Thrills

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“You thrill me, Lord, with all you have done for me! 
I sing for joy because of what you have done. 
O Lord, what great works you do! 
And how deep are your thoughts. 
Only a simpleton would not know, 
and only a fool would not understand this: 
Though the wicked sprout like weeds 
and evildoers flourish, 
they will be destroyed forever.”
Psalms‬ ‭92:4-7‬ ‭NLT‬‬

That’s a great word describing the impact God has on us – “thrill”. So I start by asking two questions this morning – what has God done for us, and has the impact thrilled us? Personally, I can remember life events that I refer back to time and time again, with a thankful heart. With a deep gratitude to God for His provision in a dire time of need. And I can remember, particularly after one event, an emotional surge of thankfulness that fell into the “thrill” category. But we can’t go through life looking for the thrills, sudden bursts of fairground-like emotions – day by day He constantly watches over us and the Holy Spirit nudges us when we need to change direction or change a decision. We cannot fail to be thrilled by a God, the Creator of everything, who so intimately cares for each one of us, even to the extent of counting and numbering all the hairs on our heads! And the Psalmist continues with a song of joy, spontaneously bursting out from a thrilling experience. It is a good exercise to sit down with a paper and pencil and list all the “great works” God has done, not just for us, but for our families and friends as well. And we can rejoice and be thrilled by them too. The Psalmist also refers to God’s thoughts – now there’s a whole new dimension. How can we know God’s thoughts? The Apostle Paul, in his first letter to the Corinthians, finished the second chapter with this verse, “For, “Who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to teach him?” But we understand these things, for we have the mind of Christ.” So through our relationship with Jesus we can know His thoughts – not completely of course, but we can gain a glimpse  of what God is thinking, in the knowledge too that all His thoughts will line up with what He has said in His Word.

The Psalmist ends these verses today with a reference to a “simpleton” and a “fool”. Strong words describing someone who rejects God by behaving in an unacceptable way, not realising that one day, in spite of their apparent earthly successes, they will be destroyed. Sometimes that will happen in this life, but it will surely happen in the life to come. One day the “wicked” will stand before His throne of judgement.

So where do these verses leave us. I would say in the knowledge of the stark and even extreme dichotomy between God’s way and a godless way. There is no middle ground.

The ‘Gods’

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“God presides in the great assembly; 
     He renders judgment among the ‘gods’: 
‘How long will you defend the unjust 
     and show partiality to the wicked? 
‘The “gods” know nothing, they understand nothing. 
They walk about in darkness; 
     all the foundations of the earth are shaken. 
Rise up, O God, judge the earth, 
     for all the nations are Your inheritance.”
Psalms‬ ‭82:1-2, 5, 8‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

This is a strange Psalm, short but open to different interpretations. But a linguistic, theological and academic study, though interesting, is unhelpful for the punters like us living on Planet Earth. What was in the mind of the Psalmist, Asaph, when he wrote this?

Reading it I get the picture of our Heavenly Father dispensing judgement in true righteousness and purity, against the tendency of human traits to practice partiality and to favour injustice. The reference in the NIV to ‘gods’ could mean the involvement of angelic beings or prominent human figures from long ago, or be a more topical reference to demagogic leaders pursuing a popularity ticket. But however we choose to define the meaning of ‘gods’, the object of their unfairness and partiality impacts those who are least able to defend themselves in the world they find themselves. As Christians we have a responsibility to adhere to God’s laws and dispense His righteousness in the communities and societies in which we live. And this will mean a counter-cultural emphasis in the way we treat the least able members of our societies. 

The Psalmist ends his short dissertation with an appeal for God to judge the earth. That is not a reference to the inert substance on which we stand, but to the peoples who stand on it with us. One day everyone will face judgement. A weary Asaph wanted it to happen quickly. He wanted God to “rise up”, to wake up and be God in His capacity as the ultimate Judge. And in the process purifying His inheritance, the nations. It has been said that there are two certainties in life – death and taxes. To this I will add a third this morning – judgement. One day everyone will stand before God to give an account of their lives. A sobering thought that should help us in the ways we view those who live around us. But not from a position of fearfulness, but one of faith in the righteousness of our Heavenly Father, as we, His people, call on His grace and mercy.

