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(Psalm 32:8)
In last week's message we examined Psalm 33, verses 18 and 19, and saw that the eye of the Lord is on those who fear (respect) Him and hope in Him. We also looked at the possibility that His eye will not be on you if you don't fear and hope in Him. This can present some problems, as we saw in the life of King Saul.
Today we are again digging into another of David's psalms and continuing with the theme of God's eye, and the benefits of having it focused on you. First let me say that God most likely has at least two eyes but David seems to enjoy using the singular. Hey, he's a poet, give him a break. Let's look at the first line:
I will instruct you and teach you in the way you should go. First of all, we should notice that there is no small amount of generosity in this offer. We pay people all the time who have considerably less stature than God to instruct and teach us. We should be thrilled He is willing to do this without forcing us to buy the video and cassette series (which for a limited time is only 3 easy payments of $19.99)
Another point worth noting is the use of the word teach, which in Hebrew is yarah. Interestingly, the word Torah is derived from this, but its primary meaning is to direct the flow of something, or someone. We can clearly see that God wants to educate us, but still allow our life to be a series of choices we make. This is further supported by the phrase in the way you should go. Notice the word should. Again, the instruction, the directing of the flow of our lives and events is there, but we choose whether we're going to move with this flow or swim upstream like so many salmon.
The second part of today's verse, I will guide you with My eye, is even better. We are told that God, who can see the future and the past at once (He created them), is willing to act as our personal guide and lead us through this world, which unless you have been living in a monastery all your life, you've noticed is a fairly tricky place to navigate. And this divine guidance is not limited to the spiritual realm. It is there for us in every area of our lives, whether it be career choices, relationships, investments, what church to join, diet, rearing children, who to vote for, in other words, just about everything. God cares about the details. He wants to lead us into the correct decisions. But again, if you don't fear and hope in God, you can probably forget about this happening with any great degree of regularity, either.
Finally, even if you do hope in God and you do fear Him, that is respect Him for who He is, but you don't let Him lead you, you're going to be constantly bumping into things you didn't know were there. Your shins, spiritual and otherwise, are going to be black and blue. No, He won't desert you, but He isn't going to drag you kicking and screaming (see verse 9) into your perfect destiny. Only if you let Him will He instruct you, direct the flow of your life, and guide you around the potholes, the locations of which, by the way, are not a secret to Him.
Go with the flow.
(Psalm 33:18-19)
David was always aware of God's constant presence, His watchfulness. He knew the Lord guarded and directed him constantly, and he certainly needed it with the danger-filled life he led. Then again, as powerful as this relationship was with his Father, he seemed to sometimes forget that God was there, watching his every move, and committed some incredibly stupid and selfish acts (not unlike most of us). And like God, I just can't help loving the guy either.
This verse from Psalm 33 shows how deeply David relied on this relationship. It was at times all he had. The belief he expresses here is how and why he survived, and why incidentally, his nemesis, Saul, did not.
The clue to this lies in the first line: The eye of the Lord is on those who fear Him, on those who hope in His mercy. Fear and hope. David feared God. Saul feared David. David's hope was in the arms of the Lord. Saul's was just in arms.
Another thought worth looking at is that the converse of this truth must also be true, that is: If you don't fear God and you don't hope in Him, His eye will not be on you. This is called Being Alone, a condition so painful it finally caused Saul to just give up and kill the only person he hated even more than David: himself. David also experienced this separation from God when he erred, but his relationship was such that he repented and ran to God for forgiveness, Psalm 51 being an excellent example of this.
This is what causes people problems, not that God is watching them, but that He isn't. Our sin causes Him to look away. We are most vulnerable when His eye is not on us. As we see in verse 19, To deliver their soul from death, and to keep them alive in famine, there are some real pluses to having God looking your way. This is real death (in this world and the next) and real famine being described by David, both of which he literally faced and overcame, but it can also be metaphors for depression (slow death of the mind, will and emotions) and loneliness (separation from God).
