“Let not your hearts be troubled. Believe in God; believe also in me.” - John 14:1 (ESV)

Next time you’re flipping through the newspaper or a magazine, take a look at how many “claims” you find in them. We see all kinds of claims each day from all sorts of products, devices, and even people – “reduces the risk of …by 50 percent”, “will increase your earning power by 75%”, and on and on. Many of these claims are worth investigating, as they may help us make sound health decisions or lead us in investing wisely for ourselves and our families. Even so, we spend an awful lot of time focusing on these claims and the impact they will have on our lives.

This week I was listening to a sermon from Tim Keller that was titled “Who Is This Jesus ?”. Dr. Keller took these examples a step further and asked his audience what they would do if they received a letter stating that they were entitled to a large inheritance ? Or on the other hand, what would they do if they received a stern letter from the I.R.S. claiming they now owed $400,000 in back taxes ? Regardless of how improbable you feel each of these letters might be, wouldn’t you at least investigate them ? Wouldn’t you at least make a phone call to find out instead of outright ignoring them ?

In the Gospel of John, Jesus makes some tremendous and monumental claims to those around Him:

• “I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.” – John 8:12
• “Truly, truly, I say to you, before Abraham was, I am.” - John 8:58
• “I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” – John 10:11
• “I and the Father are one.” – John 10:30

And of course, many others…

I think what Dr. Keller was getting at is that people will investigate all sorts of claims that may affect their lives – some worthwhile, some not – but Jesus makes claims that bear the greatest possible impact of all. And yet many spend no time at all looking into them. Many feel no need to, many simply don’t feel they have the time. But when you consider “the magnitude of the claim”, as Dr. Keller says, that Jesus brings, you really need to put everything else on hold and find out if He is really who He claims to be !

In the short time I’ve been a Christian, I’ve had the opportunity to speak with family members about Jesus and have tried to answer questions they have had. But after a while, I realize that the best thing to do is just keep pointing them to Jesus Himself. “Don’t take my word for it,” I tell them. “Read the Gospels for yourself and see.” I feel that anyone who comes to God and is a true seeker can count on God revealing Himself, if they are sincere about it. I also feel a bit of sadness and frustration about it, knowing that family and friends will investigate and pursue other claims that they are bombarded with each day, and not devote the same time to studying the claims of Jesus Himself.

“I am the way, and the truth, and the life. No one comes to the Father except through me.”

The magnitude of the claim of Jesus – is there really anything else that compares ?

“Now when you have Christ as the foundation and chief blessing of your salvation, then the other part follows: that you take him as your example, giving yourself in service to your neighbor just as you see that Christ has given himself for you. See, there faith and love move forward, God’s commandment is fulfilled, and a person is happy and fearless to do and to suffer all things.”

- Martin Luther, from Basic Theological Writings, p. 95

I normally would not post a quote this long, but I read this in Spurgeon’s Morning & Evening the other night and have been thinking about his words since. I printed the quote out also to put on the fridge so I don’t forget. This is one to think about:

“Dear friend, are you already saved? Then keep not back from union with the Lord’s people. Neglect not the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper. You may be of a timid disposition, but you must strive against it, lest it lead you into disobedience. There is a sweet promise made to those who confess Christ-by no means miss it, lest you come under the condemnation of those who deny him.

If you have talents keep not back from using them. Hoard not your wealth, waste not your time; let not your abilities rust or your influence be unused. Jesus kept not back, imitate him by being foremost in self-denials and self-sacrifices. Keep not back from close communion with God, from boldly appropriating covenant blessings, from advancing in the divine life, from prying into the precious mysteries of the love of Christ. Neither, beloved friend, be guilty of keeping others back by your coldness, harshness, or suspicions.

For Jesus’ sake go forward yourself, and encourage others to do the like. Hell and the leaguered bands of superstition and infidelity are forward to the fight. O soldiers of the cross, keep not back.”

Check out a great giveaway from Devotional Christian (you can see the full list of 22 titles at their site):

To celebrate the relaunch of Devotional Christian, we are doing a special giveaway for bloggers & church websites. Just write a new post about our site (or add a link to your church website). Then enter your information here. I will use random.org to select the winner on Sunday 8 November 2009. We will ship the following 22 books directly to you.

Emily from A Sacrifice of Praise is one of the contributors to Devotional Christian and also writes a great blog of her own. Check these sites out today !

“You are my friends if you do what I command you. No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have heard from my Father I have made known to you.” – John 15:14-15 (ESV)

This month I’ve been camped out in the Gospel of John and just finished it tonight. I’ve been thinking for the last few days about the above verses from John 15 and how little I’ve truly grasped the implications of what they really mean. Jesus here is explaining something wonderful to His disciples. We can now call on Him as a Friend, as well as Lord and Savior. There is no problem too small or too large for Him to handle, nothing that’s too private to share with Him. We can lean on Him in good times and bad. And whatever front we put up for others – in church, in the office, within our families – is wide open before Him. This in reality should be a great joy to us. He has granted us all a great privilege !

In many cases, though, what happens when the bad times hit or good times come that are worth celebrating ? Is it possible that we feel that friends and family understand us better – in person or online – and so we head straight to them first to share our news ? And Jesus instead is left to the side and becomes an alternate contact – you know, in case no one else is around ?

This has been written to myself primarily, as I feel that in these cases, Jesus sometimes gets whatever energy I have left over in my day, rather than my best. There are times that I can’t wait to tell others of my great news (or even the bad) rather than going to Him first – my Rock and my Redeemer. How strange that is….

Don’t get me wrong – I love sharing my news with friends and family. I also enjoy the interactions I have with others online and have been blessed by the wisdom of so many “friends” out in cyberspace (blogs, Twitter, etc.). Iron sharpens iron, as someone once said This is just more of a confession that Jesus so often does not get my best as the true Friend that He is.

These verses from John have hammered that home.

What do you think of when you hear the term “idol” ? The TV show ‘American Idol’ ? The golden calf that Moses was horrified to find in the book of Exodus ? In his new book, Greg Dutcher sets out to explain exactly what idols really are and why they are so harmful to who we are in Christ. He is the Pastor at Christ Fellowship Church in Fallston, MD and the book is titled You Are the Treasure That I Seek…But There’s a Lot of Cool Stuff Out There, Lord and from that title on, Pastor Greg helps us see idolatry for what it really is.

R.C. Sproul said once that, “The only reason the gospel comes to me as good news is because I’ve already heard the bad news !” Pastor Greg takes a similar stance as he opens his book with the underlying cause of why we are so prone to idolatry: “What is true of the human body proves true of the human spirit as well. Despite a healthy outward appearance, our hearts are slowly dying as a spiritual sickness works to bring about our demise” (p.23). That sickness began in Genesis 3 and is fully detailed in Romans 1:22-23 – “Claiming to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.” And it is that exchange that brings about what Pastor Greg calls the “idolatry syndrome”. In short, this syndrome occurs when we prize anything over the glory of God. What we’re left with is one inadequate substitute for God after another.

Pastor Greg gives some examples of how we can test this in our own lives. Do we drag ourselves through the day just by knowing that we can come home and down a pint of ice cream while watching TV all night ? In my own case I know I’ve been guilty of it, particularly at this time of year – looking forward to the weekend just so I can settle in for hours to watch football. Are those things our true treasures ? Then we are placing our trust in something else to sustain us rather than God. And this is a key argument of the book – idolatry doesn’t necessarily show itself as a golden calf or a wooden statue. It’s often much more subtle than that. Pastor Greg calls it a “stealthy hunter”. We’re then more prone to think that our exchange is far less evil, since food or TV or football doesn’t sound as blatant as bowing to a statue. But compare what we have exchanged to what Christ exchanged for us at the cross, as Paul explains in Philippians 2:5-8:

“Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross.”

How much more foolish does our daily exchange for lesser things look in light of these verses from Philippians ?

Pastor Greg is a gifted writer and does a wonderful job of showing idolatry syndrome for what it really is, and what it costs us each day that we are filled with it. I love that his book is packed with Scripture references and he takes great pains to continually show the reader the beauty that idols can never provide, which is found only in Christ. I also like that he spends a good deal of time focusing on the Cross. He also gives us practical ways to fight off this syndrome each day, by using prayers from saints of the past and present and quotations from other authors and church fathers as well. Recommendations of books that will help us cherish Christ are given in an appendix, and his “case studies” at the end of the book are terrific.

I hope this is the first in a long line of books from Pastor Greg. If you’re convinced you already have a good handle on what idolatry really is, you might want to think again and pick up this book. I recommend it highly.

“When many of his disciples heard it, they said, ‘This is a hard saying; who can listen to it?’” - John 6:60 (ESV)

John chapter 6 gives us one of the great “I am” statements of Jesus in this gospel – “I am the bread of life” (v. 35). It is during this section that the disciples are listening to Jesus describe what that all means. Many are troubled by what He is saying here and realize that being a disciple of Jesus demands a lot more from them then they perhaps had bargained for. Jesus gave His disciples another discourse on this in Luke’s gospel - “For which of you, desiring to build a tower, does not first sit down and count the cost, whether he has enough to complete it?” (14:28). We start to see some disciples drift away at this point in John’s gospel – in verse 66, John tells us, “After this many of his disciples turned back and no longer walked with him.” I think there is a tendency (on my part anyway) to look at these wayward disciples as cowardly at this point. I feel myself judging them and wondering how they could wander away and do such a thing.

But doesn’t this happen in more subtle ways in our own lives ? In Luke 6, Jesus gives us a string of commands that we don’t often find easy to swallow. What if we don’t get the proper thanks for a job well done or feel slighted by a friend’s lack of generosity ? Jesus tells us in Luke 6:35 to “lend, expecting nothing in return”. And as hard as it can be for us to believe at times, not everyone likes us Isn’t easier just to write those folks off and focus more on our own personal fan clubs ? “But I say to you who hear, Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who abuse you.” (Luke 6:27-28). At some point, the whole counsel of God becomes something less than what it should be. The easier commands ? Sure, we can follow those, no problem. But these statements in Luke 6 ? After letting these sink in for a while, we can hear the voice inside our head saying the very same words we heard from the disciples – “This is a hard saying; who can listen to it ?”

The wayward disciples in John 6 probably would have sympathized with Thomas Jefferson – the President once created a Bible of his own that was a cut-and-paste from the Gospels, to one that was more suitable to his liking. We need to be careful we don’t do the same. The hard sayings, the “easy” sayings – all of these are commands from our Lord.

We’d do well to listen closely.

“For the sake of your name do not despise us;
do not dishonor your glorious throne.
Remember your covenant with us
and do not break it.”

- Jeremiah 14:21 (NIV)

Reading through Jeremiah today and thinking about two verses in chapter 14. Jeremiah is praying to God on behalf of his fellow countrymen and women and twice in this chapter (verses 7 & 21), he uses the phrase “for the sake of your name”…

Lately I’ve been struggling with how lacking my own prayer life can be at times. Jeremiah’s plea here that God’s Name would be glorified is something that I realize I don’t focus on enough…that a family member would be cured of sickness so that glory would be given to Him as the ultimate Healer…that friends’ needs would be taken cared of so that others would see that God is the ultimate Provider…and on and on. A great mystery to me is why I struggle so much in prayer when there are so many wonderful examples and models of it in the very pages of the Bible. Jeremiah’s examples here in chapter 14 add another layer that I had glossed over in the past, but have reminded me of what being earnest in prayer really looks like.

A good reminder from a great prophet today.

“For the shepherds are stupid
and do not inquire of the Lord;
therefore they have not prospered,
and all their flock is scattered.”
- Jeremiah 10:21 (ESV)

I’m reading in Jeremiah and the Gospel of John this month and have been thinking for a bit today about what we find in chapter 10 of each book – the subject of shepherding. The verse above illustrates the state of the ruling class at the time Jeremiah was a prophet. The group of kings and leaders that had been at the head of Israel and Judah since the end of Solomon’s reign and the beginning of the divided kingdom read like a handbook of how not to shepherd a group of people. Is it any wonder that the people find themselves in the state they’re in as Jeremiah pronounces the message he’s been given from God ?

Now contrast this group of shepherds with The Good Shepherd:

“I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep.” – John 10:11

Jesus also reminds us in Matthew 5:17, “Do not think that I have come to abolish the Law or the Prophets; I have not come to abolish them but to fulfill them.” He came to fulfill what centuries of lackluster and mostly evil leadership never could. That leadership ultimately left their flock scattered. Not so with Jesus.

