PRAISE IS A CHOICE - Part 4 - Psalm 34

I’ve always loved Psalm 34.  It happened to be the next psalm on my regular quiet time reading today and it was so wonderful to read it again and then share it with a friend, and then I thought, “Why not write a blog so others can be blessed by it as well.”

In the footnote under the psalm in my Bible, it says that this psalm was written by David when he pretended to be insane in order to escape from King Achish.   We read that account in the Old Testament book of 2 Samuel , chapter 21, verses 10-16.  

Saul, the current king of Israel, out of jealousy over David’s victories and resultant popularity, had been pursuing David in order to take his life.  He fled to Nob where Ahimilech the priest gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine (whose slaying it was that had rocketed David to popularity).   Armed with Goliath’s sword, David continued to flee, entering the territory of Achish, king of Gath.

Gath was one of 5 major Philistine cities – right in the heart of enemy territory for anyone from Israel – but, to David, a seemingly safe hiding place where Saul would be unlikely to look for him.

In 2 Samuel 21, beginning in verse 11 we read, “But the servants of Achish said to (their king), ‘Isn’t this David, the king of the land?  Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances:  ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands?’

David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath.  So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

Achish said to his servants, ‘Look at the man! He is insane!  Why bring him to me?  Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me?  Must this man come into my house?”

God used David’s pretense to save his life, and so David left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam.

I might have expected that when David wrote Psalm 34 he would have written from a spirit of fear, or despair, or discouragement, as he has in some of the other psalms, but this psalm doesn’t reflect those emotions at all.  That makes it a wonderful psalm on which to meditate when we are going through difficult circumstances – like when we feel we’re surrounded by enemies at our secular jobs, devoid of a single Christian ally, or support system.   Or when we’re going through a messy divorce.   Or when we’re lonely and no one seems to care about us.  Or when our negative or self critical thoughts about our past sins or disappointments consume our minds.

Although David had good reason for allowing his circumstances to cause him to wallow in fear, or self pity, or depression, in this psalm, he did not land there.   This psalm reminds me again that praise is a choice.

In Psalm 34, verses 1-3, David chooses to praise the Lord with these words:

I will EXTOL the LORD at all times; His praise will always be on my lips.  My soul will boast in the Lord;

Let the afflicted hear and rejoice.   Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together.

 The word “extol”, as Webster’s Dictionary defines it, means:  to raise, or lift up, to praise highly. 

David not only speaks of praising.  He speaks of boasting in and glorifying the Lord as well.   

My granddaughter graduated from elementary school this week and I can tell you I was boasting to everyone who would listen about how smart and wonderful she is!   I need to do some boasting about the Lord too – not only in my soul, but also with lips that praise Him to anyone who will listen – or praise Him even when NO one else is listening!

David uses words like “at all times, and always” – to speak of how often he praises the Lord.  I have to ask myself:  Do those descriptions apply to my praise?  Do I really praise the Lord at all times and always?

David encourages those who are afflicted as he was, to hear his words and rejoice along with him – because there is always reason to praise the Lord.

Praise isn’t always easy because we don’t always feel like praising – we’re not in the mood, or it’s hard to praise when we’re experiencing affliction - but that is the very time when we need to praise the Lord the most!  Remembering who the Lord is and focusing on His glory shifts our minds from the circumstances that afflict us (many of which we can’t change!) to the God who is sovereign over those very circumstances.

And choosing to praise when we don’t feel like it takes us from simply speaking words ABOUT God to walking by faith in the God we KNOW.

2 Samuel 21 tells us that David was very much afraid – not only of Saul, but also of King Achish, enemy of the people of Israel, yet David says in v. 4:

“I sought the Lord, and He answered me; He delivered me from all my fears.  Those who look to Him are radiant; their faces are never covered with shame.

 This poor man called and the Lord heard him; He saved him out of all his troubles.  The angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.”

David was aware that the prayers he lifted to God for deliverance and help were answered by the Lord.  And David discovered that those who committed themselves to the Lord in prayer had no need to fear that the Lord would not come through.  Thus they would never be ashamed of putting their trust in Him.  On the contrary, those who looked to the Lord in trouble and affliction could be radiant with hope because He would bring deliverance just as He promised.  

There is a beautiful painting I would have liked to have had hanging in our girls’ rooms when they were little, but I didn’t discover it till later.  It shows a child sleeping in bed at night, with her mom kneeling beside the bed praying for her.  Over the entire scene is a huge angel with wings spread wide, keeping watch over the child.

David describes that beautiful mental picture in verse 7.  What a comfort for those nights when fear keeps us awake – the angel of the Lord encamps around those who fear Him, and He delivers them.   

v. 8-9 David says:

Taste and see that the Lord is good; blessed is the man who takes refuge in him.  Fear the Lord, you his saints, for those who fear him lack nothing.

Like looking at and smelling chocolate chip cookies fresh out of the oven and assuming that they would be really GOOD to eat, but not knowing the reality of their deliciousness until we taste them, David says: TASTE and SEE that the Lord is good.  The original Hebrew meaning of the word taste is:  “to perceive”, David says, don’t just believe in God’s goodness with your mind, but experience it with your senses – taste it, see it, experience His goodness.

Saul frightened David, King Achish frightened David – but in the end, David didn’t need to fear men because he feared the Lord, and when we fear the Lord, we lack no good thing.

In v. 15 David says:

The eyes of the Lord are on the righteous and His ears are attentive to their cry.

Have you ever been in a crowd of people and felt that no one even noticed you were there?  You could stay or leave, and no one would care.  You could wear your sorrows on your sleeve, bear them on your face – but no one would notice. 

Or did you ever shared a struggle over coffee with a friend and known that they hadn’t heard a word you said?  Their mind was elsewhere, or they were intent on watching the TV over your shoulder?

David says that we who belong to the Lord always have His undivided attention.  That means that the Lord’s eyes are intently gazing into yours and His ears are attentive to your words – as if you were the only one in the world.   

I was at a retreat last month and during the last day when we were sharing about the specialness of a weekend away with the Lord, one of the women said:  “I hate to tell all you girls this, but I am the Lord’s favorite!”

