Luke 14:12-23 (NIV)
12 Then Jesus said to his host, “When you give a luncheon or dinner, do not invite your friends, your brothers or sisters, your relatives, or your rich neighbors; if you do, they may invite you back and so you will be repaid. 13 But when you give a banquet, invite the poor, the crippled, the lame, the blind, 14 and you will be blessed. Although they cannot repay you, you will be repaid at the resurrection of the righteous.”
The Parable of the Great Banquet
15 When one of those at the table with him heard this, he said to Jesus, “Blessed is the one who will eat at the feast in the kingdom of God.”
16 Jesus replied: “A certain man was preparing a great banquet and invited many guests. 17 At the time of the banquet he sent his servant to tell those who had been invited, ‘Come, for everything is now ready.’
18 “But they all alike began to make excuses. The first said, ‘I have just bought a field, and I must go and see it. Please excuse me.’
19 “Another said, ‘I have just bought five yoke of oxen, and I’m on my way to try them out. Please excuse me.’
20 “Still another said, ‘I just got married, so I can’t come.’
21 “The servant came back and reported this to his master. Then the owner of the house became angry and ordered his servant, ‘Go out quickly into the streets and alleys of the town and bring in the poor, the crippled, the blind and the lame.’
22 “‘Sir,’ the servant said, ‘what you ordered has been done, but there is still room.’
23 “Then the master told his servant, ‘Go out to the roads and country lanes and compel them to come in, so that my house will be full. 24 I tell you, not one of those who were invited will get a taste of my banquet.’
We have just begun a new church, New Hope Aloha Pau’ole with this mission statement: “We are committed to loving God and to advancing His kingdom by loving people to a place of freedom.” Our very first sermon was based on the story of the three kings – of Israel, Judah and Edom – who God called together to defeat the Midianites. But the possibility of doing so was against all odds for the people were few in number, by comparison to the Midianites, and the people were weary already and thirsty. They had no water to drink for several days and no prospect of that happening. God’s prophet told them they had to dig ditches so that the valley would be full of ditches to receive the waters that would come. That made no sense at all, but they dug ditches and when the woke the next morning the ditches were full of water. They had filled the valley with ditches and the valley was now filled with life-sustaining water.
Doing church the way we are compelled to by Jesus in Luke 14 makes about as much sense as a mandate to dig ditches when the enemy looms on the horizon and we are dog-tired and thirsty. Don’t invite the privileged ones who can pay the bills and keep things nice and orderly, but rather go invite those who are poor and crippled and blind and lame; those who live in alleys and streets, not in houses. That’s hard work, messy work, abnormal-in-our-modern-day-church-culture work.
Our Pastor told us we would need to dig ditches so that the waters of the living God would fill the valley and people could drink freely of these living waters. He said it would be a messy ministry – that of loving people to a place of freedom. It’s a messy thought – going out into the highways and byways, the alleys and the streets to reach people who are thirsty for the living waters of our God’s saving grace.
As we begin our ministry in a regular Sunday service at Moanalua Elementary School in Moanalua Valley - two services under our belt now - I wonder how we will fill this valley with ditches. Traditional church culture is invasive and the reality that we could settle in to what we all know, in some form or another, is a culture that says ‘come and see’ instead of ‘go and bring them in.’ It is a culture where people are satisfied with snippets of God’s truth on a Sunday morning – just enough of His truth to get us through the week and just enough so that it does not step on our orderly lifestyles. We cannot lose the vision and the heart of the mandate to dig ditches, to go out into the alley ways and streets, or we will just settle back into a western world religious ‘Christian’ culture.
Who will fill the pews of our church, and what will those pews look like? To move out of this established church culture will take constant revisiting of the vision God has given us. To move out of this established church culture we will need to see the work God has before us as one that has no ‘normal’ for if it begins to feel normal then we will forget the alleys and the streets and the ditches that need to be dug so God can pour out rivers of living waters from the very throne room of Heaven into dry and parched hearts.
