Capital Punishment

Posted on by korgrocker

“My life is poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart is like wax, melting within me. My strength has dried up like sunbaked clay. My tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth. You have laid me in the dust and left me for dead.”
Psalm 22:14-15 NLT

The picture of a crucified man continues in this extraordinarily prophetic Psalm. The last moments of a man suffering a cruel and painful death are graphically described, and medical research since has confirmed the evidence that David wrote about. But people like us pilgrims, in our comparatively comfortable lives, have no idea what Jesus really went through, moment by moment. We see films that mock up an actual crucifixion and the more sensitive amongst us recoil in horror, leaving us with memories that will never fade. In David’s day, the use of crucifixion as a method of capital punishment was unknown, as the Jews considered anyone hanging on a tree as cursed. The Jews preferred stoning as a way for executing criminals. In Deuteronomy and Leviticus there are various violations of the Law that required execution, for example, Leviticus 24:16, “Anyone who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be stoned to death by the whole community of Israel. Any native-born Israelite or foreigner among you who blasphemes the Name of the Lord must be put to death“. And in the New Testament there is the story of Stephen, stoned for what the religious authorities decided was blasphemy. In response to Stephen’s final claim to see Jesus standing at the right hand side of God as he looked to Heaven, we read, “Then they put their hands over their ears and began shouting. They rushed at him and dragged him out of the city and began to stone him. His accusers took off their coats and laid them at the feet of a young man named Saul. As they stoned him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.” He fell to his knees, shouting, “Lord, don’t charge them with this sin!” And with that, he died”. 

There is no consensus, official or otherwise, amongst Christians about capital punishment. In the UK the last executions took place in 1964, although it was 1998 before the use of this “punishment” was removed from the statute book. But that still doesn’t solve the issue of how society must deal with capital offences, those such as murder. The Old Testament promotes the “eye for an eye” response but the New Testament is silent about how certain crimes must be punished, instead leaving it up to the civil authorities to decide. If anything, the fact that Jesus was prepared to be executed as a punishment for the sins of the world, should perhaps have drawn a line underneath further state-sponsored executions. But societies today demand justice in response to crime, especially in matching the punishment to the severity of the misdemeanour. Loss of liberty seems to be the only option available these days but many victims complain that this is not enough of a punishment to compensate them for the loss of a loved one, for example. So, the arguments for and against capital punishment continue unabated.

We pilgrims live, we believe, in a moral universe. By that I mean that the scales of justice will be balanced one day, even if a crime is undetected in this life. Jesus came to this Planet to forgive the sins of those who believed in Him and accepted His offer of a free gift of salvation. But all those who have turned down this offer, those considered criminals by our societies or not, will still have to face the consequences of their sins. Jesus put His finger on the issue of criminality with teaching from the Sermon on the Mount. Matthew 5:21-22, “You have heard that our ancestors were told, ‘You must not murder. If you commit murder, you are subject to judgment.’ But I say, if you are even angry with someone, you are subject to judgment! If you call someone an idiot, you are in danger of being brought before the court. And if you curse someone, you are in danger of the fires of hell“. Sober reading, because who has never felt anger welling up within them, anger against someone that builds in their thoughts and minds, imagining various graphic details of particular types of punishment? Jesus even ventured into the minefield of sexual relationships, when He said, “You have heard the commandment that says, ‘You must not commit adultery.’ But I say, anyone who even looks at a woman with lust has already committed adultery with her in his heart” (Matthew 5:27-28). In God’s eyes, even our thoughts are sinful and can lead to judgement one day.

In the life to come, at the Judgement Seat of God, a scenario might turn the desired justice on its head. The penitent thief on the cross next the Jesus was forgiven as he breathed his dying breaths, and Jesus informed him that he would join Him in Paradise that day. But all those people that he stole from who may not have accepted Jesus as their Lord and Saviour would have found themselves with different views. Many would claim that letting the thief off the consequences of his stealing would be grossly unfair, but there is nothing fair in worldly terms in the Kingdom of God. Through God’s grace and love He will forgive all sins, confessed by mankind. But that is not to say that punishments in this life will be prevented by our repentance. A murderer incarcerated for life because of his crime will still have to serve his sentence even if God has indeed forgiven him. Whether a sin is against society or God, we remember that all have sinned. No exclusions. Not even those who claim that they are “good people”.

But we God-fearing pilgrims have much to be thankful for. Although we are not immune from sinful thoughts, we do have a wonderful Heavenly Father who forgives our sins through His Son Jesus. John wrote, “If we claim we have no sin, we are only fooling ourselves and not living in the truth. But if we confess our sins to him, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all wickedness. If we claim we have not sinned, we are calling God a liar and showing that his word has no place in our hearts” (1 John 1:8-10). So we keep short accounts with God. Paul wrote, “Now may the God of peace make you holy in every way, and may your whole spirit and soul and body be kept blameless until our Lord Jesus Christ comes again” (1 Thessalonians 5:23). We are on a journey to Heaven and we pray that God will clean us up from all unrighteousness. It’s hard sometimes to live life God’s way, but through His love and grace we won’t have to face into the terror of the final judgement. There, many will find a final outcome that makes today’s capital punishment look insignificant.

Father God. We pray for Your guidance when it comes to matters of civil laws and punishments, but through our faith in You we know that one day all will be put right. Thank You for Your love and grace. Amen.

