The Conquerors

Posted on by korgrocker

“I chased my enemies and caught them; I did not stop until they were conquered. I struck them down so they could not get up; they fell beneath my feet. You have armed me with strength for the battle; you have subdued my enemies under my feet. You placed my foot on their necks. I have destroyed all who hated me.”
Psalm 18:37-40 NLT

More war-like words from David’s pen start our meditations this morning. David had physical enemies in a land containing hostile nations all intent on getting the upper hand over their neighbours, and he pursued these nations until they were no longer a threat to him and to his fellow countrymen. But today, we read these verses and struggle to connect with their meaning, living as we do in largely peaceful societies. Here in the Uk there is no mention of a village conquering another, or one of the four nations prevailing over another. That is, of course, until we mention sports that tend to aggravate our tribal instincts. Football and rugby are notable for their jingoistic talk, particularly in the pubs and bars before and after the event. Other sports too have become aligned on national grounds, with athletics and racquet sports worthy of mention.

But we pilgrims have an enemy that we must conquer because it cannot be allowed to exist within our lives. An enemy that is always ready and waiting to trip us up and defeat us. An enemy that potentially lives with us. And that enemy is sin. How do we define this particular enemy? One definition of sin is “any thought, word, or action that violates God’s laws or standards and is considered wrong or immoral”. This is an all-encompassing meaning that would be in danger of driving us into depression but for one thing – Jesus. In our own strengths we are totally incapable of living a sinless life. Even the Apostle Paul expressed his personal frustration in Romans 7:24, “Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” And he breathed a sigh of relief with the next three verses, “Thank God! The answer is in Jesus Christ our Lord. So you see how it is: In my mind I really want to obey God’s law, but because of my sinful nature I am a slave to sin. So now there is no condemnation for those who belong to Christ Jesus. And because you belong to him, the power of the life-giving Spirit has freed you from the power of sin that leads to death” (Romans 7:25-8:2). 

Jesus has already conquered our enemy, sin. It is defeated and has no further hold over us, because we ” … [keep] our eyes [fixed] on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith. Because of the joy awaiting him, he endured the cross, disregarding its shame. Now he is seated in the place of honour beside God’s throne. Think of all the hostility he endured from sinful people; then you won’t become weary and give up. After all, you have not yet given your lives in your struggle against sin” (Hebrews 12:2-4). 

There is no point in listing all the sins that continue to torment us and hold us back. We know what they are. We know our weak points, vulnerable to the enemy’s attacks. A quote from “gotquestions.org”, “As long as we are living in this world, our sinful nature and fleshly desire will remain with us. But we also have a new nature in Christ. This leads to a struggle between what we want to do and what we actually do, as sin continues to assault our earthly nature. This struggle is a normal part of living the Christian life”. Four verses I learnt long ago in my early Christian days can be found in Ephesians 4:21-24, “Since you have heard about Jesus and have learned the truth that comes from him, throw off your old sinful nature and your former way of life, which is corrupted by lust and deception. Instead, let the Spirit renew your thoughts and attitudes. Put on your new nature, created to be like God—truly righteous and holy”. Many years ago I wrote out those verses on a small card, and kept it somewhere prominent where I could refer to it. Throughout our earthly lives we will battle with sin, but as the battles ebb and flow, we will find that we do indeed start to conquer sin more and more often. The blood of Jesus will cover all sins, and even though we will sometimes be knocked down, we get up, allow Jesus to dust us off, and move on.

The last words today from Paul, “No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us” (Romans 8:37). So, when we feel like giving up, finding the struggles almost too much to bear, we reach for our Bibles and turn to Scriptures like Romans 7 and 8, refreshing ourselves once more, as we go out to face another day in our battles to conquer sin.

Dear Lord Jesus. At Calvary You died and took onto Yourself the punishment for our sins. So today, at Your cross, we confess our sins and feel Your love and grace flow over us once more. Your forgiveness will never expire, and we are so grateful. Amen.

The Path to Glory

Posted on by korgrocker

“You have given me your shield of victory. Your right hand supports me; your help has made me great. You have made a wide path for my feet to keep them from slipping.”
Psalm 18:35-36 NLT

David wrote that God had widened his path, to keep his feet from slipping. Once again, we have a contrast between natural and spiritual meanings, but the outcome in both cases is the same, in that God eased David’s journey through his life, and in the same way He eases our life-journeys to Heaven today. In our natural worlds, we always prefer to walk on a wide and uncluttered path, because we then avoid being tripped up by something that could lead to personal injury or danger. Unless we are some more extreme sporting fanatic, we avoid narrow ledges on the sides of a sheer rock face, or a hill walk over difficult ground. We avoid icy surfaces and snow-laden fields and difficult country paths. The pilgrim’s way, though, is often strewn with practical difficulties, in the choices we have to make to stay on the path God has set before us, with employment, retirement, family relationships, social engagements, office parties, and so on, all environments that can conflict with our desire to live our lives God’s way. 

