The Glory of God on Display

I don't do it as often as I should, but one of the things I enjoy doing is walking, usually in parks or along trails. Not only is it good exercise if done consistently, but it is also a great way to empty the mind of mental clutter. One of the greatest benefit for me is the opportunity to meditate, to pray, and to feel the embrace of my Heavenly Father in the surroundings. Then there are the times when I am simply enjoying the walk, and nature, and it is during those times that it become evident that the glory of God is everywhere to be seen. 

I think the Psalmist David shared those experiences as he sat outdoors tending sheep. I believe that as he probably laid on his back, looking up into the skies, the words that became a part of Psalm 19 took form in his mind - "The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament showeth His handiwork. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night showeth knowledge. There is no speech nor language; their voice is not heard. Their line is gone out through all the earth, and their words to the end of the world" (vv.1-4a, KJV). It is as Matthew Henry states, God "not only glorifies Himself, but gratifies us, by this constant revolution; for as the light of the morning befriends the business of the day, so the shadows of the evening befriend the repose of the night; every day and every night speak the goodness of God, and, when they have finished their testimony, leave it to the next day, to the next night, to stay the same." 

Day after day, night after night, a constant revolution. The Message paraphrase reads, "Madame Day holds classes every morning, Professor Night lectures each evening", no words are spoken, no voices are recorded, "but their silence fills the earth: unspoken truth is spoken everywhere." It is no wonder that when Carl Boberg, while on a two mile walk through a thunderstorm from a church meeting, considered the power of God on display in the universe, he later penned the words:

O Lord, my God, when I in awesome wonder

Consider all the worlds Thy Hands have made

I see the stars, I hear the rolling thunder

Thy power throughout the universe displayed

Then sings my soul, my Saviour God, to Thee

How great Thou art, how great thou art!

We couldn't miss the glory of God if we tried. Day and night it is always on display no matter where in the world we are.  God has made Himself known and we who have found Him can testify that the "revelation of GOD is whole and pulls our lives together. The signposts of GOD are clear and point out the right road" (v.7, The Message). For those still waiting to find Him, there really is no excuse. How great He is indeed!

Dis-appointing God!

In various sectors of business, it is not unusual to read or hear of high profile appointments. According to the online Merriam-Webster dictionary, to appoint is "to choose (someone) to have a particular job; to give (someone) a position or duty." The opposite is also true in that we also hear of individuals being relieved of the duties to which they were appointed; a somewhat softer way of saying they were fired or at the very least, demoted. Initially appointed to their positions and later evaluated against a set of predetermined standards and expectations, these individuals came up short and ended up dealing with the consequences of their actions or inaction. One could say they were "dis-appointed."

Provoked by the song "Jesus at the Center" by Israel and New Breed, these thoughts came to mind as I reflected on God's place in my life and generally, in the life of the believer. When we first accepted Jesus and made Him Lord over our lives, it was our high-profile appointment. We resolved to grow spiritually, to, as John Ortberg describes it, "live increasingly as Jesus would in our unique place - to perceive what Jesus would perceive if He looked through our eyes, to think what He would think, to feel what He would feel, and therefore to do what He would do." However, somewhere along the way, amidst the hustle and bustle of every day living and jaded by our experiences, we have dis-appointed God; we have relieved Him of His duties and appointed ourselves in His place.

Often times the change is subtle and without constantly examining who is really in charge of our lives, it is easy to believe that because we still go through our spiritual exercises, that God is in charge.  But the question we must ask ourselves is: how much of what we say, do, and think reflect His ways, His mind, His heart? To quote a line from the song, "Nothing else matters, nothing in this world will do." If He is in charge and we live as if we are, our disobedience is insubordination in disguise. To us Jesus asks the question: "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?" (Luke 6:46, KJV). Ouch!

