We were numb. Our house had burned down. We had lost most of our worldly possessions. Our two adult dogs and three puppies died of smoke inhalation in the fire. You walk into the devastation of the fire and you don’t know where to start cleaning up. Most of the stuff was covered with soot and water, and it wasn’t worth trying to restore. Large sections of walls and roof walls were gone. The furniture and electronics were ruined. Even some of the pots and pans were warped by the high heat. It hardly seemed worth sorting through the junk to see what was salvageable. We felt like the strength was sucked out of us, but fortunately no human life was lost or threatened. If there was ever a time for strength, we needed it now.
“But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.” How do you do that? I am convinced that that is what we are doing right now. We are not just mindlessly reading the Scripture as some sort of daily ritual. It is looking intently into the sacred word until we see something of Him, of His glory. We stay there until we see something and know what we are going to do because of what we see. David had been tremendously injured. He had been rejected by the Philistines. His wives and children had been kidnapped. Everyone in his army had their wives and children kidnapped. There was talk among the men of perhaps stoning David because he had led them in joining the Philistines to attack Israel. It was during that time away that their families were kidnapped. For more than ten years David had been on the run from Saul. He was extremely weary. Now he had lost his family and was about to lose his army. But he strengthened himself in the Lord.
Aphek was more than 55 miles from Ziklag. On the third day they came to Ziklag. That means that they had covered more than 17 miles per day, for the last three days. Only to find their homes burned and looted and their families kidnapped. David enquires of the Lord on whether to pursue the captors. The Lord said pursue. They immediately took off in pursuit. The Brook of Besor is at least another 15 miles from Ziklag. Arriving there, one third were too exhausted to go any farther. They found a straggler who was able to lead them to the main camp. The Amalekites were partying and probably drank themselves to sleep. David set up his 400 for attack at twilight dawn. His army was successful. They attacked until evening. Apparently not everyone was drunk and asleep, or it wouldn’t have taken so long. But nevertheless, it was a relatively easy victory. They recouped everything because of the strength of the Lord.
That is what meditating on His glory does. It gives me strength when I have lost everything and have none to continue on. I felt it in the fire. I feel it now. Indeed we serve a glorious King. Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
PSALM 66
It was one of my first experiences where the praise of God was glorious. My brother, five years older than I, was being ordained. The little country church was packed with friends and supporters from all over the association. It was standing room only filled with people who loved Jesus and wanted to praise His name. It felt as if the roof and walls were going to explode with the energy produced by the singing. It is interesting to me to note that we sang hymns. Granted many of them were less than 100 years old, but the people sang with heart-felt exuberance. You see, the music style really doesn’t matter if everyone is singing in spirit and truth. The only instrument we had was a piano, and the pianist and director made sure that we sang with an energy that soared to the heavens, and it did. One could barely hear the piano. It seemed as if the heavens came down. Because the place was filled with people who wanted to sing His praise with all their heart, mind, soul and strength, it increased the ability of everyone to sing with abandon, and we did. His praise was made glorious.
How do we make His praise glorious? It is after all a command. Well certainly, if it is to be glorious, there must be an emphasis on the art of worship, but also if we are to make it glorious, there must be an emphasis on the heart of worship. The above illustration demonstrates that art can be overshadowed by the heart if the worshippers come together with full hearts eager to bring praise to their God. But what if in that service we had picked all songs that were unfamiliar to the congregation both in music style and word content. The result would have somewhat dampened the heart-felt praise of the people because they would have been struggling with the mechanics of learning the tune and embracing the words. It would have been a barrier to everyone entering into praise with abandon. Excellency and familiarity with the art of worship can be an aid or a barrier to making His praise glorious. Similarly the position of the heart can be an aid or a barrier to making His praise glorious. If the people at my brother’s ordination had just been the run of the mill church goer, it would have been a rather inglorious occasion. Half of them would probably not have sung. Another fourth would have felt uncomfortable singing with abandon because they would have worried about whether somebody else might hear them. The last fourth might have entered into their own personal haven where they worshipped individually, but the corporate flow of making His praise glorious would have been inhibited.
