King Forever

Posted on by korgrocker

“Break the arms of these wicked, evil people! Go after them until the last one is destroyed. The Lord is king forever and ever! The godless nations will vanish from the land. Lord, you know the hopes of the helpless. Surely you will hear their cries and comfort them. You will bring justice to the orphans and the oppressed, so mere people can no longer terrify them.”
Psalm 10:15-18 NLT

In the middle of another rant about wicked people and what the Psalmist would like God to do to them, we read, “The Lord is king forever and ever”. It is important that in the middle of our frustrations about God’s apparent lack of action with the evil around us, that we don’t lose our perspective. In the end, it’s not about us, or the apparent injustice we see in our nations and societies. We need to look up and see the Lord. In the time of a national crisis, Isaiah looked up. King Uzziah had just died, bringing a fear of political instability to Judah after a long reign of 52 years. Uzziah was one of the good kings and Isaiah, fearful of what the days ahead would bring, went to the Temple and there we read, “It was in the year King Uzziah died that I saw the Lord. He was sitting on a lofty throne, and the train of his robe filled the Temple” (Isaiah 6:1). Isaiah looked up beyond the circumstances around him, and, if we read on in Isaiah 6, we find that his encounter with the Lord transformed his life and ministry. 

We pilgrims yearn for the King to return and bring peace and His Kingdom to this war-torn world. We know that the Lord is King. We know that He is coming back to this world again, although we don’t know when. We know that He is the forever King, present since before the world was created. But instead of looking around at the “wicked evil people” as the Psalmist did, we need to look up and see the Lord. Isaiah’s encounter with the Lord in the Temple changed him for the rest of his life. He wrote, “Then I said, “It’s all over! I am doomed, for I am a sinful man. I have filthy lips, and I live among a people with filthy lips. Yet I have seen the King, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies”” (Isaiah 6:5). The Lord asked Isaiah, “Whom should I send as a messenger to this people? Who will go for us?” and his reply was, “Here I am. Send me”” (Isaiah 6:8). Instead of wallowing in fear and misery, paralysed through the potential instability of his nation, Isaiah became a messenger for the Lord to his people.

There is something significant about having a forever King. We often forget that, although we are living in this world, with all of its sin and evil, we are in all reality citizens of another world, the Kingdom of God. There the Lord is King forever. No evil. No wars and strife. And it is there we run to when we are in danger of being overwhelmed by the worldly events around us. It might be helpful if we stand up and say to ourselves something like “I choose today to step into the kingdom where the Lord is King” and then take a step forwards, looking up as we do. We never know, but we might, like Isaiah, see a vision of the Lord, “high and lifted up”. Where is our faith because with the Lord anything might happen?

When we look up, we find an opportunity to see what the wicked in this world look like to God. When we look up we also find ourselves looking forward to the time when God will bring justice to correct all the injustices that have ever gone unpunished. And when we look up, we see the King and our hearts melt in the warmth of His gaze, flowing with love and compassion. There is no better place to be than in the presence of our forever King.

Father God, please forgive us for our lack of vision and understanding. You are our forever King and we praise and worship You today. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Fate of Nations

Posted on by korgrocker

“The nations have fallen into the pit they dug for others. Their own feet have been caught in the trap they set. The Lord is known for his justice. The wicked are trapped by their own deeds. … The wicked will go down to the grave. This is the fate of all the nations who ignore God.”
Psalm 9:15-17 NLT

‭It is not just the wicked who end up in a grave, of course. We will all die one day and our physical remains will ultimately end up either in a grave or our ashes scattered where our families decide. Cheery subject to start the day, I know, but one that cannot be avoided, no matter how hard we try. So when David wrote about the “fate of all the nations”, he was stating the obvious. But other Bible versions substitute “grave” for “hell” or “Sheol”, and this makes more sense in the context of these verses. David writes that there are consequences for individuals and nations who “ignore God”, in that they will be trapped by the very tactics they use against others. I suppose the last world war comes to mind, with a militarily-aggressive Germany ultimately ending up as a defeated nation and its evil leader dead. The Nazi programmes against the Jews and others put the German government well into the “wicked” bracket and even those like Dietrich Bonhoeffer, who vocally opposed the evil being promoted, failed to turn round the wickedness present in that nation and at that time. The AMP version of Psalm 9:17 reads, “The wicked will turn to Sheol (the nether world, the place of the dead), Even all the nations who forget God”. 

