Serving Biblical refreshment and strength for your soul, in Jesus' name. "As iron sharpens iron, So a man sharpens the countenance of his friend." – Proverbs 27:17 (NKJV)
25 And which of you by being anxious can add a single hour to his span of life? 26 If then you are not able to do as small a thing as that, why are you anxious about the rest? – Luke 12:25-26 (ESV)
73.32 years.
26,890.13 days.
642,723.12 hours.
That is the average life span of human beings worldwide.
None of us knows how close to average our earthly lives will last. Here’s what we do know: no amount of worry can add even one hour.
Consider this: 1 hour is 0.00015573337399843% of the average human lifespan. All the worrying, anxiety and stress in the world cannot add even such an infinitesimally small amount of time to our lives.
Let’s give some cold sober thought to what worry can lead to:
inability to think straight
loss of appetite
loss of sleep
anxiety
depression
self-absorption
irritability
various physical, mental and spiritual issues
The payoff of worry? Nothing. At lease nothing positive.
The risk-return payoff of worry isn’t worth considering. The benefits are worthless junk bonds. The deficits are innumerable and destrctive.
Fortunately, we have God as our Loving Father Who cares for us, provides for us, never leaves us. In Jesus, we have no reason to worry. Worry is useless. The LORD is everything: our creator, our sustainer, our redeemer, our provider, our protector, our strength, our source…
Worry is a thief: nothing more, nothing less with no positive results.
Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. – Philippians 4:6-7 (ESV).
If you’re around my age or older, you probably remember Madge the Manicurist from a particular dishwashing soap commercial. Ladies would come into her shop, complaining about the ill treatment their workaday housewife hands endured in the struggle to cut through grease and removed baked on cheese from their cookware.
Come to find out, Madge had a secret: a bottle of bright green cleanliness that not only made your dishes absolutely gleam but also possessed magical curative powers that worked wonders on one’s overworked skin and cuticles.
And what did one have to do to experience the wonder of shining pots and pans and hands? Simple: soak in it. Soak in this amazing soapy liquid and your hands would be as good as new.
The same principle applies to how we approach our everyday lives. What are we to do when we find ourselves troubled with worrisome, baked-on cares? How do we cut through the greasy mess of anxiety?
Don’t grab the dish soap. Grab God’s word.
And soak in it.
Look up passages dealing with what you’re facing. Read about His love and mercy and grace. Pray. Trust in what He says. Believe.
I realize I often sound like a broken record. But repetition is what we need. We need to be reminded on a daily basis that we are God’s children, and He loves us. He is sovereign over everything – even our problems.
But, while God can use our troubles to draw us nearer to Him, we must remember that seeking comfort and solace and solutions for our lives is not what our main goal should be. Rather, we need to seek the Lord for Who He is as opposed to merely what He can do for us.
It’s about building a relationship with our Father through Jesus Christ. Building a relationship takes time and purpose. It means spending time with the one you’re getting to know.
And the best way to get to know God is by spending time with Him in His Word and in prayer. As Madge might say, soaking in it.
So spend time with Jesus. Seek Him daily. Get into His Word, and soak it in. He will take away even your toughest, grimiest mess and leave you with a sparkling clean you can feel. He will change your life!
Some passages of the Bible cry out to be read in the King James version. With all its “thees” and “thous” and “thines” and “beseecheths”, the language of the KJV is often quite majestic. The words make for a wonderful exclamation or “thus saith the Lord!”
Psalm 139 is, in my humble opinion, one such passage that benefits from the richness of the 400+ years old English. In this psalm, David – a man who knew all too well how it felt to run for one’s life, hiding from murderous enemies – shows us much about God’s character. We see how He relates to us.
David testifies to the sovereignty of God. The Lord is omniscient (all-knowing). He even knows our thoughts before we can fully form them!
God is omnipresent. There’s no place we can go where he isn’t already there. (After Adam and Eve’s fateful choice to eat from the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil and thus introduce sin to all humanity – and, by the way, thanks a lot for that – God was in the garden looking for Adam. Do you really think the Lord didn’t know where Adam’s shame led him to hide?)