We see this death and famine clearly, and sadly, in the tragic life of Saul. As time went on he became more and more depressed and unstable, eventually going completely insane. He lost everything; his son, his kingdom and his own life, all of which were gifts he could have found tremendous pleasure and purpose in. And he was desperately alone, even though he was surrounded by armies, wealth and sycophants. These weren't punishments from God, they were the result of God's non-intervention. David, on the other hand, somehow managed to even be happy while this lunatic was chasing him all over creation trying to kill him, at the same time producing some of the most inspiring works ever penned. Why? Because God's eye was on him.
For centuries parents have warned their children, "Now don't be bad. God is watching you." Maybe they should have said, "Don't be bad. God will stop watching you", which, to me anyway, is a whole lot scarier.
Here's looking at you.
(I John 4:1)
If you have a TV, you've probably noticed that about every five minutes or so there is a commercial for some dial-a-psychic. I find it amazing that people would actually spend money to talk to them, but apparently they do. Millions of them. This is pretty sad because these so-called psychics are such obvious frauds, their technique being what is commonly called (in the con business) cold reading, a skill the average person can learn in a couple hours. You'll notice, if you watch them operate for a few minutes, that they always ask questions that provide them with an out. Example: Has someone special come into your life? If the person answers yes, they nod knowingly. If the person answers no, they assure them that this is just around the corner. They can't lose. Plus they only tell people what they want to hear, a winning combination. Of course TV wrestling is a billion dollar business, too, with millions of fans who swear it's real so why am I surprised?
Even in my tiny town there is a metaphysical bookstore that has a Psychic in Residence. She will clean your karma for you, as well as tell you everything about your future. I've often had a desire (which I will continue to ignore) to go in and put her to the test. I would start by asking her a really difficult question, like, what's my mother's name? Or maybe what's my sign (for some reason a tough one for astrologers)? She would probably be able to dance around these questions, but if she really had any ability wouldn't a short weekend in Vegas be more profitable than one in Kainaliu?
The most important test, however, is the one we're instructed to use in I John. Let me quote the whole passage:
Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits, whether they are of God; because many false prophets have gone out into the world. By this you know the Spirit of God: Every spirit that confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is of God, and every spirit that does not confess that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is not of God. And this is the spirit of the Antichrist, which you have heard was coming, and is now already in the world.
This is not complicated. Either the person prophesying acknowledges that Jesus Christ is the incarnate Son of God or he/she doesn't. But there's one thing more. This acknowledgement must be more than an assent to the reality of Christ; it must be a profession of faith in Him and a submission to His sovereignty. He's real strict about this. Just saying, "Oh, yeah, that Jesus guy was the Son of God" isn't what we're looking for here. As we see in Mathew 8:29, even the demons were able to do this, which, by the way, is exactly who you'll be listening to if someone fails this test and yet actually prophesies. It can and does happen. Not all psychics are fakes like the ones on TV.
This same test should be applied to people who claim to prophesy in the name of God. Recently a very nice lady I know here told me that she has a prophet/priest that for years has been giving her guidance. He has a ministry with a name that sounds like a Christian ministry. But then she began to tell me how he used astrology as well. The more she told me the weirder it began to sound. I asked her if this was a Christian church. She couldn't really say, but they did read from the Bible (at least he did). She failed the test on a personal level and I would be willing to bet this prophet would, too. Miserably.
And that's why we have this test. It's important, because, like John said, the enemy is already here. He may even have his own TV show.
If they could really see the future, their own would scare them to death.
(Jeremiah 29:11)
What do you think God's attitude towards you is? How about towards the world in general? Your view of God will determine this answer. Interestingly, I find most non-religious people usually get closer to this than many of my well-churched friends. See, the average guy on the street has a hard time imagining someone as powerful and infinite as God being a really vengeful and hateful Person. They wouldn't be that way if they were God. They may not know much Scripture, but they're pretty sure He has something to do with love. The average religious guy, on the other hand, is convinced that God is so angry He's just about ready to blow the whole world to smithereens. Abortion, crime, decadence, occultism, sexual deviancy, politicians, it's all too much. If they were God they'd let the world have it in a heartbeat.
