A Beautiful Discovery

 The resurrection of Jesus takes us many places, one of them being into the inner arena of our personal life, where nobody lives but us, and where nobody knows what goes on except God and each one of us personally.  Rather than scare us to death, this ought to ignite energy and enthusiasm in us.  In Jesus' life we are empowered to confront just who we are and to find that we are not trapped in hopelessness but set free to be what we never dreamed, in the wildest stretches of our imagination, we could be.  

           

Perhaps the greatest awakening in the human heart, made possible because Jesus lives, is that we do not have to give ourselves to the self-destructive ways of sin.  Sin is not our friend; it is a destroyer of everything good in us and in our world.  In Christ we are under no obligation to weigh ourselves down by that which, in the end, seeks our demise and not our benefit. 

           

I John 3:1 says that God's love, which is "great," lifts those who receive His love into the status of being "Children of God."  We human beings don't have to be children of sin.  We don't have to call evil our father, and conclude that what has been must always be.  Jesus can set us free from that sort of nonsensical thinking.  We don't have to practice things that lead us to be less that whom God has created and called us to be.  We are created in the image of God.  His likeness is in us, and when we truly connect with His likeness it is a beautiful discovery. 

           

Jesus has come to destroy the works of the evil one (I John 3:8), works that deny the amazing grace of God.  Now we are on the journey toward a day of great revelation.  Soon, "when He appears, we will be like Him, because we will see Him just as He is" (I John 3:2).  Today we look forward in hope because we know God is at work in Jesus. 

           

Let's put our hands in to Jesus' hands and live up to the grace given us, live like "Children of God" (I John. 3:1).

Ain't gonna study war no more

I have no idea when Christ is going to come back for His Church.  What I do know, however, is that we are living in the last days and have been living in them since the birth of Jesus' Church recorded in Acts chapter two.  What I know, too, based on the words of an Old Testament prophet, is that in these ongoing last days God has been at work in His world through His Messiah. 

There are many religions in the world, many gods, but Micah 4:5 speaks for the people of Yahweh, "Though all the peoples walk each in the name of his god, as for us, we will walk in the name of the LORD our God forever and ever." And, just who is "our God?"  He is the God who brings people to the place of peace.  In His community people "hammer their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks."  When God is worshiped as the Living God "Nation will not lift up sword against nation, and never again will they train for war" (Micah 4:3). 

When people are calling for war and retaliation and retribution one can count on the fact that in that people Jesus isn't Lord.  They may call Him Lord but their actions don't rise up to their words.  His people continually live before God and they are always saying, "Come, let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, and to the house of the God of Jacob, that He may teach us about His ways and that we may walk in His paths"  (Micah 4:2).

This old world has been beat up on for too long.  She is bleeding and hurting, gasping for breath.  When will we put away our swords and let God be God?  Please, somebody, tell me, when.  Whatever the answer might be, let it start in the Church of Jesus.

HOLY AND AWESOME

When the Psalmist spoke of God he said, ‘Holy and awesome in His name” (Ps. 111:9).  It’s true, isn’t it?  God is holy and He is awesome.  How could we reach any other conclusion.  He is the God of grace and love and mercy, working so as to draw people into Himself.

                       

When the prophet, Isaiah, spoke of God he said, “Trust in the Lord forever, for in God the Lord, we have an everlasting Rock” (Is. 26:4).  What a great word for a world like ours, so needy and hurtful, so angry and bitter, so selfish and self-serving. 

                       

Things don’t have to be the way they are.  Things can change.  People can change.  God can enter into stories and redirect the storyline.  In fact, that is exactly what God did and is doing, in the life of Jesus the Messiah.

                       

The weak and powerless have an advocate, the afflicted and helpless have a voice.  The unassailable city (Is. 26:5), the fortress that keeps the weak, weak, and the powerless, powerless, has met an adversary and that adversary is God.  The powers that afflict, are now afflicted by the standard of their own measure.  God’s “Upright One” (Is. 26:7), is on the move and grace is on the horizon.  The future can be different than the past.  A new way of being is afoot, and those who trust in God will be kept in peace (Is. 26:3).

                       

God is going to take down falsehood and raise up truth.  God is going to bring a reversal of fortune.  The last shall be first, and the first shall be last.  In Jesus Christ, God redefines the meaning of things, and He will “establish peace” (Is. 26:12).  The thing this world most needs is found in God’s Upright One.  In Him the life we all seek is here. In Christ we study war no more and we “learn righteousness” (Is. 26:9).  We come to the place of peace and discover we are home.

