Month: October 2019

Time is too short for me to tell about Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah,  David, Samuel, and the prophets, who by faith conquered kingdoms, administered justice, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, quenched the raging of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, gained strength after being weak, became mighty in battle, and put foreign armies to flight.  Hebrews 11:32-3

It’s easy to assess a weak person as forever weak. They are often pigeonholed from their youth. When considering whom to choose for a position where strength is critical, the weak are usually not considered.  Natural strength and ability is prized but the assessment for who is qualified is sorely lacking.  I must remember that the weak are made strong as God showcases His strength through willing hearts.  The degree of their weakness is immaterial.  If they trust God, are fully dependent and expectant, then watch out!

The children of Israel were always outnumbered and yet, with God, their weaknesses were paired with God’s unparalleled strength. Gideon defeated the Midianites with fragile pitchers – just pieces of earthen pottery.  Samson slayed 1,000 Philistines with the jawbone of a donkey.  Historically, ill equipped saints were given beyond the natural to enable them to overcome incredible odds in the supernatural. Think of the widow and her son who were on the edge of starvation.  They had a handful of flour and a little oil left to make their last meal. God’s hand touched their meager amount of ingredients and there was an unending supply.

God’s tactical strategies do not include the assessment of a person’s strengths.  He takes a person who loves Him and trusts Him, and though they may be weak and without resources, He completes what is lacking to make them a supernatural kingdom force.

What battle are you fighting today?  I’m in one myself. The advantage, in the natural realm, is not mine.  I can see that.  It may not be yours either.  Put the equation on paper and a disastrous outcome is sure.  If you live with someone who prizes intellect, a scientific mind who thrives on logic and solid evidence, predictions of gloom will fill your home.  Faith must be fought for.  And fight, we must.  The battle can be against the arguments of faithless children of God. This should not be but it is.

God is for you.  Not against.  Stand up and expect a miracle.  Put it all on the line.  Offer Him what you have even if it’s far from enough.  I love J.D. Greer’s quote.  Our strength is more of a liability than an asset.  When God wants to use us, He often begins by weakening us.

The most important thing I have in my hands is helpless dependence on You.  Amen

By faith Rahab the prostitute received the spies in peace and didn’t perish with those who disobeyed. Hebrews 11:30

The story of Rahab is far bigger than her hiding two spies on her roof.  If I remember her only for this, it’s hard to fathom why she is in this Hebrews 11 lineup of faith giants.  I need to look at the bigger story.

• She embraced Yahweh before the spies ever came to her house. The fame of Israel’s God had spread throughout the land of Canaan.  Rahab was the only one who heard the stories and trusted God in response.  She left the Canaanite gods.  She changed sides.  I don’t know if her faith was public but it was heading that direction as her story continued.
• She disobeyed the king of Jericho when his henchmen came looking for the spies. She said that the spies had already left when, at that moment, they were still on her roof.  She knowingly acted against her king and her own people.
• She made a covenant with the spies, not only for herself but for her family. That meant that she had to convince her family to change sides too.  She put her life on the line.  Any one of them could have reported her.  Family does betray family on matters of religion after all.

The Hebrew word used to describe Rahab in Joshua 2 literally means “a prostitute woman.”  She might have been involved in cultic prostitution related to Canaanite religious practices.  Yet in spite of her past, her conversion was real.  God’s plan for her life was not thwarted by her life of sin. Her faith changed her destiny and her standing before God.

Finally, her message to the spies validated her faith and is legendary and instructive.  “I know that the LORD has given you the land, and that dread of you has fallen on us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt in fear before you.  For we have heard how the LORD dried up the water of the Red Sea before you when you came out of Egypt, and what you did to the two kings of the Amorites that were beyond the Jordan.  As soon as we heard it, our hearts melted, and there was no courage left in any of us because of you.  The LORD your God is indeed God in heaven above and on earth below.”  Joshua 2:9-11

Here is the irony.  Rahab reveals that the stories about Yahweh were famous throughout the land of Canaan.  God, and His people, were feared.  Yet forty years earlier, Moses sent 12 spies to Canaan to see how easy, or difficult, it would be to take the land.  They were seized with fear over the giant-sized men and the seemingly impenetrable city walls.  Their fear incurred God’s wrath and He cursed them with forty more years of wilderness wandering. What a tragedy.  They feared the people who feared them!

This is my takeaway ~ The enemy we are often afraid of ~ is really afraid of us.