In a year I pray we will look back and see that we have been faithful to our calling, that we will see our pews, whatever they look like and wherever they might be, filled with people whose lives are transformed because we did, indeed, love our God and advance His kingdom, not our agenda, His Kingdom by loving people to a place of freedom. I want to keep ever before my own heart this simple question – Who sits in your pews? And in reality, with the vision ever before us and call of God mandating every move we make, those pews will be banqueting tables where we will feast with others, people like us who were once poor, crippled, blind, lame and we will all be rejoicing together at the ongoing wedding feast of the Lamb – the Lamb of God who compels us to live life as He, Himself, demonstrated in word and in deed.
Luke 14 ends with these words:
34 “Salt is good, but if it loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? 35 It is fit neither for the soil nor for the manure pile; it is thrown out.
“Whoever has ears to hear, let them hear.”
Oh God, keep Your vision ever before us. Help us dig those ditches. Fill them with Living Waters. Fill your banqueting table with those we have compelled to come in. Help us to love others as You demonstrated love, for as our pastor reitterated this past Sunday -- They will only know we are Christians . . . by our love.
suemccarysargis 1/14/2013
Monday, January 14, 2013
Thursday, January 10, 2013
A MARKED MAN - LAZARUS
John 12:1-2; 9-11
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.
9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.
I never noticed, in all my readings of these scriptures over the years, that Lazarus was a marked man. This one who had died once and was resurrected by Jesus four days after he officially was declared dead, this one whom Jesus instructed those standing around weeping, “take the grave clothes off him!”; this one of whom the people said: “He stinks! Don’t you know he’s been dead so long already?” and this one of whom the shortest verse in the Bible is written, “Jesus wept” - he, resurrected and testifying of the power of the long-awaited Messiah, was a marked man. And who was out to get him? None other than the religious leaders of the day – the Chief Priests made plans to kill him ‘as well’ – or at the same time they did away with Jesus.
We don’t know anything more about Lazarus so he may have died a martyr or he may have died naturally at a ripe old age but of one thing we can be certain – he was a marked man.
Yes, marked by the religious zealots bent on destroying the testimony of the One who came to redeem us all but more importantly, Lazarus was a marked by the power and love and grace of God and his life was forever changed. He got a first-hand lesson that few have or will ever experience – one that allowed him to know death and life are held only in the sovereign hands of God and none other. He got to know the passion of Jesus as his sisters told him how Jesus wept at his grave site. He got to experience the stench of death leaving him as those strips of death shroud were carefully removed by friends and family standing by his tomb as he came forth. He experienced, first-hand, what it meant to be marked by the redeeming grace of the Son of God who came to seek and to save that which was lost. No doubt this marked man was hunted down the rest of his life and he may very well have died a martyr’s death just like most of those first century evangels; and yet the mark on Lazarus that remains most significant is the mark that sealed his fate forever – the mark of eternity stamped on his heart and soul and mind that day in Bethany by the Messiah.
We who have received Jesus into our own hearts are marked as well. Yes, we too are marked by those yet out to do away with our own testimonies, but more importantly we, like Lazarus are marked for all time and eternity by the imprint upon our hearts and souls and minds of God’s unending, matchless, redeeming love and grace.
suemccarysargis 12/22/2012
Six days before the Passover, Jesus came to Bethany, where Lazarus lived, whom Jesus had raised from the dead. 2 Here a dinner was given in Jesus’ honor. Martha served, while Lazarus was among those reclining at the table with him.
9 Meanwhile a large crowd of Jews found out that Jesus was there and came, not only because of him but also to see Lazarus, whom he had raised from the dead. 10 So the chief priests made plans to kill Lazarus as well, 11 for on account of him many of the Jews were going over to Jesus and believing in him.
I never noticed, in all my readings of these scriptures over the years, that Lazarus was a marked man. This one who had died once and was resurrected by Jesus four days after he officially was declared dead, this one whom Jesus instructed those standing around weeping, “take the grave clothes off him!”; this one of whom the people said: “He stinks! Don’t you know he’s been dead so long already?” and this one of whom the shortest verse in the Bible is written, “Jesus wept” - he, resurrected and testifying of the power of the long-awaited Messiah, was a marked man. And who was out to get him? None other than the religious leaders of the day – the Chief Priests made plans to kill him ‘as well’ – or at the same time they did away with Jesus.
