SITTING BEFORE THE LORD

2 Samuel 7:18 “Then King David went in and sat before the Lord, and he said: Who am I, O Sovereign Lord, and what is my family, that you have brought me this far?”

There’s something about our culture — we find it very hard to sit still for any length of time. We’ve lost the art of solitude. No time for contemplation. I’m sure King David was a busy man — he had a whole kingdom to run — and yet it’s quite obvious that he still made time to regularly sit in God’s presence. I know that must be true because of the scores of Psalms which he wrote. Psalms of worship and prayer. Psalms which are rich and weighty and which have the touch of eternal reality upon them. They’re quite obviously the product of wonder and musing.

In our scripture, we read how David receives the most amazing revelation of God’s Word of promise to him by Nathan the prophet — how God is going to build David a house. David had wanted to build a temple — a house for God. God said, “No, David, I’m going to build you a house”. God would establish David’s throne forever.

David was not a perfect man — he made his share of mistakes. He knew what it was to really blow it. But one thing about David — he always knew his place. Whereas Saul became proud because of his position as king — David never suffered from the same false illusions of grandeur. He never forgot that it was the Lord who had raised him up in his purposes. And he kept a humble heart. Many men, hearing of God’s promises of greatness for them, may become proud and loud. But not David. “Who am I?” he says.

You see, for David it was God and his glory that mattered. God was not a means to an end for David. God is the glorious end of everything. How many times do we unwittingly reduce God to be merely our means to an end? This has been man’s tendency right through history. God is the one we turn to in trouble. His sovereignty becomes the convenient excuse for every shortcoming

Look at David — he’s just received God’s gracious word of promise. God is going to lavish his blessing on David. He’s going to make David’s name glorious. Where is David? He’s sitting humbly in God’s presence giving all the glory back. Giving the glory to one who is the only rightful recipient of it.

It is true that David wanted to build a magnificent temple to God. But God’s plans were different. It wasn’t God’s purpose — it wasn’t God’s time.

The desire is good. But that in itself is not enough. God desires obedience — not just great ideas. And so he visits the prophet in the night hours. Perhaps the prophet could hardly sleep for excitement over David’s plan, but God speaks to Nathan: “Tell David to stop. He won’t build me a house — I’ll build him one instead. A lineage on the throne forever”.

When David hears the Word of the Lord — as soon as he hears it — there is not argument — no attempt to somehow reason with or persuade God (like we so often do). He goes in and sits before the Lord and says in essence, “not my will by thy will be done.”

Sitting before the Lord requires ultimate submission from you and me. It could be that the one thing stopping you from being completely submissive to God is the laying down of your own agenda — your plan — your vision — your dream — to find God’s purpose.

Maybe the great plans you have seem so right — so noble — they must be good. But being good plans is not the point. They must be God’s plans.

Only spending true time in his presence will reveal those things to you. Come to him. Be humble. Be thankful. Be submissive.

WAIT AND SEE

Ezekiel 17:22 “'This is what the Sovereign Lord says: I myself will take a shoot from the very top of a cedar and plant it; I will break off a tender sprig from its topmost shoots and plant it on a high and lofty mountain.”

Fireworks were invented in China. Very early in history, during the first thousand years after Christ, Chinese scientists discovered gunpowder. And from this discovery came the concept of fireworks. The ancient Chinese people were very superstitious, and believed that fire could disperse evil spirits. Sparks were a good omen, they thought, a good indication of the future. Loud sounds, they believed, would frighten away ghosts. And smoke was good for your health. And so in ancient China, fireworks were the perfect thing. All the fire and noise would chase away the spirits and ghosts, and the sparks and smoke would make you healthy.


Chinese kings were given fireworks as a form of tribute. Today, Chinese people set off fireworks to express their happiness and to invite good luck into their lives. Today, we use fireworks as a form of entertainment, and often as a way celebrating of some sort event or holiday, like the Fourth of July.


In our scripture, the prophet Ezekiel talks about something similar to fireworks, and here is the comparison. With fireworks, it’s always amazing to me that one of those little rockets could give off so much light and so much noise. One little rocket – it doesn’t seem like much as it sits in the box – there doesn’t seem to be much to it. But wait and see - when it’s lit off, it lights up the night sky and gives off a boom that you can hear for miles.


Ezekiel talks about something that seems small and insignificant. But wait and see - it becomes something much greater than you would ever expect. What Ezekiel is talking about is the Kingdom of God. He compares the Kingdom of God to a tiny little stalk. God plants that stalk, and it doesn’t look like much as it sits on top of a high mountain. But you must wait and see – eventually it becomes the greatest, most amazing tree in all the world. God teaches us about his kingdom, and how he works. God does things that seem small in our eyes, to begin with. But the things that God does turn out to be the greatest, most amazing things we could ever imagine.

The secret to seeing God’s greatness is focusing on things you cannot see, and focusing on the future. The prophet Ezekiel told Israel to focus on the future – something they could not see – and there they found God’s greatness. Verse 23: “On the mountain heights of Israel I will plant it; it will produce branches and bear fruit and become a splendid cedar.” God is talking about Christ, and his kingdom here. Someday, it will grow, God says. “Birds of every kind will nest in it.” God is talking about people here. People of every kind will become a part of God’s kingdom. People from all over the world, every nation, every background, every kind of personality and every social status. Look to the future, Ezekiel told the people of Israel, and you will see the greatness of God’s kingdom.

God says that people will come and find spiritual shelter in Christ. Shelter from fear. Shelter from uncertainty. Shelter from despair. Regardless of the trial and difficulty that we may be facing, our hope lies in the things we cannot see. Looking to him, in faith, provides us with the hope and protection we need.

When fireworks are lit off at night, it doesn’t look like much to begin with – a small white dot quietly sailing up into the night sky. But then it reaches its peak, and it explodes with a loud boom, and the dark sky is filled with a beautiful color and design, all from one small firework. So it is true, that at certain moments of life, your hopes may seem dim and as nothing. But wait and see. Keep your heart fixed upon God and he will do a tremendous work in you.

A CURE FOR BOREDOM

Ecclesiastes 9:10 “Whatever your hand finds to do, do it with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”

Boredom is a combination of weariness, listlessness, apathy and unconcern that causes a person to feel like doing nothing. Related words include dreariness, flatness, lethargic, and dull. To the bored person, the world is all shades of gray. When you are bored, there is nothing to do because there is nothing to do that matters. To the younger generation, one word encapsulates boredom, the all-purpose answer, “Whatever.” “Did you hear what I said?” “Whatever.” “I thought that was a great movie.” “Whatever.” The word “whatever” in that sense means, “I don’t even care enough to give you an answer.”

