"Icy Silence"

"I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me."  (Job 30:20, NIV)

"....You do not answer;..you merely look at me."  There was a song which came out years ago called "How Insensitive."  It was the song of a person who had fallen "out of love" and the extreme heartbreak of the one from whom he had parted.  One part says, "'Why,' she must have asked, 'did I just turn and stare in icy silence?'"  What a painful experience.  But how much more painful when a person interprets life's suffering in such a way, people who believe our Lord Jesus Christ "just turn[ed] and stare[d] in icy silence."  We know in our right mind that He cannot do this.  He is Love Personified.  His "hardest" responses to people were always in His love, His compassion, His knowing-best for all humanity.

From chapter 26 to 31 Job speaks with no response from the "friends."  The debate, the accusations, went on and on in the early chapters of the book, and, of course, we know about the young man who came along, seemingly in deference to age, but really no better than the other 3.  In the six uninterrupted chapters Job's mourning seems to get worse, " I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you merely look at me."  Could Job have also said, "just turn and stare in icy silence?"

"Suffering can drive us to the Father's heart to seek His healing, care, protection, and encouragement.  Suffering can also disillusion and embitter us.  It can drive us from God with questions born of despair.  When the latter occurs, we need to recognize it as a temptation of the Evil One.  That sort of temptation can only fine its mark if we wrongly assume that God's love for us and the reality of suffering don't go together.  But they do.  We are promised grace, not an absence of difficulty and suffering." (Dietrich Bonhoeffer)

Father, in Jesus' Name, I know there is no "icy silence" in You, just a silence when I could never understand though You were to speak.  Amen.
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No "limited warfare"-- read at: www.jerusalemberlinwashington.blogspot.com

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"This Honor Have All His Saints"

"Let the high praise of God be in their mouth, and a two-edged sword in their hand...."(Ps. 149:6)

I attempted twice to send a video devotional, but no go.  Anyway, it concerned our text. 

You and I are called to a service in The Kingdom of Heaven which the psalmist would later describe as, "This honor have all His saints.  Praise the Lord!"  This is not for New Testament-only folk.  Yet I could spend the rest of the day giving "proof texts" from both Old and New.  The moment you and I surrendered our lives to Jesus Christ we entered into a war.  Actually we were in the war before; we were just on the wrong and losing side.  This war has been from the Garden to this moment in time.  When John the Baptist and Jesus both announced their "ministries," they both said, "Repent, for the Kingdom of Heaven is at hand."  This upped the proverbial "ante."  It was a renewed declaration of war on Satan and his kingdom, a war with, "the kingdoms of this world," on all systems, political and "academic," which oppose, "The Word of God," Jesus, and the written declarations of The Kingdom of God, the Scriptures. 

Psalm 149 tells us just what we are supposed to be about, "....to execute vengeance on the nations, and punishment on the peoples; to bind their kings with chains, and their nobles with fetters of iron; to execute on them the written judgment--"  Then the declaration, "This honor have all His saints.  Praise the Lord!"  Really? "honor?"  Yes, "honor." 

Now the question is, How do we do this?  It is not by our buying guns or arguing with the "opposition."  The key to victory in this global and cosmic war is in the last phrase of our text, "a two-edged sword in their hand."  This is a prophetic witness to the passage in Hebrews 4.  Let me share it in context.  The struggle, the battle, the warfare is in the minds of mankind and nations; therefore, the Scripture reminds us, "For the word of God is powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.  And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Hm to Whom we must give account."  It does not matter the opinion one may have of their intelligence, cleverness, and debating skills.  They cannot win in this war with any weapon other than the, "two-edged sword in their hand...."  Keep going forth, might warrior.

