August 11

1 SAMUEL 1
When living in Glencoe in grade school, going to Stillwater was an exciting thing, especially if I could talk my parents into letting me go to the movie. One Saturday my mom and our next door neighbor’s mom decided to go shopping in Stillwater. My sister and neighbor girl found out, and they talked mom into letting them go to the movie while the moms shopped. I found out, and of course I talked my way into going as well. A matinee was showing at the Aggie, The Seven Faces of Dr. Lao. In those days they did not clear the theater after each showing. And of course I did not sit with my sister and her friend. I thoroughly enjoyed the movie, 2½ times. Finally, my sister tapped me on the shoulder and said, “It’s time to go.”
On the way out she asked, “Were you scared?”
“Of course not,” I replied, “why would I be scared?”
“Didn’t you know that we left you behind?” Apparently the old adage, “Out of sight, out of mind,” applied here. They had driven within a mile of Glencoe before they remembered that they had forgotten to get me out of the theater. Frantically, they turned around, and as quickly as possible drove the 15 mile trip back to Stillwater. They had forgotten me, and I never knew it or felt it.
Have you ever felt that you have been forgotten by God? Does God forget? Our text says that God remembered Hannah. If God is all knowing, how can He ever forget anything? Yet, Jeremiah 31:34 says that part of the New Covenant is that He will remember our sin no more. The word ‘remember’ has a meaning which includes to call to mind. God never forgets. He is God. He knows everything. By definition He has the ability to call to mind anything. When God remembers, it is not referring to an ability; it is referring to a decision. He chose to bring to mind Hannah’s request and grant it. Hannah had felt forgotten. She wasn’t forgotten, but it felt like it. But God called her back to mind at the appropriate time. He chooses to forget the sin of those who have been placed under the blood of Jesus. He sees the blood covering and chooses not to peek under the covers to see what is there. He has the ability to bring it to mind, but He does not bring it to mind. He never forgets us, rather He is always mindful of us in planning what is best for His glory and for us. Yet He chooses to not call to mind our sin. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 41
Can the Lord reach into my soul and heal me when I feel that I have been betrayed? This Psalm searches some of the limits of that question. David begins by blessing the one who considers the poor. Why would he do that? Often times David had fled those whom he had trusted. Often his flight was so sudden that he could not plan. He fled Saul without even a sword in his hand to defend himself against foes or predators. He had to depend upon the priest to give him the sword of Goliath. He fled Absalom without having made adequate provision for his army. He had to depend upon Barzillai for some of those provisions. Later David was betrayed by Sheba the son of Bichri. This time he called upon general Amasa to put down the rebellion. Amasa drug his feet taking his sweet time to assemble the troops. Joab had to sweep in and pick up the slack. David was familiar with betrayal which left him vulnerable and poor. He was grateful for those who helped him. Therefore, he blessed them.
Many of those times, those betrayals came from those who were closest to him. It was then that he experienced the greatest deprivation. It wasn’t just the economic deprivation; it was also emotional wasting. Jesus was no stranger to this kind of deprivation. As a matter of fact the New Testament writers quote verse 9 in reference to Judas. Jesus was also poor. The only thing of value that He owned was literally the cloak which He wore. This man in poverty had 12 close associates that traveled with Him for the majority of his ministry, about 3 years. One of those associates traded Him in for 30 pieces of silver, the price of a slave. Jesus, knowing full well what Judas was about to do, extended friendship to him right up unto the very end.
That is the glory of Jesus. He knows our betrayal. But He extends the offer of friendship to us right up until the very end. I can turn from my betrayal and receive His forgiveness, or I can reject it and receive His wrath. When I receive His forgiveness, He expects me to extend the same forgiveness to the poor, because we also were poor. Some will lift up their heel against us, but what else should we expect? If they treated our Lord and Master that way, then we should expect nothing less from some of them. How do you keep motivated? You focus on His glory when He did it. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 10
The lights faded in the rearview mirror as we departed from Ocean City. I paused within my mind and reflected. It marked the end of a wonderful summer adventure with 60 other collegiate members of Campus Crusade for Christ. We had prayed, studied the Word, evangelized, fellowshipped and obeyed the Lord together for the last three months. I still remember many of their names and think about them from time to time. It was a great summer! As I viewed the fading lights and paused, I mourned that it was over.
Standing at the airline gate, I watched her walk down the causeway to board the jet to Philadelphia. The tears were flowing down her beautiful cheeks as she boarded the plane to go home. I had never become so close to someone before. Each step she took seemed to step upon my heart. She had become my sunshine, and now she was taking it away. I didn’t know where the relationship would go from here, but I knew that already I missed her. Standing there, I did not realize that less than a year later she would be my wife.
I could relate experience after experience similar to these, when I have had to turn my back on a chapter of life and remove myself from it. It is always a time for pausing to remember and reflect on where I have been and where I am going. It is always a time to stand still and ponder where I have been and where I am going from here.

