Never, ever give up.

Rejoice always; pray without ceasing;give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.  1 Thessalonians 5:16-18

So what do you do when you've screwed up?  You know it.  God knows it.  Your spouse knows it.  In your shame and grief, you feel like everyone is judging you.  If your daughter is quiet, you think she is not talking to you because of your guilt.  If you go to church, you feel like you can't participate in theological discussions or public prayers because of your sin.

In these cases, I think it is important to remember the words of that great theologian, Winston Churchill:  "Never give in--never, never, never, never, in nothing great or small, large or petty, never give in except to convictions of honor and good sense.  Never yield to force; never yield to the apparently overwhelming might of the enemy."

This week I read 2 Samuel chapter 24.  You should stop what you are doing and read it now.  Go on, we'll wait.  To recap, King David decided to take a census of all the men of fighting age within the kingdom of Israel.  Joab, the commander of his armies, thought it was a bad idea.  So did the other military leaders.  Nevertheless, David commanded that it should be done, and it was.  Then God convicted him of his sin.

"David was conscience-stricken after he had counted the fighting men, and he said to the Lord, 'I have sinned greatly in what I have done.  Now, O Lord, I beg you, take away the guilt of your servant.  I have done a very foolish thing."  (2 Samuel 24:10).  A prophet was sent to give David a choice: God could send three years of famine, or three months of fleeing from his enemies, or three days of plague.  David, trying to be a wise ruler, did not want to subject the people to too long a punishment.  So God sent a plague all across Israel, and 70,000 people died.

The angel of death sent by God was stopped by God before he reached Jerusalem, because David prayed, "I am the one who has sinned and done wrong.  These are but sheep.  What have they done?  Let your hand fall upon me and my family." (2 Samuel 24:17).  God instructed David to go to a certain place and offer a sacrifice.  David complied, and offered to buy the land and the altar from the man who owned it.  The man demurred, saying that as King, David could take whatever he wanted for whatever use he wanted to do with it.  David's response was, "I will not offer to the Lord that which cost me nothing."

Lessons from this passage that speak to my heart:

It is a sin to trust in our own power, instead of trusting in God.  David wanted to take stock of his fighting men so he could know his strength as a warrior king.  God had already promised Moses, "The Lord will fight for you; you need only to be still."  Almost any sin that we can think of can be traced back to a lack of trust in God. When Jesus said, "Pray this way...give us this day our daily bread," He was not talking just about food; our God is able to meet all your needs according to His riches in Glory in Christ Jesus.

Your sin affects other people.  David knew that famine, war, and plague would all take a toll on the people he loved.  I don't think he realized the extent to which the consequences would affect the nation.  Losing 70,000 countrymen in just 3 days had to be overwhelming.  In the same way, we don't think about how badly our friends and family might be hurt from our own personal sins.  Even when we take full responsibility for our failures, people still will get hurt.

Do not give up on God or on godliness.  When David prayed, he spared the lives of countless Israelites living in Jerusalem.  Who knows whether his praying sooner might have stopped the deaths of some of the 70,000 who lost their lives in the plague?  What we do know is that we should not shy away from our faith.  Pray.  Fast.  Repent.  Seek God's face.  He will reward your faithfulness.  He will show grace, even in the midst of the consequences.  I think in the Church today we put too much emphasis on grace and not enough on justice.  We must remember that God is holy, and that for us to approach Him we must sanctify ourselves, putting aside our sinfulness to the extent that we are able. "If I had cherished sin in my heart, the Lord would not have heard me." (Psalm 66:18).

Be willing to give what God asks.  Jesus said anyone who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is not worthy of the kingdom.  Like David, we do not trust God enough to give away what He asks us to give away.  It is a sin to hold on to anything that stands between you and God.  We must remember that obedience to God is worth more than riches or fame or anything else.  Most of the time God will reward faithfulness and obedience, and His reward will be worth far more than whatever we gave up to get right with Him.  

My local professional baseball team, the Texas Rangers, are doing very well this year.  In Spring Training, their 2nd year manager emphasized one thing in the clubhouse: Never, Ever Give Up.  Needless to say, the team culture is better for it.

Thank you, God, for meeting ALL our needs

And my God will supply every need of yours according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus.  --Philippians 4:19

God has impressed me with one simple prayer, one that I have prayed multiple times a day for the last six weeks.  The simple prayer is this:  "Thank you, God, for meeting all our needs."  This one simple statement has made me more aware of His blessings every day.  Not only has it increased my thankfulness as I am more aware of what He does for me every minute of every day, but repeating this simple truth has, I believe, increased the blessings in my life.

It is my confession of Him.

