In step

[RiverOL]

No need for dead reckoning

For reading & meditation: Acts 26:1-18

"I too was convinced that I ought to do all that was possible to oppose the name of Jesus of Nazareth." (v.9)

The place where we can see life as a whole is in the sanctuary of God, or, if you prefer, in the presence of God. There we are reminded of things we have forgotten or ignored.

See how the Good News Bible translates Acts 26:9: "I myself thought that I should do everything I could against the cause of Jesus of Nazareth." Here you see the root of Paul's problem: "I myself thought". And is not that the underlying cause of many of our problems too?

We say, "I myself thought '" instead of asking: "What does God think?" Sometimes sailors will attempt to establish the position of their ships by estimating the distance and direction they have travelled, rather than by astronomical observation.

This is called "dead reckoning". It is sometimes necessary in foul weather but it is fraught with peril. One mariner has said: "Undue trust in the dead reckoning has produced more disastrous shipwrecks of seaworthy ships than all other causes put together."

There are people who attempt the voyage of life by dead reckoning, but there is no need. God has charted the map for us with loving care in the Scriptures, and our plain duty is to study the chart so that we might become better acquainted with His purposes and His ways.

For the better we know the Scriptures, the better we will know God. We cannot ignore the facts of history or science - they help - but if our perspective is not drawn from the Scriptures it will lead us astray. We must not rely on dead reckoning but on divine reckoning.

Prayer:
O Father, just as the art of navigation requires definite and fixed points from which to take a bearing, so does my voyage through life. I am grateful, dear Father, that in You I have all the fixed points I need. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

What says the Scripture?

For reading & meditation: Matthew 22:23-33

"Jesus replied, You are in error because you do not know the Scriptures or the power of God." (v.29)

We spend one more day considering the proposition that apart from a relationship with God and an understanding of the Scriptures, we are unable to see life as a whole.

The man or woman who knows and understands the Bible will be acquainted with the facts he or she needs to have in order to come to right and sound conclusions.

So immerse yourself in the Scriptures. Understand that human nature is corrupt and that apart from the grace and power of God men and women are unable to live up to their ideals.

Realise that the spiritual is more powerful than the material, and unless the spirit is in control we will be driven by carnal desires. When people say humanity is getting better and that sin and evil are just the "growing pains" of the human race - what are the facts?

You get them from the Scriptures and only from the Scriptures. What does the Bible tell us about evil? It says it is part of the human condition and can never be rooted out except through the power and the grace of God.

So study the facts of Scripture. Read them, memorise them, and meditate upon them. When next you feel dispirited because you cannot make sense of something, ask yourself: What are the facts? Dig into the Scriptures and draw your perspective from what the Bible says.

The root of many of our emotional problems lies in a lack of clear thinking - clear thinking based on Scripture. Think as God thinks about issues and you will feel as God feels about them. For you are not what you think you are, but what you think you are.

Prayer:
Father, I see now why so often my thinking about life is confused - my thinking is not based on the facts. Help me draw my deductions not from what I see in the world but from what I see in the Word. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Where does it all end?

For reading & meditation: Matthew 7:13-20

"Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction '" (v.13)

Today we look at the special understanding the psalmist received when he came into the sanctuary of God: "Then I understood their final destiny" (Psa. 73:17).

As soon as he considered the final destiny of the ungodly, everything dropped into focus for him. He had looked at the prosperity of the ungodly but he had not looked at their end - he had not taken in all the facts. What are the facts concerning the end of the ungodly?

The passage we read today tells us: the broad road which the ungodly travel leads to destruction; the narrow road which the godly travel leads to life. It is as simple as that. Though this passage was not available to the psalmist, the truth underlying it was most certainly known to him.

Listen to this from Psalm 37: "The transgressors shall be destroyed together; the future of the wicked shall be cut off" (v.38, NKJ). The writer of that psalm, King David, described the wicked spreading themselves like a green tree, but when the end came they vanished off the face of the earth and no one could find them.

The trouble with us is that so often we dwell too much on the present and fail to consider the future. Do you look at the ungodly, many of whom seem to be having a marvellous time ignoring moral restrictions, and feel envious of them?