The Bulls of Bashan

Posted on by korgrocker

“Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me. My enemies surround me like a herd of bulls; fierce bulls of Bashan have hemmed me in! Like lions they open their jaws against me, roaring and tearing into their prey.”
Psalm 22:11-13 NLT

I don’t know if any of my fellow pilgrims have experienced the fear that can ensue if surrounded by cattle. David knew all about it and he went so far as to compare his enemies with a “herd of bulls”surrounding him and hemming him in. Bashan was an area in Canaan that was conquered by the Israelites – we can read a bit about it in Deuteronomy 3:3-4, “So the Lord our God handed King Og and all his people over to us, and we killed them all. Not a single person survived. We conquered all sixty of his towns—the entire Argob region in his kingdom of Bashan. Not a single town escaped our conquest“. Bashan was an area famous at that time for its breeds of cattle, particularly their quality and size, so it would have indeed been a scary situation for David. But David obviously escaped his bullish enemies so what was going on? 

Throughout his reign and before, David experienced problems, both from his own countrymen but also from the nations around him. Worthy of note were the Philistines, but there were others. And in Psalm 22 David was facing into a situation from which there appeared to be no escape. So he called out to God – “Do not stay so far from me, for trouble is near, and no one else can help me”. A succinct statement and to the point. David knew that it was only God who could save him. He knew that he could trust in God, because time and again God had come through for him, bringing relief in seemingly unwinnable situations and saving David from disaster and even death. After all, who would have thought a young, fresh-faced shepherd boy, armed with a sling, could defeat the Philistines’ champion warrior? That had to be God, surely.

But back to our own experiences. It is indeed a scary place trapped by a herd of cows. I can remember an occasion when I was stopped on a single track country road by several cows with their offspring; they had escaped from a field somewhere. They were just ambling along the road munching their way through the grass verges, and preventing vehicles from passing. In the end, I seized an opportunity at a road junction leading to a farm track and I jumped out and started waving my arms and shouting, hoping that they would be scared off up the farm track. Most of them obliged but there were two heifers remaining that started to eye me a bit aggressively and I wondered if I could get back to the car before they caught me. Up close cows are strong and heavy, and they can run! But fortunately they decided to follow the rest of the herd and disaster didn’t materialise. But David’s problem was in a different league, with large bulls surrounding him. There is a big difference between a cow and a bull.

Psalm 22 is a Messianic Psalm, which Jesus quoted from when He was being crucified. It is a sobering thought that while he was helpless and pinned to a cross, people were passing by, making comments and shouting insults. Would we have done that? Of course not, we think, until we remember that it was sin that put Him there on that cross, and through our sin we were there too by implication. And we remember that when we sin we once again join the mob shouting for His crucifixion. But through the love and grace of God, we know that Jesus was willing to die for our redemption from sin. Because of us He was willing to face into His enemies from hell, the devil and his demons, that surrounded Him like a herd of the bulls of Bashan. Thankfully we know the end of the story and just a short while later the devil was staring into an empty tomb, all his plans and evil ways having come to nothing. In fact, it was on that cross that the devil was defeated, never to recover the power over man again. David trusted God to bring about relief from his attack. Through the Lord, David was repeatedly victorious, and he left a legacy of encouragement for all pilgrims everywhere. From “Gotquestions.org”, “God delivers those who trust in Him, even when they are facing impossible situations. We may be surrounded by the strong bulls of Bashan, but we have the greatest Bullfighter on our side“. 

Father God. Thank You for answered prayers, for keeping us safe as we travel through the spiritually hostile societies and cultures on Planet Earth. Through Jesus we have received forgiveness for our sins and one day we will live with You forever. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

From the Womb

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yet you brought me out of the womb; you made me trust in you, even at my mother’s breast. From birth I was cast on you; from my mother’s womb you have been my God.”
Psalm 22:9-10 NIVUK

David made the confident assertion that his relationship with God started when he was born. In fact, he stated that he was “cast on [God]” at that nascent point in his life. A new life, full of potential, and with God’s hand upon him, how could he ever fail? And writing here David is much older and wiser, but testifying to his start in life. God was there at his birth and while being fed by his mother, and God was still with David much later as Psalm 22 rolled off his pen. 

Was David being singled out for special treatment by God? Did God know that He would have to be proactive in David’s upbringing, ensuring that he would be the right person for Israel’s king? When a child is brought into the world, the potential for a great man or woman of God is there, but not many will achieve the lofty heights of kingship. So, how is that potential realised during a child’s upbringing? In David’s culture, much of that was down to the mother, who nurtured the child, sung songs of praise and worship, prayed, told the Bible stories, and taught the child in the ways of God. The Jewish father also led the family in prayers and teaching, reminiscing over meals about the great acts of God in their heritage, the Passover, the crossing of the Red Sea and so on. A Jewish boy’s education would also have been steeped in the Hebrew Bible of that time. In David’s case he progressed from childhood into manhood but he took with him all that he had been taught, and, most importantly, he started to work in his father’s business, tending sheep for long hours and in the process he developed the skills necessary for life as well as honing his relationship with God. And he wrote Psalm 8:1-2, “O Lord, our Lord, your majestic name fills the earth! Your glory is higher than the heavens. You have taught children and infants to tell of your strength, silencing your enemies and all who oppose you“. In those long nights he looked up and saw the canopy of the heavens in all its glory, and he wrote, “The heavens proclaim the glory of God. The skies display his craftsmanship. Day after day they continue to speak; night after night they make him known”(Psalm 19:1-2). But it all started as a new born baby in his mother’s arms, with God looking on.