The truth, I believe, lies somewhere in the middle of this.
I think God is very angry. At Satan. I think He hates abortion, crime, decadence, occultism and sexual deviancy. I'm not too sure about His political affiliation, but I suspect He has never voted a straight ticket. I, at least, will not be surprised to find some people I disagreed with politically in Heaven. I also will not be surprised to find some I agreed with conspicuously absent.
But I digress. What God hates is sin, not sinners. This is what we need to force ourselves to remember. Let's look at our scripture from Jeremiah:
For I know the thoughts that I think towards you, says the Lord... Notice that this is an action taking place. God is thinking thoughts towards you right now. You are on His mind. Also notice that He did not say, "You know the thoughts I think towards you", because you don't.
...thoughts of peace and not of evil... See, that's what He's thinking towards you right now, not how He just can't wait to hammer you, destroy you and make your life a living hell. If you're involved in something displeasing to Him, He wants you to stop. But He loves you. All His effort for eons has been directed...
...to give you a future and a hope. That's how angry God is. He hates this world so much that He sacrificed His only Son so we'd have that future and that hope. And there's not one person, no matter how awful, that that sacrifice was not intended to cover. There is not one person who has ever lived or will ever live that God does not love and want to bring to Him (that includes many people we have no problem hating). Of course some will reject Him. He can't force this future, this hope on anyone. It's a choice. But it's there. It's there for every Moslem and every Jew. It's available for every criminal and every cop. It's free for the churched and the un-churched, the far-left Democrat and the far-right Republican. There is no one alive that doesn't need this hope and this future. And there's only one way to get it, through His Son Jesus Christ, who, by the way, is the very embodiment of Peace and Hope, and the whole point of the Future.
It's also important to remember that God did not create Hell for us. It was created for Satan and his angels. He did not intend for humanity to spend eternity there. The Father's desire is, and always has been, for us to live with Him forever. He proved this once and for all with the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus. But we must choose our future home. In the meantime, however, His thoughts towards us are peaceful, not hateful. It's our thoughts we should take a good, long look at.
(Job 33:14)
I can't help but think about my longsuffering wife when I read this verse. You see, according to her, she is constantly giving me information that, somehow, I never receive. It never fails that at least once a day I make the mistake of asking her some simple, innocent question, like, "When are you going to be home?", only to be informed that she has already told me. Twice. This is usually followed by, "You never listen".
Now I know for a fact that this isn't completely true (she tends to exaggerate). I do listen. I definitely heard the part about never listening anyway. And I really do try to be attentive. It's just that I tend to get distracted.
This is not unusual. This same scene is played out ad nauseum in breakfast nooks throughout the land. If you are a man you are no doubt nodding your head right now. It's maddening. But I have an answer. Here it is: Our wives should always warn us that they are about to tell us something IMPORTANT. They could even facilitate this by, say, waving a red flag or shooting a starting pistol. Then when they know for sure that they have our undivided attention, they could slowly and clearly tell us that they're going to be home at 7:30. However, this may not work during football season.
Though this is really a great idea, I doubt we'll ever get them to do this and the odds are God isn't going to warn us either. He's just going to speak. We have to listen. We have to be ready, but too many times we aren't. We just tune God out. So if our inattention makes our wives crazy, imagine how God must feel. But He has figured a way around this. Continuing with the next verse of Job 33, Elihu states, "In a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep falls upon men, while slumbering on their beds, then He opens the ears of men, and seals their instruction."
God can speak in many ways. He can be the still, small voice on the edge of hearing. He can thunder from the heavens. He can speak to us through other people. He can send an angel or have the very donkey you're riding stop in its tracks and give you a little lecture. But dreams seem to be one of His favorite ways to get through to us. Throughout the Bible this technique is employed over an over with historic results.
