The Way of the Crucible

Posted on August 15, 2013 by Pete

It is the way of the kingdom of heaven . . . it is a dynamic which those who seek the kingdom can expect to encounter. It’s not fun . . . but it’s profitable. We’d rather avoid it . . . but then we would lose its benefit. It is the way of the crucible . . .

The crucible is for silver, and the furnace is for gold, and the LORD tests hearts.   (Proverbs 17:3 ESV)

There’s something about turning up the heat that burns off impurities and makes precious metals all that more precious. So, says wisdom, is it with the heart. Turning up the heat on sliver brings the dross to the surface that it might be skimmed off . . . melting down solid gold to a liquid results in purer gold . . . and, allowing His children to enter trials results in children who look a bit more like His blessed Son.

It would be nice if sanctification were kind of like pixie dust. Just sprinkle some on and, presto change-o, we’re done. The old man’s heart of stone . . . that which is deceitful above all things, desperately sick, and beyond understanding (Jer. 17:9) . . . by the waving of some magic wand, is instantly and fully transformed into the heart of flesh promised those who have known regeneration through faith in Christ. But that’s not how it works.

The new heart, given us at rebirth, develops as it is tested and tried by the LORD. The new heart becoming more of a reality as we endure the stuff of life by faith in the One who promised to never leave or forsake us (Heb. 13:5) . . . the new heart becoming more of a reality as we experience the truth of the promise that we can endure all things through Christ who strengthens us (Php. 4:13).

It’s in the trials where we discover how much pride, self-sufficiency, impatience, and unbelief are still part of the new creations we are in Christ. It’s in turning up the heat on our lives where pride gives way to humility . . . where self-sufficiency is revealed for what it is and we move more towards trusting God with all our hearts, desperate for Him to direct our paths . . . where impatience rises to the surface as the impurity it is and we get to practice resting in the Lord . . . where unbelief is revealed by the fire and we cry out in desperation, “Lord, I believe, help my unbelief!”

I’m not looking for crucibles or furnaces . . . but to the degree that God desires to test and refine my heart through them . . . to the degree that He wants me to be more and more conformed to the image of His Son through them . . . then, by the grace of God, I desire to be found faithful in the fire and to submit to the flames purifying work in me.

Peter puts it into context . . .

In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith–more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire–may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.    (1Peter 1:6-7 ESV)

Life’s trials . . . my testing . . . faith more precious than precious gold . . . resulting in praise and glory and honor at His coming . . . not my praise, but His alone.

It’s the way of the kingdom . . . it’s the way of the crucible . . . by His grace, for His glory.

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Words of Grace

Posted on August 14, 2013 by Pete

Black cherry ice cream from Tillamook Country Creamery . . . just typing the words evokes a “mmmm” from my lips. I probably do it too often . . . but there’s nothing like wrapping up supper with a bit of Tillamook black cherry ice cream . . . mmmm! It’s what came to mind as I noodled on these words of wisdom . . .

Gracious words are like a honeycomb, sweetness to the soul and health to the body.    (Proverbs 16:22 ESV)

I don’t know that I’ve ever eaten honeycomb . . . but I’ve done my fair share of honey over the years . . . both for pleasure and for “medicinal purposes.” Whether as a natural sweetener or as a means to soothe a soar throat, not unusual for honey to find its way into a cup of tea for me. According to one of my online commentaries, “Honey took its place not only among the luxuries, but among the medicines of the Israelites” (Barnes) . . . and so it brought sweetness and it brought health. Kind of like my ice cream . . . pleasurable to taste . . . and, though it might not be technically health food, it always makes me feel pretty good!

Such are gracious words.

Other translations refer to them as “pleasant words.” The original word has the idea of something that is pleasant, beautiful, sweet, or delightful. They are words that are suitable or favorable . . . words that radiate splendor or grace. And these words are sweet to the soul and energizing for the body.

