March 1

EXODUS 12:21-51 They had to pick out a lamb. Four days before they killed it, they had to pick out a lamb to observe it. They needed to observe it for any flaws. The lamb had to be perfect. The lamb might have lived with them. They must have had a close relationship with it. Ever watched any You Tubes of lambs? They are really cute — fluffy wool, dark eyes, ears sticking straight out from their heads, playfully spastic as they jump around. Four days is long enough to become emotionally attached to the cute little thing. Then they had to slay it at twilight before the night and day began. Even in a culture where the slaying of an animal was somewhat routine, it must have hurt. Jesus arrived in Jerusalem on the 10th of Nissan, the day everyone was to pick out a lamb. He presented Himself as king by riding in royal procession upon donkey according to the prophetic utterance of Zechariah 9:9. Multitudes loved Him. Multitudes hated Him. The leadership had determined that He must die to save the nation. Rejected as King, they chose Him as the sacrificial Lamb. Jesus died at three in the afternoon on the Day of Preparation, just at the time when the priests were beginning to slay the Paschal lambs. By sunset His body had been placed in a tomb. The Galileans reckoned their days differently than did Judeans. So, Jesus could genuinely enjoy the Galilean Passover on the evening before He died. By this time in history, the Jews had been celebrating Passover for about 1,470 years. As He broke the unleavened bread (unleavened spoke of sinlessness), He said, “This is My body broken for you.” Every Seder (Passover meal) has four ceremonial times when everyone sips from a cup of wine. The third time is called the cup of redemption. As Jesus led them in the Seder, He lifted up the cup of redemption and said, “This cup is the New Covenant in My blood. Do this as often as you drink it in remembrance of Me.” The next day at the very time that the Judeans were slaying the Passover Lambs, His blood was flowing down the cross to the ground. He gave up the ghost and died. For 3½ millennia Jewish people have celebrated Passover. I know of no other ritual that has endured for so long. Why has it endured? It has endured because it speaks of the glory of God in how He has and He will deliver His people from their sin. The Passover shouts at us that the seed of the woman has crushed the head of the serpent, that the seed of Abraham blesses all the families of the earth, that the servant of the Lord was smitten by God, afflicted for our transgressions and bruised for our iniquities, that the Lion of the Tribe of Judah has become a lamb to take away the sin of the world, that the Son of David has taken up his scepter to reign, that the Old Covenant which was written on stone tablets is being replaced by a New Covenant which is being written in our hearts. We must pick out a lamb. Will it be the perfect, sinless Lamb of God who was slain on our behalf? Or will it be another one of our own making or choosing? The ones of our own choosing are inherently flawed. He is the only perfect One. To choose another is to invite the wrath of the Lamb. To choose Him is to invite His unmerited love. Now that is Glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 30 We watched him digging through the apartment complex trash. He was looking for plastic bottles. He was homeless. In America the homeless often look for aluminum cans to sell for a little bit of money. In Mongolia the homeless often look for plastic bottles. There are very few aluminum cans. They can get about one tenth of a penny for a plastic bottle. So if they collect one thousand bottles, they can get almost $1.00. We turned around and went upstairs to our apartment. We collected all of our plastic bottles, caught up with the man and gave him the bottles. At first we encountered only his disdain. He kept angrily jabbering something at us. He did repeat one word a lot that sounded like, “Ruski.” We took it to mean that he thought that we were Russians. He apparently did not like Russians. We pointed at ourselves and said, “Americans!” Immediately his demeanor changed, and he jabbered something in a more friendly tone. Yesterday, we saw how Job remembered and longed for the days when the good pleasure of God was felt by Job in his family, friends and good things found in this world. We observed how that is a dangerous place to be because we can transfer our attention from His great glory to the things in His hands, which he gives to us. In contrast to yesterday’s passage in today’s passage, Job moves on to his present condition. Now his fortunes have reversed. The most despised of society despise him. He who thought that He was experiencing something of the glory of God is now being ridiculed by the lowest dregs of society. I have never had to experience that. The closest that I have come to it was when the homeless man was ranting against us because he thought we were Russians. I really did not feel the emotional impact of that because I am not a Russian. So where is the glory of God in this for Job? Indeed, Job is reduced to crying out, “You have become cruel to me; with the strength of Your hand, You oppose me.” Job could not peek beyond the curtain into eternity. If he could, he would have realized that he was playing a pivotal role in a divine drama that was designed to shame Satan and exalt the Lord. We too are playing pivotal roles in a divine drama that is designed to shame those who will not bow to the Lord and exalt the matchless grace of our Lord Jesus Christ. We must remember this, “This world is temporary. We will one day walk behind the curtain into the eternal realm. When we do, the confusion of this world will disappear.” His glory will be all that is important. So to live successfully now, we must remember to fix our eyes on His glory, not the rancid accusations of the citizens of this temporal world. Their accusations matter not because we are not citizens of this world. We are citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven. Our appearance right now may not live up to that, but one day it will! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 60 We entered into Portland in the late afternoon. A rain storm was breaking up and a rainbow appeared to stretch out over the city. It was like a promise from God that He would be with us during our stay there. Later, the Lord gave Laura this promise from verse 12, “Through God we will do valiantly, For it is He who shall tread down our enemies.” Indeed, He was with us through unemployment, financial lack, sleep deprivation, personal injury, and even death. When I graduated from seminary (the very reason we had moved to Portland), Laura presented me with a framed water painting (which she had done) of a shepherd holding his hands up in praise to the Lord. The caption read, “Through God we will do valiantly.” The fact that God really does that is not just a neat idea in His Holy book for me. It is an experience. I have been there. So has David. This Psalm instructs us to actively rejoice in the provision of God. It recognizes that we will lose some battles. (Lord you have cast us off!) But when we look at the whole, the victory is ours because ultimately He wins the war. That is our God! We are victorious because He cast off His own Son on the cross so that we might become victorious. To the disciples it looked as though they had lost the battle, but in that loss, they won the war. We must actively rejoice in the cross for only through the cross do we experience His victory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John * * Mark 7:24-37 Something in me likes tunnels. On the way through the Smokies on I-40, there are a couple of tunnels. It is amazing to me to think, "Wow, I am inside a mountain. Somebody dug all this rock out so that people like me could drive through the inside of this mountain." Why I like it, I don't know. I mean, there is nothing to see in a tunnel, just walls and lights. There is just something cool about driving through the inside of a mountain or driving under the bay on I-95 in Baltimore. There is just something cool about driving in a tunnel knowing that you are far underneath the ground and that this is the closest way to get from one point to another. But there is nothing to see in the tunnel, just car lanes, round walls and lights. It is where we get the term tunnel vision. The people around Jesus suffered from tunnel vision. Their tunnel vision caused them to exclude the Gentiles. Jesus designed an excursion to show them their tunnel vision. He purposefully entered the region of Tyre and Sidon, a Gentile region. He was approached by a Gentile woman who pleaded with Him to deliver her daughter. He almost seemed cruel toward her. He ignored her at first and then, when she persisted, He implied that her daughter was a little dog. What kind of glory is that? It is not glory when you have tunnel vision. But our Lord does not have tunnel vision! He sees the big picture. However, His first coming had specific objectives in mind that He saw and His disciples did not. With those objectives fulfilled, He could redeem mankind. Oh the disciples thought they saw them, but they did not. This action was for His disciples. He sought to break them out of their tunnel vision. Matthew's version tells us that the disciples were annoyed by her. But Jesus wasn't annoyed. After delivering this woman's daughter, He left the region. It is again reminiscent of the Gadarean demoniac. He traveled all this way in order to reach just one person, a non-Jew at that. Jesus had told her (as recorded in Matthew), "I was not sent except to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." That was one of the objectives of the first coming. But the disciples were tunnel visioned. They only saw the people of Israel. Even after the resurrection, it took a persecution to drive them out of the country. And then it took the dramatic vision of Peter and the conversion of Paul to reach out of the Jewish communities outside of the country. His apparent rudeness was for dramatic effect--upon the disciples. It was to break the curved walls and lanes of their tunnel vision. The woman persisted. She even permitted herself to be compared to a little dog under the family table to receive crumbs that accidentally fall off of the table. You see healing is for the family of God. The disciples tunnel vision was that only the descendants of Abraham could be part of the family. Yes Jesus was sent to the lost house of Israel. But ultimately the big picture was for people of all ethnic groups to eventually sit at the table of the Family of God. He gave her the children's bread. He healed her daughter. She became part of the family. Jesus was breaking the disciple's tunnel vision. He left the northwest in the Gentile region of Tyre and Sidon and went back south east to the Gentile region of the Decapolis. Do you remember the Gadarean demoniac? This is the region. Jesus had left the former demoniac behind to tell what great things the Lord had done for him. The former demoniac did his job. The multitudes came. Jesus is ministering to Gentiles!!! The tunnel is collapsing. Thank God, for I am a Gentile by physical birth but grafted into the family of God spiritually! When we finally gather around the throne of Glory, there will be people from every tribe and tongue and nation there worshipping Him, the King of glory. The variety of people found in that multitude will be rich indeed. We won't be limited to our little way of doing things. His glory will be enriched by the variety of ethnic groups present at the throne. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 28