Let the Living Begin

Here they go again, those crazy Christians, proclaiming that the one they saw die on a cross on a certain Friday afternoon outside Jerusalem is, in fact, alive.  The rumors were wild and almost silly, to think that a dead man could come back from the grave, and take up where He left off a few days earlier, only take up with greater power and authority than before.

           

Those first Christians were really naïve, or something really had taken place that staggered their world view and changed them.  It is a great challenge to undermine the scope and quality of their witness and to call their integrity or sanity into question. 

           

How do you stop a movement based on a teaching that says her Lord and Leader was crucified, died, and was buried, but on the third day rose up again?  How do you stop a movement so rooted and founded on this truth that persecution and death could not stop them from sharing their story?  I don’t think you can stop that kind of movement, that kind of people.

           

Today, we are privileged to be named among “those crazy Christians.” Once our lives were broken and wounded, and held no hope. Then Jesus revealed Himself to us to be alive, and the revelation so profoundly struck a nerve in our very souls, we made a decision that, come what may, we have decided to follow Jesus and that, for us, there will be no turning back.

           

To some people the whole idea of Jesus is either a stumbling block or simply utter foolishness.  If you know someone like this, don’t be too hard on them.  It is quite a thing we ask of people.  Instead, just pray for them.  Love them.  Show them what a life based on the resurrection looks like.  People are hungry for God, for truth, for some sense of destiny.  We believe Jesus is God’s response to the deepest needs  in the human heart.  He has risen, so we say.  Now, let’s live in light of a resurrected Lord and Savior.  

Welcome Home to God

I'm still thinking about last Sunday.  We call it Palm Sunday.

 

The parade went on as planned but it failed to capture the real meaning of the Christ event.  The folks sang and danced and celebrated and, all in all, had a great time.  At Sundown, they reflected on the great day they had had; He reflected upon the upcoming week where He would be pierced through for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities, and chastened for our well-being (Is. 53:5).  What a day.

    

Getting the biggest picture possible is always a great idea.  Snapshots can fall short in communicating the whole story of an event. Truth be known, Jesus did not come to town this day to be the grand Marshall at a parade.  He came to town because His destiny went through Jerusalem and on to a hill called, "Calvary."

    

Redemption is not accomplished through a parade.  Redemption is accomplished when one qualified to do so, has placed on Him the iniquity of everybody else and is scourged so that the guilty are healed and the prodigals can return to God. 

           

So it was that the parade became the introit to a crushing process that put Jesus to grief and ultimately death.  It was not pretty.  It was very ugly.  Yet, in the upside down world of God the ugly was very beautiful.  Out of suffering, dying and death came one who bore or griefs, carried our sorrows, and was pierced through for our transgressions. 

"Ho! Every one who thirsts come to the waters;

and you who have no money come, buy and eat.

Come, by wine and milk without money and without cost"

-- Isaiah 55:1

Drawing Near

Hi, everybody.

     Vonnie says I need to bring you up to date on my health status.  I think I am finally at a place where I can share it with some degree of clarity.  I also know there are more stories going on in the world than mine, so don't feel obligated to read this.  Sensory overload can be annoying, and I don't want to be annoying to you.

So, for those who might want an update, here is the latest.  I have what is called, "Primary Interosseous Squamous Carcinoma."  It began as a cancer in the oral cavity.  It has returned in the left neck area affecting lymph nodes.  Surgery was conducted on Friday, March 23. 

     I saw my surgeon for a first follow-up visit on March 29 and he told me he felt the immediate result of surgery is progressing nicely and that this part of the journey was successful. My neck is very swollen; this along with the scar from the surgery stares me down every time I look into the mirror. My energy level is nebulous, at best, and demanding great patience on my part -- something that doesn't come easily with me.  

     The sobering news in this is that I will have to have both radiation and chemotherapy.  Radiation I knew about.  We were waiting on the pathology report as to chemotherapy. In the surgery they removed and examined 61 nodes.  Enough of those nodes revealed cancer cells that chemotherapy was determined to be essential to the healing and recovery process.  These treatments will begin in about three weeks or so.  Dr. Kokot told me of possible side effects I should be aware of and that most likely I will have some difficult days, particularly late in the process.   Every person responds individually, however, so we'll see when it is time to cross that bridge.

