The God Who Keeps His Promises - Andrew Murray

Men know the advantages of making covenants.

A covenant has often been of unspeakable value as an end to hatred or uncertainty, as an agreement of services rendered, as an assurance of good quality and honesty, and as a basis for confidence and friendship.

In His infinite descent to our human weakness and need, God's pledge of faithfulness goes beyond the ways of men.

He gives us perfect confidence in Him and the full assurance of all that He, in His infinite riches and power, has promised to do.

He has consented to bind Himself by Covenant, as if He could not be trusted.

Blessed is the man who truly knows God and his covenant God and knows what the Covenant promises him. What unwavering confidence of expectation it secures!

All its terms will be fulfilled. What a claim and hold it gives him on the covenant-keeping God Himself.

To the many who have not thought much about the Covenant, it would mean the transformation of their whole lives to have a true, living faith.

The full knowledge of what God wants to do, the assurance that it will be done, and the being drawn to God Himself in personal surrender makes the Covenant the very gate of heaven.

May the Holy Spirit give us some vision of its glory.

---From Covenants and Blessings, by Andrew Murray

For the LORD your God is a merciful God; he will not

abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your forefathers, which he confirmed to them by oath. 

 (Deuteronomy 4:31).

Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God,  keeping covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments.

(Deuteronomy 7:9)

Because God wanted to make the unchanging nature of his purpose very clear to the heirs of what was promised,

he confirmed it with an oath.

God did this so that, by two unchangeable things in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled to take hold of the hope offered us may be greatly encouraged. 

We have this hope as an anchor for the soul, firm and secure.

 (Hebrews 6:17-19).

Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess,

for he who promised is faithful.

(Hebrews 10:23)

He is the ever-faithful One!

"Though the  mountains be shaken, and the

hills be removed,

Yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken

Nor my covenant of peace be removed,"

says the LORD, who has compassion on you.

(Isaiah 54:10)

His covenant guarantees that he will never depart from us - his kindness will never cease - he will secure us in his love forever.

Though we are faithless --

HE IS ALWAYS FAITHFUL!

My Ebenezer Stone - 2

Forsaking God and His commandments, Israel experienced a time of trouble and defeat at the hands of her enemies.

When the new priest and judge, Samuel, appeared and declared God's love and faithfulness, the people repented and re-committed their hearts to their LORD.

          If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts,
             then rid yourselves of the foreign gods...and commit
             yourselves to the LORD and serve Him only, and He
             will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.....

             Then Samuel said, "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and
             I will intercede with the LORD for you."
                                 
             On that day they fasted and there they confessed, "We
             have sinned against the LORD."

The Israelites then defeated the Philistines.

             Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between
             Mizpah and Shen. He named it Ebenezer [which means
             stone of help], saying "Thus far has the LORD helped
             us."

             So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade
             Israel territory again.
                         -- 1 Samuel, chapter 7.



1. Samuel placed the stone at the time the restoration began. They repented and he memorialized it then.  "He cried out to the LORD on Israel's behalf, and the LORD answered him" (1 Samuel 7:9).

2. The stone was a visible reminder of what the people had done. As they returned to their lives and
daily work, it stood there reminding them of their
commitment to follow the LORD.

3. The stone represented a new beginning, a new page, a clean slate. What we all yearn for!


Is it time for us to erect our own Ebenezer Stones?

It could be a physical stone, a special bracelet, a prominent sticky note somewhere, or a note in our Bible or prayer Journal, or any visible sign to remind us that we are new people. We belong to the God of the Universe!

This is the day I changed course  - I am returning to the God I love!


My friends in AA tell me how long they have been sober. They do not go back to the earlier days and relate their experiences with alcoholism - only of the last drink they took - and then forward - and they move further up the road of sobriety. They do not mention the number of days they spent drinking - they count the days they have been walking in the new direction.

You and I must do the same - don't rehearse the past days of sinful actions, or mistakes and bad judgments -

because the Ebenezer Stone is also a reminder of forgiveness.




We should write 1J19 on our stone - 1 John 1:9 -




     If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us  
   our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.




Forgive and purify....All unrighteousness...not some of it....

My sin, not in part, but the whole

Is nailed to the Cross and I bear it more!

Praise the Lord - Praise the Lord - O my soul!

  -- from It Is Well with My Soul,

by Horatio Spafford

Trust God. He has forgiven us and removed our sins "as far as the east is from the west" (Psalm 103:12).

My Ebenezer Stone reminds me that I serve a living, loving and faithful God, whose covenant with His people is everlasting.

He welcomes me back with open arms.

The old pioneer song, "I will arise and go to Jesus, He will embrace me in His arms" says it all......


      
            

The Ebenezer Stone - 1

Now the Israelites went out to fight against the Philistines. The Israelites camped at Ebenezer, and the Philistines at Aphek.

The Philistines deployed their forces to meet Israel, and as the battle spread Israel was defeated by the Philistines, who killed about four thousand of them on the battlefield.
           -- 1 Samuel 4:1-2

The Israelites were soundly defeated.