EXODUS 11:1-12:20 On the one hand, it seems so vicious. Yet on the other hand, God Himself describes it as “displaying His wonders.” I mean, really, the killing of probably thousands, or tens of thousands or perhaps even hundreds of thousands of Egyptian-first-born males sounds vicious. Could not the Almighty do it some other way? Why did he choose this act? Maybe He chose this act for several reasons such as the Egyptian god being judged, the meaning and value of physical death versus spiritual death, and God’s own sacrifice to meet our need. On previous days we saw that God killed the Egyptian gods with the judgment of each plague. There was one last god to slay. It was the god of self-worship. In the Egyptian pantheon of gods, Pharaoh was considered to be a god. As the head of the country, he was deified as the hope of all the people to obtain eternal life. Thus we have the elaborate burials to assist the dead Pharaoh in his journey in the afterlife. Normally the succeeding Pharaoh was the firstborn male. The first born male was the one of preeminence. In a sense the elevation of Pharaoh to the status of god was by extension a form of selfworship. It is a message that rings through all eternity that there is one thing God will not tolerate. It is the worship of ourselves over Him. It shouts at us through the judgment of the death of the firstborn! Every time that I elevate myself above God, I should remember this plague and beware! Another reason that he chose this act is that from His perspective our physical death is not as nearly critical as spiritual/eternal death. Many of those Egyptian first born were probably not at an age where they could understand the choice that God was asking of them, much less make a good moral choice. They were under the age of what we might call the age of accountability. If they were to continue to grow up in that culture, they would probably be confirmed in the pagan worship of the Egyptian Pantheon. They would never trust in Yahweh. They would eventually die in their spiritual death. Their spiritual death would then become permanent. For those children, their physical death before reaching the age of accountability would be a literal blessing. Sure, their physical life would be cut short, but they would spend eternity with the living God. Finally, the Almighty chose this symbol because it represents His own sacrifice on our behalf that we might be rescued from eternal death. He planned the symbol before He created the world, Paul says in 1 Cor. 2:7, “But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory,” and, in 2 Tim 1:9, “Who has saved us and called us with a holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace which was given to us in Christ Jesus before time began.” Before time began He determined that God the Son, the firstborn, would become flesh and die in our place. His holiness demands the death of sin. His mercy demands that He die in our place. Now, that is a wonder! The firstborn male of every household would die. There was only one remedy. Only if a perfect and innocent lamb was slain, and his blood applied to the door of the house, only then would the firstborn be saved. When the blood was applied, the death angel would see it and pass over the household. The Lord had more than this one incident in mind. He was broadcasting for every generation for the next 1,450 years what He was planning to do for the human race. He would supply the Lamb whose death would be accepted for all who would come “under” the blood of the Lamb. We, who had made our own lives gods instead of submitting to the true God, would have opportunity to receive pardon and life! What a picture! What grace! What wonder! What Glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 29 I open the refrigerator door looking for a snack. Almost instantly I have two pairs of dark brown eyes are fixed upon my every move. My dogs know that if I am not seated at the table and that if I have food in my hand, then they might get something tasty to eat. I have their undivided attention as long as I have some food in my hand. They are in ecstasy as I give them the tasty morsels that I have retrieved from the fridge! There is a season and a time for everything in experiencing the glory of God. There are times when it seems the good pleasure of God invades everything that we do. Job remembers those times in this chapter. He longs for them again. He remembers the joy of being with his family. He remembers the time when his livestock were abundant. Or we might say today, when the bank account was overflowing and it seemed that we could not be overdrawn. There were times when he was among the movers and shakers of this world. He called the shots. He remembered times when God gave him the ability to do good to those who needed help. He drank in the feeling of self-satisfaction because he was valuable to other people. He remembered a time when his advice was sought out because he was ‘successful’. Surely, a ‘successful’ person could give wise counsel. What a feeling that gives to know that you possess the wisdom that helps other people, if they do it. It must have been awfully satisfying to Job. But what happens when we begin to believe that somehow we are the ones responsible for the good things that are happening around us? It diminishes the glory of God around us for we begin to take the credit. It is indeed a wondrous season. It is a season full of joy, but it is the season when we are in the most danger for God will move us from that season in order to teach us the source of those good things. He does so to teach us to seek Him and not the things in His hand. His glory is found beyond the good things in His hand. When He disposes of the things in His hand, will we remain fixed upon His glory? That is what is happening to Job. As he remembers the past, he longs for those things that he also experienced that came as he experienced the good things from God’s hand. Lord, thank you for the good things that I find in Your hand, but help me to look beyond them in order to gaze into the glory of Your eyes. May your glory be that by which I gain my ecstasy! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 59 We saw him come around the corner. We were in the fourth grade and he was in the fifth. His name was Charles. He was big for a fifth grader. We were small for fourth graders. Additionally, he was known as a bully, and he had threatened us in the past. He had the cut out lid of one-gallon-tin can in hand. We turned and ran the other direction. He let the lid fly like a Frisbee. I heard it whiz past my ear, and saw it land in front of me. “Whew! That was close!” My feet were churning as fast as they could go! “I’ll get you yet, Chaffin!” He did not bother to pursue us. To this day I really don’t know why he had it in for me. He probably enjoyed the power of making kids smaller than him fear. My friend told everybody in school the next day of our experience. Not much later we were playing on a rope swing. My hands inexplicably could not hang on to the rope. I face planted in the gravel road—scraped a lot of skin off of my face. The next day when I walked into class, several people simultaneously asked, “What happened, Chaffin; did Charles get you?” I guess that is the closest I have ever been to someone pursuing me to take my life. So, I really can’t relate to David. I have had people who have hated me without a cause and tried to take my job, but never my life. It seems to me that to hate one so much so as to try to kill him would be the ultimate threat. If I know how to respond in that situation, then I know how to respond in any situation. What did David do in that situation? He focused on the glory of the Lord. He focused on the strength, defense and mercy that the Lord brings to those who trust in Him. When one focuses on such glory for very long, it usually can only result in breaking out in song. His glory is too wonderful! It must be sung! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John * * Mark 7:1-23 We'd just had a great rainstorm and the water was running down the street in front of our house. It was just too tempting not to play in. Yes, I gave in to the temptation. Soon the run off was gone. I needed more water. Well, Hey! We had a garden hose. I was experimenting in making mighty dams to create lakes to build great hydro-electric power plants. It was great fun. Well it just so happened that when I was done that I wasn't what you might call, clean. I was literally covered from head to foot with mud. I honestly considered washing my clothes myself before she found out, but I wasn't sure of how to operate the washing machine. So I washed myself off with the garden hose, then went inside and took a bath and then presented my clothes to the dirty clothes pile. My poor Mom! I was kind of expecting to be lectured. But I don't remember receiving one. Being the last of 5 children, 4 boys, maybe she had given up on keeping us clean from ourselves. Or maybe I was hopeless. Or maybe, she knew the nature of a boy and chose in this case to forgive me. If I were to ask her now, she probably wouldn't remember this particular incident, because the incidents were probably too numerous for just one to stand out. What about our Lord? Our filthiness is beyond description before a holy God. Yes, He lets us know about our sin. But when there is recognition before Him that we are in a sinful state, He cleanses us. What causes the Lord the most pain is when we have the audacity to think that we can clean ourselves. Then the stench is just too great. We tend to think that by doing certain things that the Lord will love us more, that we will be cleaner. I wonder, if I was able to do what it takes to make Cape Fear Alliance Church a church of a thousand people, would He love me any more than He does right now? I wonder, if I did what it takes to make Cape Fear Alliance Church a church of a thousand people and told other pastors, "If you do what I did, your church will grow too," would God love me more than He does now? The glory of Christ is not that we clean up our act. The glory of Christ is that He cleans us from the inside out. The result is that acts seen on the outside spring up from His work on the inside. Our tendency is that we perform the acts outwardly in order to deceive people and ourselves. The truth is only He can clean the inside. Only He knows how to operate the spiritual washing machine for our hearts. Even more He loves to do it, if we will come to Him with heart in hand extended before Him saying, "Purify my heart." Oh Lord, do it again. I love You. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 27

EXODUS 10 Up to this point Pharaoh has hardened his own heart at times. But now the Lord is going to harden it for him in order to produce acts that will reveal to people for all times that He is Lord. The Lord has three more gods to slay. Three more judgment events were coming in order to display that He is truly the only God. The Egyptians trusted in the goddess Isis to protect them from Locusts. Every 17 years there is a locust plague in the area anyway. It was to Isis that they cried out for protection. The locusts came anyway. In this instance it was more severe than they had ever known. They ate all green vegetation. And when Pharaoh asked for relief, God sent a strong wind that blew them all into the Red Sea. Once again after the relief came the Lord hardened the heart of Pharaoh. This time the Lord slew the Egyptian sun gods. They had a number of sun gods which they worshipped. Among them were Re, Khepri, Harakhte, Attum, etc. This definitely displayed the greatness of the Lord over their gods. The darkness was so strong that they could feel it. But again the Lord made a distinction. In the houses of the children of Israel, there was light. Have we experienced the Lord yet? Is His glory increasing? What gods is He slaying in my life? What gods is He slaying in the lives of those around me? Is my heart soft enough so that I will recognize His glory? Is yours? Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 28 Today I am in Cambodia. Cambodia is a good place to purchase precious stones. The central market is just a few blocks from here. I can walk there in 5-10 minutes. There are many precious stone dealers in the central market. They are a good value here. I am not sure why. I am not one who buys and sells in precious stones. But my son likes to make jewelry, so he asked me to purchase a few for him while I am here. It will be costly, but in the long run it will be profitable. You know, I played in the dirt a lot growing up in Oklahoma, but I never found a precious stone in the dirt. To find precious stones, one must dig in special hard-to-reach places. It is costly, but if one finds them it pays great reward. Finding wisdom is like that. It can be very costly and difficult, but if one finds it, it pays great reward. Job says the fear of the Lord is wisdom. Hmmm. . . I wonder what it cost Job to find the fear of the Lord? I think it cost him his wealth, his children, his health, his wife, his friends and finally, even his own self-worth. Was it worth it? If we fast forward to the end of the book to 42:5,6 we hear Job’s response when God reveals Himself, “I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You. Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.” It was costly, but I believe this statement reveals that when Job experienced the glory of the Lord, he was more than compensated for his loss. You and I play a lot in the dirt of this world. Like children making treasure of mud. There are real treasures to be found in the fear of the Lord. But you cannot find that treasure in the dirt of the world. It will be costly to look for it. Like Job, it will cost you everything, your wealth, your health, your sons and daughters, your spouse, your friends and even your own self-worth, but oh, in the long run it is infinitely more profitable! You will be exponentially rewarded for your loss in the wealth of His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 58 “He is very charming.” What does that mean? It runs in two veins. It is pleasing, pleasant, or it means to have a magical power over something. David refers to his enemies as deaf cobras which do not respond to the charmer. In this context God is the charmer. Snake charming has been a long tradition in the east, middle east and Africa. While in practice it looks like the charmer exhibits some magical power over the snake, in actuality it is all a matter of appearances. But the point of the Psalm is that God seeks to charm us. He desires us to be pleased with Him. In the arms of Jesus there are ten thousand charms. But David’s enemies are not in the least pleased by the Almighty. They are like deaf cobras, He holds no pleasing power over them. Because they do not respond to the pleasing power of our Lord, David invokes the justice of our God over his enemies. As I think about the charms of our Lord, what are they? He is the Almighty. He is full of loving kindness. He is beautiful. He is patient. He is kind. He is joy. He is peace. He is creative. Should not these charms (pleasant attributes) draw me to Him? Should they not be enough to motivate me to obedience? If I really believed that He is all these things and that He wants me to share with Him in these charms, then shouldn’t that be an overwhelming motivation to seek Him? It should be, but there is something flawed in each of us, so that we do not seek Him. The result is that we need also to learn of His justice. He will bring those who are not repentant to judgment. When our enemies refuse to repent, He will judge. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John * * March 6:1-29 Our football team in high school had signals that the quarterback could call from the line in order to change the play at the last moment, if he deemed it necessary. Usually the signal was a designated color. So he always called a color from the line as the beginning of the count for the snap. One day he was in jocular mood while in practice. Rather than giving the drab colors such as green or red or blue, he walked to the line and called, ”Chartreuse!” Now, chartreuse may be in the interior decorator’s common vocabulary but it is unexpected as a signal on the football line. It was great comic relief. The team seemed to fall apart with laughter. He had given quite a mixed signal. Sometimes the glory is filled with mixed signals. His hometown was having a hard time believing that this local boy was really who He claimed to be. After all, He had been around for about 30 years and had never done any of these miracles before. After all, He had brothers and sisters. Yet in spite of the clear miracles done elsewhere and a few sick that He had healed in Nazareth, they refused to believe. At this point, Jesus sends out the twelve. He empowers them to do the miracles that He had been doing and they do it! Suddenly the glory is multiplied! Where before only Jesus was doing the miracles, now there are 6 pairs of disciples going around healing and preaching. People are being set free all over the Galilean countryside! The Kingdom seems to be growing! Then John the Baptist is jailed. Not only is he jailed, he is beheaded. Where is the glory? I recall the words of John, “He must increase, but I must decrease.” Well, it has happened. You can’t decrease much more than having your head lifted off of your shoulders. But how has He increased? Well there are now 6 pairs of disciples preaching the kingdom! And they are successful! Sometimes in our lives we get mixed signals concerning the glory. How can the King of Glory allow this to continue? Hang in there! His glory is expanding even in the midst of the mixed signal. Perhaps someday in heaven we will review it and fall apart in laughter as we see the comic relief. Or perhaps we will cry recalling the pain of our fallen brother or sister. But inevitably we will see the glory in a greater way. It may be a mixed signal now, but it won’t be then. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 26

EXODUS 9 Now, the Lord slays Apis, the bull-god worshiped by the ancient Egyptians. Apis, a reincarnation of Ptah, a creator god. should have been the protector of the Egyptian livestock. (Perhaps this is the model for the golden calf made by the Israelites at Mount Sinai.) Instead the Lord shows his greatness over their gods. He slays Apis. Note that none of the Israelite livestock is damaged. The Egyptian priests/magicians were careful to be clean in their duties. Ashes were used to make a powerful soap to rid their bodies of uncleanliness. If you have ever made soap, you know that one of the ingredients is lye. Lye is produced by letting water filter through ashes. The lye is leached into the water as it filters through. Then it is added to rendered animal fat to produce soap. Perhaps soap was invented as part of the religious sacrificial rituals of early man. Instead of cleanliness, Moses’ ashes brought a festering skin disease. Note that the Egyptian magicians could not stand before Moses because skin disease produced by Moses’ ashes. Once again Lord slays an Egyptian god. All our attempts to cleanse ourselves apart from the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ will eventually result in the slaying of that god. They result in spiritually festering skin diseases. The sky goddess Nut was trusted upon to give the Egyptians good weather. Lord slays Nut. He rains a deathly hail and fire from the sky upon the Egyptian crops and unprotected livestock. One by one the Lord slays those things upon which the Egyptians trusted. In what do you trust. If not the Lord, be careful! He may slay them. He is after all, the Almighty, and He will share His glory with no other. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 27 Why is it that we all would run the earth differently if we were God? Job desires to teach his debaters about how God works. 11”I will teach you about the hand of God; What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.” In praise to His own name, God controls His creation. Yes He allows evil and suffering to exist. Sometimes when we don’t understand what God allows, it is easier to invent a god who works like we think he should work. Once we have re-invented God, it is so exciting to tell others about our awesome invention. I think this is true of both Job and His friends. Somehow I need to let God break through my inventions of Him with who He really is. Can you imagine what the earth would become if it were run by the way I conceive God. Oh Lord, help us! Lord, show me YOUR glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * * Psalm 57 Can you imagine sitting in the cave of Adullam? 1 Samuel 22:1-2 says: David therefore departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam. So when his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. And everyone who was in distress, everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented gathered to him. So he became captain over them. And there were about four hundred men with him. So here he is unjustly hunted as a criminal by Saul, living in a cave, surrounded by 400 discontented people. What a wonderful environment to practice the power of positive thinking! While I wrote that sarcastically, I also meant it literally. Keep in mind though that not all positive thinking is godly, but all godly thinking is positive. Ever been around people who are discontent? Can you imagine 400 hundred of them? So here is David living in a cave with 400 discontents. What do you suppose the conversation was all about? “Saul is really doing a great job at subduing the Philistines,” or “The economy is really booming right now. We are doing so well. I think will have to expand my barns for all the grain and livestock. Maybe the wife and I will expand our house for the children we are having.” I don’t thinks so. The conversation could probably be better described as, “My soul is among lions; I lie among the sons of men who are set on fire, whose teeth are spears and arrows, and their tongue a sharp sword.” On the one hand, David feels it is good to have the support of 400 men. On the other hand, it is negative support. These men want change. They are discontent. They want change that spears, arrows and swords can bring. They see in David their champion. They see in David the one who can vulcanize their corporate desire for change and produce a new regime. Well, David is headed there, but not in the direction they had expected. So if you were being pursued by Saul, if it were as though your pursuer had laid a net to trap you, if it were as though a pit had been dug for you, if you were among 400 discontents, how would you speak to vulcanize your followers in such a way that they would follow you to establish justice? Most of us would lay plans to bring down the evil regime and establish ourselves as the rulers. It is not so with David. He speaks of the glory of God! He cries for God’s mercy! He establishes his trust in God! He remembers that calamities, as evil as they are, are temporary! He calls out to the One who is almighty! He petitions Him to let mercy and truth be seen in their midst! He pleads for God’s Glory to be revealed to them! He makes his heart steadfast to sing the glory and praise of God! Oh Lord help me to trade my discontent for Your glory! Help me to lift up the praise of your mercy and power! Help me to be content only in Your empowerment! May Your mercy and truth ever be upon my lips! It is Your glory to work that work in me and in us! Establish it O Lord! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Mark 5:21-43 The late summer and early fall of ’78 were difficult for me emotionally. Laura and I were convinced that God had called us to join the staff of Campus Crusade for Christ for the next 3 years. We applied and received a preliminary invitation to their Institute of Biblical Studies in June and July and to their Staff training the first two weeks of August. We raised support to attend and headed off for the summer to Ft. Collins, Colorado, where these events were being held. At the end of IBS we were informed that we were no longer invited to staff training. I had shown up on the psychological test as being extremely introverted and they did not feel that I would be a good match for their style of ministry. The problem for me was that I had been sure at the beginning of the summer that this was the direction that God was leading me. But obviously the door was shut. How could I have so misheard the Lord? Hind sight is always 20-20, as the saying goes. In the intervening years I have figured out what God was doing. God did want me in Ft. Collins, but He didn’t want me on staff with CCC. But during those first few months I didn’t understand and it seemed as if God had led me on a wild goose chase or I had not really heard God properly. God never leads on a wild goose chase. It just seems like it sometimes. Can you imagine this synagogue official as He is waiting for the healing of His daughter? She was at the point of death. She may already be dead. He has begged the Lord to come and heal her. I can’t think of anything more emotionally wrenching than the possible death of a little child. But Jesus goes with him. There is hope. Time is of the essence. Then the unspeakable happens as He leads Jesus. Jesus stops. Come on, Jesus! She is dying. But somebody had touched Him. People were always touching Him. They were always crowding in on Him. He was the most popular man of the region at the time. Come on, Jesus, let’s go. My daughter is dying or dead! You can’t tarry here! But somebody had touched Him! Somebody had touched Him with healing faith and He felt the healing power go out. How could it be that He did not know who it was who touched Him? Sometimes the Lord asked questions that were similar to rhetorical questions. This one was one. He wanted the one of faith to identify herself. “Come on, Jesus! We don’t have time for twenty-questions.” But Jesus took time with the woman. Time was something the daughter did not have. But while Jesus was talking with the woman, the official’s servant showed up with the dreaded news. The daughter was dead. It was too late. It indeed had been a wild goose chase. But Jesus says, “Don’t be afraid, only believe.” Back at the house the mourners were already there, doing their job. “She is only asleep,” says Jesus. They had seen death before. There was no pulse, no breath. She was cold. She was dead. They laughed at the Lord of glory. Of course they did not know that He was the Lord of glory. Jesus raised the girl. They were astounded. What do you know? It wasn’t a wild goose chase. Jesus’ delay did not make a difference in the end result. His glory was clearly seen in His victory over death! So, when it seems that you are on a wild goose chase, don’t be afraid, only believe. Jesus will show His glory. And by the way by having gone to Ft. Collins I was forced to live in Stillwater, Ok for the next 2.5 years. During that time the Lord led me into the Christian and Missionary Alliance, which I dearly love. Also during that time I was able to live in the same town as my parents which was a blessing that I have not been able to enjoy since. It wasn’t a wild goose chase. It was blessing. I see His glory in a greater way now. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 25