In our spiritual lives, though, we walk a different path to most of the people around us. Our lives are infused in, and focused on, our faith in God, and the promises He has laid out before us. Faith that Jesus was who He said He was, and that He died for our sins at Calvary. Paul wrote, “For we walk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast“. Our very salvation, the promise of eternal life with God, saved from a lost eternity, is all based on something intangible that needs faith to believe. There is no written certificate of title to a life in Heaven after we die. Our name on a church membership role or baptismal certificate will not gain us entry into Heaven.

So how does God make “a wide path for [our] feet”? Proverbs 3:5-6 helpfully notes, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding. Seek his will in all you do, and he will show you which path to take“. In our lives there will be many paths that we can choose, and we have this promise that as we look to God, He will show us the way. And speaking of which, we know what Jesus said to His disciples, “ … I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). By following Jesus we are assured of finding the right path to our ultimate destination.

Jesus warned His listeners that the choice of path can lead to difficulties. Matthew 7:13-14, “You can enter God’s Kingdom only through the narrow gate. The highway to hell is broad, and its gate is wide for the many who choose that way. But the gateway to life is very narrow and the road is difficult, and only a few ever find it“. We know that the Christian life can be hard at times, but, thankfully, we don’t have to walk the narrow and difficult road in our own strength. In fact, such a journey would be far too difficult for us. And this is why David wrote that God had made a wide path for him. If it wasn’t for God helping us, leading us, whispering in our hearts words such as “not that way, this way is better because it is My way”, then we would soon founder and lose our way.

Father God. Thank You that through Jesus, You have showed us the way to life with You. Jesus went before us, opening the door to eternal life through His sacrifice at Calvary. We are so grateful. Amen.

The Shield of Salvation

Posted on by korgrocker

“It is God who arms me with strength, And makes my way perfect. He makes my feet like the feet of deer, And sets me on my high places. He teaches my hands to make war, So that my arms can bend a bow of bronze. You have also given me the shield of Your salvation; Your right hand has held me up, Your gentleness has made me great.”
Psalm 18:32-35 NKJV

David continued to write with war-like tones, referring to strong arms able to “bend a bow of bronze”, with training for warfare, and containing a reference to a shield, an essential device in the hand-to-hand combat of those days, and able to fend off missiles coming towards the warring soldiers. These verses previously appeared in 2 Samuel 22, with the addition of “Your right hand has held me up” to Psalm 18:35. But, regarding the shield, this was not any ordinary shield – it was a “shield of salvation”. In a military setting, such a shield could be the difference between life and death, especially because it was the Lord’s shield. How would that work? Well, with a foe pressing hard with sword or some other sharp or heavy device, perhaps the defending soldier would feel the shield move in a direction, and at the right speed, necessary to save his life. The Lord’s shield of salvation saved his life.

But this morning, we will be concerned with another type of shield, to be used in spiritual warfare. In spiritual realms we know that ” … we are not fighting against flesh-and-blood enemies, but against evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12). In such an environment we need a different type of shield, because holding up a square piece of metal in the face of the devil will not prevent his attacks at all. He attacks in evil ways, by trying to get us pilgrims to sin, or by confusing our minds with worldly philosophies and ideologies, that sound plausible but instead are subtle ways of drawing us away from God’s truth. Another way the devil lures us away into error is by twisting Bible verses, causing us to fall into error. He is behind theologies such as Universalism, that maintains everyone will be saved and go to Heaven, regardless of their faith and actions in this life. The list of ways in which the devil and his minions attack us is long and comprehensive, and, knowing their ploys, Paul helpfully described in Ephesians 6 five items of spiritual armour, and one item of attack, to keep us safe on our journeys to our Heavenly home. 

David described a shield of salvation, something that protected his body from attack. Paul described a helmet of salvation, to protect our minds, where the majority of evil attacks will take place. We read in Ephesians 6:17, “Put on salvation as your helmet, and take the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God“. We might even put the helmet and sword together as an invincible combination able to complete the advice in James 4:7, “So humble yourselves before God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you“. 

