REACHING THE TOP

For today I think I will just dwell on reaching the top of the mountain. To stop struggling and relax. Look a place of rest and refreshment is provided for us!

With all of the news this last week on the Covid-19 virus and its ramifications for our nation, our families, and ourselves personally, I think actually reaching the top will take some time. In fact this may just be one mountain that we will have to scale in the future. Many ways of life that we once took for granted may be forever changed.

We all want life back to normal but we are probably looking at a new normal in the weeks and months ahead in one way or another.

A thought did occur to me today.  Maybe all this has been God’s way to get us to stop in our tracks and begin to view life with a different perspective. Especially His. Which is not rushing around all day and half the night till we drop. Jesus never rushed to serve His Father. He always had time for what He needed to do and He always had time for rest, reflection, and prayer.

Sometimes we need to be forced to stop or we just won’t. Until we stop we won’t know what we are missing in life that may just be a tad more important than what we have been so busy with.

This is true for most walks of life. We as Christians can get so busy “serving” God that we lose all perspective of what He actually has designed us to be doing. We equate doing with Spirituality. Then we fall into problems like comparing ourselves one to another and trying to insist our plans are better than someone else’s. Just plain old pride takes hold and we begin to think more of ourselves, our talents, and skills than we ought. God, after all, has blessed each of us with certain talents and skills and not t he other way around. Unfortunately we too often get it backwards.

I spent many years working in Christian ministries and, looking back at some of the trials and problems, I realize it was because I was too busy to stop and look around and gain a proper perspective, which is God’s perspective of the problems and of the work.

I am certain I missed out on precious opportunities of serving Him because I was too distracted to notice someone else’s need because I got the cart before the horse. Jesus made it clear that we are to be servants just like he was a servant. He set the example again and again. The Christian life is not so much about achieving some sought after dream of ministries or promotions but it is found in simple un-praised unnoticed service. Those moments that we have in our life will probably bring us the greatest reward in eternity.

So now we are on auto stop. So is the world. One would hope this would be a time that people’s hearts would turn from without to within. That a lost and dying generation that has rejected Christ will have time at last to consider their place in eternity.

We see the number of deaths form this virus everyday splashed across our screens and we fear. We don’t want to be sick and certainly not die. Are we ready to die? I don’t mean as far as leaving this earth because, obviously, if you have family and etc. you are not ready; but I mean what happens to us if we die.

Where do we find an answer? Does society out there have it? Who is telling the truth? There are are many religions and all of them claim some form of eternal peace. But which ones really have the answer. We as believers in Christ know because we have read the instruction book for eternity.  The Bible. Ultimately that is what it is about. Where we will spend eternity? Jesus said, “I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes unto the Father God (or enters heaven) but by me.” John 14:6  Kind of cut and dried.

For this last many decades in our society all kinds of mantras have arisen. The most dangerous is humanism that basically tells us that this life is all there is so live it up and do whatever appeals to you because you will never stand before a holy God to be judged for sinful ways.

Ultimately the God of the Bible is real and living and in control. He holds the key to a prosperous and good eternity in His hand. He offers it willingly to all who will accept it. Jesus provided the way on the cross for our sins to be forgiven and when he rose again He gave us the promise of eternal life.

Have you noticed that this virus has closed the doors of the churches and the schools?  Maybe the doors of the churches because we have become lukewarm. We enjoy our pet sins and we neglect reaching out to the lost and dying around us with the glorious gospel of Christ; which they need to escape eternal damnation in hell.

The doors of the schools because so many are pushing a wicked agenda on our children. Teaching them perversions of morality and truth in the name of acceptance and love. Beginning with our youngest and most vulnerable they determine to introduce sexual practices. In a sense it is a form of child abuse because children are not allowed to be children. They are introduced way to early to things that belong in an adult world.

I can say this because I grew up in the 1950s when any talk of “sexual preferences” did not exist. Was it around me? Yes people living in my very neighborhood were involved in certain things. When I asked questions,my mother told me about them in ways a 5 year old could understand without knowing too much and without judging or hating anyone. Adults in those days shielded their children from many issues they deemed unsatisfactory  for young ears. I am glad. I had plenty of time to be a child and adulthood with its ins and outs and problems came all too soon anyway

Anyway something to ponder today. What say you?

WHAT DO I DO?

In the Bible,in I Samuel 30:6, we find David encouraging himself in the LORD. Like this young man, David may have sat in a place similar to this and contemplated a mountain rising up before him. An insurmountable mountain at that.

