“The LORD is near unto all them that call upon Him, to all that call upon Him in truth.He will fulfill the desire of them that fear Him: He also will hear their cry and will save them.” – Psalm 145:18-19
When I awoke this morning I found that the committed nemesis, Anxiety, had already gotten up, showered and shaved.Apparently he had been waiting all night - when does he sleep?He is a pestilent fellow and very dedicated.My feet had not yet hit the floor before I heard his nasally voice rehearsing all the things that I should consider before I set my heart to worship today.Sometimes Anxiety is more difficult to dismiss than his business partner, Accusation.Accusation comes in loud and proud and it has become easy for me to leave the room when I hear Accusation belching out his historical record of my personal failures. He never has anything productive for me to listen to. The further and faster I walk away from him, the more diminished his voice; but Anxiety comes at me with reasonable items that, indeed, demand my attention.The problem is that Anxiety believes that they should demand ALL of my attention.That is why he must be evicted and rather quickly.
The Psalmist tells us in the above verses that God is near those who persist in calling upon Him in truth.When we call upon our Great God according to His nature, according to His revelation and according to His invitation we should rest assured that we have His omniscient ear.More so, we should have the confidence that He is going to bring to pass the very thing we desire.If the thing we desire is a deliverance from some foe or some fit, then the Scriptures teach that Anxiety should be excused and Confidence should be ushered in to take his place.Sound too much like the-power-of-positive-thinking to you?Before you dismiss it please take the time to consider the dreadful alternative.I’ll let you do that today because I’m weary of my own tendency to believe the alternative rather than the Scripture. We either believe that God is for us or we do not. I have chosen the confidence that my God is for me because, after all, He's my Father.
I remind myself today that God has never let me down.Not only is it a theological impossibility for God to falter, it is my own practical experience that He has truly never failed me.He has denied many of my prayers.He has reversed courses of action which I had invested in.He has closed doors upon which my fists of faith had been bloodied after persistent, determined knocking.He has remained silent when I begged for approval of my plans.He has beckoned me across thresholds which intimidated me.God has pointed to breathless heights and told me that we would scale them.My King has stripped off my pack full of my own resources and wisdom and told me to take nothing with me as I followed Him with little more than a general direction of our course and a pledge of His presence along the way.He has always been active with me, awfully frightening at times, but never failing.My God is great.
And He is your God too.
On this Lord’s Day may He show Himself mighty in one form or fashion to you.May He cause something to “click” inside of you as a missing component finds its place.May those of you who need it be perfectly enlightened to the abundant grace He is pouring out on you.May the song of forgiveness be louder from your lips than the tune of your troubled heart.May what you have been granted in grace capture your attention with its shine and splendor more so than what you have been denied in life.Let the clouds break fully so you will see His smiling face!He has been singing all this day and yet your lack of stillness and silence has caused you to miss much of His ballad.There is much more left so listen to Him sing to you right now!He is our awesome God and I’m so very glad that His love rests upon me this day.If I lay my head down after today’s hours have passed and I can have this same stroking of my heart that I sense right now…then it will have been a beautiful day.
“Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, according as His divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that hath called us to glory and virtue.” - 2 Peter 1:2-3
I enjoy Sundays, most definitely, more than any other day of the week.No other day allows me to experience more fully what it means to be His.Sundays are long days for me, beginning somewhere between 3 and 3:30 am and stretching out at a non-stop pace until somewhere around 8 pm.I absolutely love the thrill of expending myself and concurrently receiving the grace and strength from God to exalt Him in my privileged responsibilities.Each Lord’s Day begins with anticipation of what He has designed for His people at Meadow where I worship and serve.I look searchingly for God within each new face, every greeting from the brethren, in songs of exalted praise, through prayers of humbled hearts and in the preaching of His holy Word.God is always doing something and the great treasure hunt peaks for me each Sunday as we begin a new week.Today is that day.
