Blog
Saw Him and Were Amazed
Monday, November 27, 2023“But Peter continued knocking, and when he opened, they saw him and were amazed” Acts 12:16. Why didn’t He rescue James? As the chapter opens, we read that Herod kills James with the sword, violent hands are laid on some in the church, and then he seizes Peter with plans to kill him too after the Passover. What was going on in the minds of these early Christians when they saw their friends so easily persecuted (and this was after Saul had earlier ravaged the church) and one from Jesus’ inner circle so quickly killed? Was God really with them? Was the church to be destroyed by the world’s relentless hate? The church was in earnest prayer to God for Peter while he languished in prison. But did they believe in prayer? When an angel miraculously had Peter walk out of the prison to where the church was praying, they don’t believe at first that it is him, and when they finally see him in the doorway, they were amazed. Amazed? God can do all things for sure, and their shaken faith was renewed. But why not rescue James the same way? Because it did not suit the sovereign Lord’s purpose! The same Jesus in control of Peter’s situation was in James’ … and in ours too.
In Whom I Take Refuge
Monday, November 13, 2023“For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?” Psalm 43:2. This is often how we feel when we are going through a struggle—that God has rejected us. We go about in mourning; our soul is downcast within us—'why the long face?’ We take refuge in God we believe has left us. Where else can we go? He alone has the words of eternal life. And so we need Him to send His light and His truth, but how can it come to us unless it is sent? The psalmist continues, “let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling!” This is the job of the church, as the members of the body have equal concern for one another. Romans 10:14-17 reminds us of the importance of the preaching that leads to another’s belief and restoration, “And how are they to hear without someone preaching? And how are they to preach unless they are sent?” We, who are simple clay jars, are entrusted with a treasure of God’s Word, which is the light of the gospel in the face of Christ, to shine out to the downcast souls around us, both the saved and the lost, to restore them into a right relationship with Jesus.
Preserve for You a Remnant
Monday, November 13, 2023“And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. … And God sent me before you to preserve a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors” Genesis 45:5-7. The very nature of a remnant is separation of a sanctified people; it’s dwindling numbers while we trust in God for survival; it’s loneliness on the narrow path while we see the wicked prosper. This was true in the days that Noah was a “preacher of righteousness” while he built the ark in which only eight people were saved. It was true at the time of the exiles refined in captivity in Babylon who restored right worship and living with Ezra the priest. And it’s true of the Lord’s church today in the face of such an antagonistic culture that has pulled away so many in our younger generations. But, though we, with the help of “lawless men” sold our Father’s favored Son, God has sent Him to preserve a remnant in His church and to keep alive for us many survivors. Survivors indicate that we must go through many tribulations to enter the kingdom of God and many will choose not to do so. But, God who is in charge of the increase, will reserve the remnant. We must faithfully plant and water.
So My Soul Pants for You
Monday, November 06, 2023“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God” Psalm 42:1. Here is the picture of someone who had once been part of the core group of believers, worshiping and serving God with the faithful, but has fallen away. The reason is not clear but several times the psalmist asks, “Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me?” And yet, his thirst for God is not quenched. His soul pants for God like a deer pants for flowing streams. To the woman at the well in Samaria in John 4, Jesus promises to give living water so that she will never thirst. She too has a downcast soul because of sinful choices she has made in her life. That she was at the well in the middle of day instead of morning or evening shows us how shunned she was from others. Yet, Jesus was able to re-engage her with her thirst. There are so many whose souls are downcast around us. We must help them find their thirst once again. Then, as Psalm 1 shows us, we must have them drink deeply from God’s Word for them to be a tree planted by the water once again. He concludes in Psalm 42:11, “Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.” Thirsty?
I Love to Tell the Story
Monday, October 30, 2023“‘Which of the two did the will of his father?’ They said, ‘The first.’ Jesus said to them, ‘Truly, I say to you, the tax collectors and the prostitutes go into the kingdom of heaven before you’” Matthew 21:31. So many of us, who have never shared the gospel with another person, sing the lyrics to “I Love to Tell the Story” without really thinking about the contrast between our words and actions. How much like the first son in Jesus’ parable we are who declared to his father that he would work in the vineyard that day but then never did it! To be honest, we might change the lyrics to say, “I hate to tell the story …” or the chorus to “‘Twon’t be my theme in glory ….” (Is ‘Twon’t even a word?) But who would want to sing such lyrics, even if they are more accurate? It's human tendency to make ourselves sound better than we are, to paint a rosier picture of ourselves, to put up a façade to fool others. But, God is not fooled. The son who did his father’s will, we are told, is the one who was honest at first by declaring that he would not obey but then had a change of heart and did his father’s work. This one is likened to terrible sinners, whose reputations could not hide behind facades, but repented.