Radiant

Psalms 34:5
They looked to Him and were radiant,
And their faces were not ashamed.
—

We turn to God in times of trouble, believing – often half-heartedly – that He will help us. But even as we seek His help, we don’t always seek His face. Our desire for help is desperate, more of an escape than a sincere desire for His continual presence. Too often, we barely even glance at God as we go about our everyday lives, and then when things get tough we turn to Him with reluctance and a little shame. Why would we feel guilty? Because we have not sought Him always, have not really allowed Him to reign in our lives.

But when we seek Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, a transformation occurs. Then His glory shines upon us the same way it shone upon Moses. The patriarch’s face picked up a radiant glow from God’s glory that shone so brightly, he wore a veil to keep from scaring the Israelites. (Exodus 34:29-33) But why should a bright face scare them? They were afraid of the presence of the Lord their God, just as people have always been afraid of Him. It is good to fear the Lord, but the Israelites were also ashamed of their behavior, guilt-ridden over their doubts and rebellion. The presence of God’s glory was too great a contrast with their wickedness.

I am always humbled by God’s power and majesty, and I know you are, too. We should be in awe of God’s glory, and we should respect His sovereignty. But at the same time, we should seek His face always. And we should do so knowing that He desires us to come near to Him, knowing that the invitation comes from His Son that we should join Him in His glory.

—
John 17:22-23
22 “And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one:
23 “I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me.”
—

Receiving the glory which Christ offers us should not make us feel ashamed but thankful. We should seek His face and reflect His radiant glory through the perfected love He brings to us, a love that is manifested through us by the Holy Spirit. He has made us “a little lower than the angels” and crowned us “with glory and honor.” (Psalms 8:5) Why has He done this? Not because of our righteousness or anything we have done, but because of His love for us.

So let us seek Christ’s face today, and look upon His glory. Let us stand strong in that searching light, knowing that His love is so great that He was willing to pay the price for our iniquities. And do not be ashamed of who or what you are but look upon Him with love, allowing His perfect love to cast out your fears. (1 John 4:17-18) Standing so, basking in the light of His presence, accept His sacrifice, declare His sovereignty, and become the child of God you were meant to be.

Heavenly Father, I am humbled by Your mercy, Your majesty and Your love. Enter into my life always, dear Lord, and overwhelm my fears with Your glory. May my life always reflect Your love and grace. Amen.

Whither thou goest

Ruth 1:16-17 (King James Version)
16 And Ruth said,
Intreat me not to leave thee,
or to return from following after thee:
for whither thou goest, I will go;
and where thou lodgest, I will lodge:
thy people shall be my people,
and thy God my God:
17 Where thou diest, will I die,
and there will I be buried:
the LORD do so to me, and more also,
if ought but death part thee and me.
—

I remember the first time I read today’s passage thirty-odd years ago. I had come across a reference to it in a novel I was reading, and I looked it up in my grandmother’s big King James family Bible. It struck me even then as a great expression of love and trust. Such great faith and devotion as Ruth showed to her mother-in-law Naomi is a beautiful testimony of the faith we are called to have for our Savior.

We read in the Gospels about how some disciples thought they understood what it took to follow Christ, and yet they didn’t understand it fully.

—
Luke 9:57-62
57 Now it happened as they journeyed on the road, that someone said to Him, “Lord, I will follow You wherever You go.”
58 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head.”
59 Then He said to another, “Follow Me.” But he said, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.”
60 Jesus said to him, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and preach the kingdom of God.”
61 And another also said, “Lord, I will follow You, but let me first go and bid them farewell who are at my house.”
62 But Jesus said to him, “No one, having put his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God.”
—

In each of these cases, Jesus is pointing out that these people do not understand what it takes to follow God with blind faith. As we read in Scripture, when Abram was told by God to leave his family and go “to a land that I will show you” (Genesis 12:1), Abram just got up and went. No questions, no conditions, and no looking back. That is Ruth’s attitude, too. Look at what she is saying she will do:

• Wherever you go, I will go
• Wherever you lodge, I will lodge
• Your people shall be my people
• Your God will be my God
• Wherever you die, I will die
• Wherever you are buried, I will be buried

Ruth is giving up every part of her identity: her home, her family, her nationality, her traditions, her religion. Ruth is stripping away everything that would hinder her devotion to Naomi and to Naomi’s God. Unlike the people who wanted to follow Jesus but also wanted to briefly return to say goodbye to their families, Ruth is dropping everything she has ever known and not looking back.

