Romans 15:4 "For whatever was written in earlier times was written for our instruction, so that through perseverance and the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope."
A goal of mine has always been to grow closer to my God, so I began researching verses and passages relating to this vision. Throughout my long and prayerful search for the “perfect” verse, I came across Psalm 27:4, which yet proclaims,
One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.(AKJV)
This hit me like a ton of living stones. The vision of dwelling in the house of the Lord and gazing upon His unseeable unknowable face, His unsearchable beauty. At that precise moment of prayer, God answered! He struck a deep chord in my heart. He strummed the heart right strings which started my soul unto singing.
From this, I knew that now was the moment where I should live in such a way that I actively seek God. I came to realize that God was teaching me to seek Him and gaze upon His beauty despite the rocky road of life, which has transformed my sinfully limited and skewed perspective on the current events of the world.
It has granted me the ability to envision perseverance through trying times, the ability to envision my developing a godlier character, and the ability to have and believe I can actually grasp, hold onto, a hope which lasts longer than 1 minute.
Little did I realize God had given me this simple verse which I have read 1,000 times to radically change the way I envision pursuing the Lord. This leads me to say God does not always roar in our lives in the way we would expect; rather, He quietly nudges us back to the basic, simple principles in which we should rest. It is in looking for God in all the places we see every moment of every day, we live!
God struck a new musical chord deep in David’s heart at the exact moment he needed it. From this, I can testify! We have these amazing words which found my heart at the exact moment, three thousand some odd number of years later.
Pray! what place in His Holy Scriptures is He nudging you back to envisioning?
Psalm 27:1-4 AKJV
Psalm 27
A Psalm of David.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid? 2 When the wicked, even mine enemies and my foes, came upon me to eat up my flesh, they stumbled and fell. 3 Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear: though war should rise against me, in this will I be confident. 4 One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to enquire in his temple.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Affirm and Pray,
I Believe
In spite of many unanswered questions, I believe.
I believe I see in the living God, the joy of the universe,
who is the pulse and purpose of all things seen and unseen,
who from the dust of earth calls up living beings to be children of eternity,
who through countless ages has provided for us many liberators
and tirelessly seeks to bring victory out of defeat and life out of decay.
I believe I see in Jesus the Christ, God’s true Son,
who is bone of our bone and flesh of our flesh,
who took upon himself the healing of the human race,
who bearing the burden of our sins went to Golgotha carrying his cross,
who was betrayed, crucified, dead and buried in a borrowed tomb,
who on the third day was found to be gloriously alive,
meeting with those who trust him and serve him to the end of the world.
I believe I see in the Holy Spirit of God,
within and among all who cherish Christ and his way,
who brings hope out of despair, love out of apathy, and joy out of sorrow,
who unceasingly regenerates and reforms the church
that it may always be the contemporary body of the risen Christ,
loving the world through prayer, word and deed.
I believe that even I am caught up in the resurgent life of Christ Jesus,
and that nothing in life or death can separate me from his love and joy.
In spite of unanswered questions, YES! I believe I YET see the face of God.
Peter quoted from the Psalms as he answered the religious powerbrokers about the power, he had invoked to heal the man at the gate of the Temple. While he quoted only one verse, those religious scholars would have known the context and the MAX message that surrounded the verse and should have heard Peter’s poignant and urgent message to them about the gate of the LORD and salvation:
Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to the LORD. This is the gate of the LORD; the righteous shall enter through it. I thank you that you have answered me and have become my salvation. The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone. This is the LORD’s doing; it is marvelous in our eyes. This is the day that the LORD has made; let us rejoice and be glad in it. (Psalm 118:19-24 ESV)
Even though Peter spoke to those who intended to harm him, he was extending the offer of salvation outward into eternity. YAHWEH, the LORD, the covenant God of Israel, had done through Jesus all that is in this great Messianic psalm.
The assembled religious leaders Peter was addressing could turn and accept Jesus as the cornerstone and be saved or not. It could be a day of rejoicing and not of accusation. For rejoicing to reign, people must turn to Jesus, recognize what he has done as being marvelous in their eyes because he is the only name, the only person, who is the foundation of grace and by whom we are saved!
Acts 4:1-12 NRSV
Peter and John before the Council
4 While Peter and John[a] were speaking to the people, the priests, the captain of the temple, and the Sadducees came to them, 2 much annoyed because they were teaching the people and proclaiming that in Jesus there is the resurrection of the dead. 3 So they arrested them and put them in custody until the next day, for it was already evening. 4 But many of those who heard the word believed; and they numbered about five thousand.
5 The next day their rulers, elders, and scribes assembled in Jerusalem, 6 with Annas the high priest, Caiaphas, John, [b] and Alexander, and all who were of the high-priestly family. 7 When they had made the prisoners[c] stand in their midst, they inquired, “By what power or by what name did you do this?” 8 Then Peter, filled with the Holy Spirit, said to them, “Rulers of the people and elders, 9 if we are questioned today because of a good deed done to someone who was sick and are asked how this man has been healed, 10 let it be known to all of you, and to all the people of Israel, that this man is standing before you in good health by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth,[d] whom you crucified, whom God raised from the dead. 11 This Jesus[e] is
‘the stone that was rejected by you, the builders; it has become the cornerstone.’[f]
12 There is salvation in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given among mortals by which we must be saved.”
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
The book of Acts is filled with stories of amazing devotion, and it reads like the script of a movie.
Acts 3, when Peter and John were going up to the temple at the hour of prayer. They were both evidently on their way to a large colonnaded area known as Solomon’s Portico. As they entered the temple there was a lame man sitting in front of the Gate Beautiful, and he asked them for a gift.
Peter said, “Silver and gold have I none, but such as I have give I to thee. In the name of Jesus of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Peter reached down and grabbed the man’s hand and pulled him to his feet. Suddenly the man’s feet and legs received strength and he want walking and leaping and praising God into the temple. A great crowd gathered on Solomon’s Portico, and Peter began preaching the, Gospel But his sermon was interrupted when the temple police came, pushed through the crowd and arrested the two disciples. That’s where we pick up the devotional story today in chapter 4.
When he is giving testimony in Acts 4, Peter asks the Temple Authorities if the healing of a lame man is a good deed or not. If this is an act of kindness, then it must come from God. The obvious answer seems to be yes, it is a good deed from God. If they agree it is a good deed from God, then they have a problem:
Peter states the man was healed by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, the one put to death by this very council only two months before!
The problem for the High Priest is obvious. If Peter healed the man “in the name of Jesus” that means that Jesus was, at the very least, an innocent man and God is now doing miracles “in the name of Jesus.”
If Jesus was innocent, then the High Priest is guilty of killing an innocent man. If he was Messiah and actually raised to the right hand of God, then the coming messianic age has begun, and the High Priest finds himself “on the outside.”
The last line of Peter’s defense is a classic statement of the gospel: “There is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved” (Acts 4:12).
This is a bold, strong statement of total dedication to Jesus Christ. There is no possibility of religious pluralism, Jesus is in fact the only way, truth and life. If humans (these people before Peter or any human) expect to be right with God, they can only do it through the name of Jesus.
This is really an outgrowth of the belief that God raised Jesus from the dead and seated him on his right hand. The name of Jesus is now the highest authority possible, so Paul can say in Phil 2 that at the name of Jesus every knew will bow.
There is a remarkable and radical boldness in this statement which must not be under-estimated, but from the modern perspective of religious pluralism. The boldness is that uneducated Galilean Peter is saying this to a group of highly educated, highly respected, highly religious Jews who thought that they were the only ones who held the right way to salvation. “If you wanted to be right with God, you had to “humbly” come to them and hear their interpretation of the Law and participate in worship only in the Temple, which they control.
Peter is saying that salvation now comes through Jesus, not the Temple. Little wonder why these men were shocked at Peter’s boldness!
The Great Rabbi Gamaliel had cautioned them.
If all of this were an invention of man’s mind alone – it will very soon go away.
If it were a thing of God – there was nothing anyone could ever do to stop it.
Now, everything was becoming real!
Now, the stark implications of these past two months since the crucifixion was revealing for all, a living and unstoppable thing of God in the eyes of the people.
It was coming from an uneducated man – a man close to the everyday people. The people saw uneducated Peter stand boldly before thousands and speak the same words Jesus spoke as he walked among them. Jesus died. But the Word is continuing to emanate forth with an authority not of the Temple Leadership.
The people were listening to Peter. They heard the tongues being spoken. Had heard Peter recite God’s Holy Scriptures, and were convicted by the Holy Spirit.
They came to Peter literally by the thousands and were baptized and the Church was born. They gathered as a believing community as they had not done under the authority of the Temple leadership. The Temple leaders were losing ground. They were fast losing the respect of the people. Jesus whom they killed – LIVED!
Now it was real.
The words of this man Jesus were coming to life too – and they could not stop it! They could not command the people to not speak of Jesus without losing it all! It was all becoming crystal clear to them – they could only remember the events which had led up to this “no return now” moment of incalculable implications
Before, they heard Jesus had taught his disciples about what would happen to them because of him and his name. He had told them that they would be his witnesses to the ends of the earth. He had told them that they would be hated because of him. He told them that they would be handed over to rulers and authorities–and much worse–because of him. They thought it had all ended when they had him humiliated as the ultimate criminal – crucified – crucified!
Now Peter and John were before them, under arrest of the Sanhedrin, perhaps eerily familiar to what happened to their beloved Teacher not too long before. All were gathered – they were experiencing exactly what Jesus had foretold.