He is our Good Shepherd. We are His sheep. Follow His lead today and put your trust under His care.

“The words of Jeremiah, the son of Hilkiah, one of the priests who were in Anathoth in the land of Benjamin, to whom the word of the Lord came in the days of Josiah the son of Amon, king of Judah, in the thirteenth year of his reign.” - Jeremiah 1:1-2 (ESV)

Today in my Bible reading plan we begin the book of Jeremiah. I don’t know many people have a “favorite” prophet, but if I had to pick just one, it would be Jeremiah. There is such depth to his character, and we can all relate to his reluctance as God reveals His will for Jeremiah’s life. As I read the first two chapters this morning and some of the introductory material on this book online and in some commentaries, I thought for a bit about what makes this prophet so distinct in God’s revelation to us in His Word.

Think of how the last book of the Old Testament begins – “The oracle of the word of the Lord to Israel by Malachi.” (Mal 1:1). That verse is essentially the extent of what we know about this minor prophet. Contrast that with Jeremiah, who is probably the most character-developed prophet we have. In Jeremiah 1, we are told about his divine calling, even before he was born in verse 5:

“Before I formed you in the womb I knew you,
and before you were born I consecrated you;
I appointed you a prophet to the nations.”

We know that Jeremiah began his ministry fairly young and throughout this book we get an inside view of his emotions and trials and tribulations, moreso than any of the other great prophets. We see how he wished to avoid God’s call. What was going through his mind when he was told the message he was to bring to those around him ? That message was not reassuring in the least, as we see in chapter 2, verse 22:

“Though you wash yourself with lye
and use much soap,
the stain of your guilt is still before me,
declares the Lord God.

I can imagine Jeremiah thinking, “You’ve brought me up to tell these people this ?” Of course we remember that Moses, nearly a thousand years earlier, reacted in a similar fashion when God spoke to him initially. But as we see throughout the book, Jeremiah is faithful to God’s calling.

Something that’s always intrigued me about Jeremiah is this note from the NIV Study Bible: “Jeremiah is the longest book in the Bible, containing more words than any other book.” I find this fascinating – longer than the Psalms, any of the Gospels, longer than the story of Creation and the Fall in Genesis and the deliverance from Egypt in Exodus, even longer than the great prophet Isaiah. Plus the book demands a lot of concentration from us in that it’s not presented in chronological form. Why is this ? Is there a particular reason that God has made this book this way ? Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but it’s just something I’ve noted.

Just some random thoughts as I begin this great book. It’s yet another reminder to me how inexhaustible the Word of God is. Each day we can rejoice in the work God has done in those saints of old and reflect on how He will do the same for us if we stay in the way He has called us to.

“Then said Hezekiah to Isaiah, ‘The word of the Lord that you have spoken is good.’ For he thought, ‘There will be peace and security in my days.’” - Isaiah 39:8 (ESV)

I’ve been in the great book of Isaiah for most of this month and decided to pause for a bit on the chapters concerning Hezekiah. This king was known as one of the “good” ones, as there were so few during the time of the divided kingdoms of Israel and Judah. In chapter 37 of Isaiah, Hezekiah has just heard the words spoken against God (and him) by the messenger of Sennacherib, the king of Assyria. To his credit, Hezekiah takes this to God immediately in prayer (Isaiah 37:14). God responds to Hezekiah’s prayer (and Sennacherib’s defiance), as the Assyrian people are mauled and Sennacherib himself is killed by his own sons. In the next chapter, we see Hezekiah brings himself before God again in prayer, as he is ill to the point of death. God responds again by adding 15 years to his life. But for some reason, Hezekiah’s good judgment begins to fail him….

You would have thought that Hezekiah would have been especially on his guard after the first message from the messengers of Sennacherib. But when messengers from the king of Babylon come to pay him a visit, he welcomes them and gives them the grand tour. This was naturally alarming to Isaiah, who warned Hezekiah that down the road, everyone he knew and everything he counted as possessions would be carried off to Babylon. At this point, considering his history, I would have expected Hezekiah to humble himself before God in prayer again. Instead, he apparently shrugged his shoulders and said, “There will be peace and security in my days” or rather, “Better them than me, I got mine”.

I think there is a lesson here for all of us. As Hezekiah was once surrounded by enemies and illness, we too were once surrounded by the power of this world and the illness of sin. God was gracious to deliver Hezekiah because he had a “right spirit within” (Psalm 51:10) at first but then Hezekiah quickly developed amnesia. His mistake here is a reminder of how much grace God has extended to us, and also to those we love as brothers and sisters in God’s family.

How can we not respond with humble adoration and worship ?

“Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh. Is anything too hard for me?” – Jeremiah 32:27 (ESV)

Have you heard of a site called Puritan Picks ? It’s probably best described as a Christian Netflix. I recently rented a video from there titled Discipleship Explored, which centers around Paul’s letter to the Philippians. It’s an excellent DVD, well worth checking out if you have time (see preview below). In between watching the video and reading and rereading Philippians, I’ve been trying to reconcile the following two verses, which are very familiar to all of us:

“And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” – Phil 1:6

“Therefore, my beloved, as you have always obeyed, so now, not only as in my presence but much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.” – Phil 2:12

I know that Philippians 2:13 reads that “for it is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure” – but there is a tendency in my case to feel that God needs “help” at times from me. Anyone who has visited here in the past knows that I tend to get despondent over sin at a level that is probably unhealthy. But at times I reconcile that by saying that I’m just “working out my salvation with fear and trembling” and that being despondent over sin is part of that. On the other hand, how does that match with knowing God will eventually bring this good work He has began to completion, and that nothing is too hard for Him ?

When you read Philippians, how do you view these verses in light of each other ? What are your thoughts on this ?

“God forgive them that raise an ill report upon the sweet cross of Christ. It is but our weak and dim eyes, and our looking only to the black side, that makes us mistake. Those who can take that crabbed tree handsomely upon their back, and fasten it on cannily, shall find it such a burden as wings unto a bird or sails to a ship.”

- Samuel Rutherford, from Letters of Samuel Rutherford, p. 43.

“While passing along the street one morning, a young man rushed out of his office and caught me in his arms, ‘O sir, I have found Christ.’

“My dear friend, have you known nothing of an experience like that?”

- William Reid (1814-1896), from Look To Jesus

Jennifer Knapp

I just saw on Challies Dot Com this morning that there is talk of a Jennifer Knapp comeback. This just made my day. I’ve written about her here before and have hoped and prayed that she would one day return to the music scene. She’s without question one of my favorites in the Christian music world. I hope we’ll see her again soon and hear some new music from her. Her live album is the most played CD in my car…I’m looking forward to hearing more about this as I know I’m not the only one celebrating this today

“Go back again to that High Priestly prayer and notice how our Lord says that we are to glorify Him in this world exactly as He glorified His Father. Have you realized that ? That is the Christian life, that is the reason for living the Christian life; it is to realize that I belong to God and that I must glorify Him. That is how I am to look at it. What a wonderful position. And the Spirit is in me and is enabling me to do it. He transforms my outlook and I lose the spirit of bondage again to fear.”

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones from Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, p. 173

“Good sense makes one slow to anger,
and it is his glory to overlook an offense.”

- Proverbs 19:11 (ESV)

Just reading over Proverbs 19 tonight and I’ve settled on several verses. I’m thinking a bit about the verse above and how meaningful it is in our day. Consider the so-called daily ’stresses’ in your life – someone cuts you off while driving, for example. That can set a tone for your whole day – “Man, these people are crazy on the roads !” Your adrenaline gets going and you get so wound up based on something insignificant like this. Where is our “good sense” then ? Or someone else gets the credit for something you did…or you’re told about a rumor someone has falsely spread about you. More signficantly, maybe a family member or spouse has said something that’s really hurt you. I’m wondering how much different our lives would look on a daily basis if we overlooked these “offenses” ? It can be easy to let the seeds of anger take root and forgiving someone seems out of the question. And then it becomes easier still to forget how much we ourselves have been forgiven…

How much different would things look if we instead remembered the words of Paul in his letter to the Colossians – “Put on then, as God’s chosen ones, holy and beloved, compassionate hearts, kindness, humility, meekness, and patience, bearing with one another and, if one has a complaint against another, forgiving each other; as the Lord has forgiven you, so you also must forgive” (Col. 3:12-13, ESV)

Just wondering, that’s all….

Alan Redpath

“Obey God in all things today ! Drive out the enemy ! Lay the ax to the root of the tree, and the capacity for Jesus Christ will be increased tomorrow. Always the soul of the Christian either grows or shrinks; it never remains the same. Either it increases in capacity for life because it obeys and is determined to lay the ax to the root of sin, or it shrivels until the Christian experience is lost behind a cold steel wall of doctrine and dogma.”

- Alan Redpath, from Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua, p. 186

“Have you realized that most of your unhappiness in life is due to the fact that you are listening to yourself instead of talking to yourself ?”

- Martyn Lloyd-Jones, from Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure, p. 20

Continuing along my reading list of uplifting titles I’m now in Martyn Lloyd-Jones’ Spiritual Depression: Its Causes and Cure. I had heard the above quote before reading the book but have been thinking about it since reading it in context earlier this week. Lloyd-Jones explains this phenomenon in such a way that I was surprised I hadn’t considered the distinction before. He talks about what we hear inside our heads each day as we wake up and our self starts talking as we listen – the problems of yesterday, the failures. I recognized this immediately because I’ve been hearing the same things from myself lately. These are the most popular 1) “how could you ?” 2) “you’ll never change” 3) “you’re going to church TODAY ? after the week you just had ? people will see right through you…what you’ve been thinking, how you’ve been acting. better stay home and save yourself the embarrassment…”

I found myself nodding and shaking my head at the same time while reading this. It’s so true and I’m so guilty of it. But what Lloyd-Jones suggests is so helpful and it’s a good way to turn the conversation back towards that accusing voice:

“You have to take yourself in hand, you have to address yourself, preach to yourself, question yourself. You must say to your soul: ‘Why art thou cast down’ – what business have you to be disquieted ? You must turn on yourself, upbraid yourself, condemn yourself, exhort yourself, and say to yourself: ‘Hope thou in God’ – instead of muttering in this depressed, unhappy way.”

Jerry Bridges, in his book Respectable Sins, suggests something similar: that we preach the gospel to ourselves each day. And how often do we really do that ? How different would our day look if, as we first wake up, we did just that ? If your mind and heart is filled with Christ, what room is left for that self-defeating, self-wallowing talk ?

I’ve found Lloyd-Jones’ book extremely encouraging so far. I’m about 1/3 of the way through it and will have more on it as I go along….

“When we are tempted to any sin, if we will not pity ourselves, yet we should spare Christ, in not putting him to new torments.”

- Richard Sibbes, from The Bruised Reed

“So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.” – Romans 10:17 (ESV)

One of my favorite blogs is written by Pastor Greg Dutcher over at Beholding Him. Lately he’s been doing a great series of posts on evangelism, and last week he had a very thoughtful post that he titled How St. Francis Is Killing Our Evangelism! In it, Pastor Greg mentioned the famous quote that has been attributed to St. Francis of Assisi, the quote being, “Preach the gospel at all times and when necessary use words.” Pastor Greg explains that while this quote has some merit to it, it’s incomplete in that, “The Christian is called not just to live out the truth of the gospel, but he’s called to testify to it as well.” As he always does, Pastor Greg points us to Scripture (Romans 10:17, Psalm 107:2) as to why the message of Christianity needs to be spoken as well as simply lived out.

I recently rented a DVD called Discipleship Explored that focuses on Paul’s letter to the Phillipians. During one of the episodes, host Barry Cooper gives an illustration of why simply living out our faith is not enough. Thanks to him and to Pastor Greg for the reminders.

Here’s Mr. Cooper:

“My friend Robert had been working at an engineering firm for five years, and at his leaving party, one of his colleagues stood up and said, ‘Rob, we all agree that you’re one of the most likable people we’ve worked with. You’ve got such integrity and patience.’ And then he said something that made Robert feel, as a Christian, that he’d missed a five-year long opportunity.

“His colleague said, ‘We were trying to work out what it was that makes you so special. We decided you must be a Buddhist.’”

How many times have you read the Parable of the Prodigal Son ? This past week I had dinner with some new friends (Michelle and Brent) and they recommended a book that came out just last year by Tim Keller called The Prodigal God. Keller’s book takes this familiar parable and shifts the spotlight from the younger brother and instead shines it on the older brother. The result is that you won’t look at this story in the same way ever again.