Repeating this statement multiple times each day has made me more aware of God's goodness.  Isaiah 40:28 says, "Have you not known?  Have you not heard?  The Lord is the Everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He does not faint or grow weary; His understanding is unsearchable."  He wants us to be taken care of.  His desire is that we look to Him for everything.  "Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him and He will make your paths straight." (Proverbs 3:5-6).  God specifically told His people, the children of Israel, "I know the plans I have for you, declares the Lord, plans to prosper you and not to harm you, plans to give you a hope and a future." (Jeremiah 29:11).

You may be thinking, "There is too much tragedy in my life right now, too much debt.  I don't feel very prosperous or hopeful."  If you are a Christian, I would humbly suggest that you are focusing too much on events, or people, or circumstances.  Instead of looking at our problems, we should be looking to Jesus.  Remember Simon Peter, who was in a boat in the middle of a storm when he saw Jesus walking on the water.  He called out to Jesus, and ignored the wind and the waves.  Jesus told him to get out of the boat, and for a few brief moments Peter walked on the water, just like Jesus did.  However, when he took his eyes off Jesus, and saw the winds and the waves, he began to sink.  At that point he called to the Savior, and Jesus reached out and helped him into the boat.  After that, the storm was calmed.  The winds died down, the waves became less fearful and foreboding, when Jesus got into the boat with them.

An Old Testament example is from the book of Job.  In a series of freak accidents, Job lost his wealth, he lost his family, and he lost his health.  Messengers watched him after bringing the bad news to him, to see his reaction.  Job fell on the ground and literally worshipped God.  "Naked I came from my mother's womb, and naked I shall return there.  The Lord gave and the Lord has taken away.  Blessed be the name of the Lord." (Job 1:21).  God is God, whether I am prosperous and happy or not.  Realizing this truth allows us to have joy in living, even when tragedy strikes.

It is my submission to Him.

Praying this simple statement every day has made me more aware of God's soveriegnty.  St. Augustine said, "You have made us for Yourself, and our hearts are restless til they find their rest in You."  God gave us rules to follow, not because He is mean, and not so we can be legalistic and have a "holier-than-thou" attitude of prideful boasting.  Rather, He gave us rules to remind us that He is sufficient for us.

Look at the Ten Commandments.  We are commanded to have no other gods because He is able to meet all our needs--He doesn't need any help from any other god.  He told us not to make any graven image or idol because the icon or idol will take our attention away from Him, the sole provider of all we need.  He told us not to take His name in vain so that we would not trivialize Him, or make His Name common--His Name is not just another word in our vocabulary; it is a source of power and provision.  We are commanded to keep the Sabbath in order to keep Him uppermost in our minds.  He told us to honor our parents, because He gave them to us as an example of Himself, for our provision and protection.

He told us not to murder another person because He alone is worthy.  Killing another person is taking upon ourselves the rights and position of God.  Are we seeking vengeance?  "Vengeance is mine, says the Lord."  Do we kill to obtain another's possessions?  Then we do not trust God to provide.  Whatever motive there is for murder, it is a denial of God's ability or willingness to give us what we need.  Think about it.

We are forbidden to participate in adultery (and this would include fornication--sex before marriage--as well as pornography) because He is faithful.  Proverbs 5:15 says, "Drink water from your own cistern, and fresh water from your own well."  A cistern collects rain water; a well taps an underground source.  God provides them both.  In the same way, God has blessed you (if you are married) with one spouse.  Treasure her (or him) as a blessing from heaven (like rain).  Shun all other water sources, as they may be brackish, or salty, or full of disease.  If you feel like the "rainwater" is stale, go deeper in your relationship and discover your spouse's Source of their blessing.

We are commanded not to steal, because taking someone else's things makes us reliant upon ourselves and not upon God for His provision.  We are told not to bear false witness against our neighbor, because lying is again putting our trust in ourselves rather than in the truth of God.  We are told not to covet our neighbor's possessions or spouse, because in so doing we are not trusting God for our own provision.

It is my identification with Him.

If I am a Christian, then I identify myself with Christ.  Jesus prayed early and often during His ministry here on earth.  The disciples asked Him to teach them to pray, and He gave them the Model Prayer.  We identify with Jesus by calling God our Father.  We follow His example when we hallow the Name of the Lord.

When we say, "Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done," we are putting our faith into words.  We are citizens of His kingdom, and He is our King.  We serve Him alone, because we know that "Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow." (James 1:17).  He is faithful.

When we say, "Give us this day our daily bread," we are admitting that He alone can meet all of our needs.  There is no other interpretation of this verse.  He is our source, and we should come to Him daily to ask for our portion.  We should come to Him more often than that, even.

This is why I have been praying, "Thank you, God, for meeting our needs," multiple times a day for the last few weeks.  It has worked so well, I think that I will continue the practice.

Blessings.

I'm Your Huckleberry

My wife and I enjoyed watching the 1993 film Tombstone over the weekend.  The great thing about watching it on network television is that all of the coarse language is edited out (although I cannot say the same thing about the violence--but that's another sermon.)  The bad thing about watching it on network television is that with the added commercials, it is an investment in time.  Three and a half hours--we were committed.