4Then the glory of the LORD went up from the cherub, and paused over the threshold of the temple; and the house was filled with the cloud, and the court was full of the brightness of the LORD’s glory. . . . 18Then the glory of the LORD departed from the threshold of the temple and stood over the cherubim. 19 And the cherubim lifted their wings and mounted up from the earth in my sight. When they went out, the wheels were beside them; and they stood at the door of the east gate of the LORD’s house, and the glory of the God of Israel was above them.

The glory is departing so that He may judge and destroy the city. Yet even as He does so in the fierceness of His anger, He pauses; He stands still. I believe that He was mourning the relationship that could have been if only Judah had only trusted and obeyed. Think of that! Our awesome, all powerful, magnificent God mourns and misses the lost relationship with us. In the midst of His glory is intense desire that He has for us to repent and turn to Him. Knowing what He is about to do to Jerusalem, He pauses and stands and mourns. Judah is unfit to be His ‘bride’. She is little more than a whore. But what He is about to do is designed to cure her of that. What can we say of His church? His judgments and disciplines are made to cure us of our whoredom, so that we might become His pure and spotless bride. Had my time in Ocean City not been so wonderful, I do not think I would have paused for a moment. I would have been glad to leave town. Had the girl walking down the causeway not been so wonderful, I would not have given her the time to take her to the airport, much less stand and feel her footsteps crunch my heart. How much greater is He that he loves us and disciplines us so that He might draw us to Himself. Now that is glory! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 11:19-36
Consider the goodness & severity of God. Yesterday, I wrote my meditation on the glory of God while sitting on the floor of the front corridor of the Mexico City airport. To make a long story short, we missed our flight and were forced to wait another day. We didn't really have much option but to spend it in the airport corridor. We included Laura, Beth, Liam(age 6), and Mandy (a friend). At least we were together; but 24 hours in an airport corridor wasn't too exciting, especially with a 6 year old.
While I was writing my meditation, a Mexican walked up to me and said, "Excuse me, but I am an evangelical Christian. I was wondering why you are here?" I explained and then he said, "I live about 10 minutes from here. Why don't you come home and spend the night with me. I am not a rich man but you are welcome in my home."
Honestly, I thought it was a scam at first. But he told me that he rarely heard the voice of the Lord, but he was convinced that the Lord told him to take us home. His family was there with him. He called a neighbor, who was a brother in Christ, to come help transport us and our luggage to their home. His family and his neighbors gave us beds and cots to sleep on, fed us dinner and breakfast and then took us back to the airport this morning.
When he first said that the Lord told him to take us home, I was overwhelmed with the goodness of God and had to fight back the tears. Sitting around his table, he shared with us what the Lord had been doing in his church in the last year. His home church met in his neighbor's home every Friday evening. There were about 30 of them. God had performed miraculous healings among them. Most of them had just met the Lord in the last year. Their larger church, which met on Sunday mornings, could trace its origin back to the revival in Wales in 1904.
This morning I read this passage, "Consider the goodness & severity of the Lord." Now, I realize this is a whole different context from my situation, but as I considered the goodness of the Lord, I was once again overwhelmed. I shared this with the brother at the Breakfast table and told him, "God has used you to show me His goodness."
He replied, "My pastor has a saying, 'When God wants to hold us, He always sends a brother. We are his arms.'"
Laura replied, "You have been God's arms to us."
I hope I never forget that. That is the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ in action-His goodness and severity. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John