We don’t know anything more about Lazarus so he may have died a martyr or he may have died naturally at a ripe old age but of one thing we can be certain – he was a marked man.
Yes, marked by the religious zealots bent on destroying the testimony of the One who came to redeem us all but more importantly, Lazarus was a marked by the power and love and grace of God and his life was forever changed. He got a first-hand lesson that few have or will ever experience – one that allowed him to know death and life are held only in the sovereign hands of God and none other. He got to know the passion of Jesus as his sisters told him how Jesus wept at his grave site. He got to experience the stench of death leaving him as those strips of death shroud were carefully removed by friends and family standing by his tomb as he came forth. He experienced, first-hand, what it meant to be marked by the redeeming grace of the Son of God who came to seek and to save that which was lost. No doubt this marked man was hunted down the rest of his life and he may very well have died a martyr’s death just like most of those first century evangels; and yet the mark on Lazarus that remains most significant is the mark that sealed his fate forever – the mark of eternity stamped on his heart and soul and mind that day in Bethany by the Messiah.
We who have received Jesus into our own hearts are marked as well. Yes, we too are marked by those yet out to do away with our own testimonies, but more importantly we, like Lazarus are marked for all time and eternity by the imprint upon our hearts and souls and minds of God’s unending, matchless, redeeming love and grace.
suemccarysargis 12/22/2012
Friday, October 26, 2012
FORWARD, ONWARD, UPWARD
It’s an uphill battle every day
One in which you choose the way
Keep inching forward, onward, upward
Let nothing make you sway
One step backward, it’s ok
Just set your sights, it’s a brand new day
You’ve the strength within to lead you onward
The Truth! The Life! The Way
So guard your heart, your mind, your soul
Keep moving on toward your goal
Keep moving forward, onward, upward
Tis a battle HE well knows.
Life’s battles are a great challenge and there are times when we feel like we cannot go on any further, like we want to draw back and give up, like there is no tomorrow. In such times I stop and reflect on the incredible resolve of Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross and who now sits at the right hand of the Father ALWAYS INTERCEEDING FOR ME (Hebrews 12:2). He set His own face like flint toward the goal that now gives me the courage to put one foot in front of the other, to move onward and upward in each of life’s struggles, challenges, battles.
One in which you choose the way
Keep inching forward, onward, upward
Let nothing make you sway
One step backward, it’s ok
Just set your sights, it’s a brand new day
You’ve the strength within to lead you onward
The Truth! The Life! The Way
So guard your heart, your mind, your soul
Keep moving on toward your goal
Keep moving forward, onward, upward
Tis a battle HE well knows.
He awakens Me morning by morning,
He awakens My ear to listen as a disciple.
5 The Lord GOD has opened My ear;
And I was not disobedient
Nor did I turn back.
7 For the Lord GOD helps Me,
Therefore, I am not disgraced;
Therefore, I have set My face like flint,
And I know that I will not be ashamed.
Isaiah 50:4-7
Now when the time was almost come for Jesus to be received up [to heaven],
He steadfastly and determinedly set His face to go to Jerusalem (toward the Cross).
Luke 9:51
Life’s battles are a great challenge and there are times when we feel like we cannot go on any further, like we want to draw back and give up, like there is no tomorrow. In such times I stop and reflect on the incredible resolve of Jesus, who for the joy set before Him endured the Cross and who now sits at the right hand of the Father ALWAYS INTERCEEDING FOR ME (Hebrews 12:2). He set His own face like flint toward the goal that now gives me the courage to put one foot in front of the other, to move onward and upward in each of life’s struggles, challenges, battles.
Think of all the hostility He endured from sinful people;
then you won’t become weary and give up.Hebrews 12:3
then you won’t become weary and give up.Hebrews 12:3
Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us, fixing our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinners, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart.