Regarding salvation, we would do well to even go through the motions of taking an imaginary helmet and placing it over our heads, praying as we do for God’s protection through the blood of Jesus to keep us safe. Our salvation is a daily need, and one that we must dwell upon and pursue all the time. A Roman soldier’s helmet had to be tightly fitted over his head, buckles adjusted, straps inspected and tightened, every time he put it on, because one that was loose and liable to fall off was no good at all in protecting his head from an enemies sword. And I would suggest that our spiritual helmets of salvation must always be polished and inspected, to make sure that there are no sins reducing their usefulness. Because of the power of the cross, our enemy the devil no longer has any hold on us. Jesus died in our place on that Calvary Cross and His blood is an eternal demonstration to the devil that we are under God’s protection. We are now a different people, not trapped anymore in a world of sin and evil, twisted, defeated, and led away by our enemy to a lost eternity.

So on our knees today, once again we confess our sins, and in the process we remind our spiritual enemies that we are God’s children under His protection with His shield or helmet of salvation protecting us every day of our lives. God’s plan for our salvation is complete and achievable as we allow His love and grace through Jesus rule and direct our lives.

Dear Lord Jesus. You saved is through Your selfless act of taking on our punishment on our place. Through You we are assured eternal life with You in Heaven and beyond. We are so grateful. Amen.

A Deer’s Feet

Posted on by korgrocker

“God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect. He makes me as surefooted as a deer, enabling me to stand on mountain heights. He trains my hands for battle; he strengthens my arm to draw a bronze bow.”
Psalm 18:32-34 NLT

There are times when we come across a photo or video of a deer standing in some seemingly impossible place, causing us to wonder how it managed to get there. The terrain on which it stands contains sheer walls of rock, with the narrowest of ledges, with no apparent way of access, and in a place where even its fiercest predators are unable to follow. There is a verse at the end of Habakkuk that repeats David’s claim about how surefooted a deer can be – “The Sovereign Lord is my strength! He makes me as surefooted as a deer, able to tread upon the heights” (Habakkuk 3:19). The scriptures in Habakkuk and Psalm 18 give credit to God because He is the One who makes “me as surefooted as a deer“. Psalm 18 repeats the verses in 2 Samuel 22, written at a time when David gave God the glory for rescuing him from all his enemies and from Saul, a fitting song of thankful praise for a lifetime of experiences of God’s provision. 

Of course, in the natural world, a deer’s ability to climb heights confidently and sure-footedly is all due to God’s amazing design. He made the deer in the first place with this amazing gift. In the spiritual world, though, there are significant parallels, lessons for us pilgrims. We face into obstacles just as difficult as the terrain facing a deer. What “mountains” are there before us? Seemingly impassable obstacles that prevent us from fulfilling our missions or that stunt our growth. Or situations that need a spiritual surefootedness to navigate, without falling into an abyss of death and destruction. David was certain that God had made him “as surefooted as a deer”, but that wasn’t something special just for David. He pressed on regardless of any “mountains” in his way, defeating giants in the process. We pilgrims are also potentially surefooted, because we have the Holy Spirit living within us, enabling us to “accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think”(Ephesians 3:20b). 

There are a number of parallels with the troubles affecting Habakkuk and our world today. He starts, “How long, O Lord, must I call for help? But you do not listen! “Violence is everywhere!” I cry, but you do not come to save” (Habakkuk 1:2) and continues in the next two verses, “Must I forever see these evil deeds? Why must I watch all this misery? Wherever I look, I see destruction and violence. I am surrounded by people who love to argue and fight. The law has become paralysed, and there is no justice in the courts. The wicked far outnumber the righteous, so that justice has become perverted”. I can just imagine this prophet today proclaiming the same complaint to God. But the account of his conversation with God continues and he “trembled inside” when he heard God’s remedy for a stubborn, idolatrous and rebellious people. But that didn’t shake his faith in God, and we read Habakkuk 3:17-18, “Even though the fig trees have no blossoms, and there are no grapes on the vines; even though the olive crop fails, and the fields lie empty and barren; even though the flocks die in the fields, and the cattle barns are empty, yet I will rejoice in the Lord! I will be joyful in the God of my salvation!” And he finishes his book with the message that whatever comes his way, he will be resourced by the Lord, who “makes [him] as surefooted as a deer …”.

