January 13

Genesis 14 Remember the bumper sticker, “He who dies with the most toys wins?” What an appropriate saying to be found in the USA! How we value things and use people! That pagan attitude is deeply ingrained in the American culture. The LORD was patiently taking Abram through experiences to teach him that the LORD is Possessor of heaven and earth. When you have Him, you have all you need or desire. Formerly, Abram had feared the king of Egypt to the extent that he put his wife in jeopardy because of his fear. The LORD delivered him, even from the king of Egypt. Abram was learning reality that the LORD is the God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth. He learned in the Egypt incident that the LORD would protect him even from kings. He let Lot go. He no longer needed the safety of a few more fighting men--a necessary thing in a day when there were no police forces to protect and to serve. Lot and his family were carried off as plunder of war when four kings of Mesopotamia fought five kings of Canaan. But Abram had learned that the LORD is the God Most High, the Possessor of heaven and earth. In a surprise military accomplishment, Abram took his force of 316 servants and attacked the forces of the 4 kings and defeated them. He learned that since God is Most High and Possessor of all things that He could accomplish the impossible through him. As a result, he gave a tithe of all and returned the goods to the 5 Canaanite kings. Would your rather have the Possessor of heaven and earth or just heaven and earth? Jesus is the LORD. That is why Jesus says, "Abraham rejoiced to see my day." This is the glory of Jesus. He is God Most High, Possessor of heaven and earth. He takes us through experiences where He strips us of dependence upon other things so that we can see those things do not satisfy. He teaches us that He alone satisfies. It is a lifelong learning, but worth every bit of it. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John * Nehemiah 2 I remember watching an episode of MASH where Hawkeye was sitting on his bunk looking at his hand and then began discoursing on the marvels of the human hand. I remember very few things about MASH, but for some reason that little soliloquy has stuck in my mind. Have you ever thought about the wonders of the hand? As I type, I am arthritis free and injury free. My fingers fly over the keyboard without me really even thinking about where the fingers should go. I just think the words, and my fingers seem to go there. There is no hunting and pecking. They just go. It is natural for my hand upon the key board. How does that happen? Does it not make you marvel? Is it natural for the “hand of God” to be upon us? Apparently it is not natural. Why? Even Nehemiah seems to think it important to twice say, “the good hand” of my God was upon me. Does God have a bad hand? Obviously this is a figure of speech. But none-the-less figuratively speaking, does God ever have a bad hand upon us? If a human hand is a thing to marvel about, and it is, then how much more should be the hand of God a thing about which we should marvel? And in light of our sin, how much more should we marvel at His good hand upon us. One thing is clear from this passage, when we are in line with the purposes of God, we can expect “the good hand” of our God to be upon us. What does it look like? I don’t know, but for Nehemiah it looked like the favor of the king when he did something very dangerous. He allowed himself to look sad in the presence of the king. It meant that the king granted his request to give a decree to rebuild the wall of Jerusalem (a prophecy of Daniel 9). It meant a perilous journey to Jerusalem. It meant an undercover tour at dark of the walls of Jerusalem. It meant talking the residents of Jerusalem into a dangerous act. It meant opposition from the non-Jews in Judea. But God’s good hand upon Nehemiah made his fingers fly to the task. It started the building of the walls and the countdown to the cutting off of the Messiah, the cross. Isn’t God’s hand good? Because Jesus went to the cross, we live! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * Psalm 13 I have a friend who recently felt like he was cheated out of $15.00 in an undisclosed set up fee from someone else who is also a friend of mine. He called the one up and complained. Whether he meant to or not, he came across as “yelling and screaming” on the phone. It all escalated. Both friends are currently in difficult situations. Both felt unjustly used by the other. I told the one friend that he was within his rights to complain about the $15.00 dollars, but the manner in which he did it was wrong, and he owed the other an apology. You can imagine how that went. He is obsessed with his rights and the $15.00. He is convinced that he did not yell and scream at the other. Yet I cannot understand how the other friend can be so upset if he did not in some fashion raise his voice. Anyway it is a big enough deal between them both that they are emotionally stressed out over $15.00. What’s going on here? What is going on here in Psalm 13? On the one hand, the Psalmist