Friday, February 22, 2013

Mount up with wings as eagles”

         Yesterday I lamented the sad spectacle of people who got so discouraged that they “quit.” They “gave up” and no longer made the effort to fulfill the purposes for which God created them. It's one thing to realize that you are without strength and it's something completely different if you don't avail yourself of the strength which God gives you. We all must go “from strength to strength” in the Lord. The most significant point is that our strength comes from the Lord. Blessed is the man whose strength is in thee. . . . They go from strength to strength [in the Lord].” Psalm 84:5-7

          That's why the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12 said that he was thankful for his weakness “so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” That's why God told him, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.12:9

          After reading the scriptures that I sent to you yesterday, one of our students at Christ's College in Taipei wrote to me yesterday, “. . . It has been really encouraging during hardship in my life at this current time. I feel God is speaking to me in person and it really strengthens my heart. . . .” Aye! We do indeed experience God “in person” when He speaks to us through His word! How thankful we should be! “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:16 ESV And the Holy Spirit of God also “bears witness” in our hearts to the truth of the Word of God that we are reading. When he, the Spirit of truth, is come, he will guide you into all truth. . . “ John 16:13

           Here again God is speaking through His servant, “We are troubled on every side, yet not overwhelmed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed.” 2 Cor. 4:8-9

           Our strength comes from the Lord: But they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint.” Isaiah 40:31 They are restored and renewed by the power of God. And the meaning in the original Hebrew language is even stronger than in English. Waiting patiently on the Lord we are changing or exchanging the strength we already have in ourselves for a better strength in God. “Implied is a condition of weakness or lack of strength. What strength is possessed by those who wait upon the Lord will be exchanged for strength that is real indeed. Instead of stumbling they will grow stronger and stronger.” Edward J. Young, the Book of Isaiah, Vol. 3, pp. 68-69

          “Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” Psalm 27:14



Saturday, February 16, 2013

Reality of God's Presence
A Prayer Already Answered

         Can you imagine what it would be like if God turned His back on you and left you to your own devices and instead of helping you, rejected you? Rejection from someone you love or admire is one of the hardest things to “take” in life. How much more if God Himself should reject you, God who is “rich in mercy” and Love personified!

        And His “forsaking” you means you no longer have God's help which you so desperately need. The Psalmist cries out in alarm, Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me.” Psalm 38:21
         “Hide not thy face far from me; put not thy servant away in anger: thou hast been my help; leave me not, neither forsake me, O God of my salvation.” Psalm 27:9
         Tired and weary and old, he prays to God, “Cast me not off in the time of old age; forsake me not when my strength faileth.” Psalm 71:9

        But blessed be God, the Lord will not cast off his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.” Psalm 94:14 ”He who has begun a good work in you will perform it” (carry it on to completion). Phil. 1:6 We are where we have always been—in God's hands and He is working out His purposes for us. God does not start something and then not finish it. “The Lord will fulfill his purpose for me; your love, O Lord, endures forever. Do not abandon the works of your hands.” Psalm 138:8 NIV

         I remember many years ago when our youngest daughter was only about 2 years old or even younger, we were shopping in a neighborhood store where we lived in southern California and her mother was putting items in the shopping cart and stepped just barely out-of-sight for a few seconds to retrieve something and Lolly didn't see her. She cried out in alarm, “Mommy, don't lost me!” I scooped her up in my arms and reassured her that we would never “lost” her.
And scripture takes that a step further and looks at an historical “unnatural” aberration:
When [meaning 'if” or 'even if”] my father and my mother forsake me, then the Lord will take me up.” Psalm 27:10

         “I have been young, and now am old; yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread.” Psalm 37:25     My experience parallels the Psalmist's. I live alone now. But I'm never alone! The Lord is with me always. And I'm always aware of His presence—and so thankful to Him for it. The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God.” Romans 8:16 ESV

          We walk by faith and not by feelings so when God says, “ I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee” Heb. 13:5 we know it's true because God who cannot lie and doesn't want to, said it. The God of Truth said it. That settles it. May you also have an awareness—even if it's not emotional—and somehow sense the truth with your spirit and understanding, having the eyes of your hearts enlightened, that you may know what is the hope to which he has called you, what are the riches of his glorious inheritance in the saints, and what is the immeasurable greatness of his power toward us who believe. . . “ Ephesians 1:18-19



Sunday, February 10, 2013


We are not detached observers. . . .

         We are not detached observers in life. I've lived in the academic world all my adult life and taught professionally for 42 years including many Bible classes and preaching. I have 3 degrees and have written extensively and have been well-trained in the aura of “professionalism” as a “detached observer.” But there is no such person, though many are self-deluded (or “victims of their own propaganda.”) You can't “observe” life without being a participant. You're here on planet earth in this universe in this time and place and history. You're part of the problem and you're not totally objective no matter what you think. Besides that, you're finite, a created being, and you have what we call “the Old Sin Nature.” In other words, you're a “fallen creature in a fallen world.” “A creature”, a “created being”--not God or “a god” whatever that might mean.

         On the other hand, “subjectivity” certainly is not the “solution” to the problem! And that does tend to be the trend today! I'm shocked at how often I see people implying that they are the “authority” and the final word in whatever issue they are discussing. Just because they believe it or say it, they seem to assume that you are supposed to accept it. And so I ask them, “By what Authority do you say these things or believe these things?” You are not your own “authority” and you are not “autonomous.” You didn't create yourself and you don't keep yourself alive. You are dependent on God for the very breath you breathe and for the ability to breathe it. But it's provided by God, not by you. The same is true of your water and food and all else in life. “ In Him we live and move and have our being.” Acts 17:28 “and have our being”? Yes, our very existence! You are not “self-created” and neither is anyone else.

           The Bible never assumes a “detached observer” status. It's designed to glorify God and lead us to Him and in the process show us “how to live” and what to believe. God created the heavens and the earth and all that is in them. In wisdom He made them all. His great power provides food and the ability to produce it and use it with thankfulness to 5 billion people and untold numbers of animals of the field and forest, the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea. What He gives, they gather. Psalm 104:28 So also are we dependent upon God's provision and are thankful for it.

         God not only created all the stars and planets, but He calls them all by name and holds them in orbit. He positioned the earth in just the right relationship to the sun to sustain human life and maintains that stability throughout history. So then where is history going? Scripture reveals that, too. But God, being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ— by grace you have been saved— and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.” Ephesians 2:4-7 ESV

        Back then to that elusive question, “How then should we live?” The heart of the answer is, among other places, in 2 Corinthians chapter 4: “. . . by the mercy of God, we do not lose heart. . . . , but by the open statement of the truth we would commend ourselves to everyone’s conscience in the sight of God. . . . For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake. For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” 4:1-6