Are we doing that? Are we following our Savior like that? Are we leaving behind everything that hinders our devotion? Are we putting our love for Him before our love for family, home, and nation? Are we sticking by Him through everything, regardless of the hardship and the persecution? Are we hearing the hard teachings and embracing them rather than turning back? Are we preaching the gospel as He told us to do? Are we carrying our crosses daily for Him?

Look at Ruth’s beautiful statement of faith, and make it your own. Leave the things of this world behind and focus on the kingdom of God. Turn to Jesus and say to Him, without doubt and with utter faith, “Whither Thou goest, I will go.”

Lord God in heaven, thank You for the example You have given us in the faith of Ruth. Thank You for Your written Word that records so many such instances of deep faith – a faith so rare in today’s world. Today, Father, let me pray for those who do have such great faith, who have followed Your Son to the far corners of the earth and face persecution and death in order to proclaim Your gospel. Teach me to have such faith, Lord, and help my unbelief! Amen.

Before all the nations

Isaiah 61:10-11
10 I will greatly rejoice in the LORD,
My soul shall be joyful in my God;
For He has clothed me with the garments of salvation,
He has covered me with the robe of righteousness,
As a bridegroom decks himself with ornaments,
And as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.
11 For as the earth brings forth its bud,
As the garden causes the things that are sown in it to spring forth,
So the Lord GOD will cause righteousness and praise to spring forth before all the nations.
—

Have you ever caught yourself singing in public? You know how it goes: you’re in a good mood, a tune gets stuck in your head, and you start singing it quietly (or loudly!) without really thinking about who might be standing nearby, listening. And if you’re a Christian, sometimes those songs take the form of praise and worship, or maybe just a recent favorite contemporary Christian tune. You start singing “Amazing Grace” or “How Great is Our God” as tunefully as you can…and then the next day someone knocks on your door and arrests you for publicly preaching Christianity.

Last night as I read today’s verses from Isaiah, I thought about how easy it is for us in America to sing praises to our God and King, and yet we so rarely do so. And then I considered the churches worldwide where they sing praises to the Lord at the risk of their own lives. People in India supposedly have the freedom to worship whatever god they choose, and yet Christians are persecuted by the destruction of their homes and places of worship. Converts from Islam to Christianity are hunted down and killed – if they don’t manage to escape to foreign lands, forever exiled from their families and homeland. In many Arab countries, conversion is labeled “apostasy” and is punishable by death, and preaching the gospel of Christ to a Muslim will get you deported at least, executed at worst. In Malaysia, you must declare your religion on your state-issued ID card, and state laws forbid conversion to Christianity, and Christian evangelistic practices are strictly controlled. In China, churches must be licensed by the government and precious few get those licenses, and preaching or teaching the gospel outside of a licensed church will get you thrown into prison. In many parts of Northern Africa, Christians are persecuted by Muslims at the urging of the governments themselves!

And yet it is inevitable that Christianity should be preached in every corner of the globe, because we were told to do so.

—
Mark 16:11
And He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature.”
—

God has ordained that His righteousness will “spring forth before all the nations.” Furthermore, He has ordained PRAISE will spring forth before all nations! Jesus told His disciples they would be persecuted in His name’s sake, and so they still are. But He also said:

—
Matthew 10:22
“And you will be hated by all for My name’s sake. But he who endures to the end will be saved.”
—

Those who sing God’s praises under persecution are enduring to the end, they are remaining steadfast and true. They know that their light and temporary affliction is meant for God’s greater glory.