Well consider their end. Give some thought to the ultimate outcome. The Bible describes it as "destruction". We ought never to forget that it is not how things are at present that is important; it's how they end that matters.

Prayer:
Father, whenever I am next tempted to compare my life and its circumstances with that of others who do not know You, help me to remind myself of the fact that it is the end that matters, not the beginning. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

I'm afraid of the dark

For reading & meditation: Proverbs 12:1-8

"Wicked men are overthrown and are no more, but the house of the righteous stands firm." (v.7)

We continue thinking about the fact that as soon as the psalmist considered the end of the ungodly, everything dropped into focus. Their true position became so clear to him that his language in the rest of the psalm indicates that he not only ceased to be envious of the ungodly but began to be sorry for them.

Indeed, the same thing will happen to us too - the more we focus on the ultimate end of the unconverted, the more compassion we will feel for them. How grim and cheerless is the non-Christian view of life, especially as it relates to the end.

Dr Marrett, a rationalist and head of one of the colleges in Oxford, wrote, as he neared the end of his life: "I have nothing to look forward to but chill autumn and still chillier winter and yet I must somehow try not to lose heart." H.G. Wells, who ridiculed and scoffed at Christianity with its doctrine of sin and salvation, said at the end of his life that he was utterly baffled and bewildered.

The title of his last book summed up his view of things: A Mind at the End of its Tether. When he was dying, a noted atheist asked one of his relatives for a lighted candle to be placed in his hand. "Why a lighted candle?" asked the concerned relative. "Because I am afraid to go out into the dark," was the reply.

How foolish to look enviously at the lifestyle of the ungodly, focusing only on their present successes and the marvellous time they seem to be having, without considering their end. We should never forget that no matter how glittering their lifestyle, the death of the ungodly is a terrible thing.

Prayer:
O Father, let this sobering thought not only free me from envy but stimulate within me a deep concern for those who do not know You. May I be used in some way to halt the progress of someone on the road to a lost eternity. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

It's a dead certainty!

For reading & meditation: 2 Timothy 4:1-8

"Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day '" (v.8)

There can be no doubt that the Bible presents the death of the ungodly as being terrible. How differently, however, does it portray the death of the righteous. Even a hireling prophet like Balaam, bad as he was, recognised that there was something different about the death of the godly.

Listen to his words in Numbers 23:10: "Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my end be like his" (NKJ). The book of Proverbs puts the same thought in this way: "The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day" (4:18).

I heard one preacher say that the happiest woman he had ever seen was a dying woman. She lay on her bed and clapped her hands at the approach of death. Very many people came to look at her bright countenance. "They tell me this is death," she said. "It's not death at all - it's life." People were converted by her bedside, including her son.

A theologian by the name of W. Cosley Bell, when he sensed that he was about to leave this world, sent these words to the staff of the college where he was employed: "Tell the young men that I've grown surer of God every year of my life, and I've never been so sure as I am right now. Why it's all so! It's a fact - a dead certainty. Im so glad I haven't the least shadow of shrinking or uncertainty.

I've been preaching and teaching these things all my life and Im so interested to find that all we've been believing and hoping is so." That is the way to die. One of John Wesley's proudest claims for the early Methodists was this: "Our people die well.".

Prayer:
Father, the empty tomb of Jesus makes all our fears lies, and all our hopes truths. That empty tomb is the birthplace of eternal certainty. Because He lives I shall live also. I am eternally grateful. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Rougher - but more secure

For reading & meditation: Deuteronomy 32:28-38

"If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be!" (v.29)

We have been seeing that in the sanctuary the psalmist was reminded of the things he had forgotten, and thus his thinking was straightened out. There can be no real change in our personalities until there is a change in our thinking.

Counselling that focuses only on changing behaviour and fails to emphasise the importance of changed thinking is partial and incomplete.

We may experience some change when we change our behaviour, but we experience the greatest change, as our text for today suggests, when we change our thinking.

