Testing Times

Posted on by August 23, 2013
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August 23, 2013

Judges 6:36-37 — And Gideon said unto God, If thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said, Behold, I will put a fleece of wool in the floor; and if the dew be on the fleece only, and it be dry upon all the earth beside, then shall I know that thou wilt save Israel by mine hand, as thou hast said.

Myra and I are going through a few challenges at the moment. We have a couple of things going for us that provide a great protection — our shared faith, and our love and support for each other. All the same, there are things that take the smiles off our face from time to time. We’d appreciate your prayers, but that’s not what this devotion is about.
I woke up at 3:20 this morning with the sudden thought that perhaps God was testing our faith. Then I went back to sleep! When I got to my quiet time this morning, I got to thinking …
I don’t think God needs to “test” our faith. Not in the sense that He isn’t sure that we’re faithful, and needs to set us tests to see if we’re up to the mark. No, wherever “testing” or “proving” are used of faith it is in that sense of establishing and demonstrating quality.
God knows everything. So He doesn’t need to find out if our faith is solid. So who does? We do! Alexander Maclaren explains it clearly when talking about Abraham preparing, at God’s command, to sacrifice Aaron:

God does not ‘test’ us as if He did not know what was gold and what base metal, but the proving is meant to make clear to others and ourselves what is the worth and strength of our religion. The test is also a means of increasing the faith which it demonstrates, so that the exhortation to ‘count it all joy’ to have faith tried is no overstrained counsel of perfection.

I remember a time when Myra and I had a major life decision to make. I was convinced that I had a word from God.Myra wasn’t so clear. Then, one night, she had the strangest dream … a ladder into the void, and a voice saying “step out in faith”. She stepped out … and as she stepped, so the ladder stretched.
Both faith and the lack of it are self-fulfilling prophecies. As we take steps of faith, God delivers and faith is reinforced. If — we lacking faith — do not do our part, the response cannot come from God and our unbelief is reinforced.
We should not fear that God will test our faith, but rejoice. Faith raised to its highest is most highly rewarded. Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego trusted to walk in the fire, and they were rewarded by the companionship of God. If we will walk in the fire, we will walk in the same company!

Judgment Again!

Posted on by August 22, 2013
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August 22, 2013

Romans 14:13 — Let us not therefore judge one another any more: but judge this rather, that no man put a stumblingblock or an occasion to fall in his brother’s way.

Yesterday’s devotion spoke of my sense that the church, the house of God, is under judgment. Judgment is a challenging topic in the Bible. There is, for instance the often quoted and often misunderstood opening to Matthew 7, “Judge not, that ye be not judged.” I was prompted today to follow the reflection that the church is under judgment with a thought that this is not an occasion for finger pointing, but rather for working together to put the house in order and build it up.
Paul says that there are two things going on, and that they need to stop!
First we are judging each other — members of the family, right now, are making rules for each other and then complaining if they are not being followed. Paul was talking about the same sort of legalism in the church of his days as is all too prevalent in today’s church. That’s where the passage from Matthew comes in. Jesus said “Don’t keep picking at the tiny faults your fellow Christians are dealing with. If you do, watch out!”
Second we are putting obstacles and hindrances (“occasion to fall”), snares and traps (“stumbling block”), in each other’s. way. Paul feels so strongly about it that he repeats the notion … we need to stop doing things that might be damaging to the faith of another believer.
This is a complicated topic. Many of us feel that some things are just wrong. Unfortunately, “It ain’t necessarily so”! Sometimes it’s not a question of right and wrong, but a question of taste and preference! Then again, some of us might feel that those same things are perfectly fine — so can’t we just go ahead? “Not so fast,” Paul says, “if doing what you like rubs someone the wrong way it might damage their faith. Judge yourself!”
We need to be working together, looking kindly on each others foibles, being prepared to give up some of our own little pleasures that we cling to. Working together, exercising our own particular gifts to build the house of God. This is our job. In another letter Paul wrote to the Ephesians:

And he gave some, apostles; and some, prophets; and some, evangelists; and some, pastors and teachers; For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ: Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

The unity of the faith is so very precious. Together we can turn back the tide of judgment. Obstructing each other, and judging each other, we will be a crumbling ruin of a church instead of the radiant bride of Christ.

Judgment

Posted on by August 21, 2013
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August 21, 2013

1 Peter 4:17-18 — the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?

Sometimes we have a comfortable view of judgment. One day we will all die, and the righteous will be judged according to our works, perhaps losing rewards but not suffering great punishment. Sinners, we smugly conclude, will be dragged before the great white throne, be condemned and go from there to their eternal punishment. How foolish we are if we don’t look for judgment much sooner. Now, in fact!
How foolish we are if we do not look for judgment near at hand … look what Peter says — “it must begin at the house of God”.