Though they certainly can be, not every God-sent dream has to be dramatic and totally life-changing. Some are just gentle nudges. Some provide direction. Some are sent to encourage us, calm our fears or just remind us that He's there. Or they can be sent, as Elihu continues in verse 17, "In order to turn man from his deed, and conceal pride from man, He keeps back his soul from the Pit, and his life from perishing by the sword."
God is speaking. He did not stop talking to His people 2,000 years ago. He continues to use every avenue He can to reach us. But we need to pay attention, be ready to hear. And here's a scary thought: He may even speak to us through our wives.
(Exodus 25:16)
God gave the Hebrews the Ark as a symbol of His relationship, His covenant, with them (which is most likely the reason it's called the Ark of the Covenant). They carried it everywhere they went, even, and especially, into battle. It reinforced their faith by reminding them constantly of God's previous and continuing involvement in their lives. It occurred to me that this would be a pretty handy thing for us to have, too, so today, instead of my usual sermonette, we're just going to build one. Since I have less than zero mechanical aptitude, this will be an imaginary ark.
The thing about the ark that made it so special wasn't that it was real cool looking and covered with gold and angels. It was the contents. Let's take a look at these: the golden pot that held the manna, the tablets of the covenant (Ten Commandments, second edition) and Aaron's rod that budded (Hebrews 9:4). Each of these items was crucial to maintaining the Hebrews' faith through incredibly tough times.
The manna is of course symbolic of God's miraculous provision. It shows His desire to see to our needs and proves we can trust Him to provide for us when there is absolutely no sign of help anywhere. He can make the answer fall right out of the sky if necessary (Exodus 16:32-34).
The Ten Commandments were given directly to Moses by God. This, for our purposes here, demonstrates God's direct interaction with us, His willingness to speak to us Person to person (Deuteronomy 10:1-5). The Hebrews, except for Moses, couldn't do this. We can, all the time, thanks to Jesus.
Then there's Aaron's famous budding rod. This was given as a sign of Aaron's authority. God made an entire cycle of almond growth transpire over night, even producing fruit. There was no doubt after this that Aaron had been chosen by God (Numbers 17:1-13).
Now what I want you to do is build your ark. Just imagine a box. Easy, huh? Okay done. Now lets put the three things we just looked at inside. For the manna, place inside one experience where God provided for you when you thought there was no hope. For the tablets of the covenant, place one instance where God spoke to you directly. It need not have been with an audible voice. You knew God was speaking directly to you. For the rod of Aaron, place one experience when you've used your God-given authority as a believer to triumph and He backed you up. This can be victory over sickness, fear, despair or whatever. Your authority in Christ was confirmed. It produced fruit.
When times get tough, when you're going into battle or when you just need a little reminder of how much God cares about you, how He's proved it over and over in your life, open your ark and look at these things. "And you shall put into the ark the Testimony which I will give you." Which is exactly what we just did.
(John 8:7)
Over the past couple years of writing this weekly message I've managed to rub a few people the wrong way. Others have been downright offended, going so far as to cancel their (free) subscriptions. This is, of course, not my goal. I desire only to speak the truth. So let me warn you now, if you have never been offended by anything I've written, this one just might do it.
It's always hard to deal with the downfall of a public figure, especially when that person is in a position of leadership and authority. Someone millions look up to is suddenly discovered to be all too human, in fact, disgustingly so. While I'm not a supporter, I have respect for the position he holds. This is tough, because he represents me, and you, in a way. So while I haven't always agreed with him or the way he does things, it still gives me no pleasure to see him fall so low.
Like you, I heard the first rumors. Maybe they weren't true. Then those rumors became fact. He and his supporters continually denied the allegations and called them nothing but an attempt to remove him from power. Eventually, though, they became undeniable.
I thought back to all the times I had heard him speak on family values and morality, and the decline of these precious virtues in American society. I heard him talk about sexually explicit rock lyrics, and their danger to our children. I heard him quote Scripture and talk about spiritual things, in, I must say, a convincing way. I had always tried to believe that he was sincere.