     This is the physical side of the story.  Thank God, however, that there is more to life than the physical.  Truth is that what makes the physical tolerable, even thrilling and blessed, is that the Divine has entered into the physical world, and lives here.  Our world has been invaded by the Maker of heaven and earth.  In Christ, so says Mr. Wesley, "He…emptied Himself of all but love, and bled for Adam's helpless race." So present is God in the human situation that we are free to pray, in the words of Augustus Toplady, "Rock of Ages, cleft for me, let me hide myself in Thee."  How many times I have prayed this prayer and found God to open the door of His grace and welcome me into the place of divine protection, love, and mercy.
     The writer of Hebrews says, "We do not have a high priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but One who has been tempted in all things as we are, yet without sin.  Therefore, let us draw near with confidence to the throne of grace, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need" (Hebrews. 4:15-16). 

     This is a time of "drawing near" for me, a time of hearing the voice of my "great high Priest, who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God" (Heb. 4:14).  I am comfortable within the embrace of God, and come what may, nothing can snatch me out of the "Rock of Ages, cleft for me."

     I don't like what is happening to me; in fact, there are moments when, quite frankly, it infuriates me.  Don't think for a moment that I am taking all these things too lightly; I am not.  At the same time it is the conviction of my heart that Jesus Is Lord.  On the mountain or in the valley Jesus Is Lord.  Cancer is not Lord.  It has a big bite and announces itself with a big bark, but it is not Lord.  Jesus Is Lord.  In this light, Martin Luther has given me the words for my testimony as I walk this valley of deep darkness.  He said,

“Feelings come and feelings go,
and feelings are deceiving;
My warrant is the Word of God--
Naught else is worth believing.


Though all my heart should feel condemned
for want of some sweet token,
There is One greater than my heart
Whose Word cannot be broken.


I'll trust in God's unchanging Word
Till soul and body sever,
For, though all things shall pass away,
HIS WORD SHALL STAND FOREVER!”

            Thank you, Mr. Luther.  I'm in --- 100%.  As Eliza Hewett wrote in 1891,

My faith has found a resting place—
Not in device or creed:
I trust the ever living One—
His wounds for me shall plead…

I need no other argument,
I need no other plea;
It is enough that Jesus died,
And that He died for me.

     That's it for now.  God bless you all.

FORWARD STILL,

Rick

The "Even Though"

 Sometimes life takes us where we don't want to go.  Powers greater than ourselves speak and we find that whether or not we like it a journey has been give us.  The only thing we can do is decide how we will walk that journey.

           

David's testimony has become the testimony of countless millions of people; it is certainly mine -- "Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, You are with me" (Ps. 23:4).  What a profound hope we have in Christ, our Shepherd.  Everyone who trusts in Christ says, "Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life, and I will dwell in the house of the Lord forever" (Ps. 23:6). 

           

In Christ, we are not defined by what happens to us.  We are defined by Who walks with us.  Valleys come and valleys go but Jesus sticks with us "closer than a brother" (Prov. 18:24).  He says to us when we are on the journey, "Come to Me, all who are weary and heaven-laden, and I will give rest" (Matt. 11:28).  Each day He gives us strength for the journey.  Each day He lives in us as Lord and Savior.

Because of Jesus I can say,

Nothing that happens can hurt me

Whether I lose or win;

Life may be changed on the surface,

But I do my main living within.[1]

           

Because of Jesus we can say (and may I personalize it),

Through many dangers, toils and snares...
I have already come.
T''was Grace that brought me safe thus far...
and Grace will lead me home[2].

---

[1] This poem was written by the grandfather of a college roommate, David Rodes.  Dr. R.C. Gunstream was a District Superintendent in the Church of the Nazarene, a great pastor, and a wonderful man of God.

[2] Third verse of Amazing Grace by John Newton, 1779.

 

Mind-Boggling Grace

 

It’s a story of outrageous, mind-boggling grace.  It makes skeptics laugh out loud, the doubter question the logic of it all, and believers to bow before Jesus and call Him Lord.  The thought of feeding over five thousand people with a small boy’s lunch of a couple of sardine-size fish and five small barley loaves, is a bit much, don’t you think?