There are two primary causes of boredom. The first is over-stimulation. We live in a society that encourages us to believe that more is better. If a little of anything is good, then more will always be better. If one drink is good, two is better, and five will send you to heaven. If one pill helps, two is a kicker, three is a party, and five will knock you out. We see this in relationships as people jump from one person to another. We see it in the pressure to constantly move “up the ladder,” so people hop from one job to another, hoping to find the perfect fit. And we move from city to city, and from church to church. We make friends, keep them for a while, get to know them, and then we move on to someone else. Advertisers prey on this tendency when they urge us to buy more, buy new, and buy now. We are so bombarded with images, with lights and sound and noise that we’ve grown accustomed to it. According to the Center for Media Education, most children watch three to four hours of TV a day, approximately 28 hours per week. “Watching TV is the #1 after-school activity for 6 to 17 year olds. Each year most children spend about 1,500 hours in front of the TV and 900 hours in the classroom. By age 70, most people will have spent about ten years watching TV.” By age 21 the average viewer will have seen one million TV commercials. “Children who watch four or more hours of TV per day spend less time on school work, have poorer reading skills, play less well with friends, and have fewer hobbies than children who watch less TV.” We are so over-stimulated by TV, radio, music, movies, the Internet, and by video games, that we are hyped up, tense, wound up tight, and as a result, easily bored and quickly distracted.

The second cause of boredom is under-commitment. This is partly a result of the massive over-stimulation. Too many people live at the 20% level of commitment. We’re like the man who, when asked what he believed, replied, “A little bit of everything.” We are like customers in a cafeteria line. We have a “little of this” and a “little of that” and not much of anything. We are 20% committed to our marriage, 20% committed to our work, 20% committed to our relationships, 20% committed to our families, 20% committed to our careers, 20% committed to our church, and we end up being 20% committed to Jesus Christ. No wonder we are frustrated. No wonder we are antsy. No wonder we are bored.

Underneath all this is a deeper problem. Boredom comes from an excessive self-focus. Bored people are essentially selfish people who view the universe through their own stunted perspective. The reason you are bored is because you have become a boring person. To be truthful, you are bored with yourself. The problem is not “out there” somewhere. Look inside if you want the answer. Lest I be misunderstood, I do not think busyness is the answer to boredom. Busy people are often very bored. They use their busyness to mask their inner emptiness.

Folk singer Joan Baez once remarked, “You don’t get to choose how you’re going to die, or when. You can only decide how you’re going to live now.” If you are bored, it is because you have chosen to live a boring life. Boredom is not an issue of bad circumstances. It’s a disease of the soul caused by excessive self-focus. And it comes from being over-stimulated and under-committed. Life is never boring when you commit yourself 100% to Jesus Christ.

Are you bored with life? Crawl out of yourself and make a new commitment to the Lord. Reach outside yourself to help someone less fortunate and your perspective on life will radically change. Boredom is a warning sign that we are living for self when we ought to be living for God.

DECISIONS, DECISIONS

Proverbs 14:12 “There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.”

What prompted Solomon to write this? See, Solomon had everything any man would want: money, power, women, fine houses, you name it he had it, including divine wisdom. But with all that understanding that God had imparted to Solomon, he did some very unwise things. God wanted Solomon to use the wisdom he had given him to better Israel, but because Solomon gave in to his flesh, he divided a nation. Those decisions that Solomon made while he was under the allurement of his flesh seemed right to him at the time. But I believe that in Solomon’s later years he looked back and realized that a part from God, all of humankind’s natural tendencies, even though they appear right, will eventually and ultimately lead to destruction.

Just as Solomon refers to the path in our scripture passage, the Bible often likens our life here on earth as walking along a pathway. Jesus also taught in this manner when describing entering the Kingdom of God.

"You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose the easy way. But the gateway to life is small, and the road is narrow, and only a few ever find it" – Matthew 7:13-14 NLT

It is our human nature to want to follow the easy path. This is true with running water, it will flow downhill where there is the little resistance. The same holds true for electricity. Electrons flow in the path of least resistance. People by nature are the same way. But the easy way isn’t always the right way. Often times choosing the right “pathway” means following a course that is narrow.

We should make any “life altering” decision based upon God’s word and his will for our lives. So, here are some practical steps to making Biblically sound decisions.

*Learn what the Bible says about it.

Since the Bible parallels our life here on earth as walking along a pathway, we need to make sure that we can see where we are going. Driving at night at 65 MPH with the lights off on a rural road could be deadly. The same could be said by living life without the illumination of the Word of God.

*Pray about it – wisdom is available for all who ask.

"If you need wisdom – if you want to know what God wants you to do – ask Him, and He will gladly tell you. He will not resent your asking." – James 1:5

Praying and searching the Bible should go hand in hand. God recognizes that we don’t know everything. But God is omniscient, which means he knows everything. The reason some of us don’t know what to do is because we never took the time to ask God.

*Check your conscience

Our conscience is an internal mechanism that God implanted in us to provide some kind of moral restraint upon his creation. Our conscience functions upon a value system that we have adopted for ourselves. That’s why seeking God in prayer and in his word is so important, because it is his value system that we will learn as a result. But our conscience again isn’t the Holy Spirit. It can be faulty.

*Determine the impact of your decision.

This is a major issue. The decisions and choices we make not only affect us, but those around us. The Bible clearly teaches that we should always be mindful of other people.

We face decisions every day. Many will determine our future. Don’t take them lightly. Involve God in your decision making process. He will be sure to guide your way.

PREEMINENCE

Colossians 3:11 “Christ is all that matters, and he lives in all of us.”

One – Stop – Shopping. It is an amazing concept. It is also a relatively new idea. Can you remember a time when the only thing that you could buy at a gas station was fuel? Now, you can purchase nearly anything at your local gas station/mini mart. And how about Super Wal-Mart? Where else can you go and purchase gym socks, motor oil, and eggs all in the same place? People love the convenience and are often willing to pay more to avoid running from place to place.

Isn’t it interesting that most of us fail to take the same approach when it concerns our spiritual needs? We are often too quick to run from place to place in search of hope, peace, and fulfillment. When Paul wrote to the Colossian church he was addressing that very problem. These believers found themselves adding other types of philosophy and religions to their belief in Christ. Things such as ritualism, mysticism, and asceticism were a very prevalent part of their lives. You see, it wasn’t that they didn’t accept Christ and his grace. It was just that they were looking for more. And they were looking in all the wrong places.

The prevailing theme of the Book of Colossians is the preeminence of Christ. To be preeminent means to be greatest in importance or degree or significance. Paul writes that Christ is preeminent over everything. His letter is a call for believers to remember that Christ lives within them and that he is all that matters. In him, we will find all our hopes and everything our heart may desire.

Still, we are often tempted to “look around” when it comes to the voids in our lives. Have you ever felt or maybe even said, “If I only had a better job” or “If I could only find the perfect mate”? Don’t misunderstand; those are things well worth desiring. They will not, however, fill the spiritual voids in our lives. Only Christ can do that. He is preeminent.

The great promise for the believer is that he who is preeminent lives within us. In other words, there is no need to look towards outer things to find our hope, joy, and fulfillment. It already lives within us. The great temptation of the enemy is to cause us to neglect our inner spirit man and set out on a vain search for greater things. You can easily fall into the trap of looking in possessions, relationships, and achievements. Sadly, this will always lead to disappointment and unfulfilled expectations.

Scripture teaches us that God was pleased to have all of his fullness to dwell in Christ. We too should be satisfied in knowing that Christ dwells in us. Therefore, the answer to all our sufficiency is found in him and it can forever be strengthened by cultivating the spirit that is alive within us.

He doesn’t just matter, he is all that matters. Everything else pales in comparison to what a relationship with him will produce in our life. Don’t be discontented with an outward search. Find peace and hope in Christ. You won’t have to look far.