God will resource us with all that we need to be overcomers when faced with all the challenges of living in a wicked and sinful world. We may not be protected from the same issues that impact everyone living on Planet Earth, but we will be able to rise above them, as “surefooted as a deer“, keeping our eyes fixed on the One who gives us strength. David trained to be a warrior over a long period of time, strengthened by his relationship with God. He became surefooted by taking risks and attempting to climb the mountains before him. And so it is with us today. We will not suddenly face a situation with a new-found ability to deal with it. We train and strengthen our ability to fight the battles against the “ … evil rulers and authorities of the unseen world, against mighty powers in this dark world, and against evil spirits in the heavenly places” (Ephesians 6:12) by developing our relationship with God, and developing our faith-muscles by taking risks for God. We pray, and read the Bible. We fellowship with other believers, persevering and overcoming all the “mountains” we find on our journey to glory. There is no other way. A deer didn’t wake up one day and say to itself “I’m going to climb that mountain”. It developed the ability of sure-footedness by putting into action all that God had created within it. And we praise and worship the One who made us and who rejoices in us as we, feebly at first, but growing in ability, journey towards Heaven and bringing down the strongholds we face with our abilities to be as surefooted as a deer.

Dear Lord God. You created us in Your image for Your glory and pleasure, Please keep us safe on our journey through life, day by day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Who Is God?

Posted on by korgrocker

“God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock? God arms me with strength, and he makes my way perfect.”
Psalm 18:30-32 NLT

‭‭David knows much about God, but he still asks the question, “Who is God”? David gained his knowledge of God in all those long hours while he guarded his father Jessie’s sheep, as he tinkled away with his harp, making up songs of worship and praise, and praying to his Lord. And David would have experienced the loving touch of the Lord, the answers to his prayers, all the time developing a relationship based on love and trust. So David’s question was crafted, not so much because he didn’t know the answer, but because he marvelled about God’s unique place in his world. He was saying that there was only one Being, God Himself, who was capable of doing all that He had done, and continued to do in David’s life. There was and is only One God who is the totally unshakeable Rock, solid and dependable for ever. 

But today, many ask the question, “Who is God”? We can type that question into Google, and end up more confused than ever, because of the plethora of faiths and the different belief systems that all claim to know the answer. So it is probably not very wise to look for a quick answer that way. Of course, we pilgrims turn to the Bible for our answers but also we look around us and see God’s handiwork in all that we see. Genesis 1 describes a God who created the universe, including the world on which we stand. And around us are the results of His creation, life so perfectly made and self-sustaining, with the minerals and elements that make that life possible. The evidence is so strong and indisputable that the Bible is disparaging about those who deny His hand in Creation; in fact such Creator-God-deniers are called “fools” (Psalm 14:1a, “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God …”). And throughout the Bible we see a love story developing, as our Creator God yearns for a relationship with His created people, mankind, a story that culminated with a Cross that sealed God’s total and unshakeable commitment forever. 

In a world that is constantly shaking, with wars, famines, strife, and devastating natural events such as earthquakes and volcanoes, men and women look around for something that is solid and permanent. And end up looking in all the wrong places. They strive for financial security only to find that the world finance system is built on a very shaky foundation, a bit like quicksand, ready to suck into obscurity all those who trust in the pounds and dollars of this world. Human beings look for some way in which they can take control of their destinies, unable to bear the pain of insecurity and fear for the future. Many people, of course, understand that there has to be an eternal and supreme being, because such knowledge is hard-wired within all of us, put there as part of God’s creation. But instead of reaching out to the true God, they concoct all sorts of idols, who they claim can answer their eternal question, “Who is God”. Without realising it, and lacking understanding, they worship man-made edifices that go just far enough to start to relieve them of their pain. Of course other people deny the existence of any Being, man made or otherwise, claiming that the world around us is all an accident, without realising that such a belief becomes an ideological idol in its own right. But David knew the answer to the world’s dilemma – he asked “Who but our God is a solid rock?”, knowing that it is only God who can provide the security that mankind’s heart desperately yearns for. 

Of course we remember how the Apostle Paul came to know Christ. He thought he was following God when he set about arresting all followers of the Way, the early Christians. But then something remarkable happened. We read in Acts 9:3-5, “As he was approaching Damascus on this mission, a light from heaven suddenly shone down around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul! Saul! Why are you persecuting me?” “Who are you, Lord?” Saul asked. And the voice replied, “I am Jesus, the one you are persecuting!” Paul asked the question “Who are you, Lord?” and the answer from Jesus turned his life around. Paul’s view of God was skewed by a wrong interpretation and understanding of Scripture, something that we must all be conscious of. Some Christians have a tendency to remove from the Bible the bits they don’t like, or think don’t apply today, or add bits to the Bible that they think should be there. A dangerous position to be in?

