What can we do while we are in the storms of affliction, trouble and suffering?
Psalm 57 was written, we are told, by David "when he fled from Saul, IN THE CAVE" (introduction to the Psalm). Can you picture David hiding in the darkness of a cave, afraid for his life? Saul, jealous and filled with murderous rage toward David, is leading his armed men in pursuit. David is in the storm.
What thoughts would pass through your mind? What emotions? "Thanks a lot, God. I thought Samuel anointed me the next king of Israel?? Is the next king of Israel about to die in a cave?!"
David's heart belongs to the Lord. He is in the cave...praying.
(Jonah was in the fish...praying; Jesus was on the cross...praying.)
David cries, "Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful to me, for in you my soul takes refuge;
in the shadow of your wings I will take refuge, till the storms of destruction pass by." (v1)
David clings to God in the storm! Storms usually pull us closer to God, or give unbelievers excuse to run from him.
Next, look where David's trust is anchored:
"I cry out to God Most High, to God who fulfills his purpose for me" (v2).
David is trusting in God's sovereign plan! Oh, what peace there is in trusting our sovereign God!
Finally, David's thoughts are not self-centered in this prayer. Remember, he's hiding in a cave with an army looking for him! What's on his heart as he cries out to God for help?
"Be exalted, O God, above the heavens!
Let your glory be over all the earth!" (vs5, 11).
Twice David takes up this exclamation of praise while the storm is raging in his life. He knows that there is something bigger than being saved from suffering. There is MORE than my needs being met. God's glory is priority number one!!!
Does your heart beat for God's glory to be seen? Does this consume you...even in times when it's not natural to think about it?
So we've learned some important lessons from the David's storm.
1. Pray.
2. Take refuge in God till the storm passes by.
3. Rest in God's sovereignty.
4. Praise God and yearn for his glory to be seen.
Are you hiding in the cave? Are you in the storm?
Here is help!
Sunday, May 24, 2009
Thursday, May 14, 2009
Are you obeying Galatians 5:13?
"For you were called to freedom, brothers. Only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love serve one another" (Gal 5:13, ESV).
What freedom we have in Christ! Not under the law, not fearfully trying to please God with do's and don'ts. Free from the power and mastery of sin, free to love God and be loved!
But Paul instructs the Galatians not to use this great freedom to feed the flesh. Sadly, this instruction is necessary. Some attempt to twist the grace of God into a license to sin. We can't have Jesus plus sin. Can't serve 2 masters...
On the flip side of the coin, Paul tells us how to use our freedom! "...through love serve one another." Sounds easy, right? So how are we doing?
This is written to specific local churches in Galatia (Gal 1:2), and for us in our localities. This instruction is for believers in local churches to love other believers in those same local churches, and show that love by serving the other believers. This is where it gets difficult!
It's easy for us to think of serving Jesus, or even serving "the church" (generally speaking). But these are not just words in a vacuum. Churches are filled with real people, with real faces and real names. It's one thing to consider ourselves serving "the church." It's quite another to commit to a local group of people for years, with all their faults & personality nuances, in all the various up-and-down seasons of life; a long-haul commitment to love and serve. This is God's kind of love! It is not easy, and it does not originate in us. It is life-giving, sacrificial and costly. It is not based on feelings or convenience. In fact, apart from the life and power of Christ's Spirit working in us, it is impossible!
Think again of these instructions: "through love serve one another." Now put the real faces and names of the people in your local church family in the place of the word "another." "Through love serve Kim." This gets us down to real faith in action. Do you love the people in your local church? Are you serving them? How are you serving them? Would THEY say your are serving them? Would they say you love them?
Praise God for loving real people with real names...who have real sins. His is a particular love. Jesus propitiated God's wrath from real people, paying the price for definite sins, redeeming his beloved! Now his love is in us. In our flesh it is sometimes hard to love imperfect people. But as we remember how God has treated us at our worst ("while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," Romans 5:8), and as we receive the living Christ in us by faith, God will give us the power to love and serve his people. Praise God!
Let's get to work, by his Spirit...
What freedom we have in Christ! Not under the law, not fearfully trying to please God with do's and don'ts. Free from the power and mastery of sin, free to love God and be loved!