GETTING EVEN ISN'T EVEN

I Samuel 24:12 “May the Lord judge between you and me. And may the Lord avenge the wrongs you have done to me, but my hand will not touch you.”

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Revenge: It may be one of life’s most subtle temptations. All of us probably at one time or another have wanted to get even for being mistreated. Maybe it was because an employer promised you something and never came through. Maybe a mate walked out on you when you needed him or her the most. Maybe it was a parent who failed you or someone in the church who hurt you or has not appreciated your efforts. And now you are waiting for the chance to get even or you’re seething inside because you are holding a grudge.

Most of our culture today doesn’t recognize it as revenge. It is called "my rights." Or in our more educated moments we call it "justified retaliation." We’ve got a moral obligation to rectify this situation and it is the American way- "I don’t get mad - I just get even." But whatever we call it, God calls it revenge. And his feelings toward personal vengeance are anything but ambivalent. God very clearly commands us through the Bible that if there is to be any "getting even", we are to leave it for him to do. Why is God so adamant about resisting this temptation? Because he knows what it does to us and others. He knows the resentment that poisons us and the pain we inflict upon others by getting even is never in anyone’s best interest.

But how do we resist? Especially when the feelings are so strong within us? Our scripture shows that this subtle temptation even reaches into a life as exemplary as David’s. And from his excellent example of submitting to God’s will, instead of taking revenge, we can find principles for our own lives.

Let’s realize that it is a natural temptation to want to get back at someone who mistreats us. David was wronged by his superior, King Saul. Even though David had been a devoted servant, Saul became so intensely jealous of him, that he plotted to kill him. Surely, it would have been easy for David to want to get back at the king. Yet when given an opportunity to get Saul once and for all, David refuses to fight in the same manner as Saul. He doesn’t run his sword through the king. Instead he sneaks up and cuts off a portion of Saul’s robe. Now some may say, “wow, what restraint by David.” But quickly David realizes that even that childish act is an attempt at revenge. And all of a sudden he whispers, "Wait a minute! I was wrong to show such disrespect to the Lord’s appointed leader."

The most important principle here is not to give in to revenge. We are not to have the attitude of "Do it unto others before they do it unto you." We are not to fight in like manner. You know, God doesn’t give us this command to resist revenge because he wants us to be cowards or because the person doesn’t deserve punishment. Jesus’ teaching of "turning the other cheek" and forgiveness is because God knows what is best for us. You see, we need to admit that when we get even we really don’t win. Getting even isn’t ever even. We really only hurt ourselves. It festers within and poisons our spirits when we hold grudges or take revenge. We become no better than those who hurt us. Rick Warren said, “If you don’t release those who hurt you, you will begin to resemble them." We only hurt ourselves when we take matters into our own hands. We lose God’s peace and sink to the depths of the hurter instead of becoming a healer. Sir Francis Bacon said, "In taking revenge a man isn’t even with his enemy he is only as low as they. But in passing over it he becomes superior, for it is a prince’s part to pardon."

So, how should we view revenge? Realize that vengeance is a natural temptation but refuse to fight in a like manner. Keep our mind on the goal and trust in God’s ultimate justice and say, “May the Lord judge which of us is right and punish the guilty one. He is our advocate. He will rescue us”

JOY BUSTERS

John 16:24 “Until now you have not asked for anything in my name. Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.”

We tend to equate “happiness” with joy but they are two totally different ideas because they each spring from a different source. One comes from the world around me. The other originates directly from the Spirit of the Living God. Happiness is conditioned by and often dependent upon what is “happening” to me. If people treat me well, if things are going well in my life, then I’m happy. If my circumstances aren’t favorable, then I’m unhappy.

Joy, on the other hand, throbs throughout Scripture as a profound, compelling quality of life that transcends the events and disasters which may dog God’s people. Joy is a divine dimension of living that is not shackled by circumstances. The Hebrew word means, “to leap or spin around with pleasure.” In the New Testament the word refers to “gladness, bliss and celebration.”

To have the fruit of joy ripen in our lives is to recognize the journey involved in getting there. It takes time, diligence, patience, and hard work to make a grapevine produce grapes. Fruit is not instantaneous because it has to overcome weather, bugs, weeds, poor soil and neglect. Likewise, in our journey to joy we’re faced with the waves of apathy, the currents of pessimism, the deluge of doubt and the waterfalls of despair. There is no way we can manufacture this fruit on our own. If we want to see this fruit ripen in our lives, we desperately need the Holy Spirit to prune away whatever it is that hinders our joy and then empower us to make some choices that move us closer to a lifestyle of rejoicing.

There are truly things in our lives that can hamper our joy. Here are three of them:

1. Unsatisfied expectations. Do you ever feel like you’re just going through some joyless routines in life? If the truth were known some of us are discontent with the way our lives are progressing. It could be that your expectations for your marriage have not been met. Or, maybe your kids aren’t living like they should. Perhaps you don’t have everything you want – a bigger house, a nicer car, and a better job.

I’m convinced that a spirit of discontentment can rob many of us of joy. Listen to how Paul discovered the secret of being content with what God had given him in Philippians 4:12: “I know what it is to be in need, and I know what it is to have plenty. I have learned the secret of being content in any and every situation, whether well fed or hungry, whether living in plenty or in want.”

I find it interesting to note that Paul calls contentment a “secret.” There’s a mystery about it. He also had to “learn” how to live with unsatisfied expectations. Likewise, we must learn to live with plenty or with little. Contentment doesn’t come when we have everything we want but when we want everything we have.

2. Unresolved conflict. Our joy evaporates when we allow conflict between ourselves and another person to go on. When someone’s offense against us occupies our mental and emotional attention, we have little left over for the Lord. Anger clouds the eyes of our heart and obscures our view of God, draining away our joy.

If you’re still itemizing people’s mess-ups, the fruit of joy will be squashed in your life. Paul recognizes the link between joy and unity in Philippians 2:2: “Then make my joy complete by being like-minded, having the same love.”

3. Unconfessed sin. Guilt can gut your joy faster than anything I know. Sin can send joy far away. David understood this very well when he attempted to ignore the promptings of the Spirit. In Psalms 32 he wrote “Blessed is he whose transgressions are forgiven, whose sins are covered. Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him and in whose spirit is no deceit. I love how this Psalm ends. After David owns his sin, his joy returns. “Rejoice in the Lord and be glad, you righteous; sing, all you who are upright in heart.” Did you catch that? He was not able to rejoice and experience the joy of the Lord until he confessed his sins.

The only way to experience the fruit of the spirit is to be obedient to Christ and submit to the Spirit on a daily basis. To discover joy we must abandon the search for it and go looking instead for the one who is himself joy. If we want the kind of joy that is complete, lacking nothing, then we must remain close to Jesus. Apart from him we can bear no fruit.

PUT IT ON THE ALTAR

Genesis 22:14 “So Abraham called that place The Lord Will Provide. And to this day it is said, "On the mountain of the Lord it will be provided."

