We had just moved to Oregon. We were only one month into our stay there and our money had already run dry. Deposits and rents took much more from the coffers than I had expected. I was jobless. I had come in what I thought was obedience to the will of the Lord. Little did I know but it would 4 months before I would gain a steady job. The Lord had given us His promise that through Him we would do valiantly. However, it did not feel very valiant at the time. Honestly, a couple of times I felt as if home were closer, I would have quit and gone there. But home wasn’t close, and to wait upon the Lord was easier than returning. “This calamity is from the Lord. Why should I wait upon the Lord any longer?’ Ever been there? I have felt that way before.
The king of Israel was certain that the famine, which Samaria was experiencing because of the Syrian siege, was Elisha’s fault. After all at one point the King had captured a large number of Syrian soldiers, but Elisha would not permit their execution. Rather, he commanded that they be fed and sent home. Perhaps if had killed those soldiers then, the odds would have been more in his favor now and the siege might never have happened. In the king’s mind this is all Yahweh’s fault and Elisha was His representative. It was his fault.
Well, it sort of was. Indeed the king could have executed all the soldiers and he might have a better advantage after that. But he was looking at what could have been and not what was. The Lord had provided several miracles to lead to that point. He had surrounded Elisha’s camp with angels preventing his capture. He had opened the eyes of the servant enabling him to see reality. He blinded the eyes of the soldiers forcing their submission. He could do something just as miraculous now if only the king would wait upon the Lord. Instead of looking at the glory, the king looked at the problem. We need to look at the glory. I have never missed a meal because I lacked something that I needed. Sometimes I have chosen not to eat because I was tired of what was provided. But I have always had what was needed. He does that. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
The trees in the background are Tamarisk trees. They grow thickly along the Jordan’s banks. These trees are young because of the modern history of conflict between Israel and Jordan.
I am not sure how large a tamarisk tree would have been in Elisha’s day. Can you imagine chopping down trees, and your ax head flying off the handle into the water?
Psalm 116-117
He looked me in the eye and said, “I just want you to know that I don’t like the way you are treating my brother.”
“How am I treating your brother?” I responded.
His open palm went up and he declared, “Enough said!” He ignored my question, my voice, and stormed out of the building. Such a response can be expected out of an immature child, or even and immature adult, but not out of a man in his sixties who has spent the bulk of his life in ministry and is a trained psychologist. He ignored my voice. It did not endear me to him.
Has your voice ever been ignored? The Psalmist says, “I love the Lord because He heard my voice.” If there is anyone in all of creation that I might expect to ignore my voice, perhaps it would be the Creator. After all as I look at the vastness of His creation and its overpowering complexity, I am convinced of my smallness! Why should He listen to me? Not only am I such a small thing in His finite creation, but He has a reason to be mad at me. I have rebelled against His authority and sinned against Him. According to His own justice, I deserve death. The Psalmist cries out to the Lord as he is about to die. The Lord heard his voice and delivered him.
I have called out to the Lord; He has delivered me from death and from the power of sin. Sin no longer has dominion over me. I will take that cup of salvation. It enables me to live victoriously over sin in this life. I can live this life in victory because He has heard my voice. I can call on His name and because He hears my voice, I can expect power to live victoriously. It endears me to Him. I love Him for it.
My death is precious in His sight. Physically I think that means that if I am walking with Him, my death is a valuable thing to Him. It will come neither before nor after the appropriate time. Spiritually, He desires the death of my old nature. It is precious to Him so that He can raise me to walk in newness of life. This infinite God desires to hear my voice. He desires to hear me call out to Him so that He might deliver me from and through death. Wow! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
AMOS 8
I detected tears falling from her eyes as she turned and walked down the jet port to return to Philly. The summer was now officially over. Three short months ago, I had just met her, yet my heart walked with her as she went. She captured it, and I gave it. It was a seeming end to an unexpected relationship. With the exception of the “soft kisses on a summer’s day” Chad and Jeremy’s hit, A Summer Song, written twelve years earlier, had typified our summer. It was filled with fun, laughter, learning and talking. As she disappeared down the walkway, I wanted to cry out, “Don’t go!” But summer fruit left in a basket and uneaten quickly rots and stinks.
And He said, “Amos, what do you see?”“They say that all good things must end someday.” Do they really have to end? I suppose that to continue growing, yes they must end. Does God grow? No, He does not grow. He is immutable; he never changes. Then why must good things end? Because we must grow, but is this why the end is coming to Israel? No, it is not. This end is coming because Israel had spurned the Lord. She had said to him, “I loved you yesterday, and yesterday’s gone.” She had become more concerned with trading and making money (v. 5) than talking with the Lord. Do you suppose that we in the American church has become more concerned with doing the business of the church than with actually talking with Him? We build great buildings, pass great budgets, add great staff, promote great programs, but is the Lord there? Do we really laugh with Him while the trees sway in the summer breeze, or have the winter winds sucked the heat out of our passion for Him? Has the passion for other things that we thought looked like Him displaced Him?
So I said, “A basket of summer fruit.”
Then the LORD said to me:
“The end has come upon My people Israel;
I will not pass by them anymore. “
Certainly it had happened to Israel. She had found other lovers in the autumn season. The Lord was not going to put up with it. Her adulteries had begun to make her stink. Her rottenness had brought an end. True to His faithfulness, He gives her a warning before it comes. Indeed the end was still 50 years off, but the warning was now to give her plenty of opportunity to repent.
O Lord, help me to turn back from following things that I thought look like you! I am so easily distracted by my own lusts for things that look like you but are in reality, counterfeits. They are the gods of Dan and Beersheba and Bethel. Let me walk in the summer breeze of Your great love! Let me laugh with You in the heat of the summer toil! Let me cast my cares upon you! Let me relish in the richness and abundance of Your word and obey it! I thirst for Your living water. Do not let me walk down the jetways that lead to a destination separate from You! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
P.S. Yes, I did correspond with her that fall, and yes, I dreamed of her when the rain beat against my window pane. And yes we married a little over a year after we met, and remain happily married to this day.
1 TIMOTHY 5
What a mess people are! The glory of Christ is seen in what He does in people in churches. In order to justify their lack of involvement in church, some people use the excuse that the churches are full of hypocrites anyway. So what did you expect? What really amazes me is not that there are hypocrites in the church but that occasionally you come across a church that seems to be functioning properly! I mean think about it! I've been around long enough to know that people just don't get along. People in general are just too diverse and selfish. Sooner or later there are going to be problems and everyone takes sides. How do you handle those problems to keep unity? If I could package that and give a guarantee of success, I could become a millionaire.
But you know what? Jesus is able to do that. He gives us directions to follow. Some of those are seen here. Were told how to exhort an older man, how to handle widows (perhaps the Federal Government could learn from this), how to treat elders of a church and even how to use wisdom in health issues. Our problems in the church stem more from our unwillingness to seek the Lord and follow His commands than from any lack of ability or direction from Him. But when I think about the waywardness of the heart of man, I realize that anytime I see people moving in unity toward the Lord Jesus Christ, that is an awesome miracle! What glory there is in that!
You know there is great glory to Jesus when He miraculously heals someone. Did you realize there is also glory to Him when you choose to follow good health practices in order to prevent disease? You know there is great glory to Jesus when a widow's need is miraculously met (see Elijah and Elisha). Did you realize there is also glory to Him when we follow His directions as to how believing families are to help one another? The glory of Christ is seen in a greater way when imperfect people yield to their perfect Lord, when they see that they have transgressed against His instructions and they work together to follow His instruction to restore one another. I am amazed at what He can do to bring people together. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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