud, outspoken voices screeching from every direction both audibly and on social media. Everyone takes their micro-stage and megaphone as if they have the answers that apparently no one else sees or has the wits to understand. And at the end of the day, if you listen to or read the flood of opinions it will wear you down, take away your peace, and leave you with the sinking feeling that there’s no hope. This is one of the causes of the widespread depression and anxiety that’s already reaching epidemic proportions along with the great possibility that the comfort of the Holy Spirit, which has covered our nation like a blanket, is slowly being removed. Sadly, we are like Samson of whom it is said in Judges 16:20 “he wist not that the LORD was departed from him”. The waves of discontent, frustration, and anger that sweep people daily have their greatest response in the unspoken cries from the hearts of those that do not know the Lord and are attempting to soothe their souls by immersing deeper into sin. Humankind’s unbridled and total depravity has always pitted them against the Sovern Lord but not in our lifetime has their display become so flagrant that they openly march in defiance, tempting His response. Ironically, their answer to the hopelessness pervading our world is to align and enslave themselves more stoutly to the very things that fuel their torment as if their healing will come from drinking more and more of sin’s poison while denying the only remedy is the blood of Jesus Christ.
The book of lamentations was written by Jeremiah as he watched his nation being destroyed and he wept for the hopelessness of the people he loved. Just like today, they had stood proudly in their arrogance and stubbornness, believing God would not dare to punish them for their sin. They had even convinced themselves it wasn’t really rebellion at all because if God existed, they were His “favorites” and He wouldn’t have the audacity to come down hard on them. But they were wrong and He did. Yet in the middle of all Jeremiah’s lamenting came a message and glimmer of hope as stated in our verse for today. When we look to God with expectation, waiting upon Him for His will and timing, He promises that we can be sure of His goodness to us. The Lord then says it’s a good thing when we put our hope in Him and bring it all down to a place of quietness while we wait upon His deliverance. For us, this means to lower our voices of anger at the current system, knowing no matter how big the problem is, God is bigger. It means to stop engaging with the tornadic forces of confusion and blame that sow the seeds of fear, distrust, and despair and instead, believe what the Word of God declares. He sets leaders up and brings them down, He will never forsake His people no matter the condition of the world they’re in, everything was foreknown by our God and He isn’t stressed out, wringing His hands wondering how to fix earthly messes, and everything that’s happening is pointing us to the return of our Lord. To both hope and quietly wait for God’s deliverance was the Word of God given to Israel in their time of certain destruction and it’s the same Word that speaks to us no matter how dark the clouds appear. Our hope is real and certain and carries the promise of Psalm 46:1-2 “God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea”.
September 3, 2021
Genesis 39:20 “And Joseph’s master took him, and put him into the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were bound: and he was there in the prison”
The Bible doesn’t tell us how long Joseph was in prison after being falsely accused but most Jewish sources say it was between 10 and 13 years and raises the age-old question as to why the Lord lets things happen to the people He loves when He could have directed their path a more pleasant way. Part of his time in prison was miserable as it tells in Psalms 105:18 “Whose feet they hurt with fetters: he was laid in iron (an iron collar fastened around his neck”. But the Lord allowed it and it even seems to be a part of God’s plan for him as the next verse in Psalms 105:19 says “Until the time that his word came: the word of the LORD tried him” telling us the Lord was testing, preparing Joseph until his predetermined purpose was fulfilled. Joseph, who wore the prison chains that cut into his feet and neck, was eventually delivered from the jail and raised to a position of honor and the Bible says Genesis 41:42 “And Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand, and put it upon Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck”. From chains of cruel, painful, humiliating iron to a chain of gold and honor. It is important to note that even while he was in prison, in time the blessings and favor of the Lord elevated him for the Bible says Genesis 39:21-23 “But the LORD was with Joseph, and shewed him mercy, and gave him favour in the sight of the keeper of the prison. And the keeper of the prison committed to Joseph’s hand all the prisoners that were in the prison; and whatsoever they did there, he was the doer of it. The keeper of the prison looked not to any thing that was under his hand; because the LORD was with him, and that which he did, the LORD made it to prosper”.