Peter’s words above remind us of a more objective profit for Sundays as Christians gather together.He mentions twice the payoff of learning God through His Word.Peter speaks of “the knowledge of God” and “the knowledge of Him”.Pearl of all pearls – you can know the Almighty God of the universe!He has come out from the haze of Old Testament types and shadows and presented Himself before our senses in the Person of the Living Word and on the pages of the written Word.God has declared that He will be known and any and all who desire Him shall have their souls at full.Peter even indicates that knowing God is the wellspring from which flow grace and peace; to know God is to increasingly understand His grace.To understand His grace is to become at rest in His peace!Peter is teaching that the profitable result of knowing God is the ability to enjoy tranquility of soul.It is profitable for me to add that the vast majority of humanity is searching for this result yet avoiding at all costs the true cause of it:knowing God.The once-impulsive Apostle also teaches us that everything we need for this life comes to us as we increasingly know God (all that pertains unto life).The meaning of life is not some gimmicky summary statement that can be printed on the cover page insert of the latest Christian best seller.The meaning of life is rooted in the person of Jesus Christ and expands from that central point to encompass everything that one experiences in this walk of faith.The meaning of life is uncontainable and certainly inseparable from the Author of life.Find Him and you find the meaning.Once you find the meaning you also discover that it continues to unfold before you into layer after glorious layer of unanticipated treasure!All that pertains to life comes through the knowledge of God.
Godliness is here seen as not being achieved through exertion and determination but rather through progressive knowledge of God.Knowing God produces godliness because “when we see Him we shall be like Him”.Though the fullest realization of this will come at the end of our journey when our faith finally becomes sight, let nobody fool you into believing that you cannot see Him now.We catch strong glimpses by faith of the One who is altogether lovely.The more we see Him now the more we become like Him.Our glimpses into God produce graces from God towards us.We are beginning to resemble our Father because we are knowing Him more.We know Him more and therefore love Him more, reverence Him more, hunger more for Him; we pursue what we desire and it is impossible to see God and not desire Him more fully.We have tasted and seen that the Lord is good and we crave more of Him.Godliness is brought forth in our lives to the extent that we know Him.It is my personal belief that the only thing that restrains godliness in us is the degree of our hunger for Him.Nothing stops a starving man from feasting when the banquet is open before him!
So today is Sunday and I will grow in my knowledge of God.He is the Master and I am the pupil.I have chosen to report to class at the assigned time, convinced that my Teacher is prepared to enrich and instruct.Others of His students are going to arrive; there will be laughter, reverence, tears, repentance, hope, conviction, grace and immeasurable love.How do I know this?
Because where two or three will gather in His name, He has promised to be in the midst.
“And next to him was Shammah, the son of Agee the Hararite. The Philistines gathered together at Lehi, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils, and the men fled from the Philistines. But he took his stand in the midst of the plot and defended it and struck down the Philistines, and the Lord worked a great victory.” - 2 Samuel 23:11-12 {ESV}
I’m close to concluding a book that made mention of this man named Shammah several chapters prior to the end of the book. I can't get him out of my head. Though I’ve previously known him as one of David’s mighty men, I had never paused to think upon this episode where he defended a bean patch as if it were a goldmine.It would seem that he gained notoriety in part because of this valiant deed wherein a roving band of Philistine warriors made their way into Lehi in order to steal, kill and destroy.While his peers fled the scene in order to avoid the intensity of the battle, Shammah is recorded as having stood his ground alone to deny even a patch of beans to these godless invaders.He had the intense commitment and pulsing valor to defy these marauders ownership of any part of the inheritance of Israel.Shammah belonged to God. So did his beans.
Why this strikes me as significant lies in the fact that we note very few men and women today that will fight with this kind of tenacity.Oh, indeed, Christians are known at times for fighting – but this is an episode where immense commitment is given for seemingly valueless territory.I mean, c'mon, it's just a bean-patch. Yet Shammah stands before us as one who is unwilling to sacrifice even the smallest portion to the enemy.He is the rare believer who sees the need for “what is right” in even the least of things.By the way, are you still defending your bean patch against the enemy?