As the narrative continues, the elders of Israel asked
each other, "Why did the LORD bring defeat upon us today before the Philistines? Let us bring the ark of the LORD's covenant from Shiloh, so that it may go well with us and save us from the hand of our enemies."

So men went to Shiloh and brought back with them the sacred ark.



When the ark of the LORD'S covenant came into camp, all Israel raised such a great shout that the ground shook.

Hearing the uproar, the Philistines asked, "What's all this shouting in the Hebrew camp?"

When they learned that the ark of the LORD had come into the camp, the Philistines were afraid.   

"A god has come into camp," they said. "Nothing like this has happened before. Woe to us! Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods? They are the gods who struck the Egyptians with all kinds of plagues....Be strong, Philistines! Be men, or you will be subject to the Hebrews as they have been to you. Be men, and fight!" 
        -- 1 Samuel 4:5-9

The Philistines fought hard, and the Israelites were defeated again. They fled back to their tents and "the slaughter was very great" -- Israel lost thirty thousand foot soldiers.

Not only that -- their sacred ark of God was captured
and taken by the Philistines from Ebenezer to Ashdad and placed in the temple of their pagan god, Dagon, and set beside the idol.

The Philistines were in for a surprise, because the next morning Dagon has fallen prostrate on the ground before the ark of the LORD.



They stood the idol back in its place, but the next morning when they came into the temple, there was Dagon fallen again on its face before the blessed ark, with its head and hands broken off.


The ark of the LORD caused destruction and panic in the land of the Philistines and they begged Israel to
retrieve it and stop God's judgment on them.


So the men of Kiriath Jearim came and took up the ark of the LORD. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar his son to guard the ark of the LORD.
          -- 1 Samuel 7:1


So the ark remained at Kiriath Jearim and the Philistines continued to plague Israel.


Finally, "The people mourned and sought after the LORD," we read in 1 Samuel 7:2.


The prophet Samuel told them:


If you are returning to the LORD with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods...and commit yourselves to the LORD and serve him only, and he will deliver you out of the hand of the Philistines.  So the Israelites put away their Baals and Ashtoreths and served the LORD only.


Then Samuel assembled all Israel at Mizpah and they prayed to God, fasted and confessed their sin.


The Philistines heard the Israelites were gathered at Mizpah, and advanced.


The Israelites were frightened, telling Samuel, "Do not stop crying out to the LORD our God for us, that he may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines."


The Philistines drew near to engage in battle.


But that day the LORD thundered with loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before the Israelites. The men  of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued them along the way to a point below Beth Car.


So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again.


Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen.
He named it Ebenezer, saying, "Thus far has the LORD helped us."


(Read all of this important saga in the Old Testament, 1 Samuel, chapters 4-7.)


Ebenezer means "stone of help."


Samuel was marking the occasion and site of God's help in defeating the enemies of Israel.


It wasn't the ark that saved them: they had the ark with them when the Philistines defeated them
in battle.


What saved Israel was their repentance and re-commitment to serve their God.


Samuel placed the large commemorative stone at the place where their restoration began.


And that stone stood there, visible for all to see, to remind them, not just of God's judgment, but also of His mercy and grace "to help in time of need" (Hebrews 4:16).


An "Ebenezer Stone" represents a fresh beginning, a reversal of our course. It also reminds us that His mercies are everlasting and His covenant is forever.


As I look back on my life I see some "Ebenezer stones" I have placed at critical times in my journey with Christ.


They point to a time when I changed course - when I reconsidered my life and decisions - when I reversed my direction and came back to God's purpose for me.


But even more, these "Ebenezer stones" remind me that I am forgiven, that I chose a new direction, and that God has a permanent covenant with all who put their faith in His Son, Jesus Christ.


Samuel was a wise Servant of God. He understood the importance of "markers" and he understood that we are all forgetful and need reminders of God's calling.


Israelites could stand beside that Ebenezer Stone and remind themselves that they served a living, loving and faithful God, whose mercies are everlasting.


Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead, I strain to reach the end of the race and receive the prize for which God, through Christ Jesus, is calling us up to in heaven.
             --Philippians 3:13-14, written by the Apostle Paul to  
                            the Christians at Philippi, in the New Testament


Give thanks to the LORD, for he is good. His love endures forever.
            --Psalm 136:1, recorded in the Old Testament.

A well is not a stream.....

The Samaritan woman said to him, "You are a Jew and I am a Samaritan woman. How can you ask me for a drink?" (For Jews do not associate with Samaritans.)

Jesus answered her, "If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked him and he would have given you living water."

"Sir," the woman said, "You have nothing to draw and the well is deep. Where can you get this living water? Are you greater than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did also his sons and his flocks and herds?"

Jesus answered, "Everyone who drinks this water will be thirsty again, but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."
                                            ----John 4:9-14


Jesus offered the woman "living water."

What did that mean? In Jewish speech the phrase "living water" meant water that was flowing, not water that was stagnant, as in a cistern or a well.

Fresh, flowing water would always be preferred over
well water.

So the woman He was speaking to naturally thought of a stream.

She seems skeptical. Here was a man who thought he could produce better, finer water than did her ancestor Jacob.

After all, had Jacob known of a stream he certainly would not have taken the trouble to dig a well, probably a hundred feet deep.