David and his men had been gone from their home for a time caught up in one battle or another.  Now he was coming home. He was looking forward to seeing his home in Ziklag. He was tired, his men were tired, and they couldn’t get there fast enough. They were weary in the battle. Have you been weary in the battle lately? I sure have. I feel like if I hear those two words Covid-19 I’m going to just go back to bed and forget the year 2020. Wake me when it’s over! I heard a man on the news call this “The Age of Coronovirus.” and well it may be from now on. Everything in our world has changed so fast we haven’t had time to catch our breath before some new problem created by the virus emerges on the horizon. Not to mention getting ill or having someone we love get ill.

In our Scripture today,  though we find the weariness, we find the hope and anticipation. David and his men were looking forward to seeing their families once again. Some of us feel like that today. We can’t wait until we can be together with family again. That will come. Perhaps the waiting will make that moment even better. Maybe we have taken too much for granted.

Back to David–Immediately  a problem arose. When they approached their home they noticed something didn’t seem right. In fact the village of Ziklag was not alright. There were no welcoming homes becaise they had all been burned. There were no laughing children or  loving wives running out to meet them. The moment of rejoicing died on their lips. In fact there was a deadly silence of emptiness. All of their families,  possessions, and homes were gone. There was nothing left. There was utter and total devastation.

Extreme discouragement overwhelmed the soldiers and they fell to the ground weeping. The worst thing that they may have dreaded while they were gone had occurred. Everyone they loved was gone.

It didn’t take long for them to turn on David. Since the beginning of time people always look for someone else besides themselves to blame. If David had not led them out to battle– Even though they willingly went. Then all would be well.

David was not only in fear of his men turning on him; he couldn’t imagine why God allowed this to happen. Couldn’t God have protected his family and friends while he went forth to do battle? I’m sure David was trusting God to do so.

Now what was David to do, he not only suffered the same heartache as his soldiers, but they were threatening to stone him.

It didn’t take long for David to realize that his only hope, even in this dark and desperate time, was to turn to his God. The end of verse six reads– “but David encouraged  himself in the Lord.”

He didn’t run around trying to figure out how to hide from his men that wanted to stone him. He didn’t try to come up with an instant plan to go after the enemy that had destroyed the town. He didn’t give up even though all seemed lost. Instead he resolved to focus on God. I have a sign on my fridge that read “Track Your Thinking.” It is from a study I did some years ago. Sometimes we have to stop trying to “fix” a problem ourselves either mentally or physically and just stop. We need to clear our mind and settle our thoughts and track our thinking. If I am worried about getting sick what can I do? Realize I don’t have all the answers and resolve to cross that bridge when I get there. I am not there today so wasting today worrying is a huge mistake. Not only that, I think our brain controls so much of our health that giving into that fear is counterproductive to actually staying well.  Yes, I may get there only God knows the future. He full well knew what David and his men would encounter that day. But God had a plan and actually it was a good one.

In our passage of Scripture we find David calling  for a priest. Some of you may never attend a regular church but there is a multitude of teaching and preaching on line. On a discouraging day find one and be uplifted by the preaching of God’s Word. Even more than that let’s examine our own hearts for any secret sins hidden there and spend this time getting our lives and hearts right with Him. Maybe now is the time to have a small devotional Bible time with your family and revisit some of those old stories about Jonah and Jesus. You might even finding them way more interesting today then you did long ago. Perhaps make a plan to attend a church when this is over.

Your children need you to teach them about God and His Word. Who else will? The television will teach them all the wrong things if you let it.  Its dangerous humanistic philophsy fills the airwaves minute by minute. None of it points to the real problem but sugar coats it and tells we are fine. Which as human beings, as a whole, we are not fine. We are not and can not be perfect. We were born sinners and we will stay sinners. The only hope is recognizing our sin, confessing, and turning to God and putting Him first in our lives.

When we have lost hope and things seem hopeless the only one who has an answer is God. We can try to devise a plan. We can worry over what to do next. We can wear out our carpet walking back and forth and giving into fear or we can sit down take out the Bible and go to the book of Psalms and encourage ourselves in the LORD. It is the only thing that will work.

As David encouraged himself by  inquiring of God. He asked the question and God immediately answered with a plan to recover their loss. As we read and listen to the Holy Spirit’s gentle voice within we will also find an answer to what we should do.

The Bible is the living Word just as relevant today as yesterday and will be tomorrow no matter what happens in our life.  Time in the Word will calm your fearful heart and give you some peace and a plan going forward.

David found that and went and recovered all of his people taken captive plus all of his possessions and more.

The miracle here is that none was missing, killed, or destroyed. God had been protecting David’s people and possessions all along. David didn’t have to be there at Ziglag to fight the battle because God was there.

Things may look grim from our vantage point today but God is in the future. He has a plan. He has not forgotten us. He is not unaware of the threat and our old enemy Satan. We can trust Him.