           

Then, again, the whole of idea of God coming into history in the person of Jesus is a bit much.  Feeding five thousand people is a minimal concern if the incarnation of God into history really did, in fact, occur.   If Jesus really is God with us there is something more going on by the Sea of Galilee than who is buying lunch—something wonderful and mysterious and powerful and God-like?

           

By sunset the people were reaching conclusions about Jesus, one of them being, “This is truly the Prophet who is to come into the world” (John 6:14).  They saw something that made them think more deeply than about their hungry tummies.  They saw God in Jesus that day.

           

Interestingly enough when John tells this story he doesn’t call it a miracle, like we do.  He called in a “sign” (vs. 14).  It was sign to point them to something deeper than the need for lunch.  They needed God, and they needed God now.  They didn’t need a miracle worker, they needed God.    

           

By the way, we don’t need a miracle worker either.  We need God.  We need to humble ourselves before God and let God do what God does.  We need to let God be God in us.  If God gives you a lunch today enjoy it, but know that you will be hungry by sundown.  However, if He gives you the bread of His life, you will never go hungry again in your inner being.  At Sundown on all the days yet to come, you will still be satisfied because in Him you have “eternal life” (John 6:54).

Good Business or Good Faithfulness

Jesus caught a lot of people off guard one day when he walked into the temple in Jerusalem and saw that it had been turned into a business center.  Watching the activities of selling and purchasing sheep and doves and oxen, animals essential to the Passover meals, He made a whip of certain cords at His disposal and cleared the temple, turning over tables and pouring out coins and seeing to it that bodies were scampering for safety.  As he did so someone heard Him say, “Take these things away; stop making My Father’s house a place of business” (Luke 2:16).

The authorities approached Him and demanded He tell them by what authority He was acting in such a way.  He told them He was acting on the authority of a greater temple then the one they were violating.  He was acting on the authority of His own life, a life that, upon dying, would rise again in three days.  It took them forty-six years to build the temple they finally hijacked and turned into a place of business.  It would take Him three days to conquer the wages of sin, death, and rise up to establish Himself once and for all forever, as King of kings and Lord of lords.

During the midst of the activities that day in the temple Jesus’ disciples remembered something from their Scriptures about the coming Messiah, “Zeal for Your house Will consume Me.”  What Jesus did that day was an act of faithfulness to the Father and a reminder that the ways of God can’t be short-circuited, and that using the ways of the world to accomplish the will of God is not acceptable.  It might be good business but it is not good faithfulness.

In Isaiah 56:7 our Scriptures tell us, “My house will be called a house of prayer for all the peoples."  Everything the church does, all she might possess, the actions she might take, the life she lives must take into consideration that the greater Temple is our Temple, and His name is Jesus; and, Jesus calls us to let the Church be the Church. 

Embraced By Grace

Platitudes and I don't get along too well.  There is no place in faith for empty comments, trivia, clichés, banality.  Life is too real, the consequences too serious, the battle too intense, and the implications too eternal, to major on minors or to reduce God down to bumper sticker theology. 

In this very real and troubled world we find ourselves enveloped in harsh realities of a thousand kinds.  Followers of Christ are not exempt.  There are forces at work ranging from tribulation to distress to persecution to famine to nakedness to peril and to sword (see Roman 8:35). If you have not made peace with this yet, do it soon.

Make peace with something else, also.  In the mist of all these dangers, in Christ "we overwhelmingly conquer through Him who loved us" (Rom. 8:37).  Our lives are embraced by grace and in the magnificent power of God there is nothing, in and of itself, that can take us down -- "neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor power, nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing" (Rom. 8:38-39). 

Is this a too reckless optimism?  I think not.  When Jesus was raised up from the dead He set into motion a reality that trumps every other reality.  The image of a resurrected Lord is stamped onto every event life might throw at us.  Even death itself is not longer the enemy that does us in.  Jesus is so much Lord that He said, "He who believes in Me will live even if he dies" (John 11:25). 

None of us is going to get out of this physical world alive.  None of us have to see tragedy and death as the final statement about our lives.  The free grace of God is extended and every one of us is invited into fellowship with God, a fellowship that ultimately and finally is stamped in a victory won for all eternity.

PS:  To read the entire Romans 8:31-39 passage click here.

