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HOW ABOUT A LITTLE PEACE AND QUIET!…Ezekiel 38:10-13

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Aren’t those amazing verses from Ezekiel 38?  Uplifting and edifying!  Especially verse 11.  The context is God’s people facing difficult times.  They are called  ‘…a peaceful and unsuspecting people’.  My translation (ESV) calls them ‘a quiet people’.  Wouldn’t it be nice to have a little peace and quiet?

I’d like to be one of the quiet people. Wouldn’t you?   To nap uninterrupted.  To read a book from cover to cover.  To do…whatever you want!   Left alone for awhile.  But life has a way of happening that can’t stand a little peace and quiet for very long.

When my wife and I were in England for two months, we rented a 15th century Manor House.  Had a lovely time, indeed.  Wanting to be ‘quiet people’, we followed all the rules of the road.  Including paying for parking wherever we went, even had to pay to park at some supermarkets.  An expense that was a surprise to us, but one which we obeyed without fail.

The day after we arrived home a letter arrived for us from England.  From the Council of the City of Leeds.  A parking ticket to the tune of $135.  We want to be ‘quiet people’, ‘peaceful people’, but the storm clouds were gathering across the sea.  I looked at my wife, she looked at me.  We had never been to Leeds.  We knew that… but how could we prove it?  It was the car we had rented, the license plate tattled that it had been in Leeds.  What gives?  And now our credit card has been charged for the $135 by our rental company as return payment for what they owed on our ticket.  I wanted to scream that we had never been to Leeds.   Quiet and peace… flew out the window.  This is not right.  Never in Leeds, but now we’re lead into trouble.

Until I read the parking ticket.  The infraction happened on August 15th, and it said so in two places.  August 15th?  We didn’t fly to England until Sept 1st.   I believe in miracles but this is ridiculous.  And it took two full months to get this corrected…and our money back!

As much as we’d like to be ‘quiet people’, sometimes you just have to go to battle.  Don’t ask the question ‘why’?  You’ll only make it worse, and probably not get a satisfying answer, anyway. Usually the Lord wants us to trust Him.   To put our hands in His.  To let Him carry us when we can barely walk on our own.  To let Him give us His peace–the peace  that passes understanding.  Not as the world gives…

Prayer:  Lord, we pray for peace and quiet in our lives.   To rest in You.  We pray for that this new year…to find it in You in whom we can always place our trust.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

MERRY CHRISTMAS?… Isaiah 58

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Isaiah 58?  Whatever happened to Luke and Matthew with the stories of the manger and the inn, the Wise Men, and angels with Mary and Joseph and the babe wrapped in swaddling cloths?  Wouldn’t those be more appropriate?   Don’t get me wrong.  I’m not taking any shortcuts, leaving out the best parts.  I want to dig into a different vein. Golden nuggets from a different part of the Word of God.

Isaiah 58–why Jesus came?  The ‘why’ of Christmas.  Our sin shouted our need for God right into the heavens themselves.  Verses 2-4 tell of people who claim the name of God, but who live lives filled with pride and arrogance.   Thinking themselves high-and-mighty when in reality they live in a far country, far away from God, down-and-out.  Sadly,  they don’t even realize it.

Verse 5 sheds more light on God’s complaint–His people are His, they say, but only in a superficial way.  In name only, a hint, a smidgen of the Lord.  Shallow… with a faith that evaporates at the first sign of heat.  Religious acts, and nothing more… and a lot less.  Formality that’s smoke and mirrors.

That’s why Jesus came.  To free us from that thin veneer of faith to something that permeates deep within, to the very marrow of our bones.  Ritual acts that now result in actions of caring and helping,  supporting and encouraging.  Isaiah 58: 6 and following describe an alive faith, a relationship with the Lord that reaches out to others to help as best we can.

That’s what God did for us at Christmas. He reached out to us.   He didn’t send a postcard, an annual letter or a posting on Facebook.  No, He sent His very best, His only Son.  His actions spoke louder than mere words ever could.

This Christmas let’s not only go through the motions.  Let’s welcome the Messiah!  Let’s meditate on His generous mercy given for you and me!  And let’s be motivated to be a helping hand to someone else.  Then, this will be a Merry Christmas!

Prayer:  Dear Lord, for all your gifts we thank you today.  But for Jesus, the gift at Christmas, we pause to life high His name…with a grateful heart.  In His name.  Amen.

