When the Sky Falls In

There was no doubt in David's mind that Saul was trying to kill him. According to the narrative, "And David said in his heart, 'I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand'" (2 Samuel 27:1, RSV). This was quite the predicament for the one who, years earlier, was anointed by the prophet Samuel to one day be the king of Israel (1 Samuel 16:1-13). Isn't it interesting how sometimes the directions our lives take seem so far removed from what God promised?

Verse 7 tells us that David, his two wives, and his band of six hundred men with their households spent "a year and four months" in what was basically enemy territory, in a place called Ziklag. This was not some fanciful tourist resort, for one day while David and his men were away (see 1 Samuel 28), "the Amalekites had made a raid upon the Negeb and upon Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag, and burned it with fire, and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great; they killed no one, but carried them off, and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive." (1 Samuel 29:11-30:1-3, RSV). If he thought he had problems before, this only added exponentially to them. The city was destroyed and every single person taken captive. The narrative continues, "Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. . . . And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God" (30:4, 6).

In the midst of all the chaos, when it seemed like the proverbial sky had fallen in and everything was lost, with no one to encourage him and everyone wanting to kill him, that last clause speaks profoundly: "David encouraged himself in the LORD his God." David instinctively knew that when stripped of everything he held dear, the one thing he could rely on was the presence and comfort of his God. At this point in the story, he was too weak to cry anymore and even if he could, there were probably no more tears left. However, he did the one thing that he could do; he encouraged himself in the LORD his God. What do you do when you believe things could not get worse and they do? When everything in your life seem to go in the opposite direction of what God promised? For sure, we can murmur, complain, blame God, blame others, or even ourselves. But David knew that regardless of what was happening, and no matter how much he had lost and would ever lose, the one constant was that his God was still by his side and he comforted and encouraged, himself in the fact. No matter the evidence, his God, the God of the universe, is always in control.

What about you? To whom do you turn for comfort when the “sky has fallen in” in your world?

Do You Know Where Jesus Is?

If you were the parents of Jesus, how easy would it have been to lose track of Him and His whereabouts? As hard as it is to imagine, that is exactly what happened to Mary and Joseph. According to Luke's narrative, "when [Jesus] was twelve years old, [he and His parents] went up to Jerusalem after the custom of the feast. And when they had fulfilled the days, as they returned, the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it" (Luke 2:42-43, KJV). Surprisingly, "they, supposing Him to have been in the company, went a day's journey; and they sought Him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance. And when they found Him not, they turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him" (vv.44-45).

One would have thought that given the fact that Jesus was no ordinary child, He being the Son of God (Luke 1:35), His parents would have ensured He was always in their sight. Angels both proclaimed and announced His birth, and in the stable where He was born, the visiting shepherds had "told everyone they met what the angels had said about this child. All who heard the sheepherders were impressed. Mary kept all these things to herself, holding them dear, deep within herself" (vv. 18-19, The Message). Yet despite the treasure entrusted to them, they had lost track of Him who was the Saviour, Christ the Lord (v. 11). The narrative continues, "And it came to pass, that after three days they found Him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the doctors, both hearing them, and asking them questions" (v. 46). Interestingly, "when they saw Him, they were amazed: and His mother said unto Him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I have sought thee sorrowing" (v.48). Was it His fault that they, His parents, did not know where He was?

For more than seventy-two hours, Mary and Joseph had no interaction with Jesus. Yet in a strange way, their first day's behaviour mirrors that of some of us as believers. We go about our day-to-day lives without any contact with Jesus, assuming that He is among "kinsfolk and acquaintance" and that when we come together for fellowship, He will be there. However, our relationship with Jesus is a personal one; we cannot expect others to "keep" Him for us. Amidst the hustle and bustle of everyday living, we can be easily distracted and lose sight of the One we should keep our eyes on. However, We cannot afford to, and should not try to, go one day without knowing He is with us.

How can we "lose" Him? By ignoring Him and ignoring spending time with Him. It is not He who has moved, but rather we who have moved away from Him. Maintaining a relationship with Christ requires diligence and sacrifice. As we pause for communication and fellowship, we may not be able to move as fast as the rest of the crowd. But it is better to be moving in step with Jesus than to be rushing ahead without Him. There is nothing in life that is not worth the wait. Do you know where Jesus is? His parents "turned back again to Jerusalem, seeking Him." If you have lost sight of Him, that is a good example to follow. If you search diligently, you will find Him. If He is right beside you, keep Him close. He is the One person you cannot afford to not know where He is.

Spotting the Phony

The headline was eye catching - "Man Tried to Pay Wal-Mart With $1 Million Dollar Bill". My first reaction was "Really? And he expected to get away with it?" However, according to the report, after the Sales Clerk rang up his purchases totaling $476, the man casually handed the clerk the million-dollar bill and patiently awaited his change. When the clerk questioned him, "he began arguing and insisting that it was real. This despite the fact that since 1969, the largest US bill in circulation is $100. Wal-Mart called the police and astoundingly, the man stuck around! He was subsequently arrested and charged with “attempting to obtain property by false pretense and uttering a forged instrument.”

