The town we’re staying in for 3 weeks is a lovely New Jersey shore town. Ever since 1959 I’ve vacationed here always with such great anticipation and joy. Lots of good Bible-teaching churches, a dry town which keeps the bar scene far away, but very upscale making it hard for the average person to afford to live here. I’m just glad to be able to rent a condo for a few weeks every couple years or so! My wife and I have noticed over the past decade, even with the real estate crash that seems to have eluded this place, that homes here are quite expendable, they come and go. A nice house across the street and one down a few houses–both demolished and debris carted away each taking no more that one work day to produce an empty lot ready now for a duplex or 4-plex to replace that nice, older single family home. Now the rents can be doubled or quadrupled with property taxes flowing full-bore into the government coffers making way for even more vacationers in this sardine can of a barrier island in the summer weeks. But those cute, Victorian summer cottages–going, going, almost gone. With no end in sight. Yesterday was just the worst. We were driving by a ‘tear-down’ -in- progress and we could see into the living room being destroyed by heavy equipment and there on the old bookshelves were a line-up of books. No one had even bothered to get them out beforehand when there was plenty of time. Give them to the local library for their Friends book sale? Or the local nursing home? Or even the used-book store in town? Or the schools or a neighbor? No, just torn down, thrown out in our disposable society, junked and forgotten. I don’t think we’ll ever forget those books on the torn-down shelves here at the shore of my home state. Psalm 49 is a wonderful reminder of ‘…the fate of those who trust in themselves’, and ‘…those who trust in their wealth and boast in their great riches…'(Psalm 49: 13 and then 6). The Psalmist calls them ‘sheep’; where ‘death will feed on them’;and ‘he will take nothing with him when he dies’; ‘he will join the generation…of those who never see the light’; and ‘a man…without understanding’. And we peddle after riches? All those TV shows about the ‘almighty dollar’? Could we as a society be barking up the wrong tree? Guess so…the answer? Feels like I’m being harsh here. Pointing the finger maybe with a tinge of jealousy over what others can have but I can’t. But I know that pointing the finger puts 3 more aiming right back at me. And all of us being poor(and we’re not, we must admit) and striving for that least common denominator in life? No, of course not. So, read verse 15…here it is: God’s Word for us today and every day no matter where we live or how much money we may have or have not–‘But God will redeem my life from the grave; He will surely take me to Himself.” Redeemed by God through faith in His only Son, Jesus Christ. Trusting in the riches of His unlimited love and forgiveness and grace and mercy. And then, one day, not too far off either as fast as life goes by, we’ll be with Him, just to see Him, just be close to God Almighty and with those others who love Him as we do.. Talk about being rich and those mansions over the hilltop! Not a tear-down among them! For the books over yonder, safe and secure, will be open with our names clearly written-down in glory! Won’t that be something? Guess that’s why they call it heaven!
EVERYTHING IS… Read Psalm 47
We were watching the 1980’s movie ‘Popeye’ a few weeks ago, and one of our favorite songs from it is entitled ‘Everything Is Food, Food, Food’. As a matter of fact, we can’t stop singing it! And we’re starting to bug each other! Just kidding, maybe! Reading Psalm 47 brings a different emphasis to my life than food, which would be a step in the right direction. Time to think about something else, even though lunch is not far off! And it’s pizza too! See what I mean! Back to the Psalms and everything is praise…praise…praise! Five times in verses 5 & 6 we’re told to praise Him, to sing praises to our God. And then in church this morning so many of the hymns and songs centered in praise to the Lord, and even the pastor’s message was from Ephesians 1:14–‘…those who are God’s possession–to the praise of His glory’. Let me challenge myself today–and I’d never leave you out–to praise the Lord all day long. Now, don’t go shouting it out in the middle of a sleepless moment tonight or when someone says they can’t make it to dinner tonight. Say it quietly, to yourself even, but focus on praising God. Everything is praise…praise…praise! But you know what the problem is? Maybe you can anticipate what I’m going to say next. I get so distracted in my prayers. I praise the Lord for something and immediately my mind tracks off in several unrelated directions. Like this…I thank the Lord for the beautiful day we’re having and then I start to wonder what the weather will be like tomorrow when we take a day trip or what it was like last fall on our River Cruise in Europe or how’s the weather back home admitting that if it’s nice home we’re not as happy as when it’s pouring their and we’re tanning here! See what I mean? Praising God for our family and start trudging down the most worrisome personal roads you could imagine. And then praise just deteriorates into just begging God for something or other or planning something to help or to get out of something or whatever to get some relief. See what I mean? I started out by challenging myself to praise…praise…praise and look what happened. Way off-track, multitasking and multiworrying when I should be praising the Lord like I really want to. So, let me challenge myself again to get back on track in praise to the Lord. May I include you too? But if you fall off, dust yourself off, hike yourself up, get right back on…and praise…praise…praise the Lord. Don’t worry–God knows we’re made of clay. Just keep at it…and keep at it again tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow! Sing praise to Him!