But then came the inevitable interviews with the women. And the magazine covers (and the magazine insides). And the talk shows. And the late-night monologues. A respected leader reduced to a locker room joke. Daily, no, hourly, we were bombarded with graphic details we really didn't want to hear. It seemed as if there was no escape.
Like all of you, I watched his admittance of guilt on TV and heard the painful apology, the pleas for forgiveness. His supporters reminded us that forgiveness is the Christian thing to do, some quoting today's verse from John's Gospel, to back up their claim. And, of course, they were right. They also claimed that the good he's done, and his potential for more, far outweighs his personal lapses of morality. Some argued against this and said, yes, forgive him, but let him get a different job.
Through all of this, I found myself feeling the most compassion for his wife and family. I tried to imagine the depth of their embarrassment and shame. How difficult to stand there in front of the world shoulder to shoulder with the man who has proved so shockingly unworthy of that support.
But there he is, still doing his job, still facing us on the tube. He still has power. He still earns more money than most of us will ever see. He still tells us what's right and what's wrong. He still has his ministry. Has he changed? Is he really sorry? Will these escapades continue? Only God knows the answer to this, but his supporters have forgiven him, and so has God. I have forgiven him, too. So should all Christians. That's our job. And if we can do this for Jimmy Swaggart, maybe we can do the same for our President. He needs it, and our prayers.
(Romans 1:20)
People say that God is invisible. They also say that it's impossible to prove His existence. It's all a matter of faith, and to a certain degree they're right. But this verse from Romans that heads our weekly message declares that God's existence is evident in all He's created. We simply have to look around and all creation bears witness to His power, His deity and His existence. Sometimes this is especially comforting to me.
Today, for instance, I was on my way home after one of the worst weeks I've had in quite a while, and I just wasn't feeling very positive. In fact I was miserable. Business had been awful and I was just beat to the socks. Exhausted, I got in the car and started driving home. I began to look around me. The bright orange-red sun was beginning to set in the darkening ocean. The rain had just ended and a fine mist hung in the air, air so fresh and clean it seemed like a new idea. All the trees were gleaming, their flowers lit up in the day's final light. Everywhere I looked something was blooming, exploding in tropical color. I felt myself relaxing, the tension dissolving and by the time I reached my house, I felt refreshed. I thanked God for a great day.
True, I live in Hawaii and it's not too difficult to find something beautiful to look at. God definitely went way overboard on this place, but even those of us who call this island home begin to take these blessings for granted. We stop seeing what He's given us. And we stop seeing Him in these things. You may not live in a setting quite as picturesque, but if you have one flower in a pot on your porch, you've got the same evidence we have, only more concentrated.
These ideas occurred to me on that short drive I just mentioned. The verse from Romans came to mind, and I began to understand why I was feeling so good. I was seeing evidence of God all around me. Then my memory was jogged one more time and I remembered a passage from, of all things, a Sherlock Holmes story. The Naval Treaty, to be exact.
In this story, Holmes, as usual, is dealing with what would be an impossible case for anyone else. A treaty has been stolen, the loss of which could plunge the entire world into war. Things are desperate. Everybody is frantic. Yet in the midst of this critical investigation, he stops, picks a flower and begins to examine it. Doyle then has his ultra-logical detective say something quite profound and seemingly out of character:
"There is nothing in which deduction is so necessary as in religion. It can be built up as an exact science by the reasoner. Our highest assurance of the goodness of Providence seems to me to rest in the flowers. All other things, our powers, our desires, our food, are all really necessary for our existence in the first instance. But this rose is an extra. Its smell and its colour are an embellishment of life, not a condition of it. It is only goodness which gives extras, and so I say again that we have much to hope from the flowers."
Very true. God could have made this world much more boring. But nature reflects God's limitlessness. It's an expression of Him, sort of His way of saying, "Hi there, remember Me?" No we don't worship it, we worship Him. But we can appreciate His work. We can look around us and be reminded of just how amazing He is. We can show our appreciation for His willingness to reveal Himself to us in all He's created. And we can thank Him for the extras.