Today and every day, we who can do so ought to praise God openly and without shame. Shame is of the devil, a useless reticence that serves Satan more than it serves us. Let us speak out for God whenever we can, praising Him publicly for His righteousness. A time is coming and is now here when even we here in the “free” countries will be persecuted and jailed for speaking God’s Word in truth and love. The gospel is a target, but we should not be afraid to put that target on our hearts, because God in His infinite love has indeed clothed us “with the garments of salvation.” How can we NOT praise Him?!? Just as springtime is inevitable and dresses the earth in lively color and abundance, so should righteousness and praise come forth from you and me and every believer in every nation on the earth.

God Almighty, Your blessed Son has clothed us with the robe of His own righteousness – a robe dipped in His own blood and yet whiter than snow. Let us join those in churches worldwide to sing praises to Your name, and may Your Word be ever upon our lips. Let us never forget the persecution that has come to others will soon come to us, but, Lord God, please embolden us to worship You loudly and without fear. Thank You for enduring pain and even death for us. May we be ever willing to do so for You. Amen.

But life in you

2 Corinthians 4:7-12 (ESV)
7 But we have this treasure in jars of clay, to show that the surpassing power belongs to God and not to us.
8 We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair;
9 persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed;
10 always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies.
11 For we who live are always being given over to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus also may be manifested in our mortal flesh.
12 So death is at work in us, but life in you.
—

When I first considered becoming a pastor, my late wife encouraged me to look into some common questions that people had about any job. How long would it take to become ordained? What sort of training would I need? How much could I expect to be paid? That last one gave us both a chuckle, because the answer from one source said a pastor was woefully underpaid, on a par with school teachers and social workers – and she was both a school teacher AND a social worker. In other words, we could look forward to being poor all our lives. Well, at least we would both be fulfilled by our callings!

Those who serve choose to do so not for fame or fortune – there are precious few who “make it big” in ministry. And they don’t do it for the recognition of their peers – often, pastors and ministers end up in far-off places without any of their peers nearby. And in many countries around the world, pastors actually proclaim the gospel at the risk of their own lives – and quite often at the risk of their congregations’ lives, too. Pastors serve for one reason, like the One they serve: “I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.” (John 10:10b)

In today’s passage, Paul describes what he faces daily and WHY he faces it. His litany of troubles is just a summary of his life thus far, and yet he knows it is for the good of others.

* Afflicted in every way, but not crushed – because the power of the Holy Spirit sustains him.
* Perplexed, but not driven to despair – because the wisdom of the Word of God, the wisdom of the gospel itself brings hope.
* Persecuted, but not forsaken – for God will never leave nor forsake those whom He has chosen.
* Struck down, but not destroyed – because only God can utterly destroy someone, and those whom He has called He will protect and sustain.

Like our Savior, Paul faces these things and even faces death – which he knows is imminent – because his own life and death will reflect the power of Christ into otherwise empty lives. While persecuted pastors are being “poured out as a drink offering” (2 Timothy 4:6), they know that the death they die is for others, that those others might live. For pastors everywhere, what matters is not their own lives but the lives save through the gospel of Christ Jesus, our Savior and Lord. And for those persecuted right alongside their pastors in countries worldwide, the life of Jesus is manifested in their bodies.

Pray today for the persecuted churches worldwide. Pray that their lives manifest the life of the Son of the living God. Pray that they may find strength, wisdom, and protection through the Holy Spirit that indwells them. Pray that though they may be persecuted unto death, the death that is at work in them will be life in others.

Father God, I thank You for the safe life You have given me, here in the rear lines of the battle for Your will and Your way. I ask today that Your Spirit will hover over and protect Your church in all places, that whatever strength You might share with me will be given to them. I pray that whatever happens to those persecuted churches, that You alone may be glorified and that the life You promised will be manifested through the lives of those who serve and those who receive Your gospel. Amen.