TAKE TIME BEFORE IT TAKES YOU…Luke 1: 18-25

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Here I am retired from active ministry,  finished most of my Christmas shopping before Thanksgiving, and yet still feel on a holiday treadmill with no ‘stop’ button to push .  What’s wrong?  I doubt that I’m alone in feeling this way a few days before Christmas.  Some of you may have no sympathy for me, none at all!

We need to take time, to shut a few doors, turn off a couple phones and computers, pull the plug on television and radio.  Get away and closet ourselves…with the Lord.  Shut our mouths and keep quiet.  That’s what happened to Zechariah, the father of John the Baptist in Luke 1.  He had a visitor, the angel Gabriel, who told him an unbelievable tale of a future birth for he and his wife, Elizabeth.  For years and years of faithful marriage,  they could have no children.  Now… this news?  What, already?    He’s thunder-struck!   And the angel says that Zechariah will have nine months not to say one word, only to think about and meditate upon what he’s heard.  Nine months silent.  To  consider what God has promised and start to believe the Lord.

Hole up… allowing the whole Word of God to settle deep within our hearts and minds.   For nine long months, he’ll watch his wife grow large with child, feel the baby move and kick, plan for a new life in their household.  Time to believe.  Time to embrace… the promises of the Lord.

Spend a moment now reading Luke 1:24.  Do you see what Elizabeth does after she conceives the child?  Buy billboard space to spread the good news?  No, she ‘kept herself hidden…’  She prays a lovely prayer of thanksgiving.  A prayer from her lips to God’s ears.  Just between them.  Herself and her Lord.  ‘She kept herself hidden’, the Bible says. Months and months worshipping the Lord.  Praying and thanking and being silent.

Sometimes, not all the time, we need to spend quality and quantity time with our Lord.  Hidden away, behind closed doors, private and secluded.  Needing to squirrel away with your Lord?   Jesus and you.  If that’s how you’re feeling, you might as well act on those feelings.  It’s probably the Lord knocking on the door of your heart, wishing to enter your tent and have a nice meal together.  Jesus and you.  No television, no horrible news programs, no smartphones, no music in the background.  Jesus and you.  That’s enough!

Prayer:  Lord, in quietness, I find rest in You.  In peace, I learn to trust and to move forward into your promises.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

SING, SING…A RELEASE FROM PRISON!…Ephesians 5: 18-20

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Go ahead…sing to the Lord!  Really good medicine, which will release you from prisons of depression, anxiety and worry.  Just for a moment, turn off this world.  Turn off CNN and Fox News.  And sing to the Lord!

Ephesians 5: 19–‘…sing and make music in your heart to the Lord’.  I remember a time, many years ago,  when I was feeling very lonely, single, missing my boys on an everyday basis, far from family who never travelled, distanced from some friends who may have thought that divorce was an infectious disease that they could catch, in a job that required no time off for the first 5 years.  I was not wanting to serve another church for fear of what could happen once again.  People can be tough to deal with and I no longer felt tough enough to take it.   I was not spending time in God’s Word,  so some of my ‘prison’ was of my own making.  The isolation was very telling.  The loneliness gnawed at me.  I could feel it deep within my stomach.

One night I found my old hymnal from the Tabernacle in Ocean City, New Jersey.  Beginning to leaf through its pages, I started singing– ‘Victory in Jesus’, ‘What a Friend We Have in Jesus’, ‘Trust and Obey’,  ‘On Calvary’, on and on, song after song, hymn to Jesus after hymn to our Lord.   It was wonderful!   Hoped that I had hard-of-hearing neighbors.  They probably wished they had a mute person living  in my apartment!  I sang and sang …to the Lord.  Those wonderful hymns and Gospel songs that I used to sing  as a new Christian.  The ones we sang at the Moody Bible Institute.

It was almost instantaneous.  I started to feel better. I’m not exaggerating. My mood lifted  like ‘Burdens Are Lifted at Calvary’.  Not so alone.  Not so alienated.  Not so imprisoned.

How about you?  Need a little help?  The Apostle Paul’s advice is still good.  Sing…make music in your heart…from deep within…all to the Lord.  Not singing for its own sake…but to our Lord!  Whatever your feelings this Christmas season, lift high the name of Jesus, the name above all names.  With your singing, notice that your own feelings will soar as well!  Happy singing!  Merry Christmas…to all!

Prayer:  We sing your praises, our Lord.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen!

