Two Wheeled Reflections

Two Wheeled Reflections

Psalm 20:7 ESV

Some trust in chariots some in horses, but we trust in the name of the Lord our God.

I rode my motorcycle to visit a friend two hours away. I dutifully checked weather the night before. I also checked it the morning of, yet when I saw the clear signs of rain on the horizon, I had to decide which I trusted more. The same experience on the way back. I elected to trust my eyes and get gas in the next town, trying to beat the rain. Now that I had elected to trust my eyes and was well on the road, I checked the mirror and read “objects in mirror are closer than they appear”. This provided a great amount of thought for my ride home. I had just placed my trust in my eyes and yet I clearly couldn’t trust them either!

The Psalmist tells us were we are to place our trust. He rightly attributes the only thing firm to the Lord. He points to his name, the marker of all his attributes, as that in which we can trust. Not in any technological innovation or time-honored tradition. Only in him who is faithful to all he has promised can we trust. Yet, is not this the same God that gave Satan sanction to take everything but life from Job? Is not this the same God who provided a Satanic Messenger to afflict Paul? Is not this the same God who told Hosea to marry a woman that would leave him? The same God that took Ezra’s wife, the delight of his eyes, away from him and told him not to mourn the loss?!

How do we trust such a God above all the things close at hand to trust? We see what he does to some of his most faithful servants and know that we are a far cry from them, how do we trust him? Jesus even tells us that if we do not hate our father, mother, wife and children, brothers and sisters, we cannot be his disciple. (Luke 14:26)

How do we trust this God? We trust him with our lives and our eternity. We “count it all joy” when he elects to let us suffer that we might be corrected or that we might glorify him in our suffering. We trust his goodness and justice, recognizing that we are not his judge he is ours. Knowing that the best that my actions afford is hell and are to be regarded as filthy rags. In Christ God took all my filthy rags (good works) to himself and nailed them to a tree that I might be clothed in the white raiment of his son on the last day (Rev 7:9).

How do we love him? We remember that “God so loved…” I can imagine and am prepared to give my life for my family and my friends if need be, but to send any of my Son’s to do so knowing their life would be forfeit is a love that is frankly beyond me. That is probably why Jesus tells us that “greater love has no man than this, that he lay down his life for his friend”, you see that is the greatest I could do, I could not send any of my sons to die for you, but God did! His love is greater than ours and as such we respond loving every action he takes for our good and his glory. Even when those actions don’t feel good.

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Sustained by Christ

Romans 11:18 ESV

“do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.”

“Get up, move faster.” This is one of my favorite movie quotes. It comes when the hero has just been beaten. He is laying in the river unsure of what to do. His friend from the bank gives him that advice. The reality is he was working hard, he was moving fast, and all his best efforts weren’t enough to win the day. They weren’t enough to accomplish all that he wanted to accomplish.

The section of the book of Romans that is quoted above was intended to help the Gentiles not look down on the nation of Israel because they couldn’t see what is so blatantly obvious, that Jesus is the Christ. The Gentiles had nothing to boast over anyone. They only had someone to boast in. They had not broken branches off, they had not engrafted themselves, and they were not sustaining themselves. It was all Gods work and it was for their blessing, and his glory. How then could they boast?

So often, in our quest for celebrity, we give credit to revivalists, evangelists, and pastors for the work God has done. George Whitfield skill as a traveling evangelist in England and the English Colonies in the Americas moved men and nations to tremble before their God and seek him. Yet, he would be the first to say, that God is the one who builds his church, he was but the means chosen to accomplish that end. As God acted upon him, giving him the skill and physical strength to preach to twenty-five thousand outdoors, we can thank Ben Franklin for scientifically verifying that ability! Despite this it is not men that hold the church up. Men do not provide for it nor do men sustain it. Men and woman comprise it.

The root is that which brings nourishment to the vine. The root is that which anchors the vine in the midst of the storm. It is a temptation to start to think that we need to “get up, move faster” when events start going directions we don’t want, and when this fails or succeeds, to attribute to ourselves the glory or the blame. Yet, the branches do not support the root. We, are called to run the race as those who wish to win the prize, but not as those who are t bare the weight of it all. Run well, move fast, work hard, and rest in the reality that it was all done for the Glory of God, not for your own glory. Then whether success or failure, from this worlds perspective, awaits you, God will give you the crown for being faithful.