But, instead of fear, there was a definite change, there was boldness. Peter and John did not back down. Would they, could they refuse to talk about Jesus? And would, could they obey men rather than God? They couldn’t and they wouldn’t.
Why? Why be so resilient? Why ignore the threat of prison, torture, or death?
Why?
They had surveyed the humiliation of cross for themselves.
Had a long three-day chance to think about it, its implications for them.
They had both peered into Rabbi Jesus’ tomb and found it to be EMPTY!
The Jesus Himself returned to the Upper Room – through a locked door!
Convinced beyond any shadow of a doubt – They stood before the authorities.
Peter gives us the only reason that matters: Salvation is found in no one else, for there is no other name under heaven given to men by which we must be saved.
Peter and John were convinced! Had their lives changed because they came to know salvation through Jesus. They also knew that other people had to know about this too, for there is no other way of salvation except through Jesus alone!
No other message mattered to them in that moment! So today, we Christians who also are persecuted. Perhaps not in America at the same level as the early disciples were, or even as other Christians around the globe are persecuted.
But regardless of how much or little we are oppressed or persecuted now or in the future, the message remains – Salvation is in Jesus! We will not back down!
1. When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died; my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride.
2. Forbid it, Lord, that I should boast, save in the death of Christ, my God; all the vain things that charm me most, I sacrifice them to his blood.
3. See, from his head, his hands, his feet, sorrow and love flow mingled down. Did e’er such love and sorrow meet, or thorns compose so rich a crown.
4. Were the whole realm of nature mine, that were an offering far too small; love so amazing, so divine, demands my soul, my life, my all. (Isaac Watts, 1707)
God has worked in our hearts faith to know and believe salvation through Jesus.
That faith is so empowering, so overwhelming that we also can’t help but boldly share what we have seen and heard. Other people need to know about Jesus to.
So fellow Christian, without ceasing: Testify! Witness! Preach! Teach! The only name, no other power, no other option under heaven that matters for Salvation!
I Pledge My Allegiance to the Lamb of God …..
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
O LORD God, Father of Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Jesus, you are my only Abba Father. I love you. I see your love for me poured out in what Jesus did for me and for all others because we all need salvation. Thank you for sending him — thank you for YOU coming in human flesh in Jesus to show us this love. Your work, your plan, your salvation, and, most of all, a Savior sent for me are marvelous. Thank you for such a great salvation. In Jesus’ name, I offer my thanks and my heart. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
The mightily influential, Late Evangelist Reverend Dr. Billy Graham wrote,
The human soul is a lonely thing. It must have the assurance of companionship. Left entirely to itself, it cannot enjoy anything. God said in the beginning, “It is not good that man should dwell alone” (Genesis 2:18). The creation of Eve was the beginning of human companionship. God’s people are a body, not intended to function separately, not intended to be unconcerned for one another.
The only true body in the world is the Church. The world may talk grandly of brotherhood, but in reality, its philosophy is “each man for himself.” All of God’s children are guaranteed the richest and truest friendship, both here and hereafter. Only in a true friendship and a true love do we find a genuine basis for peace. Only God can break down the national and racial barriers that divide men today. Only God can supply that love that we must have for our fellowman.
We will never build brotherhood of man upon earth until we are believers in Christ Jesus. The only true cohesive power in the world is Christ the Lord. He alone can bind all generations of human hearts together in one genuine love.
Proverbs 27:17 Amplified Bible
17 As iron sharpens iron, So, one man sharpens [and influences] another [through discussion].
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Within the Hebrew (Old) Testament, there are many nuggets of wisdom to take in, with whole books dedicated to the subject. The wisest man to ever walk the earth, King Solomon, wrote several books, including Proverbs. Many of these proverbs come in a poetic form; some of them are long, symbolic narratives, while others are but the briefest of couplets full of truth. One such statement is, “Iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another” (Proverbs 27:17).
Sometimes these metaphoric statements can be complex and rather difficult to understand, especially when they are taken out of context. Most Christians thinkers believe this statement regarding iron sharpening iron only relates to having a good friend, honesty that improves one’s character and calls out sin in a loving way; though there are some who believe it refers to also someone who brings down another, and argue it is a negative statement.
Either way, the phrase “iron sharpens iron” from Proverbs 27:17 highlights the important truth that people affect and influence one another, words and actions define relationships for better or worse, and they change people, so people need to act accordingly.
Proverbs 27 falls towards the end of the book, as there are 31 chapters. It is grouped with several other chapters which are labelled as having been written by King Solomon, the son of David and the builder of the temple, copied later by men who worked for King Hezekiah of Judah. Solomon’s reign was around 970-931 BC, while Hezekiah’s was from 715-686 BC, two centuries later.
The verses in Proverbs are chocked full of advice, many of which are about positive and negative interactions and behaviors. Some examples include:
“Let another praise you and not your own mouth; a stranger, and not your own lips” (Proverbs 27:2).
“Better is open rebuke than hidden love” (Proverbs 27:5).
“As in water face reflects face, so the heart of man reflects the man” (Proverbs 27:19).
“Sheol and Abaddon are never satisfied, and never satisfied are the eyes of man” (Proverbs 27:20).
In the middle of these verses is, “iron sharpens iron, and one man sharpens another.” However, the back half is sometimes given as, ‘…sharpens the face of another.’ Like many of the Proverbs, it uses metaphor to make its point.
What Does “Iron Sharpens Iron” Mean?
When creating and shaping a metal blade, it is often sharpened, and then it is maintained through its life, by dragging it against a harder metal. Without this periodic maintenance, a blade will eventually become quite dull and less useful.
During the life of Solomon, many weapons, pieces of armor, and tools were made of iron. It would not have been a highly refined version of metal, like steel. It was also not necessarily consistent in how hard or soft it was.
A tool would have been sharpened, ground against something harder, to make it smoother, remove deformities, and to maintain its ability to cut. When iron is scraped against another material in this way, it too becomes more refined. The metaphor in the first half of the verse refers to a common practice with which many of that day would have been extraordinarily acquainted, familiar with.
The second half of the verse explains the metaphor. Like a piece of hard iron will sharpen another piece of iron, the interactions between two people will shape and change one another. Most scholars and theologians interpret this changing as a refinement of character. Being in the presence of a truly strong believer, within their sphere of influence, can help refine another person too.
Earlier verses in chapter 27 reflect this idea, “Better is open rebuke than hidden love. Faithful are the wounds of a friend; profuse are the kisses of an enemy” (Proverbs 27:5-6). An honest acquaintance will lovingly address when someone they care about is doing something wrong or struggling with a decision.
It is also in alignment with philosophies of behavior encouraged in the New Testament; “Therefore encourage one another and build one another up, just as you are doing” (1 Thessalonians 5:11). Calling out sin, encouraging each other, and lifting one another up in prayer are all ways of sharpening one another.
Like both metals are altered by the sharpening process, both believers who interact with one another have an impact on each other. If a believer disciples another, they grow as well. Their understanding of the Bible can grow, they can deepen their relationship with God, and each other and have new experiences.
Where Else in the Bible Do We See Believers Strengthening One Another?
God wants Christians to challenge one another and strengthen the community in love as a family and in fellowship (Acts 2:43-47), because they are all the sons and daughters of God. In the New Testament, particularly in the epistles, the writers decidedly, deliberately, put a particularly strong emphasis on it.
Some of these verses include:
“Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up, as fits the occasion, that it may give grace to those who hear” (Ephesians 4:29).
“So then let us pursue what makes for peace for mutual upbuilding” (Romans 14:19).
“But exhort one another everyday, as long as it is called ‘today’, that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Hebrews 3:13).
“Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing praise” (James 5:13).
“But you, beloved, building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ that leads to eternal life” (Jude 1:20-21).
“My brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins” (James 5:19-20).
How Can We Sharpen One Another Today?
These many ways of lifting one another up mentioned in the Bible still apply today. Singing songs to God together, reading the Word, and praying for one another is a great start. Learning more about one another so as to help each other in their specific weaknesses is a way to be supportive and grow stronger in character. Devoting yourselves to innovatively teaching generations about being a success, about mentoring, modeling for each other Christian character.
Availability is so important. Many serve one another by providing meals, time, and energy in each other’s daily lives. This builds trust, meaning believers can challenge each other in more personal ways, people do not live in a vacuum, and the way they are all positively influenced and treated will leave a lasting impact.
True and lasting friendship seems to be a rare gift these days. Many people have made themselves too busy to truly invest the time and energy it takes to develop significant relationships. Often, we will hear people say to each other, “We’ll have to get together soon”–but it seldom happens, and opportunities are lost.
Individuals and communities want to be taught they can come together and be strong in the Lord, believe in themselves – believe in their diverse strengths, to share hopes and dreams for something better than where they find themselves. As the Lord has promised, there is always going to be a time of a greater future.
It is a tough lesson to learn. It is an even far tougher lesson to devote oneself to communicating and teaching, modeling and mentoring, living and sacrificing for. And this is the lesson of the life and ministry, death and resurrection of our Savior Jesus Christ, who for the joy, which was before Him, endured the Cross!
Good friends are one of God’s greatest gifts. Not one of us is ever meant to go through life alone and without help. God longs to use you as his hands and feet to those he has placed in your midst. He longs to make you a friend as God is a great friend to us, in order to bless others and extend the reach of his kingdom.
God is calling you and me to love our friends “at all times.” He is calling you and me to a lifestyle of service and grace. What friend of yours needs your help right now? Who can we choose to serve over ourselves? What friend is God calling you to influence and love with the love and influence He has shown all of us today?
1. Pray and Meditate upon God’s desire for us to pursue godly friendship. Allow Holy Scriptures to stir up our desire to influence and love friends well today.
