Patience Is Inevitable!

Posted on by September 26, 2014
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1 Samuel 24:19-20 — For if a man find his enemy, will he let him go well away? wherefore the Lord reward thee good for that thou hast done unto me this day. And now, behold, I know well that thou shalt surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in thine hand.

I’m doing a lot of waiting today. International travel is like that. I waited for the bus to the airport. I waited to check in. I waited for Security. I waited to board. I’m waiting while the flight travels across the Atlantic. Then I’m going to wait for Immigration. Then Customs. Then Security again. Then boarding. Then another flight.
You know … life’s like that. By the times all is said and done, there might just be more waiting to life than anything else.
I’ve been reading a lot about King David in devotions really, and I’ve come to see that he knew how to wait … or at least he learned how to wait.
The story at the head of this piece tells of one of two opportunities that David had to “accelerate” God’s plan for his life. You see, David knew he was going to be king. Samuel had anointed it. It was settled. So when he crept into Saul’s camp and found him sleeping, who would have blamed him if, instead of just stealing his spear, David had killed him? Or if, on this occasion, when Saul had gone to relieve himself, David had cut his throat and not just the edge of his cloak?
David knew how to wait. In fact he knew that to raise his hand against the Lord’s anointed was a blasphemous sin. He would not, could not, do it.
In fact, the inability to wait was one of the things that established Saul’s unfitness to found a line of kings. I’m sure you remember that story too. In 1 Samuel 13 we read that Israel, hard-pressed by the Philistines, went out to battle led by Saul. Samuel, however, told them to wait until he came to sacrifice for them first. After seven days however, Samuel had not arrived and Saul took matters into his own hands and sacrilegiously offered the sacrifice himself. The consequences were, for him, devastating. Samuel told him:
Thou hast done foolishly: thou hast not kept the commandment of the Lord thy God, which he commanded thee: for now would the Lord have established thy kingdom upon Israel for ever. But now thy kingdom shall not continue: the Lord hath sought him a man after his own heart, and the Lord hath commanded him to be captain over his people, because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee. (1 Samuel 13:13-14)
David knew something Saul didn’t. Under no circumstances should mere men presume to accelerate God’s plans. Patience is one of God’s own attributes. After all, what does God say of Himself:
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; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. (Exodus 34:6-7)
Maybe David knew a bigger truth even than the truth of the need for patience. Maybe he knew that becoming patient is becoming more like God — and that above all, God want us to be remade in his image.
If I’m right, waiting is inevitable. And to patiently in the Immigration line will be to grow closer to God!

When You’re Weary

Posted on by September 25, 2014
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Isaiah 40:28-31 — Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary? there is no searching of his understanding. He giveth power to the faint; and to them that have no might he increaseth strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary, and the young men shall utterly fall: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.

I’m tired. Actually, I’m weary! A lot of travel, and meetings in a lot of time zones, is adding up to some very long days. So how does that go … are Christians supposed to get that way? And if we do, what are we supposed to do about it. Doesn’t Isaiah say that those who wait on the Lord won’t get weary?
So you know there’s a whole lot of confusion in that, right?
Let’s clear out the idea, first, that Christians shouldn’t get weary. If it was good enough for Jesus, it’s good Enough for me — and Jesus got weary:
He left Judaea, and departed again into Galilee. And he must needs go through Samaria. Then cometh he to a city of Samaria, which is called Sychar, near to the parcel of ground that Jacob gave to his son Joseph. Now Jacob’s well was there. Jesus therefore, being wearied with his journey, sat thus on the well: and it was about the sixth hour. (John 4:3-6)
Of course, even Isaiah doesn’t say we won’t get tired. He says that the Lord will lift us up, and give us power and strength.
Now I know some are going to say that I’m misapplying the text. They will say that the promise relates, somehow, to “spiritual” weariness. “Don’t expect”, they say, “that God will deal with your physical weakness … It’s only spiritually that the Spirit will refresh you.” I think they are far from the truth. Alexander Maclaren describes the case exactly:
He crowns that restoration by making the restored weakling like Himself. ‘He fainteth not, neither is weary.’ They, too, ‘shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.’ In the long drawn out grind of monotonous marching along the common path of daily small duties and uneventful life, they shall not faint; in the rare occasional spurts, occurring in every man’s experience, when extraordinary tax is laid on heart and limbs, they shall not be weary.
So why am I weary? I think it’s because I’m not spending no enough time getting refreshed! If I want water, I have to go to the well. Isaiah says it’s very simple. If you get weary, wait patiently and God will give us strength!
I’m waiting.