My Lord and my God

John 20:27-29
27 Then He said to Thomas, “Reach your finger here, and look at My hands; and reach your hand here, and put it into My side. Do not be unbelieving, but believing.”
28 And Thomas answered and said to Him, “My Lord and my God!”
29 Jesus said to him, “Thomas, because you have seen Me, you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.”
—

Thomas had been through a lot. Although he had been with Jesus since the beginning, Thomas was still a doubter near the end. Thomas had been the only apostle who said they ought to accompany Jesus when He chose to return to Bethany when Lazarus died. (John 11:16) At that time, Thomas was ready to die with his Teacher. But Thomas wasn’t there the first time Jesus appeared after the Resurrection, and being a bit of a pragmatist, he still wanted to see Jesus for himself before he would accept the word of the other disciples. (John 20:25) It was important to Jesus that all of the disciples see and believe, and although Thomas had demanded some hard evidence, when he saw the risen Jesus he needed no more proof. Just as he had been the first ready to die with Christ, Thomas was now the first to make the connection between the Son and the Father, exclaiming “My Lord and my God!”

Thomas was probably not alone in his doubt in the days following the Resurrection of our Lord. In fact, he’s not alone today, when there are so many people who call themselves “Christians” and yet they do not believe in the real, physical Resurrection. Many such people believe in Jesus as a great teacher, and they even believe He lived and died, but they don’t think He lived AGAIN. They explain away Jesus’ miracles through twists and turns of science and logic, and the Resurrection they pass off as wishful thinking or a fable. Of course, as others have pointed out before me, the Resurrection is the key event, the thing that truly distinguishes Christ from all other prophets and wise men. It is the Risen Lord that makes the tale worth telling, because it shows Jesus’ power over death. Jesus and other prophets had raised people from the dead, but only God could have given Jesus life again. That was the connection Thomas made that day. Thomas understood that only God had the power to raise Himself, only God is eternal, only God forgives sin and gives life.

This is not an idle statement that Thomas made. It is in fact a linchpin in Christian faith, because it makes that inevitable connection between Jesus and God. “My Lord and my God!” is a profound acceptance of the deity of Christ. We can, like Peter, say “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:16), acknowledging Jesus as our Savior. But then we need to be ready to make the next statement with Thomas, “My Lord and my God” and submit ourselves to His authority, acknowledging that Jesus is so much more than just a teacher, more than our Savior, more than even just the Son of God. Where His miracles and healings and power during ministry showed Him as the Christ – the Anointed One, our Savior – His Resurrection confirms that Jesus is Immanuel, “God with us.”

—
Jeremiah 31:33
“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, says the LORD: I will put My law in their minds, and write it on their hearts, and I will be their God, and they shall be My people.”
—

With God’s law in our hearts and minds, He is Lord of our lives. And when we truly love Him with all our heart, mind, soul and strength, then He truly is our God. While Thomas at least needed to see Jesus in order to accept Jesus as God, we who have not seen and yet know Him as Lord and Savior, God and Son, are blessed even more. So let us join Thomas and say it aloud: “My Lord and my God!” Let us say it and MEAN it.

Dear Lord of my life, God above all gods, I exalt Your name this day. Throught the Cross, You bridged the gap between Yourself and men, bringing new life – eternal life – to we who were once dead in our sins. Thank You, Lord Jesus, for the precious life You lived, the pain You endured, and the bright promise You gave through Your death and resurrection. May I always echo the words of Thomas, “My Lord and my God.” Amen.

Flesh and blood has not revealed this to you

Matthew 16:15-17
15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”
16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”
17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven.”
—

I have been thinking about this passage for the past couple of days. I wasn’t sure why until this morning. Today as I woke up, I thought back to that day about four years ago when I first earnestly turned to God to heal me and bring me through a very difficult time. At the time, I was still a little doubtful about the efficacy of prayer, and I suspect there was a little part of me – okay, a BIG part of me – that said “What have I got to lose?” It would be another four months before I said what Simon Peter said, and when I finally did say it, I knew my life had been truly changed.