2. How can you be a better friend today? In what ways can you and I love those whom God has given us as friends? Ask the Holy Spirit to reveal to your ways you can better love and influence those around you today.
3. Ask God to empower you to be a friend who loves unconditionally. Ask him to make you more like himself every day. Spend quality time just resting in his presence and allowing his love to fill you and influence you and empower you.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Heavenly, Father, there are times in my life when I need true and genuine friends, a comforting arm, a listening ear, a shoulder to cry on, or even just sensible good advice. But there are no true friends to turn to. No one who I can relate to, who truly understands exactly how I feel. It leaves me feeling broken, empty, and lost. Fill me, Lord with Your divine holy presence. Allow me to feel Your tender, warm embrace wrapped around me, as I sit here and cry out to You. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
We all face situations in life when we feel scared and alone. We are in that pit of indecision. “Do I stand still and do nothing – Am I a Coward?” or “Do I stand my ground as David did before his Goliath?” “Do I go forward?” or “Do I retreat?” “Do I stay in the pit I have probably dug for myself or fight, claw my way out?”
“Do I turn to the right or to the left?” “Do I take out my compass?” “Do I stand firm in the faith, hope, love and trust of my Savior Jesus Christ?” “Do I stand upon the power, presence of God as revealed through His Word?” Or do I just choose: “talk a great game when I need to because I’m waiting for another to come along and give me a vaccination against the call of God for my lifetime?
Many tough and very legitimate questions believers and non-believers alike are confronted by. However, we can all take some measure of courage from what today’s Bible verse offers our tendency to commit to a course of timidity. We don’t have to be scared or dismayed because the Lord is with us wherever we go.
One too many times, we can want to turn away from situations that seem scary or overwhelming. such as the calling God has placed into our hearts. However, we can face those situations with confidence when we begin believing what this verse says. We begin to believe that we’re not alone and that we’ve got God with us wherever we go we can face any situation. We’ve got God’s help on our side!
Joshua 1:1-9 Holman Christian Standard Bible
Encouragement of Joshua
1 After the death of Moses the Lord’s servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua[a] son of Nun, who had served Moses: 2 “Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. 3 I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. 4 Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River—all the land of the Hittites—and west to the Mediterranean Sea. [b]5 No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you.
6 “Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. 7 Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. 8 This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite[c] it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. 9 Haven’t I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.”
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
There he was, a summer camper, about halfway up a 100-foot-high rock face.
He started the climb with plenty of self-confidence, but now his palms were sweating, calves were quivering, and fingertips were slipping. He looked down, confirmed the instructor was definitely right when he said not to look down.
How much longer could he hold on?
One of the main reasons he came to rock-climbing camp was to show to his friends exactly how “strong and courageous” he was. He thought they’d all be suitably impressed when he “scampered up the rock wall like a mountain goat chugging a gallon of energy drink.” And now everything was coming unraveled.
Joshua 1:9 These ancient words speak to us today, “Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” What are they saying to you now?
Rock climbing takes a good healthy dose of both strength and courage. And God definitely calls us to be “strong and courageous.” In fact, He repeats it 3 times!
In fact, in this verse, he COMMANDS it. That’s no mere polite suggestion. If you believe in God, it should inspire confidence and courage for everything you face! Ah, but here’s the catch: This whole “strong and courageous” thing isn’t really about rock climbing, and it isn’t about your strength and courage.
Notice what this verse says is the basis of our strength: “for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go.” This verse is not describing a kind of strength and a courage that’s based on our own ability to be “strong and courageous.”
No, it’s an invaluable lesson on character building and development: strength and courage based only on who God is; on how strong and courageous HE is.
Like when the neighborhood bully was about to give you a new “lesson in life” (so nice of him), but as the lesson was to begin, you both saw your dad coming.
A new surge of strength and courage rushed over you, not because you were suddenly bigger and stronger, but because of the strength and courage of your dad, and you trusted in that. That’s the kind of “strong and courageous” this verse is talking about. This kind of courage is based on something stronger than us: Something significantly, immeasurably, undeniably stronger outside of us.
Back to our climber left dangling on the rock face. At just about the point, he was going to give up, the guide yelled down “I’ve got you! Just sit back in your harness and take a break: lean into the strength of the rope.”
See, he began the ascent by strapping into a harness and attaching that to a rope so that he couldn’t fall. He leaned back on the rope for a moment. His legs stopped shaking. Arms stopped quivering. His toenails recovered. He realized he was safe. He couldn’t fall. Even if he slipped. He was soon able to relax himself, regain his strength and footing and his courage and continue up the mountain.
When you encounter the difficult trials of life, you can try to lean on your own strength and courage for some measure of time and long concourse of seasons, but there comes a point you need something stronger than yourself to continue.
Lean into the strength and the courage and the wisdom of the Lord.
Lean into the promises and truths of the Word of God.
Use God’s Rope, His Knot, Live Life Upheld by God – Ecclesiastes 4:9-12
Who do you think of when you think of someone who is modeling “strong and courageous?” What person comes to mind? How do you want to be like them? What do you think is their main source of strength and courage? What area of life do you feel like you need a healthy injection of strength or courage today?
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
God, My Father, we all face situations every day when we need strength and courage. And we are often too tempted to lean on our own strength and courage, to depend on ourselves. Help us to look unto you first and foremost and to lean upon the strength and courage of who you are in every situation. Give us your strength and courage to boldly trust you completely to meet our every need. I pray this in the strength of the name echelons above all other names – Jesus Christ, My Life, My Lord, My Rock of My Salvation! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Some roads to healing and wholeness are rather long journeys. Even though we live in a quick fix, microwave fast sort of world, we don’t always see the results we desire immediately. When results are slow in coming, we need to be both patient and persistent in our pursuit of bringing our concerns before the Lord. We know that He hears us and that His heart is to bring us up out of the dark pit we’re currently enduring, but the question remains, why is there a delay.
Perhaps, like Job the angel assigned to respond to you is being delayed or maybe there’s a divine timing and alignment of circumstances that needs to happen first. It’s OK to bring this concern over delay to the Lord and ask Him to show you why there is a delay. Is there a specific need in your life where it feels like you just aren’t getting an answer to your prayers? Are we extending our arms upward? Are we keeping our arms extended until we feel the presence of God?
Even strongest and mightiest of arms gets tired trying to stay raised. It is true also that even the strongest most mature of souls get tired of waiting upon the Lord!
Psalm 40:1-3 NRSV
Psalm 40
Thanksgiving for Deliverance and Prayer for Help
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the desolate pit,[a] out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
One of the great benefits of reading the psalms is that they present us with patterns of life that the godly go through in every age. And in doing that they encourage us that we are made of the same stuff as the saints of old, and they give us guidance how to follow the pattern of godliness through to the end.
One of the cyclical patterns of life recurring in the psalms is getting in the pits, staying there for a time and a season and getting out again. And my favorite statement of this pattern comes from David’s experience found in Psalm 40.
We are going to focus only on verses 1–3.
We will read the whole psalm so not to miss any insight the context might give.
Psalm 40 (New Revised Standard Version)
Thanksgiving for Deliverance and Prayer for Help
To the leader. Of David. A Psalm.
1 I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry. 2 He drew me up from the desolate pit,[a] out of the miry bog, and set my feet upon a rock, making my steps secure. 3 He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God. Many will see and fear, and put their trust in the Lord.
4 Happy are those who make the Lord their trust, who do not turn to the proud, to those who go astray after false gods. 5 You have multiplied, O Lord my God, your wondrous deeds and your thoughts toward us; none can compare with you. Were I to proclaim and tell of them, they would be more than can be counted.
6 Sacrifice and offering you do not desire, but you have given me an open ear.[b] Burnt offering and sin offering you have not required. 7 Then I said, “Here I am; in the scroll of the book it is written of me.[c] 8 I delight to do your will, O my God; your law is within my heart.”
9 I have told the glad news of deliverance in the great congregation; see, I have not restrained my lips, as you know, O Lord. 10 I have not hidden your saving help within my heart, I have spoken of your faithfulness and your salvation; I have not concealed your steadfast love and your faithfulness from the great congregation.
11 Do not, O Lord, withhold your mercy from me; let your steadfast love and your faithfulness keep me safe forever. 12 For evils have encompassed me without number; my iniquities have overtaken me, until I cannot see; they are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart fails me.
13 Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord, make haste to help me. 14 Let all those be put to shame and confusion who seek to snatch away my life; let those be turned back and brought to dishonor who desire my hurt. 15 Let those be appalled because of their shame who say to me, “Aha, Aha!”
16 But may all who seek you rejoice and be glad in you; may those who love your salvation say continually, “Great is the Lord!” 17 As for me, I am poor and needy, but the Lord takes thought for me. You are my help and my deliverer; do not delay, O my God.
Verses 1–3 present a pattern of life at least part of which every Christian knows about firsthand. My goal today, though, is that we all be enabled to follow the whole pattern all the way through to its exciting conclusion.
David leads us through six stages of his experience, and I want us to follow him closely.
First, David is in a muddy pit;
Second, he cries to God for help;
Third, he waits for the Lord;
Fourth, God draws him out of the pit to safety;
Fifth, God gives David a new song to sing (probably the one we are reading);
Sixth, many others come to trust God when they see this pattern of life.
The king’s pit, the king’s cry, the king’s patience, the king’s rescue, the king’s song, and the king’s influence. Here is King David, a man after God’s own heart.
Let us see if we can make his pattern part of our life.
David Is in the Pits
First, the king is in the pits (v. 2).