He goes on to talk about living water that cures thirst forever. Not only that, it becomes a spring inside us that wells up continually.

No one as ever seen a well of water spring up. Only the water in a spring springs up.

The water in a well just lies there.

So Jesus is not talking about a well at all.

The woman had come to a well. Jesus has invited her to a spring.

Now He adds that if she allows Him to place this spring in her, the spring will never cease but will continue to bubble and bubble on forever.

Perhaps you want to build a house on a piece of property on which there is a well. But you don't want the well -- you will have city water.

You will just ask the bulldozers to push some dirt into the well and the well will be gone forever.

This won't work with a spring on your property. (Of course, you probably wouldn't want to stop up a lovely spring of fresh water, but if you did you would find it a much more difficult task.)

You could push a large pile of dirt over the spring and it might appear to have stopped the flow. But by morning, the stream will be there again, simply by pushing its way through the ground.

A well can be covered. A spring seeps through anything you may place over it.

That's what Jesus is talking about. He is promising to place a spring within the life of anyone who will come to Him.

His spring will be eternal, free, joyous, and self-dependent.

But He is also warning us that we will never be able to stop it - we can't bulldoze anything over it to stop its flow!

We might try -- I know I have.

Sometimes His Presence in my life has seemed inconvenient and maybe intrusive - certainly He seemed to interfere with my plans.

So I tried to "put a plug on it" and go my own way.

But, like the stream the builder tried to cover up with dirt, my life became muddy water.

Obviously, muddy water did not come from the stream itself -- the stream water was clean and pure -- it was because I pushed dirt into the water source that it produced filthy, not fresh and clean, water!

So I came back to the Source of the Living Water, to Jesus, and asked Him to clean me up again - to remove the dirt and grime and let His lovely sparkling water flow freely again!

It took some work, but He did it!

And if I mess up again, He'll certainly clean me up again. I'm confident of that.

Being confident of this, that He who began

a good work in you will carry it on to completion

until the day of Christ Jesus.  

Philippians 1:6

Did YOU forget to ask? John 4 -

What Jesus Reminds Us....(Recorded in John 4)

Remember the woman at Sychar? 

She was a Samaritan woman and I purposed to meet her at the ancient Jacob's well.

I asked her for a drink of water. She was surprised
at the request. But she didn't ask Me for anything.

Right there, in front of her, the Creator and Sovereign Lord of the Universe, the One able to bestow any gift to any humble creature.

But she didn't ask. I had to call it to her attention -
Look, I said to her, If you knew the gift of God and who it is that asks you for a drink, you would have asked Me and I would have given you living water.

She still didn't understand. She didn't "know the gift" and she didn't know who I was.

I explained it to her, just as I have patiently explained it to you.

Now you do know.  You know the gift I bring and you know who I am.

It delights Me to give my Children gifts.

So why don't you ask for more?

You have not because you ask not.

James 4:2

The Path We Are On Now - Looking Back

Lord, I feel myself getting tired and growing discouraged.

I am weary of  trying to work things out. I am tired of toilet paper jokes. I am tired of wearing a mask. I am tired of distance markers in my usual stores.  I am tired of wondering if I can approach and greet my friends.

I miss church.

But I remember You never grow weary or impatient.
You never give up.

Your love is never-ending  and without limit.

It always covers me, no matter where I am or what I am doing or what I am feeling. And it fills me with joy.

I praise You because I can count on that and I know that this path we are on has a purpose.

It is taking us somewhere. Somewhere You want us to be.
And this path is exactly where You want us to be right now.

And so I am content.  Just work Your will in us.

Our Father, You and pleasing You are all that matter to us!!!

Why All This Now? - C S Lewis

 

                                     Why All This Now?

Sometimes a Christian experiences life going along pretty well.

Then complications and troubles come along: illnesses, money problems, family crises, new kinds of temptations, etc. and he gets disappointed -- why all of this now? All at once?  he might ask. ...Just when things were going so good!

This is what C S Lewis says:

"Because God is forcing him on, or up, to a higher level: putting him into situations where he will have to be very much braver, or more patient, or more loving than he ever dreamed before.

It seems to us all unnecessary, but that is because we have not the slightest notion of the tremendous thing He means to make of us. He wants to make us into 'Christians'-- that is, 'little Christs'!

Keepers of the Lighthouse, Journal - 1920's

Journal of a Lighthouse Keeper, during the 1920's -

off the west coast of Australia

                                            ~~~~~

He cleans the stairs and re-paints constantly the wooden framework. He polishes the brass daily and cleans the lens.

It's a hard job, and a busy one.The days can leave him exhausted and sore, worried about the look of a storm front coming in at a gallop, or frustrated by the way hailstones crush the vegetable patch, or helpless as he sees ships headed into stormy seas. 

But if he doesn't think about it too hard, he knows who he is and what he's there for.

He just has to keep the light burning. And the lens clean.

Nothing more.

"People imagine the light must be huge, but it's not-- the actual luminescence comes from a flame of vaporized oil that burns in an incandescent mantle. It gets magnified and directed through a giant set of glass prisms twelve feet high, called a  first order Fresnel lens, which bends the light into a beam so intense you can see it more  than thirty miles away. Amazing to think a little thing can become so strong that you can see it miles off.