And I think the primary understanding of this proverb concerns our speech . . . along the lines of Paul’s exhortation to “let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person” (Col. 4:6). Words that add flavor . . . words that by their very nature have a preserving quality. Throughout Proverbs, wise use of our words is repeatedly counseled.

But as I think more about gracious words, I’m also considering the words of grace that have been spoken to me through God’s word by God’s Spirit. These are the words of grace spoken through the gospel. Surely it could also be said, “The gospel is like a honeycomb . . . it is sweetness to the soul . . . it is health to the body.”

How sweet is it to digest again the truth that in Christ we have been blessed “with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places” . . . that God has chosen us “before the foundation of the world” to be “holy and blameless before Him” through the finished work of His Son . . . that He so loves us that He has adopted as sons and daughters . . . that it might all be “to the praise of His glorious grace, with which He has blessed us in the Beloved” (Eph. 1:3-6)? Pretty sweet!

When the accuser dredges up our past . . . reminds us of our transgressions . . . how pleasant are the words that “in Him we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of our trespasses, according to the riches of His grace, which He lavished upon us” (Eph. 1:7-8a)? So pleasant!

And when we trip up . . . when we fail and fall and it makes us sick to our stomachs . . . what kind of medicine is it to hear the Spirit remind us that “there is therefore no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” . . . that we have been “set free in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and death” . . . that “God has done what the law could not do” . . . that God sent His beloved Son “that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us”? Very powerful medicine . . . reviving the inner man . . . restoring the strength, power, and resolve to keep on keepin’ on.

Praise God for words of grace. Sweet to the soul . . . healing for our very being.

Better than black cherry ice cream . . .

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The Reno

Posted on August 13, 2013 by Pete

The gospel is multi-faceted. Not that there are many gospels . . . there’s only one “good news” needed to be believed and received by a lost world. But in that good news there are many dimensions. Christ Jesus came to save sinners (1Tim. 1:15) . . . the good news of the incarnation, Immanuel, God with us. The blood of Jesus cleanses us from all sin (1John 1:7) . . . the good news of the atonement . . . the price for iniquity paid in full . . . the basis for God declaring the believer justified. And through that blood, we have access into the Holy of Holies (Heb. 10:19) . . . invited into communion with the Most Holy God in a most intimate way. And the list goes. But the aspect of the gospel which is blessing my heart this morning is the reminder that there is the good news of a renovation in progress.

But when the goodness and loving kindness of God our Savior appeared, He saved us, not because of works done by us in righteousness, but according to His own mercy, by the washing of regeneration and renewal of the Holy Spirit, whom He poured out on us richly through Jesus Christ our Savior, so that being justified by His grace we might become heirs according to the hope of eternal life.  
.                                                                                          (Titus 3:4-7 ESV)

Tucked in the middle of those glorious verses is the phrase that captured me . . . “renewal of the Holy Spirit.”

Not by my works, but through His mercy and grace, He saved me . . . through the cleansing of the new birth — me becoming a new creation in Christ (2Cor. 5:17) . . . and through the renewal that comes through the Spirit of God poured abundantly upon me through the Son of God.

That word “renewal” could also be translated “renovation” . . . having the idea of a complete change for the better. In short, I’m a reno!

Someone has said that, when God saves someone, he doesn’t put new clothes on the man, but puts a new man in the clothes. What begins as a positional reality, my righteousness in Christ, God undertakes to make a practical reality as He begins a work in me to conform me into the likeness of His blessed Son (Rom. 8:29).

A reno project was started the moment I believed . . . and, the Spirit who given as a deposit guaranteeing my inheritance (Eph. 1:13-14), began a work, the work of sanctification. Leading me into all truth through Word . . . making fellowship with the Godhead a reality . . . transforming my thinking by imparting the mind of Christ . . . enabling the dynamic of Christ living in me and through me . . . rewiring my spiritual DNA . . . setting my internal GPS toward the kingdom . . . making this child of God a bit more like the Father he so adores and wants to imitate.