But what is this “Sheol” (or “Hades” in the Greek), called the place of the dead? If the wicked nations end up there, will believers join them in the same place? Simplistically, Christian thought is that when we die, our spirits end up either in hell or Heaven. The story of the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16 gives some credence to this thought, with Lazarus, the poor man ending up with Abraham eating at the Heavenly banquet, and the Rich Man in a place of torment. Luke 16:23 (AMP), “In Hades (the realm of the dead), being in torment, he looked up and saw Abraham far away and Lazarus in his bosom (paradise)”. But whatever we believe, it is inconceivable that a wicked person or nation will ever end up in a place called Heaven or paradise, and that is what David wrote about the “fate of all nations who ignore God”. 

We UK residents are living in an increasingly secular society with Christians being marginalised by legislation at variance with what God has ordained in His Word. But there are also green shoots of a new move of God starting to emerge. In my home town of Dunfermline, in Scotland, there are some exciting things happening with new Christian groups emerging and some existing churches growing almost weekly with new converts and baptisms. And we thank God for His grace and favour, with believers providing a ground-swell of opposition to the ideologies and laws that promote rebellion against God but will not end well for their adherents and promoters. One day they will find themselves in Sheol, in the company of the Rich Man, even desperate, like him, to send a warning back to those they left behind, colleagues or family members living a life ignoring God.

We pilgrims probably will never fully appreciate the impact we have on our societies as we continue as salt and light, beacons of hope in a Godless nation. We look to Jesus, as we read in Hebrews 12:2a, “We do this by keeping our eyes on Jesus, the champion who initiates and perfects our faith …”. And we extend God’s love and grace to those around us, who are journeying to a lost eternity.

Dear Father God. Not for us to be a part of a Godless people who will end up in a place they don’t want to be. Please encourage and empower us to spread Your Gospel each and every day. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Unforgettable Deeds

Posted on by korgrocker

“Sing praises to the Lord who reigns in Jerusalem. Tell the world about his unforgettable deeds. For he who avenges murder cares for the helpless. He does not ignore the cries of those who suffer.”
Psalm 9:11-12 NLT

The problem about what people do in their lives is that most of them are forgettable. They quickly disappear into the mists of time, with very few lasting legacies. Occasionally a “deed” is remembered and is recorded in the history books. Something like Sir Alexander Fleming’s discovery of penicillin. Or when Martin Luther affixed a document with his 95 Theses to a church door in Saxony over five hundred years ago, starting the Protestant Reformation. Florence Nightingale is remembered for her compassionate deeds caring for wounded soldiers in the Crimean war. But there are dark and wicked deeds that are remembered today. Deeds committed by evil men such as Hitler or Stalin. 

But what about God’s “unforgettable deeds”? The most well remembered deed committed by God was the time when His Son Jesus was crucified two thousand years ago in propitiation for our sins. Jesus took on Himself the punishment for the sins committed by human beings, past, present and future. A single act of love and grace that has secured the future of the human race as God intended – in His presence for eternity. Of course, this is only if people respond to this “unforgettable deed” in faith, confessing and repenting of their sins and receiving God’s forgiveness. And that is the issue for any of God’s “unforgettable deeds” – it is the way we respond to them. If we read about all that God has done for us and then walk away with a “that’s nice” and promptly forget what He has done, then there will be consequences that could affect us for ever. The Bible is packed full of God’s “unforgettable deeds”, and it is only as we read about them and believe them, that they will benefit us and bring about an ever closer alignment between God and ourselves. 

The Psalmist, David, continued to declare God’s righteousness and compassion. Those who commit murder will face consequences because He cannot, because He is righteous, allow such a crime to go unpunished. We think of all the murders that are committed every day in the UK, with unborn children having their lives terminated at the whim of parents, an act of murder carried out by medical professionals. David wrote that God “cares for the helpless” and He will avenge their murder. A truly sobering thought. And regarding people who have already been born, Open Doors has recorded that 4476 Christians world-wide were murdered for their faith last year. And that’s the ones they know about. God “cares for the helpless” and He will avenge their murder. In our sin-ridden world, God’s care extends beyond the grave and one day the murderers will be held to account.