There are other examples of God raising up a man for a particular purpose, and Moses comes to mind. But there was a special Man born two thousand or so years ago who was the Son of God. His mission has changed the course of history, and is still doing so as the End Times loom ever nearer. On that day, Heaven touched earth in the arms of a peasant teenager called Mary, bringing a Life that climaxed thirty three years later on a cross at Calvary, birthing something else that we call the Church. But that’s for another day.

The birth of David would not have appeared in his memory of course, but his parents would have reminded him about his Godly origins. It stresses the important role that a parent has in bringing up children. Those early years of nurture and teaching will make or break a child’s future, because what is sown in the first few years will set the course of their lives ahead. It is so sad that parents will often abdicate their responsibilities and sit the child before a television, potentially filling their minds with all the wrong information. And our schools, colleges, and politicians today seem more intent on propagating ideologies that are just plain wrong. We pray for our country, that God will once again visit us bringing conviction of sin and salvation. We need You, God! Our politicians need You. Our teachers need You. We all need You. Come Lord Jesus!

God does not prefer one person over another, as Paul reminded us in Romans 2:11, “For God does not show favouritism“. We are all equal before God and, most importantly, before the Cross. But people will have different abilities, as Jesus taught in the Parable of the Talents. We can read it in Matthew 25, but here is verse 15, “He gave five bags of silver to one, two bags of silver to another, and one bag of silver to the last—dividing it in proportion to their abilities. He then left on his trip“. Notice the phrase “in proportion to their abilities”. God doesn’t expect more from us than we are able to give. The first two servants, even though they had different abilities, heard their Master say, “well done, my good and faithful servant”. But we need to use what God has given us to the best of our ability, being aware of the ultimate fate of the third servant. 

Many people will try one day to blame their upbringing for their status in life. Although there is some truth in that, we have a wonderful God who is able to redeem our past, and restore the years the locust has eaten. We may experience many fruitless years in this life, but God is patient and knows our hearts. One day He will bring us through to His presence. But in the meantime, we listen for God’s voice and we obey His instructions. We are on Planet Earth for the just the time as this. There is an opportunity to reach our generation for Jesus, using the gifts the Holy Spirit planted within us from our mothers’ wombs. We may never see the fruit of our labours this side of eternity, but I think we may be surprised when we find souls coming to us one day thanking us for our perseverance and willingness to share our faith. We trust God with our future, as David did. And with him we proclaim that he is our God. Forever.

Dear Father God. We trust You with our lives, and one day we pray in faith that we too will hear those words “well done” from the Master Himself. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Worm or King?

Posted on by korgrocker

“But I am a worm and not a man. I am scorned and despised by all! Everyone who sees me mocks me. They sneer and shake their heads, saying, “Is this the one who relies on the Lord? Then let the Lord save him! If the Lord loves him so much, let the Lord rescue him!””
Psalm 22:6-8 NLT

There are two perspectives for this Psalm and these verses before us today. The whole Psalm seem to be a prophesy about the execution of someone and the only Biblical event that seems to fit was the crucifixion of Jesus. The graphic details and the parallels with that fateful day on Calvary’s hill are too similar to ignore. Jesus was mocked as He was hanging on the cross, and we read, ““Look at you now!” they yelled at him. “You said you were going to destroy the Temple and rebuild it in three days. Well then, if you are the Son of God, save yourself and come down from the cross!”” (Matthew 27:40). But of course the Lord Himself was hanging there, and, although He had the power to do so, He continued to suffer and ultimately die, because that was His mission to Planet Earth. John 12:27 records, ““Now my soul is deeply troubled. Should I pray, ‘Father, save me from this hour’? But this is the very reason I came!”. It is incomprehensible to us human beings that, knowing what was to come, that Someone, God Himself but for a time a Man like ourselves, would willingly die in the way that He did, to bring about the salvation of everyone ever since who believed in Him. In John 15:13, Jesus said, “There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends“. ‭‭Paul wrote, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. Now, most people would not be willing to die for an upright person, though someone might perhaps be willing to die for a person who is especially good. But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners”. (Romans 5:6-8). David could see an event in the future, an event revealed to him by the Holy Spirit, of an execution taking place, and he wrote down what he saw. Did he understand what he was writing? Probably not, though he perhaps had a few dim and cloudy thoughts.

The other perspective could have applied to David himself, but there is no record of him experiencing such an event as he describes. But we mustn’t forget about David’s personality. He was a sensitive man prone to negative feelings and he easily found himself depressed and crying out to God when things around were against him and causing him distress. For example, we read in Psalm 13:2, “How long must I struggle with anguish in my soul, with sorrow in my heart every day? How long will my enemy have the upper hand?” The next verse reads, “Turn and answer me, O Lord my God! Restore the sparkle to my eyes, or I will die“. So we have this impression of David being in a difficult place, spiritually and physically, and crying out to God in prayer for relief from his condition and whatever was causing it in the first place. So, from this understanding of David, we can see how he would have easily lapsed into a form of self-pity, imagining what other people think of him, and generating pictures in his mind of scenarios portraying his worst nightmares.