God will fight our battles if we let Him. If we demand to fight ourselves He will let that too. But isn’t it good to rest in Him knowing that He’s got this. He knew all about this virus and our economy. None of this is a surprise to Him. What a great God we serve! Always present, always prepared, always showing us the pathway. That formidable mountain that looks impossible to scale? Well God is there just waiting for us to stretch our little muscles of faith so we can grow them and strengthen them. No mountain is unconquerable with Him by our side.

In our story David and his men lost nothing and even gained. From this difficult experience of coronovirus may we lose nothing and gain all.

MOUNTAINOUS TERRAIN

These are difficult days for all of us. Time marches on and we have  no answers to how long this isolation will control our lives. How long are we going to hear daily updates on Covid-19? Will life ever get back to normal? Why is this happening? In the blink of an eye we hear of a deadly disease that is out to get us all. In the blink of an eye many of the stores and most restaurants we enjoyed are closed. In the blink of an eye some of us have lost our jobs. Suddenly a future that seemed bright with promise has turned into a long dark tunnel that seems to never end.

Of course we all fear getting sick or for someone we love to get this virus. Even as believers God does not promise us that we are exempt from sickness and death. These are realities we actually face every day just not as in focus as today. Why? We live in a fallen and imperfect world. Ever since sin entered in to the human race none of us has been totally safe from the dangers that life presents.

Sometimes, most times, we forget that this life is not all that there is for us. We really do have a bright future we just aren’t there yet. When Jesus left his disciples behind He said ” I go to prepare a place for you that where I am there will you be also.”

In spite of sickness and death that surrounds and sometimes becomes part of us, there is still a brighter future in heaven with Him where no sickness and no death will ever occur to us and our loved ones again.

As bad as this plague is for us as believers be aware of the unbelievers. They are fearful for good reason. They have no hope of heaven. In fact death is the doorway to eternal punishment. We need to fervently pray that many hearts will turn to God and repent at this time. Perhaps this is God’s final wake up call to a nation that has in recent years grown cold about spiritual things.

I could go on in that vein a long time but my purpose today is to write about mountains in our lives. We talked about about how reaching up for that handhold –a verse from God’s Word–and placing our faith in trust in Him will help us conquer this mountain of fear and doubt and disease but I thought of something else lately.

Thinking of the 12 disciples—did they go searching for Jesus and ask Him to be a disciple?

No He chose them. Just like He chose us. “We love Him because He first loved us.” Not the other way around.

No Jesus selected His disciples out of hundreds of others.  He walked by and said, “Come and follow me,” and they willingly left all they had and their lives to follow Him.

Remember that day when He called you? Come and repent and link your life to mine. “There is a verse that says bound up in the bundle of life—with the LORD God.” We became bound up in that bundle. I Samuel 25:29

The disciples’ life on the day He called them became bound up in the bundle of life with His.

Did they truly understand what they had given up their former lives for? Did they really understand first of all that He was the Messiah that they had looked for? The Gospels seem to teach that some of them did and some of them did not. It took some convincing for some of them to realize fully who Jesus was.

With this realization came indescribable hope. But it would not be what they hoped it to be. You see they thought that when Messiah came He would set up His kingdom and rule and reign. We find the verses in the Gospels that describe how the mother of James and John approached Jesus one day to ask that her sons sit on each side of Jesus when He came into His kingdom. She wasn’t talking about in the after life she meant now in that day and time. The disciples truly believed that they had surrendered their lives to Jesus ultimate  victory and importance as they would reign along side of Him and defeat the Roman oppression.

This is why they would not hear of Jesus’ death when He described it. They just did not get it. For the Jews, Messiah was coming to rule and reign on earth, which we know He will, but their timing was off. God often works in mysterious and unexpected ways.

Soon, however, they would get the whole picture and understand that the time was not right for Jesus to set up His kingdom. This was to be a future event. Then the victorious life of ruling and reigning with Messiah at that time were vanquished. Their true calling was revealed to them. It was to suffer persecution and to die for their faith in Him. Amazingly they did not turn back. After realizing their purpose would be one of hardship and trial the message of hope that they carried burned bright in their inner being. They were willing to accept their fate of suffering and ultimate death to tell others of Jesus. To bring others to faith in Christ. To give others hope and spiritual healing.

I heard of a pastor in Africa say,  “A convert is one, that when troubles come  give up on their faith. A disciple is one who, even though they know that this life of following Messiah will not be a bed of roses, still sticks to the stuff. Are you a convert? Or a disciple? Yes we must have converts. That is the beginning but then we need disciples.

