Month: August 2009

Mourning what God mourns

They said to me, “Those who survived the exile and are back in the province are in great trouble and disgrace. The wall of Jerusalem is broken down, and its gates have been burned with fire.” When I heard these things, I sat down and wept. For some days I mourned and fasted and prayed before the God of heaven.
–Nehemiah 1:3-4


Nehemiah was taken by surprise that day when he asked how things were in the home country of Israel.
Things are bad, was the report. Very bad. The capital city had suffered disgrace, and its people were very insecure because there was no gate to protect them from further trouble and harm. They had turned their backs on God and forgotten His covenant with them. So God had lifted His hand of protection from them for a time. Now they had begun to repent and return to the land, but the consequences of their sins lingered, and they were feeling vulnerable, humiliated, and defenseless.
Nehemiah was not personally affected. In fact, he lived in peace, safety, and extravagance as a servant and possibly a confidant of a powerful foreign king. But that didn’t matter now. Because Nehemiah loved his country, and more importantly, he loved the God who had formed his country and blessed it greatly with His presence, provision and protection in generations past. So this dire report shook Nehemiah’s soul.
At first, all he could do was cry. Just sit down and weep tears that welled up from a pain deep in his bones. This pain wouldn’t fade quickly. It would take several days.
Several days of mourning.
Several days of fasting.
Several days of crying out to the God of Israel and the God of heaven for His restoring hand to be upon His people once again.
Can you identify?
Do you mourn over the condition of your country, or your church, or your family? Are you in a situation where the people and places you care most about are in turmoil that rots your life with sadness while comfort seems to be so slow in coming?
If that’s the case, take heart. Because God uses a person who mourns what He mourns. God blesses the one who weeps when He weeps.
Nehemiah was such a man. So God had a plan for him. He would use Nehemiah to do some amazing things and bring about a level of restoration that seemed impossible in that moment when the bad news came.
For a time, Nehemiah would weep, and mourn, and fast, and pray. Then God would turn Nehemiah’s grief into dogged determination and utter reliance upon Him, and He would use Nehemiah as His instrument to rebuild a wall around the Holy City. Nehemiah’s resulting walk of faith would give him one of the most impressive testimonies in Bible history.
If the walls have come down for you, this book will be one you’ll enjoy studying. It will bring you hope, and give you guidance on how to be used of God to rebuild the walls once again.
If you’re grieving today over the news that has come your way, then God is already taking you on the first step of a journey of rebuilding. Now is the time for you to follow Nehemiah’s example on how to handle grief: When everything falls apart, take your tears to the Lord. In heartfelt prayer and an attitude of recognizing just how deeply you need Him, pray. Then today’s tears can become the seeds of tomorrow’s joy, because they will build your resolve and fortify your trust in a God who never disappoints those whose desire to serve Him does not wane and whose trust in Him does not waver.

Psalm 92

Psalm 92

1 It is good to praise the LORD, to sing praise to Your name, Most High,  2 to declare Your faithful love in the morning and Your faithfulness at night,  3 with a ten-stringed harp and the music of a lyre.  4 For You have made me rejoice, LORD, by what You have done; I will shout for joy because of the works of Your hands.  5 How magnificent are Your works, LORD, how profound Your thoughts!  6 A stupid person does not know, a fool does not understand this:  7 though the wicked sprout like grass and all evildoers flourish, they will be eternally destroyed. 8 But You, LORD, are exalted forever. 9 For indeed, LORD, Your enemies— indeed, Your enemies will perish; all evildoers will be scattered…. 12 The righteous thrive like a palm tree and grow like a cedar tree in Lebanon.  13 Planted in the house of the LORD, they thrive in the courtyards of our God.  14 They will still bear fruit in old age, healthy and green,  15 to declare: “The LORD is just; He is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.”

Satan’s Epitaph

The devil, who deceived them, was cast into the lake of fire…. And they will be tormented day and night forever and ever.
–Revelation 20:10

Sometime in the future:

Here, suffering the continuous agony he deserves, lies Satan.  (aka the devil, the tempter, the deceiver, the accuser of the brethren.)
Early in his life, known by his given name of Lucifer, he was given beauty and privilege and the pleasure of being in the presence of the Almighty, All-Knowing God.  However, suffering from overwhelming pride and delusions of grandeur, he decided to try to unseat the One and Only from His throne and take over.  (Isaiah 14:12-15)  Obviously, that was a plan doomed to failure.
Then Satan spent his life going to and fro about the earth in an a 24/7 attempt to get back at God for His righteous judgment.  (Job 1)  For thousands of years, Satan battled against God, facing one defeat after another, for it is written, “Greater is He that is in you than he that is in the world.”  (1 John 4:4)  With each attempt, Satan was multiplying the wrath of God that would eventually be his lot. (Matthew 25:41)
When the time came for humanity’s redemption, God Himself came to earth as a man to defeat Satan once and for all.  He allowed the devil to bruise His heel, but in the process, He crushed the devil’s head when He went to the cross and rose again.  (Genesis 3:15)
Because of that sacrificial death and resurrection, people who had been taken captive by the devil to do his will were set free, (2 Timothy 2:26) and they were guaranteed eternal life in heaven where they would be clothed in the spotless garments of the redeemed and live out the rest of eternity in bliss, loving and serving God and being loved by Him.  For it is written, “Then we who are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air.  And thus we shall always be with the Lord.” (1 Thess. 4:17)
As time grew near for the end of Satan’s days of freedom, he suffered the horror of seeing those people, through no effort or merit of their own, defeating him utterly in the power of God.  For it is written, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony; they did not love their lives so much as to shrink from death.” (Rev. 12:11)
In that moment, one of Satan’s most terrifying hours to date, it became more clear to him than ever before that unlike the Redeemed, he had absolutely no hope for the future whatsoever.  His anger flared up like never before (Rev. 12:12) and for a brief time he won some battles in his losing war.  He went on lying and deceiving many, but all the while he knew that in the end he would amount to nothing that lasts.  For it is written, “a lie is but for a moment, but the lips of truth will be established,” (Proverbs 12:19) and it is also written, “For this purpose was the Son of God revealed:  to destroy all the works of the devil.” (1 John 3:8)
Satan would never attain the honor and glory he wanted.  He would not be worshiped for all eternity.  He would have no power, no prestige, no pleasure, no position, no purpose, and no reason for living.  He would always exist, but never live, and never escape God’s wrath.  Realizing that was coming, the devil grew all the more vengeful, angry, and violent.  But then, finally, the ultimate end came for him.  Christ Jesus, the King of kings and Lord of lords, defeated him and judged him and condemned him forever.  Then He cast him into the lake of fire, where he will always remain.
There, he will be completely engulfed from head to toe in the hottest flames that have ever burned.  His suffering will be without end and without pause.  The infinite wrath of an infinite God will be poured out upon him in full, excruciating measure.  And despite the power he wielded for a time on earth, there was never a single thing he could do to change that fact or improve his destiny.  For his epitaph was written long ago:  He “will be tormented day and night, forever and ever.”
Remember that the next time he bothers you.  Then take your focus off of him and start praising the Lord for what your future holds with Jesus.

Boring Pastor

An elderly woman walked into the local country church. The friendly usher greeted her at the door and helped her up the flight of steps. “Where would you like to sit?” he asked politely.
“The front row please.” she answered.
“You really don’t want to do that,” the usher said. “The pastor is really boring.”
“Do you know who I am?” the woman asked.
“No,” he said.
“I’m the pastor’s mother,” she replied indignantly.
An uneasy silence for a moment, and then he asked, “Do you know who I am?”
“No,” she replied.
“Thank God,” he answered.

What you are, & what you’re not

You are not homo sapiens.  You are not a primate.  You are not a species in an animal kingdom.  You are not related to any animals, nor are you descended from any animals. You did not evolve into what you are.

You are a special creation, made in the image and likeness of the all-knowing God by whom all things, including you, were made.  You, therefore, have an eternal soul and will exist somewhere forever.  You are accountable to the God who made you.  You were designed to be in a good and lovely relationship with Him that would be established in this life on earth and last forever.

But you are a sinner, which simply means that you were born living in rebellion against Him, with a nature bent toward seeking what you want instead of what pleases your Maker.  To have a relationship with Him does not require religiousness; it requires faith and trust in Him, and in what He has done for you to bring you to Himself.  He became a man like you, the man Christ Jesus.  He bore your sins as He died on the cross, absorbing all of the punishment your sins have earned.  Then He came alive again and still lives today.  By belief and trust in Him, you can be saved, your sins can be forgiven, and you can receive His everlasting love forever.

That’s who you are, and who you were made to be.

Our Unsaved Relatives

Today’s message at the church looked at how to handle the issue of when our family members do not share our faith in Christ.  The message is available for your online listening here.