And that brings us to thoughts we have of ourselves. Can we relate to what David wrote in our verses today, or are they incomprehensible to us? How do we view ourselves? Some people I meet seem to be impervious of what others think about them. They are so full of themselves that they are unable to consider that they might be at fault about anything. Criticism of their actions and words seem to pass them by and they shrug them off, apparently without another thought. Other people are mortified if they think someone else disapproves of them or something that they have done, even in the slightest way, and they go red with embarrassment and try and hide somewhere. But there is a sweet spot between these two extremes, and Paul wrote about it Romans 12:3, “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgment, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you”. In Philippians 2:3-5, we read, “Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves, not looking to your own interests but each of you to the interests of the others. In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus“. We pilgrims have to find that “sweet spot” which is having a confident but realistic view of ourselves and our capabilities, but also having a sensitive and appropriate response to others.

David considered himself a worm, the lowliest of people, even though he was King of Israel. But we pilgrims are children of God. 1 Peter 2:9-10, “But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, God’s special possession, that you may declare the praises of him who called you out of darkness into his wonderful light. Once you were not a people, but now you are the people of God; once you had not received mercy, but now you have received mercy“. And from that position as the “people of God” we praise and worship Him as our Father and Creator, realising that through Jesus we have been snatched from the fires of hell and instead assigned the privilege of being citizens of the Kingdom of God. But that must never bring arrogance and pride. God Himself loves His creation, with a love so vast that He did not hold back from sending His own Son to be a sacrifice for our sins. And we too must “love our neighbours as ourselves”. There is no other way.

Dear Father God. We are Your children, with all the benefits that result. But we are also responsible for showing Your love to those around, loving the unlovely, helping the less fortunate than ourselves, and being Your arms and legs to further Your Kingdom. Please help us we pray. For Jesus’ sake. Amen.

They Trusted in God

Posted on by korgrocker

“Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel. Our ancestors trusted in you, and you rescued them. They cried out to you and were saved. They trusted in you and were never disgraced.”
Psalm 22:3-5 NLT

David wrote that his ancestors and the ancestors of those in his nation “trusted in [God]” and as a consequence were rescued. And because of that trust, they were saved and “were never disgraced”. The ancestry of the Jews was well recorded in the Bible, with frequent listings of the ancestry of a particular person. Women were only rarely mentioned, these lists being male dominated, but the most significant can be found in Matthew, with the “record of the ancestors of Jesus the Messiah, a descendant of David and of Abraham” (Matthew 1:1). There follows a list of Jesus’ ancestors starting with Abraham, and the list terminates with “All those listed above include fourteen generations from Abraham to David, fourteen from David to the Babylonian exile, and fourteen from the Babylonian exile to the Messiah” (Matthew 1:17). Worthy of note were four remarkable women, Tamar, Rahab, Ruth and Bathsheba, but there were forty two generations listed in total. But if we select various men in the list we can indeed find many whose trust in God was recorded in the Old Testament. In Genesis 15:6 we find, “And Abram believed the Lord, and the Lord counted him as righteous because of his faith“. In Psalm 56:4, David wrote, “I praise God for what he has promised. I trust in God, so why should I be afraid? What can mere mortals do to me?” And then we have, “Hezekiah trusted in the Lord, the God of Israel. There was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, either before or after his time” (2 Kings 18:5). It is remarkable that there is such a genealogy backed by occasional stories of Jesus’ ancestors trusting in God, but when the Angel Gabriel visited that young Jewish woman, little more than a girl herself, God knew what was behind her, and He was never disappointed, because Mary was a remarkable woman, ready and willing even at a young age, to take on the responsibility of raising God’s own Son, Jesus, and trust God in the process.

How much of our ancestry do we pilgrims know? I know very little beyond my grandparents, with just a few hints remaining in fading sepia prints of their parents, and even then I know nothing about their spirituality other than my mother’s parents went to a particular church and their remains are buried in the graveyard there. But I suppose the question remains about the legacy we are leaving for the generations that will follow us. Near where I live is a graveyard with grave stones recording the names, and sometimes families, or people who died in the 18th and 19th centuries, and in the church, the Dunfermline Abbey, there are other plaques that go right back to the 11th Century I believe. King Robert the Bruce was supposed to be buried there in 1329, but the Abbey is an old building, solid and reassuring, but sadly now little more than a mausoleum, standing there as a reminder of a move of God’s Spirit in a previous generation long ago. 

But the important fact about our ancestry is that, although records of people and their names are long lost, their impacts live on in the generations that followed them. By that I mean that they laid a Christian foundation that has stood the test of time. We may have ageing congregations in some churches, with dwindling numbers, but God is once again on the move. I was greatly encouraged to receive an email from Gavin Calver, CEO of the Evangelical Alliance, yesterday, and the first paragraph reads, “It was hugely encouraging to see new research ‘The Quiet Revival’ released by the Bible Society this week. The research says that Gen Z is leading a massive rise in church attendance, with 16% of 18–24-year-olds attending church and more men going to church than women. Overall church attendance has risen by 50% over the last six years, resulting in over two million more people going to church”. Jesus is in control of His church and He made a promise to His disciple Peter one day, “Now I say to you that you are Peter (which means ‘rock’), and upon this rock I will build my church, and all the powers of hell will not conquer it” (Matthew 16:18). And the fact that we pilgrims are here today, proclaiming the Lordship of Christ, is an indication that Jesus’ promise still stands, with not even all the powers at the disposal of the devil able to destroy it.

