FOOLS

2/29/16 – Numbers 6-9, Psalm 14

Psalm 14:1 – The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”  They are corrupt, their deeds are vile; there is no one who does good.

 In our society we constantly measure knowledge.  We measure knowledge with grades in the classroom.  We measure knowledge with standardized tests; we even use those tests to determine whether someone is fit for the next grade or worthy of a scholarship to a certain school.  We measure knowledge to determine is someone is fit for a job.  We measure knowledge in terms of what you know, aka “book smarts.”  We measure knowledge in terms of what you can do with what you know, aka “street smarts.”  We even evaluate people based on their IQ.

When God calls someone a fool he isn’t talking about what they know, he is talking about their heart.  One Bible dictionary defines a “fool” as a “person who lacks understanding or even the capacity for understanding, implying he is a rebel and disobedient to the law of God.”  So really a fool is someone who doesn’t even have the capacity to understand or grasp or know or believe who God is or what he’s done.  That’s all of us!  NO ONE, says the psalmist, does good.  ALL have turned away; all have become corrupt.  NO ONE does good not even one.  In other words, regardless of how much we all know about life or about God we’re all FOOLS.

That is, unless, God changes us.  Unless God gives us a heart transplant and transforms our mind by his Word.  Unless God impacts us by his Spirit and through his Word.  Unless God gives us a rebirth of washing and renewal by his Holy Spirit.  Thank God, today, that he’s changed you!

PRAYER:

Lord God, when I read this verse I quickly think of all the atheists, agnostics, and unbelievers who reject you.  It makes me sad to hear them say, “There is no God.”  Lord God, there is only one way to change their mind. Scientific proofs won’t do it.  Evidential arguments won’t do it. You, Lord God, must do it.  Use your Word to penetrate the hardened hearts of fools and convince them by your Spirit that you are real, true, and saving.  Convince them that your Word is truth by your Spirit.  Change them from foolish to wise, from weak to strong.  Lord God, I also thank you that you changed me.  You took me, fool that I was, and made me a wise child of yours.  You converted me and gave me a new birth.  You convinced me by your Word. Thank you Lord for not despising me though I was a fool.  Thank you for making me your very own.  Amen.

Job Description

Day #33 – Exodus 14-18, Psalm 8

Psalm 8:5-6 – You made him a little lower than the angels and crowned him with glory and honor.  You made him ruler over the works of your hands and put everything under his feet…

A job description is a list that a person might use for general tasks, or functions, and responsibilities of a position. It may often include to whom the position reports, specifications such as the qualifications or skills needed by the person in the job, and a salary range.

As David marvels at God’s handiwork (more specifically, God’s finger work), he shares some information about the son of man and his job description.  When God made us in the garden we were just a bit below the angels and were crowned with glory and honor; we were, in fact, the crown of God’s creation.  He made Adam and Eve ruler and custodian of all things. All things on this earth were under their control.

What happened? That’s not us.  Not anymore.  This isn’t and can’t be a true job description for either David or for us.  It’s what we should be.  But it isn’t.

I’ll tell you what happened.  A snake happened.  Temptation deceived.  A bite.  Then a lasting curse, a curse lasting until the curse crusher.  Lasting until the last day sets and eternity dawns.

These verses then can’t be about us, about people, not in their truest sense.  These verses push us to ponder Jesus whom God sent.  In the fullness of time, God sent him to be born of a woman – just a little lower than the angels.  He crowned him with glory and honor.  And he will rule until all things are under his feet (1 Corinthians 15) until the last day sets and eternity dawns.

Oh, how God loves us!  He not only set the stars in the sky and hung the moon and planets in their places.  He not only pays attention to each person on the place of the earth.  BUT, on top of all that, he also gave up his one and only Son all the way to death on the cross.  He crowned his Son with glory and honor so that we might be crowned with glory and honor.  He put all things under the feet of Jesus so that we might live with him forever. Oh, how he loves us!