WHAT A CONTRAST! Read Judges 21 and Psalm 46
These were 2 of my Old Testament readings for my quiet time today. Wow–what a contrast indeed. Like the weather we had yesterday and today here at the New Jersey shore. Fierce winds and pelting rain with flooding yesterday leading to blue skies, no wind and lots of sun and surf for today! What a contrast indeed! Back to the Bible–when I finished reading both chapters, I couldn’t help but think of the contrast between heaven and hell. Psalm 46 is so reassuring, so helpful and beautiful; while, Judges 21 is just all hell breaking loose on earth, and among God’s people(maybe they are His people, possibly not, doesn’t seem like it to me, but then again I’ve seen the best and worst of God’s people and sometimes I hate to admit it, the enemy is me!). What a contrast indeed! Psalm 46–where God is our refuge and strength, our helper who removes our fears from us even when and especially when everything is falling apart all around us. God is all this… and lots more. It’s not me, but it’s Him. He’s like the river that Jerusalem never had. Yes, a major spring runs through the city even today, but unlike almost all major ancient cities,there was no river. But now there is one, and it’s the Lord Himself. God is there, there’s now no fear, no failure and no falling. Those of us who’ve been to Jerusalem know how steep the streets are and how slippery they become with the slightest of moisture. Easy to lose your balance and fall crashing down on a very hard stone surface. Not in heaven with God–no falling there. Not ever. Not with Him right there next to us, holding real tight to both our hands. Verse 10 of Psalm 46 says it all–‘Be still and know that I am God…” ‘Be still’ in the original language means to put your hands at your side. Take a defenseless posture. Nothing to fear or raise your arms to protect yourself from. Why? Because God will be our ‘refuge and strength’…’our fortress’. That will be heaven…and more forever and ever! Now the contrast. Judges 21 and the few chapters before with murder, rape, kidnapping, inhospitality of the worst kind, coveting, foolish vow-making, promises then broken, everyone doing what ever they want and to heck with everyone and everything else especially God, and to top it all off blame Him for the mess their in. ‘…the Lord has made a gap in the tribes of Israel’ (Judges 21:15). Easy to blame the Lord when we refuse to look squarely in the mirror. It says they ‘had no king’, chaos reigned, self was on the throne, do your own thing bumper-stickers on their carts, if it feels right do it ( and even if it doesn’t, do it anyway). I don’t know about you but sounds a bit modern this ancient Old Testament book of Judges. What a contrast with Psalm 46. Like heaven and hell. Aren’t you glad that we’re heaven bound? I sure am! Wish others were as well, especially among our families and friends. Keep praying and keep looking up…
THE FACE THAT WILL NOT GO AWAY Read Psalm 44:1-4 again and Numbers 6:22-27
That wonderful verse in Psalm 44, that third verse about ‘the light of your face, for you loved them’–God’s face, loving and caring and affirming and encouraging…you can read all about it in the Bible and on His face. I was thinking about a course I took at Princeton on childhood development. As this was the seminary, the class approached child development from a theological perspective. We were studying the development of trust in an infant. Not necessarily trust in God but the development of the ability to trust and believe, to have confidence beginning with reliable and loving parents. We studied ‘Peek-a-Boo’! That’s right, you read it! Now, stay with me–I have a point to make, and it’s not the top of my head either! When you play ‘Peek-a-Boo’ with a baby, you cover your face with your hands as if you disappeared, then you open your hands to reveal your smiling face saying reassuringly (and I don’t know why these words!) ‘Peek-a-Boo, I see you!’ And your baby laughs, and so do you, and all is well. Play this game enough and the theory is that your child is learning to trust that the face that goes away will come back. What’s hidden behind your hands that’s fearful opens to reveal a loving, smiling, laughing face that feels so very good to baby building confidence in your child allowing them to trust, to have confidence in life, knowing the face that will not go away for long. When this natural process in life is disturbed, interfered with or traumatized, it’s that much harder to trust…parents, friends, yourself, those who really love you(or so they say) , even the Lord Himself. I know what I’m talking about, unfortunately. Trust is very hard for me. Distrust–like second nature to me. When I accepted the Lord into my heart at the age of 16, that started the best journey of my life, for sure. A child of God. Forgiven. New life and new birth. Wow! But along with it came years, I mean years of unsettling and terrorizing doubts that led me to wonder ad nauseum if I really was a Christian. ‘He loves me, He loves me not!’ Satan really had fun with me. Almost all the joy of salvation was flushed out of my Christian life. Almost all. I now think, over 50 years later, that this enervating spiritual struggle within my heart began when I contracted polio in 1949, when I was 2, and was in isolation for a period of time. I don’t know how long that was, but I still have some terrifying memories of that experience even though I was so young and impressionable. I didn’t see my parent’s faces. I may have caught the polio virus but I really caught the impression that those who loved me, that their faces had gone away. My mother, my father, my brother and sister were all gone; and I was alone on my own in a horrible place of hot packs and exercises and strangers manipulating my legs, metal beds and darkness at night and crying, crying, crying. Any wonder I found it hard to trust… even God? How about you? Maybe I’m not the only one? But here’s something else I’ve learned… that God knows all about it. He doesn’t hold my tough-to-trust tendency against me… or against you. He understands…after all, it says His face is a loving One. And from the Old Testament book of Numbers chapter 6, the great benediction says that the Lord wants to bless us, His face shines on us, He’s gracious to us, He opens His hands to us, not saying ‘Peek-a-Boo’, but shalom, peace to you, even to me. Yes, His is the ultimate loving face that will not go away. Never, no never, no never go away from us who believe in Him, even with a faith the size of a tiny mustard seed. ‘…the light of your face, for you loved them.’ Thank the Lord that it’s His loving face and not my feeble faith that gives salvation to you and to me. It’s Jesus’ gift and my hand that has reached out to receive it…thankfully, gladly, humbly…laughing even a little bit! He understands you and me through and through. His face…that will not go away!
HUMMING IT ALL DAY LONG! Read Psalm 44:1-4
I never know when a thought or phrase from the Bible will just jump off the page I’m reading and hit me right between the proverbial eyes of my heart. Well, it did once again this morning during my quiet time, a period of meditating and reading and listening for that ‘still, small voice of God’. I’m sure you also have such experiences, probably more than I have had. For years now I’ve begun my devotions by asking the Lord to show me something in His word that I haven’t seen or noticed before, a word or thought that will linger with me throughout my day. I knows He’s with me always, but I just, want to be more aware of Him, more in tune with and on a similar wavelength with my Lord. Maybe you feel much the same? The Psalmist, actually one or more of the sons of Korah who were assistants in the Temple worship, recounts how the Lord had given Israel great victories giving them the promised land when he says in verse 3 of Psalm 44, ‘it was not by their sword that they won the land, nor did their arm bring them victory; it was your right hand, your arm, and the light of your face, for you loved them.’ Hear what the Psalmist is saying, really singing? All we have comes from the hand of God. His powerful arms protect us and provide for us. But more than that, just the light of His face, the love that’s felt– that’s what means the very most. When we are away from home for months on end as we are now, just to see the faces of our children and their spouses , to see the smiles and laughs of our grandchildren, the happy faces of friends coming in for dinner at our home–oh, what joy for us! Just to see their faces. Just that alone. Not buying me a thing, not giving me anything at all–just to see their faces. Just that alone. And that’s what verse 3 says to me today. Just to be with the Lord, just to see His face, just to stand or sit or bow before Him in all His majesty and power and beauty but most of all, His love for me…and you, all of us who believe in Jesus as our Savior and Lord. All of us. Just to see the love on His face! Think about that all day long. Oh, how I love that Bill and Gloria Gaither song, ‘It Will Be Worth It All’, where it says ‘it will be worth it all, just to see His face, when He claims us for His own, Then 10 million years to sing Amazing Grace, it will be worth it all when we get home.’ Just to see His face, and all the love that’s out of this world beaming down on you and me. That will be worth it all!