We fight for the big things, don’t we?Let’s make a stand against abortion, the sanctity of marriage, the exclusivity of the Gospel of Jesus Christ.Let’s send our money and prayers toward Haiti to undergird the rescue of the impoverished.We must lift up our voices against the tyranny of exploitation of the poor and vulnerable.All of these things are incredibly important issues and I am personally involved in all of them to varying degrees.But what about the bean patches?Who will stand and fight for them?Who will look the enemy squarely in the eye and plant a No Trespassing sign into this oft-forgotten area of life?Many among our ranks have abandoned these patches of land and assumed that beans have little value and should not be deemed worth the fight.They turn and run and seek out better plots of land from which to eventually nourish themselves.They are among the anti-bean-counters and have no issues with surrendering this territory to their own private Philistine invasion.
I guess it might not be that big of a deal until one realizes that any territory surrendered to the Enemy is becomes his foothold for the next assault.You see, that bean-patch you quit fighting for becomes his base camp for planning his next invasion of the adjacent acreage of your heart.The Enemy is not necessarily enamored with your beans, but he’ll take it in order to eventually own your gold.
I’m not going to tell you what your personal bean-patch is.You probably already know the little place(s) you’ve quit fighting for.You may also be aware that the surrender of those areas also led to the more severe surrender of something more important in your life.A man surrenders his eyes to pornography and loses his family later on down the road.A woman surrenders her lips and ears to gossip and then the field of her friendships is burnt up by the Enemy.The Christian business person refuses to fight for the beans of integrity in their bookkeeping and eventually loses the entire field of their career when the government calls for an audit. A teenage girl allows some slick talking boy to touch her beans and he eventually brags to his buddies when he has become the first invader to steal her entire field. She'll never get it back. She should have fought like Shammah when that Philistine boy set eyes on the bean-patch. I'm not trying to be cute with this, I'm deadly serious.
You see, your bean patch is important.
May God grant us the spirit of Shammah who fiercely defended a field of lentils.May we remember that he won that fight and likely denied the Philistines other victories that might have followed.May we be wise to remember that the Holy Spirit saw fit to record this short account in Scripture for a reason.Shammah reveals that even the smallest of things are worth fighting for when we look forward in faith.Today’s surrender may become tomorrow’s disaster.Today’s well-defended bean patch might swell to tomorrow’s position as one of our King’s mighty ones.Would Shammah have enjoyed that inestimable privilege of being known as one of David's Mighty Men had he not been willing to battle for the beans? All I know is that he did, indeed, battle.Will you?
We have One greater than Shammah who will fight our invading Enemy. He will empower you to deny the devil, this world, and your flesh as they work in a coordinated assault on the field of your life. Regard each part of your life as highly prioritized. Jesus paid for the entirety of your existence with His blood, therefore we should appraise all that comprises our lives with an extreme value. May our own King create in us a denying spirit that flinches not in the face of an un-entitled invader. This bean-patch belongs to Jesus, thou Philistine! We will fight for it until the death!
"Dear Heavenly Father, forgive us for compartmentalizing our hearts. Forgive us for presuming there are tolerable surrenders. Forgive us for being unwilling to fight when the enemy seeks our beans. Now, Great King, give us another chance in grace to dispel the Enemy from our surrendered bean-patches. We will reclaim the scope of this field if You will but fight through us. We will not flinch again so that we will not flee again. May a thirst for holiness raise our swords. May a love for the King cause us to reclaim our ground. May the smell of lentils be reintroduced into our lives. For the glory of Jesus, Amen."
Just to let you know - I'm still alive and kicking; it's been a non-stop roller coaster ride of meetings and counseling appointments this week so there's been little time to do anything other than those things and engage in study for this week's sermons. I'm off today and will be going in early tomorrow for some study and prayer. Today is my day with Amy and we are going on a Friday afternoon movie and lunch date. I'll take time with her whenever I can get it! Hopefully I'll have some ability to do some blogging next week.