For those of you who don't know (or don't remember, since it's been so long since the movie hit theaters), Tombstone is the re-telling of the fabled gunfight at the OK Corral.  Famed lawman Wyatt Earp, his brothers Virgil and Morgan, and their gunslinger friend Doc Holliday ride west to Arizona during a silver boom in the town of Tombstone.  Wyatt and his brothers want to retire from their jobs as peace-keepers and go into business to strike it rich, while Doc went along in hopes that the dry desert air would help with his tuberculosis symptoms.  They are all drawn back into the service of maintaining law and order when they see how the lawless Cowboy gang have infiltrated society.  

I was enamored by the iconic line attributed to Doc Holliday (played by Val Kilmer), "I'm your huckleberry."  However, in researching the meaning of the phrase, my wife and I are on opposite sides.  I believe it means that Doc Holliday took up the challenge thrown down by Johnny Ringo, one of the bad guys.  Doc steps up and engages in battle, despite the danger.  He doesn't back down.  "I'm your huckleberry," is tantamount to saying I am not afraid of you, I will fight you to the death if necessary.

A secondary meaning is that the term "huckle" refers to the handle on a casket.  By offering to be his "huckle bearer" (mispronounced as huckleberry in common usage), my wife believes that Doc is being even more forthright.  In her view, he was threatening to bury his opponent.  He was offering to be his pall-bearer, because he would soon be in need of a funeral.

As I am wont to do, I have thought about spiritual applications for iconic movie themes.  I am reminded of Luke 23:2-4

And the cheif priests and scribes were looking for a way to put Jesus to death; for they feared the people.  Then Satan entered Judas Iscariot, who was one of the Twelve.  And Judas went to discuss with the chief priests and temple officers how he might betray Jesus to them.

I have heard mis-guided Bible teachers hypothesize that Judas may have been a Zealot, that is one of the Jews who was looking to overthrow the Roman overlords and re-establish the Davidic line on the throne in Jerusalem.  He saw Jesus as an earthly king, they say, and wanted to push Him into a battle with the Jewish leaders so that He could claim the throne and go to war with Ceasar.  I've never believed that theory.  The Bible clearly says that Satan entered Judas, and that he went to the Jewish leaders to plot His death.

Satan was saying, "I'm your huckle bearer."  He wanted to bury Jesus, and dance on His grave.  Little did he know that Jesus was willing to give His life freely.  John 10:17-18 says, "The Father loves Me because I give My life.  I give My life so that I can get it back again.  No person takes My life away from Me.  I give My own life freely. I have the right to give My life, and I have the right to get it back again. This is what the Father told Me."  

In this sense, Jesus was looking at the Pharisees, and at Judas, and at Satan himself, and was saying, "I'm your huckleberry."  I will fight you to the death.  But it's not a fair fight, because I have authority over death.  I will live again.  You just wait and see.

Hebrews 2;14-15 says, "Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, He Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil, and might free those who through fear of death were subject to slavery all their lives."  Jesus overcame flesh by becoming flesh; He overcame death by dying; He overcame fear by freeing us from the slavery of sin and death by His resurrection.  Hallelujah!

In the movie, the character Doc Holliday was dying of tuberculosis.  Therefore he took chances that maybe others would not take.  He stood up to evil men because he had nothing to lose.  Luckily, he was a good enough gunslinger to come out of those encounters alive.  In the end, however, he died.  The disease that made him fearless ultimately killed him.

In the Bible, we see Jesus able to overcome sin and death.  He stood up to evil men because He Himself was good.  He was humble enough to take their insults, their abuse, and their death upon Himself.  He was good enough to die for us.  In the end, however, He walked out of the tomb alive.  The death He died ultimately freed us of fear and disease.

There is another part of the movie that interested me.  In one scene, Doc Holliday and Johny Ringo have a conversation in Latin.  Ringo is insulted by Doc, feels threatened, and stands there menacingly.  Doc answers, "In vino veritas." (In wine, there is truth.)  When Jesus took the Passover, He blessed the cup and gave it to His disciples, saying, "This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."  He is the Way, the Truth, and the Life.  As often as we take communion, we drink it in remembrance of Him.

Ringo challenges Doc by using the phrase, "Age quod agis." (Do what you do).  In this scene, it has layers of meaning: drink, because you are a drunkard; watch what you are doing; do what you do best (gunfighting).  In the Bible, when Jesus took the Passover with His disciples, He looked a Judas square in the eye, and said, "What you are about to do, do quickly."

Doc brushes aside the challenge thrown down by Ringo.  "Credat Judaeus Apella, non ego."  This is a figure of speech that roughly means, "Tell it to someone else (who will believe it), not to me."  It literally means, "Let the Jew Apella believe it; not I."  The phrase originates from unbelieving Romans who heard Jewish converts tell of the resurrection of Jesus.  Sadly, they did not believe in Him.