In the sanctuary the psalmist's thinking was put right about the ungodly: "Then I understood their end" (Psa. 73:17, NKJ). The next verses indicate how his thinking was also put right about God Himself: "Surely you place them on slippery ground; you cast them down to ruin. How suddenly are they destroyed, completely swept away by terrors" (Psa. 73:18-19).

The psalmist's problem, you remember, was not so much that the ungodly prospered, as that God had arranged it that way. Had it happened by mere chance, he might not have had any difficulties, but the fact that the great Designer had planned it like this filled him with perplexity.

Now, however, he sees that the divine hand had purposely placed these men in prosperous and eminent circumstances so that they could fulfil the Creator's purposes: "You" - note the You - "You place them on slippery ground."

Note, too, the phrase "slippery ground": their position was dangerous. Therefore God did not set His loved ones in that place, but chose instead a rougher but more secure standing for their feet.

Prayer:
O God, I am grateful that You have set my feet in a secure place and not on slippery ground. Why I have been chosen to be a recipient of such grace and favour I do not know. Yet it is so. I am deeply, deeply thankful. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

He never leaves the helm

For reading & meditation: Psalms 76

"Surely your wrath against men brings you praise '" (v.10)

We touched yesterday on the truth that the reason why the ungodly are set in eminent places is because God arranges it. The psalmist goes on to say that not only does God raise up the ungodly, but He also brings them down: "You cast them down to ruin.

How suddenly are they destroyed '" (Psa. 73:18-19). The hand that led them up to the top of the slope is the hand that also casts them down. Why does God act in this strange and mysterious manner?

One reason is that God is able to demonstrate how unreliable and insecure are the ways of those who choose not to walk with Him. This explains why we so frequently read of some prominent godless person, such as a film star whom everyone is acclaiming, being suddenly removed from the face of the earth.

The feet of such people were set in slippery places. Some reading these lines will remember how everyone stood in dread of Adolph Hitler. He had the whole world frightened, but now he is gone and almost forgotten.

The psalmist's words "You cast them down ' how suddenly are they destroyed" are really an exclamation of godly wonder at the suddenness and completeness of the sinner's overthrow. God makes a spectacle of those who persist in rejecting His love and grace.

They make a splash for the moment of their lives, but after that they are gone and soon forgotten. Keep that fact before you as you look out upon the world. It may sometimes seem as if God is not in control, but in actual fact His hand is ever upon the helm of human affairs.

Prayer: Gracious and loving Father, my heart bows in silent wonder as I contemplate the awesomeness of Your ways. Open my eyes that I might see that You are at work all around me and that Your face is constantly set against evil. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Hang him on it!

For reading & meditation: Proverbs 24:15-22

"' for the evil man has no future hope, and the lamp of the wicked will be snuffed out." (v.20)

Today we look at another reason why God allows the ungodly to flourish - to illustrate by contrast the horror of an eternity without God. Spurgeon commented: "Eternal punishment will be all the more terrible in contrast with the former prosperity of those who are ripening for it."

The seeming joy and splendour of the prosperous ungodly actually renders the effect of being cast aside by God more awful, just as vivid lightning does not brighten but intensifies the thick darkness around. You will no doubt remember the story of Haman, who prepared a gallows for Mordecai but finished up by being hanged upon it himself.

The ascent to the gallows was an essential ingredient in the terror of the sentence: "Hang him on it!" (Esth. 7:9). The wicked are raised high so that all might see how great is their fall. A preacher tells how he read the story of the rich man and Lazarus, in Luke 16, to a group of young people who were hearing it for the first time.

He stopped at the part where Lazarus lay at the gate, the dogs licking his sores, while the rich man ate in splendour in his house, and said: "Which would you rather be, the rich man or Lazarus?" With one voice the young people shouted: "The rich man."

He then read on, and after telling the story of how both died and the rich man was in torment while Lazarus was carried to Abraham's side, he asked: "Now which would you rather be?"

This time they responded more quietly and soberly "Lazarus." That is the truth the psalmist saw as he sat quietly in the sanctuary of God.