We pilgrims don’t have to ask this question, “Who is God” because we know the answer. And we find truth and completeness in our knowledge of the only God that there is. We align our lives to Him, with thankful hearts because we managed to find the narrow gate that leads to eternal life. We bow at the feet of the One who, from His eternal perspective, chose us to be His people. Ephesians 1:4-5, “Even before he made the world, God loved us and chose us in Christ to be holy and without fault in his eyes. God decided in advance to adopt us into his own family by bringing us to himself through Jesus Christ. This is what he wanted to do, and it gave him great pleasure“. And to all those around us who claim to have found “god” by some other route, we turn to the words of Jesus Himself, recorded by John in a conversation with His disciple, Thomas. “Jesus told him, “I am the way, the truth, and the life. No one can come to the Father except through me” (John 14:6). There is only one way to Heaven and that is through Jesus. 

Father God. Please help us on our journey of becoming “holy and without fault”, and in the process please help us to give an answer to the questions from those around us, about who You are. In Jesus’ precious name. Amen.

The Christian Life

Posted on by korgrocker

“God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection.”
Psalm 18:30 NLT

At first reading of our verse today, perhaps a new Christian would think that the Christian life before him will be an easy one, without the hassles and struggles the people of the world are facing into. After all, when we read about God’s way being perfect and God providing a shield to protect us, what could go wrong? Add into the mix a Bible full of God’s promises, which will all become true, so David wrote, then becoming a Christian must open a door into a utopian world never before experienced. But after a few weeks into the journey, reality starts to dawn, that being a Christian in the true New Testament sense introduces a way of life that not only includes the difficulties previously encountered, but also includes the discipline of following the Lord. So why do we seasoned pilgrims do it, plodding along the roads, sometimes as though through treacle, that lead to a life beyond the grave?

Well, for a start, we have to consider our future. We responded to the message of forgiveness of sins, to a God who loves us and cares about us, and who wants us to join Him in Heaven where we will live forever. We continue in our journey to try and become more like Jesus, cleaning up our lives, our thoughts, our actions, our relationships, in the process we call sanctification. To be honest, it can be hard work at times. It’s great when all is well, and we experience wonderful times of prayer and worship, our spirits flying high into Heavenly places, seemingly touching the very fringes of Heaven itself. But there are then other times when we find valleys of darkness and turmoil, when the Heavens seem like brass, and we cannot even pray effectively, let alone find the means to worship, times when we even find that opening the pages of our Bibles becomes a chore.

But none of this devalues the words of David, written so long ago. God’s way is indeed perfect. We cannot dispute that, and the wonderful thing is that He helps us understand and follow His way. One of His promises is written there in Deuteronomy 31:8, “Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord will personally go ahead of you. He will be with you; he will neither fail you nor abandon you”. That verse was written to encourage the Israelites, but its timeless message hangs in the air over us even today. What a wonderful thought that our Lord Himself is there just before us, showing us the way, helping us over the obstacles our enemy, the devil, has placed in our paths, and nothing will happen that will cause Him to abandon us, whatever the circumstances. 

And we read that God Himself is our shield, protecting us from the fiery darts of the evil one. Ephesians 6:16, “In addition to all of these, hold up the shield of faith to stop the fiery arrows of the devil“. Our faith in God will protect us. It is often good to look back over our lives and see those times when disaster could have struck us down, was it not for God’s shield protecting us. Strange circumstances that inexplicably emerged to keep us safe. I remember times that could have gone horribly wrong was it not for God’s protection, times that even now, many years later, drive me to my knees in deep prayers of gratitude. 

So today, we pilgrims continue our Christian lives, embracing the One who made it all possible. We will not deviate to left or right, but instead will set our faces towards the Light that is before us. Those of us in our twilight years can perhaps see a faint glow on the horizon, likened to the dawn of a new day. That’s where we are heading, folks, and nothing will stop us because “God’s way is perfect”, His “promises prove true”, and “He is a shield for all who look to him for protection”. 

Father God, thank You for all You have done for us. One day we will find out the total story of Your goodness and love, and will fall at Your feet in worship. Amen.

Climbing the Walls

Posted on by korgrocker

“You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.”
Psalm 18:27-29 NLT

Psalm 18:29 was written in military language, with a picture of armies of well armed soldiers, and the protective wall located around a city. David declares that through God’s strength he can succeed in any military conflict, but I wonder what was in his mind when he thought about a seemingly impregnable wall before him. In God, he wrote, no wall is a safe place for his adversaries within. However, and David was very much aware of this, his own strength was insufficient to succeed in battle. 

We pilgrims will, most likely, not be involved in physical battles. We may not be conscripted or recruited into a battalion or other band of soldiers, armed and ready for conflict. But we will be fighting other kinds of battles, with health challenges, work difficulties, relational problems, money worries and so on. There will be some reading this today who are wondering where the strength to face the day can be found. They woke up this morning, and a feeling of dread flooded over them. A dark foreboding is perhaps rising up within and even a panic attack is making a start as there seems to be no way out from the wall of worries and anxieties just in front of them. Trapped and afraid, such people feel they have no way to turn and can think of no solution to their dire situation. 

