Freedom is Good News Part 133

Have you ever noticed that we human beings seem to “seek the LORD” only when we are in trouble?  “O, LORD if you will only get me out of this jam, I will do thus and such…….”  You fill in the blank!  Somehow we seem to think that God is some kind of a deal maker.  “I’ll do something for you God, if you will do this for me.” 

Allow me to share with you that this is not how God, who created the universe by His spoken word, works!  Sometimes we think that we are mighty big and mighty important people, but even King David (who was a man after God’s own heart) said, “I am but a worm and not a man….” (Psalm 22:6)  No one knew God better than David.  A cursory reading of the words of David, in the psalms, will bear this out.  David humbly served God.  And David loved God.

In Isaiah 40:6 we read, “A voice says, ‘cry out.’  And I said, ‘What shall I cry?’”  And this is the answer that comes to Isaiah, “All men are like grass and all their glory is like the flowers of the field.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, because the breath of the LORD blows on them.  Surely the people are grass.  The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God stands forever.”

If one would care to understand just how big God is and how small we are, this chapter 40 of Isaiah should hit the mark.  Verse 14: “Whom did the LORD consult to enlighten Him, and who taught Him the right way?  Who was it that taught Him knowledge or showed Him the path of understanding?”  Verse 22: “He sits enthroned above the circle of the earth, and its people are like grasshoppers. He stretches out the heavens like a canopy, and spreads them out like a tent to live in……..to whom will you compare me?  Or who is my equal?  Lift your eyes and look to the heavens: Who created all these?  He it is who brings out the starry host one by one, and calls them each by name.  Because of His great power and mighty strength, not one of them is missing.”  Yeah, God is an awesome God!!

So let’s get back to our original thought, and ask the question; how and when should we seek this awesome God?  Might I suggest that if we sought Him when things were good in our lives, then things might not have to turn sour.  Isaiah addresses this idea in chapter 55:6, “Seek the LORD while He may be found; call on Him while He is near.  Let the wicked forsake his way and the evil man his thoughts.  Let him turn to the LORD, and He will have mercy on him, for my thoughts are not your thoughts neither are your ways my ways, declares the LORD.”

So that’s the when we should seek Him; and as for the how?  James tells us in chapter 4:6, “God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble.”  As was said before in this article:  David, a man after God’s own heart sought the LORD with great humility. 

When all is well, let us seek God’s face.  Let us humbly bow before Him and give Him honor and praise and glory; His grace will be ours – for He is God and we are the sheep of His pasture.

Freedom is Good News Part 75

What should we do when trouble strikes?  I suppose one must define “trouble”.  Like everything else in this world, we all see trouble in differing lights.  And depending upon our own personal situation in life, we might rate trouble higher or lower.  For instance, suppose you receive notice that your home insurance is going up – that can be labeled as trouble.  But last week your boss was feeling generous and gave you a healthy raise in pay.  On the other hand you just learned last week that you will be laid off and the possibilities for getting a good job are slim.  On a scale of one to ten, the first case might be a 1 or 2 but the second case is scarier and is a 6 or 7.

I just finished reading a book entitled, “The Auschwitz Escape” by Joel Rosenberg.  I’m sure we are all aware of what happened at Auschwitz during the early 1940s.  So why didn’t the Jews rebel?  Because they thought their trouble was at a level of 4 or 5.  Getting on the trains, they thought they were going to a concentration camp to work in factories helping to supply the German war machine.  “All will be back to normal after the war.”  Shortly after they arrived, they saw that their trouble was off the scale of 1 through 10.  As one prisoner put it, “The only way out is in ashes up the chimney”.  Death and cremation was all that was in store.  I have never ever seen nor imagined that magnitude of trouble.

And so trouble, in varying degrees, comes upon us all.  What should we do when trouble strikes?  The bible has a lot to say concerning trouble.  And I am sure you are way ahead of me on this one.  The number one answer to my question is to seek God. 