PRAYER

Father, too many days pass and I don’t pause to ponder how marvelous you really are.  I live my life and it all seems so normal and run-of-the-mill.  It all seems so regular. But what you did and what you’re doing is far from ordinary.  It’s majestic!  You not only know me and pay attention to me out of all the people in this world, but you also gave up your Son Jesus so that I might be even more!  You gave up your one and only Son so I could become an exalted heir of eternity!  Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth!  Amen.

A Heavy Burden

Day #26 – Job 29-32, Psalm 6.

A HEAVY LOAD

 Psalm 6:6-7 – I am worn out from groaning.  All night long I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.  My eyes grow weak with sorrow; they fail because of all my foes.

I can only imagine what a pack mule feels as it gets loaded up with bags and bundles.  I can only imagine how each additional bag presses down a little bit more into each joint of his body.  We can watch how his spine starts to sink as the weight presses down in the center of his back.  We can see how it struggles with each step and moves down the path.

So it is with sin.  Part of what weighs David down in this psalm is his sin.  He feels the weight and the guilt of all his sin.  He lies on his bed, awake, guilty, burdened, ashamed, sad, weeping because of all that he has done.  Sin is a burden none of us can bear nor should we want to.  If we want to carry our sin, if we want to keep it to ourselves unconfessed and unresolved, it will kill us.  That’s what sin does.  Death is its wages.  It is a burden that none of us dares bear.

So it is with life and those who cause us trouble.  The other part of what weighed David down were his enemies.  And David had plenty of them.  Read his life’s story in parts of 1 and 2 Samuel and you’ll start to identify all the enemies in David’s life.  These enemies too were more than he could handle.  Some of them wanted his life.  Some of them just wanted to cause him pain.  That’s what sinful people do.  They cause us pain. They come after us like an enemy.  They bruise us and scar us.  We lay awake at night hounded by thoughts of their plotting against us.  It’s a heavy burden many of us bear.

What will we do under our heavy load?  What did David do?  He called out to God with a desperate plea.  He called out to God and described for God exactly what he felt and exactly what was going on with him.  He called out to God in his weakness.  And the LORD heard his cry (Psalm 6:8).  And the LORD will hear you too.

You are not alone in your struggle.  You are not alone with your sin.  You do not need to carry it.  Confess it to the LORD and know this, “The Lord has taken away the guilt of your sin.  You are not going to die” (2 Samuel 12:13).  Your sin and guilt and shame is not a burden you need to carry – not at all – and certainly not alone through the hours of the night.  Your Savior Jesus took the burden of your sin and carried it to the cross.  All of it.  All by himself.  For you.

You are not alone against your enemies.  You do not need to face them.  Cast all your cares on the Lord because he cares for you; he will sustain you (1 Peter 5:7; Psalm 55:22).  Call on the Lord in the day of trouble and he will deliver you (Psalm 50:15).  Your God is by your side and will not leave you to face your enemies or to face the storms of life alone.  You are never – not now, not ever – by yourself.  Your God is by your side.

PRAYER

Lord God, at times in my life I have trouble sleeping because of how weighed down and burdened I am by my own guilt.  At times I have trouble in my life because I am threatened by people and circumstances; I’m scared! It’s a burden too heavy for me!  Remind me, once again dear Lord, not only that I am not alone in my sleeplessness; but remind me how you carry the burden for me.  The burden is not mine to carry; the weight is not mine to bear.  It is yours!  Help me to cast it on you in my prayers and then lean on you for your help.  I am not alone for you are with me!  I will not be overcome because you are my God and my Savior.  Amen.

A Refuge

Day #24 – Job 22-24, Psalm 5.

 Psalm 5:11 – But let all who take refuge in you be glad; let them ever sing for joy.  Spread your protection over them, that those who love your name may rejoice in you.

Hide and seek is one of the simplest but also greatest games for a family to play.  It allows parents and children to interact with each other in a silly and enjoyable way.  As a parent, it’s fun to play hide and seek and then pretend not to find my kids. “I wonder where they could be.”  See, sometimes the kids are hiding out in the open where everyone can see clearly. They’re hiding out in the open.