As a very rational and somewhat scientific person, I think I had been fighting to maintain a logical stance about the whole idea of Jesus being the Son of God. I mean, being a natural-born skeptic, it was hard enough for me to believe in the “fairy tale” of a living God taking an active role in people’s lives. I’d been a card-carrying agnostic most of my life because I had never seen evidence of God moving in or around my life. That fall four years ago, the evidence began to pile up, and yet part of me still fought it.

Then in the spring, it was like a dam burst. I was at church worshiping and listening to the service just like always. Afterward, I felt compelled to approach the pastor, and leaning on his shoulder I wept and said two words: “I believe.” All the anguish and despair fled, and I suddenly KNEW that Jesus IS the Son of God, that He IS the Christ, that He WILL heal me, and that I AM forgiven.

It wasn’t through any logical progression that I arrived at that day, and it wasn’t simply because of some moving sermon. I said “I believe” because God Himself had shown me who His Son really is. The Holy Spirit had been whittling a hole in my stony heart, and finally the crack shattered and Christ entered in. Like Simon the son of Jonah, I declared that Jesus is the Son of God, AND that He is the Anointed One (“Christos” in Greek, “Messiah” in Hebrew) sent to save the world.

“You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” It is not a life-changing statement, merely evidence of a life already changed. It is an acknowledgement of that niggling suspicion that you have been missing something in your life. It is a confirmation of what you have known without consciously knowing. It is an affirmation that you believe the written Word of God. And it is an acceptance of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. BUT it is only the beginning of that newly-changed life. Once we cross that threshold and accept Jesus as Savior, we need to continue to allow Him to reign in our lives as the Son of God, King of kings and Lord of lords.

Gracious heavenly Father, thank You for opening my eyes to Your Son. Thank You for Your tender mercies, which You have never withheld from me. Please, Lord God, reign in my life, direct my will to Yours. Help me to be as faithful a servant as that blessed son, Simon bar-Jonah, Peter the rock. Amen.

Thoroughly equipped

2 Timothy 3:14-17
14 But you must continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of, knowing from whom you have learned them,
15 and that from childhood you have known the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.
16 All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness,
17 that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.
—

I’m a “tool guy.” It goes back to my childhood and growing up working for my father, who built homes for a living. As I went off into the world, I always made sure I had plenty of good tools around, and I often worked with my hands. Because I never know what tool I might need, I always carry a multi-tool or a Swiss Army knife wherever I go – even to church. That’s why my late wife called me “Pastor Gadget.”

In Paul’s second letter to Timothy, the apostle gives his protegé instruction in how to deal with attacks on Christian teachings. Timothy had been raised in the faith, encouraged by his mother and grandmother, and had his own gifts of the Spirit stirred up by Paul’s laying on of hands. (2 Timothy 1:3-6) Timothy must have been a powerful evangelist for Paul to have entrusted him to continue his work in the churches of Asia Minor, and Paul’s trust in Timothy shows in his short letters. But at this point, Timothy seems to have needed some encouragement, and Paul knew just what to tell him: “Hold fast,” “be strong,” “be diligent,” and “Preach the word!”

In today’s verses, Paul grounds all those admonitions in a single idea – namely, “continue in the things which you have learned and been assured of.” (v.14) Paul knows that the temptation is to be carried away by the words of other teachers, to be swept up in the tides of disputes and mistaken doctrines, to be lost in the sea of ideas that float around about God and Christ. So Paul brings Timothy back to the foundation of his faith: “the Holy Scriptures, which are able to make you wise for salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus.” (v.15)

For believers of all ages, for people of all levels of Christian maturity, the Word of God is the ground floor of our faith. With a firm foundation on Christ Himself, the Holy Scriptures are the best place to start our journey of faith, and they are the place to which we should return whenever we feel we might stray from the truths we have been taught. Since “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God” – literally “God-breathed” – then the Bible is the clear and unchanging voice of God in our midst. When it seems like we are bombarded by conflicting ideas, when we cannot seem to get a firm hold on our faith in times of stress or despair, when we come across sins in our lives we never knew we had, then Scripture is there to bring us back to the base.

