Rejoice always, pray without ceasing, give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you. 1 Thessalonians 5:16-18 ESV
Rejoicing, praying, and giving thanks put the circumstances of our lives, both good and bad into God’s hands and help us see them through His eyes. Last night our beloved daughter-in-law Melinda slipped from this world into the presence of Jesus. And while we are overwhelmed with grief and shock, these words are promises to which we cling. Melinda has finished her race. Her battle with cancer is finished. And while that pernicious disease claimed her physical life, it could not touch her soul. That remained fully and exclusively in the hands of Jesus with whom she now lives. Nancy and I didn’t know how to process the news that came in three words. “She is gone.” Yet as sadness rolls over my heart I sense the message echo back from Heaven, ” She has arrived!”
I am the good shepherd. The good shepherd lays down his life for the sheep. John 10:11 ESV
I am pretty sure than when Jesus called us sheep, it was not a compliment. No matter how many sweet coloring book pictures we fill in of pure white sheep strolling through pastures, it doesn’t make it so. Sheep are helpless, and that is their best attribute. Next, they are dirty and last of all, not particularly bright. He didn’t intend for us to respond by saying, “Wow! God made us sheep! Now life will be perfect!” No! Instead, Jesus wanted us to know that as sheep, we were in need of a shepherd. And as He points out in John chapter ten, not all shepherds are equal. Some just show up for the pay. They do the minimum, by making sure we don’t starve to death or die of thirst. But when a real problem – like a WOLF! – shows up, they are as gone as a snowball in… well you know where!
But the Good Shepherd…that would be Jesus. He didn’t see the wolf and run. Instead, he stayed between us and the fangs and killed the wolf but died in the battle for our soul. Now that’s a Good Shepherd worth following, and if He said that He is the good shepherd and I am His sheep it means that I belong to Him! I do hope you will take time to read the entire story of the Good Shepherd in the book of John and that you will be blessed with this short message given at Life Care Center this past week.
The Lord is at hand: Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:5b-7 ESV
If you are seeking God’s direction yet feeling as if you are at a dead end, you are in good company. It is totally normal to sometimes face difficulty, crisis, or discouragement. But at those moments, we need to recall that in the Gospels, Jesus specialized in showing up for his disciples exactly for times like those. Jesus often appeared unexpectedly, in the middle of storms, inside locked rooms and at gravesides. And when Jesus came, he always began with same message. “It is I. Don’t be afraid! In today’s passage Paul begins by reminding us that our reason for confidence and faith in our prayers begins with one fact. “The Lord is at hand.” No matter that 2,000 years have passed, that no one else is praying and in spite of our weaknesses and failures, Jesus is still so close, that we can reach out and touch Him. So, as you go about your journey this morning, don’t be anxious, instead, rest your faith on these three simple truths. The Lord is at hand, He is listening, and He has promised to answer. May God bless us as we rest secure in knowing that He is within our hand’s reach, He listens to our prayers, and He will calm every fear with this message. “Do not be afraid. I am standing near!”
When I was a little boy, my mother would often put her hands on her hips, sigh and say, “I just can’t make rhyme or reason out of this.” “This,” could mean, either her knitting project gone awry, my latest escapade of falling in the pond while catching frogs or the sorry state of my room. I remembered Mom’s saying recently when I stumbled upon this quote from Spurgeon.
“Articulate speech, which is denied to birds and beasts, is given to us for this major reason – that we may articulately and distinctly, praise and magnify the name of the Most High,” Charles Spurgeon
Now, Spurgeon was talking about our spoken words, but his thoughts also apply to our writing. If you write regularly, you probably could list a multitude of things that begin your inner avalanche of thoughts which landslide into a composition. I was challenged by Spurgeon’s thoughts about both the goal and form of our words. As writers, we often read tips on the “how’s” of writing. How to write dialogue, how to choose better adjectives, how to hook the reader at the beginning, and on and on. If we aren’t careful, we will soon become like a guide, who has learned how to survive in the wilderness, but has no idea of where he is going. The longest chapter in the Bible is Psalm 119, and I find it interesting how its writer pulls back the curtain on his motives for writing using the phrase, “I delight.” more than any other. Here are just four of them:
“I delight myself in your statutes…” Verse 16
“Your testimonies are my delight…” Verse 24
“And I will delight myself in Your commandments…” Verse 47
“…for Your law is my delight.” Verse 77
Just as Spurgeon challenged us to use words to magnify and praise God, the Psalmist shows us that he begins by delighting in the words that God has to say. Just as it was for the Psalmist, God’s statutes, testimonies, commandments, and law wait for us every day in the pages of the Bible. Unless I begin my day delighting in God’s words, then my own may be witty, or insightful, but they will only leave people dying of thirst in the wilderness. But when I have found my reason to write burst forth from delighting in God, then God delights in showing me the rhyme and reason of words that will lead others on the pathway to Him!
You must be logged in to post a comment.