So, in this our time together we come full circle. I challenge you in the same way I challenge myself with the question: who is really in charge? When Jesus is at the center of our lives then everything - our thoughts, actions, attitudes, decisions, the way we live our lives - revolves around Him and His words. Where is He in yours? Has He been relieved of His duties? Have you dis-appointed Him? If Jesus is your co-pilot, it is time to swap seats. Today is a good time to make things right.

Small In Your Own Eyes

For some people, success is very difficult to handle. The more successful they become, the more they become strangers to humility. Irving Berlin shone a spotlight on the dilemma of the successful when he observed, "The toughest thing about success is that you've got to keep on being a success." In other words, it comes with its own seduction. Microsoft's co-founder Bill Gates summed it up well when he said, "Success is a lousy teacher. It seduces smart people into thinking they can't lose." 

King Saul found himself in such a situation. God had sent him to destroy the Amalekites, but he felt he could do as he wanted instead of what God had instructed (1 Samuel 15). Drunk with his success, the narrative tells us that he left for Carmel to set up a victory monument in his honor (v.12). Matthew Henry observes, "By his wars and victories he hoped to magnify and perpetuate his own name and honour." The narrative tell us about God's conversation with Samuel which resulted in Samuel's conversation with Saul. Totally ignorant of his haughtiness, Saul boasted to Samuel of his obedience (v.13) which the prophet immediately challenged (vv. 13) before pronouncing judgment upon him (vv. 16-31). 

The primary verse of interest is verse 17, "And Samuel said, 'When thou wast little in thine own sight, wast thou not made the head of the tribes of Israel, and the LORD anointed thee king over Israel?'" The most convicting words, "when thou was little in thine own sight." While Saul was still humble, God made him king, but as success came he forgot to remain humble. He started working his agenda instead of God's; he forgot that it wasn't about him, but all about God. Unfortunately, this problem is not unique to Saul. Many, including ministers of the Word, have become caught up in the success that God has allowed them. Believing their own hype and that of others around them, they lose sight of the fact that the God who promotes is the same God who demotes. None of us, no matter how successful, can afford to forget where we are coming from. We are where we are all because of God's grace.

As you move in the realm of success, how do you see yourself? Are you still little in your own eyes and following God's agenda, or are you all grown up and following your own?

Praying One for the Other

I often chuckle when as a part of greeting another how often the words "How are you?" are used. I chuckle not so much because I think it is funny, but because the question seems more one of social etiquette than it is of genuine care. Think about the times you used those words and ask yourself the question, "Did I really want to know?" Chances are you really didn't, but the question seemed a good filler at the time.

I think the same thing applies among believers when it comes to prayer. How many times have we committed to praying for someone and promptly forgot to do so once we put the phone down or the person has left our presence? It is a tragedy of our times that we are so often occupied with our own lives that we can hardly make the time to invest in the spiritual well-being of another, especially to pray for them. How many times has someone crossed our minds without our giving any thought to whether or not that person needed to be prayed for at that moment? It could be that the Holy Spirit allowed that intrusion in our thoughts so we could intercede on that person's behalf.

Praying one for the other is an integral part of Christian fellowship. James reminds us that "the prayer of a righteous man is powerful and effective" (James 5:16, NIV). The Apostle Paul assures Philemon, "I thank my God, making mention of thee always in my prayers. . . .That the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus" (Philemon 4, 6). We need to remember that "the power of prayer is not the result of the person praying. Rather, the power resides in the God who is being prayed to." For God to act, He needs the cooperation of someone praying a prayer; making that request known. He most definitely listens to prayers, answers prayers, and moves in response to prayers.

Jesus spent a lot of time in prayer, at one time praying, "I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for them which thou hast given me; for they are thine" (John 17:9). If He found it necessary to pray for the disciples then, and seeing He continues to intercede on our behalf (Romans 8:34), how much more are we to pray for one for the other?

I challenge you to think about this the next time you commit to pray for someone or someone crosses your mind. Each one of us may be that link to another person's breakthrough. May God grant us sensitive hearts and the conviction to be obedient to that which the Holy Spirit has prompted us to do.