So we pilgrims pick up our Bibles and read, and read. It is an amazing Book packed full of God’s “unforgettable deeds” and the Holy Spirit will reveal to us time and time again all that God has done for us. Of His goodness and mercy there is no end. David started verse 11 with the exhortation to sing praises to the Lord. One day the Lord Jesus will rule and reign in Jerusalem – we know that because we have read to the end of the Book. Will we be counted in the New Jerusalem’s population? Of course we will and we praise the One who made it all possible by the most famous of all of God’s “unforgettable deeds”.

Dear God. Thank You for Your Son Jesus, who has indeed done it all for us. Amen.

Trouble and Strife

Posted on by korgrocker

“My enemies retreated; they staggered and died when you appeared. For you have judged in my favour; from your throne you have judged with fairness. You have rebuked the nations and destroyed the wicked; you have erased their names forever. The enemy is finished, in endless ruins; the cities you uprooted are now forgotten.”
Psalm 9:3-6 NLT

Why is it that so many of the Psalms contain references to “enemies”? David often brought his enemies before God with a request that they be judged and dealt with, leaving him vindicated. And he continued to pray for judgements and punishments to extend beyond his boundaries into the adjacent nations. The political situation in David’s days was volatile and has continued unchanged right up to the 21st Century, with the Middle East being a hot bed of factions and different political interests, with nations, and even people groups within the nations, striving with each other and at times descending into extremes of violence. External influences stoke up the flames of discord and hatred, raising them to intolerable levels, with violence viewed with puzzlement by peoples in other parts of the world. The nations and borders might have changed since David was king in Israel but the strife has continued across the generations almost as though the very ground in that part of the world is cursed. 

Of course, the glib answer to the Middle East’s problems is laid at the door of sin, and the enemy who introduced it to the world, in the Garden, itself being located in an adjacent area, so some have thought, near the Tigris and Euphrates rivers in Southern Mesopotamia. But whatever the geography, the very fact that there are people regarded as “enemies” indicates that sin is present. David expected God to be his arbiter and rule in his favour, and his writings describe both real and imagined Godly judgement, with punishments meted out on his “enemies” and even their infrastructure.

It is true that God has judged sin and wickedness in the past – think about the situations in the days of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Noah – but does He do that today? Paul wrote in Romans 3:23, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard”. From that perspective, does God therefore favour one people over another, and bring judgement to bear in these modern times? But introduce into that scenario the following verses in Romans 3, “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” (Romans 3:24-26). Sinners have been redeemed by the blood of Jesus, and now stand righteous in God’s presence. This elevates us into a different kingdom, God’s Kingdom, and introduces a different emphasis, as we read in Ephesians 6:12, “For 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”. Two kingdoms emerge, the kingdom of the world which contains all unredeemed peoples wherever they live, and God’s Kingdom where His people are united through His love and grace. We have weapons of defence and one of offence, all of which can keep us safe from our enemies, should we choose to use them as God has ordained. 

We pilgrims read what David wrote all those years ago and superimpose over his words the principles and perspectives of the Kingdom of which we are a part. We have a Judge who rules with righteousness and love, with mercy and grace, and who will ultimately deal with the sin and sinful people that has polluted this world. We might not see a solution to the battles taking place in the Middle East in our earthly lifetime, but we will one day see all wickedness and evil being dealt with, and banished forever. 

Dear God. You are the righteous Judge, who will fairly deal with all human beings one day. We pilgrims thank You that, although sinners, we have been redeemed by Your Son, Jesus, and can come before You covered over with Jesus’ righteousness. Thank You for the miracle of Your grace and love. Amen.

Praise the Lord!

Posted on by korgrocker

“I will praise you, Lord, with all my heart; I will tell of all the marvellous things you have done. I will be filled with joy because of you. I will sing praises to your name, O Most High.”
Psalm 9:1-2 NLT

Another Davidic Psalm from the Bible’s song and prayer book. These two verses contain words such as “praise”, “tell”, “filled”, “joy”, and “sing”. These are all words that are not very common in the secular society around us. Unbelievers won’t experience the joy of being able to praise God. They won’t appreciate the “marvellous things” God has done. They won’t be making their ways to work this morning humming a hymn tune or singing His praises in their hearts. I can remember some years ago walking through an underpass under the River Thames in London and many people were hurrying the other way, heading for work. I was struck by the tight and drawn look on the faces of most of them. No joy visible. No lightness and freedom present. The best efforts of a busker largely ignored. Just people existing in a Godless environment, shackled to a secular world where there is no God worthy of praises, able to fill them with joy. 

