Take Time to Reflect

This pandemic has been characterized often by weeks of confinement, restricted gatherings, and social isolation. This is hard on all of us to one degree or another.  After all, we are by design and nature creatures of community.  But even more so, we are creatures of activity and engagement.  The silence that accompanies our inactivity is foreign to us.  We are often not comfortable with our own thoughts.  Consequently, we wear our headsets, turn on our televisions, search the internet, and scroll through Facebook.  Busy-ness becomes us.

Yet times like these are genuinely good for us.  They teach us to wait and give opportunity to reflect earnestly on our direction, our pursuits, and our priorities.  Solomon wrote, “Ponder the path of thy feet and let all thy ways be established.”  (Proverbs 4:26)  To ponder means to think about something seriously.  Important things demand serious considerations.  The direction of our life, our pursuits in life, and the priorities we establish are important matters worthy of pondering.

But such pondering will only be as good as the value system employed to evaluate such matters.  Moses taught us that life is fleeting and, consequently, not only demands such considerations, but that such considerations require us to appeal unto true wisdom.  Listen to his inspired testimony from Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days, that we may apply our hearts unto wisdom.”   He (Moses) acknowledges that this ability to both soberly and profitably examine our lives comes from God for he says, “teach us.”

It is God Who teaches us what things are truly worthy of our consideration and embrace.  It is God Who gives direction to our path and strength to our steps that we may pursue those things.  And, it is God Who enables us to discern our priorities among the many choices that confront us each day and to follow after them.  Conversely, many men (and women) have climbed the ladder of success as they defined success only to find their ladder was leaning against the wrong building. 

Take the opportunity that this “down” time has provided to give earnest consideration to things that really matter.  I commend to your reading as part of this endeavor the Gospel of Luke, chapter 12.  Read through it thoughtfully and reflect not only on the passage, but on your own life as well.  I leave you with these words by Christ as he concluded (what we know as) the Sermon on the Mount.  “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock” (Matthew 7:24).  Then we shall apply our hearts unto wisdom!

The God of Peace

The unpredictability of life can oftentimes put us on “edge,” making us hesitant, cautious, and even fearful.  When we don’t know how things will turn out, our imagination, however rooted in education and experience, works to create alternate “endings” to the current chapter in our lives.  Generally, these only contribute to our angst. 

We are living in uncertain times, unpredictable times, perhaps, even dangerous times.  There seems to be little help as we survey our surroundings.  Surely, truth is a rare commodity and confusion seems to have its way with our society.  We ask ourselves where is this leading and how will it leave us.  Is instability, uncertainty, and their resulting strife and anxiety the new normal?

Augustine, one of the early church fathers, asserted that “Man shall never find rest until he rests in Jehovah.”  The plain truth is that man was made to be satisfied with God and Him alone.  In our society we have looked to our jobs, our houses, our credit scores, our families, our schools, government, and even our churches.  But, our current events highlight plainly that such things cannot bring about tranquility.  Man is incapable of creating his own peace. 

Only God gives peace.  Job tells us that “man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward” (Job 5:7).  Experience teaches us that life is full of storms, but we can weather them all in quietness of soul if God is our refuge.  But to know and enjoy the peace of God, we must first have peace with God.

Since Adam fell in the Garden of Eden, man has been at war with God by virtue of his sin.  Man’s sin is an affront to a holy God.  The Psalmist relates, “For thou art not a God that hath pleasure in wickedness: neither shall evil dwell with thee” (Psalm 5:4).  But God, who is rich in mercy, sent his Son, Jesus, to redeem us from sin and reconcile us to God.  Christ did this by dying for us on the cross and shedding his blood in payment for our sin.  It is through this blood-bought redemption that we have the forgiveness of sins and, consequently, peace with God.

As we see, this peace with God comes at a great price though not a price exacted upon us, but upon God himself, i.e. the death of his Son.  His word declares, “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us…for if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life” (Romans 5:8-10).

This peace purchased by the blood of Christ is available to all, but it is only granted to them that believe. Put your faith in Christ.  Know peace with God and “the Lord of peace himself give you peace always by all means.  The Lord be with you all” (I Thessalonians 3:16).    

