“God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.”
I do not know if you know what I mean when I say that I have been feeling the heaviness of life for the last few days. I am retired and not on a strict schedule, but I have been feeling the pressure of demands on my life and on my time. Mostly, I have just felt a great need for the Lord. I was searching for a scripture reference that would speak to my need. Psalm 46:1 came to my mind, so I read it, meditated on it, prayed over it, and then felt the need to share my thoughts on the text with you. “God is our refuge…” I remember a gospel song that I heard years ago, and haven’t heard for a long time, that spoke to this. The song was “I Found a Hiding Place.” I don’t remember all of the words to the song, but the thought behind the song spoke to me this morning. When we feel that the world is rushing in on us and that the demands of life are becoming too heavy, we can escape to that hiding place and find the security that we need to go on and to meet the demands that life places on us. It is just good to take refuge in God sometimes and just let Him minister to our sore hearts and minds. When we go to Him for refuge, He reassures us of His presence and of His love for us. It is also in this hiding place that the Lord feeds our faith and lifts our spirits. “God is…our strength.” It is nice to take refuge in the Lord, but we cannot stay there. When we are in the “hiding place” and He is ministering to us, He is preparing us to go on and do His will for our lives, and to meet the demands of our lives whatever those demands may be. It is in these times that He gives us the strength to leave the hiding place. I praise Him that the strength that He gives us is His strength. It is Holy Spirit strength. The promise of the Holy Spirit given by Jesus is not an idle promise. The Holy Spirit is not in our lives to just give us some “holy thrill” and some talking points for our next fellowship meeting. He gave us the Holy Spirit to minister to us on a daily basis and to give us the strength that we need to live and to serve. The text did not say that God just gives us strength. He does give us strength, but the text says that God is our strength. We need to remember that when we have Him in our lives, we have His strength. It doesn’t hurt to ask for His strength, but we should remember that we already have His strength because we have Him. (At this point we pause and say “Thank you Jesus.”) “God is…our very present help in trouble.” The NIV translates this: “God is our ever present help in trouble.” I like both translations. God is our “very” present help. There is no doubt about it. But He is also our “ever” present help in trouble. We can know that there will never be a time when He will not be our “help in trouble.” I think that the whole Bible story from Genesis to Revelation shows us this. I have found in my life that God’s help in my troubles takes different forms. For example, there are times that I go to the hiding place whining and whimpering. That is when He “takes me to the woodshed” and tells me to get over it and get on with it. There are other times that I go to Him in real need and He ministers to my heart and gently shoves me back out into the fray. We need to be sensitive to what God is telling us when we go to Him for refuge. When He gives us His strength in those times of refuge, He gives it to us to serve Him and to do His will for our lives. But we can be assured that when the Lord Jesus has a plan for us, and that He will be with us while He carries it out through us. You can take this verse personally. Let the Lord speak to your heart now through this verse. Let Him be your refuge today. If you are a believer, know that He is your strength, and that He is present in your life for whatever trouble you might encounter. Believe it! Rejoice in it! Do it! Bro. Joe
2 Comments
“Sing unto the Lord, O ye saints of His, and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness. 5. For His anger endures for a moment: in His favor is life: weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.”
In these two verses, David calls upon God’s saints to “sing unto the Lord" a glad song. Singing is one way throughout history that we have been able to express ourselves in joy or sorrow. Singing (music), is one of the great blessings of God to us. Our devotion to God needs to be expressed and one of the main ways that we do it is through singing. Why should we sing unto the Lord? We should sing unto the Lord because we are “saints of his.” In the Bible, a saint is not a person who has been set aside as being a special person; rather a saint is anyone who belongs to the Lord. In the Old Testament the Israelites are referred to as “saints.” In the New Testament, all believers in Jesus Christ are referred to as “saints.” Today, being a saint means that one belongs to God through faith in Jesus Christ. This is, perhaps, our greatest reason for singing songs of joy, because we belong to God. We belong to God by His grace, not because we deserve it. God’s grace bestowed upon us is a reason for us to sing unto the Lord. We should sing unto God because He is holy: “and give thanks at the remembrance of His holiness.” The fact that there is a holy God overseeing this seemingly erratic universe should give us a song in our hearts. God’s holiness does not just mean that He is good and above reproach. It also means that He is holy in all of His dealings with us. In other words, we can trust God because He is holy. Whatever happens, we can be assured that the Holy God loves us and that He is looking out for our best interests. We will not understand all that God has done for us until we are face to face with Him, but by faith we can sing about His favor now. Which brings us to: We should sing unto the Lord because, “His anger endures for a moment: in His favor is life.” I pity the people who only see God as “the angry God.” Some people refuse to believe in Him because they read about His judgments in the Bible, or see His judgments today. This is not the complete picture of the God who has been revealed to us through Jesus Christ. The important thing to know about God is not that He is angry, for "His anger lasts but a moment, but His favor lasts for a lifetime." In the final analysis, the “saints of God” will be in His favor no matter what other judgments may come in their lives. The Bible tells us that God disciplines His children just as a good parent disciplines his or her children. God’s discipline is a result of His love and favor. When we forget that, we do not sing unto the Lord. We should sing unto the Lord because, “weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” We have probably all had a fitful night’s sleep, worrying about what we had to face, but when morning light broke we saw what we were worried about in a new light. God did a work of grace in our lives even while we slept. We can be sure that there will be times for us to weep. But we can be equally sure that our weeping will turn to joy when God does His work in our lives. This is why we should have a song in our hearts, and why we should be optimistic about life. We can trust that though “weeping may endure for a night…joy comes in the morning." Believe it! Bro. Joe “And whatever my eyes desired I kept not from them. I withheld not my heart from any joy; for my heart rejoiced in all my labor: and this was my portion of all my labor. 11. Then I looked on all the works of my hands, and on my labor that I had labored to do: and, behold all was vanity and vexation of spirit, and there was no profit under the sun.”