God is omnipotent (all-powerful) and not only created each of us, but designed us each individually
Uniquely.
Per His specifications.
Not only did God lovingly create us, He protects us. He hems us in, as David described it, What a beautiful picture of God’s care for us. We are fully sewn in by Him on all sides.
David recognized God is our judge, and a compassionate one at that. David started out well, the young shepherd boy who took out Goliath with a slingshot and a smooth stone. The Lord had a plan for David. And, accordingly, David ascended to the role of King of Israel. Quite the achievement! But David had a weakness, and he gave into it. He would pay a hefty price for the whole sordid episode with Bathsheba. But David found forgiveness and restoration from God. And, as we see from the end of Psalm, David clearly realized and repented from his sin, and found the right path. As Paul so aptly sums it up: Abhor what is evil, cling to what is good (Romans 12:9).
Psalm 139 reveals to us much about Who God is, and by comparison, who we are. And from it we can glean so much hope! We can fully trust in God, despite our situations. Despite our past. If God can turn around an adulterous, murderous king, do you suppose He can forgive and restore and take care of you as well?
CHAP. CXXXIX.
1 Dauid praiseth God for his all-seeing prouidence, 17 And for his infinite mercies. 19 He defieth the wicked. 23 Hee prayeth for sinceritie.
1 [To the chiefe Musician, A Psalme of Dauid.] O Lord, thou hast searched mee, and knowen me.
2 Thou knowest my downe sitting, and mine vprising: thou vnderstandest my thought afarre off.
3 Thou compassest my path, and my lying downe, and art acquainted with all my wayes.3
4 For there is not a worde in my tongue: but lo, O Lord, thou knowest it altogether.
5 Thou hast beset me behind, and before: and laid thine hand vpon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderfull for me: it is high, I cannot attaine vnto it.
7 Whither shall I goe from thy spirit? or whither shall I flie from thy presence?
8 If I ascend vp into heauen, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there.8
9 If I take the wings of the morning: and dwell in the vttermost parts of the Sea:
10 Euen there shall thy hand leade me: and thy right hand shall hold me.
11 If I say, Surely the darkenes shall couer me: euen the night shall bee light about me.11
12 Yea the darkenesse hideth not from thee, but the night shineth as the day: the darknes and the light are both alike to thee.12
13 For thou hast possessed my reines: thou hast couered me in my mothers wombe.
14 I will praise thee, for I am fearefully and wonderfully made, marueilous are thy works: and that my soule knoweth right well.14
15 My substance was not hid from thee, when I was made in secret: and curiously wrought in the lowest parts of the earth.15
16 Thine eyes did see my substance yet being vnperfect, and in thy booke all my members were written, which in continuance were fashioned: when as yet there was none of them.16
17 Howe precious also are thy thoughts vnto me, O God: how great is the summe of them?17
18 If I should count them, they are moe in number then the sand: when I awake, I am still with thee.
19 Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God: depart from me therefore, ye bloody men.
20 For they speake against thee wickedly: and thine enemies take thy name in vaine.
21 Doe not I hate them, O Lord, that hate thee? and am not I grieued with those that rise vp against thee?
22 I hate them with perfect hatred: I count them mine enemies.
23 Search me, O God, and knowe my heart: trie mee, and knowe my thoughts:
24 And see if there bee any wicked way in me: and leade me in the way euerlasting.
He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty. I will say to the Lord, “My refuge and my fortress, my God, in whom I trust.” – Psalm 91:1-2 (ESV)
I’ve been reading Psalm 91 this morning. What absolutely amazing promises it contains! Imagine… God – the Creator and Sustainer of the entire universe, The One Who gives us life, our Heavenly Father Who is Love itself, Whose love we cannot be separated from, Who is sovereign over everything – is Himself our place of protection. He is our trustworthy refuge and fortress, our place of safety from our enemy.
It is in God we need to put our trust. He will deliver us from all variety of evil, day and night, removing our fear. He promises protection in the battle. (v.3-8).