Well, the reality is that YOU are the Lord’s favorite.  And so am I.  His eyes are on us and His ears are attentive to our cries, as we walk in obedience to Him.

In v. 18 David says:

The Lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit.

Is that you?  What or who, is it that has broken your heart?  Is it some hurt inflicted on you by someone you love?  Is it isolation and loneliness?  Is it a disappointing relationship, or the loss of your marriage, or of a loved one to death?   You may feel alone – but David says the Lord is especially close to YOU because your heart has been broken.   He wants to save you – to rescue you – from being weighed down by a crushed spirit.  It’s not the way you were meant to live as a child of the King.

In v. 19 David shares an unpleasant reality, and a wonderful promise:

A righteous man may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all.

Reality – those who have been declared righteous by grace through faith in Jesus – will not be spared the troubles that afflict the rest of mankind BUT, we do have the promise that the Lord will deliver us from them all.

The original Hebrew word translated “delivers” has a more complex meaning than we might think.  It can mean: defend, escape, pluck, preserve, recover, rescue, rid, and save.

So, while the Lord might not change our circumstances, although He is certainly powerful enough to do that, He may instead choose to defend us against opposition by intervening on our behalf or granting us favor with those in positions of influence in the midst of opposition.  God demonstrated that in David's life.

God had anointed David to be the next king of Israel after Saul, but David waited years for God to fulfill that promise.  In the meantime, he ran from Saul who wanted to take his life.  The Lord did not change David’s circumstances – but he did, many times, intervene on David’s behalf and protect and deliver him from his enemy.  At another time later in David’s life, he even turned the advice of an enemy advisor in David’s favor.  God knows how to care for His own.

Or He might provide a means of escape, or rescue – as He did for David when King Achish wrote him off as insane.  

It might mean that the Lord will pluck us out of troubling circumstances, or rid us of them, or preserve us IN them.   

His deliverance might take the form of helping us to recover from our troubles once they are past.  

For a variety of reasons the Lord has made 2 Corinthians 10:3-5 verses that have become very meaningful and practical to me, and they apply well in this instance.

“Though we live in the world, we do not wage war as the world does.  The weapons we fight with are not the weapons of the world.  On the contrary they have divine power to demolish strongholds.  We demolish arguments and every pretension that sets itself up against the knowledge of God, and we take captive every thought to make it obedient to Christ.”

The most active battlefield we have in our lives is the battle that goes on in our minds.  In difficult circumstances, and even just in the everyday out workings of our lives, there is constant tension over whether we’re going to give in to discouragement and fear, or walk by faith; to take the easy route of living as the world does, or walk by faith in God’s truth.

Paul says we don’t wage that war the way the world does.  God has given us weapons of divine power – the Word of God, the Spirit of God, and prayer, and those are the weapons with which we are to fight those battles.

God’s weapons have the power to demolish the strongholds in our minds – the things that keep us from walking by faith, like worldly thinking, fear, the pain that keeps us enslaved to sin, or to past hurts.  The use of God’s Word (the way Jesus used it against Satan in His 40 days in the wilderness), and the prayer of faith, have the power to demolish those arguments in our minds that set themselves up against what we know to be true of the God who loves us.  

The key is to choose to wield the divine weapons we’ve been given:  to refuse to allow our minds to replay the hurts or sins of the past, or to give in to despair, or fear, or loneliness, or  self loathing, or in worldly thinking that is contrary to godly thinking.

In Romans 12:2 the Apostle Paul tells us to be transformed by the renewing of our minds.  

I don’t know what your day, or your life, holds at this moment.  But if you are in circumstances that feel a lot like David’s were at the time he wrote this Psalm, then the best place to begin renewing your mind is with the truths David proclaims there.

Instead of allowing your mind to spin on the gerbil wheel of futile thinking – choose to meditate on the words of David’s psalm - praise God for who He reveals Himself to be, thank and praise Him for the things David does, apply David’s words to your own life and circumstances, and take hold of them by faith.  

Don’t just think about God’s goodness to someone else - TASTE God’s goodness to YOU.   He has His eyes on YOU and His ear is attentive to YOUR cries.   Count on it.

BELIEF IN JESUS: HEAD KNOWLEDGE OR HEART KNOWLEDGE - John 3

I had a conversation with someone a while back who said she’d been asked by co-workers whether she was a “born again” Christian.  Maybe you’ve heard the term.  Depending on who you speak to, that term evokes different emotions and reactions in people.  Some, like my friend above, are really curious about what it means and whether it actually applies to them.   Others might not know much, if anything, about what it means, but they see it as a narrow minded, judgmental expression and they want no part of hearing anything more about it.  Maybe you’re someone who has heard the expression and wonders yourself where it came from and what it means.    

Actually it was Jesus who coined that particular phrase in a conversation he had with a religious man of his day.  You can read about it in chapter 3 of the Gospel of John in the New Testament.

The man was named Nicodemus and he was a Pharisee (a Jewish sect that believed in strict adherence to all of the law of Moses).   As such, he was also a member of the Jewish ruling council of Jesus’ day.  Because he had some notoriety, and because Jesus’ teachings were stirring up so much opposition from Nicodemus’ peers, he came to Jesus at night so as to minimize the chance of being seen, so he could ask his questions.

John, chapter 3, beginning with verse 2:

“(Nicodemus) said: ‘Rabbi, we know you are a teacher who has come from God.  For no one could perform the miraculous signs you are doing if God were not with him’.   In reply, Jesus declared, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can see the kingdom of God unless he is born again.’

Okay, so even I’m surprised as I read that again because Jesus’ reply doesn’t fit Nicodemus’ statement.  Maybe what Jesus is getting at is that it will be difficult to have a conversation with Nicodemus about the kingdom of God because he won’t be able to grasp the answer, or SEE with spiritual eyes unless he’s born again.

Okay, now Jesus has his complete attention, so Nicodemus goes on (undoubtedly scratching his head and wrinkling his brow) to ask:  “How can a man be born when he is old?  Surely he cannot enter a second time into his mother’s womb to be born?”  (In other words: “What??  I don’t get you Jesus!”)