Prayer:
Father, the more I see the whole picture and realise what I have been saved from, the more I feel like flinging myself at Your feet in adoring worship and praise. Thank You for saving me, dear Lord. Words cannot fully express my gratitude. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Alexander the Great

For reading & meditation: Isaiah 40:12-17

"Surely the nations are like a drop in a bucket '" (v.15)

Now we come to look at a section of the psalm which suggests that the reason why the ungodly continue to prosper as they do is because God is asleep. Listen to the psalmist's exact words: "As a dream when one awakes, so when you arise, O Lord, you will despise them as fantasies" (Psa. 73:20).

The truth is, of course, that God does not sleep, but the psalmist has used a figure of speech which pictures our limited human perception of God's actions. God does not sleep, but at times He appears to do so.

But what happens when God stirs from His apparent sleep? The ungodly man, who has seemed so eminent and prosperous, vanishes as a dream. It is as if he had been a phantom or an illusion.

The passage before us today puts this whole matter in context when it tells us that the nations are but "a drop in a bucket" to the Creator. Now they may look powerful and mighty, with their stockpiles of nuclear weapons, but when God arises they are as "grasshoppers". Do you remember being told in your history class at school about Alexander the Great?

He was one of the greatest generals of all time and conquered almost the entire known world. Did you know that he is referred to in the Bible? You will not see his name written in the Scriptures, but reference to him can be found in Daniel.

Look at what the Bible calls him - a "goat" (Dan. 8:5-8). Walter Luthi puts it like this: "He who to the world is Alexander the Great, is to God nothing more than a he-goat." When God arises, the great become nothing.

Prayer: Father, thank You for reminding me over these past few days of Your greatness and eternal power. I so easily forget that I am linked to a God who is not just powerful but all-powerful. Let the wonder of that fact sink deep into my soul today. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Take an inside look

For reading & meditation: 1 Corinthians 11:27-34

"A man ought to examine himself '" (v.28)

From what we have seen over the past few days, it is clear that the psalmist has come to the place where his views have changed. He sees that God is ruling over human affairs and that the ungodly are not in such an enviable situation after all.

We come now to see that he was not only put right in his thinking about the ungodly and about God, but he was also put right about himself: "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant: I was a brute beast before you" (Psa. 73:21-22).

What a different view he has of himself now compared to previously, when he so evidently felt very sorry for himself: "Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence" (v.13).

Outside the sanctuary, he felt full of self-pity; inside the sanctuary, he had an entirely different view of himself. This is a moment when the psalmist honestly faces himself - something that is very difficult to do.

Most of us don't mind working our way through our problems, but the moment we get relief, we want to stop right there. We do not go on to face up to what caused us to come to the wrong conclusions in the first place.

This is why we keep going through the same problems over and over again - we fail to take an inside look. A schoolteacher claimed to have twenty-five years of experience, but her head teacher said of her: "She has just one year of experience twenty-five times." She worked long but learned little.


Prayer:
Father, I see why it is that so often I go through the same problems over and over again - I stop short of learning why they happened in the first place. Help me today to think through why it is that I get so tied up. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Far too 'healthy' spiritually

For reading & meditation: Psalms 139:17-24

"Search me, O God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts." (v.23)

We said yesterday that the task of honestly facing ourselves in self-examination is often the hardest thing for us to do. We are all very prone to pass quickly over this point.

We are quite happy to hear how God has set the ungodly in slippery places but we are not happy to be invited to take a look at ourselves and uncover the things within us that cause us to go astray. It must be said, however, that two dangers arise whenever the question of self-examination is considered.

One is over-emphasis and the other is under-emphasis. Some engage in it too much and become unhealthily introspective, while others fail to look at themselves at all and thus live on the surface. The important thing to remember is this - self-examination should always be carried out in the presence of God.

If this is not adhered to, then the exercise can become harmful and counter-productive. I meet many Christians who strongly oppose the idea of self- examination. They say: "the moment you see that you have sinned and then put your sin 'under the blood' you are all right.

To stop and think about it is an indication that you are not spiritually healthy and that you lack faith." Dr Martyn Lloyd-Jones once said: "The trouble with most of us is that we are far too 'healthy' spiritually."