We Need Truth

Over 2,700 years ago Isaiah, the prophet, wrote “judgment is turned away backward, and justice standeth afar off:  for truth is fallen in the street, and equity cannot enter” (Isaiah 59:14).  The foundation of any and every civilized society is truth.  Relationships require truth to prosper and society is nothing more than the collective reflection of those relationships.  Without truth there is nothing but chaos and confusion.  Without truth we call evil good and good evil.  Without truth every man does what is right in his (or her) own eyes and we become our own judges of what is or is not truth.  That is, if it suits my purpose or interest then it is truth to me and what is truth to me may not be truth to someone else.

We need truth today as much as in any time.  It is interesting to note that Isaiah lamented the rarity of this precious commodity in his day.  Yet fallen man has always despised, rejected, and suppressed truth.  Is it any wonder that Paul declared “the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness” (Romans 1:18).  Man’s resistance to truth is rooted in his rebellion against God for God is “a God of truth” (Deuteronomy 32:4).

In spite of the willful blindness of his own heart, man is not far from truth.  Jesus Christ confessed before Pilate that “for this cause came I into the world, that I should bear witness unto the truth” (John 18:37).  What then is the truth?  It is this – man’s sin has separated him from a holy God.  That is truth.  Christ suffered the wrath of God on the cross in full payment for that sin.  That is truth.  All who believe upon him will know the forgiveness of sin and be reconciled to God.  That is truth.  And, finally, we cannot be reconciled to one another until we are rightly reconciled to God.  That is truth.  All other truth begins and ends there.

Truth, indeed, is fallen in the street.  But, it still speaks to those who will listen for it and submit to it.  This truth is not an easy truth to embrace, but it is needful for our healing.  Just as a doctor’s unwelcome diagnosis must first be known and accepted before treatment can begin, so it is with this truth.  Listen to the God of truth for it is “impossible for God to lie” (Hebrews 6:18).  And this truth He speaks in love for our good.

The Test of a Man’s Character

Someone wisely said, “The test of a man’s character is what it takes to stop him.”  Life is full of challenges, difficulties, frustrations, disappointments, and setbacks.  Such things are woven into the fabric of our very existence.  No one is exempt from these trials and tribulations – great or small.  They inevitably, regularly, and frequently cross each one’s path.  Yet it is in how we respond to the hard things of life that makes all the difference in shaping our character and defining our success in this thing we call life.

Those who have a sense of duty to their daily walk are keen to feel the winds of resistance that color their circumstances.  Who hasn’t gotten up in the morning, dressed themselves to go to work knowing that a difficulty of some nature and degree awaits them and moved on with only a sigh?  Life is hard and it takes courage and perseverance to make something of it.  The longer we live the more we recognize that our desires are visited with disappointment, goals are aborted by our circumstances, and success as we define it seems further from our reach by the hardships we face.

Return to the opening statement.  “The test of a man’s character is what it takes to stop him.”  For the Christian, God uses all the events of our lives – both good and bad – to shape our character into that image of Jesus Christ.  His image in us is what glorifies God and is the true measure of success.  So, believer, take heart for God’s purpose in making you like unto his dear Son shall not fail.  Rather, in the often overwhelming circumstances of life, rest in this truth: “They that wait upon the LORD shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31).

Perhaps you do not know this God who is the sovereign God over all of life’s circumstances.  Listen to his voice as he speaks to you in the midst of your difficulties.  “Seek ye the LORD while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts and let him return unto the LORD, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon” (Isaiah 55:1-2).  

The Simple Message of the Gospel

Paul had instructed the Corinthian believers how that the world, i.e. unregenerate mankind, could never find God by its own wisdom (I Corinthians 1:21).  God had ordained it so.  The knowledge of God begins with receiving the testimony concerning his Son, Jesus Christ.  And so, Paul writes “it pleased God by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe” (I Corinthians 1:21, emphasis added).  To know God one must believe his message and trust in him. 

It is from this vantage point that Paul ministered to the Corinthians when he was among them at the first.  He tells them plainly that he “determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified” (I Corinthians 2:2).  Avoiding the “enticing words of man’s wisdom” (I Corinthians 2:3), he kept his message simple and focused on the gospel of Jesus Christ.  This was done that the faith of the Corinthian believers would “not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God (I Corinthians 2:4).

