We are God's people, believers in Jesus Christ who, with the help of the Holy Spirit, are committed to growing in faith by witnessing, worshiping, and serving.
I said, “Oh, that I had the wings of a dove! I would fly away and be at rest.” - verse 6
How many times have you ever felt like running from your problems? It is natural for us to want to do this. Difficult situations at work, in our neighborhood, and in our families make us want to flee for the hills. We wish that we could go to sleep and all our problems would float away, but they won’t.
David felt this way when he wrote this Psalm. He said that he wished he were a bird that could fly away and soar high above all his problems. David was a wounded man because a friend, a close companion, had just betrayed him. He was suffering greatly from such betrayal.
What did David do? He took his problems to God. He got real with God about his feelings of anger and betrayal, and his desire to see God enact justice on his enemies. David took comfort in the truth of God’s justice, but this was not enough. David also had to “cast his cares upon the Lord” in order to get through the problem. When he did this he knew that God would “sustain him” and “not let him fall.”
Friend, what problems are you facing today? You may not be able to avoid them, but there is a God on whom you can “cast your cares,” and who will see you through your difficulties. You are not alone. The Lord will be with you if you call on Him.
“Come to me all you who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls.” -Jesus Christ
Be Encouraged,
Scott
April 25,
2010Zechariah 4:1-14
“Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”
V.6
Completing building projects is serious work. Many times they are not finished by the deadline date. There are setbacks. Materials and money run out, bad weather slows things up, and workers quit. All of these things can cause delays.
After the Jewish people made it to the Promised Land they eventually built a temple under the leadership of King Solomon. It stood for about 400 years. Then in 586 BC the Babylonian Empire captured Judah and destroyed the temple in Jerusalem. Fifty years later the Persians defeated the Babylonians and allowed the Jews to go back home to rebuild their temple. The building program was adrift with setbacks and disappointments but the Lord, through the prophet Zechariah, encouraged the people to stay the course under the leadership of their governor, Zerubbabel. The Lord told the Israelites they couldn’t finish this house of worship in their own strength. They needed to trust in God. The Lord said, “Not by might or power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord Almighty.”
Friend, the word of encouragement for us this week is to quit trying so hard! The Christian life does not depend upon us. We can’t “grunt” our way to Jesus Christ or to a life of holiness. No, we need the transforming power of the Holy Spirit working in our lives. How do we get this transforming power? We pray and we spend time with the Lord in worship, study, and meditation. Putting ourselves in God’s presence is like getting a fill-up at the gas station! Now our empty lives have something to run on. Not our fuel, we have none, but the burning fuel of the Holy Spirit in our lives. When we have the Spirit we can complete whatever task God puts before us, regardless of whatever setbacks we encounter along the way!
Be Encouraged,
Scott
March 28, 2010Psalm 68:4-6
“A Father to the fatherless, a defender of widows, is God in his holy dwelling”
Today,
now more than ever, we live in a fatherless society. The problem of
divorce has grown exponentially in our culture, and consequently fathers
are often absent from the lives of their children. It is also important
to recognize that a parent does not have to be physically absent in
order for their children to feel “fatherless,” or “motherless” for that
matter. If we are honest with ourselves then we must acknowledge that we
all have been on both the receiving and giving end of fatherlessness.
As children we have all been hurt by our parents because no parent is
perfect. Then as parents we have all made mistakes in the raising of our
children, but the good news of the gospel is that our God is the
perfect father to us.
We
all came into this world fatherless, spiritually speaking. We came into
this world as rebels against God. Yet God in his mercy and grace
adopted us into his family through faith in Christ! Through the cross we
move from a position of fatherlessness to having a “father to the
fatherless, and a “defender of the widow.” That father is God and the
Bible tells us that he is a good Heavenly Father who knows “the very
number of hairs on our heads, desires to give us good gifts, and who
works all things for the good of those who love him and have been called
according to his purpose.” So the word of encouragement for us this
week is give thanks for the gift of our parents; most of our moms and
dads sought to do the best they could in raising us. Always forgive with
a gracious heart because in Christ we have been forgiven of so much.
And most importantly give thanks to God for being a faithful father to
you. You can always trust your Heavenly Father; the Lord will never let
you down.