Keller explains early on that Jesus uses this parable to highlight the ways most people look for “happiness” – these two main ways being “self-discovery” and “moral conformity”. Keller points out, in a way I hadn’t considered before, that the elder brother, and his way of moral conformity, is just as lost as his younger brother, who sets out on a path for self-discovery and fails. While the younger brother does in fact squander everything the father had given him, he at least came to terms with his mistakes and eventually humbled himself and set for home. The elder brother’s attitude and feelings of superiority, however, are just as dangerous a path to follow, both for him and for us. In a different way, the elder brother feels that his keeping of the law and moral conformity grant him certain rights with the father. Those of us who act in the same way towards God feel that because of our “keeping of the law” we have leverage over Him and may even feel that He now “owes” us. As Keller explains (p. 38):

“If, like the elder brother, you believe that God ought to bless you and help you because you have worked so hard to obey him and be a good person, then Jesus may be your helper, your example, even your inspiration, but he is not your Savior. You are serving as your own Savior.”

Keller then wonderfully points out how the ways of both the elder and younger brother are ultimately empty paths, and how a third way instead is best: through the gospel and through Jesus alone. Says Keller (p. 132), “And to enter that way and to live a life based on his salvation will bring us finally to the ultimate party and feast at the end of history.”

Many of us have traveled the path of the younger brother or the elder brother. Regardless of the path, Keller helps to steer our thinking back on course, explains the folly of each road, and points us to the salvation and ultimate joy that is found only in Christ alone.

“Ah, my brethren, it is better to have a con­science never quiet than quieted any way but by the blood of sprinkling. A good conscience is the greatest affliction to the saints, and an evil conscience, quiet, is the greatest judgment to sinners.”

- Matthew Mead, from “The Almost Christian Discovered”, 1661

“You cry out that you are vile, and therefore God will not regard your prayers. It is true, if you delight in your vileness, and come to God out of a mere pretence. But if from a sense of your vileness you pour out your heart to God, desiring to be saved from the guilt, and cleansed from the filth, with all your heart, fear not, your vileness will not cause the Lord to stop his ear from hearing. The value of the blood of Christ which is sprinkled upon the mercy-seat stops the course of justice, and opens a floodgate for the mercy of the Lord to be extended unto you.”

- John Bunyan, from Prayer, p. 56

“Hear my prayer, O Lord;
let my cry come to you!
Do not hide your face from me
in the day of my distress!
Incline your ear to me;
answer me speedily in the day when I call!”

- Psalm 102:1-2 (ESV)

Last week I spent some time reflecting on Psalm 102 and how well it matches how I’ve been feeling over the last several weeks. There are some particular sins that really seem to be dragging me down. And they’re all somewhat related and have caused me to engage in more self-wallowing than usual. But I haven’t shied away from pleading with God about them. Like the Psalmist, I’ve asked and pleaded (demanded ?) for God to take these away from me, as I feel at times like my walk with God has hit a wall because of it.

But I’ve also reminded myself of Paul’s situation in 2 Corinthians 12, and his thorn in the flesh. “Three times I pleaded with the Lord about this, that it should leave me.” (v. 8 ) And of course, the LORD responds to Paul’s request that, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Characteristic of the great Apostle, Paul responds that he will “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me.” (v. 9)

I do not for one second compare any of my problems with Paul’s. But I am wondering about how to reconcile these Scriptures in Psalm 102 and 2 Corinthians. We are also reminded in Hebrews 4:16, “Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.” I feel I’ve been doing that. I feel I’ve been doing that in the way the Psalmist has done it in Psalm 102.

My question is, at what point do you, instead of pleading, begin to wait on God’s answer ? How many times should a child continue to ask for something, all the while knowing that his Father is sovereign and knows best ? At what point do you join with Paul and “boast all the more gladly of my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ may rest upon me” ?

“So, I’m inviting you to sit down with me in front of Psalm 27. I’m inviting you to keep your eyes focused and your ears tuned. I’m inviting you to open your heart to what you may have been too busy to see. I’m inviting you to gaze upon the beauty of the Lord. And I would imagine that if you are willing to do that…somehow, someway, you’ll get up a changed person.”

- Paul David Tripp, from A Shelter in the Time of Storm, p. 11

Paul Tripp

I’ve focused quite a bit on studying the Psalms this year and have been looking at books that comment on this great section of Scripture. I recently came across one on Psalm 27 by Paul Tripp called A Shelter in the Time of Storm. I’d seen some excellent reviews on it, and Emily over at A Sacrifice of Praise highly recommended it. In this relatively short book (160 pages), Tripp provides 52 chapters, or meditations, on this Psalm. His meditations alternate between prose and poetry, and each chapter ends with a couple of reflection questions. As Tripp explains, “Each has a different grain, yet each is meant to catch your attention and help you to see.”

One of Tripp’s chapters had an interesting scenario that I think sets the stage for the main theme of his book. He compares our current culture to sitting in a full arena just moments before a concert is about to start. There are voices coming from everywhere, none of them all that distinguishable, but loud anyway and enough to make it difficult for you to hear or think clearly. Tripp suggests that this is what we battle everyday…a culture where everyone seems to be talking at once, and sadly, as he points out, “the vast majority of those voices have not gotten the flowers of their insight from the garden of the Lord.”

It’s this constant din of noise that can make it difficult for us to focus on God. It makes it hard for us to wait on God as well. Tripp asks throughout his book for us to wait on the Lord, as David pleads with us to do at the end of Psalm 27. He also acknowledges how difficult it is for all of us to do this, as we want answers to our problems, requests and concerns now. But Tripp explains why waiting is so critical for us – “Through the wait he is causing me to see and experience new things about him and his kingdom. And all of this sharpens me, enabling me to be a more useful tool in his redemptive hands.”

There are several different sides to Psalm 27, and Tripp highlights them all brilliantly. He continually points us to the hopefulness of this Psalm and the confidence we should have after reading it. The questions at the end of each chapter are particularly probing and challenging. More than a few times I felt like saying, “Come on, you can’t ask me that !” In any case, if you’re looking to camp out in this great Psalm for a while, get a copy of Tripp’s book. You won’t regret it.

This is probably my favorite Jennifer Knapp song, although it’s tough to pick just one. I hope and pray that someday she’ll return to the music scene. I can’t think of many people who could write such wrenching and heartfelt songs the way she could…

These lyrics especially fit with how I’m feeling these days…

A Little More

Turn Your eyes from on this way
I have proved to live a dastardly day
I hid my face from the saints and the angels
Who sing of Your glory
What You had in mind
My weakness shines
Show me grace

A little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve
Unearth this holiness I can’t earn
It’s a little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve

For all the sin that lives in me
It took a nail to set me free still,
What I do I don’t want to do and so goes the story
What You had in mind
What we seek we’ll find
Shine, show me grace

A little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve
Unearth this holiness I can’t earn
It’s a little more than I can give
A little more than I deserve

With all this motivation I still find a hesitation
Deep in my soul
Despite all my demanding I still find You understanding
Show me grace
Show me grace I know is…

A few months ago, I posted a quote by Dr. Donald Whitney about the value of Bible memorization. This is a discipline that by God’s grace I’m trying to get better at. God commands Joshua as the torch is passed from Moses, “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success.” (Joshua 1:8, ESV) This is something that I’m striving for as well.

Sadly, the Bible seems to be misquoted often. How many times have you heard “Well, you know what they say, money is the root of all evil !” No actually, “they” don’t say that. The Bible actually says in 1 Timothy 6:10, “For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils.” Big difference ! My goal is to say, as the Psalmist does in Psalm 119:11, “I have stored up your word in my heart, that I might not sin against you.”

I heard a funny story last week told by Ravi Zacharias on his radio program that also brought this point home to me, and how important it is to know exactly what God says in His Word. Ravi related the story of a couple that was getting married, and a close friend of the bride who was unable to attend the wedding as she lived too far away. The close friend decided to send a telegram to the bride, and recited the message to the operator. The new bride received the telegram after the wedding but was obviously confused. Instead of reflecting on the intended message of the friend “Thinking of you, 1 John 4:18″ (perfect love casts out fear), the operator had incorrectly transcribed the message and instead sent along “Thinking of you, John 4:18″ (for you have had five husbands, and the one you now have is not your husband)

“When you think about the logic of the Cross and if I could make something tangible here about how this impacts the Gospel, let me suggest this:

Most Americans believe that what their problem is, is something that has happened to them – and their solution is going to be found within. In other words, they believe they have an alien problem that is to be resolved with an inner solution….when the Gospel says that what we have is an inner problem, and the only solution is an alien righteousness.”

- Dr. Albert Mohler

“O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” – Psalm 139:1

I’ve heard this example told in several different forms (and you probably have to), so you can just skip all of this if you’ve heard it before. Suppose a documentary company tells you they’d like to follow you around and film your activities for one day and then create a DVD for you as a keepsake. They follow you around as you head off to work or school, and as you interact with your family and friends. You don’t think much of it, and probably think it’s kind of neat to have this to look back on at some point.

Then at the end of the project, the documentary company informs you that instead of filming your activities, they’ve actually been recording your thought life that day. Not only that, they’ve already sent the film to YouTube, Netflix, Blockbuster, you name it – and pretty soon everyone you know (and everyone you don’t) can watch this video. Everything that’s gone through your mind that day will now be in full view for everyone to see.

How would that make you feel ?

That’s what comes to mind for me when I read Psalm 139. I’ve been focusing on this great Psalm of David for the past few days and always stop for a bit on the very first verse. “O Lord, you have searched me and known me!” I confess this is both comforting and frightening at the same time. God of course knows what I’m thinking about and the things I’m struggling with – but what an embarrassment it would be if everyone else knew it !

But of course, I’ve got it backwards. Instead, what Psalm 139 points me to is the real focus of what to be concerned about and what to live towards – what does God think ? After all, he knows it all anyway. As verse 12 says “The night is bright as the day” to Him. And He’s known it from the beginning – “Your eyes saw my unformed substance” (verse 16). As I mentioned to Micey on her blog the other day, this is a very difficult Psalm to pray and really “mean” it. Think about verse 23- “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts!” . Might be easy to say, but tough to bring that attitude to God every single day.

Today, I’m just struggling with this Psalm….and struggling with disappointing my Father knowing the things that go through my mind each day that don’t bring honor to Him. He has searched me and knows my heart. I love David’s heart for God, and spend a lot of time in his Psalms. Like David, I’m a great sinner. Unlike David however, I have miles to go to be a great repenter.

“Here are the infallible rules whereby I may know the state of my soul, and if my claim for future bliss is well grounded, or founded on delusive dreams. Here I learn what things I should be concerned about; and how to estimate created things, and all the gaudy pomp of time. In a word, here I am taught how to have my heart in heaven—while living on earth; how to ripen for glory, and bring glory to God.”

- James Meikle (1730-1799), from Solitude Sweetened, p. 213

“Then David said to the whole assembly, ‘Praise the LORD your God.’ So they all praised the LORD, the God of their fathers; they bowed low and fell prostrate before the LORD and the king.” - 1 Chronicles 29:20 (NIV)

I finished reading 1 Chronicles today and have spent some time thinking about this 29th and last chapter. It serves as a fitting conclusion to the life of King David, and is a bit of contrast to the description of the end of his life that’s given to us in 1 Kings. In that account, David appears to be a shell of himself, shivering cold and under constant care as he prepares to die. In some ways, 1 Chronicles seems like the edited, made-for-TV version of David’s life, compared to the “director’s cut” version we get in 1 & 2 Samuel. Most of David’s sins and errors are glossed over in 1 Chronicles, but I think this 29th chapter portrays the true heart of this great man of God.

I’m not sure who said this exactly, but I’ve heard it said of David that “he was a great sinner, but also a great repenter”. And we have the Psalms to back up that statement. But there are several things that are clear at the end of his life. David finished his life well. Unlike his son and successor Solomon, David stayed close to God until the end. I love his prayer in this chapter. He also has a heartfelt appreciation for the generous and cheerful giving of the people to the building of the temple. David was a true leader. And although he was rich with money and power, he never forgot where the source of all of his blessings came from:

“But who am I, and who are my people, that we should be able to give as generously as this? Everything comes from you, and we have given you only what comes from your hand.” (1 Chr. 29:14)

When you think of the fate of many of the kings that followed him on the throne, and how several were killed while on the throne and otherwise ruled in a wicked manner, it’s quite a different scene here. Although I’ve read these accounts several times now, I’m always a bit sad to see men like David exit the stage. His death was clearly the end of a great era in Old Testament days. A flawed man for sure, but a great man of prayer, faithfulness and devotion to God.