He meant by that that we are much too glib and much too superficial. Nothing is more characteristic of a true Christian than a willingness to examine himself; not too much, not too little, but in an appropriate and balanced way.

Prayer:
O Father, the reason I am afraid to examine myself is because I might find something I do not like. However, help me be honest no matter what the cost - honest with You and honest with myself. In Jesus' Name I pray. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Emotional reasoning

For reading & meditation: Jeremiah 17:5-13

"The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked; who can know it?" (v.9, NKJ)

We continue focusing on the thought that one of the reasons why we go through the same difficulties and problems year after year is that we never stop to examine ourselves and find out what makes us act the way we do.

The psalmist examined himself in the presence of God and discovered that three things had led him astray.

First, he saw that he had allowed his heart to rule his head: "When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant" (Psa. 73:21-22). Notice the psychology of this - he put the heart before the head.

Many of our troubles are due to the fact that we are governed by the feelings that arise in our hearts rather than the clear thinking that should be going on in our heads. When the heart gets in control, it bludgeons us into believing things that are not true. It makes us stupid.

The psalmist thought that his feelings about the ungodly were facts, but this was nothing more than what psychologists call "emotional reasoning" - believing that what you feel is the way things really are. The moment the psalmist's feelings were corrected by the facts, the feelings disappeared.

There was no real problem at all. He had "worked himself up", as we say, into a self-induced frenzy. I have done this myself (and so, I am sure, have you) when I have allowed my feelings to dominate me to such an extent that I have begun to believe that molehills were mountains.

The real trouble in the psalmist's life was not what was going on in his outer world, but what was going on in his inner world. In other words, the real source of his trouble was himself.

Prayer:
Father, I see more clearly every day that most of my problems are the ones I make for myself by my wrong thinking and wrong perceptions. Help me keep my heart under control by biblical thinking. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Think, man, think

For reading & meditation: Romans 12:1-8

"' be transformed by the renewing of your mind '" (v.2)

The second thing the psalmist learned about himself as he paused in self-examination was this: "I saw myself so stupid and so ignorant" (Psa. 73:22, TLB). There were things he knew which he had foolishly chosen to forget.

He forgot that God was in control. He forgot the temporary nature of success and prosperity. He forgot the whole purpose of godly living.

He forgot that God always has the last word. If you and I react as the psalmist did to trials, then there is only one thing that can be said about us - we are stupid and ignorant.

The third thing the psalmist learned about himself was that he had reacted like an animal - instinctively: "I was a brute beast before you" (Psa. 73:22b). What is the difference between a beast and a human being? A beast lacks the faculty of reason.

It is unable to stand outside itself to consider itself and its actions. An animal responds to any stimulus instinctively without any interval for thought. The psalmist had been doing that - he had failed to put an interval of thought between the stimulus and the response.

Once he did stop to think, and put the situation in a different context, his negative feelings immediately dissolved. Is not this the value of the Scriptures? As we read them they reason with us. They tell us not to react instinctively to things, but to think them through.

They give us a new framework for our understanding, a new context in which to reason. The more we draw our understanding from the Scriptures and learn to think God's thoughts after Him, the more secure and the more effective our lives become.

Prayer:
Father, I am grateful that You have made me with the ability to think. My thoughts can lead me astray or they can lead me to You. Help me to draw my thought patterns not from the world but from Your Word. In Jesus' Name I ask it. Amen.

 

[akcnsze]

Top Ten Reasons why Religion Is Bullshit

As an American of course I do tend to focus on Christianity's idiocy, but they're all baloney. I tried to find something less offensive than Christianity, but all the other religions fail.