Faith finds its object in a Person – nothing else – and this Person is Christ Jesus, God’s Son.  It was his resurrection that demonstrated the power of God spoken of here by Paul.  He wrote to the believers in Rome about this very truth when he wrote “concerning his (God’s) Son…which was declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Romans 1:3-4, emphasis added).  His prayer for the Ephesians reflected his desire that they may know “the exceeding greatness of his (God’s) power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places (Ephesians 1:18-20, emphasis added).

Paul did not want the message of the gospel which is bound up in Jesus Christ and which finds its zenith in his resurrection to be muddied up by extraneous fluff.  The person of Christ is inseparable from the gospel of Christ.  His work on the cross, i.e. suffering death for every man (Hebrews 2:9) and offering his shed blood for the redemption of our sins (Ephesians 1:7) is forever united with his identify as God’s only begotten Son.  To preach the gospel is to preach Christ and to preach Christ is to preach the gospel.

So many churches have today abandoned this simple message.  But in so doing these churches have lost their relevance.  They have nothing to offer a lost and dying world burdened by sin and filled with despair.  The gospel alone gives hope and peace and life. It is the message God has given us and it is the only message worth sharing.  What message does your church preach?  If Christ is not the central theme; if the gospel has become nothing more than a community supper; if your worship is empty of gratitude for sins forgiven, then, my friend, you are going to the wrong church and listening to a dead message.

Is the LORD Among Us?

Not long after God had delivered his earthly people, the Jews, from Egypt by his great power and led them by Moses through the parted waters of the Red Sea and after He had sweetened the waters at Marah and provided manna for them in the wilderness to eat daily, the people once more became thirsty and complained against the LORD.  In fact, Moses records for us the exact nature of their sin, “They tempted the LORD, saying, is the LORD among us, or not?” (Exodus 17:7).  To put it succinctly, the people looked at their circumstances and doubted God’s promises to them (Exodus 6:1-8).  They wanted more than his promise.  They wanted to see evidence of his working on their behalf.  Looking back at this event, the author of Hebrews relates that this behavior “grieved” the LORD (Hebrews 3:10). 

God’s people today are oftentimes not much different in their conduct.  The Lord himself has said, “I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” (Hebrews 13:5).  Yet, somehow his promise is not sufficient, even though in all things we are taught otherwise.  The Scriptures pervasively teach that his presence is provision enough.  His loving care directed by infinite wisdom and executed by sovereign omnipotence is ever at work.    But when our circumstances do not somehow fit our expectations, we question God’s presence rather than trust his promise.  In essence, as the Jews of old we too question, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Perhaps, the greater problem to address is that these expectations by which we interpret our circumstances are shaped by our own desires.  In essence what we really want is for God to conform to our expectations and desires rather than us choosing to conform our expectations to him and to his will.  Understand this, that peace and contentment will never be ours by the former – only by the latter!  The Psalmist wrote, “Be still, and know that I am God” (Psalm 46:10).  That is, he speaks of knowing God’s presence by ceasing from his own agenda. 

The pursuit of our own desires blinds us to God’s presence and resists the exercise of faith in his promises. David had an answer for this care.  He exhorted himself, “My soul, wait thou only upon God; for my expectation is from him” (Psalm 62:5).  God determined and controlled the unfolding of the events in David’s life and David trained his soul to wait and to rest in the care of his God.  May we do likewise.  Let me encourage you with a few stanzas from an old hymn of the faith, “Be Still, My Soul:”

Be still, my soul: The Lord is on thy side;

With patience bear thy cross of grief or pain.

Leave to thy God to order and provide;

In ev’ry change he faithful will remain.

Be still, my soul: Thy best, thy heav’nly Friend

Thru thorny ways leads to a joyful end.

 Be still, my soul: Thy God doth undertake

To guide the future as he has the past.

Thy hope, thy confidence let nothing shake;

All now mysterious shall be bright at last.

Be still, my soul: The waves and winds still know

His voice who ruled them while he dwelt below.

There is a God!

“In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth” (Genesis 1:1).  Many of us would recognize that this is the first verse in the Bible.  That is, this is how the Scriptures open or begin.  It is interesting to note that the Bible does not begin by arguing for the existence of God.  In fact, nowhere in the Scriptures will one find such an argument or proof text.  The fact that He exists is a presupposition to His revelation.  The Scriptures are written from this perspective, i.e. that those reading them understand and accept that He just is.