ON THAT MUSICAL NOTE!… Ezekiel 26: 7-14

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Ezekiel is one of the most amazing books in the entire Bible.  Have you read it?   I highly recommend it,  but it is different.  For me, that’s part of the excitement!

Let’s look at chapter 26.  Judgement is being declared on the land of Tyre, an island city that was one of the main commerce centers of the ancient world. A wealthy nation with no time for God, only for business and money.  Sound familiar?

A military siege is coming, Ezekiel warns.  War looms on the horizon led by the forces of Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon.  Look at verse 13.  Part of future judgement will be the removal of songs from the land.    No more music sung or played on instruments.  No more choirs praising the Lord.  No more somber tunes to ease grief and loss.  The Hebrew word for ‘music’ is ‘sheer’, which denotes emotions from the heart through vocal cords and instruments.  But for Tyre, no more singing,  no more music.

What a terrible judgement.  Like a vision of hell.  Where not a note of praise will ever be heard again.  No happy melody that lifts and inspires, soothes and comforts.  A chord that resonates with feelings deep within.  None.

Whistling, humming, singing, playing…all from our hearts to the Lord Himself.  God loves to hear us in song and music!  It would be hell to not sing for Him.  But that is what will be the future for those who want nothing to do with the Lord in their life.  Not His wish, but He does honor theirs.  How bleak and hopeless that would be.

Quite the opposite for those who love the Lord and know His Son Jesus Christ.  Heavenly songs and music like we can’t even imagine!   There’s a wonderful song in a Christmas Cantata, the song entitled “What Can I Give?”   What we can give the Lord at Christmas?   A good question. What can we give Him?   The song answers with the words, “I can sing hallelujah…”

We can sing to the Lord.  That’s what we can give Him.  Our praise and thanks in beautiful song and music this Christmas and for that matter…every day of the year!  What can we give Him?  ‘I can sing…’!

Prayer:  Lord, we love to sing your praises and play music that comes from our hearts to yours.  We give you a song this Christmas and New Year that says we love you and worship you now and forever.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

COULD IT BE? ALL THINGS FOR THE GOOD?…Luke 2: 1-20

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Reading through the Christmas story in Luke,  I was thinking about the inn that had no room for Joseph and Mary.  There have been so many stories written about the innkeeper, his wife, the crowds in Bethlehem due to the royal census, the donkeys and manger in that cave where they found shelter.

Joseph and Mary were relegated to a cave where their son was born into this world.  My wife and I have been to Bethlehem, and to the place where tradition says Jesus was born.  Down tiny steps to what would have been the ground-level in Jesus’ day.  Through a very narrow opening, looking all around, we realized that we were in a rough-hewn cave, very large, dark and dank.  A cave, nevertheless.

Here our Savior was born.  Here?  Yes, here.  Why here?  Could it be because of what God has told us in Romans 8:28?  You remember the verse– ‘All things work together for good to those who love God, to those called according to His purpose.’   Note that the verse does not say that all things ARE good; but that somehow, in ways that I have no earthly idea about, but in God’s heavenly hands, He works everything together for His good purposes.

Please do not quote this verse to someone in the midst of terrible tragedy and loss.  It will  hurt like a knife into their heart.  Stay with them and be comforting.  Let them rest on your shoulders…for they will in time learn to lean upon His.

All things working together…for good.   Back to the Christmas story with the shepherds out in their fields watching their flock by night.  To them the angels first appear with the good news of the baby’s birth in the manger over in Bethlehem.  To shepherds– grimy and grungy, shabby and smelly.  To them came the heavenly announcement!

Verse 16 says that ‘they hurried off and found (the baby Jesus)…lying in a manger…just as it had been told them(v. 20).  How in the world did the shepherds ever find that one little baby?  How?  I can only imagine that there were very few newborns lying in manger-cave in Bethlehem.  They found Him because God used the inconvenience of ‘no room in the inn’ so that the shepherds could find Him without difficulty.   Sounds like ‘all things work together for good…’

How about in your life and mine?  No rose garden, I know.  But I’m sure trusting in the Lord, through thick-and-thin.  He’ll make those troubles and unanswered questions good compost for the best garden anyone has ever seen.  Out of this world!   Heavenly, really…

Prayer:  Our Lord, help us to hold your hand when times get tough and answers become rare.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

ACCOUNTING 101… Philippians 3: 1-11

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There’s no accounting for why I had such grave difficulties with Accounting 101 at Fairleigh Dickinson University.  It was the pits for me!  Did not compute at all, not in the least.  Don’t remember my grade, probably because I’ve blocked it out of my mind!