What can all this mean?
What does it mean by judgment beginning now? It can be taken as a reminder that the Messiah is coming soon. But it may also be a confirmation that we are under judgment even now. Here, especially, in America there are many who feel that God’s people have today become so like the world around them that we are naturally losing those benefits that a Godly nation might possess.
Then what does “the house of God” mean? It means, of course, the church as an institution — but it also relates to us as individuals, as members of God’s household.
I know many people — even some friends that I love — will think me old fashioned and naive, but I can’t help thinking that we householders have turned off the alarms and let down the barriers. And the devil, our adversary, that raging lion, has found it all too easy to break in and devour whom he will.

The righteous “scarcely” will be saved. Not “the righteous will almost not be saved”, nor “the righteous will only just escape at the last judgment”, but “the righteous will have a hard struggle in this fallen world”. John Calvin puts it this way:

Our course in the world is like a dangerous sailing between many rocks, and exposed to many storms and tempests; and thus no one arrives at the port, except he who has escaped from a thousand deaths. It is in the meantime certain that we are guided by God’s hand, and that we are in no danger of shipwreck as long as we have him as our pilot.

The righteous will navigate the perilous rocks of this present age and the house of God, having been judged, will be cleansed. The church will be presented spotless to its Bridegroom. But for now, we should not be surprised at the discipline we are under … And we must be grateful that we will not be wrecked on the rocks — unlike those who are not protected by the Captain of our salvation!

Giving Preference

Posted on by August 20, 2013
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August 20, 2013

Romans 12:10 — Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honor preferring one another;

We Christians aren’t very good at taking the Bible seriously enough. Oh, I grant that you might be one of the rare exceptions. If so, you’ll be gracious enough to forgive me! But the rest of you, perhaps you’ll share some of these thoughts with me, share the regrets and the hopes this verse (and those around it) inspires.
In Romans 12:9-13 Paul gives 12 simple rules for members of the Christian family to follow in their dealings with each other.
The heart of the matter is in this verse. The Greek translated as “Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love” could as well have been translated “with brotherly love, love one another as though you were blood brothers”. Members of the Christian family, having the same Heavenly Father, should behave as children of the same earthly mother and father ought to behave to each other.
This is one of those “if only” verses. If only Christians would take this verse to heart. What would our churches be like if we each, in honor, preferred the other. See what my favorite William Barclay says about this verse:

We must give each other priority in honor. More than half the trouble that arises in churches concerns rights and privileges and prestige. Someone has not been given his or her place; someone has been neglected or unthanked. The mark of the truly Christian man or woman has always been humility.

Is his comment about the trouble in churches right, do you think? I think it is. I am blessed to worship in a church that, by and large, is blessed by a very sweet spirit — but even there I think I have sometimes seen small signs of one claiming the right to be before another …
How does it look, do you suppose, to those who are not in the family if we brothers and sisters sometimes scratch at one another? There is some of that regret I mentioned. But oh the wonderful hope! How does it look, do you think, to the stranger when we all are taking this verse as seriously as we should? How would our love, each for the other, be multiplied? How would it spill over into the surrounding communities?
Humility — such a sweet, underrated, powerful virtue. I do not think that it is for nothing that Matthew 5:5 says “Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.” The meek, the humble, inherit the earth for they see all it has to offer. The proud are so concerned with themselves that they do not see others, do not give preference to them, do not hold open the doors so that others may pass through … and they miss so much that Jesus has to offer. The Lord was actually quoting Psalm 37:11 which declared that the meek shall delight themselves in peace.
If you are like me, and sometimes find yourself pushing forward instead of putting your brothers in front, how about stepping back and watching others go ahead.
Let’s try to fill a source of love, peace and blessing and watch it overflow all around us!

Thank God For Great Teachers!

Posted on by August 19, 2013
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August 19, 2013

Ecclesiastes 12:9-10 — And moreover, because the preacher was wise, he still taught the people knowledge; yea, he gave good heed, and sought out, and set in order many proverbs. The preacher sought to find out acceptable words: and that which was written was upright, even words of truth.

Collier County schools began the new school year today and I found myself thinking about teachers — some of to whom I owe a great debt, and how impossible it would be for them to teach in today’s academic climate!