That’s the way we are in our sin. Our holy God sees all, knows all.  He knows even the deepest secrets of our hearts as if they were sitting under the bright sun.  So, it doesn’t do any good to even pretend to hide.  He knows us just as we sit or stand.

And yet, he calls for us.  He seeks us as he sought Adam in the Garden and asked, “Where are you?”  See, God calls for us because he wants us to find a new hiding place.  He wants us to abandon our sin.  He wants us to repent and turn to him for forgiveness.  He wants us to hide ourselves in the folds of his garments.  He wants us to hide ourselves in the blood of his Son.  He wants us to hide ourselves beneath the arms of his protection.

There is no better place to hide.  For there, in the folds of his garment and under the bath of his blood we have no more sin.  It’s forgiven and forgotten, as far from us as the east is from the west. There we are purified of all our sins.  There, there under the protection of his mighty arms we are safe from all danger.  No one and nothing can hurt us – not eternally, not forever, not for our harm.  Our God protects and works all things for our good. He is truly a refuge for us at all times.

PRAYER

Lord God, sometimes I try to hide from you because I know that I’ve sinned against you.  I realize that this is dumb.  It doesn’t do any good to hide or to try to get away.  So, lead me to repentance.  Lead me to a bath in your blood.  Lead me to the forgiveness of sins.  Lead me to your protecting arms.  Lead me to hide myself in you. Amen.

Entering God’s presence

Day #23 – Job 18-21, Psalm 5.

Psalm 5:7 – But I, by your great love, can come into your house; in reverence I bow down toward your holy temple.

Back in high school I had the opportunity to visit Germany on a tour of Luther’s country and some important places from his history.  It was a fascinating study to visit some of the ancient churches with their vaulted ceilings and stony walls.  Whenever I walked into one of those cathedrals or churches I felt like I had to whisper and walk on clouds so that I wouldn’t make a noise.  I imagined that even the slightest noise would disrupt the sanctity of that space.

On the one hand, that’s how we are with God.  We’re coming into the presence of the Most Holy and Most High God.  He doesn’t put up with sin and he hates all who do wrong.  And we’re sinners.  We’re not holy.  We dare not bound into God’s presence like we have a right to be there because on our own merits we have no right to be there.

BUT – these three letter words are so important. (Note well the BUT in verse 7.).  BUT we can come into God’s presence and into God’s most holy house because of God’s great love.  Because of the abounding and overflowing greatness of God’s love we can come into his children.  We don’t have to be afraid of offending him because the offense of our sin and sinfulness has been removed.  We don’t  have to be afraid of his anger because his anger has been removed for we have been forgiven.

And so we come into his throne room with bounding joy and deep reverence.  He is our holy God, our dear Father, who welcomes us to visit him in his throne room.  He is our holy God, our dear Father, who invites us to call on him.  We can come to him bounding like a child because our fear has been removed.

PRAYER

Lord God, your fierce anger at sin terrifies me because I know who I am and I know what I’ve done.  And you know me and my sin better than even I do.  You searched me and you know me.  But your love is greater.  Your love searches the deepest parts of my heart and purifies me of all my sin.  And so what you find in my heart is not sin, but faith.  You find no sin because you have made my heart a room in which your Spirit lives.  I’m not afraid anymore.  I’m not afraid to come to you, for you Lord have cleaned my heart and opened the doors to your most holy heart for me.  You’ve opened the doors to me, to hear me and to help me.  I’m not afraid anymore for you Lord, have forgiven me.  Amen.

Good morning, Lord.

Day #21 – Job 10-13, Psalm 5.

Psalm 5:3 – In the morning, LORD you hear my voice; in the morning I lay my requests before you and wait in expectation.

Someone gave me good advice once.  They advised me that when I go to sleep at night, I should end my day thanking God for all the things he did for me that day and throughout my life.  He urged me to end my day meditating on who God is and what he can do.  Then, he counseled, I could lay my head on my pillow and on his chest and sleep well.  If I end my day by listing my problems, I won’t sleep as well because I’ll be thinking about all the challenges and not about the one who will handle those obstacles.