"My job -- my job...it's to keep the lens clean."

A light must be seen.

You are the light of the world. A city on a hill cannot be hidden. Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.

-- Matthew 5:14-16

The Eagle Has Landed - July 20

 

                                      The Heavens Declare - July 20

This is the day - July 20 - 1969 - The Eagle has landed!

When Apollo 11's Eagle Lunar module landed on the moon's Sea of Tranquility on this date in 1969, the space travelers took time to recover from their flight before stepping onto the moon's surface.

Astronaut Buzz Aldrin had received permission to bring bread and wine so he could take Lord's Supper, or Communion.

After reading scripture, he tasted the first food even consumed on the moon. Later he wrote, "I poured the wine into the chalice our church had given me. In the one-sixth gravity of the moon the wine curled slowly and gracefully up the side of the cup."

Buzz Aldrin was proclaiming loudly to the whole world what it meant to "proclaim the Lord's death until He comes" (1 Corinthians 11:26).

Jesus had taught His disciples, "on the night He was betrayed," that His soon-to-be sacrificed body was compared to the bread, "broken for you," and the wine as the symbol "of the new covenant" that secured forgiveness and salvation through His blood shed on the cross.

Probably Buzz Aldrin's thoughts also went to Psalm 19:1 -- "The heavens declare the glory of God, the skies proclaim the works of His hand" -- as he gazed out upon the starry sky and the beautiful blue globe that was his earthly home.

Neil Armstrong and Mike Collins are gone now, but Buzz Aldrin is still living, in his nineties, and still "proclaiming The Lord's death" as we all wait for His  return!

A reminder, no matter where we are, we can still celebrate our faith and hope in that glad day that awaits us!... a true "giant leap" for the bride of Christ!...as Jesus calls us home!

"Whenever you eat this bread and drink this cup 

you proclaim the Lord's death until He comes"(1 Corinthians 11:26).

Hopeful Explains His Hope - Pilgrim's Progress

From John Bunyan's classic Pilgrim's Progress: How Hopeful Gained His Hope.

While traveling toward the Celestial City, Christian asks Hopeful how he came to be on the road headed for the heavenly destination....


Christian: And could you, at any time, easily throw off the feeling of guilt?

Hopeful: No, indeed, for when I tried to do that, sin seemed to take a stronger hold on me. Still, when I considered going back to my old sins, that brought on additional distress, for my mind had been changed, and the idea was repulsive.

Christian: And what did you do then?

Hopeful: I tried to mend my ways....I thought that was the only way to find peace...I quit my sins -- what I considered to be sins --  but also my sinful company and I took up good works, such as praying regularly, reading the Bible, going to church, giving to charity, speaking the truth. These things and many others I was careful to observe.

Christian: How did it happen then that your troubles came back, since you were living a moral life?

Hopeful: Several things caused me to doubt and to feel that all was not well.

For instance such sayings as these: "Not by works of righteousness which we have done" (Titus 3:5); "All our righteousness is as filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6); "Being justified by faith we have peace with God" (Romans 5:1); "Except a man be born again he shall not see the kingdom of God" (John 3:3).

From these plain emphatic statements I would reason like this: If it is not by works of righteousness or works of the law
that a man is justified and saved, then I am not saved.

If I had real faith, I would be justified and have peace in my heart. Therefore, it must be that I am not born of God. And if I am not born of God, I can never see the kingdom of God.

Another thing that troubled me after my reformation was when I examined closely my best deeds, I could see evil mixed with the good --  wrong motives, selfishness, and pride.

So I was forced to conclude that in spite of all my efforts and good opinions of myself, I was still committing enough sin to send me to Hell, even if my former life had been faultless.

Christian: And what did you do?

Hopeful: Do? I did not know what to do. I went to Faithful with my problem (he and I were close friends).

He told me that unless I could obtain the righteousness of a man who was perfect and who had never sinned, neither my own righteousness nor all the righteousness of the world could save me.

Christian: And did you believe he was telling you the truth?

Hopeful: Yes, After I saw my own corruption and the sin that clung to my best performance, I had to admit he was right.

Christian:  Did you believe such a man could be found? And did you ask him who this man was and where he could be found?

Hopeful:  Yes, and he told me that the man was Jesus Christ, who was now seated at the right hand of God, and he said that I must be justified by Him by trusting in Him and what He did for me when He died upon the cross.

I asked him how that man's righteousness could be effectual in justifying another before God.

And he told me that He died not for Himself, but for me, to atone for my sins, to pay off all my debt to God, and that God had accepted what He did for me, and that when I believed in Him and what He did, His righteousness world be imputed to me.

Christian: What did you think of that?

Hopeful: I believed that Jesus was righteous and that He died for the sins of the world; yet I doubted that He would impute His righteousness to one so sinful as myself, and I imagined that He would condemn such before God -- and rightly so.

Christian: And what did Faithful say?

Hopeful: He said, "Why not go to Him and see?" And I said that would presumptuous. He said, "No, for you are invited to come!" 