(Matthew 6:7)
This verse is probably familiar to most of you. It leads into what we call "The Lord's Prayer". I personally like the heading my Bible gives this section better, "The Model Prayer". The point Jesus is trying to make with His disciples, and us, is that prayer should be straightforward, to the point and focused. God doesn't need a whole song and dance. Just cut to the chase. What do you want?
The prayer Jesus then teaches his disciples gets this done to perfection. It is the template for our prayer life. But since I've already done a series on this model prayer, let me give you another example of someone who knew how to pray concisely and effectively.
His name was Jabez.
Now Jabez was more honorable than his brothers, and his mother called his name Jabez, saying, "Because I bore him in pain." And Jabez called on the God of Israel saying, "Oh, that You would bless me indeed, and enlarge my territory, that Your hand would be with me, and that You would keep me from evil, that I may not cause pain!" So God granted him what he requested. (I Chronicles 4:9-10)
That's all we have on this guy Jabez. What we know is that his mother had the brilliant idea of naming him literally He-Will-Cause-Pain (Jabez) in a time when people knew what names meant. This probably affected him socially. Who would want their kids to play with him? Who would want He-Will-Cause-Pain at their next party? Who would want their daughter to marry him? And I would imagine Jabez gave up the idea of becoming a doctor at a very early age.
Still this didn't stop Jabez. He called on God. No chanting, no whining, no begging, no explanations of the problem, no lengthy prologue, no fancy language, just bless me, help me, keep me from evil and don't let this dumb name come true. Short and to the point. God liked this prayer and answered it, doing just what Jabez asked for. And Jabez has been immortalized for being brief.
That's all we know about Jabez. That's all we need to know: how he prayed. That's why God included this miniature story in His Word. We aren't told what happened next, but I am sure that Jabez's borders increased, that God's hand was with him, that he remained unskilled in evil and that he proved to be totally painless. The only question I'm left with is: What would have happened if instead he had asked God to just change his name?
(Luke 21:19)
This week's message was prompted by a regular reader who wrote to say that he had read this particular verse from Luke many times without really paying much attention to it. It occurred to me that I had been doing the same. And since we have been studying along these lines (patience, waiting, etc.) for the past few weeks, this seemed an appropriate study. Be patient, we'll get to another topic soon.
This verse seemed straightforward enough, but the more I looked at it, the more I saw. What does it mean to possess your soul? Whipping out the Strong's Concordance, I checked this word possess and found some interesting shadings. Its root word in the Greek, ktaomai, means to acquire, with the added emphasis of by any means. While it can be used to mean simply possess, it also can be translated obtain, provide and purchase. The impression (I'm not even close to being a Greek scholar) this gives me is not of just having something, but getting it. And we all know that the word soul is defined as our mind, will and emotions, in other words, who we are.
The next word I looked up was that annoying 8-letter word so many of us pretend to have mastered, patience. Again I was surprised by what I found. The Greek, for those of you who care about such things, is hupomone, and it means cheerful or hopeful endurance. Some expectancy is obviously involved here. It is safe to say this is not the patience most of us are familiar with. Even worse, this subtle Greek word is derived from hupomeno, which means to undergo trials with fortitude (read guts), a long way from just waiting in line at the grocery store without having a hissy fit.
This is not surprising when we put this verse back in Luke's context. It appears smack dab in the middle of Jesus' warnings to His disciples about the end of the age and the destruction of Jerusalem. He explains to them just how much fun it's about to become to bear the name of Christ. They'll get thrown in jail, be betrayed, even to death, by friends and family and generally hated by everybody. Then He tells them to possess their souls by their patience.
He could have said, "By your cheerful and hopeful endurance in these trials you will purchase and keep your minds, your wills and your emotions." This means someone else will not be controlling these things. This is a major victory for any human being, and it leads to even greater victory. And patience is the only way to get there (sorry).