THE WAY OF HOPE AND PRAISE Read Psalm 43
Many Hebrew manuscripts of the Psalms unite the 42nd and 43rd as one Psalm. For in both the cry of the soul, the parched and thirsty soul, for the living God is evident, with the phrases ‘why are you downcast, of my Soul? Why so disturbed within me?’ are repeated 3 times . Why, why, why? Questions we have asked ourselves and the Lord at times in our lives… maybe even today? Praise God the Psalmist comes to a wonderful conclusion in both Psalms saying ‘Put your hope in God, for I will yet praise Him, my Savior and my God’. But we ask–how did he get to that point in his life. The place all of us who are believers want to be…close to God, hoping in Him alone, trusting Jesus no matter what, counting our many blessings naming them one by one. That’s where we want to be. Yes? Right? So, how does he get there? How can we? I think the key is found in what we call Psalm 43 verse 3 where it says ‘send forth your light and your truth, let them guide me…’ Read that verse again. Who or what does that sound like to you? To me, I picture God’s gracious gifts of His Messiah, His Son Jesus; and the Bible given to us as light and truth to guide us through the perilous journey of life in a sinful world. Jesus, the Light of the world. Jesus, the way and the truth…making our paths clearer and brighter and crisper, who points the way and even goes with us, who is above us and below, in front and behind holding our hands as we run and crawl, stumble and fall, get up and go…with Him. And His Word, the Bible, our GPS in life, the AAA triptik moving us forward, the love letters that will never fail, phony flatter or forsake. The Bible–our hope and strength for the days to come! While in Charleston area for the past couple months, my wife and I visited both the Magnolia and Middleton Plantations. Beautiful places of such natural wonder–the azaleas were in full bloom and just breath-taking. Both were originally very successful and profitable rice plantations until after the Civil War. So, I decided to read once again Uncle Tom’s Cabin by Harriet Beecher Stowe on the horrors of the labor that made those plantations run so profitably, that is slavery. Let me recommend this classic if you haven’t read it or its been awhile as it was for me. Uncle Tom, the slave hero of the story, is an amazing, committed Christian under the most terrible circumstances in life. Yet, listen to his hope in God, his habit of receiving the light and truth he needs to make it through…”Is it strange, then, that some tears fall on the pages of his Bible, as he lays it on the cotton-bale, and, with patient finger, threading his slow way from word to word, traces out its promises? Having learned late in life,Tom was but a slow reader, and passed on laboriously from verse to verse. Fortunately for him was it that the book he was intent on was one which slow reading cannot injure,–nay, one whose words, like ingots of gold, seem often to need to be weighed separately, that the mind may take in their priceless value. Let us follow him a moment, as, pointing to each word, and pronouncing each half aloud, he reads, ‘Let—not—your—heart—be—troubled…'”
God has sent His light and truth in Jesus and the Bible…who could ask for anything more?