There is a God.  This we know and that truth, settled in our hearts, need not be shaken in our minds by questions we cannot answer.  After all, what kind of God would he be if we understood his ways?  He would be a god of our own making – one that we could change to suit our purpose as each circumstance required or feeling dictated.  Pathetically, he would be no greater than our own limitations.  Thankfully, this is not the case.    The Scriptures declare, “For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.  For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55:8-9).  This God – our God – is infinite.

Yet he has chosen to make himself known to us.  Through his word and by his Son he has declared himself and invites all to know him.  Take that in – he wants us to know him and has made it possible for us to do so.  This great God who, the Scriptures tell us, “inhabits eternity” willingly chooses to dwell with” those of a contrite and humble spirit” (Isaiah 57:15).  But we live our lives from day to day scarcely acknowledging his presence.  We live in his world and enjoy his benefits often with ungrateful hearts.  We ignore David’s admonishment, “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein” (Psalm 24:1).

We ignore him at our own peril.  Rather, may we acknowledge his presence, submit to his purpose, and embrace his person.  Knowing him begins with coming to him on his terms (not ours) by his Son.  That requires faith.  Those who so come will not be disappointed.  The author of Hebrews relates to his readers, “But without faith it is impossible to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him” (Hebrews 11:6). 

Follow Truth!

Over 2,500 years ago God sent Isaiah the prophet to his people to condemn them for their hypocritical worship and disobedience to his covenant.  The people had out of convenience spurned God’s truth and followed their own pernicious ways.  On one occasion of censoring Israel’s impudent self-righteousness, Isaiah proclaimed woe on their wicked posturing. “Woe unto them that call evil good, and good evil; that put darkness for light, and light for darkness; that put bitter for sweet, and sweet for bitter!  Woe unto them that are wise in their own eyes, and prudent in their own sight!  Woe unto them that are mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong drink, which justify the wicked for reward, and take away the righteousness of the righteous from him!” (Isaiah 5: 20-23)

Those who despise truth will suffer the consequences.  Israel’s sin led to their destruction and captivity by the invading Assyrian armies in 722 B.C.  The danger in rejecting truth is real though, perhaps, not immediate.  God does not settle his accounts at the end of every day, but neither will he be patient with a man’s sins forever.  “Be not deceived.  God is not mocked; for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Galatians 6:7)  The law of the harvest is both sure and trustworthy.

Our nation is in the throes of great confusion.  Isaiah could have spoken his message of woe today.  As a people we’ve exchanged God’s truth for convenient relativism while ignoring, even scoffing at the examples of history and the warnings of his messengers.  Be assured, there is no safety when truth is abandoned and folly is embraced.

But let’s make this teaching more personal and, consequently, something that each of us can lay hold of.  Let’s set aside our contemplations of the nation to considering our own behavior.  After all, the footprint of a nation is made from the paths of each individual.  What is your view of truth?  Is it something that you determine or is it something you discover?  There is a vast difference.  To determine one’s own truth is to be one’s own god.  When I consider that my own heart is, as Jeremiah tells us, “deceitful above all things and desperately wicked,” to serve as my own god is truly a frightening posture.

On the other hand, to recognize that truth is external to ourselves and declared unto us by the God of truth prepares us to follow a path that is trustworthy and safe.  That path is not one necessarily that will never encounter danger nor does following it make us exempt from the difficulties common to man. But as Christ said in his sermon on the mount, “Therefore whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doeth them, I will liken him unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock.  And the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not for it was founded upon a rock.” (Matthew 7:24-25)  Follow his truth – not our own folly!

Thou God Seest Me

God had promised Abram (He had not yet changed Abram’s name to Abraham.) a seed yet Sarai, his wife, was barren.  She schemed to secure that seed through Hagar, her maid, by giving her to Abram.  When Hagar conceived, Sarai dealt harshly with her and Hagar fled into the wilderness.  There God spoke to her and instructed her to go back to Sarai and submit to her.  She would bear Abram a son and his name would be Ishmael.  It was there in the wilderness that Hagar “called the name of the LORD that spake unto her, Thou God seest me” (Genesis 16:13).  It was there in the wilderness that Hagar came to know the omnipresent God, i.e. the God who is everywhere at all times.