In verse 5, we read, “Jesus answered, ‘I tell you the truth, no one can enter the kingdom of God unless he is born of water and the Spirit.  Flesh gives birth to flesh, but the Spirit gives birth to spirit.  You should not be surprised at my saying, ‘You must be born again.’  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.”

Nicodemus, who probably considered himself to already be securely IN the kingdom of God by virtue of his Jewish roots, his attention to keeping the law of Moses as a good Pharisee would, and his standing as a leader in Israel, must have been caught completely by surprise.   Jesus was saying that not only could someone not born again even SEE the kingdom of God, he could not even ENTER it unless born of the Spirit!

Nicodemus' answer, in verse 9, reflects his confusion.  “How can this BE?”

Beginning in verse 10, Jesus replies:   

“You are Israel’s teacher and do you not understand these things. . . I have spoken to you of earthly things and you do not believe; how then will you believe if I speak of heavenly things?  No one has ever gone into heaven except the one who came from heaven – the Son of Man.  Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life.

For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.  For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.”

Jesus goes on for a while longer but there is no recorded response by Nicodemus.  Jesus was challenging Nicodemus to recognize him for who he was – not just a good and wise rabbi – but the One sent by the Father from heaven to save the world from the penalty of sin and make a relationship with Him possible.  

What it would take to enter the kingdom and grasp the meaning of kingdom things was a whole new birth.  Nicodemus had already been physically born, what he needed now was a spiritual birth, which could only come through faith in Jesus.

Nicodemus would have understood Jesus’ (who calls himself the “Son of Man”), comment about the snake Moses lifted up in the desert, and its significance.  The Old Testament book of Numbers, chapter 21, tells the story.

Having been delivered by God from Egypt, the people of Israel were traveling in the desert under the leadership of Moses, when they fell into their habitual response to the lack of food and water by grumbling and complaining instead of turning to God, who had been completely faithful to that point.  God’s response is a stern one.

“Then the LORD set venomous snakes among them; they bit the people and many Israelites died.  The people came to Moses and said, “We sinned when we spoke against the LORD and against you.  Pray that the LORD will take the snakes away from us.”  So Moses prayed for the people.  The LORD said to Moses, ‘Make a snake and put it up on a pole; anyone who is bitten can look at it and live.’  So Moses made a bronze snake and put it up on a pole.  Then when anyone was bitten by a snake and looked at the bronze snake, he lived.”

Nicodemus would undoubtedly have gone away from his meeting with Jesus puzzling over this connection – until Jesus was crucified.  What Jesus was saying was that just as looking to that bronze snake brought life to those who expected certain death from a deadly snake bite, so Jesus, when he was lifted up on a tree (crucifixion), would bring life to those whose penalty for sin was also certain death and separation from God.  Jesus’ death would give eternal life to all those who looked to him by faith.

So, how do we understand all this in a way that makes being “born again” significant for us?

Years ago there was a little gospel tract with a title something like, “The 18 Most Important Inches”, (I’m making that up, because I really can’t remember, but it’s the message, not the title that counts!).  The 18 inches spoken of is the approximate physical distance between our brain and our heart.

What Jesus was saying to Nicodemus in essence was that even though he was a well respected, “religious” person, that 18 inches between his head knowledge (which contained all the laws of Moses, all his effort at keeping those laws, and all the keeping of religious ritual) and his heart knowledge of Jesus as a person, and as Messiah, would keep him from entrance into God’s kingdom.  

What he needed was FAITH in Jesus – and THAT was a matter of the heart, not the head.   In fact, all those religious trappings could actually keep Nicodemus OUT of the kingdom – because being born again of the Spirit, a new birth through faith in Jesus was the ONLY thing that guaranteed entrance!

I know a very precious person who doesn’t understand this.  All her life she has believed that her ticket to the kingdom is based on what she DOES, or DOESN’T do, as defined by regular church attendance, whether or not she’s been baptized or regularly takes communion, or been confirmed, and a host of other things.  I have tried to tell her that Jesus died to make that possible and all she needs is faith in what HE did, but she’s been working hard a long time and doesn’t believe it could be that simple.  It makes me sad.

Someone else I know says that she KNOWS and ACKNOWLEDGES everything the Bible says about Jesus to be true – but that belief has not reached her heart, it doesn’t affect her life in any way, as a matter of fact she still acts in ways that would dishonor Jesus.  18 inches is keeping her out of the kingdom.  

Nicodemus KNEW Jesus.  He had met him, he believed him to be a rabbi (a teacher).  He believed that Jesus must have come from God because only God could enable him to do the miraculous things he was doing.  But Nicodemus was missing something – FAITH in Jesus as the One sent from heaven by the Father to be the Savior.  

Head knowledge ABOUT Jesus alone will not gain us entrance into the kingdom or enable us to understand spiritual things – that is simply head knowledge.  What we need to enter the kingdom and understand spiritual things is the Holy Spirit, and the only way we can possess the Spirit is by FAITH – and that is a heart issue – we MUST be born again by the Spirit.

Long before I met my husband, I knew about him.  Our mothers worked together, so I had heard all about him and his 3 brothers from my mom.   When I would meet my mom for lunch, Jim’s mom would tell me what a lovely person I was and how I needed to meet her son.   I finally met him on a blind date.  

Now I knew him, but barely.  I knew he was a college senior.  I knew he was in ROTC.  I knew he was an accounting major.  I knew he had a really cool car!  I knew he was very quiet.  I knew he was handsome.  But I really didn’t KNOW him, I just knew a lot of facts about him.   It was only after we spent time together that I began to really KNOW him in a personal way – then, my head knowledge became heart knowledge.

 That’s the way we need to KNOW Jesus if we’re going to enter the kingdom and understand kingdom things.  And that happens when we are born again by the Spirit.  It is the work of God.   And it is also a work of faith and faith ALONE – not just head knowledge, not following a list of do’s and don’ts.

In the New Testament book of Ephesians, chapter 2, verse 8, the Apostle Paul says this:  “For it is by GRACE you have been saved through FAITH – and this not from yourselves, it is the GIFT of God – not by (your) works, so that no one can boast.”

