“Ever danced with the devil in the pale moonlight?” You may recognize that line from the Joker in the 1989 movie Batman. Although I have only seen the movie a couple of times, it is a line that reverberates through my mind like a bad dream from which I cannot awake, and no one can rescue me. Saul’s tortured reign has come to an end. Samuel is dead. God won’t talk to him. His back is once again against the wall as he faces the Philistines. He knows there is only One who can rescue him, but his life of half-hearted obedience has led him down the path of bondage and despair. He knows the glory of the Lord, but he desired the ways of this world. His desire for riches and power choked out the peaceful fruit of righteousness and now the devil has come for the last dance. It is time to pay the piper.
Like Saul, many have mixed the glory of the Lord with the knowledge of evil. We can fall in the same trap. In so doing, we snare our souls and dance with demons. Is it the glory of the Lord to remain silent when we have steadfastly rejected his instruction. The law clearly opposed seeking spiritual knowledge by any method other than seeking God. Saul was aware of that, and he had even dispensed legislation to support it. His desperation to hang on to what was not his has led to this final act of disobedience. There is now no remedy. It had to be terrifying. It was the natural result of seeking his own glory over God’s. Lord help me to never be like Saul. May my meditations on your glory always lead me to let go of what you do not intend to be mine and to only hang on to you! Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
Taken from Tel Megiddo. From the left on the horizon are the mountains of Nazareth, Mt Tabor and then the Hill of Moreh. En Dor would be on the far side of En Dor. Mt. Carmel would be behind us and to the left (west-northwest).
This is taken from the top of Mt. Tabor looking south. The large hill/mountain in the valley floor is the Hill of Moreh. Shunem where the Philistines camped was on the opposite side of Moreh. The mountains of Gilboa may vaguely be made out in the haze in the distance to the left of Moreh. En Dor where Saul met the medium was on the valley floor in the foreground near the slopes of the Hill of Moreh and to the left of it.
PSALM 65
“Praise is awaiting You, O God, in Zion.” What in the world does that mean? Zion of course is the place where the temple was eventually built. But this Psalm is written by David prior to the building of the temple. At David’s time Zion was the Jebusite stronghold which David conquered and turned into his own city. It was now David’s royal city, his residence. He was waiting for the presence of God in order to bring Him praise. He gladly begins to recount the praise that He will bring to Yahweh when He shows up. So Zion is simply the place where Yahweh’s people dwell. His people should ever be ready to bring Him praise.
What kind of things does David say concerning the praise of his Lord? He hears our prayer. Can you imagine that the Almighty has the capacity to hear the simultaneous prayers of billions of people and still treat each one as if his prayer was the only prayer offered? I am awestruck. He provides atonement. Can you imagine that with all the horrible sins I have committed that He offered up Himself as the satisfactory payment for my sin? I am aghast! He satisfies us with His goodness. In those times when the enemy comes in like a flood, He calms my soul with His precious sense of well-being even in light of atrocities around me. I am flabbergasted! He is powerful. Can I even begin to understand the height and depth and length and width of His power? I am overwhelmed! He brings rain and the growth of crops. What more can I say? These are just small glimpses of His glory. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
EZEKIEL 34
If you didn’t already know it, pastor means ‘shepherd.’ Any understanding pastor trembles when he reads this chapter. Human sheep aren’t so ready to follow their shepherd as the sheep in this metaphor. Human sheep bite and devour one another. Human sheep are more demanding concerning their shepherd. Human sheep shop for a shepherd like they would for goods in a mall. Human sheep want a shepherd who uses his rod to only give things which they think are good; they never want the rod to be used for discipline, unless it is to be used on someone else. To make matters worse, pastors are often like their sheep. Their self-preservation is based on how many sheep they can round up. So the pastors scour the tools of their trade in order to provide that which will make the sheep happy, perhaps not healthy but happy. That which will truly make the sheep healthy might cause the sheep to run to another shepherd. We are indeed in a very pitiful condition.
This chapter of Ezekiel is the backdrop for the teaching found in John 9 & 10. When in John 10 Jesus says, “I am the good shepherd,” it is following the incident when the religious leaders had put the healed blind man out of the temple/synagogue because he embraced Jesus as the Messiah. He was a sheep who had heard the voice of his Shepherd and followed Him even though it meant being ostracized from the flock. What is the Good Shepherd like? He goes before them. He takes them only where He Himself has already gone. He lays down His life for His sheep. He is the door of protection for His sheep. He knows His sheep, being intimately acquainted with His sheep. Yes, knowing me completely, He lays down His life for me, and then He takes it up again in order to lead me to Himself and the Father. Now that is glory! Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
1 CORINTHIANS 14:20-40
Part of the glory of Christ is that He chooses to speak to people not only through His revealed Word but also through His body, the church. Why would He do such a thing? Wouldn’t it be much clearer if He sent angels or wrote the message in the stars or just dropped Bibles down from heaven to each language group written in that group’s language? It is such a messy thing, trying to get people with prideful-sin-marred natures to work together on something does not exalt them. I mean, really, give them each a gift that they can use to build toward the common goal? You know that prideful nature is going to cause them to exalt their gift over someone else’s gift. You know they are going to think their way of doing something is the only legitimate way of doing something. You know they are going to exalt the really gifted ones over the ones whose gifts are not so dramatic. You know their pride is going to get in the way.
Perhaps that is part of the Lord’s reasoning. I takes more power to do that which is more difficult. So when the one who is accomplishing that which is more difficult finishes, it brings Him greater glory. That is the glory of our Lord. His glory is not only found in His character, which is matchless, but it is also found in what He does. He performs some of the most impossible tasks. One of those is taking sin riddled people, cleaning their sin, gifting them, empowering them and using them to build His own body, His bride. Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today.
--Pastor john
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