EXODUS 8 Do you enjoy frog legs? The Egyptians had their fill of them. Remember yesterday we talked about how the Lord, will slay our gods in order to increase the glory of His name? Here are three examples of the Lord’s god-slaying passion. The Egyptians had a frog-god called Heqt or Heket. If he were real, he would be responsible for controlling the frog population for the Egyptians. So, the Lord demonstrates His power over Heket. Isn’t it funny that the court magicians could only add to the number of frogs rather than to reverse what the Lord had done to afflict Heket? Pharaoh promised anything for relief. Now, he is beginning to recognize, to experience, the Lord. So also, are the Egyptians and the Israelites. Pharaoh hardened his own heart after gaining some relief from the frogs. When he reneged on his promise, the Lord slew the god of the dust, the earth-god, Geb. Some sort of insect, lice, mosquitoes, sand fleas or gnats, rose up out of the ground to terrorize the people. It was at this point that the magicians could neither add to nor relieve the problem. They recognized that this was the ‘finger of God’, the real God not the convenient thing upon which they daily relied. You know with all these heaps of dead rotting frogs lying around, one would expect the number of flies to increase. The plague here is swarms. Most translations put in italics after swarms “of flies”. Literally it is a “mixture of noisome beasts.” I think it was their sacred beetle, the scarab. Many scarabs made of gold have been found in the tombs. These were sacred to the sun-god Ra. Do you think the Lord was having fun slaying the false gods? The Lord is keeping it clear to everyone what He is doing by keeping the plague away from Israel. Pharaoh is beginning to soften. He found the Israelite worship offensive. Maybe he could let Israel go a little ways across the border. But the Lord would accept nothing but the slaying of the gods who vied against Him for the worship of man. The Lord will accept nothing in our own lives but worship of Himself alone. Indeed, if He is God Almighty, nothing else should be there. Part of our experience of His glory is the slaying of other gods. If we don’t slay the other gods, He will. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 25-26 Bildad uses the glory of God to urge Job to repent. He states a few obvious things about God’s glory hoping they will motivate Job to admit his sin and cause him to turn from it. The problem is that in this context, Job’s adverse circumstances are not the judgment as a result of a specific sin that Job has done. How can you change your mind about sin that you have not committed? God does not require a false repentance of us. He does not ask us to sign some blanket confession statement that absolves us of all sin. That is not repentance. True repentance can only come as a result of the conviction of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said that the Holy Spirit would convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment. He said, “of sin, because they do not believe in Me.” Had Job not been trusting in God? Was he therefore, experiencing the judgment of God? Not in this instance. What would be the standard of righteousness, by which he would be called to change his mind? When Jesus was on the earth, the standard of righteousness was visible. It was embodied in His own life. We could have simply called upon Him when there was any question. But He does not dwell upon the earth in physical form. How can we know what righteousness is? Only the Spirit of God can bring conviction as His word is spoken or read through us. That is why faith comes by hearing of the word. Then when the Spirit brings conviction of sin and righteousness, judgment becomes obvious to the sinner under conviction. If then the sinner will change his mind concerning sin, then he can receive the fullness of God’s forgiveness. He can choose to embrace Jesus fully for the forgiveness of sins and the enablement to live in righteousness. While Job did not have this complete New Testament understanding of repentance and faith, He did trust God for the forgiveness of his sin and the power to live a godly life. He was not suffering because of specific sin that he had committed. He was suffering because he was born in and participated in a fallen world. As the most righteous man on the face of this world, he was participating in a cosmic struggle to see if the glory of God was worth suffering for. Satan had challenged God on the value of God’s glory to Job. And how does Job respond: Indeed these are the mere edges of His ways, And how small a whisper we hear of Him! But the thunder of His power who can understand? We cannot completely understand His power, but we can change our minds about our sin and choose to obey Him. It then becomes His power to change our sinful lives. Do I understand that? Not completely. But what I do understand of Him, I will cling to Him and let His power flow through me. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 56   David writes two Psalms out of this one experience. Obviously it made quite an impact upon him. David had been delivered from the paw of the Lion and the bear. He had defeated the Philistine champion of Gath, Goliath. But to be pursued by one whom you had loyally supported is indeed unsettling. It was so unsettling that David ran to his former enemies for help. What happened to trusting in the Lord? Even the best of us have our moments when we seek fleshly help rather than rely upon the Lord. It didn’t take David long to realize that he had jumped from the frying pan into the fire. But it did re-teach him a lesson. He was forced to re-learn that only God can be trusted. Now that is one of the essential things about our Lord. He can and must be trusted. Though man can torture me, though he can ridicule me, though he can torture my family, though he can kill me, God can and will keep all that I have committed to Him. He will restore it when He returns. So, I can say with David, “What can man do to me?” Nothing can happen to that which I have committed to Him. I can and will trust Him. He is worth my trust. That is His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Mark 5:1-21 When I lived in Norman, my back yard bordered a graveyard. Was it significant that when we first moved in, the previous resident had hung garlic in the rafters of the garage, which was the closest building to the graveyard? I guess I’ll never know, but I will always wonder. I took the garlic down. Sometimes people have a preoccupation with death, particularly when the powers of darkness hold sway over their lives. The area Mark calls the country of the Gadarenes or Gerasenes is on the far eastern side of the Sea of Galilee. “No towns or villages exist along the lake’s narrow eastern shore because cliffs several thousand feet high rise up from near the water’s edge. The steep cliffs are less pronounced the farther south one proceeds toward Gadara, situated on the heights several thousand feet above the Jordan Valley” [1] The cliffs are riddled with caves which made them very useful for tombs, especially since the rough terrain made it difficult to live there. It was a Gentile area, hence the heard of swine. As the Lord embarks from the lake and up the steep terrain to find the nearest town, He and the disciples are met by the demoniac coming out of the tombs. This man was more than the village idiot. He was strong enough to break iron bonds. He was preoccupied with death, living in the tombs. He would cut himself with stones. (It is interesting that as our culture increases its flight away from Christianity that the number of young people who are into cutting is rising.) He was tormented constantly by the unclean spirits. He came out to meet Jesus. The demons recognized Jesus and knew who He was. They knew His power. They knew His glory. They begged to remain in the region. But Jesus had come to set men free. He had come to set this one man free. He came to serve this one man. The King of Glory came for this one man. He released the man. The multitude of demons rushed into a herd of swine (unclean animals according to Old Testament Law). The pigs would rather be dead than inhabited by demons. (It is interesting that humans would rather be inhabited by demons.) They rushed off the cliffs and perished in the sea. Now two thousand pigs in today’s economy could easily be worth $250,000.00. This was a significant loss of income for the local people. Hearing of their loss, they came out to see what happened. They found the man clothed, in his right mind and talking with Jesus. The witnesses informed the residents of what they saw. The residents pleaded with Jesus to leave. Why? Their initial concern was more related to their income than the fact that the village embarrassment had been set free. Their income was more important than the Glory. If He stayed around, they might lose more pigs. Alas it appeared that Jesus and the 12 had come all this way for just the one man. But that is part of the glory of Jesus. He will sometimes move heaven and earth to set free just one person, who cries out to Him in truth. But the story doesn’t end here. The former demoniac wants to come with Jesus. Who can blame him? But Jesus would not permit it. He made him stay and tell the others what the Lord had done for him. In Mark 7:31-37 Jesus returns to the area. This time he has an astonishing ministry among the residents. I believe this former demoniac prepared the way. Today as the use of drugs has risen and interest in eastern religions has risen, so also segments of our culture have seen a corresponding rise in preoccupation with death and cutting oneself. Listening to Dawson McAlister Live, I have come to realize that there are a number of young people out there that are bound in cutting themselves. There is One whose glory will set them free, if they could but see it. Jesus does it with a word. He breaks the bonds of those imprisoned in the strongest chains and sets them free. How we need to speak His glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 24