So what do we do to make His praise glorious. First we make sure that our hearts are in the right place. We call to mind what our magnificent Lord has done for us for which He is worthy of praise. We reflect upon the awesome works of power which He has performed. They are not hard to find. They are all around us. His creative power is the most obvious. All we need do is to begin to reflect upon His works of creation and we become overwhelmed with His beauty. Then we need to reflect upon saving works. He split the Red Sea so that Israel could pass on dry land. Wow! But what did he do for me so that I could be delivered from the bondage of sin? He became flesh; He suffered; He died; He rose; He ascended; He intercedes for us. WOW!! But that is not all! He brought certain people into our lives so that we could hear the Gospel and respond to His loving grace! Because of Him they loved and prayed us into the Kingdom. WOW! But that is not all! He works not only to set us free from sin, but He also works to change our character in order to work the sin out of our lives. He refines us like silver. So in that refining process, we must admit the iniquity in our lives and cooperate with Him in that refining process. When we refuse to cooperate, He does not hear our praise. His praise becomes inglorious. When I reflect upon all that He has done and is doing, I am prepared to make His praise glorious. I want to do that! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
EZEKIEL 35
“I beat your . . . ,” He spoke the words with a snarl as we entered the shower room after football practice. What could I say? It was true, and he was reveling in it. But what could I do? He was our first string defensive tackle, and I was playing offensive tackle on our scout team. He outweighed me by 40 pounds. He was stronger, faster and smarter. I never have figured out why he didn’t like me, but he didn’t, and he loved every minute of making me miserable. He loved gloating over my demise. It sparked a fire of anger in my heart that did not go out for at least 24hrs.
Mt. Seir is the rugged desolate mountainous area south of the Dead Sea. It was inhabited by the descendants of Esau. The nation was called Edom. Israel had an “ancient” feud with Edom, beginning with Esau and extended two thousand years through his descendants. The Edomites would not allow Israel to travel through their land when Israel was trying to move from the wilderness to the east side of the Jordan. David subdued the Edomites and made the part of his kingdom. From time to time they rebelled under subsequent kings. They obviously gloated over Israel’s demise when Nebuchadnezzar first subdued then destroyed them. The Lord pronounces the doom of Edom. Why? Because Edom gloated over Israel when He, the Lord, was in Israel. It was an offense against His glory. So He returned unto Edom what Israel received.
Today we have many Christians throughout the world who are being persecuted for the mere reason that the Lord is in their midst. Like Edom, the Lord will one day return their hatred upon them. To be sure some persecutors will be shown mercy, even as Paul was shown mercy, but the mercy will only come if they repent and believe. That is part of the glory of our Lord.
The next day after my opponent on the football field gloated over me was different. This time when we came in from the practice field, he had a slight concussion. It was exhibited by a mild case of amnesia. To my shame I had a fierce anger toward him during practice. I wanted to hurt him. I, quite likely, was the cause of his concussion. Learning that he had a concussion immediately killed my anger. But even though I regret wanting and trying to hurt him, somehow I still find some kind of pleasure that justice was served. The gloater, the boaster fell. The glory of the Lord is that ultimately, justice will be served. We will not necessarily rejoice in the death of the wicked, but we will rejoice that justice prevailed and mercy was offered. Indeed, we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor john
1 Corinthians 15:1-28
What's the old saying? There are only 2 things certain in life--death and taxes. Death is a common denominator to us all. It is coming but we don't want to think about it. For most it is a dread champion that we refuse to allow to come to mind. For, if we do, the thoughts and feelings, for those who have no hope, can be overpowering.
The glory of Jesus is that He has defeated death. He just hasn't awarded the final effect of his victory in us yet. History is the struggle of men to achieve immortality by gaining power and using that power to build something that will make them immortal. Their building might be a pyramid, a palace, a garden, a legacy, a lineage, a kingdom, a nation, a significant piece of legislation, a religion, a family or something that will outlast them. Jesus died so that He could gain a kingdom. It is a kingdom of subjects who also have died, are dying and will die, but He raises them. He raises us and makes us into a kingdom. He shall reign, not to become immortal but because He is immortal. Then He will deliver us to the Father and then destroy death. He is life itself! In His presence death cannot survive! Indeed we serve a glorious King! Speak His glory to someone today!
--Pastor John
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