The Slippery Path

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Truly God is good to Israel, to those whose hearts are pure. 
But as for me, I almost lost my footing. 
My feet were slipping, and I was almost gone. 
For I envied the proud when I saw them prosper despite their wickedness. 
Did I keep my heart pure for nothing? 
Did I keep myself innocent for no reason? 
I get nothing but trouble all day long; every morning brings me pain. 
Then I went into your sanctuary, O God,
and I finally understood the destiny of the wicked.”
Psalms‬ ‭73:1-3, 13-14, 17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

A new Psalmist appears on the block – a guy called Asaph. And straight away he sets out his dilemma. In modern parlance, he lives his life God’s way, but experiences the same hassles and challenges in life as everyone else. But here was his rub – those he categorised as “wicked” were having a good time, better than his. They were prosperous and healthy. They didn’t seem to have the same difficulties in life that he did. You can almost imagine his thoughts behind the more measured tone of his writings. “Hey God! It’s not fair! I live a life Your way but all these people who don’t are better off than I am”. 

Two things strike me. Firstly it is his honesty. He wasn’t afraid of laying before God the apparent unfairness and injustices of life. Secondly, what he experienced hasn’t changed from his day. We look around us today and see the same quandary. The gap between the rich and poor seems to ever widen. The rich are having a good time, superficially at least. The poor are not.

Asaph laid out before God the apparent inequity and injustice of a Godly life when compared with the life lived by godless people. He tried to get his mind around the reasons that would seem to favour the lives of those who denied the very relevance and existence of God. He felt his peers, fellow Godly people, were confused about the situation too. You see, his expectation was that God would zap these wicked people and get rid of them because of their arrogance and conduct. “Why, God, are You allowing them to get away with it!”, might have been his cry. Still perplexed, he wanders into the temple and all of a sudden, everything becomes clear. He gets God’s perspective and it breaks through his growing bitterness, bringing a new dawn of understanding and relief into his thinking. What had changed? He realised that people cannot get away with living in a wicked, anti-God, way for ever. There will come a time of reckoning. He finally understood there will be a time for God’s judgement, but for now it was a time for God’s grace.

It is the same today. Sadly, so many people live a life without any appreciation of their Creator God. And they don’t seem to suffer for it. But they have totally missed the reality that God exists and one day they will stand before Him. And claiming ignorance will not be a defence. God’s grace will have been available to them all their lives but they have rejected it and turned away into a Godless existence.

Asaph finally understands and in God’s warm embrace he writes, “Whom have I in heaven but you? I desire you more than anything on earth. My health may fail, and my spirit may grow weak, but God remains the strength of my heart; he is mine forever.” And I echo those words this morning. Please join me in praising and thanking our wonderful and glorious God.

Judgement

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Therefore, let all the godly pray to You while there is still time, that they may not drown in the floodwaters of judgment.” Psalms‬ ‭32:6‬ ‭NLT‬‬

We live in an age of climate change. Whether or not we agree that global warming is caused through man’s actions, there seems to be evidence that the world is getting warmer. And there is a consequence in that sea levels are rising through the melting of the North and South ice caps. In addition, we also seem to be experiencing extreme weather events – droughts in some places but floods in others. Just over the past few weeks there have been severe floods resulting in loss of life in Europe and India. As in Noah’s day, such events underpin the reality that our lives and circumstances are things we cannot rely on. In one earthly day all will be well, but the next could be a disaster waiting to happen. An unduly negative view or the reality of life today? Thankfully there is a way to obtain life assurance, and insurance, by heeding the verse we have read today. It advises the godly (and the ungodly as well) to make their peace with God while they have that opportunity. Before their lives are snuffed out in the “floodwaters of judgement”, launching them into a future in which the choice about the location of their eternal home will be removed.

The philosopher and mathematician, Blaise Pascal, once said, “If I believe in God and life after death and you do not, and if there is no God, we both lose when we die. However, if there is a God, you still lose and I gain everything.” I know that God is alive and real, and so I would encourage you this morning to, “Seek the LORD while you can find him. Call on him now while he is near.” (Isaiah 55:6). You won’t regret it.