With You on my side, whom shall I fear?  Amen

By faith the walls of Jericho fell down after being encircled by the Israelites for seven days. Hebrews 11:30

Looking foolish appears to be a theme within the narrative of scripture.  A great man like Naaman was commanded to dip into the dirty Jordan seven times for healing.  Noah was told to build an ark when rain was unheard of.  Jehoshaphat was told to abandon his military training to lead a charge with only a choir of singers.  And the Israelites were told to walk around Jericho for seven days in anticipation of the city’s walls falling down.  To obey God required the laying down of self-interest.  Naaman was humiliated by the order.  Jehoshaphat probably wondered if he heard such an outlandish command correctly.  Noah sustained ridicule for 100+ years as he labored to build a wooden monstrosity.  And while the Israelites didn’t have to march around Jericho for a hundred years, seven days is still a long time to look ridiculous.

Did each and every person who marched believe, with every step, God’s prophesied outcome?  I doubt it.  No more than I believe God every single moment when He leads me to do something scary.  I take a deep breath.  I obey.  I sustain some criticism.  Weakened, I go back to the Lord for renewed strength.  The process starts all over again.  Obedience is solitary and is usually way out of the realm of what is logical and predictable.

No wonder faith is what has to precede radical obedience.  Without faith, compliance is impossible.  The risk of looking foolish is real and is a faith-killer.  I must lay down my reputation and live for an audience of One.  Only His plan, and my obedience, matters.  I don’t need to know how things fit together to follow God’s lead either.  I may not know until glory.

Hebrews 11 chronicles the stories of a few faith giants.  They were heroes because they offered themselves to God for a mission that would grate against the mainstream.  People didn’t understand.  Way before Jesus, it had already been proven that the way is narrow for those who follow God.  The gate is wide, however, for conformists and rationalists who follow their own rudder.

The plans of men may impress a crowd of the like-minded and the wayward but plans of God only impress other children of God who walk by faith.  Trophies and adulation are given for temporal accomplishments but crowns will be given to those who sustain more than a little mocking from the throngs on the road to destruction.  Walk on with Jesus – if you bear the bruises of others’ words.  You are in good company.  Your former heroes are, right now, worshiping at the feet of Jesus.  They are in awe of God’s stunning story-line and how privileged they were to play a small part in the advance of God’s  kingdom.  Sense the cheering of this great cloud of witnesses.

Yes. Fathers. Mothers. Even brothers and sisters from centuries ago. Let their voices resound in my heart.  Amen

Through faith he kept the Passover, and the sprinkling of blood, lest he that destroyed the firstborn should touch them.  Hebrews 11:28

When God chooses a leader, He chooses him with great care.  Moses’ response to God’s instructions about the first Passover would mean the difference between life and death for every firstborn in an Israelite family.  With great detail, God gave instructions.  With great detail, Moses carried them out.  No carelessness.  No second-guessing about appeared to be important and what seemed to be of little significance.  He was not burdened down by the extent of God’s instructions.  If the details were important to God, the details were important to him.

Such is the essence of faith. When God speaks, I obey no matter what.  I do not sift through God’s commands and apply a value to what seems compelling.  I do not take shortcuts according to my own interpretation of God’s words.  By faith, I trust that every single thing He speaks is critical whether I understand it or not.

Moses could not know all that that was in the heart of God as he listened to God unveil the detailed instructions for his people.   He could not know that Christ would be our Passover and would one day be sacrificed for us.  He could not know that as each household chose a lamb without blemish, that the Messiah would also be a Lamb without sin.  He could not know that killing and roasting their lambs as God instructed would paint a picture of the suffering and killing of another perfect Lamb on a hillside outside Jerusalem.  He could now know that every detail of Passover instructions from Yahweh would correspond perfectly to the sacrifice of the Lamb of God.

Yet in spite of what he did not know, Moses knew God.  His faith was built on awe and respect.  His faith bid him to obey God to the very last detail. Whatever God promised would come to pass and each seemingly insignificant element would hold remarkable symbolism down through the ages. In heaven, God’s plan of redemption will be celebrated and each facet of this first Passover will astound us all over again as we sing the song in Revelation chapter five.  Our voices will blend with the choir of angels.

“Blessing and honor and glory and power be to Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, forever and ever!”

By faith Moses, when he was grown up, refused to be called the son of Pharaoh’s daughter, choosing rather to be mistreated with the people of God than to enjoy the fleeting pleasures of sin. Hebrews 11:24-25

I’ve heard more than a few stories of people who come into a great deal of money and choose to leave their small-town acquaintances, and even their family behind, to live in the better part of town.  They are ashamed to associate with those who represent their humble beginnings.  But Moses?  He flips this on its head and does the exact opposite.  He leaves his life of privilege.  He publicly nullifies his adoption into the royal family and chooses to associate instead with a nation of slaves.

The writer of Hebrews wanted us to know that Moses did this when he was grown up.  Why is that important?  Because he was not young, naïve, or gullible.  He was forty years old; mature, well-educated, full of knowledge and experience.  He changed his life and identity in the most profound way possible in the prime of his life.  Who does this?  Who leaves honor and privilege to embrace a nation of outcasts?  Only one who has encountered God.  Moses, upon learning He was Jewish, could have considered it bad news and something to grieve.  But when he met God at the burning bush, a lot more happened than him getting a new mission.  He got a new heart.

