Author Archives: revjaf

FALLING INTO THEIR OWN TRAP…Psalm 59

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My brother was quite the prankster.  Took after John Gibson, our maternal grandfather.   I think that’s why my Nana Gibson was so taken with him.  She really loved my brother.  I remember when she stayed with us for a few days.  Needless-to-say, my brother was ready for her!    He had dug a large hole in our backyard–probably over four feet in diameter and a few deep.  He had gathered a bunch of twigs, sticks and limbs that had fallen off our old apple tree.  Covered the hole with all this stuff, along with piling leaves to top it off. Looked rather benign.  Not much out of the ordinary.  Must know that our Nana Gibson weighed over 350 pounds in those days.  A bit of a heavy-weight, as my father would have said!    My brother calls out to our Nana to come to the backyard where he was standing. Off she went…down she went!  She should have known better.  But she fell for it anyway!

Psalm 59:12 refers to a different kind of trap.  Not funny at all.  The trap is of pride, of thinking more of yourself than you should.  Being the puffed-up ‘selfie’ in your own picture.  Like Narcissus, who gazed lovingly into a pool of water,  falling in love with his own image,  only to topple off the edge, drowning face-down in his own reflection.  Pride and love…only of himself.

The reward?   A prize that brought death.  That’s what the Bible says here in Psalm 59– ‘…trapped in their own pride'(verse 12).  Fallen into a deep hole, impossible to get out of.   The antidote?  Know of any good escape route?  Good news!   Read on in Psalm 59– ‘But I will sing of your strength;  I will sing aloud of your steadfast love in the morning.  For you have been my fortress and a refuge in the day of my distress.  O my strength, I will sing praises to you, for you, O God, are my fortress, the God who shows me steadfast love'(Psalm 59: 16-17).

Down in that hole, you can look up and see a hand reaching out to you.  It’s not a reflection of your own.  It’s His.  The very hand of God.  Take it…and hold on tight, for dear life.   Focus on HIM.  Praise HIM… as often as you can with whatever strength you have.   Plain and simple… the trap will be sprung.  We will be free in HIM.

 

Prayer:  Lord, help us to look fully on your Son, our Savior, Jesus Christ.  To gaze upon Him, and love Him.  In His name.  Amen.

YOU THINK YOU HAVE IT TOUGH?… Daniel 1 and 2

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Religious sentiment seems to be moving from the un-Christian to the anti-Christian. Hostility is gaining steam.  Ridicule is in the air.  Shame is hurled our way.  Not fun, is it? The times, they are a’changin’!

When we were selling our house,  I was having my usual daily devotions, spending time with the Lord, in prayer and reading God’s Word.  I propped my study Bible on an old desk someone made for me, which now was in our basement.  It was earlier in the morning as our realtor was bringing someone to see our home mid-morning.  Finishing my reading of the Bible, I wondered if I should put it away in one of the bottom drawers of my desk.  You know how people are today–so easily offended even at the ‘good book’.  Should I pack it away not causing any disturbance?  After all, we do want to sell our home!

I wondered…but only for about a quarter-of-a-second!  Immediately, I put my Bible down right where it always was.  No hiding. No cover-up. Not now.  Hopefully, not ever.  The Bible stayed…come what may.  Sale or no sale.   Daniel had it much rougher than anything I’ve ever experienced.  Imagine having your name changed from a godly one to one that praised the god of a false religion.  Like our boys Jonathan, David and Andrew now Buddha, Confusius, and Shinto.  Would be horrible.  Wrenching and tearing at our hearts.

That’s what happened to Daniel and his three friends.  They were learning all kinds of pagan philosophy, false religious doctrines, rewritten history while under the care and education of the best teachers in Babylon.  The things of the true God were thrust way to edge of their lives. Or were they?  They could have been, except that these four were committed to their God… and nothing, and I mean nothing, was going to shake their faith and trust in Yahweh God.  Nothing.  In this anti-Christian society we live in, dig your faith-heels in real deep.  Make a stand.  Take a stand.  Don’t be moved.  Leave your Bible front-and-center in your life, and be unashamed to let others know that you know the Lord of All, come what may.  Sale or no sale.  Your faith is not for sale.  Period.