Well, there is good news for us pilgrims, because, like David, we know that, although our strength is insufficient, we have God’s resources at our disposal. And because of that, through our faith in Jesus, we have all the means we need to “scale any wall”. Jesus said, “Yes, I am the vine; you are the branches. Those who remain in me, and I in them, will produce much fruit. For apart from me you can do nothing” (John 15:5). Jesus continues two verses later, “But if you remain in me and my words remain in you, you may ask for anything you want, and it will be granted!” Really? Paul “got it”, as we read in Ephesians 3:16, 20, “I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. … Now all glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think“. 

But before we rush out and do something rash, we need to take a deep breath and prayerfully step back. The first step is that we must be aligned in accordance with God’s will. The battles we fight in this sad and bad world will always be before us, because that is what human life is all about. Sin and wickedness have destroyed God’s order, His perfect plans, and we are here deeply integrated with worldly life. But we have the power through God to survive the problems and challenges because he will resource us in two ways. Firstly, through our faith in Him we will be equipped to be an overcomer, able to face the problems. Secondly, God will often provide us with a solution to our problem, perhaps revealing a way out or remedy that we hadn’t considered, or even changing the circumstances or people involved, so that we are shown favour.  But we mustn’t get ahead of God and assume that He is with us when we make decisions or take actions that ultimately might put us outside His will. 

There is a story of a lady in Wales who lived in a village at the foot of a slag heap, leftover from coal mining activities. This heap of rubbish was a constant annoyance to her, and one day she read the verses in Mark 11:22-24, “Then Jesus said to the disciples, “Have faith in God. I tell you the truth, you can say to this mountain, ‘May you be lifted up and thrown into the sea,’ and it will happen. But you must really believe it will happen and have no doubt in your heart. I tell you, you can pray for anything, and if you believe that you’ve received it, it will be yours”. So one night the lady prayed that God would remove the slag heap and she then went to bed. In the morning she drew her curtains but the slag heap was still there. Her response was “I knew that prayer wouldn’t work”. This is not to say that God would not have removed that slag heap, but that perhaps God wanted to use the mountain of coal waste to help her faith and her fellow villagers, equally afflicted.

The Lord said to Joshua, and he is still saying it to us today, “This is my command—be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged. For the Lord your God is with you wherever you go” (Joshua 1:9). In God we are invincible and through God’s resources, properly engaged, we can achieve anything. But as Paul knew from his fleshly thorn, the outcomes to our prayers may not be totally what we think. Paul asked God on three occasions to remove whatever was troubling him, and “Each time [God] said, “My grace is all you need. My power works best in weakness.” So now I [Paul] am glad to boast about my weaknesses, so that the power of Christ can work through me” (2 Corinthians 12:9). So there we have it. If God wants us to climb the wall before us, and slay the giants within, He will resource us for the task. But we need to discern through faith that this is what God wants us to do; otherwise the enemies the other side of the wall, or even the wall itself, might fight back and overwhelm us.

Dear Father God. In You we have the strength to scale any wall. Please grant us the faith we need. Amen.

Light in Our Darkness

Posted on by korgrocker

“You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.”
Psalm 18:27-29 NLT

Psalm 18:28 reads, “You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness“. There was something personally illuminating about this verse when David wrote it. His relationship with God was something precious and it gave him a warm glow within. David knew that with God in his life, there was no need to stumble around in darkness, tripping up over every obstacle and challenge that he encountered. He knew that all he had to do was to ask the Creator of light to illuminate whatever David was facing so that God’s ways were clear. 

One of the first things God did when He formed the heavens and the earth was to create light. Genesis 1:3-4, “Then God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. And God saw that the light was good. Then he separated the light from the darkness“. This was an essential part of our created environment, because without it the world would be a very different place. The physical delights of our world, the colours in the flowers and the sunsets, would have been meaningless, though, without the creation of light-sensors, our eyes. What a marvellously complex piece of our human bodies these are. Of course, as our physicists inform us, light is just another frequency band on the spectrum of electromagnetic radiation, and back in my school days we experimented with various objects to determine light’s properties. Today, light is also being used in data conduits, to satisfy man’s seemingly insatiable appetite to transfer huge amounts of data around the world. But it all started with a simple command from God – “let there be light” – and God was pleased with the result, calling it “good”. 