It’s a reno that God has promised to undertake to completion (Php. 1:6). Sometimes it can be pretty painful . . . ripping out the old in order that it might be replaced with the new. Sometimes it seems to be going pretty slow . . . the new not “taking” as quickly as I would like. Nevertheless, His work of salvation will be completed through the renewal of the Holy Spirit.

Mine is to cooperate as much as lies in me . . . through the abundant grace available to me . . . in order that the Master Builder might be glorified through me.

Praise God for the reno!

Amen?

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Door Wide Open

Posted on August 12, 2013 by Pete

Privacy doesn’t really exist. Alone time doesn’t either. Even in the most secret place, the door is wide open. So I’ve been reminded this morning by a couple of verses in Proverbs 15.

The eyes of the LORD are in every place, keeping watch on the evil and the good.   (Proverbs 15:3 ESV)

Reminded this morning of the omnipresence of God. His eyes are in every place. He sees it all . . . nothing gets by my God. Whether evil or good, it is registered by a God who is capable of noticing it all. Think about it!!! Not an action . . . not a word . . . not a thought escapes Jehovah, the “Existing One.” Just spend a couple of seconds thinking about that kind of evokes a couple of responses . . . first, “Awesome!!!” . . . then, “Yikes!!!”

Just how big is my God? Way big!!! It’s so easy to just skim over a Scripture like this without at least trying to take it in and comprehend something of what it says about our God. Nothing is beyond His awareness . . . I don’t need to “let God in” on what’s happening with me . . . I can’t hide from God . . . His eyes are in every place. These are the sort of reminders that keep us from “downsizing” our God . . . from fitting Him into a box of our own making . . . from somehow thinking He’s “manageable.” No,our God is beyond comprehension . . . His capacity for knowledge and understanding doesn’t even register on any scale we can imagine . . . God is God — nothing less . . . Awesome!

And when, by faith, I really start to grasp this, then the second response starts to kick in . . . “Yikes!! He watches everything I do? He knows every thought I think?” . . . Yup!!! A little later in Proverbs 15 Solomon writes this,

Sheol and Abaddon lie open before the LORD; how much more the hearts of the children of man!    (Proverbs 15:11 ESV)

If the very depths and dark recesses of Hell and Destruction are splayed before the Lord, then knowing the inner workings of men’s hearts is a “gimme” for God. So . . . now it starts to get a bit personal. I’m okay with God knowing everything about everyone else . . . but me? His eyes are keeping watch on my actions? . . . He knows all about my good . . . and about my evil? Yikes! I find myself saying with the Psalmist . . .

You hem me in, behind and before, and lay Your hand upon me. Such knowledge is too wonderful for me; it is high; I cannot attain it.   (Psalm 139:5-6 ESV)

Do I fully comprehend it? No. But do I believe it? Absolutely! And so what does God do with such awareness and knowledge?

Jesus says He stands at the door of my heart and knocks and asks to be let in (Rev. 3:20). He stands outside the door and asks to be let in but that doesn’t mean that what’s behind that door is a secret to Him. According to these Proverbs insights, He knows all that’s going on inside there . . . and yet, despite what He knows and sees, He still knocks . . . still desires to come in . . . and respectfully awaits the invitation. Oh the love of God!!! The grace of God!!! The desire of God to receive my invitation for Him to come into what He already knows exists and do some house cleaning by His blessed Spirit.

The reminder of His all seeing eyes certainly creates within this heart “the fear of the Lord” . . . but not a fear that cowers . . . or tries to run . . . or somehow thinks it can hide from those all-knowing eyes. But a fear that bows the knee . . . acknowledges the greatness of my God . . . and praises the love and grace of a God who wants to interact with what He sees . . . and invites Him in!!!

The door’s wide open . . . He see’s everything. The door’s wide open . . . as I ask Him into it all . . . to redeem and restore it by His grace and through the blood of Christ. To Him be all glory . . . from doors wide open.