“How do we ‘receive power’ ? It is the fruit not merely of book learning but of Christ fellowshiping – being more with Him, engaging in serious intercession in His name, meditating more on His glories. Perhaps in our much studying and discussing we have lost the biblical art of ‘waiting’ and are all too prone to run ahead when the Spirit has not sent us with His anointing.”

- Sinclair Ferguson, from In Christ Alone, p. 95

As I’ve mentioned before, I think one of the great things about the blogging community is the “trails” you find yourself on. You click on a friend’s blog, which leads to a comment on another blog that you might not have known about. From there, you find an inspiring post or a book or music recommendation. It seems like a community of never-ending branches.

Well, we’re now a little past the halfway point of this year and I thought it would be a good idea to see what others out there have been reading and what you have on your lists for the rest of 2009. If you can, let me know the following:

1) Best book(s) you’ve read the first half of this year ?
2) What book(s) you’re reading now ?
3) What’s on your reading list for the second half of ‘09 ?
4) Also, just curious where you are in your Bible reading these days ?

Here’s my list so far….

1) My favorite book of the year’s first half is probably Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua by Alan Redpath. A very convicting read and the first book I’ve read of his. I then went ahead and bought two more of his books, one on Nehemiah and another on 2nd Corinthians.

2) I’m currently reading The Holy Spirit by John Owen.

3) I’ve read three titles from the Puritan Paperbacks series and have found great help in all of them. So I decided to splurge and bought eleven more of them from WTSBooks. I’m planning on alternating a newer book with a Puritan Paperback as I go along.

Emily over at A Sacrifice of Praise gave a glowing recommendation to Paul Tripp’s A Shelter in the Time of Storm: Meditations on God and Trouble. I’ll probably read that next after I finish the John Owen book.

4) I’m following the Discipleship Journal Bible Reading Plan this year and am currently in 1 Chronicles, Psalms, Colossians and Luke.

I’d love to hear your lists and recommendations if you have time

Today is another one of those days that has left me wondering where the time has gone. I’m taking two courses this semester (a shortened summer semester) in my MLS program and have really felt the time crunch over the last month or so. Not so much in a stressful way, just in a wondering where the hours have gone way. I’ve asked God often to manage my day in such a way that’s pleasing to Him and allows me to focus on the important things that need to be done. I’ve seen others suggest that it’s a good idea to write down or make a chart of what you’re spending your time in every day, but I’m afraid that I’d find too much of the chart filled with Internet and TV…

With that in mind, I was reading J.C. Ryle’s commentary on Luke 8 this morning and he offered some thoughts on this particular issue. And as always, he points to the example of our Lord and Savior.

Here’s Bishop Ryle:

“Let the diligence of Christ be an example to all Christians. Let us follow in His steps, however far we may come short of His perfection. Like Him, let us labor to do good in our day and generation, and to leave the world a better world than we found it. It is not for nothing that the Scripture says expressly- ‘He that abides in him ought himself also so to walk even as he walked.’ (1 John 2:6.)

Time is undoubtedly short. But much is to be done with time, if it is well economized and properly arranged. Few have an idea how much can be done in twelve hours, if men will stick to their business and avoid idleness and frivolity. Then let us, like our Lord, be diligent, and ‘redeem the time’.”

“He who finds a wife finds a good thing
and obtains favor from the Lord.” – Proverbs 18:22 (ESV)

Amy and I celebrate our second wedding anniversary today. What a wonderful two years of marriage it’s been. Thank you sweetheart…I am so blessed to be your husband

Last Thursday, Rachel Barkey passed away after battling terminal cancer. She was 37 and leaves behind a husband and two small children. I first heard of her story a few months ago and watched a talk that she gave back in March to a group from her church. She titled her talk, “Death Is Not Dying: A Faith That Saves”. I was so profoundly impacted by the speech she gave and have shared it with several friends and family. She was a great woman of faith and a shining example for all of us as she fought her disease. I’ve prayed often for her in these last couple of months and will continue to pray for her family…

If you can, set aside the time to watch her speech by clicking below. You will not regret the 55 minutes you spend doing so.

Death is not Dying from Rachel Barkey on Vimeo.

“We have escaped like a bird from the snare of the fowlers; the snare is broken, and we have escaped!” – Psalm 124:7 (ESV)

Reading through Psalms 123 and 124 this morning, I stopped for a bit at the verse above. What a hopeful Psalm this is from David. In his life, he had been caught in the snare of adultery (with Bathsheba) and faced jealousy (from Saul). In the early part of Psalm 124, he gives images of being swept away by floods and torrents of water. But he rejoices in the fact that God is on his side and has delivered him. There is much here for us to be thankful for as well. For those who have put their faith in Christ, we have escaped from the snare of Satan by the blood that Jesus shed for us on the Cross. We are able to echo Paul’s words to the Romans, in that we have now been freed from sin, hell and condemnation.

This is the treasure of God’s Word. After spending most of June reading through Psalm 119, it may have been easy for me to skim over the smaller Psalms that follow without the same thought and meditation on the great truths they also contain. But instead I rejoice with David today that God has delivered me as well !

“I am grateful for the Word of God as a source of comfort, hope, joy, worship, and praise. I am also grateful for the Word of God as a penetrating, convicting, discerning sword that doesn’t let me get away with anything. As I expose my life to the Word of God, my sin is revealed. When sin is revealed it can be dealt with. It is that kind of cleansing that makes me able to bear more fruit, to my own joy and to the glory of God.”

- John MacArthur, from The Heart of The Bible, p. 15

“I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” - Galatians 2:20 (ESV)

Heavenly Father, thank you. Today is two years that I’ve been born again. Thank you for your saving grace. I know there is nothing of my own that makes this possible. That’s hard for me to remember at times, because I feel I disappoint you in so many ways and try to make up for it by “doing good”. I try many days to make myself more “acceptable” to You, and don’t always remember the cry of Your Son, who said “It is finished”. My sin of pride gets in the way of that Father, and I’m sorry. You have given me so much and I get discouraged that I don’t walk in the manner that you’ve called me to. There are days that I’m so disgusted with my sin that I just want to stop. But I’m comforted by the words of Paul, who said to the church in Philippi – “And I am sure of this, that he who began a good work in you will bring it to completion at the day of Jesus Christ.” These forgetful times make me realize how much I need Your Word, and how I’m completely lost in this life without it. Please continue to keep that hunger for Your Word in me at all times, Father.

Father, you have given me so, so much. A wonderful, patient and loving wife who I feel most days I don’t deserve. Do I love her each day as Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her ? Sadly, no. Help me to do this Father. I’m frustrated by how poorly I treat her at times Father. I need your help every day to be the kind of husband you called me to be.

There is so much more to thank you for today, and my small mind will of course forget most of it. But thank you for my family and friends and for brothers and sisters (in-person and online !) who have strengthened me in my knowledge of You and have encouraged and helped me. It’s a great blessing to know them and thank you for placing them in my life. I feel so weighted down by my sins at times Father. And there are days when I wrongly feel alone and need to remember with David that no matter where I am, “even there your hand shall lead me, and your right hand shall hold me.” Please take me by your right hand and turn me towards the Cross. I confess I lose sight of it at times.

Thank you again for Your saving grace Father. Thank you for the Holy Spirit. And thank you for Your Son, “who loved me and gave himself for me.” Please help me to live a life that honors You and is pleasing to You. Help me today Father. What an unspeakable joy it is to know You !

I love you and pray these things in Jesus’ Name.

Amen.

I just finished reading a book that was recommended by my friend Pastor Bill, called The World Jesus Knew by Anne Punton. I’ve grown more and more curious over these last couple of years about what daily life was like some 2,000 years ago, when our Savior “dwelt among us”. This book by Punton is for those who are curious too.

In just under 200 pages, Punton gives a thoroughly interesting account of what life entailed back then. She devotes 16 chapters to topics like the clothes that were worn, the prayers Jesus prayed, the synagogue he attended, the language He spoke, and many others. For example, there is a detailed explanation of the winnowing fork that’s mentioned in the Gospels, and what practical purpose it served for agriculture during that time. There’s also this explanation of the “locusts” that John the Baptist ate:

“The word usually translated as locust probably referred to something entirely different from the grasshopper-like insect. Many commentators think it was the common carob pod…It grows on a low tree and, being wild and plentiful, the poor gathered it for food. The pod is very nutritious.”

Here’s another example that Punton cites on the importance of cleanliness, from Luke 8:

“The woman who touched the hem of Jesus’ robe had permanent bleeding. The extreme ritual contagiousness of her state highlights the enormity of her act in grasping the fringes of the prayer shawl, the most holy part of a holy man’s clothes.”

Throughout Punton’s book, the emphasis is on getting her readers to understand the Jewish culture in all aspects of daily living of the time period, and as a result, hopes to give us a greater appreciation for the background of the events and traditions that we’ve read so many times in the Bible. And she really succeeds. The edition I have of the book has many photos and illustrations as well, which help with some of the practices she talks about. I’d recommend this book to anyone who is interested and curious about the time period when our Lord lived on the Earth. Thanks to Pastor Bill for the recommendation !

“The best possible praise is that which proceeds from men who honor God, not only with their lips, but in their lives. We learn the music of heaven in the school of holy living. He whose life honors the Lord is sure to be a man of praise.”

- Charles H. Spurgeon, from The Golden Alphabet, p. 294

“Let your heart therefore be wholly true to the Lord our God, walking in his statutes and keeping his commandments, as at this day.” - 1 Kings 8:61 (ESV)

The above verse is one of my favorites in the Old Testament and the culmination of a great benediction by King Solomon. In the first eight chapters in fact of 1 Kings we see some shining examples of prayer by Solomon. He asks for wisdom from God as he takes the throne in 1 Kings 3, which greatly pleases God, and then Solomon continues by blessing God in the early part of 1 Kings 8 all the way through his exhortation to the Israelites to remain faithful to God near the end of this chapter. But after that, the Bible is silent on Solomon’s prayer life…

Although Solomon had not asked for riches or wealth from God, it pleased God to give Solomon both during his life. “I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that no other king shall compare with you, all your days.” (1 Kings 3:13). But it seemed that after his great prayers and pleadings in chapter 8, something turned within Solomon’s heart. He gets a visit from Queen Sheba in chapter 10, who had heard of Solomon’s greatness and had to come witness it for herself. During her visit, the Queen tells Solomon, “Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.” (1 Kings 10:7). I wonder if it was at this point that Solomon turned from focusing on wisdom to focusing on his prosperity ? He is then visited by many other people from all over, who bring him expensive gifts and Solomon collects large quantities of gold and thousands of horses and chariots. Obviously his housing was not small either. Then in chapter 11, he makes another wrong turn by marrying foreign women. And nowhere in these last chapters of his life do we find accounts of his prayers. The absence of prayer in Solomon’s life at the end speaks volumes.

One thing I am not for sure is a prayer warrior. This is a spiritual discipline that I’ve been particularly poor in during my short time as a Christian. Philippa over at Mental Reflection wrote an excellent post this week on this very same thing, and it kind of jogged my memory to go back and look at Solomon again. Similar to Philippa, I don’t know what the answer is. Is there a shortage of books on prayer ? No. Don’t we have great examples of prayer in the Bible to guide us ? Of course we do. John Piper says we should look at prayer as a “wartime walkie-talkie” to communicate with God. I like that analogy. But still, why is this so lacking in my own life ? Why is it so difficult ?

Solomon started out as a great man of prayer, with humble requests and seemingly constant communication with God. But “the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life” (1 John 2:16, NKJV) then seemed to get in his way. I need to take another good, hard look at what’s standing in the way between me and the constant communication with God that Solomon was such a model of early on as king.

“Hopeful men bring gladness with them. Despondent spirits spread the infection of depression, and hence few are glad to see them, while those whose hopes are grounded upon God’s word carry sunshine in their faces, and are welcomed by their fellows. When professors by their freezing words chill all hearts, the godly avoid their company. May this never be our character !”

- Charles H. Spurgeon, from The Golden Alphabet, p. 164

“It is a degrading, groveling, hardening, deadening sin, which withers everything around it that is lovely and Christlike. He who is covetous is of the race of Judas, and will in all probability turn out to be himself a son of perdition. The crime of covetousness is common, but very few will confess it; for when a man heaps up gold in his heart, the dust of it blows into his eyes, and he cannot see his own fault.”

- Charles H. Spurgeon, from The Golden Alphabet, pp 95-96.