Which brings me to another interesting closure. In the last message, you may remember that I ended by mentioning a wonderful reader who was expecting total recovery from paralysis she suffered in a recent accident. I thought this was really encouraging. From her hospital bed she cheerfully wrote me back to make one slight correction. Her accident was not recent. It was twenty years ago. She still believes she is healed. She fully expects to walk, not just in heaven, but on this earth. I'm sure she'll do that, and more. Anybody out there still unclear about patience?
(Psalm 78:41)
Today's verse from Psalm 78 is frequently cited to demonstrate what damage a lack of faith can do. It is part of a lengthy description of Israel's rebelliousness in the face of God's overwhelming accomplishments on her behalf. But that's not what this message is about.
What I want you to notice is the fact that we, small and insignificant as we are, can and do limit God Almighty. This seems profoundly paradoxical, considering that I just referred to Him as Almighty. How can a mere human, one of His own creations, put the brakes on God? How can one limit the Limitless. He can do anything, right?
Yes and no. Now before you think I'm being blasphemous, please remember that I did not write Psalm 78. The Holy Spirit did and He should know. He says we can limit God.
This does not, however, imply that God Himself has any limitations. He doesn't. He's capable of doing anything He can think of. It's just that He respects our free will (He gave it to us) and doesn't force Himself or His support where it is not invited. That's how we limit Him.
The best way to demonstrate this is by example. Let's say you have two churches on the same street. Both are filled with people who love God and make an effort to live in a manner pleasing to Him. They worship, study the Word, pray, do good things in the community, and try to meet each other's needs. Church A, however, believes in the laying on of hands for healing the sick and Church B doesn't. Question: Which church do you suppose witnesses more healings?
This is limiting God. He is every bit as capable of healing people at church B as Church A, and once in a while He'll just say the heck with unbelief and do it anyway. A few spectacular instances come to mind. But you can't count on it.
What it all basically comes down to is our own personal picture of who God is. If we think He's unknowable and unreachable, chances are He will be. If we think He doesn't heal miraculously, He probably won't. If we think spiritual gifts are no longer available, we'll never see them. If you think this Christian thing you're doing is as good as it gets, it probably will be.
Just last week I received an email from a reader. She was very sweet. She thanked me for the articles (or whatever these things are) and closed her message by relating that she had recently been paralyzed in an accident. She did not request prayer. She didn't ask me what I thought about healing, whether God might still be in that business. She simply informed me that she expected a full recovery. No limits there. I expect she's right.
.
(Mark 13:32)
In the last message we took a look at something none of us like very much: Waiting. We all want everything yesterday or sooner. I am no exception to this human frailty and have a constant battle with this testing of my patience. We did discover, however, that there are definite benefits to the process and that waiting in faith does produce results. God will come through. I closed the study with the Bottom Line: Even Jesus had to wait.
This prompted some folks to wonder just what Jesus had to wait for. Let me give you some examples. It might make your own waiting more bearable.
The first big wait He had was before He was even called Jesus. As we see in the opening of John's gospel, He existed from the very beginning, as the Word. He oversaw creation, that creation coming through Him, and yet His earthly body had not yet been born. He watched the ascent of Man, kingdoms rising and falling, war and peace, and the failure of the Law. After waiting thousands of years the time came for Him to be born into the kingly line of David. However, He came to us not as a conquering hero with great fanfare and pomp, but as an ordinary child of humble parents, born in a dingy barn in a little backwater burg called Bethlehem.
This began Jesus' next waiting period, and it lasted 30 years. He grew, studied the Law and the Prophets and learned carpentry alongside Joseph. Other brothers and sisters were added to the family. Yet He knew His destiny. He knew His ministry-to-be. But He couldn't make it happen any sooner than it did. Thirty years He waited to begin. His earthly career lasted a whole three years.
As His time on this earth grew short, He waited again, this time in a little garden where the locals made olive oil. He hoped His friends would wait with Him for the answer He sought, but they were just too sleepy. It was a short wait, however, and He was arrested and brought before the authorities for the crime of being sinless. Through this ordeal He waited in silence.