What is this experience? What are we supposed to feel with the king when we read that it is like being caught in a desolate pit and in miry clay?
I looked up this word translated “destruction” in the NASB and “horrible” in the KJV and “desolate” in the RSV.
What I found was it refers elsewhere to roaring or tumult, like stormy waves.
When you consider that the usual meaning of “pit” is a well or a cistern, the image you get is striking. It is as if David had descended into a deep, dark well and plunged not into a clean, placid pool but a roaring storm like Hurricane Katrina, only all dark and underground.
Then alongside that picture is the image of mire and mud. The two don’t seem to go together. But don’t forget these are images that are supposed to make us feel what David was feeling. “Feeling” what David “feels” we are stirred to live.
They are not photographs.
It helped me to get a picture of this mud to read what King Zedekiah did to Jeremiah when he wanted to get rid of him.
It says in Jeremiah 38:6, “So they took Jeremiah and cast him into the cistern of Malchiah, the king’s son, which was in the court of the guard, letting Jeremiah down by ropes. And there was no water in the cistern, but only mire, and Jeremiah sank in the mire.”
There is one other time David wrote about an experience similar to the one here in Psalm 40, and there, too, he combined the images of mud and flood.
Psalm 69:1–2 says, “Save me, O God, for the waters have come up to my soul. I have sunk in deep mire and there is no foothold; I have come into deep waters and a flood overflows me.”
So perhaps what we are to most likely to imagine is our falling into a well and sinking deep in the smelly sludge at the bottom and going deeper every time we try to do what comes naturally to us: to lift a foot and then all of a sudden there is roaring water coming from somewhere and it rushes around us in the dark.
And then comes the sense of helplessness and desperation, and all of a sudden air, just air, is worth a million dollars, worth more than all the world’s money.
Helplessness, desperation, apparent hopelessness, the breaking point for the overworked businessman, the outer limits of exasperation for the mothers and fathers raising their children, their special needs children, it is the impossible expectations of too many classes to finish in school for graduation, the grinding stress of a lingering illness, the imminent attack of a vastly powerful enemy.
It is good that we don’t know what the experience was. It makes it easier to see ourselves in the pits with the king. Anything that causes a sense of helplessness and desperation and threatens to ruin life or take it away—that is the king’s pit.
David Cries Out to the Lord
Now the king’s cry (v. 1):
“I waited patiently for the Lord; he inclined to me and heard my cry.” One of the reasons God loved David so much was because he cried so much.
Psalm 6:6, “I am weary with my mourning; every night I flood my bed with tears; I drench my couch with my weeping.”
Psalm 56:8, “Put my tears in thy bottle; are they not in thy book?” Indeed, they are, because, “blessed are they that mourn.”
It is a beautiful thing when a broken man genuinely cries out to God. Not like the athlete who gets a cramp while swimming but struggles to get to shore unassisted lest he appear to be weak, but like the little child who wanders too far out in the surf and starts to get taken out by the undertow and cries out immediately, “Daddy! Daddy!” God loves to answer all our childlike prayers.
But make sure the cry is to God and for God, not to man. Notice the inference David draws in verse 4: “Blessed is the man who has made the Lord his trust and has not turned to the proud.” Some are willing to say they need help but will seek it anywhere but from the Lord.
But God is very displeased with such behavior.
A good example is King Asa. God punished him for relying on Syria as an ally instead of relying on God. But Asa refused to learn his lesson and at the end of his life, it says in 2 Chronicles 16:12, “In the 39th year of his reign, Asa was diseased in his feet, and his disease became severe, yet even in his disease he did not seek the Lord but sought help from physicians.”
The point here is not that doctors are bad, but that it is bad to make a doctor your God . . . to think that with him alone is healing.
Whatever benefit comes through physicians comes from the Lord and therefore his help is to be sought.
Psalm 118:8, 9: “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in man; it is better to take refuge in the Lord than to take trust in princes.”
Or as one of my favorite passages puts it: “Do not trust in princes, in mortal man, in whom there is no salvation. His spirit departs, he returns to the earth; in that very day his thoughts perish. How blessed is he whose help is the God of Jacob, whose hope is the Lord his God!” (Psalm 146:3–5).
Therefore, when we are in the pit, we don’t just cry out to anybody, cry to God.
David Waits for the Lord
And then—and then is a very important part of the pattern—you wait. Verse 1: “I waited patiently for the Lord.” Or more literally, I waited intently for the Lord. The reason this is so important for us to hear is that it guards us from slipping into unbelief (Mark 9:23:24) when God’s help seems long in coming.
We can draw no deadlines for God. He hastens or he delays as he sees fit.
He knows the time for joy and truly Will send it when He sees it meet, When He has tried and purged thee duly And found thee free from all deceit.
Waiting for the Lord is a great part of the Christian life.
There are at least two essential elements in the way we should wait with the king: humility and hope.
Look upon the words of the Psalmist Psalm 37:9, “Evildoers will be cut off, but those who wait for the Lord, they will inherit the land.” Then in verse 11 the same promise is repeated, but in the place of those who wait it is the meek or the humble: “But the humble will inherit the land and will delight themselves in abundant prosperity.” Those who wait are the humble.
Have you ever been in a large waiting room at a doctor’s office when the doctor is late returning from a call and the patients are stacked up?
Who are the ones who get feisty with the receptionist, grumble to everybody?
Not the meek, not the humble. Humble people can wait. They are not so presumptuous about their rights. So, it is in waiting for God. We simply show how badly we need the chastisement of his delay when we do not wait patiently.
Secondly, those who wait patiently hope in God.
Psalm 39:7, “And now, Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in thee.”
Psalm 130:5, “I wait for the Lord, my soul does wait, and in his word do I hope.”
The soul of one who waits for God is not listless. It is not like a weathervane pointing this way, then blowing that way as the winds blow through it.
But it is like a hungry animal straining toward his food, longing for his food.
“As a deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants for thee, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God” (Psalm 42:1, 2). Those who wait like David strain toward the moment when God will come, and they hope in him. When will he come? At the right time. That is all we can know. And that is enough.
The Lord Delivers David
When he comes, he will lift us out of the pit.
Verse 2:“He brought me up out of the pit of tumult, out of the miry clay; and he set my feet upon a rock making my steps firm.”
There is a world of difference between quicksand and rock.
God moves, stirs us, when he comes, from a sense of desperation to a sense of security. In the pit we had not forgotten God, but our sense of his presence and comfort was not nearly as lively as when he rescues us. In fact, the essence of the rescue is the restoration of that strong feeling of God’s nearness and help.
For David, the rescue may have been the healing of some disease as well.
This was the case in Psalm 30:2, “O Lord, my God, I cried to thee for help, and thou didst heal me.”
Or it may have been deliverance from his enemies as in Psalm 69, “Save me, O God . . . those who hate me without a cause are more than the hairs of my head; those who would destroy me are powerful.”
Or it may have been deliverance from the oppressive guilt of the great sin he had committed as in Psalm 51, “Be gracious to me, O God, . . . wash me thoroughly from my iniquity and cleanse me from my sin.”
The Lord Gives David a New Song to Sing
God can deliver from every sort of pit and mire and will deliver his servants from any plight that would destroy their faith. And when he does, we will sing.
Verse 3: “He put a new song in my mouth, a song of praise to our God.” People who never sing, at least in their heart, are people who do not cherish anything very deeply, or feel intense gratitude for anything. They are the sort of people who take all of life for granted. They never soar with a sense of joy in their heart.
In tines and seasons of life, all of us gravitate to that condition because of our fallen nature. And one of the ways God keeps us awake is by letting us hit the pits, leaving us there for a time and a season and then bringing us out into the fresh air of his unconditional forgiveness, his grace and his mercy again.
Do you know of any other way to get someone to love air besides letting them almost be suffocated and breathe again?
During Navy Basic Training, I was ordered to step off a high diving platform into pool one time, about ten feet deep. I do not like going underwater for fear of drowning. Still, I had to obey orders and off the platform I stepped plunging all the way to the bottom of the pool. As I submerged underneath the water – fear instantly arose. I was in a state of panic feeling certain my life was over.
In a matter of seconds air was almost all I cared about. I was almost good for about fifteen more seconds, before one of the divers grabbed me and brought me back to the surface so I could take a breath and feel like I was going to live. I had to feel what it was like to be drowning so I could then discipline, train my mind and my body to literally struggle and fight for every last breath of my life.
I cried out to God, and he set me upon the concrete deck and put a new song in my mouth, a hymn to air, precious air, sweet air, priceless air, and unto God.
That is the kind of love God wants from us for himself. And if he must, he will get it by hiding himself for a time and a season, until we finally crave him like a drowning person craves air. And when he shows himself again and we come up gasping for life into his presence, we will surely sing like never before. All the old songs will become new. And if they are not adequate, we will write our own.
Others See and Are Saved
Who knows how many people might see, fear and put their trust in the Lord?
That is the end of verse 3, and the final step in the pattern of life described in these three verses. Isn’t it tremendous that whenever God gives us deliverance from the pit and puts a new song in our mouth, his aim is not only our benefit but also the benefit of others through us?
Let us never view our own song as the stopping place of God’s mercies. God aims for us to sing others into the kingdom. How does this happen?
They see, fear, and put their trust in God. What do they see?
They see a person who, contrary to human nature, was humble in distress and who never lost hope, banked on God and who when he was delivered gave God the glory.
They see something real, genuine, authentic, something that rings true in the human heart.
As the conviction starts to build, to grow and to mature in the aching unbeliever that there is truth and reality in the life of the godly, the soul begins to fear, fear the implications of his own unbelief: “What if nothing is done about this fear?”
