The God Of Angel Armies

Posted on by May 19, 2015
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Psalm 46:1-2 — God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. Therefore will not we fear, though the earth be removed, and though the mountains be carried into the midst of the sea;

The first two verses of Psalm 46 were some of the first I learned. Even before I was saved, before I was a Christian, these verses meant a lot to me. 
Today I found a version of Psalm 46 that I hadn’t seen before. (Anyone who thinks the King James Version is the only proper English version should leave now!).

Eugene Petersen’s Message Version translates the first three verses like this:

God is a safe place to hide, ready to help when we need him. We stand fearless at the cliff-edge of doom, courageous in seastorm and earthquake, Before the rush and roar of oceans, the tremors that shift mountains. Jacob-wrestling God fights for us, GOD -of-Angel-Armies protects us. (Psalm 46:1-3 MSG)
I love that translation. Two ideas, in particular, stand out for me. The first is the thought of standing fearlessly at the cliff-edge of doom. It’s not just the literal edge of a physical cliff. How often in your life have you been on the edge of spiritual or emotional disaster and known that God is holding you upright in the storm?

The second idea is that of the God-of-Angel-Armies protecting us.

I think I’ve quoted Chris Tomlin’s great song “Whom Shall I Fear?” before:

Whom shall I fear

I know Who goes before me

I know Who stands behind

The God of angel armies

Is always on my side

The One who reigns forever

He is a Friend of mine

The God of angel armies

Is always by my side

I had never connected the title “God of Angel Armies” with the title “Lord of Hosts”. But it’s a perfect translation. So just imagine — the God of Angel Armies is protecting you.
Psalm 46 is one of the Psalms of the Sons of Korah. They were Kohathite Levites, and famous singers — but they had a shadowed heritage. The first Korah was that rebel who was part of the group of 250 who challenged the right of Moses and Aaron to the priesthood. Somehow Korah’s sons survived and over time rose to prominence as worship leaders for King David. Heman wrote many of the psalms — perhaps when he wrote Psalm 46 he was thinking of how the God of Angel Armies had pulled his family back from the cliff-edge of doom. However that might be, I am always comforted knowing that God is my refuge and strength.

Death By Divided Loyalties

Posted on by May 18, 2015
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2 Samuel 1:23-25 — Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided: they were swifter than eagles, they were stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep over Saul, who clothed you in scarlet, with other delights, who put on ornaments of gold upon your apparel. How are the mighty fallen in the midst of the battle! O Jonathan, thou wast slain in thine high places. 
One of the saddest, and most noble, stories in the Bible is the tragic death of Saul and Jonathan. You remember it, I’m sure. Saul was the first king of Israel, but was rejected by God. David was God’s chosen replacement. As Saul, provoked by demons, deteriorated, he attacked David who fled for his life.
David and Saul’s son Jonathan were the closest of friends — Jonathan incurred the wrath of his father by defending David to him. Saul even tried to kill him … and yet … Jonathan would not leave him.

Jonathan was loyal to his friend, and loyal to his father too.

David was loyal as well. You might thing he had plenty of reason to resent Saul  — but he would not lift his hand against him, not even to save his own life. His loyalty to Saul would not allow it nor would his higher loyalty to God. When he had the chance he said “The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed” (1 Samuel 26:11).

In this fatal triangle there was one who wasn’t loyal. Saul, driven mad with jealousy and rage, could not see David as the faithful servant that he was. He tried, instead, to hunt him down and kill him.

Jonathan could have gone with David — but he didn’t. He stayed, despite everything, with his father. 

The triangle of divided loyalties inevitably weakened Israel. David, Saul’s best general, was not fighting with him but instead was living the life of a mercenary warlord. That weakness allowed the Philistines to attack Israel more or less as they wished.

The Philistines attack and Israel, fatally weakened, are roundly defeated. Saul and Jonathan die.

David is devastated by the deaths of Saul and Jonathan. Even at this moment he is loyal to Saul and to Jonathan, mourning their deaths. He doesn’t rejoice that the way is open for the Lord’s promise of the Kingship to be fulfilled.

Jonathan is caught between two loyalties and destruction inevitably follows. It is always so. Jesus said it in Another context … You cannot serve two masters …

The Sabbath Was Made For Man

Posted on by May 17, 2015
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Exodus 34:21 — Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. In plowing time and in harvest you shall rest. (ESV)

I love to sit on our Lanai to do my quiet time. It’s not really quiet, but the little lake and the surroundings provide a sufficient barrier against the industrial and traffic noises to make it a good spot for devotions.
Sitting this morning I was amused when one of our neighborhood coots let out one of her usual fierce squawks of outrage — whether at her children, her mate, or an unseen predator, I do not know. But it caused me to think about the Sabbath … which is an odd thing for a coot to do!