He gave me a book of the very words of Jesus, encouraging me to come.

I asked him what I must do when I came to Christ.

He said I must plead with all my heart and soul to the Father to reveal Him to me.

He said, "You will find Him at the mercy seat, where He sits all year long, granting pardons and forgiveness to them that come.

You simply say (and mean it with all your heart): "God be merciful to me a sinner. I acknowledge and confess my sinfulness and all my sins. Help me to know and believe in Jesus Christ, for I see that without His righteousness and mercy, and unless I believe in that righteousness and accept His offered mercy, I shall be lost forever.

"Lord, I have heard that you are a merciful God, and that You have ordained your Son, Jesus Christ, to be the Savior of the world, and that You are willing to bestow His goodness and mercy upon a poor lost sinner like me -- and I am a wretched, helpless sinner indeed.

"Lord, now take my sins and give me Your righteousness. Magnify Your grace in the salvation of my soul.

In Jesus' name. Amen."

Christian: What particular effect did this have on your spirit and life?

Hopeful: My heart overflowed with joy and peace, also with love for Jesus Christ -- His words, His ways, and His people.

He let me see that all the world, notwithstanding all the righteousness in it, is in a state of condemnation and that God the Father, though He is absolutely just, can justly justify the ungodly sinner who believes.

I was now extremely ashamed of my past life and perfectly amazed at my profound ignorance, for I had never before seem the unsurpassed beauty of the love of God revealed in the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