The place for laying out my problems, my challenges, and all those things that weigh my heart down is in the morning.  When I put my feet down on the floor and stand up to face the day, he urged that this is a wonderful time to lay before God all those things that are coming up in that day.  It’s at this time that we can lay out the day’s agenda, lay out the important meetings, the confrontations that face us, the hard work that must be done.  We can lay it all out before the Lord.

And then we can work while we wait.  Then we can wait with eager expectation to see how God will bless the full day that is in front of us.  We can work and wait for him to do what God can and will do.  We can wait on him and he will not let us down.

PRAYER

Good morning, Lord!  Thank you for the good night’s sleep.  Thank you for giving me strength to wake up and face this day that you’ve given me.  There is much that faces me today, much that must get done.  Give me strength to get done what you want me to do.  Give me wisdom to know which works you want me to devote my time and attention to.  Grant success to all the things to which I place my hands.  Amen.

Sleep Well

Day #20 – Job 6-9, Psalm 4.

Psalm 4:8 – In peace I will lie down and sleep, for you alone , LORD, make me dwell in safety.

David invites us to think about this psalm as we go to bed at night.  He invites to meditate on the Lord as we put our heads on our pillows.  So, pull out this psalm and consider all the reasons we have to sleep deeply and to rest in the Lord’s arms.

• God hears our prayers. We don’t need to stay up all night wrestling with our troubles and problems because the Lord has heard our prayer and even while we sleep, he is at work solving and working for our very good.  We may sleep, but the Lord is the shade at our right hand.  He never slumbers or sleeps.  He never stops working for our good (Take a look at Psalm 121).
• God has set me apart for himself. As we set apart precious jewels to keep the clean and safe, so our Lord has set us apart as his very own to keep us clean and safe, as his very own people, chosen and precious to him.
• God will rescue me from all my enemies. It may not be today or tomorrow, but it will happen.  Even if my enemies take my life, if they take my goods, my fame, or even my life, they have not taken from me my salvation.  And in the end, I will stand with the Lord and see him with my own eyes!  How my heart yearns with in me.
• God will satisfy me with greater gifts than earthly. Oh, how we love the gifts that we get to enjoy on a daily basis.  The good food.  The friends and the functions that give us joy.  But God gives us more and greater things than these.  He will satisfy our souls with free food that satisfies eternally.
• Even as I sleep the Lord is watching me. I am safe. There are no schemes of hell or plans of men that can ever take me from his hand.  I can rest well because the Lord is watching me.

So, sleep well.  Rest well in the Lord’s arms.

PRAYER:

Now I lay me down to sleep, I pray the Lord my soul to keep.  If I should live for other days, I pray the Lord to guide my ways.  If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take.  And this I ask for Jesus sake.  Amen.

Overflowing Joy

Day #19 – Job 1-5, Psalm 4.

Psalm 4:7 – Fill my heart with joy when their grain and new wine abound.

When the going gets tough, even the tough get discouraged.  I know that’s not how the saying goes, but it’s how we feel.  At some point in the fight against enemies, at some point in the struggle to move forward, at some point even the toughest grow fainthearted and discouraged.

David did.  We see it in this psalm and in so many others.  He does charge into battle with fearlessness and courage.  He was tough and he did get going when the going got tough.  But in the quiet moments in the back of the cave, in the quiet moments back in his tent at night, David cried out to the Lord from a desperate and broken spirit.

He knew that there was but one remedy to a broken and desperate.  The Lord’s gift. The Lord’s gift of a joyful and peaceful heart.  The Lord’s gift of a patient spirit.  Only God could fill his heart with joy in the most joyless and difficult circumstances.  Even when people are asking where the Lord was.  Even when enemies were surrounding him and seeking his life.

Our God is our one remedy and our one hope.  And so we pray to him…

PRAYER:

Give me the fruits of the Spirit and fill my heart with love and joy and peace and patience and kindness.  Grant me a willing spirit to sustain me.  Renew to me the joy of my salvation.  Grant me hope and joy even when the situation is hopeless and joyless.  Fill my heart with joy and strengthen me for this day, dear Lord.  Amen.

Enemies.