Ringo doubles down on the threat: he taps his pistol, and says, "Iuventis stultorum magister."  (Youth is the teacher of fools.)  Ringo is warning Doc to tread lightly, because it may lead to unpleasant results.  In the Bible Jesus is led to stand before Pontius Pilate.  "Then Pilate said to Him, 'So you are a king?'  Jesus answered, 'You say that I am a king.  For this purpose I was born and for this purpose I have come into the world--to bear witness to the truth.  Everyone who is of the truth listens to my voice.'  Pilate answered, 'What is truth?' "(John 18:37).  Pilate could not see the wisdom in Jesus' words, and thus admitted to being a fool.  "For the message of the cross is foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God." (1 Corinthians 1:18).

Doc returns the threat to Ringo. "In pace requiescat."  (Rest in peace.)  This ends their conversation.  Jesus gave His disciples the final word on peace.  "Peace I leave with you.  My peace I give to you.  I do not give to you as the world gives.  Do not let your hearts be troubled; do not be afraid." (John 14:27).  Jesus tells us that our ultimate peace is not in death, but in living through Him.

God Shed His Grace on Thee

Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord.  --Psalm 33:12

When iconic soul music singer and composer Ray Charles recorded America the Beautiful in 1972, he borrowed from his roots in jazz and gospel music.  By the time Charles gets to the refrain, he begins adding words.  "America," he sang, "America, God done shed His grace on Thee."

Now, if you are a wordsmith, or a traditionalist, or a grammar nazi, you might notice that the tense is changed by his slipping the word "done" into the text.  "Done" is past tense, as in already accomplished.  More on this later.

When Wellesley College English professor Katharine Lee Bates penned the lyrics to this great national hymn in the late 1890's, the tense she used is an implied future tense.  "God shed His grace on thee," was meant to be a blessing--may God bestow His abundant grace on you, now and in the future.  For centuries English-speakers have evoked this blessing whenever they parted ways.  "Good-bye" is a shorthand phrase for "God be with ye".  Implicit in this sentence is the hope that God will bestow His grace and mercy upon you until we meet again.

Now back to the jazz-gospel version that Ray Charles sang.  His addition of the past participle of the verb "to do" acts as a statement of fact and of faith that many people forget.  God has already blessed us.  "His divine power has given unto us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him that has called us to His glory and goodness." (2 Peter 1:3).  It's a done deal.  Through the death and resurrection of His only Son (John 3:16), God has already shed His grace on us, all that we need.  We need no more than that.  Yes, Ray, God done already shed His grace on us.  Hallelujah!

Yet He keeps on giving.  "And my God shall supply all your needs according to His riches in glory in Christ Jesus." (Philippians 4:19).  Jesus taught us to pray, "Give us this day our daily bread."  Yesterday is past.  Tomorrow, "this day" becomes a new need that only He can fill.  This is our future hope.

Ray Charles, who I am sure was never thought of as a theologian, taps into this future blessing when he sang the phrase, "And crown thy good with brotherhood."  Charles interjected the phrase "He told me He would" into this line before the words "with brotherhood".  Grammatically, "would" is the past-tense form of "will", but in this case it is used in the future tense.  If you are writing about past events, you can use it to indicate something that was in the future at that point in time.  In other words, you use "would" to preserve the future aspect when talking about the past.

God promised a future blessing, a glorious grace-giving, to all who believe in Him, who are called according to His name.  This promise gives us a hope and a future.  The Bible begins in Genesis with God surveying all of His creation and calling it good.  Jesus declared the act of redemption complete when He uttered the phrase "It is finished" from the cross.  We did not come into existence until after the fact, after all the groundwork had been laid for our blessing, both now and in the future.  We have had, we have, and we will have all the blessings that we will ever need in Him.  "He told me He would" indeed!

We need His grace now more than ever.  May the good that we accomplish as "one nation under God" result in a righteous brotherhood of believers through faith in Jesus Christ our Lord.  All else is wood, hay and stubble, and will be burned up in the end.

International evangelist, speaker, and Christian apologist Ravi Zacharias (who is considered a theologian), shared this hymn from 1719 by Isaac Watts, with a fourth stanza written by Ravi Zacharias.

Our God, our Help in ages past,
Our Hope for years to come,
Our Shelter from the stormy blast,
And our eternal Home!

Under the shadow of Thy throne
Thy saints have dwelt secure;
Sufficient is Thine arm alone,
And our defense is sure.

Before the hills in order stood
Or earth received her frame,
From everlasting Thou art God,
To endless years the same.

We need thee now as ne’er before,
We mourn the wisdom gone;
Transform our land forevermore—
Redemption through your Son.