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Fan Into Flame

Posted on August 2, 2013 by Pete

I’m reminded this morning of the relationship between the divine and the determined. That God’s sovereign will has been intertwined with man’s simple ways . . . that God’s eternal purposes have been linked to man’s earthly powers . . . that while God will act, He does so through those who are available.

It came up repeatedly this morning as I continued reading in Nehemiah. Here are some examples . . . God had put it into the heart of Nehemiah to rebuild the walls at Jerusalem (Neh. 2:11) . . . but “the people had a mind to work” (4:6). When opposing forces gathered to fight against Jerusalem and disrupt the rebuilding project, “we prayed to our God AND set a guard as protection” (4:9, emphasis added) . . . Nehemiah encouraged the people to “remember the Lord, who is great and awesome, AND fight for your brothers” (4:14, emphasis added again) . . . and, while Nehemiah believed with all his heart that “our God will fight for us,” he also called the people to rally, with sword in hand, when they heard the sound of the trumpet (4:20).

God’s work . . . the peoples willingness to engage in it. God as architect . . . the returned remnant, the laborers. God the Commander-in-Chief of the army, wanna be wall-builders enlisted as His army. And as this was running through my mind, I encountered the following in another of my readings this morning . . . boy was I set up . . .

For this reason I remind you to fan into flame the gift of God, which is in you through the laying on of my hands . . .    (2Timothy 1:6 ESV)

As our congregation has been reminded repeatedly from the pulpit over the last several months, though the Scriptures may have been written to someone else, they were written for us. And so, when I come to the first part of Paul’s second letter to Timothy and come across this charge to the young man of God, I can’t help but apply it to myself. And, apply it in the context of what I’ve just read in Nehemiah . . . God’s gifting . . . my fanning into flame.

That God, through the Spirit, gifts His children as He determines, is clearly taught in Scripture. Grace has been given to each one of us as Christ has apportioned it (Eph. 4:7) . . . each believer has been given “the manifestation of the Spirit for the common good” and they have been gifted for service in the body by “the one and same Spirit” who distributes gifts to everyone as He determines (1Cor. 12:4-7, 11). But, while the Triune God is the Determiner and the Giver of these giftings, I am to be actively engaged in fanning into flame the spark which God has set.

The King James translates it, “stir up the the gift of God which is in you.” Not as in stirring up a cake mix . . . but as in stirring up embers in a fire that are in need of re-kindling that they might burst again into flame, producing a productive heat rather than just a warm glow.

I am not the source of any gifting, but I am to be a steward. I can’t, in and of myself, generate any power, but the power within me will not be unleashed without my cooperation. The wall won’t be rebuilt because of who I am or what I can do . . . the battle won’t be won because of my strength and strategy . . . God is the builder of the wall . . . the battle belongs to the Lord. But, in His Sovereign determination, He has enlisted me to work on a part of the wall . . . He has drafted me to fight the fight in selected battles . . . and mine is to purpose with a willing heart to engage in the building . . . mine is to freely offer my feeble efforts in the fight . . . that He might, through me, accomplish His purposes.

Fan into the flame . . . the all-sufficient grace bestowed . . . the faltering faith seeded . . . the gifting which has been given . . . all for His glory. Amen?

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Get A Firm Grip

Posted on August 1, 2013 by Pete

Last week my team got creamed. My company hosted a picnic for the employees . . . food, fun, relay races, and a tug-of-war competition. What was I thinking? Talk about allowing peer pressure to put you in situations you wouldn’t otherwise sign up for . . . ok, maybe it was more like boss pressure. But, again, what was I thinking? What were the 8 of us thinking? We had formed a team for the relay races in order to be “good sports” and participate . . . but agreeing to compete in the tug-of-war eliminations? Brother! We went out . . . or should I say down . . . in the first round. A number of us lost our footing (we think it’s because they had us lined up where we had just run the Crisco’d watermelon roll relay . . . but that’s another story) . . . others of us just lost our grip. No contest. Better luck next year . . . don’t think so.