From my dear friends and the fine folks at Lemonade International. This is a most worthy cause:

We are three weeks away from the completion of our TEN2END Campaign… and at this point we have 40 people who have signed on to help us in our effort to END poverty, injustice, hopelessness, hunger and despair in La Limonada by taking action and giving TEN dollars a month. Our goal is to have 200 join the campaign by June 30… so as of today we are looking for 160 more.

Your gift of $10 each month is equivalent to one specialty cup of coffee per week… or about four gallons of gas…. or one movie ticket (without enough left over for a small popcorn).

But $10 is also equivalent to what it takes to feed two children at the schools in La Limonada for the entire month.

Would you help us in our work among the children of La Limonada? Here are some ways you can help…

• Join the TEN2END Campaign if you haven’t already – www.TEN2END.org
• Pass this email along to your friends
• Post the following as your Facebook and/or Twitter status: Join TEN2END today and help transform the lives of children in the urban slums of La Limonada in Guatemala City – http://TEN2END.org

Thanks for your love, compassion and support for the people of La Limonada!

- The Lemonade International Team

“It’s dangerous to assume that because a person is drawn to holiness in his study that he is thereby a holy man. There is irony here. I am sure that the reason I have a deep hunger to learn of the holiness of God is precisely because I am not holy. I am a profane man, a man who spends more time out of the temple than in it. But I have had just enough of a taste of the majesty of God to want more. I know what it means to be a forgiven man and what it means to be sent on a mission. My soul cries out for more. My soul needs more.”

- R.C. Sproul, from The Holiness of God, p. 50.

Last night, I had a long conversation with my dear friend Pastor Bill and we talked for a while about orthodoxy vs. orthopraxy (beliefs vs. behavior). I’ve been reflecting on that and how I feel that my walk doesn’t equal my talk very often. I’ve begun reading through Psalm 119 and right in the first verse of this great psalm, we are commanded to match these two up: “Blessed are those whose way is blameless, who walk in the law of the Lord!” That mismatch in my own life has caused me to be dejected at times. I really can’t pinpoint the one sin or failing in that regard (too many to count maybe ?) but just a general dejectedness. I often wonder why the sanctification process seems so much more like a “slow cooker than a microwave”, as someone once said.

In addition to Pastor Bill’s counsel and encouraging words, I’ve been going over Charles Spurgeon’s commentary on this verse today as well. Spurgeon ties the two things together beautifully, as he usually does.

Here’s Spurgeon:

“True religion is always practical, for it does not permit us to delight ourselves in a perfect rule without exciting in us a longing to be conformed to it in our daily lives. A blessing belongs to those who hear and read and understand the word of the Lord; yet is it a far greater blessing to be actually obedient to it, and to carry out in our walk and conversation what we learn in our searching of the Scriptures. Purity in our way and walk is the truest blessedness.”

From John Piper….

“No man needs better company than the Psalms…Oh, to be shut up in a cave with David, with no other occupation but to hear him sing, and to sing with him! Well might a Christian monarch lay aside his crown for such enjoyment, and a believing pauper find a crown in such felicity.” – Charles H. Spurgeon, from The Treasury of David

One area of the Bible that I’ve been focused on of late is the Wisdom Books, particularly Ecclesiastes (which our church recently finished a series on) and the Psalms. I confess that outside of the Bible, I really haven’t read any poetry since college (and those were required courses ). As much as I love reading them, the Psalms have always presented a challenge to me in getting the full benefit from them – what they say about God and ourselves, and how to apply them practically. So I started looking around at books that might help me to better understand this great book of the Bible, and recently came across Michael E. Travers’ Encountering God in the Psalms. This is quick review of it, which I just finished this week.

Dr. Travers states early on that, “The more we read the Psalms, the more we find that they contain every emotion we could ever experience. The psalms put our own deepest feelings into words, and when we read them we direct God’s words back to him” (p. 13). Travers then explains that if we’re to get the full meaning of the Psalms, we have to read them differently – as poetry and not as narrative (which I tend to forget at times). He then outlines the specific ways that poetry differs from other literature in the Bible:

1) Poetry communicates experience
2) The language of poetry is concentrated and heightened (less words but to great effect)
3) Poetry is consciously structured and patterned
4) Poetry uses figures of speech (similes, metaphors, personifications, etc.)

Dr. Travers then categorizes the Psalms into five different types or genres (Hymns, Laments, Royal Psalms, Thanksgiving Psalms, and Wisdom Psalms) and discusses what characteristics to look for in each. For example, Psalm 112 is a good example of a Wisdom Psalm, in that it contrasts the godly man (verses 2-9) with the ungodly man (verse 10), similar to what we often find in Proverbs.

Dr. Travers also encourages us to actively read the Psalms by asking questions of the Psalm. He gives these four as a basis when reading through a Psalm:

1) What is the overall effect of the Psalm ?
2) What is the structure of the Psalm ?
3) What are the figures of speech in the psalm, and what effects do they have ?
4) What are the themes and theology in the psalm ?

Dr. Travers then provides an application section (usually a few questions) after he analyzes the different psalms, which I found very helpful. He also has a chapter dealing with the often difficult Imprecatory Psalms, analyzing David’s Psalm 59. Dr. Travers also summarizes them in this way:

“The Imprecatory Psalms face us with the sobering reality that there are those who hate God and his grace in Jesus Christ. When we think of the price of our sin, the sacrifice of the sinless Son of God on the cross, we cannot impugn God’s justice in the Imprecatory Psalms. To find fault with God’s sovereignty tempts us to Satan’s sin and places us above God. The Imprecatory Psalms are an antidote to such presumption” (p. 238)

Dr. Travers’ book was a great eye-opener for me and has already helped in my reading of the Psalms. I would recommend this book to anyone who would like to get a better understanding of how to read them. Next week in my Bible reading plan, we begin a three-week stay at the “Mount Everest” of the Psalms – Psalm 119. I feel a little better equipped for the climb now

“The only possible attitude to out of control desire is a declaration of all-out war. I hear so many Christians murmuring about their imperfections and their addictions and their shortcomings. And I see so little war ! (murmur, murmur, murmur, why am I this way ?) MAKE WAR !”

- John Piper

For the last several months or so, the subject of spiritual warfare has really been on my mind. Through Bible reading and other sources, I’ve been trying to get a better grip on what Satan is up to and how I can combat it. Two of my blogger friends recently highlighted this subject on their own sites. Amy Letinsky posted a great list of books that deal with Satan and demons a little while back, and she also pointed me in the direction of a series done by Mark Driscoll on spiritual warfare, which was very helpful. And Claire over at One Passion One Devotion just posted a video by John Piper that encourages us all to make war on the enemies that seem to drag us down so often. With that in mind, I set out to explore this in a little more detail.

I came across a book recently by one of the Puritans called Precious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices by Thomas Brooks. In this book, Brooks describes nearly 40 of Satan’s devices, or ways he attacks us, and answers that by providing us with over 170 “remedies” or methods to think of to counterattack. It also includes the most extensive table of contents I’ve ever seen, which is worth the price of the book alone as an outline. In addition, Brooks provides an appendix that includes ten “special helps” against Satan and also, he describes the characteristics of false teachers. There’s quite a bit here to chew on !

One section I found very helpful was what Brooks calls “Satan’s Devices to Keep Saints in a Sad, Doubting, Questioning & Uncomfortable Condition”. Brooks outlines how Satan may keep us in despair over our sin to the point that we become totally discouraged. Brooks explains why this is so dangerous – “He who minds not Christ more than his sin can never be thankful and fruitful as he should.” Brooks then takes it a step further and suggests that we need to repent of being this discouraged by sin, and again he tells us why – “Ah ! did precious souls know and believe the truth of these things as they should, they would not sit down dejected and overwhelmed under the sense and operation of sin. God never gave a believer a new heart that it should always lie a-bleeding, and that it should always be rent and torn in pieces with discouragements.”

Having said that, this is no feel-good book. Brooks warns his readers throughout of the seriousness of spiritual warfare. He pleads with us not to take temptation lightly – “To venture upon the occasion of sin, and then to pray, ‘Lead us not into temptation’, is as to thrust your finger into the fire, and then to pray that it might not be burnt.” And Brooks also encourages us to look at sin as we know we will look back on it hours from now, and then realize how much harder it is to repent than to have just steered clear of the temptation and sin to begin with. Brooks then provides us with this vivid picture if we decide to take his words lightly – “For to be tormented without end – this is that which goes beyond the bounds of all desperation. Ah, how do the thoughts of this make the damned to roar and cry out for unquietness of heart, and tear their hair, and gnash their teeth, and rage for madness, that they must dwell in ‘everlasting burnings’ forever !”

As you can tell, this is not light reading But it’s necessary reading. We all need to be on our watch constantly, to be aware of Satan’s schemes, for always “sin is crouching at the door”. Meditating on Ephesians 6:10-20 is of course a great place to start the battle against spiritual warfare. But this densely packed volume from Brooks would make a nice addition to your bookshelf and a great accessory to your spiritual armor.

* You can read this book for free online at Grace Gems here (print out that table of contents !), or download it as a PDF here. It’s also available from Amazon.

“And David said, ‘Is there still anyone left of the house of Saul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan’s sake?’” - 2 Samuel 9:1 (ESV)

At this point in history, David is well established on the throne, and chapter 8 of 2nd Samuel has just detailed many of his victories as king. Between his family and his life as a king and warrior, David certainly had a full plate to keep him busy and his mind occupied. So I find it interesting that chapter 9 has David reaching back and remembering to the time before he was king, to think of Mephibosheth, the son of his dear friend Jonathan. David sends for Mephibosheth (who’s now crippled) and orders that he always be taken care of, and in addition, David lets Mephibosheth know that he always has a place at his table.

Is there someone out there who we haven’t spoken to in a while, who’s shown us great kindness in the past ? Someone we may have lost touch with ? Wouldn’t it be great to send them a note or email of thanks today ?

“They exchanged the glory of God for the image of an ox that eats grass.” – Psalm 106:20 (ESV)

Sometimes I read a verse in the Bible and then have to shift into reverse and go back and read it again, and then again. The above verse is one of those verses. Read it yourself and think for a bit about how ridiculous it is ! Here the psalmist is referring to the episode in Exodus 32, where Moses returns to find the golden calf / idol that Aaron, his very own brother, helped to build. Now the Israelites worshiped the calf, and in so doing, “exchanged the glory of God.” Moses then burned the calf and ground it into a powder, threw it on the water, and made the Israelites drink it. I’ll bet it didn’t taste like Kool-Aid going down.

The Israelites had become impatient with Moses’ absence, and begged Aaron to build them a god they could see or touch. One that was supposedly more near to them than the true living God. So they lost faith. But as Paul reminds us in 2 Corinthians, “we walk by faith, not by sight” (5:7). Losing faith makes us prone to setting up false idols with a false sense of security, as the Israelites were guilty of in this episode.

So this verse is absurd to me…but it’s absurd mainly because I am guilty of the same patterns in my life at times. A good reminder today from the psalmist about how dangerous this is.

“In heaven’s name, I call on you to make your decision quickly, for the days are short. Do not sit under the ministry of the Word and trifle with God and play with New Testament holiness. The Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is not the place for you if you are not in earnest. We have too big a job to do, too big a challenge to face, for too soon the Lord will be here. Remember that Gideon got on better with three hundred men than with thirty thousand men. In Jesus’ name, I call on you, my dear worldly Christian, my dear man who is not right with God, to get to the Cross and get right with God.”

- Alan Redpath, from Victorious Christian Living: Studies in the Book of Joshua, p. 118

“A Christian’s deepest desire is now for God first, not sin. In fact, each time a Christian sins, he’s momentarily suffering from an identity crisis. When a Christian yields to temptation, he’s living contrary to who he really is; he’s being inconsistent with who he has been remade to be. He’s being deceived by the flesh to think that sin, not God, is what he wants most. But even in the most intense moments of temptation, a Christian desires God more deeply than sin.”

- Tullian Tchividjian, from Unfashionable: Making a Difference in the World By Being Different, pgs. 141-142

“It would be well if, in the spirit of humility, we recognized the true dignity of our regenerated nature, and lived up to it…Let the dignity of your nature, and the brightness of your prospects, O believers in Christ, constrain you to cleave unto holiness, and to avoid the very appearance of evil.”