You may have heard about the guy who fell off a cliff and on his way down he was able to grab onto a tree branch jutting out from the face of the rock. As he hung there reviewing his options, he started yelling, “Is anyone up there?” He was surprised to hear a voice say to him, “Yes, this is God.” The man was greatly relieved, and quickly stuttered, “God, can you save me?” “Of course I can, responded God.” The man was really happy now and shouted out, “Great! What should I do?” The answer from the Almighty was not what he was expecting: “Let go of the branch.” After a long period of silence, the man replied faintly, “Is there anyone else up there?”

We’re like that man sometimes, aren’t we? We want God to help us but we don’t always want to do what he says. Specifically, we’re not always interested in letting go of those things that we think are holding us up. It’s tough to release our grip and give control of our lives to God. We kind of know that God will provide but maybe we’re not really sure he’ll come through for us. And so we hold on, and wonder if there is someone else who can help us.

In our scripture, we are reminded of a great test in Abraham’s life. God requires that Abraham offer his son, Isaac, as a sacrifice. Isaac was the son of promise to Abraham and Sarah. Notice the four phrases God uses in Genesis 22 – your son, your only son, Isaac, whom you love. God is making it very clear who he is talking about and he is putting his finger on the fact that Isaac was everything to Abraham. And that was part of the problem because God alone should be everything to him. God was saying, “We’ve walked together for many years and now you have the son you’ve longed for. Tell me, Abraham; is this son more important to you than your relationship with me?”

The three words – take, go, sacrifice – must have taken Abraham’s breath away. Once again, Abraham is commanded to go somewhere he had never been. When Abraham had left Ur years earlier, he sacrificed his present security and now God seems to be telling him to sacrifice his future security. There was no doubt what he was being asked to do. A burnt offering was a total sacrifice, with the offering being completely consumed by fire and signified the complete dedication of the one making the sacrifice. There was no way the offering would be walking back from the altar. Total commitment will always be costly as David said in 2 Samuel 24:24: “I will not sacrifice to the LORD my God burnt offerings that cost me nothing.” God gives no explanation; just an expectation that Abraham would obey this staggering command. Sometimes we are not given reasons either because God just wants us to faithfully follow Him.

Of course, Abraham obeyed the Lord and the Lord provided. Abraham passed the test and as a result, he called that place “The Lord will Provide.” This is the name Jehovah Jireh. At just the right time, God came through for Abraham.

He is a provider and he always supplies the right thing at the right time and at the right place. He is never late but he is seldom early and he certainly does not cater to our timetable. God tests us to grow our faith, to keep us focused, and to make us fruitful. What are you giving up? It strikes me that before we can know Jehovah Jireh, before we can experience God as Provider, we must first be willing to obey him fully. If you want God to provide you must be prepared for him to do so. We don’t have to fully understand in order to surrender but we do need to fully trust. Is there anything you’re holding on to today? What is your Isaac? It may be your career. It might be a relationship or a possession. Perhaps it’s your retirement or your college plans. Maybe it’s a child or a parent. It’s time to put it all on the altar.

SEEDS OF GRATITUDE

Deuteronomy 8:18 “But remember the Lord your God, for it is he who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms his covenant, which he swore to your forefathers, as it is today.”

Imagine for a moment an elderly man, Moses, standing atop a high mountain, looking across a river valley into lush and green land. His lips are bent in a slight smile. You look a bit closer, and you notice that even though he is smiling, his eyes betray a hint of anxiety. He has spent most of his life in the wilderness, a dry and waterless land. And now he gazes across the Jordan River into the land promised by God to his ancestors. It’s a good land. There are flowing streams and fertile fields. There will be no excuse for hunger in that land. Everyone will have enough. In his mind’s eye he can see vineyards, and olive groves, and children playing without fear, and fine homes—the people he had led would lack nothing in that land across the river. What a wonderful vision of a day soon to come. And yet, despite the bounty he saw before him, Moses could not help but worry. Yes, the people would have enough and more—but oddly, that was what was troubling him. Moses worried that because God’s people would lack nothing, they might become forgetful.

So what was Moses to do? His time of leadership was drawing to an end and so Moses gathered the people together and told them the truth of what lay ahead: The Lord your God is bringing you into a good land … where you will lack nothing. You shall eat your fill and bless the Lord your God for the good land that he has given you.” Did you catch it? Let me repeat it. Moses told the people to bless the Lord their God for all that God had done for them. He was sowing seeds of gratitude by teaching them now to give thanks and bless the Lord for the bounty they would experience in the future.

So, where does gratitude begin? Gratitude begins with an honest self-assessment that leads to the realization that in fact the blessings we enjoy today are not solely of our own making. That’s why Moses so fervently pleads with the Israelites to take care that you do not forget the Lord your God. Do not allow yourself to forget how God has put people and opportunities into your life and how those people and opportunities have enabled you to become the person you are and to enjoy the things you enjoy. Gratitude begins with a fine tuned memory. There is a French Proverb that states: Gratitude is the heart’s memory. That’s so true. Sow seeds of gratitude in your own heart: Sit down sometime and write out a history of your life. What do you think you would discover? My guess is that, even if you have had a hard life [and God knows that many people have had difficult lives] that still you will discover instances where “water flowed for you from flint rock” and when you were “fed in the wilderness with manna.” In other words, you will rediscover the many times you were helped along the way. You will remember people from the past whose guidance pushed you fruitfully into the present. You will also see clear evidence of God’s loving providence operating in your life in many, many ways. Seeds of gratitude are best sown in the fertile soil of honest memory—a remembering of how God has shaped who you are by the people and events and opportunities that God has put into your life.

A PRISON EXPERIENCE

Genesis 39:21 “the Lord was with him; he showed him kindness and granted him favor in the eyes of the prison warden.”

At this point in Joseph’s life, it would have been easy to give in to despair. Joseph was unjustly imprisoned, in fact imprisoned for doing the right thing. You may be saying, but I am not in prison. Are you so sure? Prison comes in different forms for different people. We can be imprisoned by our circumstances, trapped in situations that we are powerless to change. You can be imprisoned by the expectations of others. You may be imprisoned by guilt. Many of us are walking around with a load of guilt, from things that may have happened years before. Others may have forgiven us but we have not forgiven ourselves. Regardless of what “prison experience” we may find ourselves facing, Joseph can provide us with insights for coping.

Joseph knew that God had not and would not forsake him. Our scripture even tells us that he found favor while in prison. We learn from this story that although Joseph did not deserve to be in prison he responded to it beautifully. What is important was the way in which his character grew during his imprisonment. In similar circumstances another man might have become harsh, bitter or withdrawn. Not Joseph. Prison actually strengthened Joseph’s character.

C.S. Lewis in his book “The Problem of Pain” says, “God whispers in our pleasures, speaks in our conscience, but shouts in our pain.” We have two choices, we can become bitter and disillusioned or we can use our difficulties as a means of displaying our hope and trust in God.

The tragedy of our day is that some Christians are teaching that if a Christian merely has enough faith, they will never suffer, for they say that the death of Christ provides deliverance from all adversity and affliction. Had Joseph believed that if he only had enough faith he could instantly be delivered from his trouble his faith would have been devastated by the fact that his troubles did not go away. The truth is that God is not obligated to make us wealthy or well liked or free of trouble. God has promised to be with those who belong to him wherever they find themselves and to bring them to maturity, but he does not promise to pamper us or to jump through our hoops. Eventually, Joseph was rewarded with a degree of freedom and unusual responsibility in the prison itself. Because he was free of bitterness, he became useful as an instrument of God.