seems to be in the depths of despair. The enemy seems to have surrounded him. He has daily sorrow. He is genuinely afraid of dying. On the other hand, he concludes, “The Lord has dealt bountifully with me.” What made the difference? Three statements separate the two outlooks. The first statement is that he will trust in the mercy of the Lord. The word that is here translated as ‘mercy’ refers to the abundant loving kindnesses of God’s eternal nature. It may also have reference to the covenant relationship with Yahweh. As David looks at his situation, he makes the choice to take his focus off of his situation and put it on the eternal character of God. He knows how God is, and he is willing to wait upon the appearance of those loving kindnesses. The second statement is that he will rejoice in the Lord’s salvation. He makes a willful choice to rejoice. He is on the verge of dying and he makes a choice to rejoice! May his tribe ever increase! How I need to learn to rejoice in the midst of dramatic struggle, especially facing death. The third statement is that he will sing to the Lord. Nothing lifts the spirit like singing to the Lord. Remember the Dallas Holms song? When you’re up against a struggle that shatters all your dreams, And your hopes are cruelly crushed by Satan’s manifested schemes, And you feel the urge within you to submit to earthly fears, Don’t let the faith you’re standing in, seem to disappear. Praise the Lord! He can work through those who praise Him. Praise the Lord! Our God inhabits praises. Praise the Lord! The chains that seek to bind you, Serve only to remind you they fall powerless behind you when you praise Him! That is the glory of our Lord! Our measly $15.00, $15,000.00, $15,000,000.00, $15,000,000,000.00 or even $15,000,000,000,000.00 is nothing compared to His glory! We can let it go. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * Matthew 9:18-38 His mission was urgent as he pressed through the crowd to beg Jesus a favor. His daughter had just died. But He was convinced that if Jesus would come immediately and lay His hand on her, that she would live. Funny, the heathen centurion believed that if Jesus just spoke the word his servant would be healed, but this son of Israel needed Jesus to come physically. He found Jesus seated or reclining. Was Jesus teaching or eating or just resting? Whatever it was, He arose immediately and followed the man. It was urgent to the father. If it was your little girl, you would be pressing Him too. The crowds were constantly following Jesus. It reminds me of an AMWAY meeting that I went to once at a fancy hotel. The representative there was a man who had made millions, part of it selling AMWAY. After the meeting everybody was crowding around him wanting to talk to him has he made his way to his Rolls Royce with leather interior. It was hard to walk through the crowd to get out of there. So in a similar way in my mind, I see Jesus pressing through the crowd of admirers. The father, I am sure, was frustrated with everyone pressing in, slowing their progress. Then a woman who had had an unstoppable flow of blood for 12 years saw her opportunity to be healed. "If I can just touch his garment," she thought, "I'll be healed." Instantly she was healed. Instantly Jesus stopped to encourage her. Do you suppose the father was annoyed by the delay? They didn't stay long but went on to the house. Jesus raised the girl. Jesus said she was not dead but sleeping. I guess He meant that she was in a deep coma, so that she appeared dead to everyone else. Whatever her problem, Jesus healed her instantly. Jesus left there and healed some blind men. Then He healed a mute man. Then He began to make the circuit of towns and villages. He was teaching in the synagogues, preaching the Gospel of the kingdom and healing every sickness and every disease among the people. When Jesus saw the multitudes, He was moved with compassion for them, because they were weary and scattered like sheep having no shepherd. Do you ever feel weary and scattered? This same Jesus who had compassion upon the multitudes has it for you. It is part of His glory. He is the same yesterday, today and forever. His compassion for you and the multitudes is still as great now as it was then. Then why doesn't this Lord of glory just bring an end to all the suffering? I don't have any wise answers, but I know a few pertinent principles. As He told the blind men, everyone He healed, He healed according to their faith. The Father of the girl had to have Jesus' physical presence. The woman with the flow of blood had to touch His robe. The blind men had to call out. The mute man had to be brought by his friends. The centurion had to ask for Jesus to speak the word. He ties His glory to our faith. The greatest need of the multitude is not healing or food. The greatest need of the multitude is to find the Shepherd, to see His glory. He calls us to exercise our faith beyond healing and food. He calls us pray to the Lord to send laborers into His harvest to declare His glory, to bring the multitudes to Jesus. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John