When we make God our place of refuge, He promises “no evil shall befall you.” He sends His angels to guard and guide us through the troubles and trials we face. The strength we are provided by the Lord sees us through every situation. We are to rely on God for everything, not ourselves. He is faithful, even when we are not. His love in genuine – not a reward to earn but a gift of selflessness to accept and treasure with thankfulness.
Jesus put it this way:
“I am the true vine, and my Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in me that does not bear fruit he takes away, and every branch that does bear fruit he prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 Already you are clean because of the word that I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit by itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in me. 5 I am the vine; you are the branches. Whoever abides in me and I in him, he it is that bears much fruit, for apart from me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in me he is thrown away like a branch and withers; and the branches are gathered, thrown into the fire, and burned. 7 If you abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatever you wish, and it will be done for you. 8 By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. 9 As the Father has loved me, so have I loved you. Abide in my love. 10 If you keep my commandments, you will abide in my love, just as I have kept my Father’s commandments and abide in his love. 11 These things I have spoken to you, that my joy may be in you, and that your joy may be full. – John 15:1-11 (ESV).
Full. Abundant. Life overflowing with joy and peace in the assurance of God. Free from the need to worry. Devoid of any reason for fear.
Even when the storm is raging around us, we are to have peace rooted in the faithful promises and assurance of our Heavenly Father through Jesus Christ. We can rest in Him.
We should rest in Him.
We need to trust Him.
“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I came that they may have life and have it abundantly” (John 10:10, ESV). Just like Peter walking on the stormy sea, we can choose the temptation to stare at the storm and drown. Or we can call out to Jesus and be saved. We can find our refuge and strength in the Lord, or let the enemy steal the joy we are promised in the Lord.
14 “Because he holds fast to me in love, I will deliver him; I will protect him, because he knows my name. 15 When he calls to me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble; I will rescue him and honor him. 16 With long life I will satisfy him and show him my salvation.” – Psalm 91:14-16 (ESV)
4 “What man of you, having a hundred sheep, if he has lost one of them, does not leave the ninety-nine in the open country, and go after the one that is lost, until he finds it? 5 And when he has found it, he lays it on his shoulders, rejoicing. 6 And when he comes home, he calls together his friends and his neighbors, saying to them, ‘Rejoice with me, for I have found my sheep that was lost.’ 7 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. – Luke 15:1-7 (ESV)
500 – the approximate number of time people are referred to as “sheep” in the Bible.
100 – the number of sheep in Jesus’ Parable of the Lost Sheep.
1 – the number of shepherds in said parable.
Looking at people as sheep offers an interesting glimpse into how God views humanity, as well as His relationship to us.
Sheep are animals of prey. They are susceptible to attack from wild animals and need to be protected. Likewise, we people are susceptible to attack from our enemy as well:
6 Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9 Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world. – 1 Peter 5:6-9 (ESV)
Earlier in the above chapter, Peter points out that we are God’s flock, and the Lord our “chief Shepherd”.
Sheep are humble animals, and they tend to stick with their shepherd. They know he will protect them and provide for them. It is the same God and His flock: “My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me” (John 10:27, ESV).
However, in our stubborn sinfulness, we sometimes cast humility to the wind and wander off on our own. We tend to be like the prodigal son. He didn’t know how good he had it with his father and insisted on having his own way.
Well, until he found himself eating slop with the pigs.
When we stray, our Good Shepherd leaves the rest of the flock to find us and bring us back into the fold. God’s love for us – not just corporately but for each one of us individually – is so immensely strong that it is impossible to lose:
35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword? 36 As it is written,
“For your sake we are being killed all the day long; we are regarded as sheep to be slaughtered.”
37 No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38 For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, 39 nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. – Romans 8:35-39 (ESV)
Sometimes He gets our attention with a gentle whisper, a reminder that we have strayed from Him and the flock and need to come back. Sometimes He lets us have our heads until we find ourselves face down in a pig sty. But He still pursues us.