David, the great warrior-king, was overwhelmed by this particular attribute of God.  He wrote “Whither shall I go from thy spirit?  Or whither shall I flee from thy presence?  If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there:  if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.  If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea: even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me.  If I say, surely the darkness shall cover me; even the night shall be light about me.  Yea, the darkness hideth not from thee; but the night shineth as the day: the darkness and the light are both alike to thee” (Psalm 139:7-12).  It is, indeed, an awesome thought to comprehend that God ever watches over me!

Understand that God’s presence everywhere is not pantheism.  The idea behind pantheism is essentially all things are God.  That is not the God of the Bible.  God created the trees, but he is not the trees.  The Creator stands apart from his creation.  Yet, he is present in all places at all times.  There is no place where we can go that he is not there.  The implications of this truth are staggering.  For example, he sees our troubles.  When he sent Moses to deliver the children of Israel from Egypt, he said to Moses “I have surely seen the affliction of my people which are in Egypt, and have heard their cry by reason of their taskmasters; for I know their sorrows” (Exodus 3:7).  How comforting to know that the God of all comfort sees my difficulties and is present to see me through them.

But his presence has other implications as well.  When David committed adultery with Bathsheba and murdered her husband, God sent Nathan, the prophet, to him.  Nathan asked David “Wherefore hast thou despised the commandment of the LORD, to do evil in his sight?” (II Samuel 12:9) God sees our sins – every one of them!  The writer of Hebrews records “Neither is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight:  but all things are naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Hebrews 4:13). Yes, God sees all of our lives and doings.  For the child of God this can bring great comfort and aid in difficult times.  But for those whose sins are not under the blood of Christ, their works shall be judged by the One who has seen them all. 

Men Ought Always to Pray

Solomon, universally agreed to be a very wise man, made this simple observation, “If thou faint in the day of adversity, thy strength is small” (Proverbs 24:10).  The strength he speaks of is an inner strength, a strength that both motivates and sustains even in the midst of great difficulty.  Adversity conversely has a way of fueling uncertainty, marginalizing the value of our efforts, and ultimately quenching the flame of hope.  When we succumb, we give up.

Let’s move a 1,000 years from Solomon’s days to the earthly ministry of Christ.  He taught his disciples, “men ought always to pray and not to faint” (Luke 18:1).  Christ, too, understood the dissipation of strength through adversity.  But he would teach us that prayer is the antidote for discouragement, dismay, and defeat. Prayer brings our appeal before the heavenly Father who is eager to hear the prayers of his children.  While there may be a delay in his answer or an answer not conforming to our expectation, we understand it is because of his goodness operating in harmony with his infinite wisdom. God always does what is best for his children and what is best always accrues to his glory and our good.

David understood well this truth.  He declared, “I had fainted, unless I had believed to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.  Wait on the LORD:  be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart:  wait, I say, on the LORD” (Psalm 27:13-14).  Where there is God, there is hope.  It was this hope in an all powerful and loving God that sustained him. More importantly, it was a hope in his God, his heavenly Father, a hope forged by relationship.  The strength that adversity would seek to snuff out was renewed by the supply of a personal God who cared infinitely for his soul.

This was not the only time the adversities of life plagued David.  Much like ourselves, he found himself moving as it were from one difficulty to the next.  Life is made up of such hardships and God’s children are not exempt from experiencing them.  But he consoled himself with this exhortation, “Why art thou cast down, O my soul?  And why art thou disquieted within me?  Hope in God, for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God” (Psalm 43:5).  He found that his God’s goodness could not be exhausted and so shall we.

Paul testified to the believers in Rome of the unwavering and limitless care of the heavenly Father for his own children, i.e. those who have come to know him by faith in Christ.  “He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things” (Romans 8:32).  Dear child of God, we must never doubt the intentions of our Father.  He ever invites you as David learned and would teach us so, to wait on the LORD and he shall strengthen your heart.  The God who works “all things after the counsel of his own will” (Ephesians 1:11) is too good to be unkind and too wise to make a mistake.  Hope in God.  Pray and you will not faint.