Beautiful Unity

Posted on by September 24, 2014
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Colossians 2:5 — For though I be absent in the flesh, yet am I with you in the spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ.

One of the most beautiful treasures of our Christian Faith is the church. The single, unified, united church. I was reminded of this truth today as I walked past several different church buildings occupied by several different denominations.
This comment by Paul describes the ways in which the church holds together:
When he talks about “order” he’s talking about the external organization of the church — especially the way in which every member has their own talents and their own role.
When he talks about “steadfastness” he’s talking about the key internal value — the faith — that unites the church.
Paul, of course, was writing to a single rural church — but the strengths he called out are true for the church universal. But there’s a catch, of course.
The catch is that the individual churches, separately and collectively, are just not perfect! Many have fallen into just the trap that Paul identified:
Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ. (Colossians 2:8)
The risks that Paul knew were threatening the Colossians are exactly the same as we face today. There is the idea of adopting the world’s approaches to make the church “more effective”. There’s the tendency to replace biblical faith with personal cleverness. There’s the idea that somehow “the way we’ve always done things” is better than the way scripture says things should be done.
Things don’t change much do they? The exact same problems that Paul warned the Colossians about have plagued churches ever since. Actually, I think Paul predicted it to himself. It’s why it was a bit of a theme for him. He wrote in a very similar vein to the Ephesians:
That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men, and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive; But speaking the truth in love, may grow up into him in all things, which is the head, even Christ: From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love. (Ephesians 4:14-16)
So what’s the answer? I don’t think there is one until Christ returns. I just think it’s one of those never ending battles we have to fight … pushing back the tide … We have to fight for unity, inside each individual church and across churches. Fragmentation is the greatest tragedy …

Wake Up!

Posted on by September 23, 2014
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Ecclesiastes 9:910 –Live joyfully with the wife whom thou lovest all the days of the life of thy vanity, which he hath given thee under the sun, all the days of thy vanity: for that is thy portion in this life, and in thy labour which thou takest under the sun. Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with thy might; for there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom, in the grave, whither thou goest.

In one of his plays Shakespeare had one of his characters say, “How all occasions do inform against me, and spur my dull revenge! What is a man if his chief good and market of his time be but to sleep and feed? A beast, no more! Sure, he that made us with such large discourse, looking before and after, gave us not that capability and godlike reason to fust in us unused.” Well said that man.
It was a good thing I had some meetings to get involved with yesterday and today because, truth to tell, I’ve been feeling a bit lazy and demotivated. And just sleeping and feeding might have felt like a pretty good option — and neither Will nor wise old Solomon would have approved!
It’s not just some puritan streak that says we should make productive use of our time — it’s really for our own good. The old saying that “the devil finds work for evil hands” is all too true. Work for idle hands and thoughts for empty minds … He has a plentiful supply of both.
There’s more to it, though, than just being useful from day to day. The Bard of Avon was right to draw attention to the great care — the “large discourse” — that God put into planning for us. God himself says “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the Lord, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end” (Jeremiah 29:11). The “plan” is not just a plan that our circumstances should be useful but that we should become holy, and useful in the kingdom. Part of that planning was to make sure that we are able to do what is needful to serve those purposes: “Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of faith; Or ministry, let us wait on our ministering: or he that teacheth, on teaching; Or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness.” (Romans 12:6-8)
It’s a great thing for me to think about when I’m feeling sluggish. Imagine sitting down with God and having Him say “I’ve got this great plan for you, and I’ve given you everything you need to get it done — but you’re not doing it. Wake Up!” Doesn’t bear thinking about does it?