Hebrews 12:1-3
smcs 10/26/2012Hebrews 12:1-3
Thursday, May 17, 2012
THE SINGERS
1 Samuel 27: 33
"These are the singers, heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites, dwelling in the temple chambers, free from other service because they were on duty day and night."
What an awe-inspiring responsibility the singers of God have. Their service is 24/7 and while they may not dwell in the temple composing, writing, teaching or singing God's music today, the implication is clear -- God's servants praise Him day and night.
In order to compose, teach and then deliver God's messages through song His singers must spend inordinate amounts of time at the feet of their Master, ever listening to His heart. Otherwise, the music will be born out of personal preference, style, or culture and such music is merely self-serving.
Obviously very few people are 'free from other service' and most of us are not privileged to sing, compose, practice and teach 24/7 but in our hearts we can continually make melodies to our God and King. He is worthy of nothing less than our 24/7 worship. In our everyday lives this is no easy task. It takes a heart of discipline, not a regime of discipline but a HEART disciplined to hear the voice of our Lord in the busyness and chaos of our lives. Learning to hear Him above the noise, above all clamor, above our self-indulgent lifestyles is a discipline, and I believe a grace-gift from God. Only as we live and move and find our being IN HIM will we find ourselves ministering songs of worship and praise TO HIM all throughout the day and even in the watches of the night.
I would love nothing more than to dwell in a temple and be honored with the task of attending to our Lord night and day, with no other responsibilities. I don't live in such a world, nor is it likely that could happen in my culture as it was for the Israelites. But I am the temple of the Holy Spirit of God and therefore I am living with the awe-inspiring responsibility of honoring and serving Jesus all throughout every day of my life.
Oh God I long to be worthy of such an honor. Draw me to Your heart throughout this day. Help me draw near to You all throughout every day and into the night watches. May You be honored and exalted with the songs of my heart as I exalt Your matchless, holy, glorious Name.
1 Samuel 27: 33
"These are the singers, heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites, dwelling in the temple chambers, free from other service because they were on duty day and night."
What an awe-inspiring responsibility the singers of God have. Their service is 24/7 and while they may not dwell in the temple composing, writing, teaching or singing God's music today, the implication is clear -- God's servants praise Him day and night.
In order to compose, teach and then deliver God's messages through song His singers must spend inordinate amounts of time at the feet of their Master, ever listening to His heart. Otherwise, the music will be born out of personal preference, style, or culture and such music is merely self-serving.
Obviously very few people are 'free from other service' and most of us are not privileged to sing, compose, practice and teach 24/7 but in our hearts we can continually make melodies to our God and King. He is worthy of nothing less than our 24/7 worship. In our everyday lives this is no easy task. It takes a heart of discipline, not a regime of discipline but a HEART disciplined to hear the voice of our Lord in the busyness and chaos of our lives. Learning to hear Him above the noise, above all clamor, above our self-indulgent lifestyles is a discipline, and I believe a grace-gift from God. Only as we live and move and find our being IN HIM will we find ourselves ministering songs of worship and praise TO HIM all throughout the day and even in the watches of the night.
I would love nothing more than to dwell in a temple and be honored with the task of attending to our Lord night and day, with no other responsibilities. I don't live in such a world, nor is it likely that could happen in my culture as it was for the Israelites. But I am the temple of the Holy Spirit of God and therefore I am living with the awe-inspiring responsibility of honoring and serving Jesus all throughout every day of my life.
Oh God I long to be worthy of such an honor. Draw me to Your heart throughout this day. Help me draw near to You all throughout every day and into the night watches. May You be honored and exalted with the songs of my heart as I exalt Your matchless, holy, glorious Name.
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
KNOWING THE LORD YOUR GOD
KNOW THE LORD YOUR GOOD
1 Chronicles 28:9
NASB 9
“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
AMPLIFIED BIBLE
9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.
"Know the God of your father" has a much deeper meaning than is offered in most translations of the Bible. To comprehend the depth of 'know' one has to do a little digging into the original meanings of words. Know, in the original Hebrew language, has 4 meanings.