Read Ravi's full reflection on his blog: http://rzim.org/global-blog/the-soul-of-america ‪#‎IndependenceDay‬

Addicted to Sin, or Dedicated to God

Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor stands in the path of sinners, nor sits in the seat of the scornful.  --Psalm 1:1

Sin is enticing, Boys.  You see her across the room pursing her ruby red lips.  You can't help but notice her.  She grabs your attention and makes you lose your train of thought.  While you are stammering, trying to remember what you were saying, Sin looks straight at you and smiles.  When she does, she takes your breath away.  You want to stop what you are doing, leave the people you were with, and go say hello.  It's all innocent, at first.  Sin offers you a taste, and you turn your head.  She teases you.  "I won't bite," she says.  You look back, and there she is, more desirable than before.  You look up, hoping to find courage to walk away, but suddenly everyone around you is encouraging you to stay with her.  Television ads feature close-up pictures of her.  Internet ads urge you to remain engaged with her.  Deep in the recesses of your memory a pastor or Bible teacher entreats you to leave her side and never go back.  But in the here and now, the voices in the World are louder than the voices in your mind, and all of them demand that you take her, make her yours.

Sin is attractive, Ladies.  He promises to take care of you, to make all of your troubles disappear.  He is strong, handsome, and resilient.  Sin offers security.  You can hide behind him and he will shield you from those who talk behind your back, or suddenly become quiet when you enter a room, not realizing that you see them exchange knowing glances.  Sin is your friend.  You could talk with him for hours.  You can cover him up when you visit your Mom, or when you go to Church.  Like make-up that hides blemishes and imperfections, it is easy enough to stay cool on the outside while raging with desire on the inside.  You can appear to play hard to get, but you and Sin both know that when you are alone together, he owns you.

Affinity leads to Affection, and Affection leads to Addiciton.

But his delight is in the Law of the Lord, and in His Law he meditates day and night.  --Psalm 1:2

In the worldly paradigm, you like someone or something.  Liking turns to loving, and love turns to lust.  You have an affinity for something unhealthy for you.  It catches your eye, and draws you in.  You may want it once in a while, and you justify yourself by saying, "It's only once in a while."  Like a treat, but you don't call it that, because that would be, like, ewww.  As time goes on, the affinity you have for something becomes an affection.  You just LOVE it, but you tell yourself you can't have it because it's bad for you.  You find yourself thinking about it more and more, imagining yourself with it.  Before long, however, the affection becomes an affair or an addiction.  You can't do without it.

In the first verse of Psalm 1, David describes a downward spiral.  First you walk.  It's okay to walk--we are encouraged in Scripture to walk.  We were made to move, to work, to do and accomplish.  The objective, however, is to walk in light of Scripture.  Failing that, we walk while listening to the World.  The World encourages us to broaden our horizons, to take chances, and to question authority. When we listen to the World, we find ourselves further and further from our Creator and our God.

The second action described in Psalm 1:1 is to stand.  Again, this is not a bad thing in itself.  Psalm 94:16 says, "Who will stand up for me against evildoers?  Who will take his stand for me against those who do wickedness?"  In the New Testament, Paul said in 1 Corinthians 16:13, "Be on your guard; stand firm in the faith; be courageous; be strong."  The antithesis to that is described in Psalm 1:1, when we stand with sinners.  It is all too easy to stand silent rather than stand up against a rising tide of sin.  Silence, taking the easy road, it complacency.  Complacency is being complicit with wrong ideas, wrong statements, wrong stands.  Doing nothing is tantamount to standing with the sinners.

The final straw in Psalm 1:1 is sitting in the seat of scoffers.  Now, there are times in the Bible where we are told to be still.  Psalm 1:3 says, "He shall be like a tree, planted by the rivers of water, that brings forth its fruit in its season, whose leaf also shall not wither; and whatever he does shall prosper."  Being planted in the right way is like participating in a sit-in for a worthy cause.  What verse 1 warns against is being planted, not in righteousness, but in scorn.  Making fun of someone, lobbing verbal grenades, calling them names, laughing at them, all for standing up and doing the right thing--this is not what we are called to do.  It is much better to engage someone in thoughtful conversation, defending your faith and countering their arguments, answering their questions thoughtfully after listening to them respectfully.  Just remember that being respectful does not necessarily mean agreeing with them.

It all boils down to this:  where does your devotion lie?  In what do you delight?  If you delight in sin, it can be a snare for you.  You may find yourself trapped in a sin, unable to find an off-ramp. Here is my advice:  go slow.