Have a great weekend, and keep your ear open for God to whisper something profound to you.
Isaiah 25:4 – “For you have been a stronghold to the poor, a stronghold to the needy in his distress, a shelter from the storm and a shade from the heat.” {ESV}
Psalm 121:7-8 – “The Lord will keep you from all evil; He will keep your life.The Lord will keep your going out and your coming in from this time forth and forevermore.” {ESV}
Probably the most comforting and assuring aspect of our relationship with God is found in the joy that His faithfulness does not depend on our own.As humans our interactions with people may, more often than not, be conditioned by how they are interacting with us at any given moment.It can often be characterized as something between a dance and a joust.Move – countermove. Action – reaction.Contact – response.We wait to comprehend the climate of what is going on before we decide how to act in certain situations.God is altogether different.His ways are hinged solely to His unchanging character.He is inherently good and therefore He only and always does what is good.He deals with us in a consistency of righteousness that should afford an incredible measure of relief to those who belong to Him.He is not a reactionary who morphs with every failure and foible of His followers.We are able to count on Him and He will not disappoint the sincere follower. I’m so very glad I belong to Him today.
When Isaiah speaks of God above He describes Him as a stronghold, a shelter and a shade.With all that is going on in our world this week we can conclude, at the very least, that planet earth is an incredibly dangerous and unpredictable place.Wars abound.Terrorism lurks.Earthquakes ambush.Devastation appears.We have many contacts in the family of God in Haiti and they literally have no more shelter except the stronghold and shade of an Eternal Father to whom they run in the heat of their impoverished distress.Though our circumstances do not parallel those in Haiti, do we need His shelter any less?Is our heat in life not of such that our strength is being sapped?Is our thin skin being burned under the scorch of circumstance?I know that I long for His refreshing shade daily as this world grows more hostile to the Christian and his purpose.God is that shade.God is that shelter.God is that stronghold.Run to him and you will find many, many others who have learned where to hide.
The Psalmist’s words above are paired with Isaiah’s this morning because I find great solace in the truth that my great God is also my guardian-keeper.He is watching, protecting, and preventing.He is directing, denying and deploying.He never sleeps and knows nothing of slumber.Every time you have called unto Him your voice has found a vigilant God who knew what you needed long before you never asked.God has never been startled nor caught off guard.He has never known the sting of shame for not having discerned what He should have.God never says Oops.This beautiful Lord’s Day I am reminded that I am a kept man.I am owned.I am the property of the Almighty who has heightened His ownership of me to that of being His very child.You and I who have bowed to Christ are cherished by Him today, preserved for Him for tomorrow and completely intact and buckled in for eternity future.We are safe, dear friend.
So I am going to exhale now and prepare for the day ahead.I know it is going to be demanding.I expect that it will also be glorious.
Alicia got a telescope for Christmas. It hasn’t been much use to her yet due to the fact that Dad is unwilling to stand outside in the evening during this ridiculous cold streak that has encompassed Georgia (sorry, Al Gore, but it’s frigid in the South). We tried to get out a couple of days after Christmas but found it more difficult to locate the planets than we anticipated and, after about fifteen minutes, we called it quits. The telescope sat in the back of the van for a few days and now it rests on its tripod in Alicia’s room awaiting more conducive weather. We haven’t touched it in weeks.
Landon, however, had an idea last night that got my attention. Amy relayed the following conversation to me:
“Mom?” cried the little lad.
“Yes, Landon.” replied the Queen.
“I’m going to look for God.” The theologian-in-the-making was announcing his quest for the day.
“Oh, really? How will you find him?"
“I’m going to use the telescope. I think He’s somewhere next to the moon.”
Well....at least he’s looking! I was reminded of how simple and literal the existence of God is to little children. God is to them BIG, and He is so BIG that He must, of course, be living in the great, big, blue sky. Apparently somewhere to the left of our moon. Landon thought it quite reasonable to take out that long-neglected telescope and track down the God that Landon was yet to meet face to face. If it wasn’t so sincere we could leave it in the realm of the merely comical. Yet, to Landon, it was a potential that he felt was worthy of some effort.