1. nakar - know; to feign to know;
2. da'ath - cunning; ignorantly, unaware
3. yeda - certify, teach
4. yada` - perceive, tell, certainly, acknowledge, acquaintance, consider, declare, teach
In this verse of Scripture, the fourth definition is the correct one, and the Amplified translation shows the richer, fuller intent of King David's words to his son, Solomon - have personal knowledge of God, be acquainted with Him, understand Him, appreciate Him, heed Him, cherish Him.
One can teach any subject without a truly personal relationship with that subject. For instance, one can teach Van Gogh or Cezanne or Monet, but these artists are dead so they are taught from historical and artistic acumen, not from the perspective of one who has sat at the feet of these masters and learned every nuance, every desire of their hearts, every intent of their art.
God can be known in the same way. He can be acknowledged. He can be appreciated, as we appreciate great artists and their works. One can certify they know Him well because of their astute recitations and use of Scripture. Others feign to know Him, and still others use His name as if it were simply a figure of speech, ignorant and unaware of whom they speak when they declare OMG as an exclamation regarding some newly acquired pseudo-astonishing fact. But for one to 'know' God as David knew God and as he adjured his son to know God, one has to come face to face with God. One has to comprehend that, unlike all those great artists whose works are studied, God is not dead. He is quite alive and has such a longing for His creation to know, really know Him - to 'be acquainted with, understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him'. Without a comprehension of the original Hebrew 'yada`' there is a superficial relationship with the true intent.
The instruction in this same verse by King David to his son Solomon concludes with this . . .
"For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him."
In other translations it simply says "If you seek Him, you will find Him." Once again, without a personal comprehension of the original intent of the word 'seek', our flesh easily wishes to give up when the searching doesn't reach the conclusion set by our own agenda. But when our spirit is fully engaged we comprehend that seeking God must be our FIRST and VITAL necessity, and then we find ourselves on the most remarkable and rewarding quest this life can ever offer - that of knowing God.
1 Chronicles 28:9
NASB 9
“As for you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father, and serve Him with a whole heart and a willing mind; for the Lord searches all hearts, and understands every intent of the thoughts. If you seek Him, He will let you find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will reject you forever.
AMPLIFIED BIBLE
9 And you, Solomon my son, know the God of your father [have personal knowledge of Him, be acquainted with, and understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him] and serve Him with a blameless heart and a willing mind. For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him; but if you forsake Him, He will cast you off forever.
"Know the God of your father" has a much deeper meaning than is offered in most translations of the Bible. To comprehend the depth of 'know' one has to do a little digging into the original meanings of words. Know, in the original Hebrew language, has 4 meanings.
1. nakar - know; to feign to know;
2. da'ath - cunning; ignorantly, unaware
3. yeda - certify, teach
4. yada` - perceive, tell, certainly, acknowledge, acquaintance, consider, declare, teach
In this verse of Scripture, the fourth definition is the correct one, and the Amplified translation shows the richer, fuller intent of King David's words to his son, Solomon - have personal knowledge of God, be acquainted with Him, understand Him, appreciate Him, heed Him, cherish Him.
One can teach any subject without a truly personal relationship with that subject. For instance, one can teach Van Gogh or Cezanne or Monet, but these artists are dead so they are taught from historical and artistic acumen, not from the perspective of one who has sat at the feet of these masters and learned every nuance, every desire of their hearts, every intent of their art.
God can be known in the same way. He can be acknowledged. He can be appreciated, as we appreciate great artists and their works. One can certify they know Him well because of their astute recitations and use of Scripture. Others feign to know Him, and still others use His name as if it were simply a figure of speech, ignorant and unaware of whom they speak when they declare OMG as an exclamation regarding some newly acquired pseudo-astonishing fact. But for one to 'know' God as David knew God and as he adjured his son to know God, one has to come face to face with God. One has to comprehend that, unlike all those great artists whose works are studied, God is not dead. He is quite alive and has such a longing for His creation to know, really know Him - to 'be acquainted with, understand Him; appreciate, heed, and cherish Him'. Without a comprehension of the original Hebrew 'yada`' there is a superficial relationship with the true intent.
