Rest

 

“The fruit of righteousness will be peace; the effect of righteousness will be quietness and confidence forever. My people will live in peaceful dwelling places, in secure homes, in undisturbed places of rest.”

—Isaiah 32:17-18

Through the Prophet Isaiah, God gives us a picture of rest as He intends it. Our world does everything it can to prevent such rest, to rile us up, to give us fear instead of confidence, and to take away our faith in the God of Peace. Even though God allows troubles in our experience, He wants us to see Him and His powerful rest in the midst of these troubles. Rest does not come naturally. We learn it from Him.

Scottish evangelist of the 19th century, Henry Drummond, puts it this way:¹

Two painters each painted a picture to illustrate his conception of rest. The first chose for his scene a still, lone lake among the far-off mountains. The second threw on his canvas a thundering waterfall, with a fragile birch-tree bending over the foam; at the fork of a branch, almost wet with the cataract’s spray, a robin sat on its nest. The first was only Stagnation: the last was Rest. For in rest there are always two elements—tranquility and energy; silence and turbulence; creation and destruction; fearlessness and fearfulness. This it was in Christ.

Christ’s life outwardly was one of the most troubled lives that was ever lived: Tempest and tumult, tumult and tempest, the waves breaking over it all the time till the worn body was laid in the grave. But the inner life was a sea of glass. The great calm was always there. At any moment you might have gone to Him and found Rest. And even when the bloodhounds were dogging Him in the streets of Jerusalem He turned to His disciples and offered them, as a last legacy, “My Peace.”

We would think that the absence of trouble would spell rest, but as we read here, it consists of peace in the midst of trouble. As Peter quickly learned on the Sea of Galilee, Jesus makes the peace available (see Matthew 14:22-33). However, our focus must be on Him, rather than on the storm. We must rely on the inward voice of His Holy Spirit, and not the roar of the waterfall.

Have you learned this kind of rest? God wants to teach all of us the same strong confidence and quietness that only comes from Him. I pray we all find it, to the praise of His glory!

______________________

1 Drummond, Henry. The Greatest Thing in the World and Other Addresses. London: Collins, Public Domain. pp. 117, 119

 

 

Remember Who You Are

 

“Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven.”

—Matthew 5:16

We are the Vincent Chorus.
We will look our best, perform our best,
    and act our best.
We represent our chorus, our school
    and our families.
They have allowed us to proudly show what
    kind of singers and students we are.
We will not disappoint them.

I always had my chorus children recite this mantra before every concert and every field trip. I wanted them to rise to their very best when representing from where they came.

Dr. D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, in his sermons on the “Sermon on the Mount,” spends sixteen chapters telling Christians who we have become in Christ. He begins with the Beatitudes and describes us in terms of poverty of spirit, mourners over sin, meek, hungry for righteousness, merciful, peacemakers, and how we behave as persecuted people. Then He compares us to salt and light.

But, when he gets to the seventeenth chapter, he goes from describing Christians to reminding us of how we manifest this essential character we carry with us. He says:

We are children of God and citizens of the kingdom of heaven. Because of that, we have to manifest the characteristics of such people. We do this in order to manifest His glory, so that others may be brought to glorify Him.¹

Because Jesus came directly from the Father, He was not a Pharisee, or trained as a Pharisee. He detested their interpretation of the Law and the Prophets. He sought to live and teach a new way of living. Jesus did not abolish the Scriptures. But, He fulfilled them in new and vibrant ways, which caused the Pharisees to criticize Him. And, He wanted His followers to see the difference so they could properly represent themselves, as Christians, in His footprints.

Upon careful study, we often learn that the Old Testament Scriptures taught unorthodox ways compared to the leaders in Jesus’ day who were exponents of the Pharisaical laws. Jesus taught us to follow Him, to represent Him, to apprehend the spirit of the Law, so that the world might know He has come to bring a new way of living empowered by His Holy Spirit.

Just as I wanted my chorus children to represent a different character from what culture believes children should look like, sound like, and behave like, so Jesus wants us to proudly represent Him and His Kingdom to the world. This will happen only as we live by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit, which He has given us, and as we study His written Word to understand His ways for us. Then, let the world sit up and take notice!

______________________

1 Lloyd-Jones, Martyn D. Studies in the Sermon on the Mount. Grand Rapids: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Co./Inter-Varsity Fellowship, 1971. p. 180.