Ducks, you see, keep no Sabbath! “And why should they”, you might say, “they have no souls”. True enough … but there are plenty of other Sabbath-breakers to consider. Indeed, we might reckon we are perilously close to having no Sabbath at all. It was not to be this way!

God gave us a very clear design for our working life. Six days to labor, one day for rest — that very important time to turn away from our workaday concerns and relax and focus on other matters. The model was quickly broken when sin came into the world as a result of Satan’s machinations, so that some work would always be necessary — but even then six days sufficed for all normal work.

For thousands of years the Jews, and then the Christians, followed God’s plan — but then came the Industrial Revolution.

The first impact of the Industrial Revolution was to drive the laboring poor from field to factory — and factory owners had no compunction about imposing a seven-day work week. In the second half of the nineteenth century, however, a trend started which initially seemed beneficial but which has, in the longer run, been terribly damaging.

The well meaning social consciences of the late nineteenth century pushed for the restriction of working hours and the introduction of the assembly line fueled a drive towards a standard five-day working week. Through the twentieth century and into the twentyfirst the seven day work week has been replaced to a drive towards increasing leisure — and now for many people all days are alike. It’s as if people want the commandment to be “one (or fewer) days shall you labor and six days (or more) shall you rest”!

The Sabbath was made for man — but it wasn’t meant to be seven days long!

Isn’t Creativity Wonderful?

Posted on by May 16, 2015
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Exodus 34:10 — And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them. (Genesis 1:27) — We are created in God’s image. Not, of course, that each of us is a physical replica of the glory of God — but that we have characteristics, attributes, that replicate those of our creator.
The most wonderful attribute of God that we have been gifted with is love. To me, though, the gift of creativity runs it close. People can create things that nobody else has ever dreamed of!

Creativity is a marvelous mysterious thing. We see the mystery at the start of the passage in Exodus 34 where God restates His covenant with Israel. “I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth.” God does that. He constantly  does things — great and small things — in ways they have never been done before.

It was my turn to cook dinner tonight. I cooked an Indian style curry. As I was doing it I was reminded of how many different cuisines there are in India. There are at least 30 major cuisines … Hundreds of dishes invented by somebody doing something in a way nobody had ever done it before. You can find the same thing all over the world.

I love music, and I love to sing. Every week I learn at least one new song. As with food, so with music … There are thousands of different styles all over the world, millions of pieces of music.

Does it seem I’m focusing on the trivial when I look at creativity? What about the masterpieces of art or literature? What about the wonders of science and technology, what about the miracles of medicine? It’s true that these are amazing  … but they are not really different in kind, and to me the true wonder is that each of us has this mysterious ability to do things differently in our daily lives — everyone of us has this glorious gift of creativity.

Human creativity is not in the same sphere as God’s. We did not create life, in all its wonderful teeming variety, we have not created countless numbers of planets. But every one of us is made in His image, and like little children doing what their parents do, we are all busily creating like Father does. It’s wonderful!

  

What Is Man?

Posted on by May 15, 2015
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Genesis 1:1-2 — 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.

So I guess it’s pretty old hat by now, but I still love Douglas Adams’ “The Hitchhikers Guide To The Galaxy”. It’s opening is brilliant, and still makes me smile every time I read it:
Far out in the uncharted backwaters of the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the Galaxy lies a small unregarded yellow sun. Orbiting this at a distance of roughly ninety-two million miles is an utterly insignificant little blue green planet whose ape-descended life forms are so amazingly primitive that they still think digital watches are a pretty neat idea. 
So which is it … is man God’s most most wonderful and important creation, or an “ape-descended life form” on “an utterly insignificant little blue green planet”?
It would be easy to be persuaded that perhaps we’re not that special after all. There’s a lot of planets. In fact there are more planets than you can begin to imagine.

The other day, though, I came across a fascinating article. You can see it at http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20150515-how-weird-is-our-solar-system?ocid=global_bbccom_email_15052015_earth. It’s amazing stuff. It talks about how many planets there are … And then talks about just how odd our’s is. 

Scientists have a pretty complicated explanation for the perfect combination of circumstances that allow life to exist. Mine is simpler … I believe that God created the heavens and the earth. I think He went much further to prove how special we are. When we messed up, He did everything He could to get us back on track. In the end He sent His son to die a horrible death to pay the price for our misdeeds.

When I think of all these things together I am reminded of the wonderful hymn, “How Great Thou Art” with the words of Swedish Poet Carl Boberg:

O Lord my God! When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the works Thy hand hath made.

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder,

Thy power throughout the universe displayed.

 …

And when I think that God, His Son not sparing,

Sent Him to die, I scarce can take it in;

That on the cross, my burden gladly bearing,

He bled and died to take away my sin:

Man is God’s most wonderful and important creation.
  