In 1 Kings 8:23, Solomon starts his prayer of dedication with, “ … O Lord, God of Israel, there is no God like you in all of heaven above or on the earth below. You keep your covenant and show unfailing love to all who walk before you in wholehearted devotion”. The Psalmists were scathing about those who denied the existence of God. Psalm 52:1, “Only fools say in their hearts, “There is no God.” They are corrupt, and their actions are evil; not one of them does good!” It is so sad that all those people who do not know God, who have not ever experienced the joy of salvation, who have never seen the marvellous works created by God, and who have no song of praise to sing, just exist without hope, heading for a lost eternity.

At the start of this day, we pause and step through the door into another Kingdom, where we find God in all His glory. Where we focus on praising Him. Where we feel His joy filling our hearts. Where we feel His touch and His Spirit bringing reassurance and guidance for the day ahead. And as our time with Him draws to an end, we step back into our monochrome world but bringing the colour of knowing God into the dark places of hopeless souls. People with no hope who are desperate to hear some Good News. Where the “marvellous things” of God will be able to penetrate their hardened hearts. In the Old Testament we read about Moses having to wear a veil, because His face radiated the glory of God. “When Moses came down Mount Sinai carrying the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn’t aware that his face had become radiant because he had spoken to the Lord. … But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he would remove the veil until he came out again. Then he would give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him, and the people of Israel would see the radiant glow of his face. So he would put the veil over his face until he returned to speak with the Lord” (Exodus 34:29, 34-35). As we pilgrims emerge from our time with God, do we have radiant faces. Are we glowing with the presence of the Lord? Perhaps those around us will see God in us, in our faces, and will feel within themselves something lighten up. And they might even ask us why. Why are we so joyful when circumstances dictate otherwise? We have an answer to that question, in the person of Jesus. Only He has the words of eternal life. Only He is the Way, the Truth and the Life. And we pilgrims, shining like beacons in a dark and dismal world, can introduce the hopeless and depressed around us to our wonderful Saviour.

Dear Lord Jesus. We praise and worship You, the Giver of life to the lifeless, the Giver of hope to the hopeless, and the Giver of salvation to all who come to You in faith and repentance. Thank You. Amen.

End the Evil

Posted on by korgrocker

“End the evil of those who are wicked, and defend the righteous. For you look deep within the mind and heart, O righteous God.”
Psalm 7:9 NLT

Wouldn’t it be nice if evil could be banished from this world. We look around at global events, and see the wars and strife that decimate nations. As I write, the war in Ukraine continues. The Middle East appears constantly in the news, as one nation, faction or religious group battles against another. Evil people doing evil things to other evil people. There seems no let up in the wickedness present in this world. We yearn for the day prophesised by Isaiah, when he wrote, “The Lord will mediate between nations and will settle international disputes. They will hammer their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will no longer fight against nation, nor train for war anymore”(Isaiah 2:4). 

But then we look closer to home and see the evil present in our societies. Communities blighted by drugs. People dying at the hands of drunk drivers. Children abused. Fights at football matches. The list seems endless. Wouldn’t it be nice if evil could be banished from this world.

But then we perhaps stop to think about ourselves, and the evil thoughts that emerge from time to time in our minds, redeemed even as they are. Perhaps we echo what Paul wrote in Romans 7:23-24, “But there is another power within me that is at war with my mind. This power makes me a slave to the sin that is still within me. Oh, what a miserable person I am! Who will free me from this life that is dominated by sin and death?” We find ourselves in a place where we would dearly love to see the end of evil but accept that we are as much the problem as any other person. Thankfully, through Jesus, we have the remedy for our sin as we read on in Romans. “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 8:1-2). 