It’s amazing what people do when their heart has been changed by an encounter with Christ.  Brilliant doctors with lucrative practices have given them up to go to the missionfield to build mission post hospitals.  College professors have given up tenure at major universities in order to go to seminary to become pastors.  Young women have given up the love of their life in order to go into fulltime ministry as single people.  Such choices make no sense at all to a world who watches.  It appears that they have thrown their life away, and for what?!  But they are living examples of the story Jesus told about hidden treasure.  The Kingdom of Heaven is like a treasure hidden in the field, which a man found, and hid. In his joy, he goes and sells all that he has, and buys that field.  Matthew 13:44

Jesus is the treasure.  Before discovering Him, we live with priorities and affections diverted elsewhere.  We value what the world values and we fit in.  Jesus turns it all upside down when He reveals Himself and opens our eyes to His glory.  Nothing and no one can equal His worth.  We become His peculiar people, choosing to be outcasts, singing all the way home as love-sick worshipers.

I am the singer of a new song about the real King in the only kingdom that matters.  Thank you!  Amen

And did God ever say to an angel, as he does to his Son, “Sit here beside me in honor until I crush all your enemies beneath your feet”?  Hebrews 1:13

Angels do not rest in the presence of God because they are working for Him.  Jesus, however, sits at the right hand of the Father.  Only He can rest.  Only He can sit in repose in God’s company.

We should never get too comfortable around high authority.

There is a story about a man named Lear who was hired to give Queen Victoria art lessons. Things went well, and Lear started to feel quite at home in the palace. He enjoyed standing in front of the fire, leaning on the hearth and warming himself in a relaxed manner, but every time he did that, one of the Queen’s attendants invited him to look at something on the other side of the room, causing him to move. No one explained it to him, but after a while he got the idea: good manners said it was wrong for a subject to have such a relaxed attitude in the presence of their Queen.

Have God’s children become so comfortable around Jesus that we’ve lost respect for His Kingship?  Sometimes, yes.  The balance between intimacy and deference must be preserved.  So, it is imperative that I keep company with believers who are intimate with Jesus, who appreciate that the veil in the temple was torn so that we could draw close to God.  But it is also imperative that intimacy never replace awe so I must also keep company with believers who are hushed by God’s mercy and their own sinfulness.  Intimacy should not take the privilege of proximity for granted.

Being a musician, I want to address worship and liturgy.  Praise and worship is multi-faceted.  Contemporary worship songs accentuate and foster intimacy.  Hymns from our spiritual ancestors accentuate and foster respect.  Liturgy, as in reciting the Nicene Creed, brings a weightiness to our view of God and accentuates and fosters humility. Liturgy reminds us that God is the God of heaven and earth and He is beyond our comprehension.  That kills narcissism.  I was made to worship someone else, not myself.

When I worship correctly, my heart is satisfied, and I am saved from self.  I kneel in respect when in the Throne Room and rest confidently when I’m tucked under His wings.

I draw close to You Jesus but begin on my knees.  Amen

By faith Joseph, as he was nearing the end of his life, mentioned the exodus of the Israelites and gave instructions concerning his bones.  Hebrews 11:22

Joseph never forgot the stories of his great grandfather.  They had been passed down to him at the feet of his father, Jacob.  Though rejected and sent into slavery, and then living most of his life in Egypt, he wasn’t fooled about God’s promise about the promised land.  Though the Israelites were enjoying prosperity, he still was not tricked into thinking this would be their permanent home.  He could foresee the exodus of his people years down the road.  Not because he foresaw their captivity but because he knew they were headed for the land God had shown Abraham.

Joseph envisioning it is impressive enough but then put legs to his faith by making plans about his own death and burial.  He made no ‘just in case’ caveats that went like this ~ “I’d like to be buried with my people if they leave his place but if they don’t, here’s what I want done with my bones in Egypt.”  No, he just made plans for his bones after leaving with the people ~ so sure was he of the exodus ~ so sure was he of the word of his God. This is the reason he makes it into the hall of faith.

When I begin to distrust God’s promises, I will jump to make alternate plans in case God doesn’t come through.  I conceive an Ishmael instead of waiting for my Isaac.  Joseph had all kinds of seeming proof that God had changed his mind about the destiny of His people; the drought that nearly killed his clan, their migration to Egypt, their prosperity since they integrated into Egyptian culture, etc.  But Joseph wasn’t fooled.

Once God has made His will for me clear, I should never have a backup plan just in case.  How suspicious is that!  Either I trust or I don’t.  Either God is faithful or He is not.  I make plans to enter God’s open door and nothing should deter my footsteps.