God works out in the lives of his children for their greatest good as he promised in Romans 8:28. Even in the most difficult of situations, he plans to favor us. Although, it can sometimes be tough to see, his favor even exists in the worst of times. God knows exactly where we are and exactly what we’re going through. It is his plan to bring us out of our “prison experience”. In doing so, we will find ourselves in a better place than where we first were. It will be the place God intended for us to be and we will find the contentment and joy we’ve always longed for.

BE PREPARED

1 Peter 1:13 “Therefore, prepare your minds for action; be self-controlled; set your hope fully on the grace to be given you when Jesus Christ is revealed.”

A man said: One morning I went out to start my car to go to church. I had a flat tire. Luckily, I had a spare tire. I changed the tire quickly and was on my way. But I didn’t think to drop the spare off to be fixed. I said, "I’ll get around to it." Within five days I went out to my car to go to school. I had another flat tire. Only this time I had no spare. I had to roll it to nearest service station and wait while it was fixed.

When something breaks, fix it now. Some things need to be fixed right now. It’s called preparation. Prepare for action. Prepare for breakdowns. Prepare for flat tires. In fact, it’s better to check your tires regularly and then perhaps you won’t experience a flat tire. If a person keeps their car maintained then hopefully, it won’t break down in times of stress, bad weather, etc. And if a person keeps their faith maintained then it, too, won’t let them down in times of difficulty and stress. Preparation is the key.

Prepare your mind. Thinking doesn’t get better unless we help it along. Our thinking doesn’t improve by doing nothing. Right thinking doesn’t happen without thinking right. Isn’t that brilliant? Right thinking is needed. Right thinking will produce right actions. When a person thinks about things that are true and right, they seek after those things. They will do those things. Proverbs 23:7 "For as he thinketh in his heart, so is he." You are what you are and you are where you are today because of your thinking. Your thinking has brought you to this point in your life, be it good, great, or otherwise. But we all must prepare our minds for action in the future. The future is ahead. How will we do? It depends on our thinking.

Most worthwhile things take time to prepare. Life is the most worthwhile thing we will do. We must prepare our minds for this worthwhile adventure. How do we prepare our minds for action? With scripture and prayer. There is no better way.

In addition to our minds, we must prepare our bodies. Our scripture says “be self-controlled”. In other words, control yourself, control your body. If we are going to be self-controlled as the scripture says, then we must prepare our bodies as well as our minds.

Life is truly a journey. If we are to succeed, we must be prepared. Peter gives his hearers great instruction on how to live blessed in the midst of persecution. Be ready in thought, exhibit patience, and look to God who is sufficient in our time of need. We can view life’s trials with thoughtfulness, patience, and faith. Be prepared to excel in life and to achieve the destiny God has granted you.

Oliver Wendell Holmes Jr. (who was a justice on the Supreme Court nominated by Theodore Roosevelt) said: To reach the port of heaven we must sail, sometimes with the wind and sometimes against it, but we must sail and not drift, nor lie at anchor.

We must sail, not drift. Drifting will get us nowhere. The Christian life is a life of action, doing, working, and serving. Because of this action, we must prepare ourselves; we must prepare our minds, our bodies and our hearts for serving the Lord. We must do whatever it takes to be a doer in the kingdom of God.

DON'T FORGET

Amos 3:10 “My people have forgotten what it means to do right…”

When I was a kid I remember having a friend over and playing baseball in the back yard. We repeatedly hit the ball over the fence into the neighbor’s yard and trampled all over their flower beds retrieving it. We were caught mutilating the backyard flora and my mother proceeded to berate me sternly. As it happened, when we were caught it was my friend who had been climbing over the fence and not me, so when my mother was giving me grief about the whole thing, I felt it was a bit unfair. Why wasn’t he getting it, too? He was the one too stupid to wait until my mother was away from the window until he climbed the fence. But here we were, him standing quietly to one side and me taking the rebuke.

Despite my feelings of injustice, it really made sense, though. I was the one who lived in that house. I was the one who knew that I wasn’t supposed to be squashing the daisies and camellias. I was the child and my mother the parent – my friend just happened to be there for the view. I had that privileged position – but with that privileged position also came responsibility.

Our scripture contains a stern admonition from the prophet. The trouble with both Israel and Judah at the time was that both nations were experiencing times of great prosperity and political power. They had summer and winter houses and mansions adorned with ivory. They spent their days lounging around on beds and couches. They felt no threat from the nations surrounding them – they were in control. What was this wealth built on, though? It was built on greed, oppression, and exploitation. They horded the plunder and loot in their fortresses. They trampled the heads of the poor into the dust. And they did not follow the Lord. They did not know how to do right. The true problem is that they once knew what was right. According to the prophet, they had forgotten what it meant to do right.

It is certainly easy to forget, if we turn our back on what we know to be right. How do we forget? We can forget if we allow our conscience to become seared and our thinking to become clouded. God, through his Spirit, continually works to remind us of his will and his path. According to Hosea, “His ways are true and right and we live by walking in them.” The process of forgetting begins with walking outside of his ways and then falling into a complacent attitude of self sufficiency.

We must be on guard against such complacency and self-righteousness. The vast majority of us live in comfort if not prosperity. We should thank God for that, but it is not that sort of blessing we should be looking for. We are incredibly privileged – God has chosen us. But that also means God expects more of us and deserves more of us. In fact, he doesn’t just deserve more of us, he deserves all of us – because, in the end, all the summer houses and winter houses and mansions and ivory adornments will be destroyed and the only ones left standing will be those who are the people of God.

A RELIABLE WORD

Proverbs 30:5 “Every word of God is flawless; he is a shield to those who take refuge in him.”

As Christians, the reason that we lose so often when we battle temptation is because we don’t know who we are. The reason that we don’t know who we are is because we are getting our identity from the wrong place. Everyone originally gets their sense of self, their sense of identity from society. Its part of a process called socialization. We gain our sense of self from the way others view us.

When we get our identity from the way other people view us, we are guaranteed to end up confused as to who we truly are. One person might say that I am smart; another might say that I am stupid. One person might say that I am beautiful; another might say that I am ugly. One person might say that I am funny; another that I am boring. And we get mixed reviews about ourselves from the people that we encounter and we end up being confused, insecure, and unsure of ourselves.

The question, “Who am I?” is a question that everyone asks themselves at some point in their life. It is a question that desperately needs to be answered. Your understanding of who you are determines how you live your life

The truth is: The only one who knows you well enough to teach you who you really are is not your parents, not your friends, but your creator. The one who made you is the only one that knows you well enough to teach you who you really are. Unfortunately, you cannot sit down with him as though he were human and interview him and get him to teach you about who he made you to be, but fortunately for us, he has given us a manual in which we can learn about our identity. Everything that you will ever need to know about life and godly living is found in this book.

