Do you have ears to hear?

Ezekiel's commission to ministry was not exactly a joyous occasion. He was told to go and speak to a people who were stubborn and rebellious. He was told to fear not, but to be faithful to go to this people and declare, "Thus says the Lord..." Whether they listened or not, and the implication was that they would not listen, he was to do his part in bringing the Word of the Lord to them. They would be responsible for receiving or rejecting it, and there would be consequences for their response. Eventual they were exiled for their neglect of God's Word.

Saul, as well, had the word of the Lord available to him through the prophet, Samuel. He had been told things by Samuel which he disregarded to his own peril. Twice it is recorded that Samuel had told him the specific Word of the Lord, and both times Saul ignored this counsel and went his own way. Doing this resulted in Saul losing the kingship and living his life enslaved to inordinate passions. There was a great cost associated with the neglect of God's Word.

The foil to these examples of rebellion in Israel was David. In 1 Samuel 23 we see him several times inquiring of the Lord. We see him actually seeking the Lord. Once, because of the fears of his men, he went back to the Lord to make sure he had heard correctly, but once affirmed he not only heard the Word, he acted on it. And what was the result of his attention and obedience to the Lord? He way was prospered and made safe. Though he went up against the strong army of the Philistines he was victorious. Though the men of Keilah would have given him up the Lord helped him to know that he should depart. Though Saul got close to capturing him, at just the right moment the Lord brought the Philistines to take Saul from the chase and provide a deliverance for David.

David was attentive to the Word of the Lord. He had ears to hear. He even pursued the Word of the Lord as his daily guide. The result was a life blessed by the presence and protection of the Lord.

The same will be for us. We have the Word of the Lord available for us through the Word of God - the Bible. We can neglect or ignore it, or we can pursue it and seek to order our lives by it. There are consequences for both paths. We ignore the Word to our own hurt. We end up walking in our own paths, away from the Lord. The result is never satisfying. Or we can pursue the Word, and seek by His strength to obey it. That path leads to a partnership with the Lord, that may not make life difficulty free (David's life has great trial) but it assures us that the Lord is with us and will take us safely through life's challenges.

Let's all make today a day that we seek the Word of the Lord, that we don't walk this life on our own, but walk in tandem with our gracious Lord. His Spirit is given to us to help us do just that!

Remember we are servants

In our reading today in 1 Samuel it is very sad to see the self-destruction of Saul. He had such promise at the beginning. It seemed that he was humble even though he had a many gifts: tall, handsome,..... Then things went south for him.

Twice he was confronted with his own fears. He feared the Philistine armies and he feared what the people thought of him. Both times that led to his disobedience, which showed that the wrong fear ruled his life. Had he the fear of the Lord; had he a right view of who God is and who he was in light of that, it is not likely that he would have fallen the way he did. But there was no fear of God and as a result, his heart was ruled by another fear.

Having disobeyed the Lord twice, the prophet Samuel declared that the kingship would be taken from him and given to another. Now not only fear ruled his heart but also jealousy and envy toward God's choice of a new king, David.

So driven by fear and jealousy, Saul pursued David. So controlled, and we would have to say blinded was Saul, that it led him to commit the atrocity we read about today. He had 85 people killed, not for anything they had done, but because he was not under the control of the spirit of His God. The remaining chapters of this book will show this gradual self-destruction. It is very sad.

Instead it would have been helpful for Saul to take on the attitude of Paul which we saw in 1 Corinthians 3. He said, "who are we but servants of Christ. Oh yes, we may have the opportunity to plant or even water, but it is God who gives the increase. He is the One who matters, we are but servants."

Had Saul had the attitude of Paul, it would have saved him from his self-destructive ways. A servant does not care if God elevates another in their place. A servant is only only interested in doing the will of their Lord. In fact, doing God's will becomes the controlling passion of their life, which in the end displaces all other passions: fear, jealously, envy,....

Brothers and sisters, as we go out this week, may we remember our identity as servants. God is Lord of our lives; we delight in doing His will. When God brings things into our lives, good or bad, we allow Him to call the shots. That is such a better way to live than to be control by our dark passions. May the Lord grant us His grace to live today consumed by our passion to walk only in His ways!

Fear and Faith

For those of us reading all four columns of McCheyne's today we came again to Psalm 33. This psalm is very significant to me because the Lord used it to encourage my fearful heart some 23 years ago.