1. Basis in the personal revelation of one person or a string of a few loonies. Personal revelation can be lies, misrepresentations, migraine auras, hallucinations, delusions, or hoaxes. Just not a reliable source of information for basing an entire lifestyle on.
2. Precarious transmission of the "Word." Again, lies, misrepresentations and hoaxes are possible sources of "information." There's also scribal errors, interpolations, deletions, and organizational or personal agendas to consider. Just because a text is "ancient" is no reason to grant it any kind of status. Just the reverse.
3. Fairy tale explanations for the natural world. Genesis is only one of hundreds of creation stories. Every culture on Earth seems to have one. This would indicate there's something innate about the human intellect that needs answers for things like the movement of the stars and why humans can talk but frogs can't. The fact that there are so many of these stories leads to only one conclusion: they are all false. The scientific method is showing all of them to be false, too.
4. Human qualities of "gods." The Genesis story gets around this by saying that God made us in his image, not the other way around, but it's not very convincing if you think about it.
5. Tribalism. Us vs. Them. Our group of primates wants to survive and make the other group not survive. If we dehumanize them by making their belief systems wrong, it's easier to kill them. They may look like us, but it's not murder if you kill someone who's different on the inside. How do you know if they're different? If they're our neighbors, only their gods will be different.
6. Bullshit rules. Rules about food. Rules about sex. Rules about hair. Rules about clothes. Rules about bullshit ceremonies. WTF? I can see how societies might want to regulate some antisocial behaviors, but what's antisocial about cutting your hair or eating a ham sandwich?
7. Bullshit ceremonies. Speaking of bullshit ceremonies, again, I can see how a society might want to put its seal of approval on marriages or say goodbye to the deceased (in a way that won't bring maggots into the town) but the rest...? Christians have their cannibalistic ritual. Hindus have magic powder that they dribble around. Muslims stick their asses in the air five times a day. Haitians dance around until they believe they've been possessed. What a bunch of hooey. I don't do any of those things and I don't think I'm missing out at all.
8. Life after Death fantasies. This is another commonality. Sure, we don't want to die. We also don't want to believe that our loved ones are truly gone when they die, but this life is very likely (like 99.99999%) all there is. Again, the fact that every culture has this fantasy and that none of them have the same fantasy is pretty good reason not to believe any of them. Notice that when people talk about Heaven they never mention anyone but the people they knew in life as hanging out there? And maybe their pets. They don't think that their granny might be in Hell or that they'll be sharing praise duty with millions of babies that died from cholera and dysentery before society started cleaning up water supplies.
9. Fantasy of being able to make things go your way. This has probably been going on since before recorded history. Make it rain. Make it stop raining. Make the crops grow. Make the antelope slow down. Make the stock market improve. Make my team beat your team. Make the little girl with leukemia survive. None of religion's promises to change events has ever been shown to make a difference except to give comfort and false hope to the people entertaining the fantasy. Comfort and hope are not bad things, but do you really have to deny reality to feel better in times of stress? And doesn't it create more stress when things don't go your way despite praying or dancing or chanting for the supernatural being(s) to intervene?
10. Resistance to change. Sure, tradition is one of the things that binds a community but religion gives people an excuse to resist positive change. People are against marriage not because of their prejudices. Believers who aren't prejudiced seem to handle the idea of people making a lifetime commitment just fine. Ditto, in the old (I hope) days when it was illegal for people of different races to marry.

That's my list off the top of my head. From what I've read about current affairs, history, and other cultures, these things seem fairly universal and they are all detrimental. The population of the world is about to hit seven billion. That's twice what it was fifty years ago (if that). Our species won't survive if we allow bullshit to keep us from solving our shared problems.

 

[RiverOL]

Nevertheless

For reading & meditation: Psalms 31:19-24

"In my alarm I said, 'I am cut off from your sight!' Yet you heard my cry for mercy '" (v.22)

Once the psalmist reached the place of utter abandonment before God there came into his heart an instant reassurance: "Yet I am always with you" (Psa. 73:23). Some translations put it like this: "Nevertheless I am continually with you".

Personally I prefer the word "nevertheless" as it conjures up to my mind a movement in the soul of the psalmist that was vital to his spiritual recovery. He did not stop at the point of self-examination and turn in upon himself - he looked into the face of his heavenly Father and realised that he was accepted and loved.

If we end at the point of self-examination and don't remember the next words, "Nevertheless I am continually with you," then we will stay locked into the negative feelings of guilt and self-condemnation. This is why I said earlier that self-examination must not be undertaken except in the presence of God.