If God is exactly that real and can be depended on to help those who hope in him, then probably those who disregard him and pin their hopes on all sorts of other things are in trouble (cf. Philippians 1:28).
And by the grace of God many will make the final move and put their trust in the Lord. The music of the rescued saints is a tremendous means of evangelism.
What a surprise!
The whole story turns out to be a lesson in personal evangelism.
How shall we win others to Christ?
In that time and in that season, when you are in the pits with the king, cry out to the Lord like a helpless child; then humbly and hopefully wait patiently for the Lord; and when he comes in his own time and makes you secure, then sing a new song to his grace so people can see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us now pray,
Heavenly Father, thank you your name is powerful. At your name, mountains shake and seas roar. At your name, all of creation sings with joy. At your name, demons flee. At your name, every knee will bow, and every tongue confess that you are Lord. In your powerful name, I offer my prayer for breakthrough. Give me assurance that there is no power greater than your name. Work your power in my life. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
I remember back to my earliest days of Sunday School when the subject of the day was Prayer. The question was raised by one of the other children who asked the teacher: “How do you converse with God?” The Sunday School teacher said, “As you talk with your daddy and your daddy talks to you, you talk with God.”
At five years old, I responded in return, “When I talk to my daddy, my daddy always removes both of his hearing aids, and then he stops talking to me.”
Psalm 68:5 has recently taken on a whole new meaning to me. The God of the universe–The one who created me, knitted me together in my mother’s womb, and despite all of my gravest faults and failures and also my father’s faults and failures, preserved me through my “fatherless” empty childhood–is also a true father to the fatherless! Let’s think about that for a second; I can probably think of so many other things that He could be doing, seeing that He is God and all.
But no, He’s a model dad! He’s the one who kisses every boo-boo, cradles us in the big, perfect hug that only a genuine father has and can, and always has the best stash of band-aids and words to make the pain of an empty childhood go away. It’s probably a good thing Iam not God because I highly doubt, I would take time for knowing of those simple things. But I am very thankful He does.
Psalm 68:5 Holman Christian Standard Bible
5 God in His holy dwelling is a father of the fatherless and a champion of widows.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Reverend Dr. A.W. Tozer says, “What comes into our minds when we think about God is the most important thing about us” (The Knowledge of the Holy). What we think about our heavenly Father says a whole lot about who we are.
But what if our thoughts about our heavenly Father are entangled with and stained by the abuse and abandonment of our earthly father? Anyone who has experienced the acute pain of dad walking out knows it can be all-consuming.
I have, and I know. Dad, greatly afflicted by the harsh memories of the Korean War, copious amounts of alcohol and severe hearing loss made worse by war, stole the thing I believed to be indestructible, superhuman even: my family.
But family turned out to be more fluid than I once thought . . . and hoped. Like a permanent smudge on the lens through which we see the world, the dissolution of the family distorts all that we know and all that we are. Our hearts beat out of rhythm. Our thoughts weigh heavier upon our minds. Our tears flow faster. The only voice that once calmed us in the middle of the night is suddenly silent. The picture frame that preserved our family on the wall is either gone or it is empty.
Instinctively human beings have a need of a loving and compassionate father, who will feed us when we are hungry, love us when we are lonely, and care for us when we are crying. We long for a “smiling” dad, who will listen to us when we have questions, encourage us when we are discouraged, and discipline us when we do wrong. A father who cares and also takes time with the little things, who extends wisdom when we are concerned, and who most of all prays and seeks to know, understand God’s will and direction before acting on his own.
God placed within us a desire to be loved by our father. Some fathers do well, and others do not. Some are extremely successful, and others fail miserably.
Warped by such confusion and despair, just how do we paint accurate, biblical portraits of our Father’s goodness and faithfulness? When our fathers turn off their hearing aids or remove them from their ears instead of listening to their children, we’ve a very much harder time seeing who God promises to be for us.
The Bible articulates the truth we need, but believing the Bible isn’t always so easy either. When advice seems too thin, though, and life too cruel, God’s word is the only truly reliable brush for the suffering, painting fresh strokes of God’s character onto the marred canvas of our hearts and experience.
He draws near unto, the brokenhearted and ready to care for you, his precious son or daughter. (Psalm 34:18)
Fortunately, God is the perfect model of a faithful father, and He fills the gaps left by our earthly father as we seek Him each day. Therefore, we should listen to Him and honor Him in everything that we think, say and do.
Fathers need to learn to have a relationship with God, even if they did not or do not have a relationship with their earthly father. This is fully realized through the reading, studying and understanding of the Scriptures, where a father will gain and grow in wisdom, grace and the ability to raise kids to the glory of God.
Fathers, who accept God as their #1 penultimate Father, which also have made Jesus Christ their Lord and Savior are God’s children and learn from Him and in turn, unhesitatingly, teach their children the truths and treasures of the Bible.
1. Your Father will never leave you.
No one wants to suffer through the absence of a father who might walk away or remove their hearing aids from their ears at any moment. It’s agonizing riding the bus home from school wondering if dad’s truck will be in the driveway, if his clothes will still be in the closet, he will listen to you with both hearing aids.
God does not leave us in that suspense. God is deeply, unshakably committed to fathering you. You never have to ask whether he will stay or leave or listen. God himself promises, “I will never leave you nor forsake you” (Hebrews 13:5). He will hear our cries, our pleas from the furthest reaches of eternity (Psalm 18:6-19).
No matter what you’ve been through with your father, if you are God’s child through faith, he promises to never pack up his suitcase and leave you peering out from the kitchen window. In the middle of your loneliness, God is 10000% right there with you (John 14:16–18). Even when your earthly dad is somewhere else, God will not forget or neglect the commitment He has made unto you.
2. Your Father will protect you, not hurt you.
Sadly, some fathers hinder and hurt, rather than help. They bring pain, rather than protection. As a child, even into adulthood, you may have suffered both physical and emotional pain because of your dad. Your home wasn’t a safe place for you. Instead, it was a “Roman” arena of anger, tears, fears and uncertainty.
Pray! Take hope: your Father in heaven will never hurt you like this.
He will always protect you, keeping you safe from attacks against you. His hand of protection is unmoved and never tires.
Even when he must discipline us, he introduces pain in grace and love, and for our greatest good (Proverbs 3:12).
No matter what dangers you face, God remains an unparalleled source of safety and help. He will not let danger overtake you (Isaiah 43:2–3).
He is a Father of ceaseless comfort and protection, not of terror and abuse.
3. Your Father knows what you need.
In a single-parent home, provision for the family can be a daily struggle and anxiety. Meals uncertain. Clothes borrowed. Aren’t our parents supposed to provide for our basic needs? When dad is gone, and with him a major source of income, when dad stops hearing and listening to their children, we must fight to see through the fog and fight to trust that God remains faithful to provide.
His resources never end (Psalm 50:10). He loves to provide for you, because you are a great delight to him. Your most fundamental needs will always ultimately be met in your heavenly Father (Philippians 4:19), not your earthly parents.
Even when Adam and Eve, God’s very first children, disobeyed, not only did God clothe their nakedness and also cover their shame, he promised us the ultimate provision of Christ for their sin, as well as for our sin (Genesis 3:15, 21). In Jesus, the Father has not left us wanting. He promises to eventually provide an eternal home, one where his children will never be crying or wanting (John 14:1–3).
4. Your Father takes great delight in you.
Without any love or encouragement from our dad, we can too easily question whether we are even loved at all. It’s normal to wonder how much we are worth, whether we’re a source of pleasures or problems for others.
But where our dad might be absent and silent, God has spoken. God affirms that we always and forever bring him great delight. He says, “You are precious in my eyes” (Isaiah 43:4). As His Children, we are a unique source of pleasure for him.
Rest in this: you and I are a constant delight to God, not because you, I, bring something to him, but because he loves us freely. He showers us with shouts of deliverance, love, and gladness (Zephaniah 3:17).
Questioning whether you are a delight to your dad is a real insecurity for many. It may be excruciatingly hard to believe that you are loved, but your heavenly Father does not ever leave us in doubt. If we are his, we are infinitely loved!
5. Your Father does not love you because of you.
Those of us who have watched dad remove his hearing aids, watched dad walk away have wrestled with trying to earn our father’s love and affection. Maybe we fight for the merits of academic or athletic success. This was my hardest fight as a young son, deeply desiring the unhindered love and affection of my dad. Whatever the perceived standard may be, it’s no way to live as a child.
Thankfully, our heavenly Father’s love for us is not conditional.
He does not love us based on our successes. Instead, God loves us because he loves us. That’s who he is. Even when we’re disobedient and rebellious, his love covers us. Even when we run away from him, he patiently waits for us to come home — a Father ready to wrap his arms around you, kiss you, and shower you with forgiveness and grace (Luke 15:20–24).
As it is truly written somewhere, there is more mercy in God than sin in you.
God reached out to you in great love when you were at your worst, not your best (Romans 5:6–8).
Child of God, LIVE! Run freely into your heavenly Father’s embrace, trusting the Father’s arms to hold you because his Son’s arms were stretched out for you on the cross. He is a living hope for the defeated, abandoned and forsaken, a refuge and a haven like no other can ever be for the fearful, a Father to the fatherless.
Our earthly fathers deserve respect. Our heavenly Father deserves our respect, commands our maximum love because He is always there, totally trustworthy.
What God says, He does. God our heavenly Father, will not let us down, He knows what we need and when we need it. At times it may feel as if He is not with us, but He is. He is probably speaking but we are not listening. Or is it maybe He is silent because He wants to grow our faith and our trust in Him?