The instruction in this same verse by King David to his son Solomon concludes with this . . .
"For the Lord searches all hearts and minds and understands all the wanderings of the thoughts. If you seek Him [inquiring for and of Him and requiring Him as your first and vital necessity] you will find Him."
In other translations it simply says "If you seek Him, you will find Him." Once again, without a personal comprehension of the original intent of the word 'seek', our flesh easily wishes to give up when the searching doesn't reach the conclusion set by our own agenda. But when our spirit is fully engaged we comprehend that seeking God must be our FIRST and VITAL necessity, and then we find ourselves on the most remarkable and rewarding quest this life can ever offer - that of knowing God.
Wednesday, April 25, 2012
STRENGTHENED BY THE LORD
INQUIRE OF THE LORD
1 Samuel 30
David and those fighting men with him in the Philistine city of Ziglag went to battle with the Philistines, but were preempted from proceeding by the princes of the Philistines. They did not trust David, for he was the one who had killed Goliath years before and was really their enemy still, for he was and Israelite from Judah. So David and his men turned back towards home. As they arrived, horror met their eyes. Every single person in the town was gone and the town had been burned down. All their possessions, cattle, etc were also gone. In their absence the Amalekites had come and destroyed their homes, and taken everything and one else captive.
1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
David, their leader, was in deep trouble for they all blamed him that this had happened. They were going to stone him, but that would not bring their families back. They really had no hope at all, and so they needed to vent their anger on someone. David could have cowered, or pleaded for his life, or hid away in a cave until the anger had subsided. After all, that’s why he was in Philistine country in the first place – he led his followers into the one place they knew Saul would never come to pursue him. Saul was out to kill him. So hiding away was not out of character for David. Yet he did not chose any of those escapes. Instead, David ‘found strength in the LORD his God.
6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
How do we ‘find strength’ in the Lord our God? There is no indication of what that meant, in these verses, and yet from David’s life and from the cultural norms we can discern that David pressed hard into his God. I can see David laying prostrate before God in his tent, listening to the rumble outside of his angry, hostile troops. Quieting his mind and stilling his heart, ignoring the fear-filled emotions David cried out to God for strength and wisdom, and God met him at his point of need. There was no resolution yet, but a sense of calm and a humble, yet powerful strength accompanied him as he approached Abiathar, the priest.
7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, The ephod was either the vestment the priest wore when handling the holy things of worship, or a container that carried the Urim and Thummim – something the priests and kings used to discern the will of God. 8 and David inquired of the LORD, David inquired of the LORD. “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.” 9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10 Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.
When horrific circumstances present themselves, and fear and anger dance around our hearts, minds and souls, we can, no we must take such examples as David’s because the only way we will avoid the traps the enemy of our soul sets for us is to press in to our God and to inquire of Him and Him alone. David didn’t ask the priest for wisdom. He didn’t fleece the Urim and Thrummim like we do when we flip a coin and chose heads or tails. He inquired of the Lord, and God gave him direction and the courage to lead his men in battle once again. When he inquired of the Lord and follow His counsel, the men followed him. There was no committee set up to determine the rightness or wrongness of David’s leading, for these men knew the heart of David and they trusted the heart of their God through David. Some were weary, too weary for more battle and so they stayed back with the provisions while the others moved out to accomplish what God promised them would happen. It was not an easy journey. They had no idea where the Amelekites had taken their families and possessions, so all along the journey they had to keep trusting in the goodness of God. Along the way they found an Egyptian who was, it seems, dying.
11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?” He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.” 15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?” He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
God will make a way when there seems to be no way. A slave to, of all possible enemies, the very ones who had taken away the families of these Judean men from Ziglag. After feeding him and giving him water to drink, miraculously he was revived. His own master had left him for dead because he was sick, but here comes the provision of God for him and for David and his men. What a strange ‘coincidence’, this integral part of God’s plan. What if they’d seen the Egyptian and how sick he was and just left him for dead, like his own master had? But they noticed him, revived him, and entered in to God’s divine provision.
