“Rejoice with those who rejoice, weep with those who weep” Romans 12:15. There was a Sunday afternoon in June 2021 when I was between ministry jobs that I “cleaned house” with my Facebook friends. All those from high school or college that I hadn’t interacted with in several decades—gone! Acquaintances from the area I was leaving—gone! But, the real criteria was how much they had “been there” for me in the five months that my wife had been on hospice leading to her death the year before. Visits were hard during Covid, but if there was nary a call, text, or card—gone! And I didn’t feel bad about it but rather betrayed by them as I realized that they meant more to me than I had ever meant to them. Isn’t that the very definition of a fair-weather friend—one who is only by your side when times are good? We should never be like that as the church. Ra-ther, because God so loved us sinners that He sent His Son to die in our place, we are united by the bonds of that love. Blood is indeed thicker than water. So, while we rejoice with those who rejoice, celebrating as any family would, we also weep with those who weep as any family should. Are you there for those who need you?

“Who is this King of glory? The LORD, strong and mighty, the LORD, mighty in battle!” Psalm 24: 7-10. Though not stated in the ancient title, some believe that this psalm have been written as David moved the ark of the covenant from Obed-edom’s house to the tabernacle in Jerusalem. That occasion was full of rejoicing that God’s presence was entering the city that God had said He would choose for Himself even before His people entered the Promised Land with Joshua many centuries before (Deuteronomy 12). But what had happened just before this that led to the ark staying at and the LORD blessing the house of Obed-edom for three months? David, by his own wisdom and might, put the ark on a cart and, when the oxen stumbled, poor Uzzah died when he reached out his hand to steady the ark from falling off. David took that time, not to wallow in frustration or sorrow that he couldn’t do something that he intended to do for God, but to seek what God intended. Then he could bring the ark to Jerusalem with the rejoicing for the King of glory we read about in this psalm. How many things we think we’re doing for the LORD are really to satisfy ourselves? Do you seek Him?

“The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want” Psalm 23:1. When I was a kid and heard this psalm, I wondered why anyone would not want the LORD. This language, I think, is a holdover from older translations though. Perhaps today we might say, “I shall not be in want.” Someone older might think this song is only for funerals. These six verses are certainly often heard at funerals and can give the comfort that people are seek-ing it during those times. But it is giving help to those who are struggling to live. It was my job as the oldest kid to take food scraps out to the edge of a dark woods to our compost pile, and after dinner in NYS for most of the year it was dark. Having memorized this psalm, I would recite it as I slunk across our backyard, scanning the shadows for creatures. My faith grew as I trusted that God would give me everything that I would need. More than provision, however, was His protection and His presence. Now, our trailer in a clearing was far from the valley of the shadow of death, but even as a young child I learned that nothing would happen to me that God wouldn’t allow and that God was good. Moreover, God taught me through this psalm that He held my future. 

“But they could not withstand the wisdom and the Spirit with which he was speaking” Acts 6:10. It was really an unfair match from the start. To all the world—certainly to the army and his seven older brothers who were “dismayed and greatly afraid”—the shepherd boy did not stand a chance against the warrior giant, but David came “in the name of the LORD of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel, whom [he] had defied.” So, not a fair matchup to start with. And neither was it with Stephen. Yes, what chance did those who were from the synagogue of the Freedmen have against one who was picked to serve because he was “of good repute, full of the Spirit and of wisdom”? And so the world’s Goliath was once more pitted against God’s giant—and the predictable result: they could not withstand. No, not fair at all. It’s the strength and wisdom of the world against the weakness and foolishness of God. The world falls every time. And so it is with us. We who’ve believed and obeyed the gospel are God’s Davids and Stephens in the world. Their brawny giants snarl and shout their defiance, but we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed. Rather, knowing who’ll win, we meet them.

“But who are you, O man, to answer back to God? Will what is molded say to its molder, ‘Why have you made me like this?’” Romans 9:20. Submission is so hard. After all, we are made in God’s image and so want to be our own gods. But, we are made a little lower than the angels and so have to submit to God. Even the Word made flesh had to submit to His Father. Think about it … as the Creator through Whom all things were made, Jesus knew how to do everything except submit—to anything. It’s so hard to get us to this point: Have Thine own way, Lord! Have Thine own way! Thou art the Potter, I am the clay! Mold me and make me After Thy will, While I am waiting, Yielded and still. It truly does mean giving up our vision for our lives—our will--and accepting God’s plan. We may have thought we were fit for “greater” things and feel trapped, because of life’s circumstances, in a life, a job, a family, an income bracket that we never thought we’d be in. People die, economies shift, sicknesses alter our lives. God knows all about it. He’s arranged the parts of the body where He wants them to be. Submit to Him as the clay does to the Potter. Bloom where you’re planted. Serve Him!