Where are you looking for God these days?
I’m going to resist the urge to detail the plethora of means by which we uncover God’s presence. I don’t wish to turn from childlike wonder into clinical dialogue. I just want to provoke you to consider if you have been looking for Him lately. We know that His perfect revelation of Himself comes in Scripture but have you hungered for His still small voice to speak to you beyond a general, all-encompassing revelation? As a dad, I speak to my own children in different personal ways; I don't parent by post-it notes. I speak with them and they speak with me. My precious baby girl needs affirmation, encouragement and joyful jesting. She is happiest when she is exhilarated and laughing. Alicia’s a glutton for fun and ease. Rebukes and correction bruise her deeply and I’m learning that she has a fine-china spirit that must be handled with care. My words with my little girl must be precise, carefully though out before they are spoken. Landon is, most often, the opposite. Frankly, I have to employ strategy in my words with him too, but more often in the sense of strategically planning how to get a word in. He is driven by unseen Lyle DNA which obviously carries with it a gene resulting in incessant speech. He is in the stage where I have to talk loudly with him if I am to talk at all. I am of the suspicion that he has hidden somewhere upon his body a second mouth which runs concurrently with the visible one on his face. The little dude is an incessant communicator. He has a plan, believe me, and he will quickly assume that you will love his plan, perform his plan, and rejoice in his plan because - after all - it is HIS plan. I love my children to the uttermost and I love to speak with them. Whether finely precisioned words with Alicia or thunder-talk with little L. father and children were meant to dialogue.
God feels the same about you. He’s speaking; sometimes delicately, taking care not to wound your fine-china conscience. He often takes His time, depositing only one important word into your heart which can captivate you for a day. He might be saying Forgiveness today. Tomorrow it might be Joy, followed by Others, Peace, Repentance, and ending with Acceptance. He’s willing to be quiet all day after leaving you with one word that He wants to use to anchor you for twenty-four hours. Other days He is compelled to talk over you because you, like Landon, have fallen in love with your own plan. You’re busy, engaged, and actively living out the pedal-to-the-metal life that has found you. You can’t hear Him whisper anymore so He has commenced to speaking loudly to you through events and people in your life. Ah! There it is! You just heard Him, He’s been punctuating this thought to you and you just picked up on it: Slow down, child! Take out your neglected “spiritual telescope” and look for Me! I’m the One smiling at you in deep, indescribable love!
I love these days when my children are instructing their father. Amazingly, they are not even trying. They are just being children in whom their father delights. It’s easy for me to love them no matter what the day finds occupying them. Why do I love them? How do I love them? As parents we find those questions silly. The real question is ‘How could I not love them?’
God whispers at times and roars to us at others, “How could I not love you?’
“Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, the son of a valiant man of Kabzeel, who had done many acts; he slew two lionlike men of Moab: also he went down and slew a lion in a pit in a snowy day.And he slew an Egyptian, a man of great stature, five cubits high; and in the Egyptian's hand was a spear like a weaver's beam; and he went down to him with a staff, and plucked the spear out of the Egyptian's hand, and slew him with his own spear.These things did Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and had the name among the three mighties.”1 Chronicles 11:22 - 24
This short biographical account has always seemed to be peculiar to me.Benaiah (hereafter called Ben so I don’t have to type his vowel-laden name) was one of the mighty men of David who aligned himself to the great king during dark hours in David’s life.Ben is characterized as a first class tough-guy with a sense of honor.In these three verses alone he kills three men that seemingly outmatched him.Additionally, we are told that he had done many other acts of courage.King David must have been grateful to have a steely-spined fellow like Ben on his side.Every leader needs a holy henchman in his corner.