So even when God’s will and ways lead His people into prison, into lion’s dens, and into fiery furnaces, even there the favor of the Lord never leaves them. When the medical report is bad, when it seems we’re trapped with no way out, when our valley seems endless, lonely, and painful the Lord sometimes allows us to walk through it all but we have his promise He is with us and there is a divine purpose for it all. In Joseph’s case, prison came before promotion and there will never be a circumstance that isn’t formulated into God’s purpose for our lives no matter how unlikely it may seem. When we watch other believers going through their trials, we are told to help them with their burdens because this fulfills God’s law of love yet our part is not to deliver them but to assist them. It’s painful to watch someone you love suffering, afflicted, or in a tremendous storm and you know it’s beyond your means to fix everything for them but there is comfort in knowing the Lord sees, hears, and understands what they face and He is faithful in the storms just as He is in times of calm. Our words, prayers, assistance in ways we are able, and loyalty to them in their trials are part of God’s will for the unity of His people. Joseph entered the season of his life that started with him being sold by his brothers, separated from his family, and landing in a prison in Egypt right after the Lord had given him dreams of greatness and when his test of several years was over, all the Lord had promised him came to pass and he lived many years in great blessing. We also have many great promises which the Lord will bring to pass in His time and when He does not direct us in easy paths but allows us to go through the fire, it will not change His promises for our good. As the faith seed of Abraham, we can claim the promise of Isaiah 43:2 “When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee. For I am the LORD thy God, the Holy One of Israel, thy Saviour.
September 2, 2021
Hebrews 13:3 “Remember them that are in bonds, as bound with them; and them which suffer adversity, as being yourselves also in the body”
To find the heart that identifies in this present time with those imprisoned or suffering because they are Christians, let’s look briefly back at the sufferings of believers in the past. The persecution of Christians began immediately after the church began on the day of Pentecost. Through the book of Acts, the historical record of the church’s beginnings, believers were imprisoned, beaten, tortured, and threatened. As the church grew, so did the threats against it and the violence against Christians increased until the slaughter of believers was turned into public entertainment. In the Roman amphitheaters, spectators watched faithful followers of Jesus sometimes entire families, being beheaded, fed to lions, burned alive, massacred by armed gladiators, and drowned as if they were watching theatrical productions. Even after Rome, under Constantine, seemed to accept Christianity, the hatred for born-again believers continued and began escalating after the fall of Rome when the Catholic church seized control and determined to destroy anyone claiming Christ or Jews practicing Judaism but not bowing to the church. This purge of believers resulted in the deaths, often by burning alive, of what some historians have said were millions of people. In one particular instance referred to as the St Bartholomew’s Day Massacre, August 24, 1572, Catholic mobs began slaughtering Protestants known as Huguenots. History.com says “Once the killing started, mobs of Catholic Parisians, apparently overcome with bloodlust, began a general massacre of Huguenots. Charles issued a royal order on August 25 to halt the killing, but his pleas went unheeded as the massacres spread. Mass slaughters continued into October, reaching the provinces of Rouen, Lyon, Bourges, Bourdeaux, and Orleans. An estimated 3,000 French Protestants were killed in Paris, and as many as 70,000 in all of France”.