In the name of God, our Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Great is thy faithfulness, O God my Father; …... Thomas O. Chisolm, 1923
Father may my life, my compassion and my ministry reflect your heart for those who need care and protection and love. Give me eyes to see this need more clearly and a heart to responded more certainly so that your love may be demonstrated through me. In the precious name of my Savior Jesus, I pray.
Lord, today we pray specifically for fathers and fatherhood across our land.
Your Word faithfully teaches fathers to bring up their children in the discipline, instruction of the Lord (Ephesians 6:4). God, we do thank You for the men who are leading their families according to Your statutes and the ones that are laying their lives down for Your purposes.
We pray You will continue to use these men to lead their families and other men. We pray You will strengthen the fathers of our nation and that You will continue to empower churches, organizations, and individuals to 100% invest in fathers, fatherhood for the sake of Your children. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
The real question behind this promise is very simple: How do I define success for my plans? The answer is very simple as well: bringing glory to God for his grace (see Eph. 1:6, 12, 14). Committing our works and plans unto God means surrendering them into to God’s will (James 4:13-15), trusting that God will be 100% glorified in them (Col. 3:17), and recognizing that it is not in our power to properly guide our own steps (Prov. 16:9). God longs to bless us and empower us — not for our own selfish ambition (James 3:16), but for our eternal good (Rom. 8:28) and God’s glory. Like Jesus, when we commit our plans and works unto, into, to the Lord, we are saying, “Not my will, Father, but yours be done!”
Proverbs 16:3 NRSV
3 Commit your work to the Lord, and your plans will be established.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
This verse tells us we should rely on God in all things. Whether the matters are great or small, we should entrust them to God and look up to Him, because God holds sovereignty over everything and there is nothing difficult if we rely on God. However, in reality, when we encounter difficulties, we don’t first come before God to pray or search, rather, we plan this or that for our selfish desires.
As a result, we take detours, always fail, and cannot see God’s blessings. When we pray to God sincerely, commit our real difficulties to Him, and put aside our selfish desires and intentions, God will always open a way out for us, allowing us the opportunity to observe, see His great power and authority in experience.
The length and breadth of God’s Word reveals to us a rather simple message:
God says,
“It’s very simple now: Look upon Me with your heart and your spirit will immediately become strong, you will have a path to practice, and I will guide your every step. My word shall be revealed to you at all times and in all places. No matter where or when, or how adverse the environment is, I will show you clearly and My heart shall be revealed to you if you look to Me with your heart; this way you will run down the road ahead and never lose your way.”
Relevant Words of God:
In that blessed moment, when you take that first baby step, look to God with your whole self, it is possible that He does not give you any feeling or any clear ideas, much less any clear directions, but He allows you some understanding.
Or maybe it is this time you have not understood anything, yet it is right that you first look to God. People practicing in this way is not done to follow rules, but rather it is the need of their hearts and is how man should first practice.
It is not that you can obtain enlightenment and guidance every time you look to God and call on God; this spiritual state in man’s life is normal and natural, and looking foremost to God is the normal interaction with God in people’s hearts.
Sometimes, looking to God does not mean asking God to do something using specific words, or asking Him for specific guidance or protection. Rather, it is that when people encounter some issue, they are able to call on Him sincerely.
So, what is God doing there when people call on Him?
When someone’s heart stirs and they realize they have this thought: “Oh God, I can’t do this myself, I don’t know how to do it, and I feel weak and negative…,”
When these thoughts arise in them, does God not know about it?
When these thoughts arise in people, are their hearts sincere?
When they call on God sincerely in this way, does God assent to help them?
Despite the fact that they may not have spoken a word, they show sincerity, and so God assents to help them.
When someone encounters an especially thorny difficulty, when they have no one to turn to, and when they feel particularly helpless, they put their only hope in God. What are their prayers like? What is their state of mind? Are they trying to be genuinely sincere? Is there any adulteration within them at that time?
It is only when you trust God as though He were the very last straw that you clutch onto to save your life, hoping that He will help you, that your heart is sincere. Though you may not have said much, your heart has already stirred.
That is, you give your sincere heart to God, and God listens. When God listens, He sees your difficulties, and He will enlighten you, guide you, and help you.
Lots of times, we lean far too much on ourselves for things. We might not have had the best parents, or upbringing, or teaching, or mentors, or best of friends and it can cause us to mightily doubt God’s love and ability to help in our lives. When people have let us down, it can be easy to not want to trust God for things.
Today’s Bible verse from Proverbs 16:3 really comes down to our trust. It’s a challenge to put your trust in God. Rather than relying solely on yourself for everything, it asks you to trust God. Trust doesn’t always come easily, however.
It can be really hard to trust something as big as your future and plans to God.
YET! That’s what this verse is commanding us to figure out how to do. It is saying the only path to abundant life is to trust God with your plans, trust Him with your efforts. Can you 100% trust God with these things because He’s good?
Faith …..
Hope …..
Love …..
But the greatest of these is ……
I just noticed, The Apostle Paul never mentioned TRUST in 1 Corinthians 13:13!
Deliberate and Intentional or Unplanned and Unintentional?
What do you think about that oversight?
What do you believe about that oversight?
What does your very own intimately personal experience tell you?
Is there a similar place for TRUST in that verse from 1 Corinthians 13:13?
Trust in our fellow man is a dangerous proposition (Psalm 118:8-9) Arriving at that exact conclusion is a time-honored process of trial and error and hurting.
Trusting in God is a dangerous proposition too but for different and much safer reasons (Psalm 4:8, Psalm 12:5 18:1-3, Psalm 23, Psalm 91, Psalm 107 et. al).
Give God a chance. Give Jesus a chance! Give the Holy Spirit a chance! He isn’t going to let you down like people may have in your life. He’s going to always be there to walk you through the challenges life brings. So, PRAY! Decide today to grow trust in God for your future. Trust in Him and watch your plans succeed!
Come and Find the Quiet Center … Shirley Erena Murray, Hope Publishing, 1992
Come and find the quiet center
in the crowded life we lead,
find the room for hope to enter,
find the frame where we are freed:
clear the chaos and the clutter,
clear our eyes, that we can see
all the things that really matter,
be at peace, and simply be.
Silence is a friend who claims us,
cools the heat and slows the pace,
God it is who speaks and names us,
knows our being, touches base,
making space within our thinking,
lifting shades to show the sun,
raising courage when we're shrinking,
finding scope for faith begun.
In the Spirit let us travel,
open to each other's pain,
let our loves and fears unravel,
celebrate the space we gain:
there's a place for deepest dreaming,
there's a time for heart to care,
in the Spirit's lively scheming
there is always room to spare!
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
Father, I want your will to be my plans. I want your glory to be my goal. I have things that I want to do. However, if these plans are not for your glory, if these plans are not a blessing to my family or those over whom I have influence, then please defeat me in those plans. Please guide me into other areas of blessing. I want you to be above all else glorified in what I do. I only want to go where your grace leads me. I commit my ways, my plans, and my works to you and to your glory. In Jesus’ name I pray. Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Trust. It can’t be half-hearted. Either it is a full trust, or it is ‘trust’ clouded with suspicion and doubt. So, as we face the everyday challenges of life, or as we look for answers to deep and difficult problems, let’s put our full trust in the LORD.
Pray! Let’s ask for his wisdom and guidance as we make our choices. Let’s give him praise for the good in our life and seek his blessing for the long days ahead. Why? Because he longs to bless us with a wise life, both now, and forevermore.
Proverbs 3:5-8 New Revised Standard Version
5 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not rely on your own insight. 6 In all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make straight your paths. 7 Do not be wise in your own eyes; fear the Lord, and turn away from evil. 8 It will be a healing for your flesh and a refreshment for your body.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Faith ….
Hope ….
Love ….
And the Greatest of these is …..
Resigning yourself into God’s care is an act of faith. It’s easy for Christians to say in a hopeful general way, “The Lord’s will be done,” but it’s another matter entirely for us to resign ourselves into the Lord’s loving hands about a specific circumstance which we have no answer. In the Bible when someone approached this walk of self-resignation, it was done with great seriousness of thought.
And the Greatest of these is …… TRUST?
Can there be faith, hope and love absent a maximum measure of genuine trust?
Merely saying the words, “I trust the Lord completely,” isn’t sufficient to prove that we possess a total 100% ‘genuine’ trust in him. It must be a free and willing surrender. Consider Egypt’s Pharaoh: Only when he could not hold out against God’s plagues any longer did, finally resigns to let Israel take their wilderness journey toward the Promised Land (see Exodus 12:29-32).
Likewise, many people living in these higher than high -risk contemporary of times has said, “I give in, I commit, I trust,” only after they have seen no other way out of their situations. But true resignation, the kind that pleases God, is done willingly to His Standard, prior to our coming to our wit’s end. We are to act in covenant with the Lord, giving him a blank check and letting him fill it in.
God cannot and will not accept no less than our all. If we resign our lives to him only half-heartedly, with any kind of reservation, we are as guilty as Ananias and Sapphira. They pretended to give their all to the Lord, but in reality, they held back a part and they paid with their lives (see Acts 5:1-11). There can be no deals or restrictions placed on our Lord. Contrast Acts 2:43-47 with 5:1-11!
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths” (Proverbs 3:5-6).
“Trust in Him at all times, you people; pour out your heart before Him” (Psalm 62:8).
Although the psalmists say we’re to trust in God at all times, our pride always makes us want to keep control of our lives. It is surprising how stubborn and fleeting and woefully willful each one of us can be. Our surrender to him — in our thoughts, our actions, our desires — is by nature a daily, ongoing work.