For this reason, more bibles are sold per year than any other book on the planet. But, this is no ordinary instruction book for living. Remember in Genesis when it said that God spoke into the nothingness and the nothing became the something that he spoke? Remember, he said, “Let there be light,” and BAMM there was light. Those were some power packed words. That is the word of God. Remember when Lazarus was dead for three days and Jesus came to the tomb and told them to roll away the stone? What did he do? He spoke, “Lazarus, come forth.” and instantly, Lazarus came forth. He spoke life into death and the death became life. Those were some powerful words. That’s the word of God. Holy Scripture contains some powerful words. When you begin to get hungry and continually apply your mind with the help of the Holy Spirit to understand the scriptures, you will see God do mighty things in your life.

Do you want to continually be victorious over sin and temptation in your life? You have got to know who you truly are. One of the greatest ways to know who you truly are is to go to God and have him teach you through is word. Get hungry for the word to illuminate your life. Allow God’s words to define you. Let it set the course for your life. It will never lead you astray.

A PURSUIT OF RIGHTEOUSNESS

Esther 8:15 “Mordecai left the king's presence wearing royal garments of blue and white, a large crown of gold and a purple robe of fine linen. And the city of Susa held a joyous celebration.”

Haman represents that Adamic principle of evil that is at work in our lives deluding us, deceiving us into lives of self-interest, self-effort, self-praise, self-admiration, self-pity and self-centeredness. That’s what Haman was all about – self, self, self. And that’s what our fleshly, sinful nature is all about – promoting self and living for self.

Haman wanted that job. He wanted the recognition. He wanted the worship, the honor, and the praise. He was the one who went home and gathered all his friends so he could tell them about how great he was. He was the one who couldn’t be happy so long as Mordecai wasn’t impressed with him. He was the one who bragged about being the only one invited to the queen’s banquet. It was all “me, me, me.”

That’s our fleshly, sinful nature at work in our life. That’s Haman in each of us, and until we recognize what a powerful foe he is in our life we’re destined to a life of misery and failure, and like Haman, we can be so deceived and blinded by our so-called greatness that we’ll be the last person to know we’ve wasted our life.

If Haman is a picture of our flesh, then Mordecai is a picture of the Spirit of God at work in our life. The Bible teaches us that the Spirit has been sent to teach us, to convict us, to lead us, and to comfort us. It was Mordecai that had the king’s best interests in mind. Mordecai quietly, but firmly stood his ground. Mordecai didn’t seek the honors, he didn’t seek the position, he didn’t ask for authority. He was there to serve the king.

The greatest thing you can do with your life is to recognize that it has been given to you for the good of the king. We must ask ourselves, “Is it worth the fight? Is it worth all the running?” Haman enjoyed great authority – he got the ring and the robes and the chariots and all that came with it. The people bowed in his presence, they honored his name, they celebrated his greatness – but it was a fleeting thing for a man who had chased the greatness for greatness sake. Mordecai on the other hand pursued righteousness, not only for the good of the king, but also because of his relation to the King of kings, and he too enjoyed great authority. He got the ring, Haman’s estate, royal clothes, a crown of gold, and all the honor he could stand, not because he pursued greatness, but because he was great – and there is a vast difference.

What is it that you are in pursuit of today, and who is it that you are following along the way? You can spend your life chasing some position, some accomplishment, or some reputation. You can seek authority and honor and power, but it will never be enough. The Haman that lives within us will always want more. He will never rest so long as there is still one more thing holding out, and until we crucify that man we’ll never enjoy the freedom and blessings that only a relationship with Jesus Christ offers.

THE CHOICE IS YOURS

Genesis 6:9 “Noah was a righteous man, the only blameless man living on earth at the time. He consistently followed God’s will and enjoyed a close relationship with him."

A recent newspaper article had this headline, “Bankruptcies Blamed on Easy Credit.” In this economy, a record number of 1,300,000 families filed for bankruptcy. The article quoted lawyers and credit counselors as saying that the availability of easy credit and a tendency to shirk responsibility had played a major role in many of these bankruptcies.

Have you noticed? Our society has produced people who ignore responsibilities and then blame others for their problems. “If I get into financial trouble, it’s not my fault; it’s because of easy credit. And the government needs to do something to protect me.”

Again, “If I develop lung cancer from smoking, it’s not my fault. I blame the cigarette companies, and they need to pay.” Or, “If I go into a rage and grab a gun and start shooting people, I’m not responsible. It’s in my genes, and I just can’t help it.” And again, “If I practice sexual perversion, it’s not my fault; God made me this way.”

As a society, we have become adept at blaming others. People are blaming heredity, environment, chemical imbalance, job pressures, poverty, prejudices, abuse, and anything else they can think of for their problems today.

But God teaches that as human beings we’re created higher than plants and animals, and we make choices. We can choose to be good or to be bad. We can choose to obey God or to disobey. You can be God’s man or God’s woman, if that’s your choice. But always remember, we’re responsible for the choices we make.

Our scripture offers a glowing report of Noah. He was a man that remained righteous during wicked times. He found favor in God’s sight. He was a righteous man. He was blameless among the people. Then it says that “…he enjoyed a close relationship with God.” I think that means he was so close to God that he always felt his presence. When he was walking, when he was standing, when he was sitting down – whatever he was doing, he was close to God.

But let me ask you. If you had taken a poll of the people in Noah’s day and asked them, “What do you think of Noah? Do you think he is good or bad? Do you think he is wise or stupid?” What kind of answers do you think you would have gotten?

I think people would have said, “Noah’s an eccentric. He’s bigoted. He’s intolerant. He’s politically incorrect. Noah just doesn’t fit in.” But yet he was a man who found favor in the eyes of the Lord.

You see, Noah understood that the choice to live right before God was his. He would not be forced by his surroundings to be a certain way. The choice was his alone. It was not a popular choice. He was ridiculed and shunned. Be he was a man who loved God.

When you read the story of Noah – be encouraged. You can make it. You can rise above the influence of wickedness that is around you today. You can, like Noah, live differently from what the world demands. It starts by committing to follow the will of God and enjoying a close relationship with him.

TEMPTATION

Genesis 3:6 “When the woman saw that the fruit of the tree was good for food and pleasing to the eye, and also desirable for gaining wisdom, she took some and ate it.”

In some overseas areas, a pigeon is a game bird. Here is an account from an English Sportsman – “They roosted on the cliffs of the eastern side of the island in the morning and would fly across to the western cliffs around the middle of the day. When I hunted them, I knew their pattern. The problem was, they flew so high and fast, they were nearly impossible to hit. The hardest thing was to get the first one. You’d have to be almost a perfect shot to get the first one. But once you got one, it was easier to get the second one. See, once you got one, you’d leave it lying in the field like a decoy. Then the next one flying by would slow down, bank, and fly a little bit lower to see what his buddy in the field was doing. And then he got to join him. Once there were four or five in the field, it was so easy it almost wasn’t sporting anymore. The unsuspecting birds would look down, see the bait and take it. They were tempted, succumbed to the temptation and my 12-gauge made sure they paid the price.” -- That is the basics of temptation, isn’t it? And it’s really no different than the way we’re tempted every day. See, the basics of temptation have never changed.