- Charles H. Spurgeon, from Morning & Evening (taken from evening reading for May 4)

I guess I’m a little late in hearing about this, but this sounds pretty cool. The Espresso Book Machine has now launched in London. There are also a few models located here in the U.S. According to an article at guardian.co.uk, here’s what it can do:

…the Espresso Book Machine is being billed as the biggest change for the literary world since Gutenberg invented the printing press more than 500 years ago and made the mass production of books possible. Launching today at Blackwell’s Charing Cross Road branch in London, the machine prints and binds books on demand in five minutes, while customers wait.

Signalling the end, says Blackwell, to the frustration of being told by a bookseller that a title is out of print, or not in stock, the Espresso offers access to almost half a million books, from a facsimile of Lewis Carroll’s original manuscript for Alice in Wonderland to Mrs Beeton’s Book of Needlework. Blackwell hopes to increase this to over a million titles by the end of the summer – the equivalent of 23.6 miles of shelf space, or over 50 bookshops rolled into one. The majority of these books are currently out-of-copyright works, but Blackwell is working with publishers throughout the UK to increase access to in-copyright writings, and says the response has been overwhelmingly positive.

I have a lot of books saved on my PC as PDFs, so it would be nice to take a few to one of these machines and have them printed out as a real book. I’ll keep an eye out for it as the weeks and months go by.

One of the main reasons I started a blog a couple of years back is that I figured it would be a good way to keep a journal on my Bible reading and other Christian material that I go through. I stopped for a while to keep a written journal, but then found it was just easier to keep everything on the blog. By having it online, I can access it wherever I am and don’t have to worry if I’ve forgotten my notebook or journal. Now though I think there is probably good value in keeping both and have thought about restarting a handwritten journal again recently.

I’m currently reading a terrific book by Donald S. Whitney called Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life. I’ve just read through his chapter on journaling, and Dr. Whitney gives some great encouragement to anyone who has been keeping a journal, and also to those wondering whether or not to start one.

Here’s Dr. Whitney:

“Many people think God has not blessed them with much until they have to move it all to a new address ! In the same way, we tend to forget just how many times God has answered specific prayers, made timely provision, and done marvelous things in our lives. But having a place to collect all these memories prevents their being forgotten.” (p. 201)

“When Dawson Trotman, founder of the Christian organization called The Navigators, was converted to faith in 1926, he began memorizing one Bible verse every day. He was driving a truck for a lumber yard in Los Angeles at the time. While driving around town he would work on his verse for that day. During the first three years of his Christian life he memorized his first thousand verses. If he could memorize over three hundred verses a year while driving, surely we can find ways to memorize a few.”

- Donald Whitney, from Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life, pp 40-41

“And Jephthah made a vow to the Lord. He said, ‘If you give me victory over the Ammonites, I will give to the Lord whatever comes out of my house to meet me when I return in triumph. I will sacrifice it as a burnt offering.’” – Judges 11:30-31 (NLT)

The story of Jephthah in the book of Judges is one of the saddest in the Old Testament to me. Judges 11 tells us that Jephthah had a rough time growing up. His half-siblings treated him poorly since his mother was a prostitute, and they chased him off his father’s land. Ironically though, the same folks who had no use for him come to him later on and ask for his fighting skills as they prepare to battle the Ammonites. The elders even promise to make him ruler if he’s successful. Jephthah then has messengers go to confront the king of Ammon, but the king disregards the message.

Maybe the king’s actions got Jephthah fired up. Or maybe he felt he was unstoppable with his new-found mandate from the people. But as he prepares to finally take the battle to the Ammonites, his zeal overcomes him and he makes a vow to God that he can’t take back. In his book Practical Religion, J.C. Ryle noted that, “If zeal is true, it will be a zeal according to knowledge. It must not be a blind, ignorant zeal. It must be a calm, reasonable, intelligent principle, which can show the warrant of Scripture for every step it takes.”

At that point, Jephthah was probably anything but “calm” or “reasonable”. Following the vow, God does in fact give him and his men the victory over the Ammonites, but it comes with a very heavy price. Jephthah’s daughter is the first to greet him as he returns home, and in keeping with his vow to God, he must give her over to God as an offering. This was probably doubly painful for Jephthah, since he had no other children. But he had no choice. As a father, this must have torn him apart inside. Even though Jephthah was judge for only six years, they were probably six long years for him knowing the manner in which he had lost his only child.

Jephthah was a great warrior of God, and he’s given special mention in the “Hall of Fame” of Hebrews 11. He certainly meant well. But his zeal had overcome him at a crucial point in his life and he had to live with the tragic consequences.

Good reminders today from the book of Judges….

“Rise up each day desiring that your soul may excel, lie down each evening, inquiring of yourself whether your soul has really grown. Remember Zeuxis, the great painter of old. When men asked him why he labored so intensely, and took such extreme pains with every picture, his simple answer was, ‘I paint for eternity.’

Do not be ashamed to be like him. Set your immortal soul before your mind’s eye, and when men ask you why you live as you do, answer them in his spirit, ‘I live for my soul.’ Believe me, the day is fast coming when the soul will be the one thing men will think of, and the only question of importance will be this, ‘Is my soul lost or saved?’”

- J.C. Ryle (1816-1900), from Thoughts For Young Men

“Remember, it is not hasty reading—but serious meditating upon holy and heavenly truths, that make them prove sweet and profitable to the soul. It is not the bee’s touching of the flower, which gathers honey—but her abiding for a time upon the flower, which draws out the sweet. It is not he who reads most—but he who meditates most, who will prove the choicest, sweetest, wisest and strongest Christian.”

- Thomas Brooks, 1608-1680

“Good Friday”, “The Cross”

“‘It is finished.’ What was finished? The work of atonement. What is the value of that to us? This: to the sinner, it is a message of glad tidings. All that a holy God requires has been done. Nothing is left for the sinner to add. No works from us are demanded as the price of our salvation. All that is necessary for the sinner is to rest now by faith upon what Christ did. ‘The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord’ (Rom. 6:23).

To the believer, the knowledge that the atoning work of Christ is finished brings a sweet relief over against all the defects and imperfections of his services. There is much of sin and vanity in the very best of our efforts, but the grand relief is that we are ‘complete‘ in Christ (Col. 2:10) ! Christ and his finished work is the ground of all our hopes.”

-A.W. Pink, from The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross

“How many auspicious beginnings have been ruined by men’s proceeding too hastily, endeavoring to make their own designs take place, and to have the honor of that success themselves which is due only to God.”

- Adam Clarke, 1762–1832

“But you, keep yourselves from the things devoted to destruction, lest when you have devoted them you take any of the devoted things and make the camp of Israel a thing for destruction and bring trouble upon it.” - Joshua 6:18 (ESV)

I read through Joshua 6 and 7 this morning and thought for a bit about what happened here and the story of Achan. The Israelites have just finished their conquest of Jericho and Joshua reminded them not to gather up any of the “things devoted to destruction”. In other words, no looting. Not sure what was going through Achan’s mind at that point, but Joshua’s words go in one ear and out the other. He decides to grab an expensive cloak and stuff some other things in his pocket like gold and silver. Achan’s clear disobedience angers God and directly causes their defeat at Ai a short time later. Joshua then calls Achan to appear before everyone, and Achan confesses. Achan is then stoned to death for his crime.

This passage reminded me of some verses I read recently in both the Old and New Testaments – Numbers 32:23 “But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the LORD, and be sure your sin will find you out.” and Romans 6:21 “But what fruit were you getting at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death.” Although it doesn’t seem like Achan had much time to reflect on what he had done, I wonder if he would have been able to answer a simple question – was it really worth it ? To put family members and fellow countrymen to shame and subject them to punishment like that ? For a coat and some extra money in his pocket ?

This is a good warning for us as well. We don’t sin in a vacuum. We can think we’re slick and can cover up those things that we shouldn’t be doing. But God never turns a blind eye to it. Our sin will always find us out.

“Remember the days of old; consider the generations long past. Ask your father and he will tell you, your elders, and they will explain to you.” – Deuteronomy 32:7 (NIV)

I’ve read through the book of Deuteronomy a few times now and always feel a little sad to see Moses exit the stage. I can’t think of another Old Testament figure who had to put up with as much as he did, but he almost always showed great leadership while doing so. It seems like the word used most often in the book of Deuteronomy is the word “remember” and I think it’s something for us to keep in mind today.

Looking at my own prayer life, there can be too much looking forward and not enough looking back – “God, please provide for my wife, my family members, for a new job, healing from sickness, etc.” Of course, I like to think I’m not at all like those ungrateful Israelites in the days of Moses (ha !), but there are times when I don’t look back enough to thank God for what He already has provided. By not reflecting on those times, it can easily lead to worry and lack of faith. It didn’t take long for the Israelites to start complaining after leaving Egypt, and it won’t take us long to do the same if we lose focus on how God has worked wonders for us in the past. Moses’ constant reminders to his fellow Israelites in Deuteronomy to look back and remember has helped me to do the same.

Let’s look back with gratitude today.

“And my God will supply every need of yours according to his riches in glory in Christ Jesus.” – Philippians 4:19 (ESV)

With God, we often try to get ourselves out of the knots of life. The best that we can do is to call on Him. The degree of our dependence upon Him is going to be evident in the frequency of our calling out to Him. We cannot say we depend upon Him unless a regular and consistent part of our life is calling out to Him.”

- Pastor Steve Horn, First Baptist Church, Lafayette, Louisiana

“Truth is sweetest where it breaks from the smitten Rock, for at its first gush it has lost none of its heavenliness and vitality. It is always best to drink at the well and not from the tank. You shall find that reading the Word of God for yourselves, reading it rather than notes upon it, is the surest way of growing in grace. Drink of the unadulterated milk of the Word of God, and not of the skim milk, or the milk and water of man’s word.”

- Charles H. Spurgeon, from his sermon “How To Read The Bible”

“They are not just idle words for you—they are your life. By them you will live long in the land you are crossing the Jordan to possess.” – Deuteronomy 32:47 (NIV)

Here in Deuteronomy 32, Moses is delivering his famous “Song of Moses” to the Israelites as he prepares to pass the baton to Joshua and the Israelites get ready to enter the promised land. Moses proclaims God’s goodness and then reminds the Israelites what will happen if they continue to fall into disobedience. Moses spends the entire book of Deuteronomy reminding his fellow countrymen of this over and over. And in this last sentence of his song, he emphasizes that these are “not just idle words”…

This may sound strange, but these words of Moses highlighted for me why I do not write in my Bible. I’m sure that puts me in the .001% of people who don’t, but it’s something I feel strongly about. Don’t get me wrong, I have notebooks and journals (and this attempt at a blog), but I think for me at least, there can be a tendency to become too familiar with a passage and what its meaning is. I don’t want to read my comments year after year. The Bible is “not just idle words”…I want to read each section of Scripture as if I’m reading it again for the first time and hear God’s voice and not my own. If I need to, I can always find what I wrote about it somewhere else.

My friend Claire over at One Passion One Devotion reminds her readers to look for “the one thing” when you’re reading your Bible. So I look for it, pray about it, and usually write it down somewhere – just not in my Bible

“My friend, you are in a world that is full of trouble. You are unable to take care of yourself in life, much less will you be able to do so in death. Life has many trials and temptations. Your soul is menaced from every side. On every hand are dangers and pitfalls. The world, the flesh and the devil are combined against you; they are too much for your strength.

Here then is the beacon of light amid the darkness. Here is the harbor of shelter from all storms. Here is the blessed canopy which protects from all the fiery darts of the evil one. Thank God there is a refuge from the gales of life and from the tenors of death – the Father’s hand – the heart’s true haven.”

- A.W. Pink, from The Seven Sayings of The Saviour on The Cross

“It is better that you should not vow than that you should vow and not pay.” – Ecclesiastes 5:5 (ESV)

I remember listening to a broadcast of Back To The Bible a while back, and Dr. Woodrow Kroll was relating a story about a man who was running late for a job interview. As he reached the company’s parking lot, he was having trouble finding a parking space. The man said, “Oh God, please help me find a parking space. If you find me a space, I’ll do anything – I’ll read my Bible more, and start going to church, and praying more. Please, I can’t be late for this interview !” Just then a parking spot appeared in front of him.

“Never mind, God,” said the man. “I just found a space !”

Our church is doing a series through the book of Ecclesiastes and a few weeks ago preached on chapter 5. Here the Teacher (Solomon ?) is warning about making false or meaningless vows. Our pastor talked about this unfortunate concept of using God as a “cosmic vending machine” and how often we can be prone to doing this. Our pastor then reminded us that we should be people of integrity when it comes to our speech, and to follow Jesus’ commands in Matthew 5:33-37 about oaths and letting “our yes be yes and our no be no.”