Ok . . . so why the flashback? It’s Paul’s closing words in his first letter to Timothy that have me thinking about the importance of making sure I get a firm grip . . .

But as for you, O man of God . . . Pursue righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness, gentleness. Fight the good fight of the faith. Take hold of the eternal life to which you were called and about which you made the good confession in the presence of many witnesses.    (1Timothy 6:11-12 ESV)

I fear that for some, they view their “decision for Christ” as the final step in “their journey.” That they’ve “found it” and now they’re done with searching for it. That the sinner’s prayer has been prayed . . . the ticket punched . . . eternity secured . . . done and won . . . now they can get on with life. That for some, being saved means they’ve reached the finish line . . . that they’ve dealt with the question of eternity and their soul and so it’s all done . . all that’s left is to keep the “saved” button visible so that when Jesus comes He’ll know who said the prayer. But far from that, the moment I believed was just the beginning. Salvation is less about making a decision and more about entering a race . . . and not just a sprint, but a marathon. The faith that was but a mustard seed when I first believed the gospel call, is the faith that I am to attend to and grow in. It’s the faith I am to pursue . . . the faith I am to live out . . . the faith worthy of fighting the good fight for. The eternal life I received when I first believed is the eternal life upon which I am to get a firm grip.

As for the rich in this present age, charge them . . . They are to do good, to be rich in good works, to be generous and ready to share, thus storing up treasure for themselves as a good foundation for the future, so that they may take hold of that which is truly life. (1Timothy 6:17-19 ESV)

Timothy, Paul says, take hold of eternal life . . . seize it . . . and encourage others to do the same.

I am to get a firm grip on the things of righteousness, godliness, faith, love, steadfastness and gentleness. To submit to the sanctifying work of the Spirit in me and, by His all sufficient grace, cultivate character which imitates that of the Savior’s. And getting a firm grip on that “which is truly life” will involve where my treasures are as manifest in the way I conduct my life . . . being rich in good works . . . generous and ready to share . . . less concerned about my 401(k), or my RRSP for my Canadian brethren, than I am about storing up treasures as part of “an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, kept in heaven for you” (1Peter 1:4).

Pursue righteousness . . . fight the good fight . . . store up heavenly treasures. That’s the race I’m running . . . those are the “events” I’ve signed up for.

Take hold of eternal life . . . that which is truly life . . . that which Jesus calls abundant life (John 10:10). Get a firm grip . . . By His grace . . . for His glory.

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Knowledge of the Holy One

Posted on July 31, 2013 by Pete

It is the key that unlocks the door . . . the puzzle piece that completes the picture . . . the switch that turns on the light. Without it, smart people can really be kind of dumb . . . simple things become complex . . . and complex things are rationalized away in simple-minded ways. It is available to all . . . but pursued by too few. It is the knowledge of the Holy One.

The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom, and the knowledge of the Holy One is insight. (Proverbs 9:10 ESV)

For 9 chapters wisdom has been making her plea . . . calling out in the streets . . . crying out at the gates . . . claiming to offer returns better than jewels, gold, and silver (8:11, 19) . . . promising to be found by those who diligently seek her (8:17). And just as she started her plea (1:7) she concludes it . . . the fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom. But here she adds a bit of “color” to her claim. It is not some random reverence for an unknown God but, the key to wisdom . . . the “secret sauce” of insight and understanding . . . the great connector between that which is earthly and that which is of another realm . . . that key is knowledge of the Holy One.

The word, actually, is plural . . . literally it is “a knowledge of the Holy Ones.”

Insight . . . discernment . . . meaning . . . all are sourced in knowing the Triune God. Without knowing the Creator, creation is left to our puny minds to explain. Without knowing the Giver of life, the meaning of life is left up to our whims. Without believing that He has numbered our days and ordered our steps, we are left to aimlessly wander unaware of where we are going. But, by the grace of God, start to gain knowledge of the Holy Ones and things fall into place.