We are repeatedly reminded, (gently, not so gently) “The just shall live by his faith” (Habakkuk 2:4). How reassuring to know that as we reach to him in faith, our Master will carry us through all hardships and natural impossibilities. How reassuring to know, to experience, as we stretch our finite hopes heavenward, it is our resurrected Savior Jesus who rose from the grave – turned our dying hope unto an ever-lasting and ever-living hope for a prosperous and blessed future.
We often get too easily wrapped up in the pursuit of happiness. It’s easy to think that if we could just do or be better that we would have it made. So, we work, and we work, trying to get more friends, or improve our grades to get into a better college. We do things like getting a job after school so we can get a car. We believe if we can do enough, be enough or have enough, we will be happy.
The problem with our doing more, with our being more, or our having more is that these things are empty. There’s no number of good grades that will truly make us happy in the long run. No number of friends, or money will complete us. We can try and work to fill our life with stuff, still feel impossibly empty.
Today’s Bible verse addresses these issues.
The last part of this verse from Proverbs 3 talks about not depending on our own understanding. What that means is do not depend too heavily on what we think seems good. Don’t depend on what we see on TV or what we hear in the halls at school from our friends to tell us what will make us all 1000% happy.
True happiness comes from a relationship of maturing trust with Jesus Christ.
When you let 100% of Jesus into your life, He will show you how He sees you.
It’s when you get to know and trust Jesus, you will find true happiness. If you want to be happy and live your life to the fullest, you need to choose to do what this verse says. You need to trust the Lord with all your heart. This isn’t always easy, it is not always supposed to be easy, but if you’ll spend some time getting to know God, you will see trusting in Him brings you true maturing happiness.
So, choose today to trust in the Lord. Don’t get caught up in all the things of life and let them steal your happiness. Trust in God and look to Him for answers.
Psalm 27
Triumphant Song of Confidence
Of David.
1 The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the stronghold[a] of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?
2 When evildoers assail me to devour my flesh— my adversaries and foes— they shall stumble and fall.
3 Though an army encamp against me, my heart shall not fear; though war rise up against me, yet I will be confident.
4 One thing I asked of the Lord, that will I seek after: to live in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.
5 For he will hide me in his shelter in the day of trouble; he will conceal me under the cover of his tent; he will set me high on a rock.
6 Now my head is lifted up above my enemies all around me, and I will offer in his tent sacrifices with shouts of joy; I will sing and make melody to the Lord.
7 Hear, O Lord, when I cry aloud, be gracious to me and answer me! 8 “Come,” my heart says, “seek his face!” Your face, Lord, do I seek. (Psalm 27:1-8 NRSV)
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
O Lord my God, my eternal Father, thank you that you are my ever-present help in times of trouble. Help me to trust in what is unseen. Remind me of the truth of your power, that you surround me, and that you are fighting for me. Give me favor and breakthrough in my life. You are the King of ages, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, my Savior. To you be all measures of honor and glory forever and ever. Through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
Faith, Hope and Love. These three things will last forever. Love as described in 1 Corinthians 13 is best understood as being a way of life, lived in imitation of Jesus Christ, as focused not on oneself but on the “other” and his or her good.
Love is about action, how a person lives for the Lord and obeys him and how a person lives for others and serves them.
Yet it is also about being. This is because its foundation is in God who is love, and in Christ who shows that love and the Holy Spirit. The sense that this is about more than simply how people behave is seen in passages like Paul’s prayer of Ephesians 3:14–19, particularly as he prays that Christians will be “rooted and grounded in love.” To “know the love of Christ” is to experience his presence “through faith” in their “hearts.” God’s people are to look and become more and more like Christ, and it is this for which Paul prays here.
It is becausebeing and actionsare so closely tied together in God and in Christ, first, but then also in his people, that Paul calls love a “more excellent way” (12:31b). It is the way of the new kingdom which has been ushered in with the appearance of the Messiah, who has shown it in his life, passion, and death, but who has also exhibited it in his coming, in his being, His death and resurrection.
Love is the way of existence in the heavenlies. As this break into the present in Christ, his people, filled with the Spirit of Christ, are to take on this way of existence and develop a life where love guides their approach to all things. Of course, this will immediately be seen in how they live and speak and think. Even so, when all that is mentioned here is done, the meaning of love for the believer is by no means diminished, minimized, defeated, exhausted in its importance!
1 Corinthians 13:13 AKJV
13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity.
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
In 1 Corinthians, the Apostle Paul describes various spiritual gifts and ways we can demonstrate Godly living in the world. He touches on the gift of tongues, prophecy with understanding, and faith that could move mountains.
Yet somehow, he passes all of these things for just one thing: Love.
In 1 Corinthians 13:13 he says, “Three things will last forever: faith, hope, and love-and the greatest of these is love.”
I have found myself skipping over this verse with a thought of “Yep, got that one down.” I have heard it and read it so often that I forget the application and power of it. What is this for? Why are these the things – faith, hope, love – that last forever? The greatest power of our lives is contained in this verse. We just have the high task of unfolding the purpose behind it in order to connect to it.
The Purpose of Faith
Faith is one of the first things we learn about as Christians.
It often starts with the quote from Jesus in Luke 17:6 where He says, “If you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mulberry tree, ‘May you be uprooted and thrown into the sea,’ and it would obey you!” Hebrews 11:1 gives this clear definition of faith: “Faith is the confidence that what we hope for will actually happen; it gives us assurance about things we cannot see.”
In my maturing years of my Christianity, I genuinely believed these Scriptures to be that I had the power and authority to believe something “as hard as I could” and it would be done, even if it meant defying the physical realm. I did this patiently for months before I started to lose hope and I began weeping to God. “Why! I truly believe you could deny this from me! Why won’t you do it!?”
The purpose of faith is not to influence my own comfort. The purpose of faith is to lead forward to know the heart of God and then trust His ways to guide us. It is practical exercise reminding us of our place on the vine. We are the branches, and we can do nothing apart from the vine (John 15:5).
Hebrews 11:1 is a great definition of faith, but I believe Hebrews 11:6 gives us the life application of it. It states, “For we come to God in faith knowing that He is real and thatHe rewards the faith of those who passionately seek Him.” (TPT)
The Purpose of Hope
Hope is defined by Google as “a feeling of expectation and desire for a certain thing to happen.” It can also be defined as “a feeling of trust.” So, faith is the belief that there is something significantly better to seek and to discover, while hope is the expectation, or the certainty, that it is absolutely there. Hope is the 100-octane fuel that keeps our faith alive in our quest to seek and find love.
The way that faith, which is the seeking of the Lord, connects with hope, which is the expectation of finding Him, is through wisdom.
Proverbs 24:14 says, “In the same way, wisdom is sweet to your soul. If you find it, you will have a bright future, and your hopes will not be cut short.”
Jesus is our model of constantly seeking after wisdom. Often in our spiritual development, we hit a place of complacency where we are good with what we have. It is a great thing to be grateful, but there is more for your life when you continually seek wisdom. At each level we should be graduating, moving, and growing, constantly adding to what we understand.
This is what keeps hope alive. As we seek more, we learn more, and we store up confidence in who we are on the vine. In Luke 2:52 we get a subtle, yet powerful, picture of Jesus’ character that reveals the deep foundation of his influence and confidence. It says, “Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men.” Jesus is our only true King! Jesus is our Savior! We should follow his authority, lead by constantly seeking wisdom and relationship with others.
The Purpose of Love
Paul makes it very clear in 1 Corinthians 13:13 that the greatest of all spiritual gifts is love. Based on this, we know that love is the MAX result that we see of our faith and our hope. Love is the pen-ultimate goal. How wonderful is it to understand the goal! When you start a new game, the biggest hurdle is often obtaining an understanding more than physical limitations. If you understand the goal, you can use what gifts and graces you have been gifted to get there.
The purpose of love is evident in 1 John 4:7-8 that it is the clearest picture of God that we have. It states, “Dear friends, let us love one another, for love comes from God. Everyone who loves has been born of God and knows God. Whoever does not love does not know God, because God is love.” It goes on to say in verse 19 that “we love because God first loved us.” So, the purpose of love is twofold. First, it is revelation of identity. It tells us who God is and who we are in God, God alone.
Second, it is the very power that allows us to do the work of Jesus and even unto greater works as Jesus described in John 14:12. He says, “Whoever believes in me will also do the works I have done, and even greater works, because I am going to be with the Father.” Love has the power to help us believe again and restore hope in others. It is the ultimate momentum engine that drives all of our spiritual lives.
Faith, Hope, and Love: The Perpetual Cycle of Life
If faith, hope, and love are the things that last forever, it becomes clear these are the things we should pursue with our lives. Some may feel concerned at the thought of knowing what the end goal is, that perhaps there is no point to life if there is nothing left to discover. But there is life in these things that will never be diminished, defeated, minimized, exhausted or drowned or burned out!
In the beginning, we are born with no other understanding besides faith.
As newborn babies, we instinctively, naturally, reach out to our parents, seek care and to be nurtured. We confidently look for someone to give us the care that we need. As we earn the badges of life, we become scarred by experiences which can strip our faith and our hope away, and in turn, we forget our natural instinct to love as we become too consumed with finding a new starting point.
Finding faith, hope, and love for ourselves does not mark the end of anything.
It can, however, mark the exact beginning for someone else. If you have ever been in a broken place, you have spent time trying to find “bottom” then you know the power of someone else showing you kindness or believing in you.