As I ponder this topic, my mind turns to a statement that Jacob made after he had come to Egypt and to his long lost son Joseph, who was now second in command to Pharaoh in Egypt.  Joseph then brings him into Pharaoh’s presence.  (This episode is found in Genesis 47.)  Pharaoh’s first question to Jacob is a curious one, “How old are you?” he asked.  And Jacobs answer is equally curious, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty.  My years have been few and difficult.”  The story of Jacob’s short (130 years) and difficult life begins in Genesis 25:21 and end with his death at the end of chapter 49.  It is a long section of scripture devoted to one man and  his family but it gives us quite a picture of Jacob as a self- serving twin son of Isaac who encounters many troubles and difficulties, to a repentant patriarch who seeks the God of his fathers and then confesses that this God is his God.

Where are you in your short and difficult life?  I believe I have said this before but it is true that we have a tendency to seek God only when we have difficulties and troubles.  A very wise man once said to me, “Seek God when things are good and perhaps you won’t have to see many troubles”. 

This world can be full of troubles.  I think back to my first attempt at an article for this venue and consider the fact that sometimes we just need good news.  God willing we will consider the topic of trouble and its anecdote, seeking the face of our God.

Freedom is Good News Part 68

We have been looking at a section of the 73rd Psalm these past few articles – verses 23 through 26.  Last week we considered Asaph’s statement that God will guide him with His counsel and so now we come to a very uplifting statement.  The verse reads like this:  “You guide me with your counsel and afterward you will receive me into glory.”  It is God who guides us and it is God who will receive us!

I know there are a lot of people who do not believe in God and there are a lot of people who do not accept the God of these Holy Scriptures and there are a lot of people who are not interested in reading or studying about God in these Holy Scriptures.  But as for me, I’m with Asaph on this!  I desire God to guide me and I desire God to lead me, take me, and receive me into glory.  I have never been ashamed to tell my heavenly Father that I love Him and that I desire to have Him guide me into His glory!  And do you know why?

It’s because I’m with Asaph on this and his next lines in this Psalm are my lines: “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you.”  I believe that when I enter into His glory, when I at last see my God face to face, when I bow before Him on His throne, I will be amazed that I ever held anything in this world as having any worth!!!  Jobs, cars, houses, clothes, entertainment, whatever it may have been that grabbed my attention when instead I could have been drawing nearer to my God and my Savior. 

Oh, I am like Asaph; letting my feet almost slip and envying others – losing my foothold because I took my eyes off the true prize, my Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.  And this takes me back to where we started this journey into Asaph’s Psalm.  If you have been paying close attention there is a tremendous lesson here.  You might remember that several weeks ago I made this bold statement, “In the letter to the Colossians, Paul wrote, ‘…seek those things which are above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God.  Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.’  In short, I can unequivocally say that this scripture is the answer to the entire topic of this column.  And when I say ‘this column’ I do not mean just this present article.  I am talking of our entire search for “good news!!”

The reality of having God in our lives must be second to nothing else.  For “Whom have I in heaven but you?  And earth has nothing I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.”  I will leave it to you to read the remainder of the Psalm.  Asaph’s testimony is worthy of your reading.

We have a lot of responsibility with the word of God.  We may gain knowledge and we may gain understanding but what will we do with them?

Freedom is Good News Part 48

We are on a journey.  Our destination is the kingdom of God.  And in the last article we read that Jesus told us to “ask seek and knock”.  Further more He said that if we would ask, we would receive; if we sought, we would find; and if we would knock, the door would be opened to us.

These three verbs are, in scripture, in the imperative mood.  The imperative mood indicates that they are used for urgency, necessity and are given as a command.  So I guess they are important to pay attention to.  I guess we need to know how to proceed with them!