What legacy are we pilgrims leaving our children, grandchildren, great-grandchildren and beyond? For myself, I pray that it will be more than an epitaph on a tombstone somewhere. But if we don’t have a legacy plan in place it will be a lost opportunity. As David said in the verses from Psalm 22 we are considering today, we trust in God to rescue us, to save us, and to keep us from disgrace. That’s what happened to his ancestors and because of that he knew that the Lord was holy and there was nothing more he enjoyed more than seeing God “enthroned on the praises of Israel”. We pilgrims look forward to the future generations in our family lines and we pray that they too will look back at us, assured that their ancestors did something special in God, trusting in Him with their lives.

Dear Father God. We declare our trust in You, the only One worthy of all the praise and all the glory. Amen.

Abandonment

Posted on by korgrocker

“My God, my God, why have you abandoned me? Why are you so far away when I groan for help? Every day I call to you, my God, but you do not answer. Every night I lift my voice, but I find no relief.”
Psalm 22:1-2 NLT

Why did David write Psalm 22? What was he going through at that time? We don’t really know of course, but we do know that he wasn’t in a good place. Riven by depression, his prayers failing to penetrate the clouds above him, he could find no relief. Perhaps he was sick, with some form of debilitating illness. Perhaps he had been through a situation where he felt trapped in a hopeless place, with no remedy in sight. But he did what he did often – he reached for his pen and starting writing, and we’re so glad that he did, because across his Psalms we have a legacy of situations with which we can often relate. How many times have we pilgrims woken in the small hours, anxious and worried, eventually praying but finding no answers? At such times perhaps we too think that God has abandoned us. David’s situation seemed to be going on day after day, with no relief in sight, but one thing does emerge – he calls on God. Would we have turned our backs on God, if we had been standing in David’s shoes? But in those small hours there is nothing better than for us to pick up our Bibles, head for a comfortable seat, and read a Psalm or two. And the God of comfort will minister to us I’m sure.

As we pilgrims know, Jesus cried out the words of the first verse from Psalm 22 in His dying moments on the cross. We read in Matthew 27:46, “At about three o’clock, Jesus called out with a loud voice, “Eli, Eli, lema sabachthani?” which means “My God, my God, why have you abandoned me?”” Did Father God really abandon His Son? Jesus thought so, but did God really abandon His Son to take on our sins so that we could take on His Son’s righteousness? Sad though it might seem, that is what the Bible tells us and we have the poignant scene of Jesus, for the first time ever, cut off from His Father. David described His pain so clearly, but it doesn’t even scratch the surface of what Jesus really thought.

There is nothing worse than being abandoned. A newborn baby abandoned on a church step, a child abandoned by its mother in the hope that someone would hear the cries echoing in the darkness, bringing salvation to a young life. And then we hear of a child being abandoned through no fault of the parents, perhaps killed in a car crash or having succumbed to an illness. There is also something sad about old couples separated by the death of one of them, sometimes after 60 or 70 years even, leaving the surviving partner with a deep feeling of loss and abandonment. Jesus’ parents were riven with guilt when Jesus was lost as a young man. Mary and Joseph each thought that Jesus was with the other, and they quickly returned to Jerusalem to find Him. He wasn’t abandoned, but I expect that was what Mary and Joseph thought had happened. Abandonment is not uncommon in our day and age, and it is never pleasant. But to be abandoned in the way that Jesus was by His Father that Easter Friday – that shows just how much God loves us and how He desires for us to be with Him one day.

We read in Psalm 68:5-6a how God is interested in those who have been abandoned. “Father to the fatherless, defender of widows— this is God, whose dwelling is holy. God places the lonely in families…”. Paul gave us a glimpse of God’s heart for His people when he wrote, “And I am convinced that nothing can ever separate us from God’s love. Neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither our fears for today nor our worries about tomorrow—not even the powers of hell can separate us from God’s love. No power in the sky above or in the earth below—indeed, nothing in all creation will ever be able to separate us from the love of God that is revealed in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 8:38-39). No matter how we feel or whatever the situation, abandoned or otherwise, that we find ourselves in, God will always be there for us. 

One thing is for sure. We pilgrims will never abandon God. Jesus asked His disciples if they wanted to follow other less committed followers who had abandoned Him, but Peter spoke up for all of them when he said, “ … Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life” (John 6:68). There is no place where we would rather be, than in God’s presence forever.

Dear Lord God. You have placed eternity in our souls and we never feel that You have abandoned us. We praise and worship You today. Amen.