Don’t let me mistake Your roundabout path for a permanent detour.  Amen

 

By faith Isaac blessed Jacob and Esau in regard to their future. By faith Jacob, when he was dying, blessed each of Joseph’s sons, and worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.  Hebrews 11:20-21

 Jacob and his mother tricked Isaac into blessing him instead of Esau, the firstborn and rightful heir to his father’s blessing.  After Isaac learned what he had done, though betrayed, he trusted the providence of God that the 2^nd born was to be the chosen all along to carry on the promised line. Soon after this momentary faith however, angst, strife, deceit, and a lack of spiritual rest in the eternal purposes of God ruled his life.

So why is he in the hall of faith?  Because he finally matured and ended well.  Though much of his life was messy, he acted out in faith as an old man.  When he met Joseph’s sons, his grandchildren whom he’d never seen, he blessed the 2^nd born instead of the 1^st born.  When asked about it, he said he trusted in God’s revealed intentions with regard to birth order.  I love the picture this scripture paints of Jacob leaning on his staff; resting and trusting the promises of God that had finally settled in his heart.

Jacob never saw the promises of God fulfilled on earth.  Nor did his father and grandfather.  Their faith is counted to them as righteousness because they lived with an eye on eternity.  Their faith went beyond the comforts of here and now.  Their trust wasn’t short sighted – counting on God to deliver in their lifetime.

This is where I get tripped up.  I’m often asked, “Do you have the faith to believe that God can answer this or that prayer?”  I say yes, but with my ‘yes’ comes the assumption that it will happen here on earth and I will live to see it in the next 5 years.  I’m realizing that I’m simply wrong.  The majority of our biblical heroes lived with their eyes on the hereafter, rarely assuming that the promises of Yahweh would come to fruition in their lifetime.  I place too few of my hopes in the eternal realm.  I want perfection now and find it difficult to live contentedly while waiting for everything to be in godly order.

I examine myself today and ask some needed questions.  Do I trust God with the timetable of my life?  Do I believe His promises are real if I don’t see them happen here?  Is my joy and confidence really mature or am I childlike in wanting it now?  I must seek first the kingdom of God and keep my eyes fixed on eternity.  Deferred hope.  Faith that reaches with long arms.

On this day, I relinquish all of my short-sighted expectations.  Amen

By faith Abraham, when he was tested, offered up Isaac.  He received the promises and he was offering his unique son, the one it had been said about, your seed will be traced through Isaac.  He considered God to be able even to raise someone from the dead, and as an illustration, he received him back.  Hebrews 11:17-19

God’s predictions and promises will, at some time in my life, appear to have been snuffed out by present circumstances. This was the position in which Abraham found himself.

• God promised him a son in his old age.
• That son would be the seed through which a nation would be born.
• But then God told him to sacrifice his son.
• Crisis ~ A nation can’t be born through a deceased boy of 17 who has never fathered a child.

What was Abraham to think next?  God would either break His promise – which was an impossibility since God was true and holy.  Or, God would have to resurrect Isaac after death.  But since there were no recorded resurrections up until that point, the notion was original and outlandish with Abraham. Which would you believe?  Which would I have believed when both seemed impossible?

We will each experience many times in our lives when our faith reaches a crisis point.  Sometimes, it can be over the same issue as we see it ebb and flow from ‘unlikely’ to ‘somewhat promising.’  I am struggling with such a thing this morning.  The fix is a review of God’s history, God’s power, and the sustaining effect of living in the Word which lives and abides forever.

Satan is the faith-killer.  May he not succeed as we hold up our hands yet again for God’s peace and promises to come in like a flood.

By Your grace, and with Your angels if needed, don’t let me put my hands down. Amen

Therefore from one man—in fact, from one as good as dead—came offspring as numerous as the stars of heaven and as innumerable as the grains of sand by the seashore. Hebrews 11:12

From one as good as dead ~ came a nation.  Who can bring that about except God!

No one likes to hear the words, “Your chances are slim.”  Or worse yet, “There is no chance for success.”  The latter is certainly what would have been said regarding Abraham and Sarah’s desire to conceive a child in their old age.  The window of time for such a possibility was long past.

What is it you have given up on today?  Your hopelessness is based on the logical evidence sitting in front of you.  It might be too late, too expensive, or too hopeless considering the people involved.  There are many more reasons than these for seeming impossibilities.  But God ~

Do you know for certain that God is going to touch what is nearly dead to bring about a miracle?  Probably not – unless He has appeared to you somehow to declare it.  But that does not mean that you and I should hang our head and live in despair that what we’ve prayed for is an absolute impossibility.  As long as we live and breathe, God can do anything.  And if we consider God and see with eyes of faith, that produces joy and expectancy, not mourning and resignation.  While I don’t have ~ I can still sing with hope.

I laugh like a child at Christmas at the possibilities within the realm of Your power.  Amen