Father, in Jesus' Name, I pray for more and more understanding of our text.  Help me, Holy Spirit, to faithfully engage.  Amen.
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Fall Mission: October 27-November 23

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

They May Be Lost, But Jesus Will Never Cease Searching

" And the Pharisees and scribes complained, saying, 'This Man receives sinners and eats with them.'" (Luke 15:2)

A bystanding disciple could have said, "Get used to it; it is only beginning."  And thank our Lord Jesus Christ it was.  Jesus then goes on in the remainder of what we call chapter 15 to explain just Who He Is, Whom He manifests, and the purpose of His Appearing.  He will go to any length to find the lost, to save and deliver them, to heal them and set them free from bondage.  He demonstrated this supremely, "in His Cross."  While others may complain and even marvel to the point of disbelief that Jesus loves you and me, and saves you and me, He nonetheless does.  He has "proven" this, as the hymn says,  "o're and o're."

What are you facing right now?  In time/space language, our Lord Jesus Christ is searching for you, just as in the three parables in Luke 15, lost coin which has no mind, lost sheep which just wanders away, perhaps  following other sheep blindly and more than likely going to its death, and the lost son who deliberately left his father's house for something "better."  But the searching, waiting Savior of mankind, fulfilling His Eternal Heart for a lost humanity goes looking for the utterly helpless (coin and sheep), and goes to the very end of His "property" to keep waiting for the rebellious, self-willed child.

Now rest in His Arms; "Be still, and know that [He] is God.....Cast your burden on the Lord, and He shall sustain you; He shall never permit the righteous to be moved."  The, "never," here is His "trademark."

Father, in Jesus' Name, Your endless "search" for this wayward sinner never ceases to amaze me.  As Your Word says, "Teach me to do Your will."  Amen.
 

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

"A Warrior Who Saves"

"The Lord your God in your midst, The Mighty One ("a Warrior Who saves"), will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness.  He will quiet you ("renew in you") with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing." (Zephaniah 3:17)

The phrase translated, "in your midst," may also be translated, "inward part."  There is some indication in Biblical Theology that only in Jesus does the Godhead come to live in our, "inward part."  Before Jesus, it was a, "with me," or, "in your midst," relationship.  Regardless of the debate over this, I am so very thankful that in Jesus Christ the Living Triune God has taken residence in me.!

I saw a Christian site today which said, "Jesus is close to you."  Okay, I'm glad, but that is simply not enough for me.  I do not like an external religion; it does not help me.  Only Jesus in me is my salvation, the power for living, the power to serve, the power to walk in His purposes.  I cannot just follow, though Jesus does demand that we follow Him.  But if it is merely a "following," a "what-would-Jesus-do," a, "Thou art with me,"  I'm a goner.  I cannot live a religion with Jesus as my Example.  I can only live with Jesus as my Life, my Truth, "my Light and my Salvation."  Only then can I ask the rhetorical question with the psalmist, "Whom shall I fear?"  Now, of course, I am not denying, "the Words of God," which use proximity phrases.  I am thankful for any "position" I have with, or following, or, "Looking unto Jesus."  But it is precisely at the point of Jesus' entrance into my very being that I experience what the Bible declares, "For the word of the cross is...to us...the power of God."

I personally need Jesus in me, reigning, directing, in other words, living the Divine Life of the Godhead in and through me.  Why would anyone one want some religion which does not offer this?!?  I encourage you to live the rest of this day rejoicing in our Lord Jesus Christ Who dwells in the, "inward part."  Jesus alone is, "the Warrior Who saves," Jesus is even now rejoicing, "over you with gladness."  Jesus alone can, "quiet you ('renew in you') with His love."  Join His song!

Father, in Jesus' Name, I can never thank You enough for the, "Christ in you," relationship.  Whatever I need to understand to help appreciate this more, I ask for today.  Amen.
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When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2

Do Not Be "Led Away With the Error of the Wicked; But Grow in Grace...."