But as we pilgrims know, light doesn’t just exist in a physical realm. There is a spiritual meaning as well. In Old Testament days, God’s people were experiencing a terrible spiritual darkness, and Isaiah prophesised, “The people who walk in darkness will see a great light. For those who live in a land of deep darkness, a light will shine” (Isaiah 9:2). Isaiah could see in his spirit a time coming when God would once again introduce light to this fallen world, and hundreds of years later the Messiah came, saying, “ … I am the light of the world. If you follow me, you won’t have to walk in darkness, because you will have the light that leads to life” (John 8:12b). 

Spiritual darkness is symptomatic of a life being lived outside of, and without, God. And so, there are many people, even some who call themselves Christian, who are walking around in the same darkness that afflicted the Israelites in Isaiah’s times. There is a timeless proverb – Proverbs 4:19, “But the way of the wicked is like total darkness. They have no idea what they are stumbling over“. The sad thing is that these people fail to recognise and understand what this darkness is all about. They will stumble around in a fog of misunderstanding and pointlessness, seemingly aware of something “spiritual” within them that yearns for satisfaction, and they will attempt to meet this need by material or hedonistic means only to find that the spiritual vacuum is still there in the cold light of morning. But another proverb – Proverbs 4:18, “The way of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, which shines ever brighter until the full light of day”. There is only one way to bring light into our spiritual darkness and that is through Jesus and His righteousness. So we pilgrims do our best to take the hands of the blind around us and lead them to the Light, Jesus Himself.

The old Apostle John wrote, “This is the message we heard from Jesus and now declare to you: God is light, and there is no darkness in him at all. So we are lying if we say we have fellowship with God but go on living in spiritual darkness; we are not practicing the truth. But if we are living in the light, as God is in the light, then we have fellowship with each other, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, cleanses us from all sin” (1 John 1:5-7). There is no dubiety or anything tricky about these three verses. There is a relationship between God’s spiritual light, the truth about Jesus, and the forgiveness of sins. And anyone can come out of the darkness into His marvellous light. Anyone. Anytime. Anywhere.

Father God, the Maker of the Heavens and the Earth, we thank You for Your physical and spiritual light, providing a complete solution to the needs of mankind. We are so grateful. Amen.

The Humble

Posted on by korgrocker

“You rescue the humble, but you humiliate the proud. You light a lamp for me. The Lord, my God, lights up my darkness. In your strength I can crush an army; with my God I can scale any wall.”
Psalm 18:27-29 NLT

Humility is not a word revered by most people these days, but then, as now, the same dichotomy between humble and proud people features in the difference between the two kingdoms. In God’s sight, the humble are exalted, and the proud are humiliated. In the world’s sight, the humble are trodden on and the proud elevated. But what is being humble all about? One dictionary definition, with a secular viewpoint, says, “humility is a low self-regard and a sense of unworthiness”. Another expands with, “humility involves having an accurate opinion of oneself and expressing oneself modestly as situations demand”. But as is often the case, a real life example brings out the true meaning. If we look at Mary’s response to the angel Gabriel when he said, ““Don’t be afraid, Mary,” the angel told her, “for you have found favour with God! You will conceive and give birth to a son, and you will name him Jesus” (Luke 1:30-31), it was not one of pride at being especially selected by God Himself. Instead she modestly and humbly said, “ … “I am the Lord’s servant. May everything you have said about me come true.” And then the angel left her” (Luke 1:38).

David wrote that God rescues the humble, but why would they need rescuing in the first place? Perhaps a comparison between David and his adversary Saul brings out a man who depended on God for his position and situation in life, and one who relied on his own strength, ignoring God. One became King, the other was killed in battle. David was rescued many times from his enemies because he displayed the quality of humility favoured by God. 

Regarding Psalm 18:27, the Amplified version of the Bible reads, “For You save an afflicted and humble people, But bring down those [arrogant fools] with haughty eyes“. We pilgrims have all met “arrogant fools” haven’t we? In fact, we might at one time have even been one ourselves. A dictionary definition of pride is “a feeling of deep pleasure or satisfaction derived from one’s own achievements”. Straight away we can see the difference with humility with the word “own”. A humble person depends on God and looks to Him as the Source of all they are. A proud person looks only to himself. The root of pride is of course sin, and we need to be careful in striking the right balance between God’s ways and our ways. So even though we might achieve great things, we point to God and His provenance as the real reason for our success. But sadly, we have a tendency to adopt a feeling of pride in our achievements, excluding God in what we do. 

David wrote that the proud will be humiliated, and we see an extreme example in Acts 12. Herod Agrippa, the last king of Judea, granted an audience to the people of Tyre and Sidon, and we read what happened after Herod gave a speech, “The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!”” (Acts 12:22). But his pride took over and we read in the next verse, “Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died“. Was Herod humiliated? Sadly, very much so.