Many have spent time examining themselves, and because they have judged themselves to be worthless and useless, they have gone out and committed suicide. Am I talking to someone like that today?

If so, put your foot on this next rung of the ladder and realise that although you may be feeling useless and worthless nevertheless you are still in the presence of God. He still permits you to come into His presence, even though you have forgotten His promises and misunderstood His ways.

God does not cast you away. Let the wonder of this break afresh upon you today. Whatever has gone wrong in your life, confess it to Him and look into His face and say: "Nevertheless I am continually with you."

Prayer:
Father, how can I sufficiently thank You for giving me the right word at the right time? You knew how much I needed this today. It is a lifeline to my spirit. As I hold on to it let it bind me closer to You. In Jesus' Name. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

What of the future?

For reading & meditation: Philippians 1:3-11

"' he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus." (v.6)

We saw yesterday how the psalmist sensed that despite his doubts and failures he was still accepted by God. But there's more - he realises also that God's restraining hand has been constantly with him: "You hold me by my right hand" (Psa. 73:23). What was it, after all, that prevented him going over the brink? It was the protecting hand of God.

God Himself had put it in his mind to go into the sanctuary and had thereby turned him round. Realising that, he thinks of the future. What is the future going to be like? His conclusion is that the future is going to be just as secure, for: "You guide me with your counsel, and afterwards you will take me into glory" (v.24). Can you sense the psalmist's security as he contemplates the future?

He is saying, in effect: "You are doing this now, holding me by my right hand, protecting me, restraining me, restoring me and delivering me, and I know You will keep on doing this right up to the time when I meet with you in glory." How does God guide us? Through circumstances, through reason, through the fellowship of Christians, but mainly through the Scriptures.

The Word of God, when we consult it, unfolds reality, dispels illusion and guides us safely through the snares and problems of this earthly way until we eventually arrive in glory.

The psalmist had seen the end of the ungodly and it had helped to change his perspective. Now he sees the end of the godly and thus his perspective becomes even more clear. And what is the end of the godly? It is glory!

Prayer:
O Father, let the prospect of coming glory fill and thrill my soul this day and every day. Help me never to forget that no matter how hard and difficult my earthly pilgrimage may be, it is as nothing compared to the glory that lies ahead. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

No satisfying substitute

For reading & meditation: John 6:60-71

"Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." For reading & meditation John 6:60-71(v.68)

We come now to what is without question the topmost rung of the ladder which the psalmist began to ascend when he entered the sanctuary of God. Here, in view of his experience, he can do nothing but give himself to the adoration of God.

This is what he says: "Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you" (Psa. 73:25). The inevitable consequence of working through our problems in the presence of God is that we worship Him. Countless times I have seen people fall upon their knees at the end of a profitable counselling session and worship God.

In fact, this is one of the great purposes of Christian counselling - to enlighten people about their spiritual resources and help free them to draw closer to God. The psalmist has found that there is no one in earth or heaven who can do for him what God has done.

He has come to realise that when he plays truant with the Almighty there is simply no way in which he can make sense of life; that, as Othello put it: "Chaos is come again." Have you come to this same place in your own life? Can you say that you have seen through everything in this life and have come to the conclusion that nothing can satisfy you but God?

Then you are in the happy position of the disciples who, pausing to consider how they could replace Jesus, said "Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life." They saw, as hopefully you have seen, that there is no satisfying substitute for Jesus.

Prayer:
O Father, how can I ever be grateful enough for the realisation that no one can do for me what You can do? You are my centre and my circumference; I begin and end with You. May the wonder of it go deep within me today and every day. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The desire for God

For reading & meditation: Psalms 42

"My soul thirsts for God, for the living God '" (v.2)

Yesterday we looked at the words: "Whom have I in heaven but you?" Now we examine the second part of that text: "And earth has nothing I desire besides you" (Psa. 73:25b). Personally, I find these some of the most enchanting words in the whole of the Old Testament.