I had really wanted to be a stockbroker.  My father had even taken me to New York City to meet with a friend’s son, who was a top broker with a major investment firm.  We had lunch in the opulent corporate dining room.  Talking with this broker, he mentioned that what I needed more than anything else was something that startled me.  It made me most uncomfortable.

I was a new believer in Jesus Christ and had started reading the Bible, not that this came up in our conversation that day at all.  It didn’t.  But my internal conversation was alive and well.  He told me that I had to love money.  ‘Just love it’, he advised.  That set off my internal thoughts to a fever pitch.  After all, I had read of that warning about loving money in 1 Timothy 6:10.  All kinds of roots and brambles from its love.  Nothing inherently evil,  but when idolized and worshipped the evil is let loose with horrific consequences.

That broker’s advice broke the spell of that career for me, which was finally pronounced dead-and-buried through Accounting 101 but a year or two later!   I was reading today about the Apostle Paul’s accounting-method in Philippians 3.  He lists all his accounts-receivables, all those debits to his account.  All the plus columns of his life…circumcised on the 8th day, of Israel and the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews, a strict Pharisee, a zealous persecutor of the church of Jesus Christ.  All these should add up to a sterling disciple of God.  All the debits and receivables needed for righteousness and purity.

But no, Paul’s accounting takes the debits and makes them credits, the accounts- receivables become accounts-payable.  The tables are turned upside down.  He says that all those pluses are really zeroes… compared to knowing Jesus.  Everything else is plain ‘rubbish’ (verse 8).  That word  ‘rubbish’ in the original Greek means ‘dung’, to put it  politely!

All that really matters in life is not money, but to love and know the Savior.   Not things about Him, but to know Him.  To care about what He cares about.  To talk with Him and then hear from Him in His Word, the Bible.  To serve Him and eagerly await the time when we’ll be with Him forever.  As the Apostle Paul said, ‘that I may know Him…'(v. 10).

Now, that adds up!  He balances all the books.  He turns all that rubbish… into eternal rewards!

Prayer: Lord, thank you for all your blessings to us.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

DARE TO BE A TIMOTHY!…Philippians 2: 19-24

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Now, I know that it’s ‘Dare to be a Daniel’!  I’ve sung the song many times.  But today I dare you to be a Timothy!  I double-dare myself as well.  Have you read what the Apostle Paul said about Timothy?  Paul’s hoping to send this younger associate to the Philippian church so he can bring back encouraging, joyful news about their growing faith in the Lord.  Look what Paul says about this young man:  ‘for I have no one like him…’  No one. Without parallel.  The head of his class.  Such an accolade!

Then the Apostle says that there is no one like Timothy ‘who will be genuinely concerned for your welfare’.  Timothy has a deep concern for God’s people.  His feelings are ‘genuine’.   The real deal.  Nothing phony-baloney about Timothy.  True blue, through and through.  Oh, to be a Timothy!

Timothy loves these Philippian Christians.  Paul then contrasts other church leaders with him, and tells us that ‘they all seek their own interests, not those of Jesus Christ’.  Selfishness ran rampant even in the church.  Instead of being concerned about what the Lord wants, it’s all about them.

We all know people, even believers, who seem like they are the only people in the whole wide world.  They are the only ones with problems, with heartaches, with plans and joys.  It’s me, I, and myself!  A false trinity of narcissism that is all too common in our day and age.  But not Timothy.

Oh, to be like Timothy!  Thinking about others.  Wanting the best for them, and the best for Jesus.  The best all around.  A stand-alone person…the genuine article…wanting your best which is God’s will for you.  Oh, to be a Timothy!     I dare you… as I dare myself!

Prayer:  Lord, our prayers are for your best for others as it is for us as well.  In Jesus’ name.   Amen.

STOP THE CHANGE ALREADY!… Matthew 2

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Everything is changing all the time.  Are you as tired of it as I am?  Recently I changed my e-mail address and living to regret it almost every waking moment of my day.  I’m tech-challenged at best on good days.  If it wasn’t for my wife, I’d still be using a long string connecting two tin cans and happy as a lark!  But I’m doing it.  Plowing forward, I hope.  Hitting speed bumps in lots of wrong places, I fear.  Checking, double-checking.  Very trying indeed!