I and my family were on the verge of leaving Wisconsin. We had worked hard for one year to find a job in California that would enable me to care for my family while I went to seminary. A week before our departure we still did not have a job.

Needless to say, I had a bit of anxiety. I was moving my family across the country and had no job nor a place to live. As I considered these things before the Lord, He directed me to Psalm 33:22. It reads, "Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you." As I read this it seemed to be a divine proportion to me. It seemed to be saying, "To the extent as I trust in you, may I know the steadfast love of the Lord." It was a call for me to put my trust in the Lord being confident of His steadfast love.

This gift of the word was an encouragement to me, and the challenges I faced in the year ahead proved over and over the truth of this. God's steadfast love did carry us through this challenging stretch. God was indeed faithful.

During the days of Samuel the prophet, this kind of trust was lacking in Israel except for one young man. The people were confronted with a major challenge in the person of the champion of the Philistines, Goliath. He defied the armies of the living God, but no one in the army had the nerve to stand up against him.

But maybe it wasn't nerve that they needed. Maybe it was that they needed trust in the Lord.

I love David's words in verses 45-47. I think they say it all and show his secret to success. He said, "You come to me with sword and with a spear and with a javelin, but I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel whom you have defied. This day the Lord will deliver you into my hand... that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, and that all this assembly may know that the Lord saves not with sword and spear. For the battle is the Lord's; and he will give you into our hands."

There is the secret to David's success. When others looked to themselves and looked at the challenge before them, they strunk down in fear. David did not look at himself, nor his weapons. He only looked at or rather trusted in the Lord, and found the Lord's love completely faithful.

Today if you are confronted with fear realize that fear is like a warning light on your car, that tells you that something is wrong. And with fear, what's wrong is that we are looking in the wrong place. Instead we should lift our gaze on high, and when we do we will find a quiet confidence filling our soul. May God help us conquer our fears and know this tranquility of soul even in the midst of our challenge.

A Choice of Kings

Life is a choice of kings; it is a choice of who or what will rule the throne of your heart. And the choice is not inconsequential, for the sovereign you choose will impact greater the quality of your life.

In 1 Samuel 8 Israel requested a king. Samuel was growing old and his sons did not walk in his way, so the people looked around at other nations and thought it best to choose a king. Samuel did not like their request, but the Lord told him to grant it. He said, "They have not rejected you, but they have rejected me from being their king."

To let them know the consequence of this choice the Lord told Samuel to let them know what it would be like under this king. As you read the description it is filled with the statement, "He will take..." That is the way it is when we choose a king other than the Lord. The sovereign will only take from us, over and over. He will bring emptiness. Only the Lord Christ when He is enthroned will fill us. That is His way!

In Romans 6 we saw a choice as well. Paul says something will rule our hearts. Either sin will rule or righteousness will rule. Either we will be slaves to sin or slaves to God. These are the only options, and the consequences of this choice could not be any bigger. According to Paul slavery to sin leads only to death. He says about the other choice: "But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the fruit you gets leads to sanctification and its end, eternal life. For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord."

We saw a choice of kings (or queens) in Jeremiah 44 as well. Jeremiah pled with the people to repent and cast away the idols and serve the Lord. Sadly, the people rejected his plea. Defiantly they declared that they would serve the queen of heaven. They thought she could deliver what they wanted better than the Lord. Again the consequences of their choice could not have been more significant. This choice only brought them exile and destruction. Such is the way when we choose the wrong sovereign.

Brothers and sisters, this theme is prominent in Scripture. Life will be lived under a sovereign. That sovereign will either be the Lord, who made heaven and earth and us, or it will actually be our glands. After all, any other thing we enthrone is just a puppet of our desires. And as the choice of sovereign had huge consequences in each of the examples above, so it will have in our life. Choosing any other sovereign but Christ will only lead to emptying oneself - diminishing your life until it leads to death. Choosing Christ (or as Paul would say, being chosen by Christ) leads to be filled by the One who is all and fills all - Jesus Christ.

As Joshua told the people as the end of his life - "Choose you this day whom you will serve." It really is a very important choice.

God Speaks

One truth that comes to us clearly from the Bible is that we worship a God who speaks. Our God is a communicating God. In fact, He communicates to us in a variety of ways.