Celebrating God’s Mighty Acts

Posted on by korgrocker

“You will wipe their children from the face of the earth; they will never have descendants. Although they plot against you, their evil schemes will never succeed. For they will turn and run when they see your arrows aimed at them. Rise up, O Lord, in all your power. With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts.”
Psalm 21:10-13 NLT

If there is ever a time in history when we need God to “rise up” in all His power, it is today. We look around at the world and see the wars, not just in a physical sense, but also in the sphere of global macro-economics. We see the misery of people stuck in a hopeless cycle of drug and alcohol addiction. We read about the people who want to end their lives because living doesn’t appeal to them anymore. We see the tragedy of unborn babies being eliminated in the name of women’s health. But I expect many in our past have called upon God to rise up in power. What prayers and cries to God were going up during the last world war? What were relatives praying when their loved ones were dying in the Covid pandemic? What about the times when untreatable sicknesses were rife in Victorian days? And all the way back to David’s day and beyond, there were crises, one after another, when people cried out to God for help. And how many people are suffering today, persecuted and abused just for believing in God? Part of living in an evil and sinful world is the reality that there will be times of difficulty, misery, pain, and hopelessness. But having written all of this, there is hope. David finished Psalm 21 with the words, “With music and singing we celebrate your mighty acts”. That implies that there were, and are, times when God does act. In fact, I am sure that God is holding back most of the evil that is poised, waiting to be unleashed on a helpless world full of God’s creation, evil that the devil and his assistants are concocting to bring unbearable misery. 

When God created the earth and all that is upon it, He said it was good. All that we perceive as evil just wasn’t there, but a Heavenly being, an angel called Lucifer, or Satan, rebelled against God and had to be removed from Heaven, which is the sinless domain where God lives. Unfortunately, the angels are immortal beings so there was only one other place that the rebellious angels could go and that was Planet Earth. Isaiah 14:12, “How you are fallen from heaven, O shining star, son of the morning! You have been thrown down to the earth, you who destroyed the nations of the world“. And so there is a struggle between how God created us, good and perfect, and the devil and all his evil ways, that has resulted in a world tainted with sin. Many of David’s Psalms portray the struggle that has resulted. But in it all, David was close to the Lord, and could testify to the mighty acts of God worked out in his life during his reign as king of Israel. 

In our lives today, we pilgrims too can testify to the mighty acts of God. The first is the act of redemption and atonement that God Himself brought right down to Planet Earth. An act of love and compassion never before seen, and it will never again occur. It was a once only event, a time when Heaven and earth, the spiritual and the natural, collided and one that signed the death warrant for the devil and all his schemes. The devil thought that by bringing about the crucifixion and death of God’s only Son, Jesus, he would finally win the war between Good and Evil, but how wrong he was. There is now a conduit between earth and Heaven that allows human beings to escape from his clutches. Yes, we pilgrims are still living in a world of evil and sin, even to the point where we too are entangled in sinful ways, but as citizens of the Kingdom of Heaven, we have been set free and we are assured forgiveness and redemption through Jesus. 

We pilgrims can also sing and praise God for His “mighty acts” in the way He has brought about events in our own lives. I can personally testify to many occasions when God has come through for me and my family, as we trusted Him for direction and favour in a time of crisis. And I’m sure my readers also have their own stories of how God has blessed them. And so together we can celebrate His “mighty acts” with singing and music. There is no God like our God. Who else is there who can pour out on us so much love and compassion? Who else can forgive us for our sins and bring us ultimately to our Heavenly home? Who else is there who can wipe away our tears and heal our diseases? But even in times when it appears the doors of Heaven are shut and our prayers bounce back unheeded, we can stand firm as Habakkuk did when he wrote, “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!” (Habakkuk 3:17-18). We know that the battles waging around us will ebb and flow, but we are certain, as Jesus said, ” … the one who stands firm to the end will be saved” (Matthew 24:13). In the meantime we will sing and make music in honour, and to the glory, of the One who has performed “mighty acts”.

Dear Father God. You and only You are the One who loves and cares for us and our souls. We worship You with grateful hearts today. Amen.

The Fiery Furnace

Posted on by korgrocker

“You will capture all your enemies. Your strong right hand will seize all who hate you. You will throw them in a flaming furnace when you appear. The Lord will consume them in his anger; fire will devour them.
Psalm 21:8-9 NLT

‭‭Apocalyptic language from David. He set out a terrible end for God’s enemies, graphically describing their end in life, “devoured by fire”. There is no escape for the God-haters in this world, because God has a “strong right hand” that will “seize all who hate” Him. Notice too that there will be a “flaming furnace” ready and waiting, and it is there that God’s enemies will be consumed. But who are these “enemies”? The thing about God is that He is not a physical, natural, Being, who walks around Planet Earth in Person today. For many people it would be a relief if He did, because it would bring encouragement for His people, and provide a focus for all those who decided that they didn’t like His goodness and holiness. But then we pause, because God did walk around this earth two thousand years ago. His Son, Jesus, the second member of the Trinity, came to this earth, and God’s enemies soon came out of the woodwork with accusations and aggressive antipathy, a triple-A package of hate. But how could anyone, no matter how bad they are, ever resent and even hate the Man who brought love and forgiveness to a world steeped in sin. However, a mob stirred up by the Jews’ religious leaders ultimately engineered His death on a Roman cross, thinking that they were bringing religious stability to a fractious region in the Middle East, but instead bringing God’s plan for the salvation of mankind to a momentous and complete conclusion. Why was Jesus so contentious, and how did He become such a figure of hate? Because those people who were quite happy living a life of sin became very uncomfortable when faced with the sinless Man Jesus. A Man who pointed out to them their hypocrisy, their devil-inspired ways, their hatred of the God that Jesus represented. As Jesus once pointed out, their God was the devil and he called him the god of this world. And so, Jesus died as he predicted and as the Old testament prophets foretold, lifted up above the earth nailed to a cross.