Jeremiah was not a failed prophet because the people failed to change. Josiah was not a failed king because they people immediately turned from God on his departure. They are sterling examples of giving all and trusting the root to sustain or cut off branches. This is our call. We work hard enduring outrageous slanders and a sea of troubles, spreading the word of God’s wrath, love, and forgiveness. Spreading the News of Christs Death, burial, resurrection, and future coming. But he is the one that calls. He is the one that sustains his church. He is the one that moves men’s hearts. We must petition our King that all this will take place, and be content, in the end if we are told, “My grace is sufficient for you” or “you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.” (Exodus 33:23)

CORAM DEO

Decline

1 Samuel 13:8

He waited seven days, the time appointed by Samuel. But Samuel did not come to Gilgal, and the people were scattering from him.

To listen and hear, to read and understand, this is a great challenge for the Christian. To read the old familiar stories and still be impacted by them is an act of discipline. The reader must read carefully to what is said, perceive what is not said, and apply the medication given in God’s word to one’s own heart, that it might have its full effect in our lives. As the train wreck of Saul’s Kingship crystalizes in dreadful detail, the glory of grace in our lives bears full bloom.

To this point everything has been going Saul’s way. Victories have been coming and with that success comes notoriety. He becomes a marked man by the Philistines as Jonathan takes a thousand men and removes one of their garrisons (verse 3). To quell this uprising by the Hebrews a force of 30,000 chariots, 6,000 horseman and more regular troops than they wanted to count. Here Saul stands with his force of 3,000 footman watching as his enemy grows and his band of 3,000 dwindles. He waits past when Samuel said he would come. It is easy to get caught writing Saul off, but notice in verse fifteen how low Saul’s numbers had gotten, he was down to a mere 600 men! When people start exiting how long will we hold the line? When our doom marches towards us, how long will we stay the course? We must not let Saul off the hook though, his heart was not right with God, as Samuel points out latter, but not many are the men able to look down those odds and not flinch.

To understand that Saul’s major flaw was that his heart was not right. This was revealed by his turning to pragmatic means to solidify his army. Yet, is our heart any better? The trials of churches in the united states are many and well known. How long do churches hold to sound doctrine, and how quickly will they turn to contemporary music for their salvation? The fundamental reality that we must find is “in what is our trust. My heart is only better than Saul’s because God has given, not because I have earned.

In Saul Israel was given the best King man could dream of finding. In David they were Given the best king God could find, and both were short of perfection. So, God gave them the King they needed in Christ Jesus. Looking at Saul and knowing the sin in my heart it is obvious faith comes by grace alone. I have no doubt that I would have acted differently than Saul, but only because God would have given me a heart for it. Left to my own devices Saul’s failure would surely be my own. As we are tempted daily to trust in created things and pragmatic means rather than our creator to deliver us from the trials and tribulations we face. This is why we pray “…lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil…” not because we think we can conquer but because we know we can’t! We know we have failed so often we are no better than Saul, and yet God has called Christians, his elect, chosen from the foundation of the world! Do not despise Saul when you see his failure, rejoice and marvel at the grace given to you, a sinner, to be called the sons of God!

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Sovereign and Merciful

1 Samuel 3:18

“So Samuel told him everything and hid nothing from him. And he said, “It is the LORD. Let him do what seems good to him.”

Destiny is a very interesting thing. In the course of human events it is often put in men’s minds that no matter what they do a particular thing is what was meant to be. Much like the “hyper-Calvinism” of the 18^th Century this is a truly abhorrent doctrine. Precisely what makes it so abhorrent is the corruption of something incredibly beautiful.

As God is calling Eli out for his failure to restrain his son’s Eli’s only response is that God will do what he wants. Eli has known of the cheats his son’s have become, the philanderers that they are, and how all Israel knows it. Yet, he chose to not create family strife and do anything about it. When confronted in chapter two Eli took no action. Here he is confronted again by God through a small boy and Eli simply remarks that God will do as he wants. Quite frankly he is not willing to repent of his actions. He does not like what is happening. He does not want it to continue (1 Samuel 1:22-26), but he is not willing to go beyond reprimanding his son’s and therefor God sees he loves his son’s more than he does God.

As the reader turns the pages of Scripture he can find very different responses to God’s edicts. What does Hezekiah do when he is told of his death. He does not simply say so be it, but rather turns and prays, begging God with tears and God relents. God gives him fifteen more years. Did Eli then have a higher view of God’s Sovereignty than Hezekiah? By no means! He had a smaller view of God, and therefor of God’s Sovereignty!