Another thing about sheep: they are communal animals. They were created to live in a flock. They are social critters.
Their behavior is formed by the community around them. The shepherd is the one who leads and guides the flock. Jesus – our Leader. the Head of the body of Christ – is referred to as the Lamb of God. Our behavior – both corporately as the body and individually as sheep – should follow that of our Shepherd.
Meek.
Strong.
Faithful.
Loving.
Kind.
The God Who is the Creator and Sustainer of all; Who is Love; Who is omniscient, omnipresent, omnipotent… He is also our Loving Abba – Father – and Good Shepherd, Who sacrificed His Son – the Perfect Lamb of God – to take away the sin that kept us from Him. He put us right in His flock. He calls us His own. He protects us and guides us and saves us.
The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. 2 He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. 3 He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his name’s sake.
4 Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me; your rod and your staff, they comfort me.
5 You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; you anoint my head with oil; my cup overflows. 6 Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever. – Psalm 23 (ESV)
Remember this, my friends: each of us has a choice.
Every day.
More than one actually.
Every day we can choose to follow the wide and easy path the world sets before us, or the narrow path of faith that leads to Jesus.
We can choose to stare at our problems and get tangled up in the impossibility of solving them or opt instead to trust our Heavenly Father to take care of our needs.
We can choose to replay in our heads the hurts and offenses we have endured or forgive and move forward.
We can stew in our self pity or reach out to others with love to help and comfort and care.
We can keep on fighting with our own weakness or rest in the strength of the Lord.
We can try to figure it all out with our limited cognitive abilities or realize and trust in the sovereignty of our good and loving Father.
We can view ourselves based on the judgements of others or through the Lord’s love, mercy and grace.
We can choose to believe or not.
We can choose to walk in darkness or in The Light.
We can hate or love.
We can look inward or upward.
We can waste our lives with vain pursuits or seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.
We can look inward or upward.
We can focus on Christ our Savior in all things or slog through life defeated and afraid.
Choose for yourself this day who you will serve. Self or God. Sin or salvation. Dark or light.
When we choose the Light – when we follow Jesus instead of the world – it is to our benefit.
(Jesus said): “Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” – John 14:27 (ESV)
If you want true peace, trust in the Lord.
Not in riches.
Not in human ability.
Not in circumstances.
Not in someone else’s judgments.
Not in your career.
Not in flawed logic.
Trust in God. Seek the Lord first. In all things. At all times. Abandon the arrogance of self reliance and humbly follow God through Jesus Christ.
Think about it: if God is God, then He is sovereign over all.
If God is God, He is Truth. He cannot lie.
If The Bible is God’s Word (and it is!, then it proclaims truth. It is utterly trustworthy because God is utterly trustworthy.
Do you want true peace? Trust in the Lord. Take Him at His Word. Realize He is control. He cannot make a mistake. He loves you, for He is Love.
17 When the righteous cry for help, the Lord hears and delivers them out of all their troubles. 18 The Lord is near to the brokenhearted and saves the crushed in spirit.
19 Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivers him out of them all.
Psalm 34:17-19 (ESV)
God knows.
God knows your hurts.
God knows your disappointments.
God knows your brokenness.
God knows the relationships that have crumbled.
God knows the loss you are grieving.
God knows the despair, the shame, the pain we experience.
God knows,
God cares.
God loves you.
Do not let go of Lord. Seek Him first. Trust Him. Rest in Him.
Sleep well, dear friends. Give it all to our loving, merciful Heavenly Father and know God has you. Take it on faith.
Let me clarify the above statement: I’m not saying I was raised in the woods by a pack of wolves or otters or any other species of woodland creatures (even though my beautiful wife may claim otherwise).
My childhood surroundings were a gift from God. The security of extended family surrounded me like a warm blanket. My grandparents lived on the other side of a cow pasture from us. The greatest dangers face were:
Accidently making contact with the electric fence when it was turned on.
Stomping into a freshly made cowpie when crossing the pasture. (And woe betide you if you thoughtlessly entered Grandma’s house in those soiled shoes.)