ENDING WELL Read Job 42
My good friend Job…yes, he’s my friend! And when you read that last chapter in his wonderful book, you’ll see that he’s your friend as well. Sure, if he can still be called a friend to those 3 botchagaloops (!) of his, then he can be a friend to both you and me. Those 3 had so played with Job’s head and soul confronting him with so many ‘spiritual’ things that turned out to be not right at all. They were not helpful friends. I think in the beginning that they really wanted to be friends of Job, to help him if they could. But their good intentions quickly deteriorated into a big old argument where they had to be right and Job just plain wrong. How many times have I fit their category of well-meaning but I was just paving more roadway for a friend on the way to a you-know-what experience? Thought I was right but guess again. Yes, I’ll say it again–Job’s my friend and so are you! We’ve let friends down, and we’ve been let down also. I can think of maybe a couple people in my life, who were friends at the time, just one handful who after they let me down, and some in a rather severe way with terrible consequences, who ever said they were sorry or even looked my way ever again. Like I was dead to them. But these 3 friends of Job, after the Lord tells them what to do…to humble themselves, offer sacrifices to the Lord in the very presence of Job asking him nicely to pray for them that God would forgive their folly… they do what they now know is right to do. How humbling indeed! Admit they’re wrong, go to Job, be with him,look him in the eye, be serious about asking for forgiveness from God through the prayers of good-old Job. As if God is saying to them– ‘don’t pray to me, I’m not too happy with you 3 at the moment for what you said about ‘my servant Job’. Offer sacrifices and he’ll pray for you. He will and I’ll accept his prayers on your behalf forgiving all that folly and foolish badgering that you put him through’. And Job is so forgiving–he could have just written them off once and for all. No, he ends his story and life well. He does what the Lord says to do, he stays with those 3 men as they repent and confess in deep and honest sorrow. Look at verse 10–‘After Job had prayed for his friends…’ Did you see it? The 3 were still his friends! He allowed them back into his life. He was big-hearted,doing what the Lord Himself wanted to do…to forgive and restore his friends. Yes, they are his friends. And so are you! I was thinking though–anyone you need to go to saying that you’re sorry? Or someone who needs restoring if they’re sincere in repentance? Being a friend. Staying a friend. Praying for our friends. Having faithful, loyal friends. Being a faithful, loyal friend. That always ends well…”The Lord blessed the latter part of Job’s life more than the first”(verse 12). Amen? Amen!
THIS TOO WILL… Read Acts 19:1-20:2
What a riot Paul caused in the ancient city of Ephesus. He didn’t have a riot, he caused one! Popular guy… to get out of Dodge! Read especially verses 32-34. This angry mob was so totally out-of-control, Luke says ‘in confusion’, some people shouting one thing and some another. He says that most of the crowd had no idea why they were even there! But there they were, angry as all- get-out, yelling at the top of their lungs ‘in unison for about 2 hours’. Can you imagine? A cacophony of blood-curdling screeching that never seemed to end. But let’s step back a moment. Have you ever been in such a situation that felt like this Ephesian chaos but obviously was not? A time that was just plain horrendous for you personally or professionally or for some loved one? I have. A number of them really. As we all have if we think about it. One of them for me was when a pastorate just blew apart. When sermons gave way to screeching. When it just never seemed to end or go away, the pain that is, the disappointment, the angst over what the future held, where the Lord would now lead or even if. That’s where those 5 opening words of Acts chapter 20 mean so very much to me–‘when the uproar had ended’. Yes, Lord, thank you, it will, the uproar will not last forever. The uproar will not be the final word. There will be an end, and it will come at just the right time, from His hands holding our needy ones. But read on in Acts 20. Luke says that Paul didn’t just lick his wounds. No, he encouraged those around him. He traveled ‘speaking many words of encouragement to the people’. Paul may have been down, but he got right back up in the power of the Holy Spirit. Ok, lick your wounds. I did…for a long time. . But pray…get up…go on for Jesus. Learn from the uproar. I did. I learned to reach out to those who have landed their ministry boats on the rocks. Of the over 100 fellow pastors in my regional denomination, only one ever called to say ‘how are you?’ and ‘I’m praying for you’. One…one percent or less. Better than none, you may think. I’ve learned to reach out, go out of my way to fellow pastors in crisis, to encourage them by just being there for them, whether they’re right or wrong, to be there for them and encourage them with what Luke wrote, ‘when the uproar had ended…’ When knocked down in life, get back up…in time–the best thing you can do for yourself is to reach out to someone else. Only God knows when the uproar will end, but I can be there for someone else until it does. And you? Can you? Will you?