If you have been reading these blogs and don’t really KNOW Jesus – not just in your head, but in your heart – then God is calling you into that relationship with Him now.  In the gospel of Luke, chapter 11, Jesus speaks about God’s good gifts and says this:

“Which of you fathers, if your son asks for a fish, will give him a snake instead?  Or if he asks for an egg, will give him a scorpion?  If you then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give the Holy Spirit to those who ask him?”

Ask the Heavenly Father to help you understand what it means to KNOW Jesus in the way he spoke about knowing in his conversation with Nicodemus.   Ask him for the spiritual re-birth that comes with knowing Jesus, not just with your mind, but in your HEART. Believe me, he LOVES to answer that prayer!

So what DID happen to Nicodemus?  Did he ever go from knowing ABOUT Jesus to really KNOWING Jesus in his heart?  The Bible doesn’t spell it out for us, but it does tell us some things that might just be a hint that Nicodemus had a change that went right down to his heart.

In John’s gospel, chapter 7, verses 50-52, in a meeting of the chief priests and Pharisees to discuss Jesus, this is said of Nicodemus:

“Nicodemus, who had gone to Jesus earlier and who was one of their own number, asked, ‘Does our law condemn anyone without first hearing him to find out what he is doing?’ 

Nicodemus was going out on a limb here to speak in Jesus' defense because his fellow Pharisees were furious with Jesus.  Nicodemus was putting his reputation on the line with those words.

“ They replied, ‘Are you from Galilee, too?  Look into it and you will find that a prophet does not come out of Galilee.”

Then later, after the crucifixion of Jesus, we read this in John 19:38-41:

“Later, Joseph of Arimathea asked Pilate for the body of Jesus.  Now Joseph was a disciple of Jesus, but secretly because he feared the Jews.  With Pilate’s permission, he came and took the body away. He was accompanied by Nicodemus, the man who earlier had visited Jesus at night.  Nicodemus brought a mixture of myrrh and aloes, about 75 pounds.  Taking Jesus’ body, the two of them wrapped it, with the spices, in strips of linen.  This was in accordance with Jewish burial customs.  At the place where Jesus was crucified, there was a garden, and in the garden a new tomb, in which no one had ever been laid.  Because it was the Jewish day of Preparation and since the tomb was nearby, they laid Jesus there.”

Back in the conversation Jesus had with Nicodemus in John 3, Jesus said: "You must be born again.  The wind blows wherever it pleases.  You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going.  So it is with everyone born of the Spirit."

What Jesus meant was that we can't SEE the Spirit anymore than we can SEE the wind which blows wherever it pleases.  BUT, we can see the EFFECTS of the Spirit, as we can see and hear the effects of the wind in the leaves of the trees.

I like to believe that this effort to which Nicodemus went and the tenderness with which he and Joseph treated the body of Jesus indicated a heartfelt love for Jesus that went beyond just head knowledge - evidence perhaps that Nicodemus had indeed experienced the new birth because the wind of the Spirit was directing his life.  But I guess we’ll have to wait till heaven to see if Nicodemus truly entered the kingdom.  What a conversation we will have!

The more important questions is, have YOU experienced the new birth?  If not, ask Jesus to take you from a knowledge ABOUT Him to a genuine, heartfelt, Spirit filled KNOWING of Him personally. 

That can only happen when you are born again!

OVER SPIRITUALIZING, COINCIDENCE, OR GOD INCIDENT? Exodus 28 and Psalm 25

Okay, this will be a long blog because I just can’t ignore so many God thoughts coming together in one day. 

Just the other day a friend was relating how he’d been struggling over a ministry opportunity he didn’t think he had the energy or desire to pursue.   His wife said she’d work with him, and while that was a little encouragement, it still wasn’t enough to cause him to say “yes”.   Then, while he was in the car listening to a Christian radio station, a certain song came on, and it was as if the Lord said loud and clear, “Go ahead and take that ministry opportunity.”   In explaining how the song was the means of convincing him, he said, “I don’t want to over spiritualize this, but when I heard that song, I knew the Lord wanted me to say yes.”

I’m not exactly sure what it means to over spiritualize something, but here are some examples that I think might come under that category.  

Attributing every bad thing to Satan.  Satan is certainly the author of evil, but sometimes what we attribute to him is our own fault – the result of sin and stupid, self centered choices.  Like blaming Satan for our financial hardships when we bought everything we wanted even though it was beyond our means.

Or questioning what God is doing, or not doing, in every single thing that touches our lives.  Like wondering what God is trying to tell us when our baby has colic, or we get a flat tire on the way to a job interview, or whether an idea we had in the middle of the night was from God or not.   I’ve done this.  I’ve gone round in circles trying to understand what earth shattering thing God is trying to tell me through a certain circumstance.  I don’t do that much anymore, because it drives me crazy, and most times I just don’t know the answer!  

 God can certainly accomplish His purposes through anything, but I’d rather just trust Him to do it than try and figure out what it could be.

On the other hand, I think in an effort NOT to over spiritualize, we can lean too much in the other direction and MISS the wonderful things God IS doing in our lives.   Here’s today’s example.

A friend asked me last week where I got the ideas for the blogs I’ve written.   The answer is easy, although it may be over spiritualizing!  :)   The LORD gives me the ideas!  I can’t tell you how often the Lord has used what I’ve been reading from the Bible, conversations with people, events in my day, issues I’m dealing with, and other things I’m reading all at the same time - to inspire me along a particular line.  Today was no different.

I’ve been reading my way through the book of Exodus in the Old Testament, landing today on a not so thrilling part, chapter 28, which describes God’s instructions to Moses for the making of the garments for the priests who would serve Him in the Tabernacle.  

Even in this kind of repetitive, some might even say “boring”, chapter, there were some amazing things to discover about God.  Like the fact that God loves order and detail and patterns.  