It is harder to exit a moving train when it is going 50 miles per hour than it is if the train is slowing to a stop.  In the same way, vowing to never do something again when it has become an addiction almost never works.  The obsession becomes overpowering, and you are more likely to slip back into that behavior.  Some people can quit cold-turkey, but most have to come down in steps.  It is much easier to back away from an addiction the same way yout approached it.  An affinity became an affection, and that affection became an addiction.  Realizing that you love something but that it is still bad for you allows you to step back gradually.  It is easier to stay sober one full day than it is for one full year.  It is easier to go one hour without a cigarette than it is to go an entire day.  Control your addiction by recognizing the affection but not giving in to the obsession.  If you fail, try again.  You will find yourself failing less and less often, and as time goes by, the affection or love you had for it is tamed.  The affection becomes an affinity, something that is desirable but avoidable.  It is at this point that you make your vow to never succomb to temptation again, and have a higher success rate.

Direction times Duration equals Dedication.

My wife and I have been married 27 years.  We committed ourselves to walk together, in more or less the same direction, way back in the 1980s.  The longer we walk together, the more dedicated we are to one another.  We have seen each other through rough patches, illnesses, and financial stresses, just like every other couple in the world.  We have stood up for each other.  We have stood toe to toe and fought against one another.  We have stood on our heads for our kids.  Today, I can honestly say we are dedicated to each other more than ever before.

I will tell you that it is much easier to be dedicated to my wife when I am dedicated to my God.  When I am like a tree, planted by the river of living water, then I can cover her and protect her, stand up for her and beside her, be strong for her and give her shade.  Those times that I have uprooted myself and tried to be happy in a lifeless desert, she has waited for me by the living water, praying to the Source that I would return to her.  Whenever she became more dedicated to our children, or to her job, or to something else more than to me, she was swept downstream. She found a need to repent, meaning to turn around and come back to where she was at the beginning. Praise God He always throws us a lifeline.

What are you dedicated to?  Are you going in the direction that God has pointed you?  Call to Him before it is too late, before your time expires.  We have seen a lot of tragedy in the news recently.  People are dying daily, some unexpectedly, some violently, some accidentally, but all without notice.  No one can tell the time or manner of their own death.  If you have been dedicated to the wrong thing for the duration of your life, I would encourage you to go to God.  Read His Word, and listen to His voice.  Don't enter into eternity going the wrong direction.

What Will You Do In The Valley?

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.  --Psalm 23:4

I will never leave you nor forsake you.  --Hebrews 13:5 

Thomas Aquinas said, "If the highest aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever."  Life is a journey, and you must climb the mountains and you must abide in the valleys. The trick is not to dwell in the valley forever.

Today I want to look at two rather minor Bible characters (B-list saints, if you will) and see how they dealt with the valleys they found themselves in.  The first one is Gideon; the second is Jonathan.  You may remember Gideon as the man who asked God for a sign.  He put out the fleece (that is where this phrase comes from), and asked God to keep it dry for him when the morning dew wet the grass around it.  When God did that, Gideon wanted to make sure, so he put out the fleece again, asking God to make it wet with the morning dew, and leave the grass dry.  God did not shy away from Gideon's testing, but when you see the back-story, you will find that Gideon was quite shy in following God.

You might want to read Judges chapter 6 for the whole story, because I don't want to get bogged down in the details.  I do, however, want you to know where Gideon came from, and why he was so comfortable in the valley.  The story opens when Israel was enduring seven years of hardship at the hand of God.  Their enemies, the Midianites, were occupying their land, and not in a good way.  The Midianites burned the crops of the Israelites.  They would kill the Israelites' livestock.  The destruction of the Midianite invaders was compared to swarms of locusts; they invaded the land to ravage it.  After seven years of this, the Israelites finally called out to God for help.

A prophet of God started preaching a message of repentance to them.  This unnamed prophet reminded them of God's power in their history.  Had not God brought His people out of Egypt?  They were not slaves of the Egyptians, because God had delivered them out of slavery.  So why were they now subjecting themselves to Midian?  How were they placing themselves into subjection?  By worshiping the gods of the Midianites.  I want you to notice here that actions have consequences.  The people of Israel did not endear themselves to their enemies the Midianites by embracing their culture, or by appropriating their gods.  The Midianites did not look at them and say, "Any friend of Baal is a friend of ours.  If those people buy into the fertility goddess Asherah, they must be all right."  Worship of the fertility goddess included sexual promiscuity, because there were temple prostitutes that came with obedience to her.  Worship of Baal may have included human sacrifice.  These people were willing to sacrifice their children on the altar of Baal, but it did not appease the marauders from Midian.

God sent an angel to meet with Gideon.  I want us to pay attention to what he is doing.  He is threshing wheat, but not on a threshing floor.  Somehow, his family had been able to grow a crop without the invading armies knowing about it.  Now, normally, a threshing floor is positioned high on a hill or a ridge, because they relied on the wind to carry away the chaff when the grain was thrown into the air.  But Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress.  An ancient winepress was a pit dug out of a rock; it looked much like a hole in the ground.  Why was Gideon threshing wheat in a winepress?  So that the Midianites would not see him there.  He was hiding his wheat so he could have some bread.  Times were tough.  Does any of this sound familiar?