The “man of God” who comes back to the Holy Scriptures is someone who will always have the right tool for the right job. Need to teach a new believer? Start with Scripture. Need to straighten someone out concerning doctrine? Go to Scripture. Need to admonish a fellow believer who has strayed? Use Scripture. Need understanding for a difficult task ahead? Follow Scripture. Need strength to face the day? Come to Scripture.

In today’s world where so many who call themselves “Christians” do not read nor try to understand God’s Word, it can be difficult to know what we ought to believe – and to know what to teach our children. We have to get back to the basics of the Bible itself, because without that, the rest just becomes chaos. The Word of God needs to be the one unfailing reference for all true believers, so that we may all be “thoroughly equipped” to do the good works God prepared in advance for us to do. Get back to the Bible, and start strapping on the tools of your faith. You never know what you might need.

Heavenly Father, thank You for Your Holy Bible, inspired by You and written in the tongues of men so that we might understand. Thank You, too, Lord God, for Your Holy Spirit, who lends us wisdom to understand Your Word. And thank You most of all, Precious Lord, for the life of Your Son, Christ Jesus. Teach me Your Word and Your will, Father God, and help me to teach others, too. Amen.

Let us know

Hosea 6:1-3
1 Come, and let us return to the LORD;
For He has torn, but He will heal us;
He has stricken, but He will bind us up.
2 After two days He will revive us;
On the third day He will raise us up,
That we may live in His sight.
3 Let us know,
Let us pursue the knowledge of the LORD.
His going forth is established as the morning;
He will come to us like the rain,
Like the latter and former rain to the earth.
—

The thing that is holding back revival in America is that people don’t truly know the Lord our God. They THINK they know Him, turning to all sorts of human teachers and even other faiths. They think they hear His voice in the spiritual seekings of friends and fellow travelers, but they do not seek Him where He is to be found. They do not seek Him in the wonder of Creation, but turn inward and seek Him in their corrupted hearts. They do not seek Him in His Son, but believe every fable they hear and treat “wise men” as holy. They do not seek Him in His Holy Bible, but instead treat His written Word as just another path to “enlightenment.” And those precious few times that people do seek God in His Word, often they do not seek to know Him by reading and trying to understand His whole will, they only use His Bible to support or refute their own arguments.

How can we know God? How do we “pursue the knowledge of the LORD”? Hosea gives us several clues here:

• “Let us return to the LORD” – Repentance is the first step to knowing the Lord. We have to turn back to Him if we are ever to have any hope of knowing Him. If we keep looking at other things, if the many “idols” of our lives still crowd Him out, then we can never hope to see Him in all His glory. Yes, as Hosea points out, God has left us to face the natural consequences of our sin and rebellion – the death and pain so rampant in the world – but we should know that if we seek Him, He WILL “heal us,” He WILL “bind us up.”

• “On the third day He will raise us up” – Seek God through His Son, Christ Jesus.

—
John 17:1-3
1 Jesus spoke these words, lifted up His eyes to heaven, and said: “Father, the hour has come. Glorify Your Son, that Your Son also may glorify You,
2 “as You have given Him authority over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as many as You have given Him.
3 “And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.”
—

Jesus came “that He should give eternal life.” And what is “eternal life”? The knowledge of “the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom You have sent.” Know Jesus, know God. We cannot have knowledge of the Father without knowing His Son.

• “His going forth is established as the morning” – We all remember that beloved first verse from Psalms 19: “The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament shows His handiwork.” It reminds us that God displays Himself through the wonders of nature. But do we remember the rest of Psalms 19? The rest of that psalm speaks of God’s Word: His law, testimony, statutes, commandments and judgments. Yes, we should know God through His creation, but we must also seek Him in His holy Word.

