He Sustains

 "Cool as a cucumber" - not sure where that expression originated but it describes someone who holds-up well under pressure - baseball pitchers, football quarterbacks - oh, let's not forget ... mothers! As David fled for his life from his son, Absalom [who wanted the throne], he wrote these words: "O LORD, how my enemies have increased! Many are rising up against me. Many are saying of me, 'There is no help [no salvation] for me in God.'" (Psalm 3:1-2, AMP). I wonder how many times someone has watched me under pressure, seen fear and dismay instead of trust in God ... cool as a cucumber. Like me, you know how circumstances and relationships can push us to wringing our hands in anxiety, wondering where God is in the mix! David goes on, "But You, O LORD, are a shield for me, my glory and The One Who lifts my head. With my voice I was crying to the LORD, and He answered me from His holy mountain. I lay down and slept [safely]; I awakened, for the LORD sustains me." (V.3-5, AMP). Now, who [of all things] can lie down and sleep when the pressures of life are on? I tell you who can - the person who knows God as his Shield and his Lifter because God is The One Who listens, hears and delivers. Trust The Father ... He sustains.

Die To Live

For me to speak of the process of germination will surely make Mister Bill roll his eyes since about the only place I can grow anything is in the refrigerator. Nonetheless, when a seed is put into the ground and exposed to the right conditions - water, oxygen, temperature - something amazing happens. Absorbing water, the seed-coat breaks away and what's inside begins to grow; a root emerges and becomes the anchor for the plant that emerges. The prophet Samuel's mother, Hannah, gives a beautiful tribute to God Who made her able to conceive after many years of childlessness: "The LORD puts to death and makes alive ... He brings down and brings up ... He makes poor and rich ... He humbles and exalts ... He raises the poor from the dust ... He lifts the needy from the garbage heap to seat them with nobles and He gives them a seat of honor as an inheritance." (from 1 Samuel 2 NASB). Our tendency is to exalt ourselves but that authority is never ours! We are gently and kindly reminded that "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble" (James 4:6 NASB). Like that seed that otherwise dies in its seed-form and produces a hearty plant which blooms and bears fruit, so must we die to self so that we become what God desires us to be - "no longer I who live, but Christ Who lives in me" (Galatians 2:20 NASB). In her dire and hopeless circumstances, Hannah learned this lesson and made it her heart's great joy. When God has His way in us and [at the right time] He exalts us, it's beyond and more than we can imagine! Truly, we must ... die to live!

Good Thinking

It's been said that thinking requires little effort - that actually may be true unless you're calculating measurements or scientific equations or currency exchanges. I mostly avoid that kind of thinking!  I suggest the greatest prescription for thinking is from God Himself: "Finally, brothers and sisters, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if there is any excellence and if anything worthy of praise, think about these things." (Philippians 4:8 NASB). We've certainly had flash-cards of dishonorable, wrong, impure, unworthy things to "think about" recently so it's nice to have a redirection of focus for those who know and love The Lord! What an appropriate time to think about The Father - His love, His goodness, His grace. As the song goes "as high as the heaven above, so great is the measure of The Father's love. Herein is ... good thinking.

God Who Heals

It's easy to recognize wickedness, and [these days] there's no lack of opportunities to see it. Recent tragedies reflect an acute brokenness in our nation, and that brokenness seems to have seeped deeply into the soul of the nation. I suggest there's a neglect, however, to see personal sin - that is, sin that is personal to me and to you. It's been said God has no grandchildren, which is a keenly profound phrase and a deeply-moving truth: each person is personally responsible for his or her own heart. David said in Psalm 32:5, "I acknowledged my sin to You, and my iniquity I did not hide; I said, 'I will confess my transgressions to the LORD': and You forgave the guilt of my sin." As a people we no longer are willing to be transparent about sin because we no longer care to be transparent about personal sin - this is why sin is now a national epidemic. As a nation we no longer love God above all things because its people fail to personally "love God with all our hearts and souls and mind (Matthew 22:37 ESV). The nation no longer delights in the Lord because its people no longer personally delight in Him hence the personal desires of people's hearts are not for the Lord (Psalm 37:4 ESV). I could go on and on as God's Word speaks the truth of where we are as a nation and as God's people. Charles Spurgeon said confession bring "healing for the "broken heart ... the fountain is always flowing and ready to cleanse us from our sins." The brokenness for a broken nation begins with the brokenness of every heart before the ... God Who Heals.

Rally for Truth

No one cares to hear: "I told you so." What precedes those words is something that should not have surprised us, something we should have expected and seen coming. Nonetheless, things happen in our lives, our communities, our nation, our world that shock and stun us. After telling His disciples "if the world hates you [and it does], know that it has hated Me before it hated you," Jesus warned them, "I have told you these things so that you will not stumble or be caught off guard and fall away. They will put you out of the synagogues and make you outcasts. And a time is coming when whoever kills you will think that he is offering service to God. And they will do these things because they have not known the Father or Me" (John 15:18 and 16:1-3 AMP). While there seems to be a great demand for truth yet it truth is the object of rejection and hatred. Jesus said, "I am the way and the truth and the life," and for it He was nailed to a cross. The hard cold fact is that the world cares nothing for truth. Those who insist on speaking only Truth - thus saith the Lord - are today labeled public enemies and at risk of being silenced. In speaking truth, Paul asked "have I then become your enemy by telling you the truth?" (Galatians 4:16 ESV). Recent events should be a rally-cry for Believers to remain true to Christ and to Eternal Truth. Let us not be counted among those who [as Jesus described] "fall awaty" and exchange truth about God for a lie (Romans 1:25). Now is the time to persevere, to endure, to exercise genuine faith - to "bear fruit and so prove" to be Jesus' disciples (John 15:8 ESV). Resist the urge to scatter; rather, let us unite and always ... rally for truth!