His explanations for each piece of the priest’s garments are exact and specific, like:  “Make the ephod (a kind of apron that joined at the shoulder and tied at the waist) of gold, and of blue, purple and scarlet yarn, and of finely twisted linen. . . .It is to have two shoulder pieces attached to two of its corners so it can be fastened. . . . Take two onyx stones and engrave on them the names of the sons of Israel in the order of their birth. . . . Engrave the names on the two stones the way a gem cutter engraves a seal..”  Moses didn’t have to guess at how God wanted things.  The Lord said, follow my instructions, ”just as you were shown on the mountain”, and Moses did.

Another thing I learn about God from chapter 28 is this:  God’s work is to be done God’s way – not only in the details, but in the quality of the work, and it is to be done well – we might say, “with excellence”.  In chapter 28, verses 3, 6, and 39 all mention that the work is to be done, not just by anyone, but by skilled craftsmen who know what they’re doing, will do the work well, and who will respond to instruction, especially when the instructor is God Himself!

The third thing I noticed could easily be overlooked, but it jumped out at me when I read it.  Chapter 28, verse 2-3 say:  “Make sacred garments for your brother Aaron, to give him dignity and honor.  Tell all the skilled men TO WHOM I HAVE GIVEN WISDOM IN SUCH MATTERS, THAT THEY ARE TO MAKE THE GARMENTS FOR Aaron, for his consecration so he may serve me as priest.”

How did these men know how they were to make the garments according to the Lord’s instructions?  He had given them the wisdom (the Hebrew meaning is the word SKILL) to do so.  Men with a God given mission – and a God given skill to be tailors and embroiderers and to follow the pattern God laid out, and then gave to Moses to pass along.  

That’s part one of where we’re going in this blog.   Part 2 comes from Psalm 25 which I also read today as part of my regular Bible reading.   Here’s where someone might say I’m over spiritualizing – but I don’t think so – I think the reading of Psalm 25 is not coincidence – but a God incident to add another dimension to our understanding of Exodus 28.

Psalm 25 is written by David and its theme, written just before the psalm begins is:  A prayer for defense, guidance and pardon.  

What I noticed is that the Lord had a theme going all right and in my mind, the theme was this:  When we worry too much about over spiritualizing we miss the truth that God IS real, living, practical, personal, and ACTIVE in speaking to our hearts and lives every single day, and that when we seek His guidance, we can EXPECT that He WILL give it!  Can you see the theme?

Psalm 25:4-5 “SHOW ME your ways, O LORD, TEACH ME your paths, GUIDE ME in your truth, and TEACH ME, for You are God my Savior.”

v. 8-9  “Good and upright is the LORD; therefore He INSTRUCTS sinners in His ways.  He GUIDES the humble in what is right and TEACHES them His way.”

v. 12b  “(The LORD) will INSTRUCT him in the way chosen for him.” (There IS a way chosen for ME – as it was for those skilled craftsmen – and the Lord Himself will INSTRUCT me in that way!)

v. 14  “The LORD CONFIDES in those who fear Him” (Imagine that!?  The Creator and Lord of all the universe confides in ME??!!!  Wow, what an awesome thought!)

I see in all of these a tie in to how the LORD worked in those skilled craftsmen in Moses’ day.  God Himself gave them the wisdom and skill to do what He had planned for them to do, in the way He planned for them to do it.  He INSTRUCTED and He CONFIDED.

Does that not sound exactly like what the Apostle Paul says in Ephesians 2:10? “For we are God’s workmanship, CREATED in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God PREPARED IN ADVANCE for us to do.”

So it seems not over spiritualizing AT ALL to say that the Lord – who shows, teaches, instructs, guides, and confides in us – would specifically lead us into His will – usually through the counsel of His Word, and the inner assurance of His Spirit, but sometimes even through the confirming word of a song.

But that’s only part 2 of this blog.  Here’s the exciting “God thing” part – it could be called over spiritualizing, but I prefer to call it God pulling it all together so we could get a glimpse of His amazing GLORY!  

Lo and behold, Oswald Chambers reading for today was also from Psalm 25:14, “The LORD confides in those who fear Him!”  Okay, come on, you skeptics, that CAN’T be coincidence!   I read the Psalm before I even knew the theme verse of Chambers devotional for today!

Here’s what Chambers has to say:

At the beginning of the Christian life we are full of requests to God.  But then we find that God wants to get us into an intimate relationship with Himself – to get us in touch with His purposes.  Are you so intimately united to Jesus Christ’s idea of prayer – “Your will be done” (Matthew 6:10) – that you catch the confidences of God?  What makes God so dear to us is not so much His big blessings to us, but the tiny things (like direction for a blog, or His Spirit speaking through a song), because they show His amazing intimacy with us – He knows every detail of each of our individual lives.

Psalm 25:12 ‘He will instruct him in the way chosen for him (the way those skilled craftsmen in Exodus were instructed in the way chosen by God for THEM).’   

At first, we want the awareness of being guided by God.  But then as we grow spiritually, we live so fully aware of God that we do not even need to ask what His will is, because the thought of choosing another way will never occur to us.  If we are saved and sanctified, God guides us by our everyday choices.  And if we are about to choose what He does not want, He will give us a sense of doubt or restraint, which we must heed. Whenever there is doubt, stop at once.  Never try to reason it out, saying, “I wonder why I shouldn’t do this?”  God instructs us in what we choose; that is, He actually guides our common sense.  And when we yield to His teachings and guidance, we no longer hinder His Spirit by continually asking, “Now, Lord, what is your will?”

Don’t you long to get to the place where you have grown so much spiritually, where you’re so fully aware of God, that you never again need to ask what His will is?  Yeah, me too.

But, if you’re not there yet either, we can fall back on Psalm 25 and ask with David, “Show me, teach me, instruct me, confide in me”, and then instead of wondering whether it is God leading, take the first step out by faith, trusting that He WILL answer because that's what He says!

I WILL instruct you in the way chosen FOR YOU.   I CONFIDE in those who fear Me.

The God who loved us enough to provide, through the death and resurrection of His Son, a way back into relationship with Him, SEES us, HEARS us, and wants to be intimately and personally involved in our lives!  

It’s not over spiritualization to EXPECT these things of God.   Its faith.