EXODUS 7 Many times I have had close calls. They could have been auto accidents, lack of funds to pay a financial commitment on time, relational crises, or health problems. As I saw the solution provided by the Lord for each situation, I exited the situation with a new appreciation that He is the Lord. Why do I have to walk through those situations to learn those lessons? I think there is a sense in which I tend to learn to rely on certain things to the point that they in a sense become my god. I trust in the things rather than the Lord. That is what is spoken of in today’s passage. We will see the point driven home many ways over the next few days. The Lord, begins by judging the court magicians via the staff/serpent incident. When Pharaoh refuses to recognize the glory of the Lord, He literally begins to judge the gods of Egypt upon which the Egyptians have come to rely. The first was the Nile. The Egyptians literally worshiped the Nile. After all, in a climate that had very little annual rainfall, the Nile provide the perfect setting for an agrarian society. The Nile’s yearly flooding cycle happens with such precision that they set their calendar by it. The headwaters of the Nile begin over a thousand miles away near the equator in East Africa. The equatorial rainy season in East Africa provided the automatic irrigation and fertilization of the Nile valley. All the Egyptians needed to do was plant seed. It was as though God provided for them. Indeed He did provide for them. But instead of worshiping the true God, they worshiped and relied upon the Nile River. The true God slew the Nile god by turning its waters to nasty blood. But He is doing it, not to be vindictive, but so that they might know that He is the Lord. In this He shows His glory. How often does He slay my/our gods (those things that we rely upon rather than Him) so that we might know that He is the Lord? Sometimes it takes drastic measures to get us to pay attention. I wonder which of my/your gods will he slay today? Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 55 Have you ever been betrayed by one whom you thought was a friend, if not a friend at least an ally? It is one thing to be attacked by an enemy; it is quite another thing to be attacked by one you thought to be a friend. That is why Shakespeare’s words, “Et tu Brute?” ring down true through the ages. It is a betrayal of expected trust and support that is suddenly gone when you need it. It leaves you reeling emotionally if nothing else. It is why adultery is so devastating. It is why church splits are so damaging. It is why many people are turned off toward the organized church. What do you do when the one with whom you worshipped and sought the counsel together turns and suggests that you are no longer worthy of walking with them? How do you handle it when the with whom you once sought God’s advice implies or says that you are incapable of hearing the voice of God, or even that you are mentally unstable, or if not unstable, at least dishonest. David experienced that: It is not an enemy who reproaches me; Then I could bear it. Nor is it one who hates me who has exalted himself against me; Then I could hide from him. But it was you, a man my equal, My companion and my acquaintance. We took sweet counsel together, And walked to the house of God in the throng. Jesus also knew that pain. He knew it before it happened. He Himself said on the night on which he was betrayed, “I do not speak concerning all of you. I know whom I have chosen; but that the Scripture may be fulfilled, ‘He who eats bread with Me has lifted up his heel against Me.’” Later when Judas came to betray Him, He said, And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people. Now His betrayer had given them a sign, saying, “Whomever I kiss, He is the One; seize Him.” Immediately he went up to Jesus and said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed Him. But Jesus said to him, “Friend, why have you come?” Then they came and laid hands on Jesus and took Him. Jesus knew why he had come. He knew at supper what Judas was about to do. A friend does not betray a friend. Why does Jesus call him, “friend?” Jesus wasn’t casting accusation upon Judas. He was simply pointing out the fact of how He felt toward Judas. In light of that awesome love, He was forcing Judas to see what he was rejecting. He used a question to teach the point. Was this painful to Jesus? Oh yes it was! Then why does He treat Judas with such compassion? Because that is the way that Jesus is. He had spent the night in prayer with His Father. He was ready for the pain. He could endure it for the joy that lay before Him. The wrestling in prayer had prepared Him for it. Interesting, that is how the Psalm begins, “Give ear to my prayer, O God, And do not hide Yourself from my supplication. Attend to me, and hear me; I am restless in my complaint, and moan noisily.” What can one do when one has experienced betrayal and the friend will not be reconciled? Matthew Henry says, “Prayer is a salve for every sore and a relief to the spirit under every burden.” I am particularly encouraged when I realize that Jesus Himself has experienced this pain to its fullest degree. He is able to fully relate to my pain. Indeed if I am honest with myself, I realize that I at times past have been that same kind of pain to Him, and He forgives me, He helps me through my own betrayals. WOW! Is He not glorious? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Mark 4:21--41 There were things we did as kids in secret that we thought nobody else knew about. I had a friend that lived right next to the railroad tracks and just a few blocks from the cotton gin. Show me an 8-10 year old boy that has no fascination with trains or cotton gins, and I'll show you a kid who is brain dead. You would be surprised to see how flat a fork or a penny can become after a train has run over it. Playing in the bin where they blow the cotton seed after it has been removed from the cotton is a lot of fun. It is amazing that we didn't derail a train or get run over or get buried under a ton of cotton seed or die from asthmatic reaction from the dust of the cotton. I guess that it’s a good thing my mother never found out about most of our activities. But then there was the time she did find out about one trip to the tracks. We thought we were safe. But our teacher saw us heading in the wrong direction from school--not toward home but toward the tracks. She collected us, and applied the board of education to us. Oh well, what we thought was secret became public knowledge, and try as I did, even my mother found out. The public revelation of what we thought was secret was not, shall I say, "Pleasant?" Even as adults, we get into this mindset that some of the things we do, say, or think are our little secret. We continue in them believing that we are safe from discovery. If it doesn't hurt anyone else, what difference does it make? Maybe the secret is viewing pornography. Maybe it is holding a grudge against someone else. Maybe it is inwardly judging someone else. Maybe it is a private theft. Maybe it is indifference toward someone. Maybe it is lack of forgiveness toward someone. After all, no one else notices. What difference could it make? But things that begin little grow big. When they become big, the public revelation of it is not, shall we say, "Pleasant?" Usually what begins as private attitudes, thoughts or secrets, eventually work their way into outward events in our lives. Thoughts long held become attitudes. Attitudes long retained release into actions. Actions rooted in attitudes that are wrong usually have negative public consequences that are not, shall we say, "Pleasant?" The Kingdom of God is similar to that. It begins small as a thought in the life of a person. Our glorious Lord plants that seed thought in the life of someone through someone speaking the word of God about the glory of Christ to them. It grows slowly but surely. Eventually it becomes beautiful and restful. The public revelation is, shall we say, "Pleasant?" Not only is that true in the lives of individuals, but it is true in the Kingdom of God corporately. At the crucifixion there were only the 11 disciples and a handful of women left among those following the Lord. Fifty days later there were only about 120 people in the upper room. Jesus had appeared at one time to only about 500 people. It was a small start. Within 30 years the Gospel was being preached in every major city in the Roman Empire, and believers were even in the Emperor's own household. But still the ratio of believers to non-believers was very great. Today there is 1 believer on the face of the earth for every 10 non-believers and the ratio is getting better every day. We are on the verge of seeing the Gospel of the Kingdom being preached as a witness to all ethnic groups. This is the first time that this is a possibility since the Tower of Babel! If the disciples had known the size of the task, when they were given this parable of the Mustard Seed, they surely could not have believed it. But our servant Lord brought them through an experience (one of many) that taught them to believe. It was on the Sea of Galilee. A sudden storm came up. So violent was the storm that these seasoned fishermen thought sure they were perishing. They awakened Jesus, fearful for their lives. Jesus rebuked the wind and the sea with three little words. And they became calm. "How is it that you have no faith?" He asked. Now the disciples feared not the sea but Jesus. "Who is this One that even the wind and sea obey Him?" they said to one another. What starts small, even as a thought, has mighty power in it. I am so glad that Jesus' power is greater than the evil secrets I or anyone else may try to keep. His power is growing in its revelation through His kingdom. The final revelation shall be pleasant for those in His kingdom. His glory shall fill the earth. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 23

EXODUS 6 In the midst of pain and hardship, it is hard to experience anything good. Once when I was a volunteer chaplain to a hospital a patient requested a chaplain visit. He had been shot in both legs shattering both shinbones. His younger brother had called all his friends to their house for a party while their parents were out of town. A young man was behaving badly, so the older brother instructed him to leave. He did leave, but he was a gang member. He came back a little later with his gang. Well, you get the picture. I met with the young man for a week or two at the hospital. Our church helped the family with some groceries. But the pain was constant and strong for the young man. He was not assured that he would ever walk normally again. Eventually, he came to a crisis point. In the midst of his pain, he could not see that God was real, or if he was real, that He cared about his pain. The young man told me to not come see him again. Pain is like that. It screams so loud in our minds that we can no longer see the glory of God even when it is about to be experienced. God spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty, but by My name Lord I was not known to them.” One of the things that the Name of the Lord tells us is that He cannot be fully known. He is. He can be known truly but not fully. He is. He can be experienced, but not completely. He is. Abraham, Isaac and Jacob experienced the Lord, but not completely. He appeared to them but not completely. The name, “He is,” was unknown to them. They experienced “He is” in their pain but not completely. Now 400 years later their descendants are experiencing Him. However, their pain was great. Listen to what the text says,‘I will take you as My people, and I will be your God. Then you shall know that I am the Lord your God who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians. 8‘And I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as a heritage: I am the Lord.’ ” 9So Moses spoke thus to the children of Israel; but they did not heed Moses, because of anguish of spirit and cruel bondage. They could not hear Moses because of their anguish. This God, who spoke the universe into existence, spoke and told them that He was about to act on their behalf and that they would know Him. Yet they would not hear it because of the anguish of their spirit and cruel bondage. I wonder how many times I have missed hearing the voice of God because I focused on my pain. I wonder how much of the Glory of God that I have missed because I was focused upon me. His glory is still there. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * February 23, 2011 Job 23 My youngest son and his friend love to play hide and seek in our house. I think that they are beginning to get close to the age where hide and seek indoors is not going to be much fun any longer. Their powers of observation are getting much better, and the time that it takes to find the hider is getting much shorter. I suspect that finding the hider will soon become so simple that it won’t be much fun anymore. Hide and seek can be fun when you are successful. It gets really frustrating if you are not successful or if there is no challenge. Job feels like God is hiding from him. I should think that all of us feel like that at some time or another. In a very real sense God is playing hide and seek with us. Only, it is not necessarily a game. We are commanded often in Scripture to seek Him. We are given the promise that if we seek, we will find. But He puts one basic stipulation in our seeking. We must seek Him with all of our heart. For someone with a crooked deceitful heart like mine, that is very difficult to do. Often my heart does not want to be made well. For someone Who is omnipresent, sometimes He is surely hard to find. If He is omnipresent, shouldn’t He be easily found? If His glory is the most important thing in the Universe, should not He be easily found? The mere fact that He is hard to find indicates that obviously the answer is no. That begs the question, “Why is He hard to find?” Maybe He uses the pursuit to change us. Perhaps without being changed, we end up being terrified in the hands of an angry God. Perhaps by being changed we end up being embraced in the arms of a loving Father. So it is all about seeking His glory, and in the process we are changed so that we may enjoy His glory more fully. Lord change my heart that I might find you and be ever delighting in Your own glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 54 He had been “on the lamb” for quite some time now. Having escaped Saul, then Achish, he returned to the cave of Adullam. The discontent of the land heard about his whereabouts and began to join him. Within a few months he had a small army of 400. David removed himself to Moab. He asked the king of Moab to let his family stay in Moab to protect them from Saul. The Moabite king granted it. David returned to his stronghold in the desert, and then under the instruction of the Spirit of God, he removed himself into the fields of Judah. There Abiathar the son of Ahimelech found him and informed him of the treachery of Doeg and the murder of the priests. Then David wrote Psalm 52. By this time at least a year must have passed for all these events to have taken place. It was reported that the Philistines were raiding Keilah. David enquired of the Lord and took his men and did what should have been the job of the king. He delivered Keilah. One would think Saul would recognize David’s loyalty. Mental illness always prevents one from recognizing the truth. (I am convinced that we are all mentally ill to some degree.) But Saul had a severe case of it. Saul took his troops to destroy David. David fled to the wilderness of Ziph. David meant to be a stabilizing force in the area of Ziph. He had solid control of his men, and they could act like a police force protecting the inhabitants from bandits, rustlers, raiders and invaders. But the residents of Ziph saw him as a destabilizing force. They knew that he was Saul’s sworn enemy. The last thing they needed was to get caught between the forces of the king and this upstart young officer. Naturally, they reported his presence to Saul, and Saul came to kill him. Judging by the shortness of this Psalm, I would judge that David wrote this on the run. The outcome is still unknown. All that David can say in the Psalm is to declare that God is his helper and deliverer, and He has delivered David in the past. After at least a year of running, David had to be tired of all of this, yet he still pens a song to the praise of God for His deliverance. The story continues for years. David is delivered from the hand of Saul time and again. What can we learn from David’s Psalm? When the negative influences of life multiply upon us to destroy us, we can rejoice in the strong name of our Lord. The Lord may or may not deliver me immediately, but He will deliver me ultimately. The Lord will eventually cut off all of His enemies. If His enemies are my enemies, then I can rest in what He will do. He will one day rule supreme for He is God. I can trust in that fact alone. So, do I understand His strong name so that I can rejoice in it when I am about to be destroyed? That is why I must daily focus upon His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Mark 4:1-20 From time to time I have grown a garden. I am not too good at it. But my dad is. He loves doing it. When I was in Oregon in Seminary, Laura and I planted a garden one of the years. I put in some silver queen corn, broccoli, lettuce, tomatoes, and beets. The silver queen was some of the best corn that I have ever tasted. Everything did quite well. When I moved to Oklahoma, about the only thing that I could get success out of was okra. But then, okra will grow in just about any conditions. The soil in my yard in Oklahoma had a lot of clay in it and it was very dry and I had to be consistent in watering which I wasn’t. I am not really very fond of okra, except when breaded and fried. We moved to another house, and I planted cantaloupe, watermelon and squash. Either the slugs ate them, or for whatever reason the vines would die before the edible part was close to ripening. In North Carolina the only thing that I really missed from a garden was vine ripe tomatoes. I tried planting tomato plants. Every time the tomatoes started growing and started looking good, they developed a black spot on the bottom and died before they began to ripen. I’ve been told that either the soil needs more calcium or the plants have too much water on their roots. Knowing the soil and the climate, it was probably both. Was it ever a problem with the seed? Was it ever a problem with the sowing? No, it was mostly a problem with the soil. So I guess I gave up gardening. I just didn’t have enough interest to tend to the soil to change it in order to get the results I desired. Have you every wondered why the word of God just doesn’t seem to have the effect upon some people as it does upon others? Is it something wrong with the word? No, it is the word of our Lord, the Lord of glory. Is it the sower? No, the Holy Spirit is the sower as we speak His word. It is a problem with the soil. His word always produces the effect for which it was sown. What then is the problem? It is the soil, the hearts of people. Are the hearts hard so that Satan can carry the word away before it germinates? Are the hearts shallow so that the roots die with a little lack of moisture? Are the hearts surrounded by weeds or slugs, the cares of the world which eat or choke out the germinating plant? Are the hearts good soil which produce good plants? Sometimes we get our focus on the garden rather than the glory of the seed. Consequently when we see no results, we quit sowing. Have you ever considered the awesome changes that take place when a seed germinates and turns into a plant? Have you ever considered the awesome changes that take place when the word of God germinates in the heart of a person? It is not about the results we see in the garden. It is about the glory of the word of God as it germinates in the hearts of people. We quit because we focus on the results in the garden not the glory of the one who brings the results. Let’s keep sowing the seed. Eventually we will find good soil, and in due time we will reap a harvest. Why? Because of the glory of the seed! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 22

EXODUS 5 Pharaoh: Who is the Lord, that I should obey His voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, nor will I let Israel go! Moses: Since I came to Pharaoh to speak in Your name, he has done evil to this people; neither have You delivered Your people at all. Sometimes the glory of the Lord cannot be seen until evil has been allowed to show its worst. Sometimes even God’s own people do not recognize that He is working when evil is doing its worst. Does Pharaoh’s ignorance of the glory of the Lord lessen the glory any? Not in the least. It only reveals his ignorance of God. Does my ignorance of the name of the quarterback who led the New Orleans Saints to the Super Bowl lessen his glory any? Not in the least. It only reveals my ignorance of the quarterback. If I remain ignorant of His name, it is my fault, and I am the loser. Pharaoh remained ignorant, indeed insisted on remaining ignorant, of the glory of the name of the Lord. He lost. Does Moses’ momentary despair in the midst of this darkness diminish the glory of the Lord? I watched the first quarter of the Super Bowl this year (2010). Leaving at the beginning of the second quarter to run an errand, I was certain the game was going to be a blow out. I was certain New Orleans was going to be overrun by Indianapolis. I did come back to watch the second half. Boy was I wrong! I am glad I didn’t let my despair turn my back on the game. It was worth watching. What if Moses had given up on the Lord’s glory at this point? Sometimes we just have to hang in there. The Lord will eventually show His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 22 You know, I can’t get my mind around how large the earth is. Last summer (2011) I flew over the polar icecap to Mongolia. It took slightly less than 12 hours of non-stop flight from Beijing to Chicago. Since it is a 12 hour time zone difference, I actually arrived a few minutes earlier in Chicago time than it was when I left in Beijing time. As we flew, we were at an altitude that was so high that very few land masses were distinguishable to me. Were it not for the computerized map on the screen in front of me, I would have had no idea where I was or how large the earth was beneath me. It really makes one feel insignificant to realize how small one is in comparison to the earth. Yet the earth is just a sub-microscopic particle in relation to the universe. Consider the largest found structures in the universe. They are “giant, three-dimensional filaments of galaxies extending across 200 million light-years of space. . . They are the largest found structures to date. . . They are studded with more than 30 large concentrations of gas, each up to ten times as massive as our own galaxy.” http://www.universetoday.com/399/the-largest-structure-in-the-universe/ (accessed 2/22/2011). Does that make you feel small? I don’t know; I still can’t get my mind around how big the earth is. That description just kind of buries me. Consider how many stars are in the Universe. Think about this information that I collected from http://www.universetoday.com/24328/how-many-stars/ (2/22/2011): Almost all the stars in the Universe are collected together into galaxies. They can be small dwarf galaxies, with just 10 million or so stars, or they can be monstrous irregular galaxies with 10 trillion stars or more. Our own Milky Way galaxy seems to contain about 200 billion stars; and we’re actually about average number of stars. So an average galaxy contains between 1011 and 1012 stars. In other words, galaxies, on average have between 100 billion and 1 trillion numbers of stars. Now, how many galaxies are there? Astronomers estimate that there are approximately 100 billion to 1 trillion galaxies in the Universe. So if you multiply those two numbers together, you get between 1022 and 1024 stars in the Universe. How many stars? There are between 10 sextillion and 1 septillion stars in the Universe. That’s a large number of stars. I think I have some kind of concept of one million. I used to live in Portland, Oregon which had a metro area population of roughly one million. I can kind of get my mind around that number; although, it is a big enough number that I don’t really want to. So when you tell me that a dwarf galaxy has just 10 million stars, I kind of lose it. Then to find out that just the number of galaxies is between 100 billion and 1 trillion, I cannot fathom it. Then to tell me that the number of stars in the Universe is a number that has about 24 zeroes following it, I am lost. Eliphaz responds to Job: 12 God is so great—higher than the heavens, higher than the farthest stars. 13 But you reply, ‘That’s why God can’t see what I am doing! How can he judge through the thick darkness? 14 For thick clouds swirl about him, and he cannot see us. He is way up there, walking on the vault of heaven.” In the vastnesss of time and space, it is easy to think that God cannot see through the darkness to my little world. Eliphaz is correct. God is higher than the heavens—higher than the farthest stars. Could He possibly see me? The answer is an unequivocal, “Yes! He can!” As I think on the vastness of the universe, I remember that God created it. If He created it then He must be greater than it! He did not create something out of nothing that He cannot control! In order to control it, He must be able to come down to the tiniest microscopic unit. (Hmm. . . Do tachyons exist? Well now, there is a big can of worms.) Anyway, Jesus upholds all things by the word of His power. The doctrine of the omnipresence, omnipotence and omniscience of God requires that He can and does actively see me, and yet at the same time, He sees every point in the universe with equal clarity! Lord God, how awesome You are! So why is Eliphaz wrong? Eliphaz assumed that he could see even as the infinite God could see. He assumed that since this infinite God could see all that Job was and had done, then Job must have done some specific sin, which this infinite God had seen and for which He was now punishing Job. Eliphaz assumed too much. He thought too little of God and too much of Himself. Lord, keep me from that presumptuous sin! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 53 Comedian Jeff Allan said in the date night challenge produced by Focus on the Family, “I know why God created teenagers. He wanted us to experience what it was like to create someone in our image, who denies our existence.” The Psalmist says that “God looks down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there are any who understand, who seek God.” What did this glorious God find when He looked? There is no one who seeks God. Paul quotes these verses in Romans 3:10-12 in order to demonstrate that all have sinned. So how is it that this glorious God could create us in His own image, and we refuse to acknowledge His existence? What should a righteous God do with this enigma? Here is what the righteous God did. He said that sin required the death of the sinner. If we fail to acknowledge God’s existence and claim upon our lives, how will that affect our relationships with each other? If we are made in the image of God, and we are, then every time we see another human, we see the image of God. We are then faced with a subconscious choice. We must either acknowledge God’s existence in them or deny it. If we deny it, if we view them simply as a big bag of chemical electrical reactions, what is wrong with killing them, if leads to my survival? After all, if there is no god, then the ruling force is survival of the fittest. Naturally such a mindset would lead to much killing, or as the Psalmist puts it in verse 4, “Have the workers of iniquity no knowledge, Who eat up my people as they eat bread, And do not call upon God?” So when I desire the demise of another is not part of the reason because I have failed to acknowledge the image of God in them? So what do I do with this knowledge, for I know that I have desired the demise of others and others have desired my demise? And the problem stems from my failure to acknowledge God’s existence and claims upon my life. What should or will this Holy God do? He should kill us, but His holiness extends beyond His justice to His mercy. Because of His great mercy, He brings us salvation, so we can call out with David, “O that salvation would come out of Zion!” He provides salvation for us. So, when we continually receive that salvation and gaze upon His image, it changes us. He delivers us out of our captivity to sin. He restores us to right relationship with Him. He causes us to rejoice and be glad. It is a gladness that is not dependent upon circumstance. It just flows from him. Wow! Instead of death, we receive joy and gladness. What an amazing God! ? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Mark 3:20-35 Have you ever been publicly accused of being something less than what you actually were? If you have, then you know a little bit about the pain of Jesus in this story. The scribes were obviously reasoning: 1. Only God and Satan are more powerful than demons. 2. Jesus overpowers demons. 3. Jesus cannot be using God’s power. 4. Therefore Jesus must do this by Satan’s power. Wow! Talk about missing the mark! Talk about something less! Even Jesus’ family thought He had lost His mind. His own mother and siblings came to collect Him and quietly put Him away somewhere. Did Jesus rail against the accusations? No. But He did show the logical inconsistency of their reasoning, and He did reveal His love for anyone who would yield to His will. It is interesting to note that Matthew’s Gospel, where the theme is Jesus is the King of the Kingdom of God, has Jesus’ statement, “If I cast out demons by the Spirit of God surely the kingdom of God has come upon you!” But Mark whose theme is Jesus is the Servant of God leaves the statement out. It matters not who the servant is, but what matters is whose servant He is. So Jesus gives a warning not about rejecting or blaspheming Him but about blaspheming the One by Whom He worked the power, the Holy Spirit. Don’t miss the point about His glory here! Jesus, the Man, is the Powerful One because He does all that He does by the power of the Powerful One, God the Holy Spirit. This world was lying in the power of a strong man. Ever since Adam and Eve sinned, Satan had made planet earth his house. Over the centuries and millennia, Satan and his hosts have enslaved men and women by enticing them into sin according to their own lusts. Satan has made this world to be his goods. He is a strong foe. We are unable to overcome Him. However, Jesus, the God-Man, came, and by His death and resurrection, He bound Satan, the strong man. Jesus is the Powerful One. Now, to His glory, by the power of the Holy Spirit, we can plunder the house of Satan! What would we want from the house of Satan? People! People who are enslaved by the bondage of sin. People for whom Jesus died. It is for His glory that we proclaim liberty to them that they might be taken from the house of Satan to the house of the Father! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 21

EXODUS 4 “Who has made man’s mouth? Or who makes the mute, the deaf, the seeing, or the blind? Have not I, the Lord?” This is a very interesting comment by the Lord. Normally, we complain and get upset with God when things happen that make us different from other humans, such as going mute, deaf or blind. Also it is a tendency to try to defend God for allowing these things to happen. It doesn’t seem to bother God. He takes full responsibility for the mute, the deaf and the blind. He says that He made that non-functioning tongue, ear or eye. Hmm. . . . From His perspective it would appear that is not necessarily a bad or evil thing. Does that mean that we have a faulty perspective of things that we consider evil? However that one falls out, I think His point is that if He made it to begin with, then He can remake it to function however he wants to make it work. The issue is not the mouth. The issue is the Creator of the mouth. If God wanted an eloquent orator, He could make Moses to become an eloquent orator. That is the glory of our Lord. The US has produced a number of great orators. They all have their cult followings. I wonder how much more glory the Lord would receive if they were not great orators. Conversely, D.L. Moody was heavily criticized on his first trip to England because he butchered the English language, yet the Lord used him mightily. Most homiliticians who analyze Billy Graham’s sermons would say that his sermons are not all that well crafted. Yet, the Lord uses him mightily. There is a distinct difference between being able to speak well and to speak in the power of the Holy Spirit. Is the point that the Lord is trying to make here that what matters is not our ability but His ability? It is not our glory but His glory. He can make the very rocks speak His glorify if needed. Maybe one of the reasons we see so little of the power of the Lord in the US is because we are so stuck on building our own name. Would I still do what I do if I knew I would never get any credit for it? If nobody ever read these Meditations on the Glory, would I still do them? Hmm. . . . Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 21 From 1985-1994 there was a TV series called Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. I really am not familiar with the show. I have no memories of ever having watched an entire episode. I do remember seeing the opening scene of the program and promptly turning off the TV. Had Job been alive during this time and a fan of the TV series, perhaps he might have been talking about this show in this chapter. Why do the wicked live and become old, Yes, become mighty in power? . . . Their bull breeds without failure; Their cow calves without miscarriage. They send forth their little ones like a flock, And their children dance. They sing to the tambourine and harp, And rejoice to the sound of the flute. They spend their days in wealth, . . . “How often is the lamp of the wicked put out? How often does their destruction come upon them, The sorrows God distributes in His anger? At times it would appear that God does not uphold justice in this world. It seems that would be Job’s argument in this passage. Job describes the rich and the poor and then summarizes with this, “They lie down alike in the dust, and worms cover them.” Job has now experienced both the lifestyle of the rich and famous and the poor and infamous. He realizes that they both have the same end. Clearly God’s judgment day is not necessarily rooted in this world. So to evaluate a person’s life by their status in this life is foolish. So how do we evaluate our lives? Surely it must be by God’s standard not our own. “Can anyone teach God knowledge, since He judges those on high?” So what is the standard by which we should judge? Listen to what Paul said, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God.” When Jesus comes, He will reveal the true motivations of our hearts. In the meantime we should be pursuing this: “He has shown you, O man, what is good; And what does the LORD require of you but to do justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?” How can we walk humbly with our God? I think it requires that we constantly gaze upon His glory lest we gain an inflated version of our own selves. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 52 We all look for opportunities. Not all opportunities are equal. They are the way in which we gain advancement in this life. Doeg, the Edomite, was one of those opportunistic people. Not a natural citizen of Israel he saw the rising nationalism and power of Israel, his neighbor to the north. Moving to Saul’s capital, he sought to hook his wagon to this rising star. We don’t really know why he left his homeland, or how he gained access to Saul, but he did. It was a good opportunity for him. He apparently did something in order to gain high standing in Saul’s court. He served, watched and waited for the next opportunity to advance himself in Saul’s service. Being opportunistic, he did not care whether it advanced the Glory of God or not. His concern was his advancement in the eyes of Saul. The opportunity came when he observed the rift between Saul and David, and he observed the flight of David as he visited Ahimelech the priest in order to gain help from the Lord. He reported David’s activity to Saul. Saul ordered Doeg to kill the priests of Ahimelech. Doeg gladly responded to Saul’s order. In so doing he would ingratiate himself even more before the king. What an opportunity! Doeg destroyed 85 priests before the day was over. David continued running to the Philistine king Abimelech (Achish). There David had to feign madness in order to escape Achish. Not much opportunity there! Psalm 34 was written shortly after that. Psalm 52 was written after David learned of what Doeg the Edomite had done. David wrote this on the run from Saul. He spent more than a decade running from Saul. Yes, he had up to 600 men who joined him on the run, but it wasn’t exactly a prosperous time. He did not write it from the comfort of a palace. He wrote it from the confines of a tent as he was on the run. Yet in contrast to Doeg, the man who trusted in his riches, David describes himself as “I am like a green olive tree in the house of God; I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.” That is quite the proclamation and commitment coming from a man who is running for his life from the wrath of the king! How can David have such confidence? David knows the good Name of the Lord. He knows that the Lord laughs at the kings of the earth who oppose Him. David knows that the Lord is! He knows that the Lord hears and comes down to deliver. In short, David knows the glory of the Lord. His situation is temporary! His relationship with the Lord is forever. It is the glory of the Lord that keeps him going. What keeps me going? Is it the promise of an opportunity, or is it the glory of God? Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Mark 3:1-19 Have you ever met someone who serves only if there is attention gained in the serving. Someone once told me about going to see their congressman when he was visiting in the area. They commented on how the congressman was all smiles as long as the press was around taking pictures. He even prompted the photographers, “Get a picture of me with this person.” But the instant the press left so did the congressman’s smile and willingness to meet his public. It made my friend really doubt the sincerity of the congressman to serve the people as opposed to his desire to gain power from the office. A servant doesn’t draw attention to himself. He merely serves and desires to multiply the effectiveness of his service. Jesus was healing people. He entered the synagogue. The press (Pharisees and Herodians) were there to observe Him to see if He might break any of their forms. It was the Sabbath. To heal on the Sabbath was, according to them, forbidden work. It did not fit their form. A man with a withered hand was there. What kind of press would He receive from healing this man’s hand? Jesus was not concerned about press. He was concerned about mercy and the glory of God being revealed on the Sabbath. He healed the man for it accomplished both concerns. He served the man and outraged the Pharisees. From that point on they began to plot to kill Him. Jesus withdrew. Naturally the multitude followed. He continued to teach, heal and set people free. Then He went up on the mountain and appointed twelve to: 1. be with him, 2. send them out to preach 3. heal the sick Jesus was limited by His body. He knew that He could multiply His service by empowering others. He made it part of His glory to empower others. And they received His power and served others. His glory was increased. Still today Jesus calls us to be with Him, to preach and to heal—to serve others. His glory is increased when we serve. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John