After a mockery of a trial, He waited again, this time on the Cross. This is the wait that really got to Jesus the most, as He hung there naked with all our sins weighing Him down, forsaken by his own Father. The seconds must have seemed like years to One who had never known sin. Fortunately He didn't have to wait long. He was dead.
You might think that Jesus was done with all the waiting by now but He still had three long days to wait. Some say He was in Hell, some in limbo, some just in the ground. All I know is that after waiting three days He rose and He had beaten Hell, Death and the Grave. Satan was defeated forever and all his servants realized their master wasn't going to win afterall. Our lives were forever changed.
Still Jesus waited, this time to return to His Father. He spent some time traveling the countryside, got the disciples back on track, said His farewells, and finally left. It must have felt good to go home.
So now Jesus sits at the right hand of God Almighty. One would think that the waiting must be over with. Not so, as today's verse points out. Jesus has been waiting since 33 AD to go to His own wedding, and the kicker is He doesn't even know when it's going to take place. Only his Father knows, and He's not talking. So Jesus waits. And waits. And waits.
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(Psalm 27:14)
This is going to be one of those good news/bad news messages today. The good news, the really good news we should all be turning backflips over, is that God answers prayer. He really does. The bad news is that He does it in His own time. This can be annoying because He literally has all the time in the world.
There are of course exceptions to this. For example, if it's a life or death situation that requires immediate divine intervention, God will move at the speed of light. He can do that. Before the words are out of your mouth, He's already sent help. This comes in handy when you're being chased by a 12 foot tiger shark 50 yards from your boat. It's also good for planes on the verge of crashing, head-on collision near-misses and terminal illnesses. These are the kind of things that you simply can't wait for and God knows it.
The problem is that very few of our prayers, most of which are based on personal wants and desires, fit into this category. God knows this, too, so He lets us wait. And wait. And wait.
I don't care for that very much. More than once I've shared this sentiment with the Lord and to be honest I have not been able to get Him to change His ways. He absolutely refuses to synchronize His watch with mine. So I wait. I don't like it, but I wait.
Thus today's verse. We're instructed to wait. The word wait here implies more than just sitting there twiddling one's thumbs. It means to wait in faith. This is crucial. We're told to be of good courage, not to get down and defeated, not to succumb to fear or worry. Then a promise is added, right there in the middle. God will strengthen us. So we can wait some more.
You might also notice that the word fun didn't appear in David's psalm. That's because waiting isn't fun. It never was for David and it never will be for us. It's just an unavoidable condition of dealing with God. But it can be rewarding and it can add some much-needed muscle to our scrawny little spiritual physiques. Sometimes it even gives us the opportunity to realize that what we wanted wasn't such a big deal after all. But if we hang on long enough and stay in faith, God will be as good as His word. He will answer.
What's great is when you wait and wait and BANG there it is! There's the answered prayer. I think God gets a kick out of this, like any Dad would. He enjoys surprising His kids with something they've been wanting for so long. But without the wait, where's the surprise?
One early morning, when I was pestering God about this subject for the umpteenth time, He took me out to my patio. There was a planter of moss roses there that I had just potted. All the buds were closed tight and He asked me if I thought they would open. Sure, I said. Then He asked me to watch them open. So I sat there and sat there. Nothing happened. So I went inside. Less than one hour later I looked out the window and all the flowers were open. Dozens of them. I then realized that while I was staring at the buds, waiting for them to open, they were actually opening, just too slowly for my eyes to see. The Lord then informed me that He works pretty much the same way. He's always moving, acting, positioning the pieces of our lives, making something happen. We just can't always see Him doing it.
Which is why we need to learn to wait, to relax and trust God to do it His way, in His time. Fun? No. Waiting never is, but it can get easier with each answered prayer. And there's always the possibility that He will surprise you when you're not even looking with a full planter of flowers.
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HAVE FAITH IN GOD!
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