When the angel approached Gideon, he paid him a compliment that, given the surroundings and the circumstances, could have been thought of as sarcasm.  "Hail, mighty man of valor.  The Lord is with you."  Gideon must have looked around at his circumstances and rolled his eyes.  "Yeah, right," he said. "If the Lord is with us, then why is all this happening to us?"

God's message to him was direct.  "Go in the strength you have, and save Israel out of Midian's hand.  I will go with you."  God did not ask him to do something he was not capable of doing.  Gideon did not have the excuse of not being strong enough.  Nevertheless, when he did obey, he took ten friends with him.  The first order of business was to knock down the monuments used in the worship of the idols.  There was a pole, or obelisk, erected for worshippers of Asherah to dance around.  God wanted him to knock it down.  There was an altar built for sacrifices to Baal. God wanted him to take it down and replace it with a proper altar, one built to honor God, and to sacrifice a bull on it.  Summoning all his strength, and his ten friends, Gideon set out to do what the Lord commanded.  But he was afraid of confrontation, so he went at night.

Is this how we obey God sometimes?  We want to be obedient, but we don't want to make waves, so we hide under the cover of darkness, hoping nobody sees us.  We go out in our own power, and not the power of God, so we try to get our friends to cover for us.  Imagine the finger-pointing that went on when this deed was discovered in the morning.  "He did it!"  The Israelite idol worshippers wanted to take Gideon and kill him.  God spared Gideon from the death penalty that the people demanded, because Gideon's dad challenged the men.  He said, "Is not Baal strong enough to take care of himself?"  Gideon saw that God was stronger than Asherah and Baal combined.  At the same time, Gideon did not have the faith to obey God later without asking for a sign.  He stayed in the valley, because that is where he was comfortable.

By contrast, I want us to look at an incident in Jonathan's life. You may remember Jonathan was Prince of Israel, the son of King Saul.  He was also very good friends with David, whom the Lord had anointed to succeed Saul on the throne.  You may want to look at 1 Samuel 14 as we examine this incident.

Saul and his army were encamped at a town called Gibeah, while the Philistine army had set up in a mountain pass called Micmash.  Any student of military history knows that when you pick a battleground, you want to have the high ground.  That way you can come down to your enemy and overtake them.  The Philistine army was on the mountain above the cliff surrounding the pass at Micmash.  Get the picture?

Things were very bleak for the Israelite army.  1 Samuel 13:16-22 says that the Philistines sent out raiding parties to attack Israel.  In fact, none of the Israelites had a sword or a spear.  The Philistines would not even let them have a blacksmith to make weapons.  For years, the farmers had to go to the Philistines and pay them to sharpen their plows and sickles.  Only Saul and his son Jonathan had spears.

Nevertheless, Jonathan says to his aide, "Let's go over to the Philistine camp."  The two of them did not tell anyone where they were going.  They went to the mountain pass at Micmash, in the road between two cliffs.  Don't you think they were vulnerable?  The Philistines could have rolled a large rock down the cliff and squished them both.  This didn't stop Jonathan.  His plan was to show himself to the Philistines and see what their response would be.  If they said, "Wait there, we'll come and fight you in the valley," then Jonathan was willing to stand his ground.  If they said, "Come up to us and fight", then Jonathan was willing to do that, too.  "Perhaps the Lord will act in our behalf.  Nothing can hinder the Lord from saving, whether by many or by few." (1 Samuel 14:6).

Sure enough, Jonathan and his aide got the attention of the Philistines on the high ground.  I can imagine them yelling catcalls:  "Nyah, nyah, you can't catch us!  We're on the Lord's side."  The Philistines shouted down into the valley, "Come up to us and we'll teach you a lesson."  To their utter surprise, Jonathan climbed up the cliff, crawling on his hands and feet, with his aide close behind.  Once they got up to the top, they engaged the Philistines in hand-to-hand combat, and they killed about 20 of them.

The rest of the Philstines panicked, and started running.  The Bible says the ground shook--I don't know if it was an earthquake sent by God, or if the ground shook from the Philistine army beating feet to get away.  The rest of the Israelite army saw what was going on, and went to catch up with Jonathan.  When they got there, the Philistines were in such confusion that they were fighting each other.  Hebrew prisoners that had been taken captive during the Philistine raids found themselves freed, and they picked up weapons that were left behind and chased the Philistines with the rest of the army of God.

There was a Texas Ranger in the late 1800s that was so tough, it was said that he would "charge hell with a bucket of water."  That may sound fool-hardy to us.  To Jonathan, who had the same attitude, it meant that God was bigger than the valley he was in at the moment.  He was willing to climb out of that valley and engage in battle with an enemy that outnumbered him.  He was tired, outmanned, and outgunned, but with God's help, he drove the enemy out.