Temptation doesn’t come from God. James 1:13 says, “Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man.” God does not tempt us. But he does test us. The Bible is full of examples of God testing man. As you go through Genesis, the bitter water of Mara was a test. The Manna was a test. Even the giving of the Law was a test. In the New Testament when you look at Jesus’ temptation, how did that begin? It began by the Holy Spirit leading him into the wilderness where he would be tempted by the devil. God does not tempt—he tests. The tree of the knowledge of good and evil was a test. God placed the tree in the midst of the Garden and told Adam not to eat of it. He placed it there as a test of Adam’s obedience. Now the interesting thing is that in the original language, tempt and test is the exact same word. So what is the distinction? When God placed a tree in the Garden and made a rule for the sole purpose of seeing whether or not Adam obeyed it… what makes that a test and not temptation? Because even though the original word is the same, the intent is different. That’s how translators came up with two different English words.

The intent behind a test is that God wants us to obey his will. The intent behind temptation is that Satan wants us to rebel against God’s will. God placed the tree in the Garden seeking Adam’s obedience to his command. Satan took God’s command and twisted it seeking Adam and Eve’s rebellion and destruction. God’s tests seek obedience. Satan’s temptations seek rebellion. That’s the difference.

What does temptation look like? All too often, we can’t answer that question until after we’ve succumbed to it. Then we look back and say, “Why didn’t I see that coming?” Well, the truth is, most of the time we can see it coming. And if we can’t we should be able to. Because Satan hasn’t changed his tactics in over 6000 years. Why should he? They seem to work awfully well. His first tactic is to question God. The result of temptation depends on how we respond. We know how Adam and Eve responded. They gave in. They succumbed to the temptation. Of course, when they succumbed to the temptation, sin entered the world.

We know what temptation looks like. It questions God. It twists his Word. And it is appealing to our desire for control. Are you trying to be in control of your life? Or are you submitting your wants and desires to God’s control? Finally, we know what temptation results it. It either results in our succumbing to it or resisting it. Are you resisting the temptations that have been coming your way? Or have you been giving in to them? A calloused spirit is a hard thing to overcome, but you can overcome it by simply confessing your sins before a loving and merciful Jesus.

STRENGTH IN WEAKNESS

2 Corinthians 12:9 “But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me.”

Often the world considers trouble to be a terrible intruder into life. For many people the problems of life are viewed as nothing more than minus factors. But the Christian perspective of trouble is not pessimistic. Paul experienced a thorn in the flesh, and this weakness made him strong. He learned how to be strong in the broken places. His weaknesses did not destroy him. With God’s help he gained strength out of his weaknesses. Thus, there seems to be two alternatives: Problems can either keep us down or make us strong. Let us learn from one who was broken and made strong how we may benefit from the weaknesses of life.

The apostle Paul had a great faith in the Lord. His faith was not just an ascent to religious beliefs. His faith was a personal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ. His favorite expression to describe this relationship was "in Christ." Only a genuine faith in God is adequate during the weaknesses of life. Faith is no casual nod to God. It is allowing God to join our lives. The presence of the Lord helps during times of weaknesses.

Paul had other concerns on his mind more than the agonies caused by the thorn. Paul had two overwhelming purposes in his life. First, he wanted every person in his world to accept Jesus Christ as Savior. Second, he wanted every believer to be Christ like in thoughts and actions. Paul refused to let the thorn detour him in his purposes. Being consumed with the larger purposes of life overshadows the weaknesses. A person’s lack of mission forces him or her to focus on selfish discomfort. When we are possessed by a great mission, selfish discomforts will become secondary.

Paul was able to help others because of his thorn in the flesh. He was able to empathize with a greater intensity. He knew what it was to suffer. As he found strength from God during his weaknesses, he told others who were hurting where to find help. People who have been hurt and have been helped prove to be good helpers.

Paul looked beyond the weaknesses to a greater time. The thorn did not cause Paul to have a pessimistic view of life. Instead, in the midst of his weaknesses he loved life. Part of his great love for life was his optimistic view of the future. He believed that God would ultimately remove the thorn. "This mortal nature must put on immortality" (1 Corinthians. 15:53 RSV)

There is a greater hope for believers. The weaknesses of life may last for a lifetime, but they will not last throughout eternity. The believer will receive a body that is immune from physical and emotional disorders.

The weaknesses of life do not have to make us weaker. By God’s help we may gain strength during the times of weaknesses.

Don’t forget that our weaknesses simply serve as a constant reminder that without God, we are nothing. It is his strength that allows us to live, breath, and have our being. So, the next time you feel weak, be thankful that God is strong and that his power strengthens us every day.

HE DESERVES OUR BEST

Malachi 1:6 “If I am a father, where is the honor due me? If I am a master, where is the respect due me?" says the Lord Almighty.”

After listening restlessly to a long and tedious sermon, a 6-year-old boy asked his father what the preacher did the rest of the week. “Oh, he’s a very busy man,” the father replied. “He takes care of church business, visits the sick, works on his sermon, counsels people…and then he has to have time to rest up because speaking in public isn’t an easy job.” The boy thought for a moment and then said, “Well, listening ain’t easy, either!” The words of Malachi the prophet could not have been easy to hear, but they were surely necessary.

Let me remind you of the situation that Malachi is addressing. The Jews have returned to their land after living in modern-day Iraq for 70 years. The Temple has been rebuilt and the worship of God has been reestablished. But things are not easy. While outwardly everything seems okay, on the inside a cancer of complacency is eating away at their commitment. As God’s final spokesman at the end of the Old Testament, Malachi comes on the scene to challenge them, and us, to give God our best.

If we want to give God our best we must first embrace authenticity. We must stop just going through the motions, refuse to play church, and do whatever it takes to keep the fire burning. We can fall into a trap of dishonoring God and counting him contemptible when we try to live on what Charles Swindoll calls, “three dollars’ worth of God.” He writes, “Some of us would love to buy three dollars worth of God. Not enough to explode my soul or disturb my sleep, but just enough to equal a cup of warm milk or a snooze in the sunshine…I want ecstasy, not transformation. I want the warmth of the womb, not new birth. I want a pound of the eternal in a paper sack. I want three dollars worth of God, please.”

God deserves priority over our possessions. These people were more concerned with keeping what they had than they were in giving God their best. Their hearts were not in it any longer. They were still coming to church but it was just a meaningless ritual to them. They had accepted mediocrity in their lives and their leaders did nothing about it. God tells them to try and offer their junk to the governor as payment of their taxes and see if he would accept them. The bottom line is they thought God didn’t care what they did. After all, they were middle class people who had worked hard. They had high taxes, bills to pay, and they didn’t have a lot of extra cash.

As hard as this may be to hear, God does not need our sacrifices. He’s saying to us today, “Don’t you dare allow me to be represented as some lifeless religious icon. I’d rather you shut everything down than have you continue in a phony religious ritual. If you’re not prepared to give me every inch of your life, then you can’t play church because I’m closing the doors.” These stings, but no worship at all is better than halfhearted sacrifice. God doesn’t need us to give him anything.

Are you giving God your best with your time, with your talents, and with your treasures? Are you giving Him what is left, or what is right? If we’re going to give Him our best, we must first grasp His greatness and embrace an authentic faith.

FROM DARKNESS TO LIGHT

Isaiah 60:1 “"Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you.”