Ask:  when I ask something of God, I consider it to be a prayer.  Let’s take a look at a couple of scriptures on this.  1 John 3:21-22, “Beloved … we have confidence before God and receive from Him anything we ask, because we obey His commands and do what pleases Him.”  God is there to give us anything we ask.  Yet He requires our obedience and we must do what pleases Him.  As a quick aside, what is it that pleases God?  In Hebrews 11:6 it says, “Without faith it is impossible to please God”.  Another scripture on this subject, also found in 1 John, tells us, “This is the confidence we have in approaching God: that if we ask anything according to His will, He hears us.  And we know that if He hears us – whatever we ask – we know that we have what we asked of Him.”  Show God that you truly seek His kingdom by asking in prayer with faith.  He will be pleased!

Seek:  when you cannot find a very precious item that you own, you seek for it and do not give up until you find it.  Psalm 9:10 says, “Those who know your name will trust in you, for you, LORD, have never forsaken those who seek you.”  (Remember, last week we saw that the word “seek” means to “beat a path”.)  Never give up coming before God as you seek the kingdom first!

Knock:  what is your position when you knock upon a door?  You must be right in front of the door.  I can’t knock on my neighbor’s door while sitting in my own living room.  In the book of Hebrews we have a couple of scriptures concerning this: 4:14, “We have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.”  And in 10:19, “Therefore brethren, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus … Let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith.”  Wow, what a beautiful promise.  It is as if before our hand hits the door, the door swings open to us.

If you want to find the Joslyn castle, ask me.  If you want to find the Kingdom of God, you’d better ask Jesus Christ – it is He that has gone through the heavens and resides there, ever ready to help us. 

And that’s good news!

Freedom is Good News Part 47

Do we have any obligations to God?  Does He ever ask anything of us?  We have been talking about bringing glory to God by producing fruit – so what do we do?  Let’s start in Psalm 24:  “The earth is the LORD’s and everything in it, the world and all who live in it; for He founded it upon the waters.  Who may ascend the hill of the LORD?  Who may stand in His holy place?” 

If the world and everything else belongs to God, what can we, mere mortals, do for Him?  I find it interesting that the Psalmist then asks the double question of who may ascend God’s hill and who will stand in His holy place.  David, (who wrote this Psalm) was a man after God’s own heart, and he gives us a clue as to what we might do; draw near to God!!  And how, we might ask, do we accomplish that?  Verse 4 says, “He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to an idol or swear falsely.”  (I think we may be on to something here!)  Verse 5: “He will receive blessing from the LORD and vindication from God his Savior.  Such is the generation of those who seek Him, who seek your face, O God of Jacob.”

How do you seek God’s face?  This phrase is an idiomatic expression that means we desire to stand in the presence of God.  And how would one do this?  Why, by “ascending the hill of the LORD and standing in His holy place”!  The word “seek” in Hebrew literally means “to beat a path”.  You don’t beat a path by going somewhere just once.  You must go back to the destination over and over again.  Seeking God is something that must be done every day.

I remember my earthly father would say that he was the richest man in the world when at a family reunion he would gather his children and grandchildren to him.  How much more would our heavenly Father, perfect in every way, desire to have His children close to Him?  So, to get back to our original thought of how to bring glory to God, we answered by saying we should seek His face; i.e. draw near to Him.

Jesus, in Matthew 6:33, tells us this: “Seek first the kingdom of God and its righteousness and all these things (material goods) will be given to you as well.”  Some time ago Sally and I had planned a trip to see the Joslyn Castle in Omaha.  In preparing our adventure we had to do three things:  we had to ask where the Castle was (39th and Davenport), then we had to seek it (get in our car and check out the map – yes an ink and paper map), finally after pulling in the lot and walking up to the door, we had to knock upon those massive doors.  Yes we had to “ask, seek and knock”.  OK, so you are ahead of me on this one.  Those are the three things Jesus tells us to do in chapter seven.  “Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.”

Let’s explore these three tasks next time.