You have probably thought that it would be great if you could have everything that you want. People play the lottery every day to realize this dream in their lives. Those who do not play the lottery, might still have that wish in their hearts. Okay, I will confess that I have thought about how nice it would be to have the money to buy everything that my heart desires. This has never happened and I am resigned to the reality that it will never be so. Baptist preachers do not play the lottery. Be that as it may, King Solomon wrote that he had everything that his eyes desired, he did not withhold anything that he thought would bring him joy, and his labors were to that end. A happy man – huh? Nope. Here is what he found: “Everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind, nothing was gained under the sun.” (NIV) What can we learn from this? First, Solomon found that when he got all that he desired, he found it to be vain. Vain, or vanity, means empty and void. Solomon thought that all of the things that he desired would bring joy and satisfaction to his life. He found when he acquired all that he wanted it did not bring happiness. Things that we possess cannot fill the empty places in our lives. It is tragic that people dream of the fullness that riches would bring into their lives, only to find that it is not so. If all one has is wealth, he or she is going to find little real, deep satisfaction in it. There are people who have wealth who are happy, of course, but I think that they would be the first to tell you that the source of their happiness is not just in what they possess. They have found other meaning in their lives besides what they possess. I’m not suggesting that you refuse to get rich if the opportunity arises. I am suggesting that this alone will not fill the void in your heart. Second, Solomon found that when he got all that he desired, it caused “vexation of spirit.” What that means is when he did not find all of the satisfaction in his desire for possessions, he was depressed. In other words, after Solomon had all that his heart desired, he was disappointed, because those things did not fill the void. I remember that when I was a child I would peruse the Sears Christmas Catalog and think of how great it would be to have all of those toys and things that I saw. My parents being my parents, that would never have happened, but I did dream about it. I also remember that when I was a child and got what I wanted after a few days the luster had worn off, and I found myself wanting something else – some other toy. Third, Solomon found that when he got all that he desired, it did not profit him at all. There is a saying that the man who has the most “toys” when he dies wins. This is a real joke. Jesus gave a parable about a rich man and a poor beggar named Lazarus. The rich man “fared sumptuously every day.” He obviously had all of the world’s pleasures and was supposed to be very happy. Lazarus on the other hand did not have possessions, but he had a relationship with the Lord. When they both died, the man who had the most “toys” was not the winner. The man who had none of the “toys” was the ultimate winner, because he filled the void of his life with the Lord. (You can find the parable in Luke 16:19-31.) Relax, you’ll never get all that you want, but you can find peace and satisfaction in Jesus. . Bro. Joe 3 John 9-10: “I wrote unto the church but Diotrephes, who loves to have the preeminence among them, received us not. 10.Wherefore, if I come, I will remember his deeds which he does, prating against us with malicious words: and not content therewith, neither does he receive the brothers, and forbids those who come.”