Love

Posted on by September 23, 2014
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1 Corinthians 13:4-7 — Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things. (ESV)

I should be writing this piece in February I guess … but I was thinking about my sweetheart the other day, and it overflowed. I was thinking about love, and how my understanding of it has changed over the years that Myra and I have been together. Actually, as I thought about it, I got another lesson in God’s Humility 101 course.
You see, I thought that by now I’d got some sort of handle on this love thing … which was pretty clever, eh? But then I got to thinking some more. You see, my first marriage failed after thirteen years. And it was because I didn’t have a clue what love was. Myra would tell you that if 1 Corinthians 13:4-7 had been a love test, I would have failed on every point when we first met. No, I take that back, she wouldn’t — she does know what love is.
Together, we have learned some things about love. We have “unlearned” the popular romantic notion that love is all about feelings. We have learned to resist the foolishness of the idea that love somehow depends on looks. We know that for each of us the values of love are not about ourselves but, just as Paul wrote to the Corinthians, it’s about “each other”. Most of all we have learned that love is about committed daily hard work.
Those are all good truths … And when I look back to my twenty year old self (or even thirty or forty year old me!) he didn’t know any of them.
I’ve got two things on my mind. What have I still got to learn about love, and why is this on my mind just now?
About that first thing … There was so much I didn’t know about love when I was younger. My understanding has changed so much. It gives me an uneasy feeling that perhaps there’s so much more to come! Perhaps, as with so many other things, I’ve got a lot more to learn than I already know?
Then that second thing. I never know what these pieces are going to be about each day. I do know that they usually have something I need to think about. I’m ok with that today. Love, especially in our own relationship, is something Myra and I think about — and talk about — quite a lot. Something that bothers us a lot is the way that marriage, in so many ways, is falling apart. So another reminder to me that love is a constant education can only be good!

In The Beginning

Posted on by September 21, 2014
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Genesis 1:1-3 — In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth. And the earth was without form, and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.

To fail to talk from time to time of God’s plan for salvation in these pieces would be to show rank ingratitude.
It came to me today that this should be one of the times that I wrote about salvation, and more, that I should show that we can see God communicating His plan for it even in the very beginning of the Bible.
“In the beginning”. Some commentators see it as significant that that phrase “Beresith” starts with the Hebrew character “Bet”, which looks something like “]”. It’s open on the entry side — which means we don’t really know when it happened. So it is with salvation. For any one of us it could occur (or I hope, reader, I may say “could have occurred”) at any time, as God chose.
“The earth was without form or void” — that is to say, there was no structure, no organization — Chaos reigned! Now, I don’t want to make assumptions about you, but as for me, before God saved me, mine was a soul in chaos. Actually , let me take that back. I believe every unsaved soul is chaotic and, without God’s gracious intervention, will be that way forever!
“The Spirit of God moved upon the same waters.” Indeed:
For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: (Ephesians 2:8)
Without the moving of the Holy Spirit on that dark chaotic soul, salvation does not happen. I did not save myself, you cannot save yourself, and nobody else can save themselves either. Nor can anyone of us save another. The best we can do is to be available for the Spirit to speak through us to an open heart and mind.
“And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.” Oh yes. On that day when I was saved there was a dazzling, shattering, light shone on my life. Ever since there has been a light to follow — “Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.” (Psalms 119:105)
There it is, clear to me, the pattern of salvation laid out from the start of God’s revelation of Himself to us. The potter making the clay into useful vessels. It is there … In the beginning …

A Gracious Judge

Posted on by September 20, 2014
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Ezekiel 20:3-4 — Son of man, speak unto the elders of Israel, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God; Are ye come to enquire of me? As I live, saith the Lord God, I will not be enquired of by you. Wilt thou judge them, son of man, wilt thou judge them? cause them to know the abominations of their fathers:

Myra and I were talking about these verses in our devotional time today. “Why,” she asked, “did God need to tell them this? They were leaders, surely they knew what they had done?” Well it’s a good question.
When I reflected on it, I thought this was another example of how God shows His character. In this particular instance, God shows Himself as gracious judge and loving father.
I’m sure that, like me, you have seen plenty of occasions — real and fictional — when a judge passes sentence. Very often the judge will recite quite fully the offense for which the offender is being sentenced, and then to prescribe the sentence. There is a twofold point — to ensure that there can be no doubt as to why punishment is needed and of the justice of the penalty.
God is a different kind of judge however. He makes His remarks but provides, as it were, a “suspended” sentence. He’s not, as it were, going to bring the full force of His judgment on the repeating offenders — but He is withdrawing His favor.
It was the way that God tempers justice with mercy that reminded me of how He presents Himself as a loving father. Do you remember the passage in Hebrews?
“And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: For whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not?” (Hebrews 12:5-7)
It has been argued that God’s refusal to counsel the elders of Israel on this occasion was His carrying out of their sentence. I’m not so sure. To me it seems more like a loving father saying “Look, they’ve come to me, but they’re not sincere are they? If they were sincere they’d give up their idols! Ezekiel, you tell them. Make it clear that they need to repent …”
It seems silly, in a way, to say it — but only God mixes perfect justice and perfect mercy. Only God is the father who truly disciplines with perfect love. To be truly effective both justice and discipline must be fully explained. So He does.

The Flood

Posted on by September 19, 2014
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Genesis 7:10-13 — And it came to pass after seven days, that the waters of the flood were upon the earth. In the six hundredth year of Noah’s life, in the second month, the seventeenth day of the month, the same day were all the fountains of the great deep broken up, and the windows of heaven were opened. And the rain was upon the earth forty days and forty nights. In the selfsame day entered Noah, and Shem, and Ham, and Japheth, the sons of Noah, and Noah’s wife, and the three wives of his sons with them, into the ark;

Perhaps it’s natural that my mind turned to the flood today. It seems like it’s been raining nonstop for the last three days. The water in our lake has risen from its pre-flood level past its normal level and over the reeds by the water’s edge.
What I didn’t really expect, as I thought about Noah’s flood, was that I’d be thinking about it in a way that I’d never thought about it before.
It was the bleakness that struck me. Picture it. You are one of millions standing on the ever smaller area of dry land. Perhaps you can see that one strange “building” that crazy Noah worked on for so long. There it is, disappearing into the distance, riding on the water. It’s wet. You’re miserable. The water keeps falling from the sky.
The night comes, and the morning. The water’s still falling. There’s more water … It’s like it’s coming out of the ground, the rivers are full and overflowing. It’s in the house now, you’re going to have to move to higher ground.
The night comes, and the morning. The water is like a creeping monster, eating up the land. Animals and people are panicked, fighting for the few remaining dry spots. Not you though. You’ve given up, you know.
Now the water is covering you, you struggle …
It’s later. The water has stopped falling. You are Noah. You open the window. It’s shocking to see the water, and the land — bedraggled, stripped of life, oddly quiet. The ark has become a noisy, smelly madhouse, and outside is bleak and cleaned and quiet, with just that wind blowing around. But the waters draw back. The sun dries the land. Life starts again, a new life, a new start.
There is a flood of sin overwhelming the world. It is not a cleansing flood, but there is an escape, just the same.
The ark was God’s provision for Noah’s security. God’s provision for our security is Jesus.
As I thought about the bleakness of the landscape of sin, and God’s provision for our security, I was reminded of the cleansing river of God, flowing from the temple, and of the living water that Jesus gives us. Other than the obvious connection to water, I’m not sure that these things are truly related. I am blessed though, to think how God uses something as simple, and fundamental, as water to provide for us in so many ways!