Freedom is Good News Part 19

Last time, I mentioned several scriptures that talked about seeking the face of God.  So I ask the question, what does it mean to seek the face of God?  There are three significant words in this phrase, “seek, face and God”.  The last of these words “God” is, I hope, familiar to all of us.  God is the creator, the sustainer and the one who gives life.  He is life itself.  He says His name is Yahovah, which means, “I am that I am” in other words, “the self-existent one”.  Okay, so far so good!

The next to last word “face” is a very important word.  We know in English (in our society) that located at the front of one’s head is one’s face.  When we meet someone, the first thing we normally look at is their face.  So if you were to ask me “where are you going?” and I answered, “I am going downtown to seek my wife’s face” you would look at me with great curiosity!!  But not so with the ancient Hebrews.  This statement would have been appropriate.

The word “face” or “paniym” (pronounced paw-neem in Hebrew), connotes much more than the front of one’s head.  In many contexts it means the visible portion of a thing; such as in Genesis 1:2, “the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters”.  But in the context of a person it most often signifies the person himself.  And this is how we may view the statement, “seek the face of God”.  It is the person of God that we must seek.

The first word in this phrase is very interesting, “seek”.  In the three scriptures I quoted in our last article (1Ch 16:11, 2Ch 7:14, and Ps 105:4), the word “seek” has a very peculiar meaning.  The Hebrew word is “darash” and it means, “to tread or tromp something”.  I’m sure that most of us have walked from here to there in tall grass.  If we travel that path once, we can look back and see where we have disturbed the grass and identify where we have trod.  The next day, however, the wind and sun will have erased our path.  But if we walk from here to there several times a day and do so every day for a month, we have trod down the grass and we will see a well defined path. 

And so it is with our seeking God!  We must travel the path to our God again and again.  We come to God, our provider, and thank Him for our food three times a day.  At the end of the day we thank Him for the provisions of shelter, warmth, clothing, friends etc.  At the start of the day we thank Him for His guidance, help, corrections, love etc.

I believe you get the point.   Ps 105:4, “Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.”  The blessings we receive when in His presence are indeed “good news”.

Until next time….                                                                    

Freedom is Good News Part 18

The last thing I had to say in the previous article was, “Our Father delights to teach those of us who are interested in the things He has to say.”  The one thing I know, unequivocally, about that statement is that our Father really does want to teach us.  The thing I do not know is; are you interested in the things He has to say?

Let’s take a look at something.  In the book of Galatians, Paul seems to suggest that those who belong to Jesus Christ are to be considered as “the Israel of God” (Gal. 6:16).  And I would like to take the Apostle Paul at his word. So, I find it acceptable to learn about the nation of Israel, from the Old Testament, and utilize them as an historical lesson.  In other words, I have a template for my life as a Christian in the triumphs and tragedies that the ancient nation of Israel experienced.  I can take the admonitions, the corrections, the training and the blessings from God toward them and have applications for my life.

So far so good!!  Let’s turn back to the book of Deuteronomy 10:12 where we find this written, “And now, O Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all His ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the LORD’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?”  God says that doing these things are for my own good!!  So if I do these 5 things, fear God, walk in His ways, love Him, serve Him and observe His laws; good from God will come my way.

Let me ask the above question once again, “are you interested in the things He has to say”?  Are you interested enough to pursue the things He tells us to do?  Do you strive to seek God with all your heart?

In several scriptures in the Old Testament, God admonishes us to seek His face:

1Ch 16:11, Seek the LORD and his strength, seek his face continually.

2Ch 7:14, If my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land.

Ps 105:4, Seek the LORD, and his strength: seek his face evermore.

In other scriptures He asks us to seek Him with all of our heart:

Ps 119:2, Blessed are they that keep his testimonies, and that seek him with their whole heart.

Ps 119:10, With my whole heart have I sought thee: O let me not wander from thy commandments.

There are many more scriptures, but think on these for now and we’ll talk some more about them next time.