16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
When one chooses to be strengthened by God, when we inquires of the Lord instead of giving way to fear and all the emotions it brings along with it, when one trusts the direction of God without wavering, when one has the eyes of their heart set fully on God’s leading and ways though all around it seems ludicrous and hopeless, God will provide complete victory.
18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
God, it is not very easy to choose You over our emotions, over fear, over circumstances that seem utterly hopeless. Yet when we do, You provide a way when there seems to be no way. Thank you for this lesson out of the annals of timeless hope, out of the treasury of Your life-lessons. suemccarysargis 4/25/2012
1 Samuel 30
David and those fighting men with him in the Philistine city of Ziglag went to battle with the Philistines, but were preempted from proceeding by the princes of the Philistines. They did not trust David, for he was the one who had killed Goliath years before and was really their enemy still, for he was and Israelite from Judah. So David and his men turned back towards home. As they arrived, horror met their eyes. Every single person in the town was gone and the town had been burned down. All their possessions, cattle, etc were also gone. In their absence the Amalekites had come and destroyed their homes, and taken everything and one else captive.
1 David and his men reached Ziklag on the third day. Now the Amalekites had raided the Negev and Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag and burned it, 2 and had taken captive the women and everyone else in it, both young and old. They killed none of them, but carried them off as they went on their way. 3 When David and his men reached Ziklag, they found it destroyed by fire and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. 4 So David and his men wept aloud until they had no strength left to weep. 5 David’s two wives had been captured—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nabal of Carmel.
David, their leader, was in deep trouble for they all blamed him that this had happened. They were going to stone him, but that would not bring their families back. They really had no hope at all, and so they needed to vent their anger on someone. David could have cowered, or pleaded for his life, or hid away in a cave until the anger had subsided. After all, that’s why he was in Philistine country in the first place – he led his followers into the one place they knew Saul would never come to pursue him. Saul was out to kill him. So hiding away was not out of character for David. Yet he did not chose any of those escapes. Instead, David ‘found strength in the LORD his God.
6 David was greatly distressed because the men were talking of stoning him; each one was bitter in spirit because of his sons and daughters. But David found strength in the LORD his God.
How do we ‘find strength’ in the Lord our God? There is no indication of what that meant, in these verses, and yet from David’s life and from the cultural norms we can discern that David pressed hard into his God. I can see David laying prostrate before God in his tent, listening to the rumble outside of his angry, hostile troops. Quieting his mind and stilling his heart, ignoring the fear-filled emotions David cried out to God for strength and wisdom, and God met him at his point of need. There was no resolution yet, but a sense of calm and a humble, yet powerful strength accompanied him as he approached Abiathar, the priest.
7 Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelek, “Bring me the ephod.” Abiathar brought it to him, The ephod was either the vestment the priest wore when handling the holy things of worship, or a container that carried the Urim and Thummim – something the priests and kings used to discern the will of God. 8 and David inquired of the LORD, David inquired of the LORD. “Shall I pursue this raiding party? Will I overtake them?” “Pursue them,” he answered. “You will certainly overtake them and succeed in the rescue.” 9 David and the six hundred men with him came to the Besor Valley, where some stayed behind. 10 Two hundred of them were too exhausted to cross the valley, but David and the other four hundred continued the pursuit.
When horrific circumstances present themselves, and fear and anger dance around our hearts, minds and souls, we can, no we must take such examples as David’s because the only way we will avoid the traps the enemy of our soul sets for us is to press in to our God and to inquire of Him and Him alone. David didn’t ask the priest for wisdom. He didn’t fleece the Urim and Thrummim like we do when we flip a coin and chose heads or tails. He inquired of the Lord, and God gave him direction and the courage to lead his men in battle once again. When he inquired of the Lord and follow His counsel, the men followed him. There was no committee set up to determine the rightness or wrongness of David’s leading, for these men knew the heart of David and they trusted the heart of their God through David. Some were weary, too weary for more battle and so they stayed back with the provisions while the others moved out to accomplish what God promised them would happen. It was not an easy journey. They had no idea where the Amelekites had taken their families and possessions, so all along the journey they had to keep trusting in the goodness of God. Along the way they found an Egyptian who was, it seems, dying.