Hezekiah knew God’s sovereignty enough to know he was sovereign! He could do as he pleased and if he pleased he could extend his life! Eli knew nothing of God. He knew nothing of his mercy and grace! We do not read tears or prayers from Eli! Even David when he is confronted with his sin and is told his child will die, seeks the Lord with Fasting and weeping, saying “who knows whether the LORD will be gracious to me, that the child may live?”

David and Hezekiah were men who did not doubt God’s sovereignty and at the same time they were not deterministic. Think that all things were predetermined and that they had no influence on what would transpire. We like they must hold these things in tension. God is sovereign and will accomplish all that he says but some of what is said is given as warning that if we don’t change this is what will happen, and some is given such that God already knows the day and hour that judgement will come. Hezekiah eventually fell from this understanding when he is told of the future fall of his nation to Babylon he simply says “at least there will be peace in my time” no tears or prayers.

How will we respond when sin is found at our door? When our faults are made plain to all, and the end is laid before us? Will we cry out to God, will tears spew forth from our eyes like fountains, will we even miss one meal that God may hear our petition? There is no parent that has not failed to raise their children perfectly, Eli, chose to simply move on, will we repent and beg God for mercy (not giving us what the fruit of our parenting deserves)? Do you know God to be gracious and holy, sovereign and merciful?

CRUCE, DUM SPIRO, FIDO

Lonesome Loser

Lonesome Loser

Judges 16:17 ESV

“And he told her all his heart…”

Every time I read the story of Samson I am pushed. The story of Samson has always had a special place in my heart. Perhaps because of my youth when I first read it from the pages of scripture. A man of supreme strength and ability who is overcome by his love for a woman and whose life ends in glory and sorrow. Over the years the Spirit reveals more and more of the life of Samson as I read through my bible. It is easy to see him as a giant oaf, strong and stupid. Unable to see or recognize a conniving woman. Yet, as I read it this time my heart broke for the loneliness of this man.

He was truly something remarkable. Watching as he rips lions apart and overwhelms armies with nothing but the jaw bone of an ass. A young man who let his eyes get the better of him and looked on a beautiful woman and fell in love. Having a spat on his honeymoon he leaves in a rage and when he comes back she is another man’s wife. The town then murders her and her father for what happens, and he is denied the woman he loves.

As I read through all the judges up to this point it was always armies that followed. Even Abimelech, the wicked son of Gideon, was able to garner men around him, but not Samson, none are willing to fight with him, he is called to fight alone. As God gives to other judges’ wives and children heart ache and loneness are given to Samson. He finds a “woman in the Valley of Sorek, whose name was Delilah” whom he loved and loved to the point he “told her all his heart”. How many women look for a man that trusts them with all his heart and never find it, how many men look for a woman they can trust with all their heart, truly the curse on the woman that she would desire to rule her husband but he would rule her has plagued homes since it was first placed on the woman in the garden. Yet, his love and openness are reciprocated with betrayal, he was sold for silver.

Samson’s eyes are what started his heart ache as we read “she is right in my eyes” (14:3) and “she was right in Samson’s eyes” (14:7) and when his eyes are removed by the Philistines he starts to become the man of faith we read of in Hebrews. Loneliness plagues Samson for twenty years. None are willing to follow him into battle, he is not able to conquer alone, and finally the opportunity is lost. Samson is dead in a pile of Philistine Lord’s. So, cowardly are the Danites that they would not follow Samson into battle and then when the Lord’s and nobility of the Philistines are decimated in the Temple of Dagon, the Danites run north to conquer a people who live at peace without walls.

Many men and women in the church fall into sin like Samson. Tired of eating meals alone in empty houses, watching beautiful sun rises and sunsets in solitude, disgruntled with God’s provision, choosing to go with Samson and find someone instead of waiting for God to provide someone. Samson waited twenty years before he fell, I don’t believe I could wait so long. This then is when the call of the church is to shine the brightest, we are to be a hundred times better family than any earthly family. How many meals have we allowed our brothers and sisters to eat in solitude. Job committed himself to never eating a meal alone, going so far as to say to do so would make all of his lose and trouble completely justified. Will we stand as members in a church and work hard to overcome our, and our brothers’, American individualism, so that we can be what God has called us to be? Or simply let our eternal family eat alone until they are overcome by and fall into sin, because we would not eat with them.

CORAM DEO