What I’ve always been curious about, however, is the reference to his killing of a lion in a pit on a snowy day.I like the cadence of those words in the KJV; they seem to roll off the tongue and set a rhythm that ends too quickly.Nobody’s looking, so go ahead and say it out loud a few times: a-lion-in-a-pit-on-a-snowy-day, a-lion-in-a-pit-on-a-snowy-day, a-lion-in-a-pit-on-a-snowy-day.I don’t know, maybe it’s just me but I like the vibe of that phrase.More importantly for us would be to garner what we might learn from it.God the Spirit inspired the human chronicler to write it so it must have significance.No further explanation is given so perhaps God has deposited it in the text for the purpose of later making individual application to anyone who is hungry enough to ask Him what He wants them to learn.Here’s what I gather from this portion of the account of Bruising Ben’s heroic deeds.
You don’t always get to pick your opponent –“…a lion…”If I’m going to get into a fight I prefer my enemy to be weaker than me.I’m a short man and haven’t gotten into a good fight in almost twenty years.Back in the day, I was one of those short guys that got into plenty of fights, maybe in hopes that nobody noticed I was small.I may have been small but I wasn’t stupid; I fought guys I knew I could beat.If I had to fight a man bigger than me I made sure he was slow.I would use my speed to get an advantage and, if I couldn’t get the advantage, I used my speed to run away like a schoolgirl.I chose my enemies wisely back then.Ben?He had to fight a lion.Lions eat people.Before they eat people they terrify them in a display of sound and fury.Nobody wants to fight a lion.Ben seemed to think it was necessary and went up against an opponent that outranked him.Maybe he thought, “If King David did killed a lion as a teenager, surely God can give me victory as a mighty man.”
He wasn’t afraid of a fight, nor should we be –“He went down…”Sometimes a fight is inevitable.Sometimes the enemy shows up, won’t leave, and forces you to get your hands dirty.There is a time to flee from certain things but, occasionally, God leaves no doubt that it is a time to war.Ben was on high but had to come down to face this unyielding enemy who roared and bared its teeth at him.
The timing of the battle wasn’t conducive to victory –“…on a snowy day…”I don't care much for snow.It’s pretty to look at but I don’t like getting in it.It seems to bite through your shoes, socks, gloves, coat, hat and skin.Snow comes in and takes over.Feel like standing upright?Snow says, “Go ahead and try, I dare ya!”Snow changes everything, slows everything down.It looks pretty but it takes your advantage away.Especially if your name is Ben and you happen to fighting a lion.If I’m going to fight a lion I want it to be from a position of strength.Ben needed every human advantage possible and sure footing would have been high on the list.Apparently he didn’t get a vote.The terrifying teeth of a lion against the gentle backdrop of driven snow – kind of ironic, huh?
Finally we see that some battles won’t turn you loose until you win – “…in a pit…”A snow filled pit occupied by a lion.Ben has to hop into the pit and he only gets out when he slays the lion.Think about the moment when Ben makes the decision to get in and commence to becoming victorious lest he become vittles.There was a moment when he understood that there was turning back.When you jump into a pit with a lion, unless your name is Daniel, somebody is going to die: either you or the beast.Ben got in, got down to business, and got out.
That’s why we’re talking about him 3,000 years later.
Friend, God has appointed some battles for you.You have been granted your own personal lion and his roar remains intimidating.God didn’t even bother asking for your input before giving the lion permission to show its teeth.He has also ordained some snow for you that removes the advantage you crave – the sure footing beneath you that you once took for granted until it left you.And now look at what God has done: He’s enclosed you on every side and made the lion and you look each other in the eye.The lion was made to growl.You were made to pray.You were also made to fight.The lion in the pit on the snowy day is clearly a challenge above your pay-grade.But God has promised you something that we fail to retain when the roar of life’s enemy has shattered our spiritual ear drum.God has said that He will accompany you in the fight.He will deal the death blow.You go down to the battle because it needs to be fought.God delivers the might and power because it needs to be WON.Don’t fret today for our King is a lion killer.Interestingly, the name Ben in Hebrew means son.I am subtly reminded that the Son kills the roaring lion.So there was something for me to learn in this obscure passage after all.Thanks, Ben.Thanks, God.Thanks, Lord Jesus.