Jesus said to the Pharisees and the other religious leaders, “For you are the children of your father the devil, and you love to do the evil things he does. He was a murderer from the beginning. He has always hated the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he lies, it is consistent with his character; for he is a liar and the father of lies” (John 8:44). God’s enemies emerge as those who love evil, and hate good. There is no middle ground, however, because human beings are natural sinners and by default are God’s enemies. After all how can a perfectly pure and holy God ever allow evil of any kind into His presence. Intuitively, people know that but it doesn’t stop them changing their ways. The pull and attraction of sin is too strong for most. It is only by the acknowledgement, confession, and repentance from sin that forgiveness and righteousness can result. And then, at this point, people cease to be God’s enemies. 

There will come a day when God’s enemies will be dealt with. Thankfully, the eternal flaming furnace has not yet been lit. Its first inhabitants will be the devil and his minions, but they will be followed by God’s enemies. We can read the account in Revelation 19 and 20. Grim reading, but even then God’s enemies have rationalised that such an event will never happen. After all, many claim, how can a God of love even treat a person in that way, human thinking that underpins the doctrine of Universalism. But the Bible is clear, that although God is indeed a God of love, full of mercy and compassion, He is also a God of holiness and righteousness. So how can sinners steeped in evil ever appear in His presence? 

But enough of the negatives of how God will deal with His enemies. We start with Romans 3:23-26, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard. Yet God, in his grace, freely makes us right in his sight. He did this through Christ Jesus when he freed us from the penalty for our sins. For God presented Jesus as the sacrifice for sin. People are made right with God when they believe that Jesus sacrificed his life, shedding his blood. This sacrifice shows that God was being fair when he held back and did not punish those who sinned in times past, for he was looking ahead and including them in what he would do in this present time. God did this to demonstrate his righteousness, for he himself is fair and just, and he makes sinners right in his sight when they believe in Jesus”. These are forever words, simple but eternally effective, and difficult to present in any other way. We move on to Romans 10:9-10, “If you openly declare that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is by believing in your heart that you are made right with God, and it is by openly declaring your faith that you are saved“. ‭‭The process of acknowledgement and repentance from sins and believing in God, will transform an enemy of God into His friend. At a stroke. But a decision made to believe in Jesus will insure that we will never have to be thrown into that fiery furnace. Ever.

Dear Father God. The thought of the flaming furnace is surely enough to convince all of Your enemies of their sin. Please help us to share Your love and justice with those around us, in a way that helps them realise that You are the only way to eternal life. Amen.

Trust In The Lord

Posted on by korgrocker

“Your victory brings him great honour, and you have clothed him with splendour and majesty. You have endowed him with eternal blessings and given him the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord. The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling.”
Psalm 21:5-7 NLT

Just a simple statement lacking drama, almost written as an aside – “For the king trusts in the Lord”. It stands as the tip of an iceberg, with much implied explanation and background information hidden beneath it. The sentence doesn’t include the how or why of David’s trust. It’s just a statement of fact. But David’s journey to the point when he could state that he trusts in the Lord began at the moment when Samuel anointed him in front of his father and brothers – “So as David stood there among his brothers, Samuel took the flask of olive oil he had brought and anointed David with the oil. And the Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon David from that day on …” (1 Samuel 16:13). In those pre-Messiah days the Holy Spirit didn’t live in each of God’s people all the time; instead He visited and empowered chosen people for certain tasks when the need was there. So, for David to experience the indwelling Holy Spirit was remarkable. From that moment forward, David learned through his life experiences how to trust in the Lord. Day by day, battle by battle, crisis by crisis, and David went on to write that “the unfailing love of the Most High” would keep him from ever stumbling.

But what does it mean to “trust in the Lord”? Proverbs 3:5 provides a clue, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart; do not depend on your own understanding“. Our own understanding is flawed because so much of our humanity gets in the way. Our sins, wrong choices, lack of wisdom, and many other factors can all combine to skew our understanding and put us on a path that is far away from what God has planned for us. And, sadly, it is often the case that when we find ourselves in a place of difficulty, there through our own choices, we then turn to God for the guidance that we needed right at the beginning. Proverbs 14:12 reminds us, “There is a path before each person that seems right, but it ends in death“. 

To be able to trust in someone, we need to get to a place where we can find something in that person that inspires that trust. I trust in my wife of many years because I have come to know her and have experienced her wisdom on many occasions. I know her Godly ways and her willingness to spend long hours in prayer to find God’s will. So before any important decisions are made, I trust her to have the wisdom needed. But can I say the same thing about our politicians? But we won’t go down that rabbit trail today. There is only one way to say, as David did, that we trust in the Lord, and that is through spending time, a lot of time, with God, and trusting Him with everyday matters, in the process building up a relationship on which we can depend. We make sure that we honour and treasure our “Quiet Times” in God’s presence, reading His Word, and engaging Him in prayer. We bring before Him all the hassles and problems, the decisions to be made, our difficulties and stresses, that we face in the day ahead. 