As David said to his son Solomon, “If you seek Him, He will be found by you; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.” (1 Chronicles 28:9b) It is high time America pursues true knowledge of the Lord God, not the half-truths and fables of human teachers, false faiths and self-indulgent “enlightenment.” As a nation, we must repent, seek Christ, and study God’s Word, for thereby comes the knowledge of the Lord that leads to eternal life.

Lord God, Father of our Savior, Creator of the universe, we seek Your face today. We want to know You more and more, so that we may receive Your blessing. Help us to know Your will and Your way, Father God, and revive in this nation a fiery passion for You that will ignite the whole world to seek You and You alone. Amen.

What man is there…?

Deuteronomy 20:5-8
5 “Then the officers shall speak to the people, saying: ‘What man is there who has built a new house and has not dedicated it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man dedicate it.
6 “‘Also what man is there who has planted a vineyard and has not eaten of it? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man eat of it.
7 “‘And what man is there who is betrothed to a woman and has not married her? Let him go and return to his house, lest he die in the battle and another man marry her.’
8 “The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’”
—

I’ll admit it: I am afraid to die. Not because I am unsure of what will happen after I die, but because I am afraid I will miss a great many wonderful things in this life. Sure, we will all suffer the “slings and arrows of outrageous fortune” (as Hamlet said), but we also have opportunities to experience many of the blessings available in this life. Yes, this world is broken by sin, but it is also held together by the sovereign will of a loving God. I think He wants us to honor that by sticking around and enjoying the blessings He provides.

In those times when we face battles that seem beyond our strength to fight, it is tempting to retreat to hearth and home, to turn back to the blessings in our lives and avoid conflict. After all, who wants to experience strife and perhaps even die when he or she can live and experience the good things God offers us? The train of thought runs kind of like this:

“The battle is the Lord’s anyway, isn’t it? If He needs someone to fight, He’ll find someone else. He doesn’t need me, does he? He is, after all, the Almighty God. He has blessed me plenty up to now, and I hardly think He needs ME to fight battles I haven’t the strength or knowledge or experience to win.”

In today’s verses from Deuteronomy, Moses is passing along the Word of God to the Israelites concerning those times when they go into battle. If we read just verses 5 through 7, we might think God is allowing for “compassionate leave” for those who have unfinished business at home: If your home hasn’t been dedicated, if you haven’t yet eaten the fruit of a new vineyard, if you haven’t yet married your fiancée, then it’s okay to skip this battle. But verse 8 is the “clincher”:

—
Deuteronomy 20:8
“The officers shall speak further to the people, and say, ‘What man is there who is fearful and fainthearted? Let him go and return to his house, lest the heart of his brethren faint like his heart.’”
—

The REAL commandment is like this: “If your heart is not wholly for the Lord – and you are worried about your home or your vineyards or your fiancée – if you do not have faith that the Almighty will win this battle for you, then go home and don’t spread your fear and doubt to others.”

Notice that in the preceding verses, the allowance was always “lest he die” – i.e. in case you don’t make it back from this battle. Truly, if we never go into battle, we will NOT die. But if WE never go into battle, then who WILL? If we don’t face the enemies of the chosen people of God, then who will fight for His will and His righteousness?

Any soldier who has ever served in the armed forces knows that he or she must be willing to leave behind home and livelihood and family in order to stand on the front lines and DEFEND home and livelihood and family. The battle for God’s kingdom demands no less:

—
Mark 8:34-36
34 When He had called the people to Himself, with His disciples also, He said to them, “Whoever desires to come after Me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me.
35 “For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake and the gospel’s will save it.
36 “For what will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, and loses his own soul?”
—

What would it profit any of us if we stayed behind to take care of our families, and then found that our families were taken from us because of the battle we avoided in the first place? The souls of our loved ones are at stake if we avoid the very real spiritual and moral battles that take place every day around us. And every time we ourselves avoid a moral battle in favor of being “accepting” or “politically correct” or “tolerant,” we encourage others to do so. Very soon, then, there will be no one on the front lines of the battle, and God’s Word and His clear commandments will be forgotten. Our homes and our “vineyards” and our families will be overrun with weeds and rot, and we will wish – too late – that we had stayed on the front lines.