Jesus told a parable of the Wheat and the Tares, which we can find in Matthew 13, and which pictures a farmer planting good seed but the enemy comes along later and plants weeds. The wheat and the weeds grow together, and when the workers observed the weeds, they wanted to leap in and pull them all up. But the farmer asked them to wait until the harvest time, when the weeds could be separated from the wheat crop, and burnt. Applying that to today, God created human beings to be like Him (in His image) but the enemy, the devil, corrupted His creation (the Fall in the Garden). Through Jesus, believing and repentant people become the crop of the good seed but all those who prefer evil will be separated at the End of the Age.

There is another thought. If God removed all evil from the earth today, would there be anyone left? As Paul wrote, “For everyone has sinned; we all fall short of God’s glorious standard” (Romans 3:23). There is coming a time when evil will be dealt with, at the End of the Age. We don’t know when that will be, but happen it will. God sees what is going on in people’s hearts. He sees the righteous people saved and forgiven of their sins. But he also sees the hearts and minds of evil people, and takes note. God is righteous as well as loving. He wants all people to respond to His love and be saved from the judgement to come. But equally, He allows all those who prefer evil to continue in their ways. He created mankind with the ability to choose their destinies. 

Dear Father God. Sobering thoughts this morning. We come once again to the Cross, looking once again at our Saviour and asking for forgiveness. Not for us, Your children, the ways of evil. And we pray for both for domestic and world events, that You will hold back the tides of evil and protect Your people. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

God Judges

Posted on by korgrocker

“Arise, O Lord, in anger! Stand up against the fury of my enemies! Wake up, my God, and bring justice! Gather the nations before you. Rule over them from on high. The Lord judges the nations. Declare me righteous, O Lord, for I am innocent, O Most High!”
Psalm 7:6-8 NLT

People must think that David was either very brave or very stupid, speaking to God like that. We, of course, know intuitively that our Creator God cannot be ordered around like David was trying to do, but that didn’t seem to stop him having a good rant about divine justice being meted out on his enemies. David wanted God to become angry with his enemies and bring about a universal judgement of nations, all arraigned before Him. Oh, and in the process, David demanded that God declared him righteous and innocent.

But David wasn’t wrong in his expectations, because there is coming a day when God will judge the nations. It was just that David seemed to require an immediate Godly response, so we can perhaps instead consider a prophetic message here, embedded in David’s rant. But we mustn’t forget that God had judged the sin and wickedness prevalent in the earth before. We remember the Flood, Genesis 6:5-7, “The Lord observed the extent of human wickedness on the earth, and he saw that everything they thought or imagined was consistently and totally evil. So the Lord was sorry he had ever made them and put them on the earth. It broke his heart. And the Lord said, “I will wipe this human race I have created from the face of the earth. Yes, and I will destroy every living thing—all the people, the large animals, the small animals that scurry along the ground, and even the birds of the sky. I am sorry I ever made them””. God judged the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah, and we can read the account in Genesis 18 and 19. “So the Lord told Abraham, “I have heard a great outcry from Sodom and Gomorrah, because their sin is so flagrant”(Genesis 18:20). “Then the Lord rained down fire and burning sulphur from the sky on Sodom and Gomorrah. He utterly destroyed them, along with the other cities and villages of the plain, wiping out all the people and every bit of vegetation” (Genesis 19:24-25).

Has God judged peoples today? There is the reality of what God’s present judgement looks like in Romans 1. Here are some extracts, “But God shows his anger from heaven against all sinful, wicked people who suppress the truth by their wickedness. … So God abandoned them to do whatever shameful things their hearts desired. As a result, they did vile and degrading things with each other’s bodies.  … Since they thought it foolish to acknowledge God, he abandoned them to their foolish thinking and let them do things that should never be done. Their lives became full of every kind of wickedness, sin, greed, hate, envy, murder, quarrelling, deception, malicious behaviour, and gossip. … They know God’s justice requires that those who do these things deserve to die, yet they do them anyway. Worse yet, they encourage others to do them, too” (Romans 1:18, 24, 28-29, 32). Persistent and wicked people will be abandoned by God, and we can read the consequences in Romans 2:5-6, “But because you are stubborn and refuse to turn from your sin, you are storing up terrible punishment for yourself. For a day of anger is coming, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. He will judge everyone according to what they have done”. 