Imagine living in the little town of Barrow, Alaska. It’s located on the farthest northern tip of the state of Alaska, above the Arctic Circle. In Barrow Alaska, the sun sets in the afternoon on November 18, and it doesn’t rise again until January 24. 65 days of darkness. 65 days when the sun doesn’t shine. Up there, the earth is tilted in such away that the sun never shows itself for over two months out of the year. But when the sun does rise for a moment on January 24, the whole town comes out to celebrate, because finally, there is light again.

Our scripture is speaking of a different kind of light and darkness. And when this special light that God speaks about begins to shine through that ugly darkness, the results are much more spectacular and joyful than anything you could experience in northern Alaska.

God pictures our world as a very dark place. Spiritually dark. You can see evidence of spiritual darkness by looking around you. Yes, “thick darkness is over the peoples, but…” God says, “…but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you.” The birth of the Lord, Jesus Christ, is described in the Bible as the rising of the sun on a very dark place. The sun rises and the darkness disappears. What happens to the darkness of your sin and guilt when Jesus rises in your life? It disappears. Jesus shines his forgiveness and grace into your life, and the darkness in your soul disappears.

If you feel guilt in your life, guilt from committing sin after sin, guilt from trying to make things right with God, even though you know you can never do enough, then you are someone who is trapped in darkness. But then you learn that Jesus Christ was born into the world. You learn that he came for the sole purpose of doing what you could not do – making everything right between you and God. You learn that your sins are freely forgiven because Jesus has died for all of your sins on the cross. You can feel your guilt melt away. It is as though the sun has risen for you. Finally you can see that, because of Christ, everything is good between you and God. You have gone from darkness to light.

And no matter how dark the world becomes, the light of Jesus Christ will never stop shining for you. Don’t feel too sorry for the people of Barrow, Alaska. While it is true that for those 65 days, the sun never rises there, soon the earth will tilt a different way, and then, in Barrow, Alaska, the sun will never set. From May 10 until August 2, for almost three months, the sun will not stop shining in Barrow. People call that place “the land of the midnight sun.”

And so it is with your soul. Once the grace and mercy and forgiveness of Jesus Christ rises in your life, it will never stop shining. No matter how dark the world gets around you, Christ’s love will always shine in your life. Spiritually, right now, you live in the “land of the midnight sun.” Let this be for you a time when you see ever more clearly the glory of your Savior, Jesus Christ.

BLESS AND KEEP

Numbers 6:24 “The Lord bless you and keep you.”

These are words that God instructed the priests to say over the people of Israel.

We learn from Leviticus that the priests were to say these words with their hands held up above their heads. This was to signify that the words weren’t just being uttered by the priests, but were coming from God himself to the people. The priest was the mediator, not the initiator. When the people gathered for worship, the priest would offer the sacrifices to establish them in fellowship with God, and then he would raise his arms and pronounce the blessing.

What did it mean to say, “The Lord bless you”? The Hebrew word literally means “on bended knee”. It describes a servant kneeling out of respect for his master or a lover kneeling to ask his beloved for her hand in marriage. There is a wonderful moment near the end of “The Return of the King” when the four hobbits are stunned that the newly crowned king of men, Aragorn, kneels to honor them. That is something like what this passage has in mind. In this blessing, God is offering to come to his people “on bended knee” – that is, to come to serve them, to love them, to share himself with them.

The second part of the first phrase of the Aaronic blessing calls upon God to “keep” his people. The Hebrew word for “keep” is used to describe the way shepherds would use thorn bushes to build a protective enclosure for the sheep, to keep them safe from predators. “To keep” literally means “to build a hedge around”. Thus, the key idea is that of protection from harm, putting around you and your life a sort of fence to keep out enemies that would snatch away the blessings that God has given you, and to keep you from wandering off.

What an amazing thought. That the supreme and almighty God, who dwells in eternity, the creator of and ruler over all things, would get down on one knee as a servant to sinful and rebellious people like us. That he would then take the trouble to build a protective hedge around us to keep us safe. Yet that is exactly what the Bible says he instructed the priests to call on him to do.

Most people do not think of God like this. Yet, even more than the people of Israel, we should be able to see that this is how God has revealed himself. His coming “on bended knee” was most completely put into action in the incarnation of God the Son. Jesus in the manger is God on bended knee; Jesus eating with sinners is God coming on bended knee; Jesus living as one of us, then giving his life on the cross is God on bended knee. Jesus ascending to heaven and sending his Spirit as our Comforter is God at work keeping us secure, for as Peter wrote, “we have an inheritance that can never perish, spoil or fade, kept in heaven for you.”

Truly, God has shown himself to be a God who has a heart to bless and keep his people.

GOD BREATHED

2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness.”

There are many people who will say that the Bible is merely a collection of myths and legends. There are even some who will say that it is made up completely of lies. And then there are those of us who believe that the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments are true and trustworthy because they are the very words of God.

Mark Twain once said, "(The Bible) has noble poetry in it; and some clever fables; and some blood-drenched history; and some good morals; and a wealth of obscenity; and upwards of a thousand lies." On the other hand, Woodrow Wilson once said, "When you have read the Bible, you will know it is the Word of God."

What would persuade Woodrow Wilson to come to a different conclusion about the Bible than Mark Twain? For that matter, why should anybody believe what Christians believe about the Bible at all? How do I know the Bible is true?

Paul says that Scripture is "God breathed," that is, it finds its source and origin in God. Just as I breathe out the words that I speak, the words of the Bible are the very words of God himself. This having been said, we need to make it clear that the Bible didn’t just fall from heaven. Rather, the Lord moved upon men to write, communicate and transcribe his Word. This very fact, ironically, offers the greatest evidence that the Bible is truly inspired by God himself.

You see the Bible is not one book. The Bible is a compilation of 66 different books written by 40 different authors from 3 different continents in 3 different languages and written over a period of 1500 years. The 66 books of the Bible, 39 in the Old Testament and 27 in the New Testament, contain different literary forms or genres, such as historical writings, poetic writings, prophetic writings, gospel biographical writings and the letters. Yet, within each of the 66 books, we read an incredible unity of themes from Genesis through Revelation, progressively revealing God’s plan to restore his creation.

The difference that the Bible makes in the lives of those who sincerely seek to apply its message points to its trustworthiness.

When the American army stormed across Okinawa, soldiers found villages of unbelievable poverty, ignorance, and filth. But Shimmabuke, a small obscure community, was different. Homes and streets were clean, the villagers poised and cultured, enjoying a high level of health, happiness, intelligence and prosperity.

Why was Shimmabuke different? Thirty years previously an American missionary on his way to Japan had stopped there. Before he moved on he made two converts, left a Bible, and passed on. From that day the people of Shimmabuke had seen no other missionary, had no other visit with any Christian person or group. But in those 30 years the inhabitants had made the Bible come alive. The two converts had taught the villagers its truth until everyone became a Christian.

Then came the American army. Clarence Hall, a war correspondent wrote the following: "I strolled through Shimmabuke one day with a tough old Army sergeant. As we walked he turned to me and whispered hoarsely. "I can’t figure it, fellow--this kind of people coming out of only a Bible and a couple of old guys who wanted to live like Jesus!" Then he added what was to me an infinitely penetrating observation: "Maybe we’ve been using the wrong kind of weapons to make the world over!"

The Bible clearly guides us on how to receive and live life to the fullest, both now and for all eternity.