Know that a Triune God has made man “in our image” (Gen. 1:26) and desires communion with His creation and you understand the problem of sin, the need for atonement, and that which drives God’s pursuit of the sinner. Start to know something of the heart of a Heavenly Father and grasp the lengths to which He might go to make a way for a prodigal child to return. Comprehend something of the Son’s desire to do the Father’s will and make sense of why God became flesh . . . and of why the Son of God humbled Himself, becoming the Lamb of God, to offer Himself as a once-for-all sacrifice for sin and the way to reconciliation to the Father. Start to get the active agency of the Spirit of God living inside of born again believers and you have available resurrection power to transform lives as you become more adept at hearing His voice and being led in His ways.

And it’s not like we’re left on our own to “feel it out” . . . or form an intimacy with the divine through our own understanding. But I have this book in front of me. The God-breathed Scriptures . . . illuminated through the God given Spirit . . . designed that I might know something of the Holy Ones.

It’s not about knowledge for knowledge sake. It’s not about facts and data and mindless regurgitation as if it were about playing some trivia game. But it is understanding that bears the fruit of insight and discernment. It is perception which open up reality. It is awareness that produces fruitfulness. A knowledge which, in the end, pleases God.

Thus says the LORD: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, let not the mighty man boast in his might, let not the rich man boast in his riches, but let him who boasts boast in this, that he understands and knows Me, that I am the LORD who practices steadfast love, justice, and righteousness in the earth. For in these things I delight, declares the LORD.” (Jeremiah 9:22-23 ESV)

Knowledge of the Holy One . . . for insight into the ways of this life and the one to come.

Might I hear afresh Wisdom’s call . . . and respond anew to Her invitation . . . and pursue at length the riches She offers. By God’s grace . . . for God’s glory.

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Joy Before the Angels

Posted on July 30, 2013 by Pete

Luke 15 . . . one great chapter . . . three great parables. Sheep wanders off, shepherd searches for it until he finds it, laying it on his shoulders as he brings it home. Coin is lost, woman searches high and low until she finds it. A man takes his inheritance and goes south (literally), father waits patiently for him to come to his senses and receives him wholeheartedly when he returns. Interesting to noodle on why the lost sheep and the lost coin are searched for, but the lost son is waited upon . . . but that’s for another devo. This morning I’m thinking about joy before the angels.

In all three stories, when the lost is found there is rejoicing. The man with the sheep comes home and “calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.'” (15:6). The woman, upon finding her coin, “calls together her friends and neighbors, saying, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found the coin that I had lost’ (15:9). And the father, who’s son comes home, tells his other son, whose nose is bent out of shape because he never got a dinner, that the right thing to do is “to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found” (15:32). And Jesus, the storyteller, makes sure that the connection is clear . . .

Just so, I tell you, there will be more joy in heaven over one sinner who repents than over ninety-nine righteous persons who need no repentance . . . there is joy before the angels of God over one sinner who repents.    (Luke 15:7, 10 ESV)

First thing to note . . . there will be joy . . . there will be gladness . . . in heaven. If we extend this joy to include the implications of the third story, there will be celebrating in heaven. I’m thinking that reasons to rejoice won’t stop when the last sinner is called home . . . that joy will be a part of eternity.

But what’s grabbed my eye is the fact that, in the cases of these stories, . . . the parables of the lost things found . . . that the “joy in heaven” is equated with “joy before the angels of God.” Other translations render it joy or rejoicing “in the presence of the angels of God.” At first, I’m prone to think that it is the angels rejoicing among themselves. But something I read earlier this year (can’t remember what) has sown a seed about how you might understand this a bit differently. If the word is to be understood as “before the angels” . . . then what, or who, is before the angels rejoicing?

And all the angels were standing around the throne and around the elders and the four living creatures, and they fell on their faces before the throne and worshiped God . . .    (Revelation 7:11 ESV)

What’s before the angels? . . . the throne! Who’s before the angels? . . . Him who sits on the throne, Almighty God! So, if there’s joy “before the angels” over one sinner who repents, who’s doing the rejoicing? . . .