As we face real moral and spiritual battles in our lives, we should know this:

—
Deuteronomy 20:3-4
3 “And he shall say to them, ‘Hear, O Israel: Today you are on the verge of battle with your enemies. Do not let your heart faint, do not be afraid, and do not tremble or be terrified because of them;
4 “‘for the LORD your God is He who goes with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you.’”
—

Lord God Almighty, we trust in You to save us from our enemies. You alone speak in righteousness. You alone are mighty to save us from our enemies. Give us pure hearts for You, Lord, so we can stand boldly for You, strengthened by Your Holy Spirit, ready to lose all we have in this world to fight for Your will and Your way. Amen.

See to that yourselves

Matthew 27:24 (New American Standard Bible)
When Pilate saw that he was accomplishing nothing, but rather that a riot was starting, he took water and washed his hands in front of the crowd, saying, “I am innocent of this Man’s blood; see to that yourselves.”
—

The President of the United States recently signed a new law that adds stiffer punishments for crimes that are deemed “hate crimes” – i.e. crimes committed because the victim is from a particular race or religion or some minority group, including disabled people and homosexuals. The idea of such laws is to send a message to would-be criminals that the US will not tolerate such hateful behavior. Hate crime laws are in direct opposition to the “Jim Crow” laws that for a long time legalized segregation and encouraged local authorities to turn a blind eye to crimes against minorities. But racism and other prejudices have been reinforced by generations of systemic discrimination in this country, and “hate crime” laws feel to me like the government is just washing their hands of the whole problem of discrimination. The federal government is saying, in essence, “We have done all we can to make hatred a crime. Now it is up to the rest of you to stop hating each other.”

When Pontius Pilate questioned Jesus, he found no fault in Him , no guilt at all. (Matthew 27:23, Luke 23:14-15) Pilate tried to release Him, tried to persuade the crowd to let Jesus go. But petty men had stirred up hatred in the Sanhedrin (the ruling body of the Jewish temple) and in the crowd gathered in Pilate’s court. While Jesus’ message was certainly subversive to the temple authorities, He wasn’t exactly preaching open rebellion against Rome itself. Politically, Pilate was in a tight spot, and he did what any self-serving politician would do: he shifted the blame to the people themselves.

We look at Pilate washing his hands, and we say, “That little bit of water can’t remove the stain of Christ’s death from his hands.” By saying “I am innocent,” Pilate is also saying “Someone else is GUILTY.” And to whom does he point? “See to that yourselves” he says to the crowd. (Literally “Look at yourselves.”) In other words, “I am innocent of any crime against this man. But YOU are guilty.”

We cannot so easily shift the guilt of hatred from ourselves to others. After all, we are all sinners, and none of us is limited to committing just one sin. We may be more prideful than hateful, more lustful than irreverent, more covetous than murderous, but as it says in the Psalms, “There is none who does good, No, not one.” (Psalms 53:3b) The blame for “hate crimes” falls on all of us, but creating a law does not remove the stain of sin from anyone’s hands, and it does not PREVENT the sin, only punishes it after the fact. What prevents sin is accepting Jesus as true Lord of our lives, allowing the Holy Spirit to reign in our hearts. God’s Word written inside us is far more effective than man’s words written on paper in the laws of a country. And accepting Jesus as our Savior truly removes the stain of our sins from our hands. For a human law against hatred to be effective, we need to admit our guilt before God, seek the forgiveness offered through His Son, and embrace His righteousness and love as our own. Then, such a “hate crime” law need will never need to be enforced.

Almighty God, forgive me for my petty prejudices, for the ways I allow others to oppress and enslave others. Teach me Your Word, Lord God, and help me overcome evil with good, hatred with love. Thank You for Your Son, who maintained Your holiness while also loving the broken and sinful, forgiving us even on the Cross where He died for our sins. Amen.