Disciples willing to weather the storm, climb the mountain paths of life, and  trust in God no matter the discomfort and hardship. No matter the uncertain and fearful surroundings. No matter Satan’s taunting persecutions.

So while there will be good times, precious times, victorious times, in our walk with God, there will also be mountains placed in our way for us to climb. That mountain rises up and we have no choice but to go over it. Impossible it seems but it is a mountain that God has already conquered and He is just waiting for us to join Him at the top.. He sits there cheering us on with every handhold every step with His Word. No mountain is too hard to conquer when it is one that God has allowed in our life but we must do our part in time spent in the Word and prayer. Confessing our sins and growing closer to Him. Learning to accept His will for our life when it doesn’t look like what we imagined.  How does God ultimately view this world–“the harvest ripe. Souls need to be saved, some quite ready to be saved, now before worse days come upon the earth. He gently asks–” Where are the laborers?” Yes, in the midst of this distress He needs laborers that reach out with the message of God. Repent, turn from your wicked ways and be saved from your sins and join your heart to Mine.

Especially, when this plague passes over we need to be prayed up and ready to witness like never before. Hearts will be more tender and ready. Hand out those Bible tracts and speak of Word of salvation to those you meet.

What am I saying exactly? The Christian life will not always be easy. We will have many questions.  Why has God allowed sorrows and  heartaches in our lives. We may be called to give up everything to follow Him. It won’t be an easy comfortable life. It was never meant to be. But we are called and we are sustained and we are hopeful. He abides in us and works through us and will never leave  us or forsake us and there are better days ahead. Perhaps not here on this planet but in His heavenly kingdom will be peace, love, and satisfaction forever and ever. His reward for our temporary sufferings will be great. We just have to believe, hang on, and pull ourselves up towards that summit of the mountain. Just keep your focus on the glories that will be revealed when you reach the top. Just think of His gentle smile just for you  and His Words,”Well done, enter now into the joy of  your Lord.”

SEEKING HIM

We look up at the mountain at night and the stars above it we are in and in awe of God’s presence. God’s magnificence.

As you read what I am going to say next, you may wonder what this has to do with our topic of mountain climbing but I promise it will come together at the end.

We learn from the Bible that Christ is the coming Bridegroom and we, those who have accepted Him into our lives, are the Bride. In the Song of Solomon, in the Bible, we read about the relationship of the Bride and her Bridegroom. I realize that this book is somewhat difficult read and understand in the context that it is written. In reading it we may assume it is about carnal lust and love.  Some of the terms found in the book may seem somewhat offensive to our natural minds.But this book when taken in its spiritual context gives us a beautiful picture of our relationship, as the Bride of Christ, to Him our Beloved. Today we seem to have thrown marriage out the window and replaced it with living together which God never meant for a couple to do. God meant for the marriage of a man and a woman to be celebrated and their love for each other precious, pure, and sanctified.  Marriage is a picture of our union with Him that is to be precious and unbroken. His love for us is pure and faithful. Our love for Him is stirred up by His pure love for us. He loved us before we even knew to love Him. He sought us when we did not know we needed to be found.

Song of Solomon 3:1 the Bride says “by night on my bed I sought him whom my soul loveth”—How many times in the night season have you prayed and cried out to God seeking Him? I have many times. In the next words the bride reveals she finds him not. Sometimes no matter how hard we pray and try to trust we feel as if He is far from us.

In verse 2 we find her rising up from her bed and wandering about the streets. Her desire for His love and the comfort of His arms is so great. Her longing so painful. Where has He gone? Can she find Him? Her heart pounds in fear that she has lost him, that she has offended him. Perhaps he has left her altogether for another better than her.  You can imagine that her cheeks are wet with tears in her longing for Him. Do you ever feel like you have sinned so much and so often that God has given up on you? I have.

Have you ever longed for Him with all your heart? Sometimes we do and sometimes we don’t. But now is the time to seek Him and long for Him. To pick up that Bible and dust it off and read it. Especially the Psalms. Seek Him. Yearn for Him. It is is times like these of distress that we find ourselves truly seeking.

In verse 4 our bride finds her groom whom her soul loves and she holds on to  him with all her strength.  Believer while  you are seeking Him He will be found.

He yearns for us to seek Him. To confess our sins and be in right fellowship and walk with Him.

Back to our mountain—

I imagine Him sitting on the rocks above just urging us to reach up and climb to Him. We know in that moment we don’t need to fear falling or failing. His voice gently instructs us to the handholds and foot holds that we need to reach Him and His embrace and from here He will be with us every step of the way guiding us and instructing us with His words from Scripture. All the way up this dreaded mountain. We are never alone. We are more than conquerors by His great love for us.