3 John 12: “Demetrius has a good report of all men, and of the truth itself: yea, and we also bear record; that you know our record is true.” The short book of 3 John has two main characters. One is Diotrephes who you read about in verses 9-10, and Demetrius who you read about in verse 12. You probably recognize both of these people, either from your church, school, work, or maybe even home. I have been the pastor of both of them. The Diotrephes’ of this world take some of the joy out of life, and the Demetriuses of this world add to the joy of life. Let’s compare the two of them and see which of them we had rather have in our fellowship, and ask which one is more like us? The first complaint about Diotrephes was that he liked to have preeminence, or first place, in everything in the church. He might even remind us that “by golly, my granddaddy and daddy ran this church and I plan to do the same thing.” These are the people who think that if they do not approve of a project in the church, they will not participate, or they will kill the project. His kin are those who won’t go along with something if they are outvoted by the rest of the church. Notice that he also talks against the leadership, namely the pastor and other leaders, and uses malicious words in doing it. Malicious words are words that are intended to hurt the one spoken against, or to destroy his or her reputation. Perhaps the worst thing that Diotrephes did was to try to keep the visiting preachers, who were commonplace in those days, from being welcomed to the church. These “brothers” were itinerant evangelists who went to churches to preach and to witness. They were meant to be helpers for the churches. Diotrephes was not hospitable, to say the least. He did not have a welcoming heart, and probably would not have rejoiced when new people were saved and wanted to join the church. We might not be as bad as Diotrephes, but we need to guard our own tendencies to rule and to have our way in everything. If you sense any “Diotrephes” in you, pray it away --- now. On the other hand, there was a man named Demetrius who was well-spoken-of. It was said of him that he had a “good report.” John is not specific here, but we can use our imaginations and know what it means. Look back on what Diotrophes did that was wrong and you can be assured that Demetrius was not like that. The work of the church did not go on in spite of Demetrius but because of him. I trust that you are a “Demetrius” type of person and that the church to which you belong is glad to have you in its membership. Demetrius was not just of “good report,” but he was also well-spoken of “by the truth itself.” To me, this can mean only one thing: Demetrius’ life reflected the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ and the Holy Spirit in his life. Today, we would say that Demetrius was a Bible-believing Christian who lived by the truths revealed there. Today’s “Demetriuses” have the New Testament instead of just Old Testament prophecies and the oral tradition concerning Jesus. You can trust this kind of Christian to help the church go forward. The Holy Spirit inspired these verses, in one sense, to show us the kind of people we should be. We do not want to be like Diotrephes, but we should strive to be like Demetrius. Bro. Joe "For I am the Lord, I change not; therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed."
From what I have been reading about changing social mores, where right is wrong and wrong is right; I'm beginning to wonder if we think that God has changed. Malachi 3:6 says that God has not changed. We often hear people say:“This is after all the Twenty-first Century.” But I am yet to hear anyone say that it would be alright if their husband or wife committed adultery because this is the Twenty First Century. I am yet to hear parents say that it is alright if their children lie to them or become chronic liars because this is the Twenty First Century. I could go on, but you get the idea. First, let's consider that God has not changed. He has not changed his mind about sin. Sin is still sin to Him. If it was sin in Bible days, it is sin today. We just need to be careful that we are not too selective about what we think sin is. We would do well to remember that all sin is still under God's judgment. He judged it in the Garden of Eden and still judges it today. He does not smile on it. Second, let's consider: "Therefore ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." While God has not changed in relation to sin, He also has not changed in relation to love, mercy and grace. It was because of God's unchanging grace that "Jacob" was not consumed. Consider these words from one of the most negative books in the Bible, Lamentations 3:22-23: "It is of the Lord's mercies that we are not consumed, because His compassions fail not. 23.They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." Jeremiah recognized that God's hatred of sin did not mean that He hated His people. Every time I read these words, a chill goes up my spine: "Thy (God's compassions) are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness." God is faithful to be compassionate towards us. (Let's insert a "Hallelujah" here.) God's love and compassion are stated succinctly and profoundly in John 3:16: "For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life." In spite of our sinfulness, God loves us. Romans 5:8 tells us that: "While we were yet sinners, Christ died for us". This has not changed either. His death still atones for our sins. This does not mean that we have carte blanche to sin at will and that God does not care that we sin. He does care, but His love, mercy, and grace have been given to us in His Son so that we can be forgiven. 1 John 1:9 promises: "If we confess our sins, He (Jesus) is faithful and just to forgive us for our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." Yes, God still hates sin, but He still loves us. He loves you. That will not change, but He wants us to recognize our sins, confess them and be forgiven and changed by Him. He definitely does not want us to try to redefine sin, nor to excuse our sins, no matter how trite they may seem to us. Give praise to the unchanging God!!!! I don’t know of anyone who believes in Christ who believes that God has changed. In fact it would be devastating if God changed. He is, after all, all-knowing and all-powerful. He knows everything from before the Garden of Eden to the end of the ages. For one example, it would be devastating if God changed and decided that instead of dealing with us in grace, He would only deal with us in judgment. We would all end up in hell and heaven would be emptied, because no one could be saved if God changed his mind about grace. Thank God for His unchanging grace!!!! Bro. Joe |
AuthorDr. Joe Beauchamp is the author of this blog and website. Categories
All
Archives
September 2021
|