Peter wrote, “So humble yourselves under the mighty power of God, and at the right time he will lift you up in honour” (1 Peter 5:6). James said much the same thing, “Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will lift you up in honour” (James 4:10). Jesus warned, “But those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted” (Matthew 23:12), and of course we mustn’t forget, “God blesses those who are humble, for they will inherit the whole earth” (Matthew 5:5).

God upended the world’s view of people when He expressed a preference for those who meet His criteria of humility. It’s a choice that we make, when faced with situations where pride is in danger of rearing its ugly head over the parapet of our lives. At a time when the world’s opinion of us is one of praise, we instead point to our Father God, and give Him all the glory. We quietly get on with our lives, batting aside all attempts by ourselves and others to take the glory for ourselves. When we feel that warmth of pride starting to emerge within us, we snuff it out before it blossoms into sin. If we don’t then God will deal with us in a much less comfortable way.

Dear Lord God. You have granted us ways that allow us to serve You, with talents and abilities much admired by others. Please help us to keep the lid on any thoughts of pride in our achievements and instead give You all the glory for all You have done in our lives. We praise You today. Amen.

Our Reciprocal God

Posted on by korgrocker

“To the faithful you show yourself faithful; to those with integrity you show integrity. To the pure you show yourself pure, but to the crooked you show yourself shrewd.”
Psalm 18:25-26 NLT

David wrote that God responds to our faithfulness and integrity in our dealings with others, with faithfulness and integrity to us. In the Amplified version of these verses, we receive a little more clarity, “With the kind (merciful, faithful, loyal) You show Yourself kind, With the blameless You show Yourself blameless, With the pure You show Yourself pure, And with the crooked You show Yourself astute“. I suppose it is quite logical really – if we are kind to others, then God will be kind to us as well. We know all about that from Galatians 6:7-8, “Do not be deceived: God cannot be mocked. A man reaps what he sows. Whoever sows to please their flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction; whoever sows to please the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life“. In the Beatitudes, Jesus said, “Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy” (Matthew 5:7). We also know from the Lord’s Prayer a principle about treating others – “And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors” (Matthew 6:12). Putting it bluntly, to a certain degree, God will treat us in the same way as we treat others, that is, until we consider the Cross. Are we not very glad that God hasn’t treated us as our sins deserve, instead considering us righteous through our repentance of sins, and forgiveness from Jesus? Thankfully, God does not immediately punish us every time we commit a sin, or think a sinful thought. 

David continued with thoughts about purity. Again, I suppose it is quite logical, that an impure person will not be able to see God’s purity. This will only become clear when the person looking at God is pure himself, which is perhaps why we only see God as Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 13:12, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely“. Back in the Beatitudes, Jesus taught, “God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God” (Matthew 5:8). The converse therefore has to be true, in that an impure, sinful, heart will blind our eyes to God.

We pilgrims live in a season of God’s grace, in that He amazingly forgives us our sins, and declares us righteous before Him. But that grace shown to us has to be extended to those we meet and greet every day. Jesus told the story of a man who owed his king a debt far beyond what he could ever repay. Threatened with imprisonment for himself and his family until the debt could be repaid, he begged the king for forgiveness, and the story continues with the man being forgiven for the whole debt by the king, who took pity on him. But the same man then went and demanded from one of his fellow servants repayment of a comparatively insignificant debt. Unfortunately the man had his fellow servant thrown into prison until the debt was repaid. we pick up the story in Matthew 18:31-34 “When the other servants saw what had happened, they were outraged and went and told their master everything that had happened. ‘Then the master called the servant in. “You wicked servant,” he said, “I cancelled all that debt of yours because you begged me to. Shouldn’t you have had mercy on your fellow servant just as I had on you?” In anger his master handed him over to the jailers to be tortured, until he should pay back all he owed”. Ominously, the story ends with Jesus saying, “This is how my heavenly Father will treat each of you unless you forgive your brother or sister from your heart“.

There is a different economy in the Kingdom of God based on forgiveness and righteousness. Because we pilgrims have been forgiven a debt that would be impossible to pay in our own strength, we have a different perspective on all those around us. Rather than looking on in judgement, we look through a Heavenly lens, illuminating grace and love. And we apply the fruits of our forgiveness to those less fortunate, showing them a glimpse of our Heavenly Father’s heart.

Dear Father God. Thank You that we can stand righteously before You, having been forgiven a debt far beyond our wildest expectations. In amazement at Your grace and favour, we worship You today. Amen.