Experiencing danger #1 when a cow had recently been nearby, causing you to fall into #2.
There was one more danger. It lingered at the edge of woods, where our backyard abruptly ended in the wonderful expanse of trees and wildflowers and mushrooms – loads of oddly umbrella-shaped fungi growing in the weeds and on the trees.
This danger stood out to me because my parents had warned me about it.
Do not touch it.
Do not lean on it.
Don’t even talk to it (which should be no problem unless you’ve eaten the aforementioned shrooms. And, really, I doubt consuming them would lead to any sort of psychedelic experience. They’d just poison you.)
Hmm… maybe I should add that to the top of the list of childhood dangers.
And then there’s the coffee can of rusty nails from Grandpa’s garage, used to shore up our A-frame stick lean-tos. But we had our tetanus shots, so no real danger there.
But I digress…
It may not be a rabbit hole but you can still get lost down here.
No, the danger Mom warned about was the torn tree.
A great big, ugly, dead thorn tree.
With huge spikes protruding from it’s decaying trunk.
Someone should have cut it down.
It wasn’t pretty.
It wasn’t enticing.
It was scary.
It was exactly what sin should look like to us.
But that’s the problem. Sin does not always look so frightening, Instead it looks beautiful.
Attractive.
Enjoyable.
Popular.
Fulfilling.
Cool.
Entertaining.
Gorgeous.
Down right fun!
I’m guessing the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil wasn’t a dead thorn tree. (It wasn’t an apple tree either, but one rabbit hole is enough for today.)
Now the serpent was more cunning than any beast of the field which the Lord God had made. And he said to the woman, “Has God indeed said, ‘You shall not eat of every tree of the garden’?”
2 And the woman said to the serpent, “We may eat the fruit of the trees of the garden; 3 but of the fruit of the tree which is in the midst of the garden, God has said, ‘You shall not eat it, nor shall you touch it, lest you die.’ ”
4 Then the serpent said to the woman, “You will not surely die. 5 For God knows that in the day you eat of it your eyes will be opened, and you will be like God, knowing good and evil.”
6 So when the woman saw that the tree was good for food, that it was pleasant to the eyes, and a tree desirable to make one wise, she took of its fruit and ate. She also gave to her husband with her, and he ate. 7 Then the eyes of both of them were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together and made themselves coverings. – Genesis 3:1-7 (NKJV)
It’s easy to get lulled into complacency when it comes to following Jesus. We get wrapped up in our lives – our schedules, our plans, our jobs, our kids’ soccer games, all the busyness, all the cares of this life (which only compound everything else going on…
We lose sight of what is truly important.
We lose sight of Jesus.
We get so caught up in the worries and stresses and insanity (inanity?) of this life that, before we know it, we find ourselves standing in the woods wearing cowpie covered shoes, eating poison mushrooms, talking to a thorn tree.
So, what’s the answer? It’s one of the verses I find myself repeatedly drawn to:
“Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you” (Matthew 6:33, NKJV).
How often do we act on our own impulses without seeking God’s wisdom first? Trust me when I say it could be painful. God’s grace is still there. The LORD forgives us. Our Father loves us. He saves us. Je restores us. He may let us stand in those stinky poo-covered shoes for a while to correct us.
Wouldn’t it be much easier to seek God first in all things, and trust Him instead of our own limited capabilities? Not all pain can be avoided (just look at Job). Still, life would be much better if we would remember this:
“For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways,” says the Lord. 9 “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, And My thoughts than your thoughts.” – Isaiah 55:8-9 (NKJV)
Thinking back on it, my childhood woodland wasn’t quite as safe as I naively thought. Our true security is found in God through Jesus Christ and Him alone. How would our lives look if we walked – no, ran – away from the thorn tree? What if we chose to look to Him as our source of joy, happiness and peace, instead of living life so engrossed in our circumstances?
We live amongst thorns. Seek God and His ways first. Let Jesus light your path. And follow that Light.
The Bouville Diarist and Sharpening Service 