Proverbs 3:25-26 – “Do not be afraid of sudden terror or of the ruin of the wicked, when it comes, for the Lord will be your confidence and will keep your foot from being caught.” {ESV}
After too long of a delay we finally have my mother in law's blog up and running. For about a year or so I've been encouraging Deborah to consider the possibility of us creating a blog for her to feed us as God feeds her. It was pretty much a selfish move on my part because I love her insights and wisdom. I also recognized how many people she could reach if they knew where they could access her ministry in an age of electronic communication. In Deborah (we call her Mama -pronounced Maw-Maw) I'm a man blessed with an incredible lady who is my wife's best friend, and my children's hero. She served for many years as the ladies teacher at Northside Baptist and was mightily used of God in so many lives. Before battling some recurring health issues she served at Grace Church in mentoring and discipleship. She still attends there as often as her health allows. I'm so glad for her influence, prayers, and investment into the life of me and my family. She's super-duper!
I want to encourage all who follow the TT blog to also begin to read Deborah's blog Sisters, you will want to avail yourself of her female perspective but please know that she doesn't mess around with bubble-gum banter. She's serves you up a healthy meal to digest, potatoes and all. Brothers, please drop any chauvinistic guard you might have and join me in benefiting from Deborah's insights. You won't regret it!
“Let Your work be shown to your servants, and Your glorious power to their children.Let the favor of the Lord our God be upon us, and establish the work of our hands upon us; yes, establish the work of our hands!” – Psalm 90:16-17 {ESV}
This Psalm is a good one for a new year.The Psalmist is reflective from the opening verse as he seems to focus on how time rushes in and then vanishes away.I still consider myself relatively young but I am convinced that the years seem to pass much more quickly with every turn of the calendar page.Is it any wonder that the Psalmist prayed that God would teach us to number our days so that we can diligently live in God’s wisdom (vs. 12)?It seems that the more years we accumulate on earth, the better is our comprehension of the concept of opportunity.Opportunity is great as long as it is before you.Once it passes without our faithfulness being enacted, it leaves us in the exhaust fumes of regret.I’m determined not allow that to become a characteristic of my life.
The Psalmist (Moses) closes the song with a request for God to establish him/them in the work they had been given by God to achieve.There was no presumption in Moses’ heart that he could do the work simply because it had been designated to him.He asked God for the work to be made obviously manifest and for it to endure to successive generations.Moses saw that he was graced to hold the torch but not to keep it.He desired the flame to be burn as hot and bright as possible while he owned it; he wanted God’s designed activity to be glorious in his own generation.His thoughts seemed also to rest on those coming behind him.No haughtiness in Moses’ heart would be found able to make him believe that the work of God would die with him.He knew that there was a Joshua eagerly waiting in the expanse of Moses’ shadow.He wanted God’s hand to rest upon the work that He had bequeathed unto Israel.Moses believed in Joshua, but He only did so as much as He believed in God’s ability to beautify the work that Moses would pass to Joshua.In the arena of God’s work among man . . . God Himself is the only essential.Everything else and everyone else changes from generation to generation.
Have you boldly sought the beautifying, establishing power of God upon your life’s work?Whether it is typically considered “ministry work” or something as routine as being a stay-at-home mom, has it occurred to you that only God can make it lastingly profitable?I long for His hand to rest upon me but I know it will only do so to the degree that His face shines upon me.Seeking His face and His hand are not the same thing – I’ve learned this more than once the hard way.I want God’s power but I want His presence more.His presence – though ever so still – yields the fruit of assurance in a world that offers none of its own.May He create in each of us a strong and relentless desire for Him.Once He gives this to you, may you cultivate it to the point where no other offer will have appeal.Sin will lose its neon.People will be appreciated but not idolized.Trouble will be embraced through faith when it refuses to depart.How can we tremble at trouble when The Omnipotent One is standing at our side?May His choosing be that you would be established in your life work.May you know today exactly what that life work is.May He find you smiling when the awareness finds you.
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