In reading Matthew 2, it really impressed me how special Joseph was.   We know little about Joseph of the Christmas story.  What we do know is amazing.  His godly character shines as bright as the sun on the clearest of cloudless days.  What sets him apart from the likes of me is his willingness to change, to uproot his life, to switch course completely when he knows God is leading in a different direction.  For example, Caesar says it’s tax time, so Joseph and Mary take the exhausting journey to Bethlehem from their hometown of Nazareth.

There wise men arrive to worship the newborn babe and to bring precious gifts of gold, incense and myrrh.  Matthew 2:11 says that the Magi find the holy family in a house, no longer a cave.  Joseph and  Mary moved into a more permanent dwelling.  And Joseph was working and providing for his family.  Life was looking better for them, change was not so much in the air.  Until…

Herod gets wind of this new King, a threat to his rule. A threat he will not tolerate.    Once again, change has knocked at Joseph’s door in the form of an angel in a dream.  Seemingly, without even a question, packs up the family along with all their earthly possessions (especially the Magi gifts that will see them through the transitions ahead).  They don’t move to a nearby town, they leave the country and head for Egypt.

Change…change…change!   Was it hard for Joseph?   Think of all they’ve already been through.  But God called.  An angelic dream has been given.  Joseph was tuned in to the Lord.  Dreams came.  Joseph heard, heeded, and headed out of town.

Change is not easy for any of us!  More than ever, we need to stay close to our Lord.  Hear Him in His Word, daily.  Talk with Him, often.  Like a healthy vine that stays well-watered and fed,  stay very near the good earth of Jesus.

Hebrews 13:8–‘Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever’.  That says it all!  Amen?  Amen!

Prayer:  Lord, give me strength to make all the changes I need in my life.  In Jesus’ name.  Amen.

IN SUCH GOOD COMPANY… Ezekiel 14: 12-20

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Being a Christian today often results in argument, shaming and ostracism.  No longer fashionable to align ourselves with biblical teachings.  Accusations of bigotry, closed-mindedness are hurled like rotten apples at a moving target.   Even in our families or among our friends, we can feel the coldness of rejection.  I’m sure you know what I mean.

Times have changed.  People are different than they used to be.  It’s not because I’m getting older that I feel this way.  Times have changed and people are different.  Being a Christian is no longer like wearing a flower in your lapel,  for opposition will be in our faces.  I guarantee it.

However, we must remember what Solomon said thousands of years ago, that ‘there is nothing new under the sun'(Ecclesiastes 1:9). Times have always been tough for God’s people.   Our reading today is from the Prophet Ezekiel, from about 2600 years ago.  The people of God have been rebellious and ungrateful, forsaking Him for other gods.  Promise-breakers and unfaithful.  Only judgement awaits them.  A judgement of their own making.  God’s fed up with them and says in chapter 14:14 that even if Noah, Daniel and Job were among those in Ezekiel’s time, that even with these heroes of the faith present,  God would not forgive and forget except that the lives of those faithful three would most certainly be spared.

Noah, Daniel and Job– godly men who stood alone against mockers, pagan idolaters, greedy politicians, friends and family who were more hurtful than helpful.  They stood with God and what He had told them.   So must we.

No matter what, we’ve crossed over the line and now there’s no turning back.  We’re followers of the Master.  Even if it means standing alone.  But, wait a minute.  Alone?  Are you sure?  For we’re in good company!  Noah, Daniel and Job.  With the heavenly host and guardian angels around us.  With Jesus who promised to be with us no matter what, where or when (Matthew 28:20).  Jesus.  The Holy Spirit fills us with the presence of God Himself, making those of us who believe in Jesus the very Temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Corinthians 6:19).  Then there’s also the ‘cloud of witnesses’ who are in heaven.  Saints who have gone before us to the throne of God…cheering us on (Hebrews 12:1).

Jesus (Hebrews 7:25) and the Holy Spirit (Romans 8: 26-27) are praying and interceding with the Father for each of God’s children.  That’s you and me!  Alone?  I better rethink that.  Not sure how there’s room to even stand up in the presence of all that help–pretty good company, huh?  Don’t be afraid to stand tall for our Lord!  We’re never alone!

Prayer:  Our Lord, for all the strength you give us, thank you.  We stand with You, now and forever.  Amen.