PHILIP - A MAN WITH A MISSION - ACTS 8

Before we get to Philip and his mission, from chapter 6 of the book of Acts in the Bible, we’ll need a little background on what is happening in the world of his day so we can understand his unique mission. 

In the New Testament book of Acts, chapter 1, verses 7-9, the resurrected Jesus is about to ascend into heaven.  His disciples have just asked him whether he was at that time going to restore the kingdom to Israel.  They still had a lot to learn about Jesus’ mission – restoring the kingdom to Israel was not going to happen at that time, or in the earthly way they expected.

Instead of supplying an answer, he left them with these words: 

“It is not for you to know the times or dates the Father has set by his own authority.  But you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes on you; and you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.’   After he said this, he was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight.”

On the day of Pentecost (a Jewish feast held 50 days after the Passover), the Holy Spirit, third person of the Trinity, and the One who would indwell believers with the very life of Jesus, was given just as Jesus promised.  On the same day, the Apostle Peter, filled with the Spirit, gave a very convicting sermon, after which 3000 people became believers in Jesus!  But that was just the beginning!  Through the testimony of the Apostles, accompanied by confirming miracles, the church of Jesus Christ continued to grow – however, for the most part, it had not yet spread beyond Jerusalem.

In chapter 7, Stephen, a Grecian Jew, “full of God’s grace and power”, who did great wonders and miraculous signs among the people, attracted the attention of those who opposed the followers of Jesus.  He was accused of blasphemy and arrested.  When questioned, he also preached a powerful sermon, beginning with the call of God upon Abraham, tracing the rebellious history of idolatry of God’s people Israel, and ending with their rejection of Messiah Jesus.  For this Stephen was stoned.   

Acts, chapter 8, verse 1 says this: 

On THAT day (the day on which Stephen was martyred), a great persecution broke out against the church at Jerusalem, and all except the apostles were scattered throughout Judea and Samaria.

Remember Romans 8:28 which says:

And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who believe in him, who have been called according to his purpose.   

This was a perfect example!   God had good plans for the worldwide expansion of his church that persecution was about to accomplish!   Jesus’ command that his people, filled with the Holy Spirit, were to be his witnesses in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth was launched!

Acts 8:4-8: 

Those who had been scattered preached the word (the gospel of Jesus Christ) wherever they went.  Philip went down to a city in Samaria and proclaimed the Christ there.  When the crowds heard Philip and saw the miraculous signs he did, they all paid close attention to what he said.  With shrieks, evil spirits came out of many, and many paralytics and cripples were healed.  So there was great joy in that city.

The first time we hear about Philip is back in chapter 6, verse 5, where we read about Stephen for the first time as well.  Both were Grecian Jews, chosen to be sure that their widows received equal care and treatment as the widows of the Hebraic Jews.  From serving widows in Jerusalem, Philip now finds himself in Samaria, where he preached the gospel, and in the power of the Holy Spirit, also did miraculous confirming signs.  And people were listening!

Samaria was an interesting choice for this great work of God’s Spirit because Jews hated Samaritans.  Samaritans were considered half breeds, who worshiped the God of Israel, while at the same time adopting the idolatrous practices of the nations around them.   

A good Jew, like Philip, would normally avoid Samaria like the plague, often walking miles out of the way, so as not to step foot inside its borders.  Yet this is exactly where we find Philip, having a hugely successful ministry of preaching the good news of the kingdom and the name of Jesus Christ.   As a matter of fact, the people were so responsive to the gospel that when the apostles in Jerusalem heard about it, they sent Peter and John to Samaria.   Peter and John stayed there a while, testifying, and proclaiming the word of the Lord, preaching the gospel in many Samaritan villages before returning to Jerusalem.

Wow, what a miraculous explosion of faith!  The long hated and avoided Samaritans had now received, and believed, in the gospel of Jesus Christ!  A huge revival had broken out and Philip was right in the thick of it!

Can you imagine how exciting that would have been?   There was so much work to be done you can almost SEE Philip rolling up his sleeves!  They would need Bible studies to show from the Old Testament Scriptures how Jesus was the Messiah, prayer meetings, discipling ministries to help people grow and live their faith, people to care for and counsel – Philip could have been busy for years!   But God had other plans for this man – plans that did not include staying put!

Was he surprised, I wonder, when in the middle of this thriving ministry opportunity, we read this in v. 24:

Now an angel of the Lord said to Philip,‘Go south to the road – the desert road – that goes down from Jerusalem to Gaza’.

What might have been going through my mind if I was Philip would be:

What, am I hearing you right?  Are you sure, Lord?  The work here in Samaria is just getting started!  This is so exciting that I want to stay here.  I don’t want to miss what you’re doing.  I think I’m really needed.  Will you run those instructions by me again?!

Philip doesn’t say any of that – at least nothing like that is recorded.    Verse 25 simply reads:

SO HE STARTED OUT.

There is no record of Philip questioning God’s mission or timing.  He didn’t seem to look back with longing, or disappointment, or resentment.  He got his marching orders, he obeyed those orders and went.   And wow, was he rewarded!

Acts 8:26-38 says:

On his way, he met an Ethiopian eunuch, an important official in charge of all the treasury of Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who had gone to Jerusalem to worship (probably a convert to Judaism).  On his way home (the eunuch) was sitting in his chariot reading the book of Isaiah the prophet.  The Spirit told Philip, ‘Go to that chariot and stay near it.’  So he ran up to it and heard the man reading Isaiah 53:7-8 and asked if the man understood what he was reading.

Because he didn’t, Philip explained it to him. 

He was led like a sheep to the slaughter, and as a lamb before the shearer is silent, so he did not open his mouth.  In his humiliation he was deprived of justice.  Who can speak of his descendants?  For his life was taken from the earth.”

Isaiah 53:7-8

When the eunuch asked about whom this passage spoke, Philip told him the good news about Jesus, and he believed and was baptized.

When they came up out of the water, the Spirit of the Lord suddenly took Philip away and the eunuch did not see him again, but went on his way rejoicing.  Philip, however, appeared at Azotus and traveled about, preaching the gospel in all the towns until he reached Caesarea.   Acts 8:39

So what was Philip’s mission?  Apparently, it was to go wherever the Lord called him - in order to preach the gospel – and then to move on to the next place the Lord called him to do the same, until He called him to the next place, and on and on.