It is a true progression of divinely orchestrated events. When you are shown love, you ignite a new belief of what you could be. Then you become hopeful that there is still good in this world. Then you love yourself. Then you share love with others and spark this cycle over and over again. This is our beginning, our new beginnings, and our forever and ever amen, both for us and fellow man.
Imitating Christ’s love
A further explanation why love comes to function as the marker par excellence of the true believer lies in the imitation of Christ. Christ stands as the supreme example of love through the whole of his life, but specially in his death.
In 1 Corinthians 1 the death of Christ was at the center of Paul’s understanding of God’s wisdom (his plan) to save his people. It was the “word of the cross” that was the power of God to those “being saved” (1:18). Supremely in Christ’s death the love of God and of Christ was shown. The link is explicit in Romans 5:8: “God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us” (ESV). It is also clear in Ephesians 5:2: “Walk in love, as Christ loved us and gave himself up for us, a fragrant offering and sacrifice to God” (ESV).
Finally, perhaps the great surprise of chapter 13 is the MAX depth of intimacy of the love relationship Paul described. It is surely infinitely more than could have been imagined, especially as Paul looks forward to seeing “face to face” and writes, “Then I shall know fully even as I have been fully known” (v. 12).
Through a disciplined devotion to prayer, reading, studying Scripture, we shall know God, not in the sense of having the same omniscience as God has, but “even as” he has known us personally with such extraordinary depths of love.
But this life is the first step into an eternity of love with God; the love of God and our love for God, and these three graces of faith, hope and love must of necessity all continue beyond this mortal sphere, for the attributes of God are incomparable in their beauty, His perfections are unlimited in their number, His excellence is everlasting in its duration, splendour is absolute in its span.
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
A Prayer for Faith, Hope, and Love
We can start with this prayer from 2 Corinthians 1:3-4: “All praise to God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. God is our merciful Father and the source of all comfort. He comforts us in all our troubles so that we can comfort others. When they are troubled, we will be able to give them the same comfort God has given us.”
God, thank you for loving me. Thank you for starting my cycle of life and giving me the wisdom needed to walk with you. I pray I will continually be interested in wisdom so that my faith and my hope cannot be cut off. I pray that as I stay full, I will look for ways to carry out your work to help someone else in need. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Alleluia! Alleluia! Amen.
We live in a time when we have trouble seeing the forest through the trees. We live in a time where the best-selling Christian books seem to be the ones that tell you how to be optimistic, to prosper, succeed and live the good life. And you know what, it’s easy to put your faith in God when you are prospering, when life is going well and everything according to your plans. But when reality intrudes?
But the book of Habakkuk challenges us to put your faith in God even during the worst times when we can hardly even see the trees. When Habakkuk reached the end of his journey, he had been moved from a place of doubting God to a place of trusting God no matter what. And that “no matter what” was a serious issue for Habakkuk, far more serious than most of the issues we deal with each day.
Do you have hopes and dreams for the future, but no visible signs that they will ever come to fruition? YET do you ever feel like saying, “God, please just give me a sign, some type of hope that things are going to change, something to hold on to?” Then you know how Habakkuk felt. And Habakkuk would tell you, when you have nothing to hold on to for the future, hold on to God, and that will be enough. “YET, though I have no visible sign of hope for the future, nothing tangible that I can see or touch or grasp, yet I will rejoice in the Lord. I will be joyful in God my Savior.” Habakkuk says, “YET, Trust God no matter what.”
Habakkuk 3:17-19 New Revised Standard Version
Trust and Joy in the Midst of Trouble
17 Though the fig tree does not blossom, and no fruit is on the vines; though the produce of the olive fails, and the fields yield no food; though the flock is cut off from the fold, and there is no herd in the stalls, 18 yet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will exult in the God of my salvation. 19 God, the Lord, is my strength; he makes my feet like the feet of a deer, and makes me tread upon the heights.[a]
The Word of God for the Children of God. Gloria! In Excelsis Deo! Alleluia! Amen.
Have you experienced times in your life where you can’t feel God’s presence?
When the worst happens in our lives, while we do our best to cling to our faith, when we try our hardest to remain hopeful and upbeat and optimistic, it is still incredible easy to roll our eyes, question God. Where is He when a loved one dies far too young? Where is God in catastrophe and threats of catastrophe? Where is He when both the forests and the trees, standing tall directly in front of us, are invisible, in the moments when the storms of life rage in every which direction?
Where is God in the midst of countless people suffering because of the storms which do not quit? Why can I not feel the trees? Why can I not feel the winds blowing through the forests on my face? Why can I not feel the heat of the sun? I know they are there – I have felt them many times before and they were good! I have always enjoyed their presence, I have always found great joy, much fun! I have always felt abundantly blessed God always gives me one more new day.
Except, in this moment, there are those individuals whose testimony and witness are “I am not sure whether or not I am abounding in the abundance of God’s blessings or abounding in the abundant absence of God’s blessings.”
We can select any corner of the globe, put our fingers on any point on any map anywhere in the world, and we are confronted by these same age-old times and age-old questions humans have struggled with for centuries, and questions we can easily ask today. It seems as if the world is forever on the brink of disaster, so we are left searching for God through all of it. YET! YET! YET! YET! ……!
Habakkuk wrote his prophecy at time when he and God’s people were asking the same questions. The Babylonians were preparing to invade Judah where the remnant of God’s people remained. This was a direct judgment from the Lord, for they had experienced a time of continuous and rapid moral and spiritually decline. Habakkuk complains against God, not understanding how he could use a downright wicked nation in Babylon to judge a less wicked one in Judah. But YET we know (praise Him) that God’s ways are not our ways (Isaiah 55:8-13).
The Lord answers Habakkuk and reminds him that He is a God of justice and mercy and that the righteous have to live by faith (2:4) and YET trust Him.
Habakkuk’s ultimate summary is no matter what comes, he will choose joy and trust God. Though the world seems to crumble, YET he will rejoice in the Lord.
I can’t read this passage and not think about the classic hymn “It is Well With My Soul.”YET How many people know the sadly dramatic story behind it.
Horatio Spafford wrote the lyrics after a series of traumatic events: his two sons died in the Chicago fire of 1871 and the rest of his family perished two years later when their ship crossing the Atlantic sank. YET, even after all of those things, he was able to overcome, to turn his eyes, soul heavenward and write:
“When peace like a river, attendeth my way, When sorrows like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say, It is well, it is well, with my soul.”
What are you going through today? Does is seem like your world is falling apart?
To put it in contemporary terms: You get laid off after years of faithful service to the company. You lose your job and have no current source of income. You invest all your money in what looks like an iron-clad, “can’t miss” portfolio and the market goes bust. You put years into a relationship with another person and now that relationship falls apart. You are healthy, then suddenly – NOT!
What do you do when all that you are and have been counting on in the present suddenly comes crumbling down around you?
What do you do when you suffer bitter disappointments in life?
Habakkuk says, “YET! Trust God no matter what.”
“YET, Though the olive crop fails, and the fields produce no food, YET I will rejoice in the Lord. YET I will be joyful in God my Savior.”
Habakkuk began his journey in the valley of doubt, and he ended his journey scaling the heights with God with feet like a deer. It is a beautiful journey and one that is open to everyone who will come honestly to God with their questions and seek him with all of their heart.
As God promises in Jeremiah 29:13: “[YET!] You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (Jeremiah 29:13)
And so, wherever you may be in your own personal journey from bouts with doubt to faith, let me encourage you, keep seeking God. Keep coming to him with your doubts and with your questions. Come to God through Jesus his Son, knowing [YET] that God loves you so much he sent his Son to die for your sins.
And I pray that God will also lead you to that place where you will learn to trust him no matter what, where you may run along the heights in God’s presence with feet like a deer. May God help us to [YET] learn the beautiful lessons that he has recorded for us in the book of His Prophet Habakkuk.
Know this: you don’t choose what you go through, but YET you can choose how you go through it and who you go through it with. Choose God! Choose joy, and know that God is YET good, just and merciful. No matter what you face, you can choose to shout, sing, “YET, I will rejoice in the Lord…the God of my salvation.”
In the name of God, the Father and God the Son and God the Holy Spirit,
Let us Pray,
1 When the storms of life are raging, stand by me; (stand by me) when the storms of life are raging, stand by me. (stand by me) When the world is tossing me like a ship upon the sea, thou who rulest wind and water, stand by me. (stand by me)
2 In the midst of tribulation, stand by me; (stand by me) in the midst of tribulation, stand by me. (stand by me) When the hosts of hell assail, and my strength begins to fail, thou who never lost a battle, stand by me. (stand by me)
3 In the midst of faults and failures, stand by me; (stand by me) in the midst of faults and failures, stand by me. (stand by me) When I’ve done the best I can, and my friends misunderstand, thou who knowest all about me, stand by me. (stand by me)
4 In the midst of persecution, stand by me; (stand by me) in the midst of persecution, stand by me. (stand by me) When my foes in war array undertake to stop my way, thou who rescued Paul and Silas, stand by me. (stand by me)
5 When I’m growing old and feeble, stand by me; (stand by me) when I’m growing old and feeble, stand by me. (stand by me) When my life becomes a burden, and I’m nearing chilly Jordan, O thou Lily of the Valley, stand by me. (stand by me) Charles Albert Tindley (1905)
Loving God, Living God, Loving Hope, Living Hope, Loving Living Life His Way! "Many things are possible for the person who has hope. Even more is possible for the person who has faith. And still more is possible for the person who knows how to love. But everything is possible for the person who practices all three virtues." - Brother Lawrence (1605-1691), Practicing the Presence of God (1692). 