 

 

A Unique, Beautiful Frame

 

“Lord, you have assigned me my portion and my cup; you have made my lot secure. The boundary lines have fallen for me in pleasant places; surely I have a delightful inheritance.”

—Psalm 16:5-6

When looking at a picture, do you notice the frame? The frame can either enhance or detract from the picture it holds. It can reflect as much beauty as the picture. I am convinced that our lives compare to frames. They get more ornate as the years add up and reflect the imagination of God the Creative Artist who fashions them.

As time works on us, our struggles bring out a rich patina to the metal. The trials and deadly effects of life add swirls and cut deep into the wood, adding carved designs to the frame. In the end, we realize that Romans 8:28 has become true for us:

And we know that for those who love God all things work together for good, for those who are called according to his purpose.

Recently, in preparing to teach from 1 Samuel about Samuel’s mother, Hannah, I came across this quote about her:¹

When Hannah took a very young Samuel to Shiloh and knelt with him in worship before leaving him behind to serve the Lord all the days of his life, the frame around her words was her long history of infertility and persecution for her faith in God. Hannah knelt in prayer that day within the context of a relationship with God that had withstood the tests of time and adversity.

When we feel the effects of wear and tear on our bodies, or the scraping and carving of the knife on our emotions and heart, we must realize that God considers the unique, beautiful frame with which He has surrounded us.

Our prayers and our words of encouragement to others have been framed by those circumstances that God the Artist has allowed us to experience. The picture may not be completed yet. Nevertheless, along with the finished frame, that picture will sometime reveal a more beautiful piece of art than we have ever realized.

______________________

1 James, Carolyn Custis. Lost Women of the Bible. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing Company, 2005. p. 132.

 

 

Nooks and Crannies

 

“If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness.”

—1 John 1:8-9

“I’d like to go down to Grandma’s and help her clean today. I don’t think she sees as well as she used to and doesn’t see the dirt,” my mom said to my sister and me. Indeed, though my grandma kept a neat house, her glaucoma had diminished her eyesight to the point where sharp vision no longer allowed her to see the grime in the corners.

We all get used to seeing through eyes that no longer pick out the details of our “dirty” ways. God calls this dirt “sin.” He sent His Son, Jesus, to us so that He can purify us from all sin.

However, just as daily cleaning around the sink needs doing, we need a daily washing away of the filth we accumulate, even in a day’s time. Jesus addressed this idea to Peter when He said, in John 13:10:

“A person who has had a bath needs only to wash his feet; his whole body is clean.”

With these words, Jesus indicates that, as Christians, He has washed us and made us clean. But, the sinful nature still clings to us and we frequently need to cleanse away this sinful act or that one. In my house, I abhor having to give anything a thorough cleaning now and then. Likewise, we seem to abhor coming to God with our filthy deeds and thoughts, asking for His cleansing.

We quite often have to work at this kind of examination of our hearts. And often, it means coming to God for a new, even repeated, cleansing. We need to use our “near-sighted” vision to see what God sees in us.

“Far-sighted” examination of our neighbors seems to come easier for us. Even Jesus observed that tendency in us when He said in the “Sermon on the Mount” from Matthew 7:3-5:

“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?”

As I recall, my grandma gratefully accepted the help to make her kitchen sparkle again. We, too, need to thank our blessed Lord Jesus Christ for the offer of His help in keeping our hearts and minds cleansed and ready for His use.

Happy cleaning!

 

 

Passion for the Game

 

“Never be lacing in zeal, but keep your spiritual fervor, serving the Lord.”

—Romans 12:11

I can still see him: a little boy, Bobby Martin, running the bases all alone after the church softball league had finished their game. Of course, no one would have allowed him to play in the actual softball game. He was too young to have what it would take to play effectively—except for one thing: Bobby had passion.

In Scripture, the word for “passion” is “zeal.”¹ The word “zealous” comes from the same Latin root as the word “jealous.” In our zeal, we are to be jealous for the Lord and careful to do our best work for Him.

The Puritan, Samuel Ward, likens zeal to fire. He writes:²

Zeal leaps over all obstacles as fire passes from house to house. Before it all of God’s enemies fall… It is ever climbing and aspiring higher; aiming beyond that which was before and aiming on toward perfection… Fire cannot be long smothered; it will either find a vent or go out.