God has made many promises to us. Let us consider one from Philippians 4:6-7, “Don’t worry about anything; instead, pray about everything. Tell God what you need, and thank him for all he has done. Then you will experience God’s peace, which exceeds anything we can understand. His peace will guard your hearts and minds as you live in Christ Jesus“. In another Psalm David wrote, “Once I was young, and now I am old. Yet I have never seen the godly abandoned or their children begging for bread” (Psalm 37:25). God said that He will supply all our needs and, as David said, if we look around at our fellow believers we see that this is indeed a true statement. But we do see those suffering around us as the result of choices influenced by their own understanding, tainted as it is by sin and a lack of wisdom. We pilgrims search out God’s promises in His Word and apply them in our daily lives, finding that God is indeed unchangeable and true to His Word.

When we trust in God, we are handing control of our lives to the One who knows what is best for us. God sees the End from the Beginning, and when Jesus asked His disciples if they wanted to leave Him, Peter replied, “ … Lord, to whom would we go? You have the words that give eternal life” (John 6:68). There is no other way to complete our journey through life. There is no other ideology, or doctrine, or religion, that will assure us a place in the Home our spirits desire. Only God knows the way we need to take in our lives and we trust Him in the process.

Dear Father God. We proclaim our trust in You today and every day. We praise and worship You. Amen.

Eternal Blessings

Posted on by korgrocker

“Your victory brings him great honour, and you have clothed him with splendour and majesty. You have endowed him with eternal blessings and given him the joy of your presence. For the king trusts in the Lord. The unfailing love of the Most High will keep him from stumbling.”
Psalm 21:5-7 NLT

David testified that God had “endowed him with eternal blessings”. But we need to unpack this a bit, and define what we mean by “blessings”. Our first though is to think about all the material things we have. Our houses and cars, clothes and food, jewellery and ornaments.  And then there are all the “toys” we men in particular enjoy, like cameras and computers, a football season ticket. The list is endless it seems. But none of these are eternal. They are all mostly artefacts that decline over time, and they certainly won’t survive the transition over the Great Divide. As we are only too aware, we arrived in this world with nothing and that is how we will exit it. There was a story, that was supposed to be a joke, that circulated in Christian circles some years ago about a businessman who persuaded God to allow him to take all his gold with him into Heaven. When he subsequently arrived at the Pearly Gates, St Peter asked him what he had in his bag. When the businessman explained and said it was all his earthly wealth, showing Peter all the gold bars and coins, Peter replied that there was no point in bringing that with him, because they only used it to pave the roads in Heaven. A silly story, but it makes the point that earthly wealth has no value, and is not a blessing in Heaven. Jesus warned about being overly obsessed with our material blessings when He said, “Don’t store up treasures here on earth, where moths eat them and rust destroys them, and where thieves break in and steal. Store your treasures in heaven, where moths and rust cannot destroy, and thieves do not break in and steal. Wherever your treasure is, there the desires of your heart will also be” (Matthew 6:19-21). Jesus went on to say, “No one can serve two masters. For you will hate one and love the other; you will be devoted to one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and be enslaved to money” (Matthew 6:24).

So, if eternal blessings are not the ones we enjoy on Planet Earth, what are they? To start with, these are not anything tangible, able to be traded as a commodity on our world stock markets. Put simply, our blessings are eternal only as far as our relationships with God allow. Romans 12:1-2, “And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him. Don’t copy the behaviour and customs of this world, but let God transform you into a new person by changing the way you think. Then you will learn to know God’s will for you, which is good and pleasing and perfect“. To experience eternal blessings, we need to know and understand the meaning of these verses and the impact they must have on the way we live our lives in the here and now. To look at this from the other perspective, if we have no relationship with God, then we will have no “eternal blessings“. And our “eternal blessings” start with Jesus, the greatest blessing of all.

Our treasures must be something we bank in Heaven, where they will be indestructible and in a place of security. We accumulate Heavenly treasure through the ways we live in our natural lives. This comes from establishing the importance of our relationship with Jesus. If it is as it should be then we will always be on the look out for ways to please Him in all we say and do. For example, every time we help someone, another item gets added to our Heavenly treasure chest. Our deposit account in Heaven builds every time we respond to Jesus in obedience and do the things He has asked of us. That even includes our working for a living – Paul wrote, “Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people. Remember that the Lord will give you an inheritance as your reward, and that the Master you are serving is Christ” (Colossians 3:23-24). 

Paul wrote that he was expecting a crown when he arrived in Heaven. “And now the prize awaits me—the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will give me on the day of his return. And the prize is not just for me but for all who eagerly look forward to his appearing (2 Timothy 4:8). In Revelation 22:12, Jesus said, “Look, I am coming soon, bringing my reward with me to repay all people according to their deeds“. 

‭‭We can experience “eternal blessings” even though we are not yet in Heaven, because we are children of God. Jesus taught His disciples while sitting on the side of a mountain, and we can read the blessings, the Beatitudes, in Matthew 5. The poor, mourners, humble, justice-seekers, merciful, pure, peacemakers, and the persecuted are all blessed and “the Kingdom of heaven is theirs”. But to sum up, the material things we crave for can never bring genuine happiness or contentment. True fulfilment can only be found in a relationship with God through His Son, Jesus Christ. Romans 5:1-2 to finish today. “Therefore, since we have been made right in God’s sight by faith, we have peace with God because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. Because of our faith, Christ has brought us into this place of undeserved privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to sharing God’s glory.”

Father God, we are grateful for the many blessings You have poured out on all Your people. We praise and worship You today. Amen.