Home

Posted on by September 18, 2014
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Proverbs 24:3-4 — Through wisdom is an house builded; and by understanding it is established: And by knowledge shall the chambers be filled with all precious and pleasant riches.

Yesterday I wrote about my wonder at flying over the Rockies. But the best part of the journey was the end! For me, Shakespeare had it right — “Journey’s end in lover’s meeting”. I don’t hate business travel, and I do really love a lot of the places I go to — but being away from my sweetheart is NO fun at all! The best part of any journey is coming home.
The thing is though, I have a home to go to. I am the lucky beneficiary married to the wise woman about whom Solomon said, “Every wise woman buildeth her house: but the foolish plucketh it down with her hands.” (Proverbs 14:1 KJV)
There’s more too it though than that. The “house” in Proverbs 23:3-4 is really describing much more than the bricks and mortar, or even the interior decoration. It’s a picture of the whole of life. “Wisdom” carries the idea of moral principles as well as shrewdness. Solid morality, and the “wisdom of serpents” are required both for the building of houses and the building of lives.
In the same way, “Chambers” doesn’t just describe the nicely furnished rooms, it talks about the heart, mind and soul.
There is yet more to this, however. Wisdom does not just build our physical house and home. Wisdom does not just build our character and spirit. Wisdom builds our future house and home. “For here have we no continuing city, but we seek one to come.” (Hebrews 13:14 KJV)
We have our houses and homes … but there is a danger in being too attached. We should know that we might be called by God at any time to leave, to go where he wants us to go. We might, like the people of Peter’s epistle, be driven away by the “powers that be” in this world. The previous verse in a Hebrews 13 says, “Let us go forth therefore unto him without the camp, bearing his reproach.” The picture is of Jesus being crucified outside the walls of Jerusalem, like a sacrificial beast burned outside the camp, to avoid the impurity staining the sanctuary. If Jesus would do that for us, we must be prepared to leave our earthly homes for Him …Wisdom demands it and will reward it with an eternal home.

The Healing Of The Mountains

Posted on by September 17, 2014
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Joel 3:18 — And it shall come to pass in that day, that the mountains shall drop down new wine, and the hills shall flow with milk, and all the rivers of Judah shall flow with waters, and a fountain shall come forth of the house of the Lord, and shall water the valley of Shittim.

I had in mind today to write a piece about persistence, and the need to declare The Lord — inspired, of all things, by some encouraging slogans on the wrapper of a throat sweet … but then …
Then as I flew from Portland to Dallas this morning across a good portion of the Rocky Mountains, my direction was quite changed.
The “Rocky” Mountains — don’t you think that suggests some really difficult terrain? If you do, you are absolutely right! The Rockies cover more than three thousand miles from British Columbia, in western Canada, to New Mexico. The highest peak rises to over fourteen thousand feet. The climate varies greatly across the range, as might be expected across such a distance.
So why did these craggy difficult peaks catch my in-flight attention? It was the flowers … Even from thirty thousand feet I could see breathtaking carpets of what I think might have been red dogwood and something yellow that I couldn’t even guess at. Here was this beauty, scattered with a generous hand, rarely to be seen except from above. It occurred to me that one day the mountains will be healed, and the flowers will riot down the hillside to be seen and enjoyed by every passer by. As Paul writes:

For the creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the freedom and glory of the children of God. (Romans 8:19-21 NIV)

It was this thought of the healing from decay that drew my attention to the verse in Joel that promises a time when healing waters will flow from the House Of The Lord. The image of the flowers pouring down the hillside reflects the notion of the flow of wine and milk and, even more so, the turning of the sterile mountains into fruitful gardens perpetually watered by the River of Life. Even the valley of the Acacias (for that is what Shittim is) now very dry, will be watered by a fountain flowing and fruitful. And we may trust that what is true for the land will be true for it’s inhabitants.
There is a glorious healing to come!