In Psalm 19 two ways were disclosed. The first is through the creation. The writer of this psalm says that the "heavens declare the glory of God". He says there is constant communication from God through the heavens and that this communication is known to all. There is none who are hidden from this speech.

The psalmist also points to the law, another method of communication the Lord has used and continues to use. This law not only teaches us how to live, but it also reflects the very character of the lawgiver: perfect, sure, right, pure, clean, true, more worthy than gold.

In Jeremiah 43 we saw another mode of communication. In this chapter we saw God communicating through His prophet. Often the Lord chose to send His message through a human vessel. Jeremiah was chosen to communicate just prior to the days of Judah's exile to Babylon.

God also communicates to us through pain, oddly enough. When the Philistines inherited the ark of the covenant, they thought that they had gained a trophy for their victory in battle. Instead they inherited a plague. Each city that took the ark came to be infested with mice and afflicted with tumors. God was communicating through their pain that He is God, and there is none like Him. He is untamable, not a creation of human hands.

So, we see that God is a God who communicates. But we must ask, "How do we respond to that communication?" The Philistines seemed to listen. They sent the ark away and learned a great lesson about the God of Israel. The people of Judah, on the other hand, rejected the Word of the Lord. The message was not one they wanted to hear, so they set it aside, but they did that to their own peril.

The psalmist (Psalm 19) had a great viewpoint regarding God's communication. Refering to the law he declared that it was worth more than fine gold. He also stated this wonderful truth, "Moreover, by them (the law) your servant is warned; in keeping them there is great reward."

Knowing their value, the psalmist then petitioned the Lord. He said, "Keep back your servant from presumptuous sins; let them not have dominion over me! Then I shall be blameless, and innocent of great transgressions."

Brothers and sisters, we have a God who speaks. Are we listening? The Word of the Lord is of supreme value. Do we believe this? If we do we will be petitioning the Lord to keep us in the path of His Word all the days of our lives. We will seek by the Holy Spirit who resides within to walk in all the ways of our Lord. May God help us to do so!

Semblance or Substance

In 1 Samuel 4 we have an interesting incident. Confronted by the Philistines who are winning the battle, God's people are desperate. They are not sure why they are losing, but they know they don't want to see this trend continue. So what do they do? The bring out the Ark of Covenant thinking that this object which represented the presence of God would turn their fortunes around.

From the outside this appears (it has a semblance) to be a "religious" move. It has the appearance of relying upon the Lord. It is interesting to note that the Philistines thought it a "religious" move. They said something like "now a god has come into the camp of Israel". They were impressed and even trembled a little.

But what was really going on here? I call it "rabbit's foot religion". Do you remember those rabbit's feet you could get? Do you remember that when you wanted good luck, you would merely need to rub the rabbit's foot? Of course, it never worked, but it was a fun child's game. But now the people of God were treating their God as if He were a rabbit's foot. They thought they could insure God's favor is they took His ark and put it in their midst. What they were really doing, though, is treating God like the servant, not the Master.

The same type of scenario took place in Jeremiah 42. The people have a semblance of repentance. They come to God's prophet, Jeremiah, and ask him to pray for them. They declare that they will do whatever the Lord declares to them through Jeremiah's mouth. From the outside this appears very pious. It appears to be just the thing that they ought to do.

But when you look at Jeremiah's prophecy you can tell there is a little more going on than meets the eye. The Lord, throught Jeremiah, let's the people know that He knows their heart. He knows that they aren't really interested in doing what the Lord wants. All they are interested in is peace and safety and they are hoping God can be used to insure this. As we read the rest of the story we will find out how sincere these people were.

Brothers and sisters, the Christian faith is a faith of the heart. We can do many things on the outside, like go to church, give offerings, carry a BIG bible,....but if these are not accompanied by a heart that is submissive to God an desirous of His will, they will do us very little good.

That seems to be the message of Romans 4. Circumcision is something outward, and as good as it is if it is not accompanied by a heart full of faith and trust in God, it will do you no good.

The heart that the Lord is looking for is a heart of faith, that comes to God only wanting His will to be done. Jesus' words, "Not my will, but Thine be done" ought to be the measuring stick for our hearts. If that is our attitude we will not have the semblance of religion, but we will indeed have the substance. May God give us clear understanding of the difference, and may we, by His power pursue the real thing.

The Best Teachers

Who are the best teachers? Perhaps a good answer to this question is: The best teachers are those who first teach themselves.