Matthew Henry in his Concise Commentary explains that, “The worse men are, the less they are bound by oaths; the better they are, the less there is need for them.” Great reminders today to be guarded in our speech and our vows to God.

“count it all joy”

One of the most amazing things about God’s grace to me is that, as long as you still have life within you, it’s never too late to get right with Him. You can be a king like Manasseh who rules wickedly for 55 years, and then cry out to God in true repentance and be saved. There are many other examples of course. Is there a better example though than the thief on the cross ? I’m currently reading A.W. Pink’s The Seven Sayings of the Saviour on the Cross, and he outlines brilliantly why his last minute conversion was so remarkable, and why it’s never too late to come to Jesus.

Here’s Pink:

“Of the reproaches which were cast on him by the crowd the Lord Jesus took no notice. To the insulting challenge of the priests to descend from the cross, he made no response. But the prayer of this contrite, believing thief arrested his attention. At the time he was grappling with the powers of darkness and sustaining the awful load of his people’s guilt, and we should have thought he might be excused from attending to individual applications. Ah! but a sinner can never come to Christ in an unacceptable time. He gives him an answer of peace and that without delay.”

“Therefore you also must be ready, for the Son of Man is coming at an hour you do not expect.” – Matthew 24:44 (ESV)

I’ve been reading through Matthew 24 and 25 these last few days and reflecting on Jesus’ words in these two chapters. Over the last year or so especially, I’ve become very mindful of how I’m using my time. Is what I’m doing right now honoring God ? Is this really the best use of my time, to be doing this or watching this game, TV show, movie, etc. ? Would Jesus be pleased if He were standing next to me and listening to the way I speak to my wife, my family, my co-workers ? Am I really ready for that glorious day when He returns ? Many times, I have to sadly admit to myself that the answer is no, that I’ve failed miserably, and that “my lamp has no oil in it” (Matthew 25:3).

Reading through these chapters though has encouraged me to keep up the pursuit, and to continue to be vigilant about what I’m doing. There are an infinite number of things that can occupy our time these days, some of which are good for the soul and some that aren’t. As Paul said in 1 Corinthians 6:12, “‘All things are lawful for me,’ but not all things are helpful.” What a reminder this is in light of Jesus’ parables in Matthew 25.

No one knows that day or hour…
…………………………………………………………………………………………………………..
“True Christians ought to live like GOOD SERVANTS, whose master is not at home. They should strive to be always ready for their master’s return. They should never give way to the feeling, ‘my Lord is delaying his coming.’ They should seek to keep their hearts in such a frame, that whenever Christ appears, they may at once give Him a warm and loving reception.

There is a vast depth in that saying, ‘Blessed is that servant whom his master finds doing so when he comes.’ We may well doubt whether we are true believers in Jesus, if we are not ready at any time to have our faith changed into sight.” – J.C. Ryle

“And since they did not see fit to acknowledge God, God gave them up to a debased mind to do what ought not to be done.” – Romans 1:28 (ESV)

Deuteronomy is one of the most quoted Old Testament books by the New Testament writers, and of course there is the familiar verse in Deuteronomy 6 that reads, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might” (6:5). I think of this verse often and how I fail to live up to this command most days. Last night, I began thinking about this verse while reading through the end of Romans 1.

As the chapter concludes, Paul outlines a major difference between “knowing God’s decrees” and actually carrying them out in a holy manner (1:32). What I noted though was Paul’s account of what happens when we turn the commands in Deuteronomy 6:5 upside-down. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart ? Paul describes how their hearts have become filled with lust (1:24). Jesus amends all your might to “all your mind” in the Gospels, and Paul outlines how their minds have become “debased” in 1:28.

This is important to take note of. Paul is sending out an important warning here. If we do not obey Deuteronomy 6:5, we are headed in the exact opposite direction of the will of God – and on our way to impurity, “dishonorable passions”, and “debased minds”. And Paul uses increasingly stronger language as Romans 1 closes (strife, deceit, heartless, ruthless). These are the end result of not wholeheartedly following Deuteronomy 6:5, which Jesus himself calls the greatest commandment.

D.A. Carson talks about this in his discussion on Romans 1 in his book For The Love of God (Volume 1). Dr. Carson explains how this can become a slippery slope for us if we’re not careful, and how God’s wrath is just in this regard. Here’s Dr. Carson with the last word:

“We must reflect a little further as to what this means. In our shortsightedness we sometimes think God is a little abrupt when in certain passages, not least in the Old Testament, he instantly chastens his people for their sins. But what is the alternative ? Quite simply, it is not instantly chastening them. If chastening were merely a matter of remedial education to morally neutral people, the timing and severity would not matter very much; we would learn. But the Bible insists that this side of the Fall we are by nature and persistent choice rebels against God.”

“Ask God to show you how Jesus’ life, body and soul, was the only fully human life that has ever been lived, and keep looking at Jesus as you meet him in the Gospels until you can see it. Then the prospect of being like him – that and no less – will seem to you the noblest and most magnificent destiny possible. But until you see it – please believe me: I kid you not – there is no hope for you at all.”

- J.I. Packer, from Affirming The Apostles’ Creed (p. 142)

“As we may know who dwells in a house by observing who go in and come out, so we may know that the Spirit dwells in us by observing what sanctified speech He sends forth and what delight He has wrought in us to things that are spiritual, and what price we set upon them.”

- Richard Sibbes (1577 – 1635)

“Then the LORD opened the donkey’s mouth, and she said to Balaam, ‘What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?’

Balaam answered the donkey, ‘You have made a fool of me! If I had a sword in my hand, I would kill you right now.’” - Numbers 22:28-29 (NIV)

I think Balaam is one of the most comical folks you’ll find in the Bible. You get the sense if he were around today, he would be on late-night infomercials pitching some product, or doing something else to keep his name in the spotlight. The Better Business Bureau would have had a field day with him. He seemed to love money and fame and making deals. I always chuckle a bit when reading this passage, and try to imagine how ridiculous Balaam must have looked arguing with his donkey. Balaam thought he was going to carry out his own plan for his own gain, but he planned on doing it without truly involving God – actually, he would have involved any god, if it would suit his own purposes. Instead, God stops Balaam in his tracks and embarrasses him with his own animal. And that’s an important message that God is revealing to us in His word in this story, which is also explained in 1 Corinthians 1:27 (NIV): “But God chose the foolish things of the world to shame the wise; God chose the weak things of the world to shame the strong.”

Balaam probably looked at the path in front of him while riding his donkey and thought he had a clear road ahead. But in trying to ride without full knowledge of God’s plan and His blessing, the road kept getting narrower for Balaam, and eventually, “there was no room to turn, either to the right or to the left.” (22:26)

In his book The Message of Numbers, Raymond Brown explains that we should find encouragement in this passage because of what God did through that donkey. Balaam may have had a reputation as a seer and a smooth talker, but he was no match for God’s purposes. Here’s Brown:

“When God makes up his mind to do something he can use anything- ox-goads, a pagan soldier’s dream, trumpets, jars, torches, even donkeys – to further his wise designs. This donkey is our teacher; nobody should be discouraged because of meagre equipment.” (p. 210)

A good reminder for all of us today.

“Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank. But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.” – Numbers 20:11-12 (NIV)

There’s quite a bit happening here in Numbers 20 – Moses’ siblings (Miriam and Aaron) die in this chapter, the Israelites are stonewalled by the Edomites, and there is the account of the water from the rock. It’s this account of the rock and the water that has been one of the toughest ones for me to understand in all the Bible.

At this point, Moses has been through quite a long journey. He’s been Israel’s leader for decades, settled many disputes, put up with countless complaints, and seen many of his fellow countrymen and women die as they wander through the wilderness. It could be that their complaint in verse 5 about not having anything to drink finally pushed him over the brink. God was sympathetic to the Israelites’ request for water and gave Moses instructions on how to get water for them. Instead of simply speaking to the “rock before their eyes”, Moses strikes the rock twice with his staff, and water gushes out. But since Moses and Aaron didn’t follow God’s instructions to the letter, they’re informed that they will not see the promised land.

This doesn’t seem fair. I can sympathize with what Moses must have been going through all these years, and God’s judgment on him seems a bit harsh. After all, Moses didn’t refuse to go to the rock as God requested, he just changed things a little bit when he got there Couldn’t that be overlooked just this one time ? Especially considering Moses’ long and faithful service over all those years ?

I think I realized today after reading this again what my real problem is. This isn’t how I would have handled this. And don’t we think that way all too often ? Why would God allow this suffering ? Why wouldn’t he answer that prayer ? I would have done things differently ! It could be that God knew the challenges facing the Israelites as they prepared to enter the promised land and thought Moses was just too old to deal with them. Or it could be that Joshua, not Moses, was the strong military mind that was needed at this point. Or simply, it was just Moses’ disobedience. Any way you look at it, there’s no need to keep on questioning – I don’t know best, that’s for sure…

Pastor Greg Laurie once commented that he saw a bumper sticker that read, “God is my co-pilot“. “That’s nice,” said Pastor Greg. “But God doesn’t need you to be His co-pilot. In fact, he doesn’t even want you in the cockpit !” So, instead of wondering and thinking about how we would have done differently in these situations each day, isn’t it much better to rest in the fact that the Creator of the universe is the One orchestrating everything ?

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,” declares the LORD. “As the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways and my thoughts than your thoughts.”

- Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV)

“It is those who ’sit by the wayside’ who are likely to be healed. Do we know the diseases of our souls? Do we feel any desire to see the great Physician? If we do we must not wait in idleness, saying, ‘If I am to be saved, I shall be saved.’ We must arise and go to the road where Jesus walks. Who can tell but He will soon pass by for the last time? Let us sit daily by the way-side.”

-J.C. Ryle (1816-1900)

“In this way you are to set the Levites apart from the other Israelites, and the Levites will be mine.” – Numbers 8:14 (NIV)

I’m reading again today from Raymond Brown’s book The Message of Numbers, and he comments on what’s happening in Numbers 8 and God’s command to Moses on how the Levites should be cleansed and set apart for his service. Brown makes the point that Christians should look at this passage and view themselves in a similar light as the Levites. I think Brown’s explanation is a good one for us to consider (p. 69):

“Every Christian is God’s property and those who work for him honour his total ownership of their lives – not a popular concept in a postmodern age when self-empowerment is more acceptable than self-surrender. Local bookshops have ample supplies of new titles on self-fulfillment, self-exploration and self-discovery, but little available on self-sacrifice. Contemporary believers are called to a radically different lifestyle, with Christ as their constant model and mentor.”

“The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ‘Command the people of Israel that they put out of the camp everyone who is leprous or has a discharge and everyone who is unclean through contact with the dead.’” - Numbers 5:1-2 (ESV)

When I first became a Christian, I listened to a sermon by Mark Driscoll and in it, he held up his copy of the Bible. “This book,” said Driscoll, “is all about Jesus.” Ok, sounds like an obvious statement, but it’s something I think back to often as I read through the Old Testament. It can be easy to forget the big picture when you’re reading through the long lists of laws and regulations in Leviticus and Numbers (as I am now). That’s something I’ve tried to keep aware of in all of my Bible reading – where is Jesus in this passage ?

Yesterday as I read through Numbers 5 and 6, I asked myself again, “What does this point to in the New Testament ?” I flipped over to a book I recently picked up called The Message of Numbers by Raymond Brown and soon realized what I was missing. The three conditions discussed in the above passage – leprosy, discharges, and uncleanness due to death – were three specific conditions that Jesus healed the people of in Luke 5 and 8. Brown quotes scholar Gordon Wenham in describing what Jesus had done in Luke and how it related back to the Old Testament: “In these ways he declared that those conditions which for centuries had separated even the elect people of God from God no longer mattered.”

I think this is just a good, simple reminder to us today to always be asking questions when we are reading the Scriptures.

“So Agrippa said to Paul, ‘You have permission to speak for yourself.’ Then Paul stretched out his hand and made his defense” – Acts 26:1 (ESV)

I’ve been reading through Acts 26 the last couple of days and have been thinking about what’s happening in this passage. Paul is making his defense before King Agrippa and goes into detail about his life before and after his conversion. To put it mildly, Paul was not someone who shrugged his shoulders about Christianity before his conversion – he was a fierce opponent of it. And he was on his way to make more trouble while traveling on the road to Damascus, until he was of course stopped in his tracks by the Lord Jesus. Acts 26 is an account of Paul’s testimony before a secular audience, and his words appeared to be quite convincing to those who heard him (verses 28 and 31).