David asked God to wake up and deal with his enemies. But God is very much awake and is storing up all the information needed for that terrible day when everyone, without exception, will come before Him and be judged. Thankfully, God is extremely patient, as Paul wrote in Romans 2:4, “Don’t you see how wonderfully kind, tolerant, and patient God is with you? Does this mean nothing to you? Can’t you see that his kindness is intended to turn you from your sin?”‭‭ And that’s the issue. God wants no-one to perish and end up in hell, and He has allowed a life span for mankind to respond to Him in repentance. Once the last breath is taken a person will find that, for them, God’s patience has expired.

God judged people through the Flood and Sodom and Gomorrah, but He also judges today by abandoning people to the consequences of their wickedness in their lives on earth.

So, we pilgrims must never give up in sharing with others the Good News about Jesus. Only He can forgive our sins – there is no other name through which we can be saved. 

Dear Lord Jesus. Thank You for Calvary and Your willingness to die for mankind so that whosoever believes in You will inherit eternal life. We are so grateful, and we pray for our friends and family, that they too will find the narrow gate that leads to life. In Your precious name. Amen. 

Betrayal and Justice

Posted on by korgrocker

“O Lord my God, if I have done wrong or am guilty of injustice, if I have betrayed a friend or plundered my enemy without cause, then let my enemies capture me. Let them trample me into the ground and drag my honour in the dust.”
Psalm 7:3-5 NLT

Psalm 7 continues with David apparently still in a hard place, bothered with his conscience, persecuted by those around him, and desperately seeking God for rescue and His protection. But he started to do what we all do at times – he looked for a cause for his distress. Have we ever been in a place where the Heavens seem like brass and we feel that our prayers never reach God? Have we ever been in a place riven by troubles and wondered where God has gone. Perhaps we are in a place like the Psalmist when he wrote, “Day and night I have only tears for food, while my enemies continually taunt me, saying, “Where is this God of yours?”” (Psalms 42:3). A place that perhaps feels like David’s “darkest valley”. 

David wondered if there was something that he had done that had made God withdraw from him, and so he asked God if he had done anything wrong. Had he treated someone unjustly? Had he betrayed a friend? Had he behaved in a way to his enemies that wasn’t right? If he had done any of these things, then David invited God to let things happen to him that would count as punishment for his misdemeanours, justice for his crimes.

But thanks to Jesus, we know that God doesn’t treat us in that way. Paul wrote, “When we were utterly helpless, Christ came at just the right time and died for us sinners. … But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners” (Romans 5:6, 8). In Romans 8 we read, “Can anything ever separate us from Christ’s love? Does it mean he no longer loves us if we have trouble or calamity, or are persecuted, or hungry, or destitute, or in danger, or threatened with death? … 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” (Romans 8:35, 38).

So when we find ourselves in a dark place, seemingly a long way away from God, is it God who has withdrawn from us? Of course not. He is always there for us, His loving kindness, grace and mercy beyond measure. And so once again we seek Calvary’s cross, where we look into the face of our wonderful Saviour, Jesus. There, as we cast off our burdens of sin before Him, we find once again a right relationship with God and comfort in our times of trouble. Refreshed and restored, we can prayerfully face into the issues troubling us, with God providing the care and support that we need.

Dear Lord God. Nothing can separate us from Your love. Please help us to live in the light of that every day of our lives. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

The Finality of Death

Posted on by korgrocker

“Return, O Lord, and rescue me. Save me because of your unfailing love. For the dead do not remember you. Who can praise you from the grave?”
Psalm 6:4-5 NLT

A grim subject to write about this morning, and not one that is a popular discussion point in every day life. Death is a certainty. No-one will escape its clutches. Human beings get to a point in life when their bodies wear out and they die, and David was aware of that because he took pains to remind God of the fact. David seemed to be afraid of his enemies and prayed for rescue and salvation from death, a common prayer by anyone in fear of mortal danger. News is coming in this morning of a plane crash in South Korea with many deaths resulting. Those people would have cried out to God for rescue, whether they knew Him or not. But most people (over 90%) die peacefully in their sleep, having fulfilled their “three score years and ten” or even more if they have the strength. 

