August 12

1 SAMUEL 2
“I smile at my enemies.” Only one who knows that he is completely surrounded by One who keeps him safe can truly say that. Usually when I am in the presence of an enemy I can feel the tension rising from my toes to my head. Smiling is almost impossible; unless it is performed as a psychological tool against my enemy. I don’t think the smiling in this context is performed as a psychological tool. It is the smile of one who knows she is secure in the care of the Almighty. When I force myself to come to the point where I recognize the care that He gives me, I too am able to smile at my enemies.
Hannah also recognizes that the Lord is her rock. In their culture a great rock could refer to at least two things. One was that a rock was a stable foundation for building upon. The other was a place of refuge to flee from an advancing army. If you have seen the movie Masada or have studied the historical battle, then you understand the significance of the Lord being our rock as in being a place of refuge. In the Jewish rebellion against the Roman empire in 70 A.D., Masada was the last holdout of the Jews against the Romans. It took a 3 year siege and the engineering of a massive ramp for the Romans to eventually breach the walls of Masada. Stone Mountain, Georgia is the largest piece of exposed Granite in North America, perhaps the world. If it were on all sides as its face is, then it would be a rock that is impregnable to any ancient army. The Lord is our rock. When we are in his care, we are safe. Nothing can defeat us. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

PSALM 42
It was my first five-mile hike in Boy Scouts. About nine o’clock on Saturday morning they transported us five-miles outside of town and dropped us off. We began the summer morning walk back home. About half-way through many of the guys had already finished off their canteens of water. Thirst was beginning to prevail in the group. About three-fourths of the way home, we came to the ruins of an old farm house. The foundations were still there but the walls were long gone. Sticking up out of the ground was the old hand pump. One of the thirstiest of us ran to it to see if he could get some water. Surprisingly, it worked. We huddled around it vying for our turn at drinking at the well to satisfy our thirst.
Anyone who had traveled from Jerusalem to the Jordan and then north to Mount Hermon was accustomed to the desert of the wilderness of Judea. It had to be descended through on the way to Jericho. Were it not for the River Jordan which is fed year-round by the snow melt of Mt. Hermon, it would indeed be a desolate place. In the fifteen mile trek, it would be sufficient time to become severely dehydrated, yet water is abundant for the traveler in Jerusalem and at the Jordan.
The Psalmist longs for the Lord like one of those times when passing through the wilderness with insufficient water on the route. He is experiencing a spiritual and relational drought. Three times He says that his soul is ‘cast down’. A sheep that is cast down is one that has somehow managed to roll over on its back and because of weight and body structure it is unable get up again. If someone does not intervene it will lay there and die. He remembers many waterfalls of the Jordan River coming down from Mt. Hermon and Hill Mizar. He remembers times when it seemed the presence of the Lord was so abundant and refreshing, but those times are long gone. It seems that everyone around him gives verbal reminders of the lack of God’s presence. He uses this imagery to remind himself to hope in that same kind of return to the refreshing presence of God. Sometimes we just need to remind ourselves of the glory of God. Sometimes we just get cast down and can’t get up. In those times in particular we must focus on what the written word says of the glory of God. We have to remind ourselves of the abundance of His refreshing when His manifest presence is come. We have to remember His glory, for it is His glory which brings us hope. We are on a hike. The sources of refreshment are sporadic, but occasionally we come across an old hand pump that reaches down into the depths of God’s aquifer. His presence is an Oasis in the Wilderness. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

EZEKIEL 11
“You’re as cold as ice; you’re much too willing to sacrifice our love.” So go the lyrics to the song which the internet tells me was written by a group called Foreigner. Here the Lord compares the heart of Judah to stone. Indeed, they do have a heart of stone. As He continues to withdraw his presence from them, He stops to tell them,

I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within them, and take the stony heart out of their flesh, and give them a heart of flesh, 20that they may walk in My statutes and keep My judgments and do them; and they shall be My people, and I will be their God.
When will He give them a new heart? When they have put away their abominations, He will give them new heart. What are their abominations? Their trust in other gods, their seeking of other gods, the creation of their own hands are their gods.

My heart is also prone to become hard. I am too quick to worship the work of my own hands and to worship my own desires. It makes my heart grow cold and hard as stone.

My eyes are dry
My faith is old
My heart is hard
My prayers are cold
And I know how I ought to be
Alive to You and dead to me
But what can be done
For an old heart like mine
Soften it up
With oil and wine
The oil is You, Your Spirit of love
Please wash me anew
With the wine of Your Blood
Keith Green

It is His glory to soften our hearts if we let Him. It is His glory to wash us anew with the wine of His Blood, if we repent. It is His glory to fill us with His Spirit, if we yield. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john

ROMANS 12
The Glory of Christ is seen in our transformed minds. The world’s mindset is that one makes decisions and does actions in such a manner so that one promotes one’s own good. But the glory of Christ is such that as He changes us, we see the strengths He has given us. We use those strengths to promote the good of others, even those who are evil, but especially those of the household of faith. What a difference that is from the world’s mindset! But that is what Jesus did! Not only did He do it but He enables us to do it! Not that is glorious! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john