Instinctively, some of us are thinking the man must have been crazy to do something like that. Maybe he is and maybe he is not. Somehow, he had convinced himself that he could pull off tendering a phony bill and getting away with it. It did not matter that its denomination was illegitimate or that it would have been impossible to get over $999,500 in change from the clerk. As far as he was concerned, "it was real," and even the arrival of law enforcement officers did not clue him in to the fact that he was now in deep trouble.

What does this story have to do with us as believers? I dare say there is an important truth we can learn from it. In the kind of worship that we offer to God, and the way we live our lives, are we like the man with the phony bill? Totally unacceptable but we convince ourselves that what we offer is real? The religious leaders of Jesus' day found themselves in that position, so much so that Jesus affirmed, "But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men" (Matthew 15:9). From as far back as in the Old Testament, men have tried to offer worship to God that is very different from what He deems acceptable. To one generation He admonished them, "You cannot worship me in that way" (Deut 12:31 NKJV). Not much has changed since, and God continues to spot the phony from the real thing.

How is the legitimacy of your worship? Is it "holy, acceptable unto God" (Romans 12:1), and are we worshipping "in spirit and in truth" (John 4:24)? Remember, no matter how much we convince ourselves otherwise, anything less is phony and will be rejected. Isn't it about time you examine what you are offering?

What Are You Concerned About?

It is easy to put oneself above others and we start to do so very early in our lives. To look at a toddler who believes everything is "mine, mine" is to see a human being perfecting the art of looking out for him or herself. To explain this seemingly universal trait, some would argue that we are predisposed to being selfish. Evolutionists tell us this predisposition is the result of the evolutionary principle of "the survival of the fittest." Yet all ethical systems emphasize the essential value of helping others.

Regardless of its source, the selfish trait is still in play even after we become Christians. It is one thing to put oneself above others, but what about putting oneself above the things of Christ? This was the problem facing some of the Apostle Paul's compatriots. In his letter to the church at Philippi, he laments, "For I have no man likeminded [as Timotheus], who will naturally care for your state. For all seek their own, not the things which are Jesus Christ's" (Philippians 2:20-21, KJV), or as Eugene Peterson paraphrases both verses, "I have no one quite like Timothy. He is loyal, and genuinely concerned for you. Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus" (The Message). While the narrative is short on details, it could very well be that Paul's observation grew out of the refusal of some to go visit the church he was writing to (see v. 19). Maybe something was asked of them that required making sacrifices, putting others above themselves, risking death, or whatever else, these people had no interest. They were the ones who would later abandon Paul during his trial; "they all ran like scared rabbits" (2 Timothy 4:21, The Message).

It is easy to criticize these people. However, as Albert Barnes cautions, "Let us not be harsh in judging them. How many professing Christians in our cities and towns are there now who would be willing to leave their business and their comfortable homes . . . who would not seek some excuse, and show that it was a characteristic that they 'sought their own' rather than the things which pertained to the kingdom of Jesus Christ?" It is necessary to remind ourselves that to be concerned about the things of Christ means practicing self-denial. Indeed, saying "yes" to Christ often means saying "no" to ourselves. For many of us, that does not come naturally. Yet deny ourselves we must if we are going to strive to please our Lord.

"Most people around here are looking out for themselves, with little concern for the things of Jesus." Is he talking about you?

"God Hath Made Me to Laugh"

When was the last time God did something for you that was so ridiculously miraculous that you just had to laugh? You know, one of those situations in which everybody who could offer an opinion declared the situation dead and buried, but God came through as He said He would. It was a time when it would have been easy to have given up on God, to look at the realities of situations that seemed so out of line with the promises of God, to yield to the voice of those who like Job's wife pose the question, "Dost thou still retain thine integrity? curse God, and die" (Job 2:9, KJV). Yet, we held on. Not necessarily because we were not tempted to give up, but just because we kept on believing that if God said it, regardless of how things may seem, He can be trusted to bring it to pass.

Those thoughts came to mind as I reflected on Sarah’s response to the birth of her son, Isaac. By this time her husband, Abraham, was one hundred years old and she, ninety. Not being able to bear children in her younger days, it was now humanly impossible for her to conceive in her twilight years. The narrative affirms, "Now Abraham and Sarah were old and well stricken in age" (Genesis 18:11), so much so that a year earlier when the LORD renewed His promise that they would be parents, Sarah laughed within herself and mused, "An old woman like me? Get pregnant? With this old man of a husband?" (Genesis 18:12, The Message). If anything was dead, her womb certainly was and as far as she was concerned, her husband's virility as well.

Yet, if ever there was a situation that was perfect for a miracle, this was it. It would be fair to say that this golden-aged couple, spurred on my the promise of God, did what they had to do and in a matter of months, Sarah did conceive and later on gave birth to Isaac just as the LORD said she would. The narrative tells us, "And Sarah said, God hath made me to laugh, so that all that hear will laugh with me. And she said, Who would have said unto Abraham, that Sarah should have given children suck? for I have born him a son in his old age" (Genesis 21:6-7, KJV). Her former laughter was one filled with incredulity, her latter laughter was one of thanksgiving.

"And Sarah said, God hath made to laugh." That could be your testimony as well. In the midst of the hopeless situation you face, what has He told you? If you can stay the course with Him while doing your part, He will make you laugh and those who hear will laugh with you. Just ask Sarah.