But Paul instructs the Galatians not to use this great freedom to feed the flesh. Sadly, this instruction is necessary. Some attempt to twist the grace of God into a license to sin. We can't have Jesus plus sin. Can't serve 2 masters...
On the flip side of the coin, Paul tells us how to use our freedom! "...through love serve one another." Sounds easy, right? So how are we doing?
This is written to specific local churches in Galatia (Gal 1:2), and for us in our localities. This instruction is for believers in local churches to love other believers in those same local churches, and show that love by serving the other believers. This is where it gets difficult!
It's easy for us to think of serving Jesus, or even serving "the church" (generally speaking). But these are not just words in a vacuum. Churches are filled with real people, with real faces and real names. It's one thing to consider ourselves serving "the church." It's quite another to commit to a local group of people for years, with all their faults & personality nuances, in all the various up-and-down seasons of life; a long-haul commitment to love and serve. This is God's kind of love! It is not easy, and it does not originate in us. It is life-giving, sacrificial and costly. It is not based on feelings or convenience. In fact, apart from the life and power of Christ's Spirit working in us, it is impossible!
Think again of these instructions: "through love serve one another." Now put the real faces and names of the people in your local church family in the place of the word "another." "Through love serve Kim." This gets us down to real faith in action. Do you love the people in your local church? Are you serving them? How are you serving them? Would THEY say your are serving them? Would they say you love them?
Praise God for loving real people with real names...who have real sins. His is a particular love. Jesus propitiated God's wrath from real people, paying the price for definite sins, redeeming his beloved! Now his love is in us. In our flesh it is sometimes hard to love imperfect people. But as we remember how God has treated us at our worst ("while we were still sinners, Christ died for us," Romans 5:8), and as we receive the living Christ in us by faith, God will give us the power to love and serve his people. Praise God!
Let's get to work, by his Spirit...
Wednesday, May 6, 2009
Worse Than the Devil?!
Is there a sin that is worse than the devil?
Listen to what the Puritan John Owen wrote:
"Impenitent unbelievers under the preaching of the gospel are the vilest and most ungrateful of all God's creatures. The devils themselves, as wicked as they are, are not guilty of this sin, for Christ was never offered to them. They were never offered salvation on the condition of faith and repentance. This is the terrible sin of unbelievers and will greatly add to their misery in hell." (The Glory of Christ, ch. 14)
Wow.
God never offered salvation to the fallen angels. He never gave his Son to save them. When man sinned, God owed us nothing, either. He could have given us the results of our choice and a fate similar to that of Lucifer and his angels. BUT (praise God!) instead, God chose to act in love, mercy and grace to fallen man! At great cost to himself (the death of his own Son) he showed off the glory of his grace to rescue us from our dilemma. Christ died for sinful man. Christ is now offered to sinners.
In light of such beautiful grace, what a hideous sin it is to reject Christ!! What a slap in the face of God! Satan has never committed such a sin - rejecting an offer of a crucified Christ in his place - but hell will be filled with rebellious men who have done just that.
Reject him no longer! Look to Jesus and be saved!
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest...and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."
Matthew 11:28, John 6:37b, ESV
Listen to what the Puritan John Owen wrote:
"Impenitent unbelievers under the preaching of the gospel are the vilest and most ungrateful of all God's creatures. The devils themselves, as wicked as they are, are not guilty of this sin, for Christ was never offered to them. They were never offered salvation on the condition of faith and repentance. This is the terrible sin of unbelievers and will greatly add to their misery in hell." (The Glory of Christ, ch. 14)
Wow.
God never offered salvation to the fallen angels. He never gave his Son to save them. When man sinned, God owed us nothing, either. He could have given us the results of our choice and a fate similar to that of Lucifer and his angels. BUT (praise God!) instead, God chose to act in love, mercy and grace to fallen man! At great cost to himself (the death of his own Son) he showed off the glory of his grace to rescue us from our dilemma. Christ died for sinful man. Christ is now offered to sinners.
In light of such beautiful grace, what a hideous sin it is to reject Christ!! What a slap in the face of God! Satan has never committed such a sin - rejecting an offer of a crucified Christ in his place - but hell will be filled with rebellious men who have done just that.
Reject him no longer! Look to Jesus and be saved!
"Come to me, all who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest...and whoever comes to me I will never cast out."
Matthew 11:28, John 6:37b, ESV
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