Prayer:  Lord, we stand with you.  When all else has failed, we know that you will lift us up.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

WHY IS THIS SO HARD TO DO?… 1 Samuel 16: 1-13

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Why are some things difficult?  Like figuring out which button to press on our new washing machine. Too many options.  Do I press the ‘start’ button first?  All those high/low/medium water levels.  Is ‘simple’ in no one’s vocabulary anymore?  Or would you rather not stand next to me for fear I might blow up our new house pressing the wrong switch for our natural gas?!

In  our Bible story today, we’ll discover that King Saul has proven to be a very bad leader after all.  Even God regrets making him the first king of Israel( 1 Samuel 15:35).  But the Lord wants to move on.  He has someone else in mind, one who will be close to His own heart.  Where Saul blamed others for his failures and sins,  David would take responsibility for his own.  In 1 Samuel 16 we read of  Samuel, who is told by the Lord to stop his endless grieving over the failures of Saul… and to move on.

Off goes Samuel to that ‘little town of Bethlehem’.  Fearful of what Saul may do to him, Samuel is given a plan by the Lord that will protect.  ‘ Have you not grieved long enough?  I’ve got better plans ahead.  I’ll protect you.  Follow me.’  Can you hear the Lord saying something like that to Samuel?  Can you hear Him saying that to you?

So many of us carry all kinds of excess baggage for too many years!   Things we’d rather forget… that we can’t or won’t.  Remembering sins, committed or omitted,  whose dreaded memories are as fresh today as when they happened.  Hard to forget,  too easy to remember.  Things we have asked the Lord to forgive.  Probably hundreds of times.  Truly seeking His help.  But we keep drumming them up.  Dragging them around with us when already forgiven and forgotten by our Lord.

Our present tense, His past tense.  That’s His promise… found all through the Bible(Isaiah 38:17).  What promise?  When we ask…He will forgive AND forget.  Why is it so hard for us to let go and be forgiven?  To stop grieving over failure?  Too comfortable hanging on to sin?  An excuse for not serving Him now?  A way out?

I ask myself all these same questions.  And I hear Him in the distance saying–‘isn’t it long enough?  Haven’t you chewed on that until it tastes horrible in your mouth?  Wouldn’t you really rather trust Me that I have forgiven you… and even forgotten?’

How about it?  After all,  there’s more to do for the Lord than ever before.  Get going!  Fill your cup with oil from the Lord… and move on.  I better practice what I preach!  Suddenly it’s not about old Samuel…!

Prayer:  Lord, I believe.  Help my unbelief when it comes to moving forward in my life for you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS…Psalm 65

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It’s a beautiful morning here in Lacey, Washington.  I’m out on our patio enjoying the view of our backyard flowers, the bird-feeders filled with hummingbirds, towhees and gold finches!  Behind our wooden fence are large evergreens which reach high into the lovely deep blue and cloudless sky above.  The grass is green with the smell of fresh bark in the air.

Here’s where a choice comes into the picture in our modern world.  And it’s a big one.  I don’t care what kind of media–all would rather see this world through eyes that leave creator God out of the picture entirely.  Not even an issue except with mocking derision at those who would dare to see more than meets the eye, that have the nerve and temerity to see a creator where there is the creation.  It’s a choice to make in this life.  God or none. Theism or a-theism.

Not just any god.  I’m talking about the God of the Bible.  Father, Son and Holy Spirit. What do you see when you look around?  Can your eyes not see the obvious that where there is a creation there must be a creator?  Depth beyond, behind and beneath the surface?