Trevor Pritchard was a big man (as it happened, a Baptist lay preacher). He had the worst store of harmless jokes I ever heard and he was the first teacher that helped me realize I could be really good at something — maths of all things. I don’t know which of us was more surprised when I took to algebra, geometry and calculus like a duck to water!
Roger Usherwood was the archetypal old English public school teacher (note to confused readers – in England, public schools are actually private!). He was such a stereotype that we called him “Chips” and loved him. He sparked a love for Latin and Greek in me — even if I was a pitiful student. It was probably more important that he was happy to divert, whenever it suited him, into things he saw as foundational to Englishness and decency. He passed on to me and many other students, a love for cricket, Shakespeare, Gilbert and Sullivan, parliamentary democracy, Wordsworth’s poetry, the King James Bible and Rudyard Kipling.
Then there was Patrick Martin. Our headmaster. Not a teacher, but a masterly administrator. It was only later that I realized how much he did for me. Without him, I fear the school might have given up on me. But it seems he saw something in me worth hanging on to — even if once or twice he decided that if I wasn’t going to take to my studies head first that instruction might best be delivered to the bottom end first!

While we are on the subject of great teachers — I found a wonderful1872 list of rules for teachers, posted by a New York City principal that included:

  • Each teacher will bring a bucket of water and scuttle of coal for the day’s sessions.
  • Men teachers may take one evening each week for courting purposes, or two evenings a week if they go to church regularly.
  • After ten hours in school, the teachers should spend the remaining time reading the Bible or other good books.
  • Any teacher who smokes, uses liquor in any form, frequents pool or public halls, or gets shaved in a barbershop will give good reason to suspect his worth, intentions, integrity and honesty.

    • I think my teachers might have found those rules easier to deal with some of today’s challenges. Unlike modern teachers they never had to worry about:

  • Weapon-use and hostage situations.
  • Hazardous materials or toxic chemical spills.
  • Weather emergencies, including hurricanes, tornadoes, and severe storms.
  • Exposure as a result of a manmade emergency.

    • Some basics of education requirements never change though. How about these from Titus 2:4,6 and 12:

  • Teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children
  • Exhort young men to be sober minded
  • Teaching us that we should live soberly, righteously, and godly

    • I’m honored to know some teachers striving to meet those requirements — in the school attached to our church, and in some local public schools. There are still some great teachers rising to ever growing challenges. They need our daily prayers!

    Happy Anniversary!

    Posted on by August 18, 2013
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    August 18, 2013

    Exodus 30:34-35 — And the Lord said unto Moses, Take unto thee sweet spices, stacte, and onycha, and galbanum; these sweet spices with pure frankincense: of each shall there be a like weight: And thou shalt make it a perfume, a confection after the art of the apothecary, tempered together, pure and holy:

    It is our wedding anniversary today, so perhaps it is natural that my thoughts were pulled this way as I contemplated today’s devotion.
    The verse at the head is not usually applied to a wife, but it reminded me of the little children’s nursery rhyme (“What are little girls made of? Sugar, and spice, and all things nice. That’s what little girls are made of”) as Myra and I fell to talking this morning of what we loved about
    each other.

    Another thing happened in our devotions this morningmthat confirmed once again my often shared belief that God has a sense of humor! Like many people we use a Bible that helps us read all of scripture in a year — something from the Old Testament, something from the New, something from Psalms and a Proverb or two. One of today’s proverbs was one of those that always make me feel Solomon has been having a bad day in the women’s quarters – ” Better to live in a desert than with a quarrelsome and ill-tempered wife.”
    I am blessed that Myra is more like a Proverbs 31 wife than any of those Solomon complains about — but I sometimes think one of the wives should have written an answering volume. What do you think would have been in Mrs. Solomon’s Proverbs?

  • Better share with a hog in the byre than a drunkard in the bedroom
  • There are three husbands to be detested, with a young mother, an old father, or with three lazy brothers

    • I encourage any lady readers pick up Mrs. Solomon’s pen!

    Don’t let any of this make you think that we don’t take our marriage seriously. We committed it to The Lord, and He is an essential third partner in our relationship. We try hard to apply Biblical principles and talk regularly about what’s happening between us. At the root, there are a few things that make all the difference …

  • I know that Myra needs love from me, above all things, and she knows that I need her respect. We always try to meet those needs.
  • We each try “in honor to prefer the other”. Neither one of us wants always to have our own way. (We might carry that a little too far — you don’t ever want to wait while we decide where to have dinner when we eat out!)
  • We seek to resolve all our disagreements lovingly — and we never “let the sun go down on our wrath”. We sort things out before bedtime — even if it means a late night.
  • We are constant students of each other — I’m not sure where we find scriptural authority for that, but I just know we find each other endlessly worth studying!