Is it too much of a stretch to think that God Himself rejoices when someone is saved? That the Father in heaven is ready to kill the fatted calf when one of His children who was lost is found . . . when one of them who was dead is made alive. Does God say, “Yes!” when a sinner receives His Son . . . when the shed blood of His Son is applied to the sin stains of a wayward soul and cleanses him white as snow . . . when a pauper is robed in the righteousness garments of Christ? Does God smile? Does He shout with gladness? Does He sing with joy? Pretty sure He at least sings with joy . . .

The LORD your God in your midst, The Mighty One, will save; He will rejoice over you with gladness, He will quiet you with His love, He will rejoice over you with singing.   (Zephaniah 3:17 ESV)

O’ the grace of God that seeks the lost . . . O’ the mighty power of God to save the sinner . . . O’ the overflowing love of God which sings with gladness . . . and displays great joy before the angels . . . when spiritually dead people are made alive in Christ!

To Him be all glory . . .

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God’s Good Hand

Posted on July 29, 2013 by Pete

Perspective . . . it makes all the difference. The filter through which we see life, and live life, really is what defines the “quality of life.” And, what’s got me thinking about this is a phrase that is repeated three times in my reading in Ezra 8 this morning . . . a phrase that I also encountered three times in Ezra 7. If repetition in the Scriptures is the Holy Spirit’s way of emphasizing something,and it is . . . then I better listen up, ’cause He’s shoutin’!

Even though it bears his name, we don’t actually meet Ezra in the book of Ezra until the seventh chapter. There we read of this “scribe skilled in the Law of Moses” returning to Jerusalem from Babylon . . . the king granting his request to return “for the hand of the LORD his God on him” (7:6).

There it is . . . the phrase . . . “the hand of God was on him” . . . first of 6 times it’s used in these two chapters.

Ezra found favor of the king to return to Jerusalem, why? . . . the hand of God was on him. Again, in verse 9 it says that Ezra “came to Jerusalem, for the good hand of his God was on him.” Ezra’s request . . . the king’s assent . . . God’s good hand. Then, after recounting the king of Persia’s edict permitting Ezra to return, Ezra says, “I took courage, for the hand of the LORD my God was on me” (7:28).

In chapter 8, as Ezra gathers together the troupe that would journey back to Jerusalem with him, Ezra notices that there are no sons of Levi . . . no priests . . . and so he goes to find some. And when he’s successful what does he say? “And by the good hand of our God on us, they brought us a man of discretion” (8:18). Ezra’s idea . . . Ezra’s search . . . Ezra finds his Levite . . . but he sees it all as further evidence of God’s good hand.

Not only did Ezra recognize the hand of God in his circumstance, he counted on it. Before leaving for Jerusalem he gathers together his entourage to fast and pray and seek God for direction and protection. For, although the king had offered Ezra an armed escort to guard him and all the treasures he was taking back to the promise land, Ezra refused it . . .

” . . . since we had told the king, ‘The hand or our God is for good on all who seek Him . . . ‘” (Ezra 8:22 ESV)

Ezra saw it as kind of inconsistent if he professed to rely on the good hand of God but took an armed escort of pagan soldiers as an insurance policy. “So,” he says, “we fasted and implored our God for this, and He listened to our entreaty” (8:23). Despite what was often a trek where enemies and bandits would lie in wait for traveling caravans, they arrive safely . . . and what does Ezra credit that to? . . . you got it . . . “the hand of our God was on us, and He delivered us from the hand of the enemy and from ambushes by the way” (8:31).

Whether it was conceiving the idea to return . . . or the king granting the request . . . or them finding Levites willing to return . . . or having a safe journey . . . Ezra saw it all through eyes that recognized the good hand of God upon him. He was encouraged by it . . . he counted on it.