I now felt that if I had a thousand lives to give, I would gladly give them all in the service of the Lord Jesus Christ and for His sake.

~~~~~

And that's why we still call it "Amazing Grace'!

What does 'inspired' mean? James Montgomery Boice

All scripture is God-breathed and useful for teaching, rebuking, correction, and training in righteousness.

   -- 2 Timothy 3:16 


The first thing 2 Timothy  tells us about Scripture is why it is useful -- because Scripture comes from God.

Old translations of the verse use the word inspired, reading "All scripture is inspired by God."

The Latin Vulgate translated the Greek as divinitus inspirata, and inspirita passed into  English as "inspired" through the translation of Wycliffe.

The interesting thing about the Greek word is that, strictly speaking, it does not refer to inspiration at all.

That is not to say that inspiration is not a valid theological term. It is.

When we think of inspiration we think of the power of God guiding the writers of the Bible so that what they wrote, even though they wrote in their own language and with their own vocabulary and on the basis of their own experience, was nevertheless exactly what God wanted written.

The word inspiration refers to this. Inspiration means "breathed into," from in meaning "in" or "into" and spiro meaning "breathe."  It describes the process of God's revelation of Himself in Scripture from a human point of view. However, this is not the meaning behind the underlying Greek word in 2 Timothy 3:16.

Theopneustos, the Greek word used, combines the word for "God" (theos) and the word for "breath" or "spirit" (pneustos). It means "God-breathed," and

is the translation used by the New International Version.

It teaches that Scripture is the result of this breathing out of God. Much as God created man by breathing into him and making him "a living soul," God also breathed out the Scriptures so they became a living revelation.

Paul is not talking about how human authors of  Scriptures received God's revelation. He is talking about Scripture itself, saying that the words of Scripture are the words of God, and this is what makes Scripture so useful.

A book containing merely human words might be true and useful to a point.

An instruction manual for your new dishwasher helps you run the appliance. The operator's book on your new car is useful.

If you want to learn Latin, a book teaching you Latin will be useful.

But there is no comparison between human books, useful in limited ways, and the Word of God useful in the ways Paul spells out in 2 Timothy 3:16.


   -- James Montgomery Boice, Standing on the Rock,

        Chapter 6, The Most Useful Thing in the World

The LORD God formed the man from the dust of the ground

and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life,

and the man became a living being....

  Genesis 2:7

So much more...Psalm 132

This week I am using Madame Guyon's first prayer method, Praying the Scripture. I haven't been able to get a handle on her second method, Waiting in His Presence. It is really hard to just sit still for a period of time! And I know I need to work on it.

Psalm 132 is my starting place for most of this week. It is a Psalm of Ascents, one of those sang, most scholars believe, by the Jews as they walked up to Jerusalem to celebrate their pilgrim feasts (Passover, Pentecost and Day of Atonement.) When reading these Psalms it is easy to imagine them, in small groups, happily walking up the winding road to the Holy City. They would be able to see other clusters of faithful and excited pilgrims scattered along the road, some up ahead of them and some coming up behind them.

It might be sort of like when we drive in the mountains, and it appears that automobiles sort of cluster together. There will be a group of 3 or 4 up ahead around a couple more curves, and another band following behind us. Very rarely do we see a car alone. That was probably true for those Hebrew pilgrims.

As they journeyed up they would sing and chant Psalms of joy and praise. Likely they shouted some of the verses back and forth to each other, praising their great and merciful God for His faithful love and goodness. Maybe the joyful sounds echoed around the hills that lined the road. Maybe those at the very bottom, just beginning their walk, could hear those "echoes of mercy, whispers of love" as they moved along. (I wonder if they called it surround sound?)

Anyway, this is what I am experiencing reading Psalm 132: It reveals an aspect of God's character that we often ignore. His eagerness to shower on us more than we even ask for or can imagine.

The first 9 verses recall David's desire to build the LORD a temple. It reminds us of David's oath to God about the new temple. And then in verses 11-18 we read God's oath to David.

Verse 10 is a sort of hinge verse, revealing to us that the Psalm was written, not by David, but by his successor. It seems the Psalm was originally written by one of the musicians serving at the time of Solomon, probably for the dedication service of the great Temple.

But what brings me joy is to compare the words of each section. In verse 8 the poet is asking God to "Arise, O LORD, and come to your resting place." And then in God's response, in verses 13 and 14, God says "This is my resting place for ever and ever."

In verse 9 the poet asked God to clothe His priests with righteousness. God's response in verse 16 is that He will clothe them even more regally, with salvation.

In verse 9 the poet asks God to allow His saints to sing for joy. God says in verse 16 that the saints will sing with joy forever.

In verse 10 God is asked to accept, for the sake of David, the new king. God promises even more than that -- He will place David's descendants on the throne for as long as they keep their covenant with God.

And then in verses 17 and 18 we have the best-of-all promise that God will rise up a "horn", the symbol of a powerful ruler, who will achieve all that God has promised to His people. This is a whisper, a preview, of the long-awaited Messiah.

The kingdom of this world has become the kingdom of Our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 11:15)

Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us, to Him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, for ever and ever! Amen. Eph. 3:20-21

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US - Part 2 - King David, General Washington and Trails of Tears

If I had been your history teacher, King David's retreat would have reminded you of a story in American history, a sad story that, like King David's, eventually, after much suffering and pain, had a good ending.


This story from American history is about George Washington. And it is not a fairy tale. It is real life, at its best and worst.

(When you think about it, the Bible's message of God's enduring love and mercy is the only true fairy tale there is -- why? because we can all live happily ever after!)

For over 200 years historians and scholars have picked over George Washington's whole life. They try to explain why he was so loved -- why his memory has been so cherished by Americans and people all over the world -- why his men stood and fought with him against impossible odds -- how he could give his men the vision to see his dream -- how he could last through all the opposition he faced -- what actually made the man who he was. (And how he rode on his distinctive white horse in that colorful uniform in the middle of battle and was never shot -- bullet holes in his hat, his sleeves, his saddle, but he was never even injured!)

Secular humanists have a three-pronged attack aimed at (1) religious faith,(2) the Constitution, and (3) the lives of our Founding Fathers.

They have put maximum effort into "downsizing" our Founding Fathers, especially George Washington, but as long as people truly study the history of this country, reading original sources and searching out for themselves the truth of our heritage, George Washington just keeps growing bigger!