"You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  To Him be the glory both now and forever.  Amen." (2 Peter 3:17, 18--from today's reading)

The, "since you know this beforehand," is a reference to the Second Appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ.  The Second Epistle of Peter teaches the Church of our Holy Spirit reaction to a world of cynics, "science, falsely so-called," and, "Lord, let me first go bury," religious folk.  In the face of such false religion, Peter exhorts us to, "grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ."  This can only happen if I am a Christ-Centered, Bible saturated Follower of Jesus.

I am writing this today with a heavy heart.  I saw a video which a 12 year old black boy posted on the internet.  It showed two very young black girls bullying and hitting a little 3 year old white girl while she was sitting on her tricycle, watching her in glee as she was crying.  All the time the black kids, including the twelve-year-old who was taking the video, were laughing.  Prejudice/bigotry has come full circle. 

My Dad had a professor in the early 1930s who said that before the end of the century there would be a race war in America.  In the 1960s we saw a far over due "movement" to finally bring to America the true "Emancipation Proclamation."  But there was also in this scenario a corresponding move, clothed in "non-violence-talk," but which led to riots, lootings, burning of businesses.  This counterfeit "civil rights movement," led by race baiters of the present-day-Al Sharpton-style, almost brought the full scale race war prophesied in the 1930s.  We have all seen in history what Governor Sam Brownback once referred to as "America's original sin," slavery.  When I have read not only of the slavery era, but also of the "Freedom Riders" and "Mississippi Burning," I am embarrassed that such things could happen in America.  But I cannot be silent, nor can I excuse in any fashion the boorish behavior of Blacks, Latinos, Arab Islamists for what they consider justifiable vengeance against whites.  May our Lord Jesus Christ have mercy on us all.  America has so far escaped the Russian Revolution, the Holocaust, the Stalinist, Mao, and Pol Pot purges as well as the Rwanda and Bosnian attempts at further genocide.  But, my friend, life on Planet Earth is not over yet, and neither is life in America.

Now some people do not think one should write of such things in a culture.  I have taken a lot of "hits" over the decades in ministry because of too much "in-your-face" approach to preaching, judgmentalism, lack of "mercy" and "compassion," and certainly addressing issues which should not be raised in "the church."  I do not attempt to justify or rationalize any character flaw in me.  But for the Church of Jesus Christ to remain silent concerning the gross sin of man, whether white, black, brown, yellow, male, female, adult or children, will have to some day be reckoned with, "when we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God."  As far as I can discern, especially from my perusing of "Christian Television," the Church in America is in increasing danger of the direction of the Church in Germany in the 1920s an 30s-------- silence at least, and collaboration at worst.  Silence in the Church concerning contemporary moral issues is an example of our text, "being led away with the error of the wicked."

Now, by this time you are probably thinking, "This is not my mother's devotional;" maybe not.  But the "prophetic" nature in me cannot put my head in the sand and talk of flowers and Springtime when the world around us is slipping deeper into "Armageddon."  In the midst of global humanitarian disintegration you and I are commanded by our Lord Jesus Christ to be salt and light.  This is not only bright-sunny-day light, or "tasty" salt.  It is the light of Christ's Truth and the salt which preserves things from going bad.  "You are the salt of the earth; but if the salt loses it savor, how shall it be seasoned?  It is good for nothing."  I do not want to be, "good for nothing"!  And there are indeed congregations in America and around the world which are.  Likewise, "You are the light of the world....Nor do they light a lamp and put it under a basket," i.e., building religious activity and congregations, business style while ignoring or even participating in the moral carnage around us.  The command from the Throne Room of Heaven today is, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may...glorify your Father in Heaven."  

Father, in Jesus' Name, in this very dark hour in history, help me and my friend to be living epistles of Your Light and Salt, "Ambassadors for Christ."  Amen.

When Peter, an 18 year old Norwegian, "heard the call to evangelize China, on that day he not only emptied his wallet into the collection plate, but included a small note with the words, 'and my life.'"

"Looking unto Jesus"
Hebrews 12:2