The Distance God's Love Will Go

I Peter 3:19 is intriguing.  It tells us that in the time between Good Friday and Easter Sunday Jesus went to the people who had been unreceptive to God during the time of Noah and the building of Ark.  He preached to them there.  We don't know what He said or the purpose of his presence there.  Maybe we're not supposed to know.  Maybe we're suppose to read the story and marvel at the grace of God, and the distance He will go to invite people into His grace.    

At any rate, we do see at least two things.  First, God doesn't write people off but will go the distance to do everything possible to draw them to Himself.  Maybe that's why John Newton called it "Amazing Grace."  Secondly, we see the work of grace in the lives of people who do respond to Jesus.  As the Ark saved Noah and His family so baptism into Christ saves you and me. 

  

It is impossible to think of Jesus correctly without seeing in Him the One who "died for sins once for all, the just for the unjust, so that He might bring us to God" (I Pet. 3:16).  It is impossible to think of Jesus correctly without seeing Him alive because of the resurrection (I Pet. 3:21).  It is impossible to think of Jesus correctly without seeing Him "at the right hand of God, having gone into heaven, after angels and authorities and powers had been subjected to Him" (I Pet. 3:22).

  

Our world is in such a mess and is in such great need of a Savior that we dare not proclaim Jesus to be less than He is.  It is no time to be politically correct.  People need to know that sin is their greatest enemy, that death is in their future, and that only God's grace can save them.      

Proclaim it from the mountaintop, "Jesus Is Lord." 

Promises, Promises, Promises

Over the years I’ve heard people say things like, “God is good; all the time God is good.”  I agree, hook, line, and sinker.  I would like to add another affirmation, however.  “God is faithful; all the time God is faithful.” 

Numbers 23:19 says, “God is not a man, that He should lie, nor a son of man, that He should repent; Has He said, and will He not do it? Or has He spoken, and will He not make it good?”  In a troubling world where truth is becoming more and more blurred, God speaks the truth.  He does not lie.  He has nothing of which to repent.  In Jesus he has fleshed out the meaning of truthfulness so much so that Jesus said of Himself, “I am the truth” (John 14:6).

Perhaps this is why the apostle Paul spoke to the early church about the faithfulness of God.  He speaks a word and it is sealed. It can be counted on.  His promises are valid and we can building our lives on them.

In Jesus “as many as are the promises of God, in Him they are yes” (2 Cor. 1:20).  Isn’t that an interesting way of articulating a profound truth?  God has given us promises and those promises are the foundation of our lives in Jesus.  The apostle Peter said that God “has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature…” (2 Pet. 1:4).

God is with us day by day, in every way, always being true to His Word and consistent with His promises. We may be inundated with the harsh realities of life, but God is faithful.  We may be knocked to the ground because of the hard blows of life, but God is faithful.  We may question the inconsistencies of life in a dangerous world and  the ways of evil people who would prey upon the innocent, but God is faithful.

Our problem is never God.  Our problems are rooted in a world system that refuses to embrace the God who is faithful.  Let that cycle be broken in the Church where Jesus is Lord.

Intentional Faithfulness

 Athletes know the value of discipline, self-control, and pursing goals.  Followers of Jesus Christ ought to know the value of these things, also. In I Corinthians 9:26 Paul says, "I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air." 

Purpose, methodology, drive, design, practice, wisdom, all these are a part of an athlete mastering his or her sport.  They are a part, also, for those who have come to Jesus Christ, trusted in Him for the salvation of God, and are seeking to live the abundant and eternal life graciously bestowed on them by God.

How important is this kind of focus?  Paul thought it was very important.  In Corinthians 10:12 he counseled the early church, "Therefore let him who thinks he stands take heed that he does not fall."  We Christians are not invincible and invulnerable, and we are quite capable of being distracted or, worse yet, thinking that we are better than we really are.  So, let him who thinks he stands take heed! 

Let's take our faith seriously, and embrace a lifestyle that draws us closer and closer to the heart of the God who has entered into our story so that He may draw closer to us.  If Jesus is all we say He is, may our love for Him move us to practice the kind of lifestyle that will enhance His life in us and deepen the relationship we have with Him.           

Today, let's be intentional in our walk with Christ.  We have trusted in Him; now let's live out the meaning of that trust.

What Can I Do For My God Today?

The apostle Paul said to the early church, “I have a stewardship entrusted to me” (I Cor. 9:17).  With that clarity in mind he stepped into the history of the Church and became an evangelistic and Church planting voice, with implications still being realized even at this late date.

