"Involved"

   When seeking to persuade the philosophers of Greece regarding the reality of the living and true God, the Apostle Paul proclaimed the truth of Divine involvement in His creation.

   "God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that He is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hand, neither is worshipped with men's hands, as though He needed any thing, seeing He giveth to all life, and breath, and all things, and hath made of one blood all nations of men for to dwell on all the face of the earth, and hath determined the times before appointed, and the bounds of their habitation; that they should seek the Lord, if haply they might feel after Him, and find Him, though He be not far from every one of us: for in Him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain also of your own poets have said, For we are also His offspring. Forasmuch then as we are the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and man's device. And the times of this ignorance God winked at; but now commandeth all men every where to repent" (Acts 17:24-30).

    "He giveth to all life and breath and all things… He is not far from every one of us… In Him we live and move and have our being… We are also His offspring."  Note that Paul references all as he speaks to those so ignorant of their Creator and Sustainer that they erected a catch-all altar bearing the inscription, "To The Unknown God" (Acts 17:23).  Unbelieving humanity may be far from the Lord in heart.  "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to His own way" (Isaiah 53:6).   In proximity, however, Scripture declares a God so intimately and intricately involved in the existence of human beings that Job confessed of Him, "The Lord… in whose hand is the soul of every living thing" (Job 12:9; 10).  The Psalmist echoed such wonder, "Thou openest Thine hand, and satisfieth the desire of every living thing" (Psalm 145:16).  Creation teems with the presence, provision, and proactive redemptive working of its Creator.  No less a voice than the Lord's chief New Testament writer declared such Truth as "he preached unto them Jesus and the resurrection" (Acts 17:18).

    We do well to join our brother of old, declaring the gift of salvation in Christ to proceed from the same gracious One who has given to our hearers every breath they have ever breathed (not to mention "life" and "all things").  It matters not how wicked and unbelieving the audience, every human being exists as the beneficiary of the God lovingly and graciously involved to the degree that we are all as fish swimming in the sea of the Divine.  Of course, this does not mean that every human being knows the Lord in redemptive relationship, nor does it preclude the future judgment of unbelievers who will one day hear the tragic and eternal dismissal, "Depart from Me, ye that work iniquity" (Matthew 7:23).  It does mean, however, that the Gospel rightly preached proclaims a Lord "not far from every one of us."  Indeed, let us confidently declare an intimately and intricately involved Lord Jesus to those who have benefitted from His gracious involvement since their conception and unto the present moment.  This includes all, as Paul affirmed, and as the Spirit of God and the Word of God lead us to proclaim with utmost confidence and assurance.

"The Lord is good to all, and His tender mercies are over all His works."

(Psalm 145:9)

"We both labor and suffer reproach because we trust in the living God, who is the Savior of all men, especially of those that believe."

(I Timothy 4:10)

Weekly Memory Verse

   God hath not given us the spirit of fear, but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.

(II Timothy 1:7)

    

“The Who of God"

    Who God is leads to what God does.

    "Thou art good, and doest good" (Psalm 119:68).

    "The Lord is righteous in all His ways and holy in all His works" (Psalm 145:17).

    Our Lord's perfect actions do not constitute or add to His perfection.  They rather reflect and proceed from the glorious reality of a character and nature so sublimely pristine that eternity will not suffice in our discovery of who He is.  "I will praise the Lord according to His righteousness… I will praise Thee forever" (Psalm 7:17; 145:2).  This voyage into goodness begins in this life for all who trust in the Lord Jesus Christ.  Salvation enables us to "see" the sublime Character and Nature as the Holy Spirit illuminates the Scriptures, and then graces our hearts and lives with expressions of the truths of God's goodness we learn in the Bible.  We respond as did the Psalmist, with praise in this life and the assurance of praise forevermore.  We do so not as a matter of mere discipline or ritual, but rather of grateful wonder and acknowledgement of the "Who" of our glorious Creator and Redeemer.

    The book of Revelation depicts a scene to come wherein more than one hundred million angels throng the throne of Heaven, joined by every creature upon the earth voicing praises to God the Father and to His Son, the Lamb.  Why will they do this?  Is it mere obedience to the command to praise God?  Hardly.  No, goodness is the answer and the reason.  Angelic and human hearts would burst in that day when the glory of God is clearly seen if rapturous praises did not ensue.  We will join that holy throng, and in this day, we may prepare ourselves as we open God's Word to see His "Who", and as His working on our behalf fills our hearts with the realization of Divine goodness that leads to grateful expressions of love, worship, and amazed wonder.

"And I beheld, and I heard the voice of many angels round about the throne and the beasts and the elders: and the number of them was ten thousand times ten thousand, and thousands of thousands; saying with a loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honor, and glory, and blessing. And every creature which is in heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as are in the sea, and all that are in them, heard I saying, Blessing, and honor, and glory, and power, be unto him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto the Lamb for ever and ever. And the four beasts said, Amen. And the four and twenty elders fell down and worshipped him that liveth for ever and ever."

(Revelation 5:11-14)   

    

Weekly Memory Verse

    Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

(Romans 8:9)

"Good For Me"

"Good For Me"

     "It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Thy statutes" (Psalm 119:73).

    

    Two greatly challenging truths present themselves in the Psalmist's affirmation of affliction.  First, despite the benefit he confesses - "it is good for me" -  it certainly does not feel good as we are experiencing pain, difficulty and loss.  "No chastening for the present seemeth to be joyous" (Hebrews 12:11).  Trouble hurts us in the moment it arrives upon our doorstep, and as long as it remains.  Thus, we may find it greatly challenging to declare "It is good" in the midst of our challenges.  Through Christ and the power of the Holy Spirit we can do so, but the words will not flow easily from hurting hearts, or pained bodies.  "I will go into Thy house with burnt offerings, I will pay my vows which my lips have uttered and my mouth hath spoken when I was in trouble" (Psalm 66:13-14).

    Great challenge also accompanies our realization that learning God's statutes involves much more than merely reading and studying the Bible.  Affliction serves as one of the Holy Spirit's primary teaching aides.  No true knowledge of God and His Word comes without the difficulties that provide opportunity to know more than facts about Him.  We must look into His face, as it were.  That is, we must personally relate to our Teacher as His aide Trouble often motivates our approach to God.  "Before I was afflicted, I went astray.  But now I have kept Thy Word" (Psalm 119:67).  Words printed upon the pages of Scripture becomes words imprinted upon our hearts as difficulty provides the backdrop for seeing more clearly the light of God.  "The light shineth in darkness" (John 1:5).

    The Psalmist realized that having been afflicted prepared his heart and mind for the good of growth in the Lord's Truth.  He took no more pleasure in pain than do we ourselves.  He realized, however, that we require trouble no less than blessing if we are to truly know our Lord.  "We must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom of God" (Acts 14:22).  Knowing that affliction, in whatever form, serves beneficial purposes in our lives may not immediately alleviate the disturbance and pain we feel in our difficulties.  However, it assures our hearts that we will one day look back on our troubles in terms of goodness, God's goodness, and the learning of truths discovered not in the classroom, but along steep, rocky, and difficult pathways.

"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."

(Psalm 46:1)

"Christ… through He was a Son, yet learned He obedience by the things which He suffered."

(Hebrews 5:5; 8)

Weekly Memory Verse

    Ye are not in the flesh but in the spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.

(Romans 8:9)