Along with the psalmist here in Psalm 65,  let’s pause to praise the wonderful and creative hand of God everywhere we can see…and wonder at it!   Aren’t you tired of a society that scorns the Lord?  I am.  Thoroughly and completely.  How refreshing to read this psalm and hear King David say– ‘Praise is due to you, O God…the one who by his strength established the mountains, being girded with might; who stills the roaring of the seas, the roaring of the waves…You make the going out of the morning and the evening to shout for joy…'(Psalm 65: 1,6-8).  Keep reading on to the end of the psalm and have your spirits lifted in praise and thanksgiving to our Blessed God, the Creator and Sustainer of All.

Look around, thanking God for His mighty and creative power.  For the beauty of it all.  The majesty and wildness of His creation.  The predictable and the unpredictable.  For the fun of living,  knowing that this is but a prelude to what He has for us with Him in heaven forever.  Wow!  Filled with the presence of God (and none of those infernal detractors). That’s something to look forward to.  No, not something.  Everything!

Prayer:  Lord, we pause to wonder at everything your hand has made.  All from you.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

LET ME BRAG ABOUT MY HERITAGE!…Psalm 61

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Trust me, I have nothing to brag about!  Heritage… of what?   My Roget’s Thesaurus lists these synonyms:  heredity, patrocliny(from the father),  matrocliny(guess from whom!?), gene factor, Weismann theory (probably put forth by some wisenheimer!),  and ancestors. What is your heritage?  Possibly Downton Abbey?  Mine is decidedly downtown Jersey City, New Jersey!

Your forebears came to the new world with the pilgrims on the Mayflower?  We moved to a new town using a Mayflower truck!  My patrocliny is probably some panic spells when I have clogged ears.  My matrocliny is an inherited sarcastic sense of humor.  Inheritance?  A few shekels… but nothing that put me in a higher tax bracket!   Inherited rank and prestige?  Military service to our great country?

Wait a minute.  I may have something there.  My grandfather Fischer was a civilian painter, painting barracks at Bergen Point, Long Island,  during  the Spanish-American War.  Pretty impressive, huh?   That even got me a 10% military discount at the outlet mall clothing store!  A heritage of service to our country!  My father, during World War 2, went to the basement of our Jersey City home and shovelled ash for the coal furnace to bring on a severe asthma attack before going to the Army induction office.  4-F, for sure!

Spend a moment if you would meditating on Psalm 61:5.  Soak in those words from the Word of God.   They speak of my heritage…and yours as well– ‘For you have heard my vows, O God;  you have given me the heritage of those who fear your name.’  We have a heritage, even when we thought we had none.  The heritage of all who worship the Lord. Of all who bow the knee in humble submission to the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.  All of us…together are the heritage of the Lord!

Nothing we ever did to achieve it.  Nothing at all.  The verse says that God has ‘given’ us that heritage.  A gift.  Something offered to us by God Himself.  His heart is for everyone to receive this gift. His open hand offering us freely what cost Him everything.   We can’t work for it.  No.  ‘Jesus Paid It All’, just as the old hymn says.  When He said  ‘it is finished’,  He meant it.   He did for us what we could never do for ourselves.  Forget about trying to earn your salvation.  Won’t work.  He’s done it all.

Get it?  Please do…And enjoy the heritage GIVEN to us by God Himself.  Enjoy His growing family!  He cared to send the very best. He sent His only Son.  Brag about our heritage?  Brag about Jesus, the inheritance that’s plain out-of-this-world!

Prayer:  Thank you Lord for the heritage of worshiping you.  We owe you so much.   In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

TOSSING AND TURNING… Psalm 56

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I don’t know exactly why, but I toss-and-turn a lot at night.  A good night’s sleep?  It’s been a long time since that’s been true for me.  My mother was the same way,  but she didn’t help herself.  She would listen to her favorite radio talk programs ’til the wee hours of the night.    My father…he could sleep through the loudest thunder-and-lightning storms!