February 20

EXODUS 3 With the exception of the appearance of the Lord Jesus Christ, this chapter begins the record of the greatest theophany found in the Bible. (A theophany is an appearance of God.) Books have literally been written on this chapter. How can I have just one little meditation on this chapter? Why did God choose to appear as a burning bush? This metaphor of God as a consuming fire runs deep in Scripture. See Ex. 24:17; Deut. 4:24; 9:3; & Hebrews 12:29 plus a host of other images of his burning anger. We can talk all we want about the grace of God, yet at the same time we must remember that He is also a holy God. His holiness consumes what is not holy. The fire image is quite a fearful thing. But wait, listen to what this consuming fire says, “I have surely seen the oppression . . . I know their sorrows. 8“So I have come down to deliver . . .” This really is more than what one can grasp in one sitting. Moses asks a very reasonable question, “What is Your name?” For a person of His culture and time, that was a way of asking, “Who are you? What are you like?” Moses could see this consuming fire that did not consume things. He knew of the oppression of his people. He had experienced the impotence of his own ability to deliver. His life had seemed like a colossal waste. Yet his senses could not deny what he was seeing and hearing. Who is this God that had not yet delivered and had been seemingly unavailable? What was God’s answer? “I am that I am.” To a perfectly good question he receives what would seem at first a smart-aleck answer. But think on it. How else could an infinite God explain Himself to a finite man? He is what He is. Since He is infinite, the best way to learn what He is like is by experience. If it is through experience that we learn to know Him, then He is what He is. The next 40 years are experiences where Moses will learn what God is like and who He is. Some things that Moses will learn are that God sees the oppression of His people; He knows their sorrows; He comes down to deliver. In the midst of that deliverance, God’s fire consumes all that is not holy. What is holy remains and is made pure. It is not consumed. Hmmm. . . There is a lot to think about here. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Job 20 Julias Caesar became dictator/emperor of Rome around 48 b.c. bringing an end to the Roman Republic. Some would say that this was and evil. He did not last too long. He was assassinated in March of 44, only 4 years of rule. However, the republic never recovered. The empire continued with a legacy of evil emperors for 400 years. One might say that evil reigned for a long time. One of modern history’s all-time bad guys, Adolf Hitler, came to power in 1933. In April of 1945 in the face eminent defeat, he and his bride committed suicide, and their bodies were destroyed by fire. He reigned only 12 years, in terms of world history, only a short time. In those twelve years his regime managed to execute around 18 million people and bring countless heartaches to people across the globe by the wars he began. Was his triumph but for a short time? Ask the families of those most closely affected and they would probably say it was too long. Compare it to eternity, and it was but a short time. Is it true that the triumph of the wicked is but for a short time? Zophar is provoked by Job’s protestations that he is innocent. “Surely,” he thinks, “Job is suffering because he has committed something wicked, and God has brought something evil upon him to bring justice against his wickedness.” He considers the present fall of Job to be the just recompense of some sin that Job has committed. He brings the full brunt of his argument against Job. Is it the glory of God to bring a short end to the triumph of evil? Certainly it is His glory to triumph over evil, but is there also a place in God’s economy for longsuffering and patience giving the evil person time to repent? Certainly it would seem so. If that is true, then is it not also true that those who are evil may harm others in their path? It would seem so. It would seem that the only alternative is to never allow evil to exist in the first place. To do that would eliminate the possibility of choice. I am convinced that I have the power of choice. It seems to be consistent with the reality that I see around me. That power of choice explains why evil exists. Certainly God will bring an end to the triumph of evil, but it will be in his time. So whenever I am tempted to judge someone has committed evil because I see them in misery, I had better remember, “It is the glory of God to wait for judgment. I had better wait on my evaluation of another’s misery. It is better to extend mercy to them, for I myself may someday be in their shoes.” That is His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Psalm 51 Just six days ago, I was staying in the New Park Hotel in Amman, Jordan. When you step out of the hotel and look up, you can see the northeast corner of the citadel of the ancient city. Down toward the western end of the citadel archaeologists have found the foundations of what they believe to be a palace belonging to an ancient king of Rabbah Ben Ammon. That was the city to which Joab was laying siege when David made his infamous decision to stay at home rather than go out to war. It was somewhere around here that David had Joab put Uriah in the hottest part of the battle and then withdraw so that Uriah would be killed. It is a rugged area to be attempting a siege. I could see how a blunder could be staged that that would yield the desired outcome without inflicting large losses upon one’s own troops. Just a few days before I was at the New Park Hotel, I was in the City of David looking at the Archeological Park. Archeologist Eilat Mazar has located there what she believes to be the remains of David’s palace. It sits at the northwest corner of David’s old city. The old City of David barely covers 12 acres, is long and skinny, and steeply slopes from the lowest point in the south to the highest in the north. At Mazar’s location David’s palace would not have to be very tall to overlook every house in town. Moreover, the archeological park indicates that a royal quarter of houses surrounded the palace, meaning David’s most trusted military men and civil officials probably lived very close by. I wonder if it was common practice for women to bathe on their rooftop. If not, what was Bathsheba doing up there? If so, David knew that being there alone would escort him into the area of lustful thoughts. He went there anyway. Whatever the causes, David was almost literally “caught with his pants down,” not only with the adultery but also with the cover-up murder. David tried to hide his sin. He denied, denied, denied, even to himself. How long had the desire for God gone dry before he knew it was gone? How long was it before he experienced the realization that he was no longer in fellowship with God? How long was it before he realized that his private sin was public knowledge? Was it really only when Nathan the prophet came to him? When and how did this overwhelming remorse take him so that he penned this Psalm? It seems to me that this sin was so premeditated that the answer to all these questions is, “He knew it all along, but refused to consciously recognize it.” If man of whom God implied was ‘a man after His own heart’ could be caught that way, how much more can I? David’s desperation for cleansing and renewal and forgiveness wash through this Psalm. His confession had to be made public for in a sense his was a public sin. O sure, the thought processes which led to the private bedroom act were all private. Sure, the arrangements for Uriah’s murder were private, but the consequences had public results. Ultimately, it was only against God that he had sinned, but in the process he sinned against Bathsheba, taking from her that which she should only have given her husband. He sinned against Uriah, taking from him that which belonged only to him as Bathsheba’s husband. He sinned against Uriah, taking his life from him. But David knew that ultimately, as the Creator, these all belonged to God. He sinned against God. The fellowship was gone, and he knew it. Here is where the Glory of Jesus comes in. Jesus does not just wink at the sin. He desires and demands truth in our hidden parts, but when He brings us to the point (which may feel like our bones are being broken) where we see and acknowledge the truth, He brings forgiveness. He does purge us. He does wash us whiter than snow. He does create in us a clean heart. He does renew a steadfast spirit—David had one before Bathsheba, and he would have one again. God does restore His presence. He does this so that other sinners may come to repentance and be converted. He does it so that we might experience true change and experience Him. He wants me to experience Him. David lived the rest of his life in the ignominious circumstances resulting from his sin, but nevertheless, he experienced God once again. Now that is glory! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor john * * Mark 2 Isn’t it funny how we get hung up on forms. A friend of mine told me of a family member who was receiving training to be a notary. In her training she was told that if someone didn’t fill out the forms properly, she, of course, was not to notarize the paper. Now that is understandable. But she was also instructed not to tell people how to fill out the form properly. Why? Because that would be giving legal advice. They are hung up on a form of a different sort. The people of Jesus’ day were no different. Jesus said to the paralytic, “Son, your sins are forgiven you.” How outrageous! Only GOD can forgive sins! Well, Duh! Only God can heal! Jesus did not fit their form for Deity. Jesus went to eat with the tax collectors and sinners. The form says that a holy man does not eat with sinners; then, how can sinners find out how to have their sin removed? Jesus did not fit their form of separation from sin. Even the disciples of John the Baptist did not get it. J.B. taught his disciples a form of fasting – a sign of mourning over sin and its ensuing separation from God. But God was with them in the flesh! Jesus did not fit their form of fasting. Then there was the form of the Sabbath. All through the ages people have tried to push the envelope on the form of work on the Sabbath. What constitutes work and what doesn’t? But the point was not to give man the proper forms to fill out in the proper way. The point was to give man relief from everyday pursuits to focus on the One who created the form, the One who gives him meaning, to focus on God. They made the form the point rather than God. The kingdom of God isn’t about forms of the kingdom. It is about Him! It is about His glory! That is why we have to cut through the forms and see the glory! What is the glory? He is the God who forgives sin! The forgiveness of our sin will one day lead to our healing. Fasting has its place—if we are mourning over a lack of seeing His glory. The Sabbath was given so that we could spend a day focusing on His glory. It is not about defining what forms of work we can and cannot do. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today! --Pastor John