So committed to that “stewardship” was Paul that he said, “I do all things for the sake of the gospel, so that I may become a fellow partaker of it” (I Cor. 9:23).  He defined himself by the presence of God in his life, and any action that was inconsistent with God’s presence was jettisoned away. His heart beat to introduce people to Jesus Christ. 

But, we’re not Paul.  God has not called us to shake the foundations of the world as He seemed to do in Paul.  Or has he?  Could it be that in our own sphere of influence we, too, can truthfully say, “I have a stewardship entrusted to me”?  I may not be Paul, but I am me.  The Holy Spirit dwells in me, and calls me to Himself.  Isn’t that true for all of us who have dared trust in Jesus Christ?

Is it not true that even in our limited sphere of influence God calls us to “do all things for the sake of the gospel”?  Isn’t it true that God has so impacted our lives by His grace that it is unthinkable we should do anything that would not elevate that grace in our world? 

The Gospel song says, “Living for Jesus—O what rest!  Pleasing my Savior, I am blest.  Only to live for Him alone, Doing His will till life is done!”  So, we say, along with Paul, I do all things for sake of the gospel.”[1]

What can I do for my God today?

---

[1] “Living For Jesus,” by Charles F. Weigle, 1903; verse 2

Who Is Trustworthy

God is the God of righteousness, holiness, and truth.  There is nothing in the world that does more harm to human beings than unrighteousness, unholiness, and untruthfulness.  Jesus said it was "truth," when known, that would make people free (See John 8:32).  It wasn't a new thought with Jesus.  It was a thought rooted and grounded in the Old Testament.  It was a foundational thought with Moses as he prepared to die and to turn the reigns of leadership of Israel over to the next generation.

           

In his parting messages to the people Moses told them to pay attention to His prophets and to do what they called the people to do.  This raised the question of how to discern whether or not someone was really a prophet of God .  How would the people know a true prophet?  How do we know when someone is really speaking the truth of God?  It is easy to say words, but how do we know they are true words? 

           

For the people of Israel the test was somewhat simple.  If the words spoken by the so-called prophet did not come to pass, that person was determined to be a false prophet, and was not to be followed.  Sometimes it took a while to discern the truth because words were spoken and give opportunity to be fulfilled.

           

Moses said to Israel that God was going to "raise up a prophet like me from among you, from your countrymen; you shall listen to him" (Deut. 18:15).  We Christians believe the One God raised up is no one less than Jesus, the Messiah. In John 12:49-50 Jesus said, ^"For I did not speak on My own initiative, but the Father Himself who sent Me has given Me a commandment as to what to say and what to speak. I know that His commandment is eternal life; therefore the things I speak, I speak just as the Father has told Me.”

           

The beautiful thing about Jesus is that He brings to us the Word of the Father.  In John 10:30 Jesus said, "The Father and I are one."  There is no discrepancy between the Son and the Father.  A holy, righteous, and truthful God came among us in Jesus the holy, righteous, and truthful Son.  He can be trusted.  You can build your life on Him.

HOPE

 

C. S. Lewis wrote, “Hope is one of the Theological virtues. This means that a continual looking forward to the eternal world is not (as some modern people think) a form of escapism or wishful thinking, but one of the things a Christian is meant to do. It does not mean that we are to leave the present world as it is. If you read history you will find that the Christians who did most for the present world were just those who thought most of the next.”

Hope enables us to live fully alive in the present.  When one loses hope, death is not far behind. So it is the Psalmist wrote of hope when he spoke of God saying things like, "There is forgiveness with You…In His word do I hope…With the Lord there is lovingkindness, and with Him is abundant redemption" (Psalm 130).

The psalmist was in the place of pain and suffering, "the depths," he called it.  He knew he needed God, and he knew he didn't deserve God.  Still he prays, "Lord, hear my voice!"  From the depths he didn't run away from God but to God.  He didn't bail out on God, but opened his heart wide to God.  He didn't give up or give in; he simply embraced the God of his hope, and decided that the future rests with those who trust in God. 

Instead of throwing in the towel he turned to God with a dogged determination.  As a watchman late in the night waits for the morning light, the psalmist waited for God.  He may be in the depths tonight, but tonight is not Lord.  God is His Lord.  The last word hasn't yet been spoken.  "The depths," will not be the last chapter.  He will live tonight and tomorrow in the hopeful expectation that with God "is abundant redemption."  That is enough.  Rather, HE is enough.