Not to fret– God pays attention even to our tossing-and-turning on a restless night.  Psalm 56–‘You have kept count of my tossings,  put my tears in your bottle.  Are they not in your book?…In God…I shall not be afraid.  What can man do to me?'(Psalm 56: 8,10 ESV).

Our tears in a bottle.  Every sob and teardrop important to the Lord.  In Bible times, precious liquids (like wine,  water and milk), would be kept in leather bags to prevent evaporation, and also to make pouring from its small opening easy and efficient.  The image is clear.  Every tear we shed is kept close to God’s heart as if gathered and guarded in a leather pouch for scarce and precious liquid.

Then the psalmist refers to God keeping a book with everything about us in it.  Nothing is left out or overlooked.   The earliest human writing comes from the Sumerians over 5000 years ago.  Their content had to do with financial transactions, political and religious issues.  But God’s book contains things much more personal.   David’s tossings, his wanderings, tears and troubles are all there in His care.

Not just David’s– yours and mine as well.  David trusts God, gets close to Him, using His personal name of  ‘Yahweh’.  David affirms his faith in God’s Word.  Reminding himself who and what he can trust in.  The LORD…God’s every Word.

Notice that David never refers to having faith in a specific answer to his prayers.  He doesn’t trust God only when He performs certain things for him.  No, he trusts God regardless of the outcome.  I’ve known some people who lost their faith in the Lord when what they prayed for didn’t come to pass in the time they expected or the way they wanted.  Like demanding, spoiled children.

That’s not trusting in the Lord.  That’s putting Him to the test.  Faith sees way beyond.  Don’t trust the outcome, trust the Lord.  He knows best.  Father knows best!   Jesus is praying for us( Romans 8:34).  The Holy Spirit also( Romans 8:26).

What a team we have on our side!  ‘This I know, that God is for me'(Psalm 56: 9).  Do you know that?  On a good day, I do.  But on those tough ones, well…

Let’s pray for each other.  To be strong.  To stand up when others stumble.  To be all that God wants us to be.  Pray for each other, joining with Jesus and the Holy Spirit.  Now, that’s what I call a team!

Prayer:  We do pray for each other… to be strong in you.  In Jesus, our Savior.  Amen.

BE CAREFUL WHAT YOU TOSS OUT!….Psalm 50: 12-18

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Be careful what you toss out–may need it some day!  Many find it next to impossible to throw anything out.  You know who you are!  We lived in our previous home for twenty one years.  Raised most of our kids there.  Grandkids knew every nook-and-cranny, closet and crawl space.  Entertained lots of friends around our kitchen and dining room tables.   Worked hard on our home.  Mainly my wife Sue.

We lived in the midst of three towns that had many issues to contend with.  Yes, lots of wonderful people.  Had a super job there with a large investment firm.  Met and married my wonderful wife.  Served the Lord at the best little church any pastor ever served.

Struggling towns economically with way too much abuse of all kinds.  This was telling.  No hiding it.  Our downtown appeared as a town on the way down.  Nevertheless,  it was hard to leave our home and hometown.  But we did.  Now we closer to all our children and those precious grands!

We had to let things go–to Habitat for Humanity, the Salvation Army, friends, family… and the monthly garbage can.  Our old house had too many storage spaces.  We used every one.  Our new home has a lot less space,  so we had to ‘lighten the load’.   And we did.

But remember, be careful what you cast aside as you may need it some day.  Psalm 50: 17– ‘For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you’.  Casting God’s Word aside as if an old collection of myths and fairy tales.  Not any of that.  It’s God’s Word from start to finish, Genesis to Revelation.

True then…true now.  The world, our nation, and even some Church denominations are casting aside the Word of God.  Outmoded.  Out of date.  Don’t believe it for one second.  My old denomination changed the rules over 80 years ago–the rule being the inerrant, infallible measure of our faith, the Bible.  But then, to be modern and ‘with it’, they loosed the ties that bind to the truth of God, which has led that church body to be increasingly insignificant,  suffering decreasing membership with local churches leaving in droves.  The ones remaining barely survive. Why, they ask?