It didn’t matter to Philip that God had a new assignment even though revival was breaking out in Samaria.  It didn’t matter to him that God was leading him from the “known” revival to an “unknown” assignment somewhere on the road to Gaza.  He even went before he knew what the assignment was!  It didn’t matter that God was calling called him away to another assignment immediately! (Don’t you want to know what happened in Ethiopia when the eunuch got home?).

Philip didn’t hesitate to leave the revival in Samaria to meet ONE man because the Holy Spirit told him to go and stay near him.   Compared to what was going on in Samaria, this didn’t seem all that significant – Philip may never have known ultimately the significance it would have to the kingdom in the future – but he went anyway and seized the opportunity to do what he had been called to do – preach the gospel of Jesus Christ to this one man.   Not just any man, but a man of influence, who went away rejoicing over the blessing of knowing Jesus, the Messiah.   Can you imagine this man keeping the joy of his newfound Savior to himself once he got back home???  Not a chance!

How did Philip do it?   How did he drag himself away from thriving ministry opportunities in Samaria to meet one man on his way back home?   Philip had a mission to preach the gospel wherever God called, and he simply obeyed God’s call.  Wherever, whenever, to whomever – one or many, the number didn’t matter, nor did the results. 

Last week I wrote about some of the challenges I anticipate as Jim thinks about retirement.   One of those challenges for me is, “Is the Lord going to move us to some other place so that I’m going to have to “give up” the current ministries in which I’m involved?”  (Not nearly as significant and powerful as the one Philip had in Samaria!)

Funny you should ask, the Lord said, when I opened up Oswald Chambers today.  Here’s what he had to say:

“Suppose God tells you to do something that is an enormous test of your common sense, totally going against it (like leaving Samaria – or retiring and maybe leaving your current ministry opportunities).  What will you do?  Will you hold back?  

If you get into the habit of doing something physically (like swearing when you're angry, or eating chocolate chip cookies when you're on a diet), you will do it every time you are tested until you break the habit through sheer determination.  And the same is true spiritually.  Again and again you will come right up to what Jesus wants, but every time you will turn back at the true point of testing, until you are determined to abandon yourself to God in total surrender (the way Philip did).   

Yet we tend to say, ‘Yes, but – suppose I do obey God in this matter, what

about. . . . ”  Or we say, ‘Yes, I will obey God if what He asks of me doesn’t go against my common sense, but don’t ask me to take a step in the dark (the way Philip did on the road to Gaza).’

Jesus Christ demands the same unrestrained, adventurous spirit in those who have placed their trust in Him that the natural man exhibits.  If a person is ever going to do anything worthwhile, there will be times when he must risk everything by his leap in the dark.

In the spiritual realm, Jesus Christ demands that you risk everything you hold onto or believe through common sense, and leap by faith into what He says.  Once you obey, you will immediately find that what He says is as solidly consistent as common sense.

Trust completely in God, and when He brings you to a new opportunity of adventure, offering it to you, see that you take it.”

In 2016 the Lord presented me with an opportunity to donate a kidney. I talked about it with Him often, weighed pros and cons, but His call was so clear that I didn’t doubt it was His doing that it came across my path. Although to some, it did not make sense, I was so sure the Lord was in it, that I saw it as an opportunity, and said yes.   And what a blessing it was!   

Retirement may be a “leap in the dark” from where I stand now.   But, since God HAS given me a mission, different from Philip’s, but a mission nonetheless, I can trust that if I’m willing to take the leap (abandon what I want and surrender to what He wants), He’ll be there.  

How about you?   Are you ready to abandon what YOU want and obey God even if doing so seems to go against your common sense?   You can be on God’s mission for you wherever, and with whomever, He calls you.   Don’t spend too long contemplating the “What ifs”.  Don’t think about what you’ll have to give up to follow Him.  Don’t dwell on the results or lack thereof.  Just say yes and follow where He leads.  You can trust Him to catch you when you take the leap!

STAND ON MY RIGHTS, OR LET GOD CHOOSE FOR ME - Genesis 13

Genesis 13

God called Abram (later called Abraham) out of his country, away from his people, and his father’s household to a land He would show him.  God was asking a lot of Abram.  Maybe some of you have actually done this and relocated to the other side of the world from your family and you know what sacrifices it takes.  Undoubtedly, there were sacrifices for Abram to follow God into the unknown, but with God's call came some pretty special promises:

“I will make you into a great nation and I will bless you;

I will make your name great, and you will be a blessing.

I will bless those who bless you, and whoever curses you I will curse; and all people on earth will be blessed through you.”

In Genesis 12, verses 4; 6-7, it says: “So Abram left, as the LORD had told him, and (his nephew) Lot went with him. . . Abram traveled through the land . . . at that time the Canaanites were in the land.  The LORD appeared to Abram and said, ‘To your offspring I will give this land”.  

By the time we get to chapter 13, we read that Abram had become very wealthy in livestock and silver and gold.  Lot was also living on the land occupied by Abram, and he had his own flocks, herds, and tents, but the land couldn’t support all that livestock in the same area.   So, probably not all that surprisingly, disputes began to break out between Abram’s and Lot’s herdsmen.

Remember, God had promised ALL that land to ABRAM and HIS descendants – which did not include Lot. To resolve the issue, Abram could have said, “Ew, this really isn’t working out for me Lot.  Sorry, but God promised this land to me, so you’ll have to find someplace else to live.  Let’s keep in touch though.”  But he didn’t.

In chapter 13, verses 8-9, Abram does a VERY magnanimous thing.  He says to his nephew Lot, “Let’s not have any quarreling between you and me, or between your herdsmen and mine, for we are brothers.  Is not the whole land before you?  Let’s part company.  If you go to the left, I’ll go to the right; if you go to the right, I’ll go to the left”.  