Earthquake!

Posted on by May 14, 2015
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Matthew 28:2-4 — And, behold, there was a great earthquake: for the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.  His countenance was like lightning, and his raiment white as snow: And for fear of him the keepers did shake, and became as dead men.

In my reading of the Bible this year I have often been struck by verses that my eye has skated over in previous readings. This time it was Matthew 28:2, and as I studied it I found myself being drawn on, verse by verse. I had to stop after three verses, or it could have led to a book!
Perhaps it was the two earthquakes in Nepal this week that brought to my mind the two earthquakes at Jesus’s death and resurrection. Matthew Henry writes wonderfully about them:

When he died, the earth that received him, shook for fear; now that he arose, the earth that resigned him, leaped for joy in his exaltation. This earthquake did as it were loose the bond of death, and shake off the fetters of the grave, and introduce the Desire of all nations, Hag. 2:6, 7. It was the signal of Christ’s victory; notice was hereby given of it, that, when the heavens rejoiced, the earth also might be glad.
The next thing that I noticed is that there is a wonderfully human touch in Matthew’s account of the discovery of the empty tomb. “the angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled back the stone from the door, and sat upon it.” Can you picture it? What does the angel look like, siting on that massive stone that he just rolled back. I can’t quite imagine it. The mighty angel of the Lord sitting on the rock, not standing majestically in front of the tomb. Was he humming to himself, or whistling while he waited? I have this crazy feeling that the angel of the Lord isn’t proud. He has no desire to stand on his dignity — he’s just a servant, a servant of the best master the world could ever know.
The messenger isn’t standing on his dignity — but he’s still awesome. His tasks are, perhaps, humble — roll the stone away, guard the empty tomb and pass on the message — but when the master has left the scene the angel is radiant and glorious. The angel is so awesome that the guards are terrified. They could deal with the earthquake, but not with the angel.

It is wonderful to think on these verses. The Lord has entered into His glory. The earth is glad, and His people can rejoice!

Things Happen

Posted on by May 13, 2015
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Ecclesiastes 9:1-2 — For all this I considered in my heart even to declare all this, that the righteous, and the wise, and their works, are in the hand of God: no man knoweth either love or hatred by all that is before them. All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.
It was shocking, yesterday, to hear that the tiny country of Nepal had been stricken with the second major earthquake in less than three weeks. The first left thousands dead. The outcome of yesterday’s events are yet to become clear.
Some obvious questions present themselves when things like this happen. The first might be “so where was God? 

It’s a simple answer. He was there. God is always everywhere. But His presence isn’t a guarantee that things that we think of as “bad” won’t happen to us. The first thing to know is that we are all in God’s hands. That translates to a very simple proposition — you do right by God and He, eternally, will do right by you.

We have differing eternal destinies, but in the short term, “All things come alike to all”. But what does that mean? Henry Cowles explains:

We may conclude that his mind is upon the unknown contingencies of this mortal state. No man knoweth what is before him here in the line of the good or evil things of this life. Sickness, suffering, the plague, the cholera, the frailties of the body, the infirmities of old age, and death itself—all these evils and the causes that produce them, befall every class of men, good or bad, substantially alike.

It’s easy to live “under the sun” and to believe that, as we can’t predict what the results of our actions will be, we might as well live as we like. That’s not the idea that we need to latch on to. There are two big ideas.
The first is that we have to trust God. We are in His hands, and He will do whatever is best for us.

The second is that we need to do the right thing — without worrying about the consequences. We don’t control them, so we might as well ignore them. Things happen.
      

Life-changing

Posted on by May 11, 2015
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1 Samuel 10:10-12 — And when they came thither to the hill, behold, a company of prophets met him; and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. And it came to pass, when all that knew him beforetime saw that, behold, he prophesied among the prophets, then the people said one to another, What is this that is come unto the son of Kish? Is Saul also among the prophets? And one of the same place answered and said, But who is their father? Therefore it became a proverb, Is Saul also among the prophets?
Saul has just been with Samuel, who has broken the news to him that he is to be King of Israel and anointed him.
On the way back from his meeting with Samuel, Saul encounters a company of prophets — and the Holy Spirit falls on him and he, too, begins to prophesy. Nobody expected that from Saul. It was such a surprising development that it became the source of a proverb. In future whenever anyone broke out into unexpected behavior the question would be asked — “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

When Myra and I committed to our Christian lives we both were faced with the same reaction — surprise from those who knew us — family in Myra’s case and friends in mine. It’s nearly always that way — new Christians, or those who start to walk the Christian walk as well as talking the talk will always provoke surprised commentary. Why is that?