Friend, what will you do in your valley?  Will you be like Gideon, hesitant, afraid, and leaving yourself an out?  Or will you be like Jonathan, who put himself in harms way, vulnerable yet victorious when he went out in the name of the Lord his God?

Artifice: The Artful Dodger and Artificial Affinity

 

The idols speak deceit, diviners seek visions that lie; they tell dreams that are false, they give comfort in vain.  Therefore the people wander like sheep oppressed for lack of a shepherd.  --Zechariah 10:2-3

But solid food is for the mature, who by constant use have trained themselves to distinguish good from evil.  --Hebrews 5:14

Questions for your consideration:

• Why did God command us not to lie?
• Why did God command us not to steal?
• Why did God command us to be faithful?
• Why did God command us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?

Let's come back to those questions later.  For now, I want to discuss a word that you may not use in normal conversation:  artifice.  It's a word that means "clever or cunning devices or expedients, especially as used to trick or deceive others; as in, 'artifice and outright fakery'."  Some synonyms include trickery, deceit, deception, guile, cunning, and chicanery.

This word "artifice" has a very negative connotation.

During this election season in the U.S., many of us have had our fill of artifice and deceit.  One candidate accuses the other of guile, and the other accuses the first of trickery.  Politics is built on deception--who you think tells the fewest lies gets your vote, but no one in her right mind would expect all promises made during a campaign to be kept.

Examples of artifice are abundant in life, not just in politics.  In Charles Dickens' classic book Oliver Twist, one of the characters is nicknamed "The Artful Dodger".  This character is a pickpocket, who is very good at what he does.  He is described as a child who acts like an adult.  What a sad commentary on the so-called mature people in Dickens' culture.  "The Artful" wore clothes that we much too big for him.  How many adults take on burdens that are too big for them to handle?  "Dodger" was said to seldom give in to childish urges.  We all know adults who never laugh, and are much too serious for their own good.  This character had great respect for his mentor Fagin, and brought to him all the spoils of his work.  Men always work for someone greater than themselves, and at the end will present their works to God, or to Satan--wanting praise and approval from one or the other.

None of us will openly admit to artifice in our lives.  We believe it should be shunned.  Banned.  Done away with.

Interestingly enough, there is another word derived from "artifice" that is embraced, loved, and held in high esteem.  That word is "Artificial."  Admit it:  We use artificial sweetener; we play on artificial turf; we have children by artificial insemination.  We hold back the seas with artificial beaches.  We decorate our homes with artificial flowers.  We extend our lives with artificial heart valves.  We run the race with artificial limbs.

Face it:  we not only tolerate the artificial--we sanction it.  The danger is when the artificial creeps into the spiritual.  There is nothing genuine about our national spirituality any more.  We have gone from a Christian nation to one that says, "it doesn't matter what you believe, as long as you are sincere," all the way to "what's true for you is not necessarily true for me."  I fear there are many that self-identify as Christians, but don't have the slightest idea of who Jesus is, or what He commanded of us.  "He who loves me will keep my commandments." (John 14:15).

These are the people about whom Jesus said, 'Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name drive out demons and perform many miracles?’ Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you workers of lawlessness.’ (Matthew 7:21-23)

When I was in counseling just before remarrying the wife who had divorced me a year earlier, my counselor would always encourage me to be genuine and authentic.  I confess I didn't know what he meant.  Now, more than ten years later, I am learning.  We need to put away the artificial.  We need to shun artifice in all its forms.

God created us to have fellowship with Himself.  We allowed sin to drive a wedge between us and Him.  He provided a way for us to receive forgiveness for sin, to restore fellowship with us again.  He gave us the capacity to be like Him.  Which brings us full circle to the questions posed at the beginning of this post.

Why did God command us not to lie?  Because He never lied to us.  He gave us the capacity to be truthful.  Why did God command us not to steal?  Because He has never stolen from us.  He gave us the capacity to be honest.  Why did God command us to be faithful?  Because He is faithful.  He has given us the capacity to be faithful, both to Him, and to others.  He created us all with the capacity for these things, even before we know Him.  Even people who do not know Him can tell the truth, can be honest, and not cheat on their wives.

Most important than any of those, however, is this: why did God command us to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength?  Because that is how He loves us.  He has given us the capacity to love Him and to love one another.  This command is only possible by and through the Spirit of God within us.  We cannot possibly love anybody, least of all God, with all our heart, soul, mind and strength without His Holy Spirit within us.  When we give our whole heart to Him, however, He begins to re-create us in His image.  He begins to re-make us for His purpose.  He begins to re-work us for His good pleasure.  "Be not conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.  Then you will be able to discern what is the good, pleasing, and perfect will of God." (Romans 12:2).

Trade in your artifice for the artifact that God created you to be.