11 They found an Egyptian in a field and brought him to David. They gave him water to drink and food to eat— 12 part of a cake of pressed figs and two cakes of raisins. He ate and was revived, for he had not eaten any food or drunk any water for three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, “Who do you belong to? Where do you come from?” He said, “I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. 14 We raided the Negev of the Kerethites, some territory belonging to Judah and the Negev of Caleb. And we burned Ziklag.” 15 David asked him, “Can you lead me down to this raiding party?” He answered, “Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master, and I will take you down to them.”
God will make a way when there seems to be no way. A slave to, of all possible enemies, the very ones who had taken away the families of these Judean men from Ziglag. After feeding him and giving him water to drink, miraculously he was revived. His own master had left him for dead because he was sick, but here comes the provision of God for him and for David and his men. What a strange ‘coincidence’, this integral part of God’s plan. What if they’d seen the Egyptian and how sick he was and just left him for dead, like his own master had? But they noticed him, revived him, and entered in to God’s divine provision.
16 He led David down, and there they were, scattered over the countryside, eating, drinking and reveling because of the great amount of plunder they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from Judah. 17 David fought them from dusk until the evening of the next day, and none of them got away, except four hundred young men who rode off on camels and fled.
When one chooses to be strengthened by God, when we inquires of the Lord instead of giving way to fear and all the emotions it brings along with it, when one trusts the direction of God without wavering, when one has the eyes of their heart set fully on God’s leading and ways though all around it seems ludicrous and hopeless, God will provide complete victory.
18 David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. 19 Nothing was missing: young or old, boy or girl, plunder or anything else they had taken. David brought everything back.
God, it is not very easy to choose You over our emotions, over fear, over circumstances that seem utterly hopeless. Yet when we do, You provide a way when there seems to be no way. Thank you for this lesson out of the annals of timeless hope, out of the treasury of Your life-lessons. suemccarysargis 4/25/2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
The Singers
THE SINGERS
1 Samuel 27: 33 "These are the singers, heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites, dwelling in the temple chambers, free from other service because they were on duty day and night."
What an awe-inspiring responsibility the singers of God have. Their service is 24/7 and while we may not be in the actual service of composing, writing, teaching or singing God's music as our profession in our day and age, the implication is clear. God's servants are praising him day and night. Singers, in order to compose, teach and then deliver God's messages through song must spend inordinate amounts of time at the feet of the Master, ever listening to His heart. Otherwise, the music will be born out of personal preference, style, culture and it will be self-serving.
Obviously those of us who are not full-time worship ministers cannot be singing and composing, practicing and teaching 24/7 but in our hearts we can continually make melodies to our God and King. He is worthy of nothing less than our 24/7 worship. In our everyday lives this is no easy task. It takes a heart of discipline, not a regime of discipline but a HEART disciplined to hear the voice of our Lord in the busyness and chaos of our lives. Learning to hear Him above the noise, above all clamor, above our self-indulgent lifestyles is a discipline, and I believe a grace-gift from God. Only as we live and move and find our being IN HIM will we find ourselves ministering songs of worship and praise TO HIM all throughout the day,even in the watches of the night.
I would love nothing more than to dwell in a temple and be honored with the task of attending to our Lord night and day, with no other responsibilities. I don't live in such a world, nor is it likely that could happen in my culture as it was for the Israelites. But I am the temple of the Holy Spirit of God and therefore I am living with the awe-inspiring responsibility of honoring and serving Jesus all throughout every day of my life. Oh God I long to be worthy of such an honor. Draw me to Your heart throughout this day. Help me draw near to You all throughout his day, and into the night watches. May You be honored with the songs of my heart as I exalt Your matchless, holy, glorious Name.
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