My simple take on this is that we should always have our testimony in mind and prepared for others’ sake. We may not be called to appear before a King Agrippa, but we are always appearing before friends, family, co-workers, and strangers. We should speak with “gentleness and respect” (1 Peter 3:15), and be aware that our actions will speak volumes.

A reminder from Paul today to always be ready.

“‘Come, follow me’, was his word then, and it is so still.

Is he, then, your Lord ? For all who say the Creed, this question is inescapable; for how can you say ‘our Lord’ in church until you have first said ‘my Lord’ in your heart ?”

-J.I. Packer, from Affirming the Apostles’ Creed (p. 63)

John Piper

“Until God awakens us from spiritual death and gives us the life that finds joy in killing sin and being holy, we are slaves and cannot get free. That’s why the new birth is necessary.”

If you find yourself in despair over sin, Piper offers 1 John 2:1 – “My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.”

I have probably read 1 John more than any book in the Bible, but could not see this connection until Pastor John explained it in this way. He also carefully notes that having an Advocate doesn’t give us free reign to keep on sinning, nor should the danger outlined in 1 John 3:9 cause us to sink into despair over it. I found his explanation so helpful for me in my own daily struggles, and appreciated Pastor John’s warm words to close this chapter (p. 151):

“May the Lord confirm your new birth as you experience both of these responses to the word of God. May he grant you to embrace both the warning and the comfort. May you hear the word of God as God means it to be heard, and may God’s all-sufficient word preserve the full assurance of your salvation.”

This is the third John Piper book I have read. My favorite so far is still Seeing and Savoring Jesus Christ, which I’ve read twice now, but Finally Alive is well worth adding to your list. Desiring God has now made it available as a PDF to download on their website, as they do with many other books. Check it out !

“Let it be our daily aim to say nothing we would not like Christ to hear, and to do nothing we would not like Christ to see. Let us measure every difficult question as to right and wrong by one simple test, ‘How would I behave, if Jesus was standing by my side?’

Such a standard is not extravagant and absurd. It is a standard that interferes with no duty or relation of life. It interferes with nothing but sin. Happy is he that tries to realize his Lord’s presence, and to do all and say all as unto Christ.”

- J.C. Ryle, from Expository Thoughts on The Gospels – Matthew

“It’s been said that the Christian life is like a greased pole. You’re either climbing or you’re slipping. Are you climbing? Are you growing and maturing in your faith? Or are you slipping? Are you in spiritual cruise control? As we move forward spiritually, we should not be committing any of these sins. That doesn’t mean we won’t be tempted. But we should have a stronger resolve to resist temptation, because we are too busy doing the things of God.”
- Greg Laurie

Over at the Ligonier Ministries blog today, there is an interview with missionary pilot Glenn Grubb about his reading of Ligonier’s monthly magazine Tabletalk. I’ve been a subscriber to Tabletalk myself for a little over a year now and find the monthly articles and devotional sections well worth the price each month. Anyway, in the interview, Mr. Grubb gives an explanation of how he approaches his own daily readings. I think his statement is a good one to keep in mind:

“I don’t read or study just to check off a box. I study towards a real-world standard. What will I do when confronted with this scenario? How can I become practiced in the discipline of responding to what God places in my life in a way that is glorifying to Him?”

I’m continuing to read through Tony Evans’ book Our God Is Awesome and came across this exercise that he asks his readers to try. I think it speaks well to some of the things I’ve been struggling with.

Here’s Dr. Evans:

“If you are allowing or practicing something in your life that may not be good by God’s definition of goodness, apply this simple test to it. See if you can pray, ‘God I know this is a gift from You, and You want me to have it because it is good,’ without experiencing any conviction.

If so, you may be on the right track. But if you can’t thank God for it with a clear heart and conscience, it’s best to dump it !”

“You shall neither mistreat a stranger nor oppress him, for you were strangers in the land of Egypt. ” - Exodus 22:21 (NKJV)

A note to myself:

Joe ,  you’ve had this verse in your head for a few days now for a reason. God is keeping you here on this text in Exodus for a purpose.

When will you realize that not long ago, you were once a stranger yourself ? Why don’t you have more compassion for those around you ? It is by grace you have been saved, through faith, and NOT by works. You are no better than anyone. Don’t you remember the words of Paul in 1 Timothy 1:16 ? – “But for that very reason I was shown mercy so that in me, the worst of sinners, Christ Jesus might display his unlimited patience as an example for those who would believe on him and receive eternal life.”

In reality, you are worse than Paul. If someone were to put a piece of coal next to your dark and sinful heart, the coal would look white by comparison. As C.J. Mahaney would say, you’re doing better than you deserve. Will you please stop shaking your head at the world around you and instead do something about it for God’s glory?

“Make sure that if God wanted to speak with you today, He wouldn’t have to battle other distractions – or, like with Jonah, send His ‘waves’ after you just to get your attention.

Turn off the TV or lay aside the newspaper a little earlier than usual for the next few days, and spend those extra minutes enjoying His presence.”

- Dr. Tony Evans, from Our God Is Awesome (p. 158  )

“And the redeemed, by reason of the greatness of their dependence on God, have not only so much the greater occasion, but obligation to contemplate and acknowledge the glory and fulness of God.

How unreasonable and ungrateful should we be, if we did not acknowledge that sufficiency and glory which we absolutely, immediately, and universally depend upon!”

- Jonathan Edwards, from the sermon God Glorified in Man’s Dependence

“And let them judge the people at all times. Every great matter they shall bring to you, but any small matter they shall decide themselves. So it will be easier for you, and they will bear the burden with you.” – Exodus 18:22 (ESV)

There is a story in Exodus that I think has great practical application for us today and it’s one that I wrote about last year. In Exodus 18, Moses is visited by his father-in-law Jethro, who brings with him Moses’ wife and sons to be reunited with Moses as a family. During his visit, Jethro offers great advice to Moses on not running himself ragged and delegating responsibility, advice that Moses wisely takes to heart. The account is a good reminder I think to all of us. We all have godly men and women around us in our church communities and elsewhere who can offer advice when we’re being stretched thin or struggling, and we don’t have to go it alone. It was encouraging to see Moses act humbly and not stubbornly when the advice was given.

I also came across another good word on this text today, and it gives me a chance to talk about this book. I’ve had a difficult time keeping up with daily devotional books, but I think I’ve now found one I can stick with. It’s part of a two-volume set called For The Love of God by D.A. Carson. Dr. Carson follows the M’Cheyne Bible reading plan in these volumes (I have vol. I) and offers daily commentary of one of the four sections of Scripture readings. Dr. Carson doesn’t just give a “thought for the day”, but he instead points to the whole storyline of the Bible and how the day’s passage fits overall. I’ve found myself referring to this book time and again, though I’m not following that reading plan this year, because Dr. Carson provides such wonderful insights. On Exodus 18, he explains that this visit from Jethro is yet another example of God accomplishing extraordinary things with ordinary people.

Here’s Dr. Carson:

I’ve read this account quite a few times now in Matthew, Mark and Luke, and each time I have to admit, I laugh a bit when I read it. I’m amazed at the logic that the Pharisees come up with to actually make this statement. Basically the Pharisees are convinced that Satan himself is behind the destruction of his own kingdom ?! I think beyond that though Jesus gives a good indication of how black their hearts were at this time by his statement in verse 34 – “For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.” If the Pharisees actually went and said these words, you can imagine what they must have been thinking. The people around them were amazed at what Jesus was doing and they apparently had become so angry and frustrated that they began spewing nonsense.

On the other hand, I consider this a good warning for myself as well. If “the abundance of my heart” contains anger, impatience, and irritability, eventually that will bubble up to the surface, and I’ll most likely say something that I’ll regret. Jesus reminds us in verses 36 and 37 that we’ll have to account for everything we say, and those words will either justify or condemn us. We should instead look to the words of Paul in Colossians 4:6 – “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”

Let our words build up and encourage others and not tear down.

“It is a fear rather of what might have been than of what is; it is a fear of what would come were we not in Christ. Without such fear there can be no true love; for love of the Saviour is proportioned to one’s horror of that from which man has been saved. And how strong are the lives that are suffused with such a love! They are lives brave, not because the realities of life have been ignored, but because they have first been faced — lives that are founded upon the solid foundation of God’s grace. May such lives be ours!”

- J. Gresham Machen (1881-1937),The Fear of God

count it all joy

“Turn the Bible into prayer. Thus, if you were reading the First Psalm, spread the Bible on the chair before you, and kneel and pray, ‘O Lord, give me the blessedness of the man’; ‘let me not stand in the counsel of the ungodly.’

- Robert Murray M’Cheyne (1813-1843)

“He is so sufficient that the running over of your cup does not depend on what the economy does. It does not depend on recession or inflation. It does not depend on who is laying off or who is hiring. When you stay in God’s will and God’s way, He gives you your daily bread. He meets your needs.”

- Dr. Tony Evans, from Our God Is Awesome

” ‘And I will bring you to the land I swore with uplifted hand to give to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob. I will give it to you as a possession. I am the LORD.’

Moses reported this to the Israelites, but they did not listen to him because of their discouragement and cruel bondage.” – Exodus 6:8-9 (NIV)

Without question, the Israelites are having a really rough time at this particular moment in Exodus. Pharaoh is tightening the screws on them and making their lives very difficult. They’re basically being ordered to do double their work with half the resources. In addition, they’re certainly not pleased with how their lives have changed since Moses and Aaron arrived on the scene. By all accounts, things have taken a turn for the worse. They’ve turned a deaf ear to Moses’ words, and worse, they’ve also now managed to tune God out as well. In the New Testament, Jesus said on several occasions, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” The Israelites apparently didn’t clearly hear God’s promises to them in the preceding verses (6:6):

“Therefore, say to the Israelites: ‘I am the LORD, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.’”

Don’t we feel the same as the Israelites at times ? When we run into trouble, how quickly we can forget God’s promises. Our eyes and ears get closed up and we fail to see God’s outstretched arm looking to help us and guide us through our situation – if only we look to Him first. In verses 6-8 alone of Exodus 6, God gives to Moses and the Israelites seven “I will” statements. He says, “I will” – not “I can.”

Let’s remember that today.

“Studying Scripture without allowing it to penetrate to the depths of your soul would be like preparing a banquet without eating it. The bottom-line question to ask is, ‘How do the divine truths and principles contained in any passage apply to me in terms of my attitude and actions ?’”

- John MacArthur, from The MacArthur Study Bible

“The power to share our faith humbly and effectively… comes from our sure knowledge that we are God’s sons and daughters. This knowledge takes root as we carefully and constantly apply the message of the cross to our own consciences.” - C. John Miller

This past week I’ve been out in Denver for a library conference and took a few books along with me to read on the plane. The first one was a book by C. John Miller called A Faith Worth Sharing: A Lifetime of Conversations About Christ. Jack Miller taught practical theology at Westminster Theological Seminary and was also the founding pastor of New Life Presbyterian Church outside of Philadelphia, PA. Miller’s book is a nearly 50-year long journey of sharing his faith with friends, family, strangers, students, co-workers, and many others. He begins his story in San Francisco in 1949 as a breakfast cook in a boarding house, continues through his college days, with later stops in Oregon and northern California in the 1960s, and finally into Pennsylvania in the 70s on.

What I found so interesting about Miller’s stories is that he documented his failures as well as his successes of bringing the gospel to others. He talked about speaking with a non-believing professor in college and his attempts to bring the professor to Christ unsuccessfully. He also explains how his own daughter left the faith for a while, and admitted that his ministry and “being perfect” for others left him little time for his daughter and brought on an estrangement between them.

I think the main point that Miller was trying to get across to his readers is that we have to take time to build relationships with others first before preaching to them. He spoke of a fellow student named Gus who he had difficulty reaching, but who later came to Christ when Miller asked him to join him at church. The sense of community and the members’ care for each other (and the Holy Spirit’s work) was what softened Gus and changed him into a Christian. And Gus later became Miller’s best man at his wedding !

Miller tells many other delightful stories in this book and I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about sharing his or her faith. One story that’s stayed with me since I read it was about a man named Mel, who was unemployed and a borderline alcoholic and who lived at the boarding house in San Francisco. Mel noticed that Miller spent most of his spare time reading the Scriptures. He was intrigued by this and finally asked Miller about it. I loved Miller’s response, and it’s what I would say to anyone who asked me the same question:

“Why do you read the Bible all the time ?” asked Mel.

“Mel, it’s the only way I’m going to make it.”