Oh, that I would navigate my day-to-day with such a filter . . . the recognition of the good hand of God upon me. How much do I take credit for, when really it is God’s hand? How smart do I think I am sometimes when, in fact, it’s the good hand of God? I still have to make decisions . . . I still need to engage the task . . . I still need to embark on the journey . . . but at the end of day . . . when the decision turns out to be the right one . . . when the task is successfully accomplished . . . when the journey is safely completed . . . isn’t that all the good hand of God on me? I’m thinkin’ . . .

It is the grace of God to place His hand upon a life . . . and it is the power of God to work all things together according to His purpose. And if I believe these things to be true . . . and I do . . . then God forbid that I should take any credit or have any boast in anything other than God’s good hand. Amen?

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Don’t Be A Budger

Posted on July 26, 2013 by Pete

When they were little, my girls called it “budging” . . . and those who did it, “budgers.” Budging happens where people are required to line up for something. Budgers are those who, when they arrive, rather than take the next available place at the end of the line, find someone they know who is towards the front of the line and they join them . . . some say they butt in . . . my girls would say, “Hey, they budged! What budgers!” Doesn’t matter whether you’re standing in line to enter a theater, waiting in line to get something to eat, or lined up in traffic . . . nobody likes a budger. Truth be told though, in those situations, most of wish we could budge . . . but were taught it’s not polite to do so, and so we don’t . . . but if we could, we would. Naturally, we want to budge . . . Jesus warned against it.

In Luke 14 Jesus tells a story. He’s been invited to the house of a ruler of the Pharisees for a meal. It wasn’t just a quiet dinner for two . . . it was more of a banquet, Jesus being one of many guests. And Jesus notices something . . . that as the guests arrive, at least some of them jockey for position . . . “they chose the places of honor.” They wanted to sit at the head table. If there was focal point in the room, they wanted to be there . . . if there was to be a limelight, they wanted it shining on them . . . if there was a front of the line, they were budging in order to be there.

So Jesus throws a parable out there . . .

“When you are invited by someone to a wedding feast, do not sit down in a place of honor, lest someone more distinguished than you be invited by him, and he who invited you both will come and say to you, ‘Give your place to this person,’ and then you will begin with shame to take the lowest place. But when you are invited, go and sit in the lowest place, so that when your host comes he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you will be honored in the presence of all who sit at table with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and he who humbles himself will be exalted.”   (Luke 14:8-11 ESV)

Don’t claim the place of honor . . . don’t exalt yourself . . . don’t be a budger.

Though to differing degrees, there is something in the heart of little boys and girls, and of grown up men and women, that naturally makes them want to be budgers . . . to want to place themselves above others . . . to want their interests to be of greater importance than the interests of others. Jesus says, “Don’t do it!” Rather, go to the end of the line . . . sit in the lowest place . . . humble yourself.

That’s what Jesus did. Though He was God, very God, He didn’t consider the majesty and honor associated with His being something to be contended for and demanded. Instead, He made Himself “of no reputation” . . . and “He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross” (Php. 2:7-8 NKJV). Jesus, King of Kings and Lord of Lords, went to the end of the line . . . presenting Himself as the meek and lowly Jesus. He who deserves the highest place, took the lowest place. He, before whom every knee will one day bow, relinquished His own interests for the sake of others. The Son of God, in order to redeem a fallen creation, willingly became the Lamb of God.

Therefore, it says, God highly exalted Him (Php. 2:9). He who allowed Himself to be subject to the shame of the cross and the weakness of death, was lifted up . . . raised from the dead on the third day . . . ascended into heaven . . . exalted at the right hand of the Father on high . . . given the name which is above every name. “For he who humbles himself will be exalted.”

God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time He may exalt you . . . .   (1Peter 5:5-6 ESV)

I don’t need to make sure I’m at the front of the line . . . I don’t need to be a budger . . . I just need to trust in the One who created me and loves me so much that He sent His Son to redeem Me. I don’t need center stage . . . that’s Jesus’ place . . . the back row works just fine if only to be in His presence. Oh, that I might be content with the lowly place that He might be lifted up.

By His sanctifying grace . . . for His eternal glory.

Amen?

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