Be encouraged,
Scott
March
21, 2010Deuteronomy 32:15-18
“Jeshurun grew fat and kicked, filled with food, he
became heavy and sleek.
He abandoned the God who made him and he rejected the
Rock his Savior.”
Occasionally the nation of Israel
is called “Jeshurun” in the Old Testament. Jeshurun is based off the Hebrew
word Yashar, which means “upright one.”
So we could say that the “upright one” grew so “fat and sleek” that she
abandoned God. What an irony, the upright one turns her back on the Lord! Why?
Because in the midst of her prosperity Israel forgot the One who was the giver
of her blessings. That’s what lots of stuff does to us doesn’t it? Toys and the
good life can get so good that we forget the Lord. Maybe that’s why Jesus said
it’s harder for a camel to go through the eye of a needle than it is for a rich
person to go to heaven. (Matt.19:24)
In America the poorest of the
poor are far richer than the poor in other parts of the world. This means that
I am speaking to people, myself included, who are “fatter and sleeker” than
most. Have we forgotten our Lord in the midst of our great wealth? Have these
things become a distraction to us? The word of encouragement for us this week
is to keep our priorities in order and to be proactive in not letting the
“finer things of life” distract us from serving God. I exhort you, I exhort
myself, serve Jesus Christ with everything you got! Run your race with
endurance and keep your eyes on the author and perfector of your faith, not
being fat and sleek. (Hebrews
12:1-2)
Be encouraged,
Scott
March 15, 2010Deuteronomy
30:1-6
“The Lord your God will restore your fortunes, have
compassion on you, and gather you again from all the nations where he scattered
you.” v.3
One of the most remarkable
pictures of God’s grace in the Old Testament centers on His promise to be
faithful to His people, Israel, in spite of her persistent unfaithfulness. God
promised to make them into a special nation, in order to bless all the nations
of the earth. Part of that blessing involved giving them the Promised Land.
Israel was unfaithful to Yahweh, she played the harlot, and consequently she
was banished from the land. The Lord knew this would happen because He knew her
sinful heart, just as He knows our divided hearts. Even so, God promised that
He would restore her, no matter how far and distant of a land she found herself
to be banished to.
In our text God tells Israel that
He will “circumcise her heart.” (v.6) That is, God will make her heart clean.
The Lord will do for her what she can’t do for herself. This is wonderful news
and I believe that it is through Jesus Christ that God brought this promise to final
fruition. Christ is our righteousness. He keeps God’s laws and ways in ways
that we can’t, and most importantly he does it for us! Not only that, our Lord
will bring us home, not to physical Israel, but to God’s eternal kingdom in
heaven. Through Christ our banishment from the garden is no more. All of this
becomes ours when we trust in Jesus with every fiber of our being. The word of
encouragement for this week is to know that our God will bring us home to be
with Him in His kingdom even though we mess up. Thanks be to God for His mercy
and grace.
Be encouraged,
Scott
March 8, 2010Numbers 11:4-6
“The rabble with them began to crave other food…”
There is an old adage that says
“variety is the spice of life.” There is some truth to that. If we eat the same
thing over and over again we get tired of it. We are told to eat a variety of
foods because it is good for us and it keeps our taste buds fresh. Israel got
tired of eating the same old thing every day, manna, while they were in the
dessert, so they began to complain and long for the days of slavery in Egypt
when they got to eat all kinds of food. What an irony! They were willing to substitute
slavery for palatable delicacies.
This longing reflects a spirit of
ingratitude for the way God had miraculously provided for them and also a
denial that there are certain things that we need to have in our diet, over and
over again, day in and day out, in order to live. We call these things staples,
the basics.
On a spiritual level this text raises the
issue of how easily we get bored with the ordinary (Bible study, prayer,
worship, the sacraments) and long for something new and exciting that will
bring us closer to God and make us happy. So, like the ‘rabble rousing’
Israelites, we lose our appetites for the ordinary means of grace that God gives
to us and we crave the novelty of something new. So the word of encouragement
for us this week is to be careful to not lust for the novelty of the new and
recommit ourselves to the basic staples of God’s spiritual diet for us- Bible
study, prayer, and corporate worship and Christian fellowship in the church. These
basic things will build strong spiritual bodies if we eat them!