The verse in Hebrews 13:3 tells us to think about those Christians imprisoned in places like China, North Korea, Burma, Eritrea, Pakistan, and Vietnam as if we ourselves were imprisoned. To do so requires a willing effort to allow the Holy Spirit to help us visualize what they are enduring for their faith and it means we can no longer take our precious freedom for granted or lightly value it. When our heart is fixed on their circumstances, we will cry out to God on their behalf. We also consider those who are suffering where the phrase in this verse “suffer adversity” also means to be tortured, injured, and held as worthless, as if we can feel their pain in our own bodies. Many believers are daily harassed, wounded, publicly mocked, and shunned. Some have their possessions taken, their houses looted and burned, their churches desecrated and destroyed, and are unable to find employment because employers will not hire them. Their families are threatened, children bullied, and every move they make is watched, scrutinized, and reported. When we feel their sorrow and join in prayer to our God on their behalf, we enter into the presence of the Lord sharing in their persecution. In our abundance of freedom, our prayers often center around our personal discomforts, lists of requests for ourselves and families, and a small circle of needs and want which isn’t a bad thing but it leaves a void that should be filled by the prayers for others, especially those persecuted for their faith, some of whom will be martyred as a testimony of their allegiance to Christ Jesus. May we begin considering them in our thoughts and prayers, looking forward to the day when Jesus returns and the people of God will suffer no more.
September 1, 2021
Jeremiah 51:6 “Flee out of the midst of Babylon, and deliver every man his soul: be not cut off in her iniquity; for this is the time of the LORD’S vengeance; he will render unto her a recompence”
Babylon, as a city and as a symbol for the world’s system, had its beginnings in Genesis 10 with a man named Nimrod, an evil man who, in the Hebrew text, is called a mighty tyrant before the Lord. Nimrod’s kingdom is called Babel, meaning confusion and as the theme of Babylon is referred to and developed throughout the scriptures, it represents all that, like Nimrod, is apostate and in rebellion against the Lord. Babylon then is the object of God’s wrath and the people of the Lord are told to separate themselves as it is never a wise and good thing to associate with anything that is the bulls-eye of God’s judgment. This is clear in this verse in Jeremiah as also in Revelation 18 which tells of the coming destruction of Babylon, the world’s system, and the warning is given in verses 4-5 “And I heard another voice from heaven, saying, Come out of her, my people, that ye be not partakers of her sins, and that ye receive not of her plagues. For her sins have reached unto heaven, and God hath remembered her iniquities”. The Christian’s call and duty to refuse to be a part of the world’s views, manners, and methods is, for the most part, no longer a consideration in modern theology and teachings. There has been a swarm to inclusiveness across all denominations and non-denominational groups and ministries accompanied by the abandonment of the moral high ground that once characterized the church. Verses such as 1 John 2:15-16 “Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.” are not mentioned or expounded because they make people cringe, uncomfortable, and seem unkind to a church-world wallowing in social and political correctness. The “enemy” that’s being held up for us to despise is the destruction of the planet, social inequality, and various so-called insensitivities and sadly, as we posture ourselves with this stance thinking we have become more spiritual, we have fallen into the abyss of Laodicea embracing a world system we’ve been persuaded is a shinning crown of godliness. We can see how this aligns with Isaiah 5:20 “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil”.
Our call as believers is in 2Corinthians 6:17-18 “Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing; and I will receive you, And will be a Father unto you, and ye shall be my sons and daughters, saith the Lord Almighty” and this immediately follows the teaching in verse 14 where the Lord says “Be ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers: for what fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness?”. There should be no doubt in a Christian’s mind and heart what their response should be concerning right and wrong and while none of us always choose God’s will with every choice we make, we must own our actions and when we deviate from what God has declared is right, we should be ready and willing to repent. To live in a pig’s stye as a prodigal when our Father has the best for us is excuseless. Right and wrong are not determined by current trends, fashionable preaching, human opinions, our emotions, or anything else but by the Word of God and when we hear the call as here in Jeremiah 51:6 to “flee out of the midst of Babylon”, God isn’t trying to keep us from enjoying life but to take us away from the entrapment of a system that the Lord will judge and destroy. When God’s people are yoked with the unbelieving world, contrary to the “let’s all get together and love one another” gibberish palming itself off as the truth claiming to be able to win lost people by pantomiming the culture, they are living in compromise and their lukewarm folly, and the Lord said Revelation 3:16 “So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth”.