They have no idea.  It’s not that hard to figure out, if you really want to know.  It has to do with what they’ve cast aside.  Psalm 50:17-18–‘For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.  If you see a thief, you are pleased with him,  and you keep company with adulterers.’  They have cast aside God’s moral law allowing and even celebrating what God had forbidden.  Sound like today?  We dare not cast aside the Word of God.  Some will make fun, even mock.  So be it.  Never cast aside the Word of God.  Never.

Prayer:  Thank you, God,  for Your Word.  True, perfect, nourishing and good.  We stand on your Word.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

KEEP YOUR EYES FOCUSED… Psalm 54

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For many years now, the church I serve as pastor emeritus ends its weekly worship service with all singing these hymn words–‘ turn your eyes upon Jesus, look full in His wonderful face,  and the things of earth will grow strangely dim, in the light of His glory and grace.’  What better way to conclude a worship service!

Look to Jesus.  He’s wonderful to see.  Troubles of this world grow small and appear strangely dim when we focus on His glory and His grace.   A benediction in song, week-by-week.  However, not shared by those lamented in Psalm 54: 3– ‘For strangers have risen against me; ruthless men seek my life; they do not set God before themselves.’  Strangers, unwelcome visitors all.  Not with a common faith in the Lord.  People unconvinced and destructive.  Will tear us down.  Ruthless– willing to do almost anything to get their way.  Robbers of life, joy and goodness.  Literally,  in the Hebrew– ‘who do not set God before them’.   No turning their eyes on Jesus.  No looking full in His wonderful face.  How about us?

Stop looking all over the place; here, there and who-knows-where.  Stay focused.  Concentrate.  We used to go camping with some of our children.  I liked camping even though it didn’t seem like it at the time.  It was hard.  Our daughter kept crying that her backpack was too heavy, so I’d have to carry it part of the way.  Setting up the tent, getting firewood, trying to ‘bean’ raccoons as they would steal my after-dinner pretzels!   The drinking water had a rather bad effect on my system, which left me trying to find suitable burying areas not close to our camping site, getting there in the nick-of-time, if you know what I mean!

So special being out in the forest, alongside the Pacific Ocean.  Loved it.  Sort of.  At night we’d tell stories,  some better than others. We’d always play a little game called ‘I Spy’ where we’d concentrate on something that the others would try to guess.  ‘I spy with  my little eye…’ and off went the guessing.

Don’t be like the folks in Psalm 54: 3 who don’t pay any attention to God.  They toss Him aside.  Ignore Him.  Make believe He doesn’t exist.  No. Put Him front-and-center in your life.  When your concentration flags, don’t worry.  Shake yourself.  Look straight ahead.  Turn your eyes upon Jesus…look full in His wonderful face.  You’ll notice that the things of this crazy world will grow dim and small in a strange and wonderful way when we see His glory and His grace.  How’s your vision these days?

Prayer:  Oh Lord, help us to look Your way, to follow in Your footsteps.  In Jesus’ name. Amen.

TALK ABOUT A PLAIN AND SIMPLE WITNESS…Acts 27: 13-26

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‘Sharing is caring’, our granddaughter has learned in school.  Not being selfish, keeping the best news in this world to ourselves.  Someone bothered to share Jesus with me… and you.  Some make sharing our faith a very complicated experience.  Make sure they know every detail of the faith.  Pass some theological test to receive salvation.  No easy-believism.  Of course, that’s right.

Faith not just a nod of the head or saying some rote words.  Commitment is a promise to keep.  But in the beginning I think it’s more about intent than content.  When I accepted the Lord into my life as a teenager, all I knew was that God loved me;  and if asked,  He would come into my life.  Plain and simple.  To me, earth-shattering.   I knew  I didn’t deserve His love and forgiveness.  I felt bad enough.  I couldn’t have told you any more than that, plain and simple.  If given a test, ‘F’ was not for Fischer but for failure…to know very much about the faith I now embraced.