You may recall from earlier readings what is said of Ezra (7:10). The Bible attests that he studied the law, practiced it and then taught it to his people. That middle verb "practice" was vital to his teaching of the people. We are more credible as teachers when we first put into practice what we seek to pass on to others.

In Romans 2 Paul draws attention to this when he says in verse 21, "you then who teach others, do you not teach yourself?" Previous to this verse Paul describes people who are "sure that you yourself are a guide to the blind, a light to those in darkness, an instructor of the foolish, a teacher of children,..." Paul observed those who were very confident that they had something to pass on to others, but he questioned that supposition. He suggested that if they teach one thing, but live another that they are ill-suited to be teachers of anyone. If they teach against stealing, but steal themselves, is their teaching worth anything? Will it influence anyone?

The tragic reality of this point comes home in the story of Eli and his sons. Though we see Eli rebuking his sons for despising the Lord and their immorality with the women who served the tabernacle, we see that he has no effect. And why does he have no effect? Apparently, he wasn't practicing what he was preaching. He, too, was growing fat from all the choice meat he and his sons were eating. It would indeed be hard to "teach" one's children to refrain from doing something that you seem to be regularly participating in.

The Christian faith calls all of us to be teachers. We will be teaching our children, teaching our neighbors, teaching one another. We are calling on to share the Word of Christ with others as the Lord gives us utterance. But if we are to be effective as teachers, we must not forget that the best teachers are those who embody the teaching they are trying to pass on.

Jesus did this perfectly with His disciples. Everything He spoke they saw in His life. There was no disconnect. He was indeed the best of teachers.

Unfortunately, for the rest of us our modeling will be inconsistent, but we should strive, by the Spirit of Christ within us to embody His truth. That will be the greatest aid to our teaching. May God help us all live out the glorious truth we are called to teach.

God of Providence

In each of our readings today we saw servants of God suffering affliction. Naomi loses her husband and two sons. In those days that was a big thing. It meant living in impoverished conditions, and even in danger, especially if you were a woman.

Paul found himself in a boat that was storm tossed for over 14 days. Not only did he receive minimal food during that time, but he had to endure the nauseous experience of being carried up and down, up and down by the sea. (Personally I have found that experience pretty brutal to endure.)

Jeremiah, too, had his sufferings. He was unjustly placed in a prison. There was something about the truth of his message that his auditors did not like, and decided to take it out on him.

Three different servants of God, all apparently serving their Lord faithfully, but all experiencing affliction. This certainly shows us that God does not keep His servants from suffering! But that is not the whole story. In each case God's providence shines through as well.

Naomi is given a daughter-in-law who is second to none. She clings to Naomi and Naomi's God and serves her faithfully. God also provides the grace of Boaz who looks with favor on Ruth, and is God's instrument of provision (of food) and protection (from other men who might try to take advantage of Ruth).

Paul is assured in a dream that he will be taken care of - that God would provide. God was not finished with him yet and would work out all the details so that Paul could complete the work set out for him. So God not only provides safety amidst the shipwreck, but also keeps Paul in the good graces of the leaders so that he is not put to death. God again shows his amazing providence.

Jeremiah, too, was shown grace. The king calls for him wondering if he has received word from the Lord. (I am sure he was hoping for a different word, but Jeremiah's message stayed consistent.) Upon answering the king, Jeremiah requests mercies - to stay out of prison, and the king grants him a better place to stay, and bread to eat.

Thus, in each case though the Lord permits affliction, in the midst of affliction God shows Himself to be a God of providence; a God who provides for His servants.

In these days of great uncertainly (global terror, stock market crash, unemployment) it is important to remember that though the Lord may allow affliction, He is still on the throne, and will, in His time, provide for His servant who trusts in Him and continues to serve Him with gladness.

Brothers and sisters, take heart. Don't let your current affliction get you down. Your life is in the hand of God. Look to Him in faith. Serve Him faithfully. His providence may be just around the corner.

Mercy in the midst of judgment

Sometimes the Bible is criticized for having a God in the Old Testament that is incompatible with the God of the New Testament. The God of the Old Testament is said to be wrathful and judgmental, whereas the God of the New Testament is full of love and mercy. Now the only way you can believe that is to not have read the Bible for in so many places in the Old Testament (the the New) we see mercy mingled with judgment.