David reminded God that dead people cannot praise Him, and that is the issue. We have a short span of life available to us during which we can offer God our praise and worship. A time when we can communicate with Him, thank Him, love Him, serve Him and enjoy Him, as the Westminster Catechism records. But inevitably there will come a time when this opportunity will pass. As we read the Davidic Psalms, we can see that David had a relationship with God, birthed in the long hours while he watched his father’s sheep. Times when he praised and worshipped God with his harp, finding the sweet spot of relational bliss with his Creator. He knew that God loved him. He knew that God supplied his needs, and he knew that he could communicate directly through his prayers and conversation with his Lord. But in this moment of crisis, he appeared to be facing into death, and was appealing to God for rescue. 

We know that there comes a time when our physical bodies die and are disposed of as being of no further use to us. Most people think that there is something going to happen after we die, and there are some strange theories about what that is. We have incarnation, where we return in a different body. Some believe that everyone goes to a place they call Heaven. Others believe that when people die they enter a period of blackness, the ultimate finality. But the Bible tells us that when we die, our spirits live on and end up in a holding place we call Heaven or hell. Jesus told a story about the Rich Man and Lazarus in Luke 16, and from the conversation Jesus had with the adjacent penitent thief at Calvary, we know that there is a place called paradise awaiting us. So the question facing into mankind is, without exception, “Where will your spirit go after you die?” We pilgrims have made the right choice, because we are children of God. But what about those around us, who perhaps have yet to make a decision, and for whom the clock is ticking? In Acts 2:40 we read, “Then Peter continued preaching for a long time, strongly urging all his listeners, “Save yourselves from this crooked generation!”” And these words still reverberate today, as we repeat them to the lost and dying around us. The most important choice that a human being can make is about their post-death future. 

Dear Father God, please lead us to those who are open to Your Gospel, and are waiting for someone to share what You have done for us. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

Controlling Anger

Posted on by korgrocker

“Don’t sin by letting anger control you. Think about it overnight and remain silent. Offer sacrifices in the right spirit, and trust the Lord.”
Psalm 4:4-5 NLT

There is much to be angry about in today’s society, just as there was in David’s. Today, as we interface with the fellow members of society around us, we inevitably come up against situations that have the potential to make us angry. We watch a news report, or read a social media post, and feel the anger starting to well up within us. Operating a motor vehicle can always have the potential to initiate a personal angry episode, as we observe the behaviour of other drivers. But it’s ok to be angry – we just need to make sure it doesn’t get to the point where it controls us. To be clear, if the anger we feel is negatively influencing our attitudes and actions, then it is controlling us, and that is sin.

Jesus became angry one day with the behaviour of the people in the synagogue. We can read the account in Mark 3:3, 5, “Jesus went into the synagogue again and noticed a man with a deformed hand.  … He looked around at them angrily and was deeply saddened by their hard hearts. Then he said to the man, “Hold out your hand.” So the man held out his hand, and it was restored!” But Jesus didn’t let His anger about the unbelief present in the people control Him. Instead, it led to a sadness about how or why people should have hearts hardened against the wonderful miracles that were possible with God. And His anger resulted in a positive outcome, particularly for the man with the deformed hand. On another occasion, Jesus became angry with a situation that had brought so much distress to the people He loved. John 11:33, “When Jesus saw her weeping and saw the other people wailing with her, a deep anger welled up within him, and he was deeply troubled“. Again, Jesus didn’t let His anger control Him. Instead He did something about the situation that turned mourning into joy. John 11:43-44, “Then Jesus shouted, “Lazarus, come out!” And the dead man came out, his hands and feet bound in graveclothes, his face wrapped in a headcloth. Jesus told them, “Unwrap him and let him go!””. 

The Psalmist David brought us good advice in Psalm 4 about anger. When faced with a situation that causes us to be angry, he wrote, don’t react straight away. Instead, go away and think about it, preferably overnight. Get before God and ask for His perspective, and trust Him to bring about a righteous conclusion. When we become angry about something we face, perhaps an injustice or similar, we should ask God what he wants us to do about it. And if it is beyond our ability to bring about a remedy, then we should pray and ask God to deal with it. But if we do that, we should really leave it with Him, and not repeatedly pull the situation back, chew over it, and get angry again. David’s advice was timeless – we should, in the “right spirit and trust the Lord”.

Father God. When we face into the injustices of life, please help us to channel our anger righteously and in accordance with Your will and purposes. In Jesus’ precious name.. Amen.