    • Do those seem like a few easy principles? Well, I suppose they are easy to write down, but they took a lot of learning, and quite a bit of biting of the tongue in the early days of our marriage. What I can say now, though, is that the non-stop practice has brought priceless blessings.
    Happy anniversary my darling, and thank you!

    Check Your Eyesight

    Posted on by August 17, 2013
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    August 17, 2013

    2 Peter 1:9 — But he that lacketh these things is blind, and cannot see afar off, and hath forgotten that he was purged from his old sins.

    Myra had cataract surgery recently. Not everything is perfect yet, but her eyesight is much improved and we thank God every day for it. Musing on that this morning, and some other things we were talking about put in mind thoughts about our spiritual and inter-personal vision.
    I am conscious of two weaknesses in my own vision.
    Sometimes I am better at “seeing” people nearby than people “afar of”. It is easier for me to see the needs of those before my eyes than to imagine what those out of immediate sight might need.
    I am better at seeing what’s on the surface than seeing underneath, and knowing how people are feeling, and what they believe.
    I’m pretty sure that the imagination that sees far off and the kind of empathy that sees deep are marks of spiritual maturity. Paul the apostle was great at seeing far off. For example, in Colossians 2:1 we find “For I would that ye knew what great conflict I have for you, and for them at Laodicea, and for as many as have not seen my face in the flesh”. Paul was burning with an intense and continual concern, not only for those he knows in Colosse and Laodicea, but for other Christians in the same area that he had never met. His spiritual imagination could well grasp the the dangers to which they were exposed from Judaizing Christians on the one hand and Pagan philosophers on the other.
    Oswald Sanders pointed out that the master of the kind of empathy that sees below the surface was the Master — Jesus Himself. He wrote “The weak and erring, the failures, are often crushed under the callous tread of their fellow men. But the ideal Servant specializes in ministry to those who are generally despised or ignored. No life is so bruised and broken that He will not restore it.” The reference is to Isaiah 42:3, a beautifully comforting verse, “A bruised reed he will not break, and a smoldering wick he will not snuff out.”
    How far does Jesus see? How deep does He look? What is the range that the disciple should send his imagination to roam in? Perhaps for scope we can look at these beautiful verses from Ephesians 3:

    For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Of whom the whole family in heaven and earth is named, That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, May be able to comprehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth, and height; And to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with all the fulness of God.

    There is no limit. I’ve talked before about practicing imagining the circumstances of people I meet. This devotion has set me another task. I’m going to set some time aside regularly to think about those far off, and about what those closer to me might be dealing with. If like me you feel you might be afflicted with spiritual shortsightedness, perhaps you might do the same.

    What’s Your Strength

    Posted on by August 16, 2013
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    August 16, 2013

    Nehemiah 8:10 — Then he said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat, and drink the sweet, and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength.

    The people were all gathered in the square. All morning they had been listening to readings from the Book of the Law. Some of them were filled with a sense of sin, and guilt, and grief. They were overcome, and they wept … they mourned. But “No”, their leaders said. “Don’t weep. This is a time of rejoicing. They joy of The Lord is your strength.”

    I suppose I’ve read that verse at least twenty times over the years, and not really thought much about it, but this time the clause “the joy of the Lord is your strength” grabbed my attention. What was it saying to me? Isn’t it a little odd? Didn’t Jesus himself tell us “Blessed are they that mourn”?
    Indeed Jesus did say “Blessed are they that mourn” — blessing those whose view of sin matches God’s. So in one respect at lease, the mourning of the Israelites was appropriate. Something bigger was at issue however. The day was a day of restoration and priests, Levites and people had committed to returning to holiness, which was a certain cause for joy.We just have to understand what the joy of The Lord is.

    Truly holy and righteous people are rare. Have you ever met one? I’d bet (if I were a betting man) that you have never met a miserable holy righteous person. It’s impossible … the righteous and holy are capable of following Paul’s instruction. They do rejoice in The Lord always. That joy, the joy of The Lord comes from a right relationship with God — it is both a sign of, and a part of, great spiritual strength.

    So what does that mean for us? Well what Nehemiah, the priests and the Levites were saying was more than a description — it was an instruction. “Move on” they were saying, “it’s right to mourn for past sins, but now we are returning to holiness — and holiness and joy are natural partners”. It was good advice. The Israelites had a big job in front of them, and it’s hard to attack big jobs when you’re miserable. All of us have challenges to deal with, and some of them are big. We all have a part to play in the biggest challenge of all — the Great Commission. We can’t operate out of misery, we need to be holy, and joyful!