The content of the Bible came later… and is still coming.  Content is great,  but in the beginning is the intent to be a follower of the Lord.  That’s not always easy.  I like to lead.  Be in charge.  Set the tone.  Follow me… instead.

Not with the Lord.  He’s not looking for more leaders, but more followers.  That content is gradually (though incompletely) my intent as well.  Be a good follower of Jesus.  Learn all you can from Him and His Word.  Give Him the lead.

That’s why I love the plain and simple witness of the Apostle Paul on a distressed ship at sea found in Acts 27.  My wife and I have been at sea during some rather big storms.  Cruise ships with stabilizers still rock-and-roll if the waves are big enough.  When the sea-sick bags show up on all the railings, it’s time to head back to our stateroom!

In Acts 27, Luke records a devastating storm at sea that will have catastrophic effect on cargo and ship.  But not the crew and passengers…for the Lord has told Paul through angelic messenger– ‘…this very night there stood before me an angel of the God to whom I belong and whom I worship… take heart, men, for I have faith in God that it will be exactly as I have been told…'(Acts 27: 23, 25).  That’s Paul’s witness.  Plain and simple.

Those who believed in Jesus, as Paul did, learned later all that that entailed.  The intent was to seek help from the Lord.  The content of the Word of God comes later.  The one will lead to the other.  Different pace for different folk.  Be patient.  Share the Gospel…and  your faith, plain and simple.  Let the Holy Spirit work the rest…Amen?

Prayer:  Lord, we need Holy Spirit guidance and understanding to be all you want us to be.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

NOT THOSE 7 LAST WORDS OF JESUS…John 1: 35-42

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It was probably 35 years ago now that a series of articles I had written was accepted by a devotional magazine.  The topic was this– the first recorded words of Jesus in the Gospels.  Many times during Lent,  we hear messages on the Seven Last Words.   I wrote about His first words.  Something different.  A new angle.

Never did finish that series.  Never submitted,  never published.  Still have the drafts along with the original carbon paper that I used to make copies for myself! That was a long time ago.  I’d still like to write those devotionals.  How about we just spend a little time now looking at a few of Jesus’ first words in the Gospel of John?

John 1: 38–‘What do you want?’  That’s a strange question to ask someone.  Isn’t it?  I’d feel defensive having to come up with a really good reason or two.  Maybe that’s the point.  Jesus makes those two disciples of John the Baptist really dig deep to find why they want to get to know Him.  What they really want from Him.

Must ask myself the same question.  On any given day it could be something different.  Jesus asks: ‘what do you want’?   Go ahead–think out loud.  Don’t candy-coat.  Be honest and open.

When I first became a believer in Jesus, I had no idea what He could do for me.  Or what He wanted from me.  No idea.  I was lonely.  Afraid of what was ahead.  What I wanted of Jesus was for Him to be close to me.  To never leave me… in the dark.   That’s all.

It was later that I started adding all the selfish-sounding stuff… for this, for that and some of those over there while you’re at it!  I should have stayed where I was at the beginning of my Christian life.  Just wanting Him.  Nothing more or less.

Jesus with me sounded pretty good to someone who had no idea that God even cared.  Those two followers of John the Baptist give a murky answer to Jesus’ question, wondering where He’s staying for the night.  Jesus says to them–‘Come…and you will see'(verse 39).  No direct answer.  Nothing definite.   Merely an invitation to get with Him and get ready for the experience of a lifetime.

If you want to know Jesus, tell Him that.  And then wait and watch.  He’ll be found…He’s not far from any one of us( Acts 17:27).  You’ll find Him if you really want Him.  ‘What do you want?’  is still His question for us today.  And your answer?

Prayer:  Lord, we need you.  We want to be close to you and have you close to us.  In Jesus, Your only Son.  Amen.