Day #12 – Genesis 27-29, Psalm 3

Lord, how many are my foes! How many rise up against me! – Psalm 3:1

David was in a tough spot.  He was God’s anointed and appointed king, but there was an enemy threatening.  There was a threat to the throne.  David’s own son, Absalom, was rising up against David, conspiring to take the throne.  David and his throne were under threat from his own son (Read about it in 2 Samuel 15-16). The enemy was not some foreign enemy.  It was not some other religious group. It was not some other nation.  It was an inside attack by a mole who was born from David’s own loins, from his own family, his own flesh and blood.

Lord, how many are my foes!  He cries.  And you can understand why.  Enemies were coming out of the woodwork, mocking him as he fled the city, under threat of his life.

We have enemies too.  Enemies from other nations.  Enemies that are members of other religious groups. Enemies that are sometimes even members of our own families.  And at times, we are our own worst enemy. Our sinful flesh raises itself up to wage war against us (Check out Romans 7:22-23 where Paul identifies this war inside himself).

What will we do?  What will we do when the war comes to our front door, to our city gates, to the doors of our own heart?  We’ll cry out.  And God will listen.  He is, after all, as Hagar learned, the God who sees me.  He knows where we are.  He sees the war in which we’re engaged.  He sees our hurt, our pain, our struggle.  He sees; he hears; and in love he will act.

PRAYER

Lord, I’m feeling the treats of the enemy on every side.  I feeling their hot breath on my neck.  I’m scared.  Lord, I’m calling out to you.  Hear me!  I’m scared.  I’m threatened.  They’re mocking.  They’re laughing at you and what they think is your inability to help.  Hear me!  Help me!  I know you will.  Amen.

POINTS TO PONDER

1. What enemies do you have in your life? What enemies do you fear?  Where is your greatest physical and/or spiritual battle that you’re facing?  Identify it.
2. Call on God who hears and who helps. Read the story of David and Absalom in 2 Samuel 15-17 and learn this: What was David’s confidence and hope even as he left the city in shame?
3. How did God deliver David from his trouble and his enemies?

Hiding

Day #11: Genesis 24-26, Psalm 2

Blessed are all who take refuge in him. – Psalm 2:12

Unless you playing hide and see, hiding is usually a bad thing.  It means you’re trying to cover something up, trying to get away with something.  Whenever our kids are quiet in our house, I know that they’re up to something.  It can’t be good.

Hiding just isn’t possible when we’re talking about God.  He is the one who made us, who sees all things, knows all things.  He knows where we’re at.  And, as this psalm makes very clear – and the Bible makes clear too – he will hunt us down.  He hunted Adam and Eve down in the garden to confront them about their sin.  He hunted Cain down after he killed his brother.  There is no escaping the all-powerful God who see all things, knows all things.  You can’t hide FROM God.

But there is one thing the psalmist makes very clear.  You may not be able to hide FROM God, but you can hide in God.  See, hiding FROM God means that we’re trying to throw off his shackles and escape his good rule.  But hiding IN God means that we’re seeking his will, his rule, his grace and his mercy. Hiding IN God means that we’re seeking IN him and FROM him all that we need.

IN him we are sheltered from the condemnation we deserve, because IN him there is forgiveness, IN him there is compassion and mercy.  IN him we are sheltered from the storms of life because he rules them all.  IN him we are protected from our enemies and all who would take us down.   IN him we are contended, happy and blessed.

Yes, blessed is the one who hides in him.

PRAYER

Lord God, you are the only safe place I can run in any situation, whether in danger, in fear, in guilt, or in sin.  I can run to you.  I can run to you after sin because in you there is forgiveness.  I can run to you in danger because in you there is protection. I can run to you in fear because in your there is compassion and help.  I can run to you in weakness because in you there is strength.  Here I come Lord!  Hold me close. Amen.

 POINTS TO PONDER:

• Explain this statement with its emphasis on the prepositions. “There is no hiding FROM him; there is only hiding IN him.”
• How can I tell when I’m hiding FROM him?
• How can I do less hiding FROM him and more hiding IN him?