TIME TO TRUST Read Job 41:1-11
I feel sorry for Job. He’s called ‘blameless and upright’ and ‘the greatest man among all the peoples of the East’ (Job 1:1,3). And yet God allows him to go through just the most horrible experiences none of us would ever want to endure, even one of them. But at the end of this amazing book in the Old Testament, after Job has had to ‘verbally fence’ with his wife, his 3 old friends and then that young whipper-snapper Eliphaz, then the Lord speaks up. God speaks. Everyone is quiet. There is the sound of silence for once. They clam up in the presence of the voice of God Almighty. Who wouldn’t? God speaks, it says, ‘out of the storm’ (Job 38:1). Maybe you feel like you’re in a ‘storm’ right now? Now reading the first 11 verses of chapter 41 we hear a series of ‘can you’ and ‘will he’ putting it to Job, whittling his strength down to human size. Then in verse 11 God makes an amazing statement about Himself–‘Everything under heaven belongs to me’. He owns it all. Nothing that exists anywhere is other than God’s own possession. Like it says in Psalm 24:1–‘The earth is the Lord’s, and everything in it, the world, and all who live in it.’ When times get real tough for us, when questions loom larger than good, satisfying answers, that’s exactly when we need to be reminded of who God is. He’s God–just that. No limits, no phony-baloney anything, He’s the real deal. Everything is His. And when I accepted Jesus into my heart, I became His child just as He promised (John 1:12). And that relationship will last for all eternity. To infinity…and beyond! And the Bible is so crystal clear that God truly loves us with an agape love known truly only to Him. His love knows no bounds, forgives so freely and willingly, gives and gives and gives some more. He gave His only Son for us(I wouldn’t do that), He died for us(I wouldn’t do that) and rose in power over the ultimate enemy, Satan and death and separation from God(I can’t do that). All for us. A divine love we can barely grasp with the fingers of our soul. But true, nevertheless. If we are His, and everything belongs to Him, can you see what comes next? Are you with me? We can now trust our God with every part of our lives, with every prayer that seems to go unanswered, with every uncertainty of health and wealth…we can throw all our trust on Him, relaxing in His arms moving forward with a confidence and a joy and a security that He wants to give us every moment of every day…until that day when we come home to Jesus, in heaven. ‘Everything…belongs to me’–that’s you and me in every facet of our lives.
THERE’S GOT TO BE MORE! Read Judges 10:1-5
I was reading in my devotions today from the book of Judges in the Old Testament. Judges were rulers or leaders that were supposed to help Israel as a people in following the Lord their God. After Moses’ and Joshua’s deaths, a terrible power vacuum existed. Quickly the people turn away from the One True God and worship the idols of those around them. Sin has its consequences and things go terribly bad for God’s people who turn their collective backs on Him. Really? Duh! Glad none of us has ever done that! Israel cries out to God for help and He provides leaders, the Judges. Some are names we recognize like Gideon, Deborah, Samuel. But many are not familiar at all. Like the two from today’s reading in chapter 10. Tola and Jair–who are they, anyway? What did they do to help Israel live for Yahweh God? We know so little of them and their lives. Yet, they led Israel for 45 years. That’s a long time. Of Tola, we only know the names of his father and grandfather (imagine a name like Dodo!) and that he was of the tribal family of Issachar but lived south of his clan in the hill country of the tribe of Ephraim, in a town called Shamir. That’s it. Who and where; but, no what or how. Just the facts, Mame. Oh, yes, I forgot…after leading Israel for 23 years, he died and was buried in the town where he chose to live, Shamir. Then comes Jair of Gilead, an area east of the Jordan River, between the Sea of Galilee and the Dead Sea. He’s 22 years as leader, has 30 sons and rides 30 different donkeys controlling 30 towns in the region of Gilead. Did he think the number 30 was lucky? I don’t know, but I do know that when he died he was buried in a town called Kamon. That’s it, again. Dare I speak for you? But don’t we want our lives to count for more than that? Now, to be fair, maybe the author of Judges (possibly Samuel, the last of the Judges) felt enough said the better. Or that that was truly all there was to report. Regardless, looking in the mirror of my life, I’d like my life to count for more than just the bare bones facts. Something like this– to have lived for the Lord, to have shared Him with others, to have given money so that others can share the Good News with those who would never hear otherwise, who loved the Lord and was not ashamed to admit it, who was far from perfect but knew who to go to for forgiveness and restoration,who had a few tough breaks some of his own sinful making but who ended better than he began. To end well. Isn’t that our heart’s desire? Yours and mine? That’s why when I daily pray the prayer of Jabez ( 1 Chronicles 4:9-10) where he says to the Lord, ‘…enlarge my territory’, years ago I expanded on that thought–‘ Lord, enlarge my territory…for You…for others!’ Not for more money, more prestige, a bigger car or home, or anything of this world, but to make a greater impact in even the smallest ways for the Lord and for others to know Him and grow in Him. That’s my prayer. That’s the desire of my heart. For there’s got to be more. In Jesus, you ain’t seen nothin’ yet! There’s lots more…and more!
Reflections out of time 