Our reading today offered two examples. The first is the book of Ruth. In the opening phrase we find the words, "In the days when the judges ruled..." reminding us that this book took place during the time of the judges. Hopefully we will not have forgotten already what we learned from that book. Especially the last few chapters were filled with horrendous accounts like the chopping up of the Levite's concubine, and sending the pieces to all the tribes, followed by a war that featured God's people destroying one of their own tribes. The theme of the book was that there was no king in Israel and that every man did what was right in his own eyes. In a sense this book depicts the natural judgment of God upon a people who rejects their true King.

But in the midst of these sad days for the people of God, we see a glimmer of hope - a demonstration of mercy. We see this endearing book of Ruth, that is so filled with the opposite of what we find in the book of Judges. As we read through the book the rest of this week we will find such love and tenderness, and in the end we will see the greatness of God's mercies as it points to the birth of David through which the Savior would be coming. Mercy amidst judgment - how good is our God.

We found the same in the book of Jeremiah. Jeremiah asks Baruch to write down words regarding the coming judgment upon the people of God. But in the midst of those words we find words of mercy. In 36:3 it says, "It may be that the house of Judah will hear all the disaster that I intend to do to them, so that every one may turn from his evil way; and that I may forgive their iniquity and their sin." So even in the midst of proclaiming impending destruction, God is declaring His desire to see them repent so that He may withhold from them what their sins certainly warrant.

That is the nature of our God. Yes, His judgment is for real, and there will be a day of reckoning. But He is always a God full of mercy and lovingkindness. He wants to draw His people to Himself so that He might live among them and bless them with His presence.

Sadly, the people of Israel rejected these overtures of mercy. They heard the message, but did not act upon it. They did this to their own destruction. May God grant us an awareness of both the mercy and judgment of God. May we take His judgments seriously, and may we respond to His mercies before the waters of judgment overwhelm us.

Perhaps the greatest emblem of mercy and judgment is the cross. At the cross judgment was being placed upon the sins of man, and Oh - what a judgment it was. The cry of dereliction from Jesus helps us to understand the agonies of this judgment. But the cross also displays in full HD the beauty of God's mercy. Though we deserved hell, we get life through the Lord Jesus Christ. May those mercies transform us every day of our life!

Blessing in Obedience

In Jeremiah 35 we learn of the Rechabites. Tempted to disobey, they hold firm. They choose to obey the directives of their father.

The Lord uses their obedience to contrast the lack of obedience of His people. He has instructed them over and over, sending prophet after prophet, but they have stayed consistent in their rebellious path.

As a result, the Lord promises to bring them into judgment. He says in verse 17, "Behold, I am bringing upon Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem all the disaster that I have pronounced against them, because I have spoken to them and they have not listened; I have called to them and they have not answered.

In contrast the Lord tells the house of the Rechabites that for their obedience they would "never lack a man to stand" before the Lord. He commended their obedience.

One would have thought that God's people would have learned from their history. They had many accounts from their forefathers which clearly taught that the way of disobedience is a way of destruction. No where can that be more clearly seen then in the book of Judges. Over and over the author says (21:25), "In those days there was no king in Israel. Everyone did what was right in his own eyes." The king Israel was missing was not a human king, but the King of heaven. And becasue they rejected the king of heaven, their lives, individually and corporately, turned dark. Reading through the closing chapters of Judges makes one weep (which is actually what the people did in the final). This is not what the Lord wanted for His people. He had so much better in store for them. But their stiff-necked behavior brought all kinds of harm to themselves until the Lord in Jeremiah's day "gave them what they wanted".

How we need to pursue the vision encapsulated in Psalm 7:7. The psalmist writes, "Let the assembly of the peoples be gathered about You (the Lord); over it (the assembly) return on high.' What is needed in every generation is that we enthrone the King of heaven. What is needed is that we submit to His rule. It is a benevolent rule. Under His mastery there is blessing! To do what is right in our own eyes is folly, but commit to the way of the Lord is THE way of blessing.

Can we do this on our own? The history of the people suggests not. But when Jesus rose from the dead and ascending to the right hand of the Father, He sent us a gift. That gift is the Holy Spirit, who gives us a heart to walk in all of God's ways.

May we all who have enthroned Christ in our hearts, listen to His Spirit, and walk in His ways. That is the way to a blessed life, and a blessed eternity.