    What Are You Comparing With?

    Posted on by August 15, 2013
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    August 15, 2013

    Numbers 14:2 — And all the children of Israel murmured against Moses and against Aaron: and the whole congregation said unto them, Would God that we had died in the land of Egypt! or would God we had died in this wilderness!

    I’ve been in a meeting today with some folks that are getting great benefits out of the products and services my company has sold them. They’re not really happy. Now don’t get me wrong, we’re note reflect — far from it, but we’re pretty good. The people we were talking to have got really good value. So what was going on?
    God had led the people of Israel out of Egypt. He had brought them through the wilderness. He had brought them to the border of the promised land. So we’re the people going to trust Him, march forward and claim their inheritance? I think you know the answer to that one! No, they were going to murmur! They were going to blame Moses and Aaron, quit, and go home. By my count this was one of at least twelve occasions on which the Israelites lost faith in The Lord and murmured against His chosen agents. What was wrong with them?
    Here’s the problem. It’s all about perspective. Instead of looking at what God has done for us, and how far we’ve come we look at where we would like to be. Instead of comparing what we have with what we had, we compare what we want with what we have.
    Murmuring, grumbling, complaining … We all do it. Is that so bad? Isn’t it just human? Well, yes, it is “just human” — but yes, it is “so bad”. In fact it’s a sin.
    Douglas Wilson describes our humanness beautifully, “God gave us minds to think with and hearts to thank with. Instead we use our hearts to think about the world as we would like it to have been, and we use our minds to come up with rationalizations for our ingratitude. We are a murmuring, discontented, unhappy, ungrateful people. And because we think we want salvation from our discontents….”
    In our ingratitude, we pervert the purposes God has for our lives. We don’t trust Him when He says that He has a plan for our lives. We don’t accept that He will make all things work together for our good. As another writer said, “To swear is wicked because it is taking God’s name in vain. To murmur is likewise wicked for it takes God’s promises in vain.”
    There’s not much, in the end, that I can do about ungrateful customers. There’s nothing at all I can do about the murmuring Israelites! I can do something about me. I am resolved to have a more grateful heart. If you catch me murmuring, remind me to compare where I am with where I used to be and where I’m going with where I might have been!

    In The Morning

    Posted on by August 14, 2013
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    August 14, 2013

    Psalms 5:3 — My voice shalt thou hear in the morning, O Lord; in the morning will I direct my prayer unto thee, and will look up.

    I’m starting to write this at 30,000 feet, crossing over from Florida to Georgia. The idea was given to me as we drove to the airport this morning.

    Are you a “morning person”? I am not. Over many years, with a lot of miles traveled, I have disciplined myself to hit the ground running, but I have never enjoyed it. So it was a real surprise to me, some years ago, to find myself persuaded that I should have a morning “quiet time”. It was a surprise, again when Myra (who might forgive me if I say she is even less of a morning person than I am …) and I found ourselves agreeing that we should share a morning devotional time before I had my quiet time! So now we find ourselves, most days, setting the alarm clock for 5:30 — I know some of you are sneering and saying “slugabeds”! — and taking a measured start to the day.
    You know, I’m not a better person. I’m not nicer, or cleverer, or more Godly. But I am better prepared. I have had a chance to share my heart with God and seek His direction. I’m really not very good at it. My thoughts are not well organized at that time of day, and I’m not a great prayer warrior. I allow whatever bubbles up to bubble up, and trust the Holy Spirit to take over. He usually does. And when I’ve finished, most often it seems that I can move on with the day, instead of the day rushing on me and overwhelming me.

    I’m finishing this at the end of a long day. It seems to have gone well. The Lord has allowed me and the people with me to manage some tricky challenges. I am reminded of two things.
    The first is that in my small way, in this one way at least I am following the Master. In several places, Mark 1:35 for one, we find the example — “And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, he went out, and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed.”
    The second thought is that focused prayer should close the day as well as open it. That’s another truth found in many places in the Bible. For example, Paul writes to Timothy “I thank God, whom I serve from my forefathers with pure conscience, that without ceasing I have remembrance of thee in my prayers night and day;” Prayer at night, be it ever so brief, is a chance to cast the burdens if the day own The Lord.
    In another place Paul writes “Pray constantly.” So we should, but I have found that starting and ending the day focused is a sure way to experience a little of the peace of God.