And Word from the Lord was rare in those days, visions were infrequent (I Samuel 3:1). A sobering thought, isn't it? It was a somewhat quiet time in Israel, not too much going on, for good or ill. The silence of God, however, can depict a problem on the listening end of things; not always mind you, but it can indicate slothfulness in obedience and laziness in zeal for God.

In Israel's case the silence of God indicated a time of inner rebellion and what came to be a crying out to have a king like all the other kingdoms had. God wasn't enough for them. They wanted a king and a palace and all the trappings of a monarchy. God will give them that for which they seek, but in preparation for it, He comes into the story one quiet night and speaks; speaks of all things to a young child, a boy by the name of Samuel.

Three times, Samuel heard the voice but didn't know it was God's voice. Finally, his mentor, Eli, discerned that it must be God's voice, and he counseled the child to listen carefully again and that, if the voice should call him again, he should say, "Speak Lord, for Your servant is listening" (I Sam. 3:9).

And, that's what Samuel did. He said, "Speak, for Your servant is listening." That response opened the door for God to use Samuel for the rest of his life in wonderful and astounding ways. He anointed Saul as Israel's first king. When Saul forfeited his kingship because of rebellion, Samuel was the one who saw in David the man of God's choosing to be the next king, the king through whom the Messiah would eventually come.

It was when the boy Samuel was ministering to the Lord that God entered into the story and called him. May God help us to be caught up in ministering and living for God so that in our day should he choose to call our name we will hear His voice and say from our heart of hearts, "Speak, Lord, for Your servant is listening."

A Setting-Free God

We Christians believe Jesus is the Servant-Messiah. We believe Jesus is God’s response to the deepest needs of the human heart. In Jesus the deepest needs of our lives are met; they are met with a tenderness that leaves us stunned and amazed.

Isaiah says of the Servant, "A bruised reed He will not break and a dimly burning wick He will not extinguish” (3). In the Servant God doesn’t push and shove. He doesn’t demand His pound of flesh. He doesn’t bark orders like a drill sergeant. He draws near and embraces. Isaiah 40:11 says, “Like a shepherd He will tend His flock, in His arm He will gather the lambs and carry them in His bosom; He will gently lead the nursing ewes.”

As Christians we believe our God is a setting-free God, but we also know that setting-free is a difficult business because we humans are a broken and damaged people who act strong but know we really aren’t, who look great but know we really aren’t as great as we look. This makes redemption a real challenge because in telling us the truth about ourselves and holding us accountable, God must not so handle us that we get lost in despair. If His goal is redemption He must come within our fractured lives and show us the way to healing and redemption.

So Jesus comes gently, quietly, lovingly to open the prison doors and the self-dug dungeons of our lives. The past does not have to control the future. The future can be defined by what God has done for us in Christ. The past may be awful; the future can be stamped with the glory of God. God says, “Now I declare new things” (Is. 42:9).

What new thing does God want to bring to pass in your life just because He loves you? Can you accept the fact that God accepts you? Will you receive a new future, one shaped and formed by amazing grace?

“It is good,” says the ancient poet, “to sing praises to our God; for it is pleasant and praise is becoming” (Psalm 147:1). Why is it the poet reaches this conclusion? He answers the question himself when he says, “Great is our Lord and abundant in strength; His understanding is infinite” (vs. 5).

This would be enough but when one adds the personal concern of this God who is “Great,” it becomes amazing and magnificent. The Psalmist says of God that He “heals the broken hearted and binds up their wounds….The Lord supports the afflicted; He brings down the wicked to the ground” (vs. 3-6).

God is not distant and removed from our lives. He is a God who draws near in our pain and heals broken hearts and wounded lives. He is Sovereign over all, and unites His own life with our lives with divine-size strength and understanding.

We live in a dangerous world where bad things happen everyday, senseless things that leave us bewildered and perplexed. It is the fruit of living in a broken and fallen world. Still, God does not abandon us. He comes to us in the baby of Bethlehem and inundates Himself into history, so that, in time, He will take our pain and suffering, our sins and humanity, and die upon a cross “for Adam’s helpless race.”

“Amazing love! How can it be?"