Based on God’s promises to him, Abram had very good reason to stand on his right to choose FIRST, and no one would have questioned him.  Probably not even Lot.  But Abram didn’t choose first.  He let Lot choose first, and choose he did.

13:10-13 “Lot looked up and saw that the whole plain of the Jordan was well watered, like the garden of the LORD, like the land of Egypt. . . SO Lot chose for himself the whole plain of the Jordan and set out toward the east.  The two men parted company.  Abram lived in the land of Canaan, while Lot lived among the cities of the plain and pitched his tents near Sodom.  Now the men of Sodom were wicked and were sinning greatly against the LORD.”

Lot, instead of deferring to his uncle as he should have, choose what he saw to be the BEST of the land, although he seemed not to see what God saw, and what would eventually be his downfall – the wickedness of the city of Sodom.  (That is a story for another blog!)

13:14-17  Now it was God’s turn to be magnanimous – reminding me of Paul’s expression that God’s grace is not skimpy – it’s LAVISH!  

“The LORD said to Abram after Lot had parted from him, ‘Lift up your eyes from where you are and look north and south, east and west.  All the land that you see I will give to you and your offspring FOREVER.  I will make your offspring like the dust of the earth, so that if anyone could count the dust, then your offspring could be counted.  Go, walk through the length and breadth of the land, for I am giving it to you!”

As an aside, if you wonder why Christians and Jews today are so concerned about what is going on in Israel, here is why.  Abram, whose name God would change to Abraham, is called the Father of the Jews, because they trace their physical ancestry and these promises, including the land of Israel, which God gave to them as a possession FOREVER, back to this passage in Genesis, and to Abraham and his descendants.   

Christians consider Abraham their father as well, but not through blood ancestry.  We consider him our father in the faith because later (Gen. 15:6), God would say of him, “Abram believed God, and God credited it (his faith) to him as righteousness.”   The Apostle Paul speaks about the importance of faith alone as the means by which we are declared righteous (as Abraham was) in Romans 3:21-24:

“But now, a righteousness FROM GOD, apart from law (dos and don’ts that we hope will make us right with God), has been made known. . . . This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe.  There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified (declared righteous) freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.”  

(The author of the NT book of Hebrews has a lot to say about Abraham’s faith as well, in chapter 11).

Back to my reason for landing on Genesis 13:

Why did this particular passage resonate so much with me today?

My husband is retiring in the middle of August.  As far as major crises go, this really doesn’t rank up there with cancer, or losing a job, or a spouse, or even trying to keep your sanity with 3 toddlers underfoot – but I’m finding myself anxious about it.  I’m more than a little ashamed to admit why because my reasons are TOTALLY selfish!

It’s actually my husband who is facing life without work after 42 years with the same company.  He’s the one who is wondering what the future will hold because he’s going from working 40 hours a week down to none.   He’s the one wondering how well we’ll manage on the retirement savings he’s squirreled away over the years.  He's the one wondering where we need to downsize, and whether moving somewhere else would cut our living costs.

So what am I wondering about?  How his retirement is going to affect MY life!   I’m wondering whether I’m going to have to give up certain ministries so we can travel (not a bad thing, but I’m being stubborn about this).  I’m wondering whether I’m going to have to cut down on expenses (I’m not a big spender, but I’m being stubborn about this too).   I’m wondering whether he’s going to want to spend every minute with me and how it will affect my social life (is this selfish or what???).  I'm wondering whether he's going to want to move because I don't want to move.  Yada, yada, yada.

Does anyone else notice that faith in a totally faithful Heavenly Father, and in a totally faithful earthly husband, is suspiciously absent here????  

I’ve mentioned before that the only devotional book I consistently use is Oswald Chamber’s, “My Utmost for His Highest” (in today’s English version!).  It was today’s reading from this very passage about Abraham that sparked my thinking about Jim’s retirement, as well as the idea for this blog. 

I’m always surprised that I AM surprised when the Lord takes something like today’s devotional written so long ago by Chambers, and the passage about Abraham which I've read many times before, and applies it to MY life right where I am TODAY!   Who says God doesn’t speak, that He isn’t personal, that He doesn’t care about us??   God DOES speak clearly to my mind and life that I have no doubt that He IS alive, and well, and cares about me!

Chambers thoughts for the day are entitled, “The Good or the Best”.

He says, “As soon as you begin to live the life of faith in God, fascinating and physically gratifying possibilities will open up before you (In my case, things like ministries with women, teaching God's Word, and mentoring opportunities).  These things are yours by right, but if you are living the life of faith you will exercise your right to waive your rights, and let God make your choice for you.  

God sometimes allows you to get into a place of testing where your own welfare would be the appropriate thing to consider (like Abram’s), if you were not living the life of faith.   But if you are, you will joyfully waive your right and allow God to make your choice for you.  This is the discipline God uses to transform the natural into the spiritual through obedience to His voice.

Whenever our right becomes the guiding factor of our lives, it dulls our spiritual insight.  The greatest enemy of the life of faith in God is not sin, but good choices which are not quite good enough.  The good is always the enemy of the best.  In this passage, it would seem that the wisest thing in the world for Abram to do would be to choose.  It was his right, and the people around him would consider him to be a fool for not choosing.

Many of us do not continue to grow spiritually because we prefer to choose on the basis of our rights, instead of relying on God to make the choice for us.  We have to learn to walk according to the standard which has its eyes focused on God.”

My friend Andrea encouraged me yesterday as we prepared to pray about this to remember that even if the LORD’s plans could require me to let go of what I consider MY right to choose for myself what retirement should hold, He will begin working on my heart, actually causing me to WANT what He wants, so that saying yes to something new will be a joyful waiver of my rights, in favor of His best plan for Jim and for me.

I honestly do want the Lord to make my choice for me.  However, He knows me better than anyone, and He has His work cut out for Him!  He KNOWS how stubborn I can be!  

Does any of this resonate with you?  

Is there a place in your life where you’re stubbornly holding onto your RIGHT to choose?    

Even though your choice might be a perfectly good one, are you willing to trust that if God is asking you to give up your rights and let Him choose for you, it's because He has a better plan – His BEST plan – if you’ll just let go of yours?