Often, others will think of us Evangelical Christians as too strait-laced, or as goody-two-shoes, if we exhibit genuine zeal for God and His church. When the Holy Spirit at Pentecost came to the first church, flames of fire appeared and rested on all of those present in the room. As these newly Spirit-filled disciples went out and began to speak in the languages of the throngs of foreign people gathered in Jerusalem, the outsiders mocked them and asked if they were drunk. Today, God still wants His church to “burn” with the fire of Pentecost.

In 1 Thessalonians 5:19, Paul tells the early church:

Do not put out the Spirit’s fire.

We would do well to check for passion in our lives. And then, if necessary, ask God to rekindle that flame, so that we can serve Him with the kind of zeal that leaps from person to person with the flaming power of the Holy Spirit.

______________________

1 The King James Version of Scripture renders the word “passion” as “not slothful.”

2 Ward, Samuel (author) and Richard Rushing, editor. Voices from the Past: Puritan Devotional Readings. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2009. Pp. 141, 142.

 

 

Look Who You’re Talking To!

 

“Do not be quick with your mouth, do not be hasty in your heart to utter anything before God. God is in heaven and you are on earth, so let your words be few.”

—Ecclesiastes 5:2

I can hear a sassy child talking to his teacher, or an impertinent teenager talking to her mother, each one complaining and wanting his or her way, NOW! And, I can also hear the response from the adult, “Look who you’re talking to!”

I ask myself if God feels like the adults feel in this situation. Does He wonder who we think we are when we speak to Him in the manner of a spoiled child. We need to be reminded that God is in heaven and we are on earth. He is God and we’re not.

When the mother says, “I carried you for nine months and spoiled my figure over you! I buy your clothes and clean up your messes.” We see the teen respond by rolling her eyes and not really changing her mind.

But, when we think about our Heavenly Father, we should know better. He simply does not react to our impertinence the way a parent might. Yes, He indeed deserves our deepest respect and our trust in His plans for us. After all, He created us, maintains us, provides everything for us, and, through His Son, He even carried our sins on His back to the cross. He chose us to know Him and anticipate heaven with Him. Look who we’re talking to! Indeed.

I like the way that the Puritan writer William Gurnall puts it:¹

Who are we praying to? Is he not the great and glorious majesty of heaven and earth? Would it not be insufferable sauciness in a servant to complain that his master sat too long and required too much waiting at his hands? Is he not a righteous, holy God? Surely he does you no wrong to make you pray, and that long, for a mercy which you do not deserve when it comes at last. Is he not wiser to know how to time mercies? Will you have God overthrow the course of providence, which he thinks fit, to gratify your impatient spirit?

We are wise to take this reminder to heart when we get impatient and testy in our prayers, stomping our spiritual feet and demanding immediate answers: “Look who you’re talking to!”

______________________

1 Gurnall, William and Richard Rushing, editor. Voices From the Past, Volume 2. Carlisle, PA: The Banner of Truth Trust, 2016. p. 261

 

 

Moses’ Rod and Sampson’s Jawbone

 

Then the Lord said to him [Moses], “What is that in your hand?” “A staff,” he replied. “Take this staff in your hand so you can perform miraculous signs with it.”

—Exodus 4:2, 17

All of us can probably recount some of the ways God used Moses’ staff (or rod) in the book of Exodus. The plagues God sent on Egypt began with a raised staff in obedience to God’s commands. The parting of the Red Sea and the water from the rock came as a result of Moses’ use of his simple staff.

Then, we recall Sampson, the judge God used to help Israel defeat the warring Philistine army through the use of a simple jawbone of a donkey, recorded in Judges 15. He used this available instrument to wage war and kill a thousand Philistines.

The men of Gideon, in Judges 7, used torches and trumpets at God’s command. In Judges 6:14, we read:

The Lord turned to him and said, “Go in the strength you have and save Israel out of Midian’s hand. Am I not sending you?”

The boy David used a slingshot to defeat Goliath in 1 Samuel 17. Scripture tells of too many more heroes God used to do His work through something simple than we have room for here.

Maybe you think God can’t use you because of some real, or perceived, weakness, some handicap, some lacking of financial goods, or the lacking of some special talent. Maybe age has crept up on you and you wonder if God has finished using you.

Just remember the Biblical stories of weakness and lack. Remind yourself of what Paul said about the Lord’s message to him in 2 Corinthians 12:9-10:

He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore, I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me. That is why, for Christ’s sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.

Well said, Paul. Thank you for those words of encouragement!