Their failure to understand the person and significance of George Washington is because they try to reject the spiritual foundation of his life. They would even reject that sentence because they consider spiritual issues to be trivial anyway!

Washington's faith, like many of us today, penetrates every area of his life. It was his worldview! Everything in his life was seen and interpreted through his eyes of faith. It was not a slice of the pie. It was the whole pie!

He believed that God, in His sovereignty, had destined the separation of the colonies from Britain, and the formation of the new country. So he could never give up, no matter what challenges faced him.

When a historian tries to remove Washington's faith in God's sovereignty and his reliance on the work of Jesus Christ in the affairs of men -- they are left with a great mystery. They cannot explain the man.

George Washington can't be understood except by understanding his great faith in God and his confidence that God had brought the American colonies to that place in history so that His kingdom could be advanced, and that it is all for God's honor and glory.


Washington's life cannot be understood in any other way.

And neither can King David's. It is easy for us to interpret King David's life because we have his own writings, and the archives of Hebrew history to rely on.

We have detailed records of his faith in God. Even while retreating, King David could say confidently:

On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because You are my help, I sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

(Psalm 63)

The same feeling is echoed in so many of the Psalms.


King David's ordeal happened around 1000 BC. When we fast forward about 2700 years -- specifically 1776, in the fall, we come to George Washington, also retreating in his own land, in the most critical year of this country's history.

Just as we have much information on King David's faith, much from his own hand, we also have quite a bit from George Washington to help us understand how his worldview directed his life. Things he himself said, not what later students of history wrote about him.



I know this is going to be long.

I thought about shortening it, and, actually, I did, or started to.
But then I realized that so much of the problems facing our nation today are the result of neglecting, ignoring, "shortening" (reducing) the teaching of our nation's founding.

If you are not deeply emotional when you read about our nation's beginning, it's because you were never taught it as it really happened. 

I must sound arrogant. I am certainly angry. Our population today has been short-changed. They have been cheated. Cheated of heroes, of greatness, of moral clarity. Of the possibility of authentic courage and selfless motives.

I remember teachers warning us in school about not making judgments because there were so many "gray areas." As I have grown older I see that that was all wrong. There are not many gray areas at all. Most of life is profoundly simple -- black or white. Good or evil. Right or wrong. Choices we make every day.

It's not the knowing of what is right that is hard; it is the doing of right that is hard. They didn't talk about that much in school when I was growing up. And I think it is much the same way today --

We don't care about heroes much these days. Instead we concentrate on celebrities.
We don't care much about character. Instead we promote personality. Cynical comments always get a laugh. Honest appraisals are mostly ignored.

George Washington would probably never win a personality contest. He had no nickname -- no "Ike," or "JFK," or "Silent Cal." Everyone called him General Washington, or President Washington, or Mr. Washington.

He rarely smiled, we are told. He rarely showed any emotion. On the few occasions we know of when he displayed anger, he quickly asked forgiveness and made his enemies his friends.





Think of the time line:
May, 1776. The Continental Congress authorizes each of the 13 colonies to form local governments.

June 7, 1776. Richard Henry Lee, of Virginia, presents a formal resolution calling for America to declare its independence from Britain. A committee, led by Thomas Jefferson, is appointed to prepare a draft of the document.

June-July, 1776. The massive British war fleet arrives in New York Harbor. 30 battleships, 1200 cannon, 30,000 soldiers, 10,000 sailors, and 300 supply ships,
all under the command of General William Howe and his brother Admiral Lord Richard Howe.

The Declaration of Independence is accepted by Congress on July 4 and signed on August 2, when most of the 55 members of Congress placed their names on the parchment copy.

NOTE: A few weeks ago I witnessed a US Congressman being interviewed by journalists.
He trivialized our Declaration of Independence, saying it wasn't really that important. I wonder -- has he ever read it? That document changed world history. And the penalty for signing it was, because it was tyranny against the King, harsh to say the least.

The crime of treason was punished by dragging the accused by a rope to the gallows.
Then hanging him until almost dead, then taking a sword and ripping his intestines out, burning them in front of him (the executioners were encouraged to move quickly so they could accomplish all this before the victim died), then chopping off his head, and then "quartering him," sending the parts of the body throughout the land.

When John Hancock placed his large signature on the Declaration of Independence, he had counted the cost! as had all the others.

Throughout the first years of the war, the British made generous offers of amnesty to all Americans who would lay down their arms (surrender) and also denounce the Declaration of Independence. These offers were distributed throughout the colonies.
They must have been very tempting, and many Americans did lay down their arms.

August 27-29, 1776. Battle of Long Island. General Howe's 15,000 men severely defeated Washington's 7,000. The colonials retreated to Brooklyn Heights, facing capture and total surrender. They were trapped. Then a miracle happened. Under the cover of rain and a "providential fog" (completely unexpected and unusual for that locale) Washington's remaining troops were ferried across to Manhattan.

During the course of the war, in the years 1776 to 1781, Washington's reports to Congress and to his men cited 67 times that their escape, or their success, was the result of the hand of God. That's about once a month!

We have the record of certain British statesmen and members of Parliament in London, who, when informed of the progress of the War and General Washington's numerous escapes, told George III that it appeared God was on the side of the colonials, not Britain.

Now the colonial army was on the run. In ten weeks Washington has lost Long Island, New York City and Westchester.

To the British it was a glorious adventure, a joyful lark!

Next the colonial rebels lost more ground at the Battle of White Plains.

Another retreat westward. The Americans had held on to a small fort in Manhattan where arms were stored. It fell in October. And the British captured the vital stores of 100 cannon, thousands of muskets and cartridges.

Then the Americans lose Fort Lee in New Jersey to the English General Cornwallis.
Washington had lost 3000 troops in these two battles. General Washington abandoned all of New York and moves his forces further westward toward the Delaware River.
Cornwallis pursues him, calling him "that fox" and using hunting horns to intimidate and ridicule the colonial army.

Nathan Hale was caught and executed without a trial. (The British didn't do the other stuff, though.) His last words, "I only regret that I have but one life to give for my country."

In November and December of 1776 Washington is pushing his men west toward the Delaware River, with Cornwallis right behind. The weather is the worst people can remember. Deep snow, piling up in drifts, wind blowing icy fingers into the men's faces.