The first part of the verse is put in a negative, and the second in a positive form. Having looked around and seen that there is no satisfying substitute for the Almighty, the psalmist goes on to make the positive assertion that from the bottom of his heart he desires to know God.

He has come to see (so I believe) that it is more important to desire God for who He is than for what He does or what He gives. In a sense, the psalmist's entire problem arose out of the fact that he had put what God gives in the place of God Himself.

The ungodly were having a good time while he was having a bad time. Why was he having to suffer like this? His trouble was that he had become more interested in the things God gives than in God Himself, and when he didn't have the things he wanted, he began to doubt God's love.

Now, however, he has come to the place where he desires God for Himself. The ultimate test of the Christian life is whether we desire God for Himself or for what He gives. Each one of us must ask ourselves: "Do I desire God more than forgiveness?

More than release from my problems? More than healing of my condition? More than gifts and abilities?" How tragic that our prayers can be full of pleadings that show, when they are examined, that we are more interested in enjoying God's blessings than we are in enjoying God.

Prayer:
O Father, forgive me that so often I am concerned more with Your gifts than I am with You - the Giver. Help me to long after You, not because of what You give me, but because of who You are. In Jesus' Name I ask it Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

The Rock of Ages

For reading & meditation: Psalms 28

"To you I call, O Lord my Rock ' if you remain silent I shall be like those who have gone down to the pit." (v.1)

Now that the psalmist's faith is no longer conditioned by material factors, and he is confidently resting in God, he makes this interesting statement: "My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever" (Psa. 73:26).

Some commentators say he is referring here to the time when his flesh will decay through old age, while others say he was experiencing some physical problems at that very time.

Both may be right. When he looks into the future he knows a time will come when he will be an old man when his heart and flesh will fail. He will be unable to look after himself but it will still be all right, says this man, "For whatever may happen, God will still be the strength of my heart."

A commentator who feels the psalmist's words have a direct bearing on his physical condition at that time says this: "You cannot pass through a spiritual experience such as this man passed through without your physical body suffering. His nerves would be in a bad state and his heart would have been affected by the strain.

Nevertheless he still affirms that God is his strength." It is generally agreed that the word which is translated "strength" is the word for "rock", and so the verse may justifiably be translated: "God is the rock of my heart and my portion for ever." What a thrilling thought this is - God is my Rock.

As one Welsh preacher put it: "There are many occasions when I tremble as I stand upon the Rock, but there are never any occasions when the Rock trembles under me."

Prayer:
O Father, help me this day to go out into life aware that although I may not know much about the ages of the rocks I know much about the Rock of Ages. And everything I know makes me feel deeply, deeply secure. I am so grateful. Amen.

 

[RiverOL]

Nearer my God to Thee

For reading & meditation: James 4:1-10

"Come near to God and he will come near to you." (v.8)

The final two verses of Psalm 73 form a conclusion and a resolution. Listen to them once again: "Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you. But as for me, it is good to be near God.

I have made the Sovereign Lord my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds" (vv.27-28). The psalmist has finished his review of the past and is now hammering out a philosophy with which to face the future.

He is resolved that no matter what anyone else may do, he is going to live in close companionship with God. He helps us to see the importance of this resolution by putting it in the form of a contrast: "Those who are far from you will perish ' but as for me, it is good to be near God." Really, when it comes down to it, there are only two positions in life - close to God or far away from Him.

I wonder, as the psalmist penned these words was something like this going through his mind: "What caused me so much trouble in recent days and accounted for all my difficulties was the fact that I did not keep close to God.

I erroneously believed that the cause of my problems was the prosperity of the ungodly, but having entered into the sanctuary of God I see that this was not the cause of my problems at all. My problems came because I had chosen not to remain close to Him. For me there is now only one thing that matters - staying close to God." How are things with you at this moment?

Do you feel close to God? If you don't, then let me put what I want to say in the words of a wayside pulpit that arrested my attention some years ago: "If you feel that God is far away guess who moved?"

Prayer:
Father, I am grateful for the promise of Your Word to me today that when I draw near to You, You will draw near to me. Help me put those words to the test by moving closer to You than I have ever done before. In Jesus' Name. Amen.