Did you notice that odd little question in verse 12? “But who is their father?” It is an odd question and commentators have different ideas about it. I like the way seventeenth century English theologian Matthew Poole answers it:

Who is it that instructs and inspires them with this holy art, but God? They have it not from their natural parents, nor from their civil education, but by inspiration from God, who, when he pleaseth, can inspire Saul, or any other man, with the same skill. And therefore wonder not at this matter, but give God the glory of it.

It was the Holy Spirit that took young, thoughtless Saul, and turned him into a spiritual man. So it is with everyone who becomes a Christian. The Holy Spirit moves in. Of course, that doesn’t always sit well with those who are familiar with the old “us” — especially if they are not Christians. It’s not just a change of heart, it’s life-changing!

 

Real Mothers

Posted on by May 10, 2015
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Proverbs 31:28 — Her children arise up, and call her blessed; her husband also, and he praiseth her.


You might recall that I think the Bible is a bit short of great examples of good fathers (I mention it in this post — http://ianandmyrarowlands.com/WordPress/2014/06/15/happy-fathers-day/). While I was thinking about what I should write on this Mother’s Day it occurred to me that the opposite is true when it comes to mothers. The Bible has plenty of examples of good mothers.
When people think about Biblical motherhood they usually cite some obvious role models — Eve, the mother of us all, Mary, the mother of Jesus, Sarah, the great matriarch who came to the job rather late, and that model of perfection in Proverbs 31. (I’m not sure that any woman should try to measure up to her — remember that was King Lemuel’s mother’s shopping list!). I’d like to remind you of some who seem more real to me …mothers doing what others do. One way or another, they each remind me of my own mother.

The first is the widow of Zarephath. Do you remember? When Elijah asked her for food she said:

 As the Lord thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but an handful of meal in a barrel, and a little oil in a cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die. (1 Kings 17:12)

She would rather die than watch her son starve.

Then there’s Eunice. We don’t know much about Eunice except that she was Timothy’s mother. Paul reminds Timothy of what he owes her:

When I call to remembrance the unfeigned faith that is in thee, which dwelt first in thy grandmother Lois, and thy mother Eunice; (2 Timothy 1:5)

Like so many mothers, Eunice was her son’s first teacher.

Then there’s one of my favorites — the Sidonian woman. You can read about her in Mark 7 or Matthew 15. She had a daughter possessed by a Devil. She came to Jesus to ask Him to cure her. He, at first, repelled her — she persisted:

But Jesus said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children’s bread, and to cast it unto the dogs. And she answered and said unto him, Yes, Lord: yet the dogs under the table eat of the children’s crumbs. And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the devil is gone out of thy daughter. (Mark 7:27-29)

Like many a good mother, this unnamed heroine was not going to let anything get in the way of getting what she needed for her child.

Just three of the great mother’s of the Bible … two without even a name … and I could have picked as many more. Many people have said it in many ways, but just once more, thank God for moms! 

Fruit

Posted on by May 10, 2015
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Galatians 5:22-23 — But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, Meekness, temperance: against such there is no law. (Galatians 5:22-23 KJV)
So how’s the fruit production going? New fruit everyday? Or not …? 

So suppose you’re a bit like me. Anybody who’s read a few of these pieces knows that there’s a lot of time when some of my fruit is spotty, at best. Does that depress you? I don’t think you should let it. Let’s look at the fruit growing business for a bit.

For a start, no fruit grows without seeds being planted. We cannot plant the “seeds of the Spirit” in ourselves. That is God’s work. 

Next, no fruit will grow without time for the seeds to germinate. Charles Spurgeon says about this:

The text (Gal 5:22) speaks of “fruit,” and fruit comes only from a rooted abiding. It could not be conceived of in connection with a transient sojourning, like that of a traveler. The stakes and tent pins that are driven into the ground for a nomad’s tent bear no fruit, for they do not remain in one place. Inasmuch as I read of the “fruit of the Spirit,” I take comfort from the hint and conclude that He intends to abide in our souls as a tree abides in the soil when fruit is borne by it.

The fruit — not fruits because joy, peace, long suffering, and so on cannot be separated from each other — all start from the same seedling, from love. Without the blossoming of love the fruit cannot develop and come to maturity. The great commandments are to love the Lord your God and to love your neighbor.

Why then is my fruit not fully maturity and always on display? Is it not because spiritual fruit, like any other fruit, has its season and must develop and grow to ripeness?

Even the fully mature Christian cannot just sit back and wait for fruit. God is going to take every part of our life that is not as it should be and cut it away, and keep working on every part of our life that is not fully developed. Jesus said:

I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. Every branch in me that beareth not fruit he taketh away: and every branch that beareth fruit, he purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit. (John 15:1-2)

So if you believe you are doing what you should to “work out your salvation” and yet, somehow, there doesn’t seem to be much fruit, be patient! You’re not the one in charge of growing the fruit!