They have no uniforms, not even adequate clothing. At least 1000 are without shoes.
Some have taken the hides of slaughtered cattle and tried to make shoes for their bloody, swollen feet, but these didn't hold up very long. Few coats, few blankets, very little food. But they still managed to fell some trees as they went along to hinder the progress of the British army racing behind them.

The British army had colorful uniforms, with bright red coats and provisions on their backs -- including blankets, eating utensils, water and extra boots. The infantry British soldier carried at least 125 pounds of supplies on his back!


The poor ragtag army of George Washington had nothing on their backs! Journals of those men tell us that General Washington often had tears in his eyes as he watched the men file past. He knew they had very little to eat and certainly no hope of blankets that night.

The journals also tell us that as they walked through the blinding blizzard, pointing their faces toward the ground to avoid the piercing blasts of snow, they could not see where they were going. They simply followed the bloody footprints ahead of them -- the only thing visible to them.


(Actually, when you think about it, the colonial infantryman with no shoes and little clothing could probably outrun a fully clothed, well-fed, Britisher who was carrying 125 pounds on his back. So I guess sometimes having very little to carry on the retreat can be an advantage!)

On his white horse, Washington often rode at the back of the line of soldiers. When one started to falter he would crack his whip and say "Hurry, men! They are right behind us! Hurry!"

Later one of the Delaware Regiment, who often brought up the rear, said that the thing that kept them going on that cruel march was the fact that Washington was there. And they knew he would not leave them, so they couldn't stop because they couldn't allow their Commander-in-Chief to be captured. So they had to keep moving!










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King David, General Washington, and Trails of Tears - Part 1

There are uniquely sad moments in everyone's life, but King David was dealt a particularly devastating blow when his son, Absalom, led a revolt against him.

We read about it in 2 Samuel 15. Absalom was in Hebron (where David himself had first been crowned)and recruiting his own group of followers to lead a rebellion against his father.

A messenger (spy?) reported to David, The hearts of the men of Israel are with Absalom.

Apparently David didn't need to verify this. He knew immediately that the messenger was telling the truth. Then David said to all of his officials who were with him in Jerusalem,'Come! We must flee, or none of us will escape from Absalom. We must leave immediately, or he will move quickly to overtake us and bring ruin upon us and put the city to the sword.'


None of us will Escape...


None of us will escape... None of us? Not even David would be spared? Would Absalom's obsession with being King of Israel lead him to kill his own father? Looks like David thought so. He knew Absalom and was afraid for his own life, as well as the others in his court, and even for the residents in Jerusalem.

And so the king's officials told him Your servants are ready to do whatever our lord the king chooses.


And King David fled the city with his household and faithful followers. At one point, David halted and let his army march past. That army included 600 Gittites (people from Gath, where Goliath was from, and where Obed-Edom had lived). Ittai, the Gittite leader, told David, As surely as the LORD lives, and as my lord the king lives, wherever my lord the king may be, whether it means life or death, there will your servant be.


As David stood there with his household and watched his men march past, he must have felt some measure of comfort, or at least companionship, as he considered what lay ahead, and perhaps some measure of guilt for what was happening.

The Trail of Tears...


The whole countryside wept aloud as all the people passed by. The King also crossed the Kidron Valley (really a ravine with a wet-weather stream called the Kidron Brook. Jesus crossed this ravine also when He went to the olive grove where He was arrested) and all the people moved on toward the desert. 2 Samuel 15:23

Zadok, the high priest, and other Levites were bringing the Ark of the Covenant with them in their exile. Was David afraid Absalom would destroy the Ark? We can't know for certain, but likely Zadok, who was entrusted with the safety of the Ark, wanted to go with David, and couldn't leave it behind!

As all the people were leaving the city fleeing from Absalom's men, Abiathar offered sacrifices until all the people had finished leaving the city.


Where should the Ark of the Covenant be?

King David knew the Ark belonged back in the tabernacle. He said to Zadok Take the ark of God back into the city. If I find favor in the LORD's eyes, He will bring me back and let me see it and His dwelling place again. But if He says, 'I am not pleased with you,' then I am ready; let Him do to me whatever seems good to him.'

But David continued up the Mount of Olives, weeping as he went; his head was covered and he was barefoot. All the people with him covered their heads too and were weeping as they went up.

It was truly a Trail of Tears.

Retreating in your own land....

We've all read about armies in retreat and seen movies of those despairing lines of wretched people on the run, bringing their household goods on small wobbly carts and wearing as many clothes as they could layer on, followed by crying children and maybe a few small farm animals. The people usually have a haunted, hopeless look. Pilgrims. Homeless people trying to find shelter and safety.

And retreating armies carrying their wounded, trying to outrun the enemy. Trying to keep ahead. Too weary to run and too afraid to stop.

But even sadder is to imagine soldiers retreating in their own country. Like the Russian army retreating in World War II. Retreating from the advancing Germans, passing villages and farms of shocked people, their friends and family who were counting on them to keep the enemy away. And they had failed.

Imagine how it would be if you were there, watching your own army, men and boys you knew, retreating right past your home, with the enemy right behind them, chasing them. Everything the people (usually the elderly, women and children, since the strong men were already dead or part of the retreating army) had counted on to protect them had evaporated before their eyes and they were left to face whatever horrors the enemy had in store for them.

And imagine how those men themselves must have felt.

So David was fleeing, in front of his countrymen, people who had entrusted him with their lives. It was too dangerous to stay behind and so all those who were able went with David as he fled toward the desert.

David wrote about it later. Psalm 63. O God, you are my God, earnestly I seek you; my soul thirsts for you, my body longs for you, in a dry and weary land where there is no water.

I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory....
On my bed I remember you; I think of you through the watches of the night.
Because you are my help, I will sing in the shadow of your wings.
My soul clings to you; your right hand upholds me.

The forward to the Psalm tells us it was from David, when he was in the wilderness of Judah.

We know of two times David was in the wilderness: once when he was running from the jealousy and wrath of King Saul, and the other time was when he was fleeing from his own son. We can date it to the time he is running from Absalom, because in verse 11 he calls himself "the king." David often referred to himself in the third person in the psalms. (And when he was fleeing from King Saul, he was not the king.)

This Psalm is a well-known one. Most of us know parts of it by memory. And in it we can hear his voice of pain and also his voice of trust in God. (Another kind of sacred counterpoint?)

Continued in Part 2.