The Fourth Dimension

Posted on by korgrocker

“And may you have the power to understand, as all God’s people should, how wide, how long, how high, and how deep His love is.”
Ephesians 3:18 NLT

Another verse with that “power” word. Some would question how a helpless prisoner could write about power. But that would be because they don’t understand anything about God’s power and what He had planned for Paul’s life. In this verse Paul was praying that God’s people would grasp how extensive and complete God’s love is, but Paul thought that God’s power would be required to help them understand.

We live in a three-dimensional world. If we pick up any object we can see that it has length, height and depth. Three dimensions. If we consider our homes, they have three dimensions – length, height and depth. We have transport systems that switch between two-dimensional and three-dimensional travel, for example an aircraft. And in this technical age we have very clever computer apps that are able to design three dimensional objects and then we have 3D printers that will manufacture them. Amazing! But our physical world is just how God designed and created it, in three dimensions. 

But in our verse today, it was as though Paul was introducing a fourth dimension. He wrote about width, length, height and depth. So what did he mean? Was it just a repetitive slip of his pen? Or did he have something else in mind, in his thoughtful prayer? Something else relevant and to do with God’s love? 

I’m sure the theologians have their answers, but for me I believe Paul was saying something significant about God’s power. Whatever we think, or the Ephesians thought, there is something about God’s love that is, well, just complete. It is so extensive that we will never totally understand it, and then by a huge margin. It has depths that we will never be able to plumb. It has height that is unmeasurable. It has width that extends across every human being who has ever lived, or who is yet to come. Our world is permeated by God’s love. But this fourth dimension? I believe that this is eternity. For me, Paul was describing a love that was not only unmeasurable in our three dimensional space, but was with us for all time, for eternity. 

And so it is today. We pilgrims are traveling through an amazing cosmos. We have all that we need for physical life – air, water, food etc. – but we also have all that we need for our spiritual life. And it starts and ends with God’s love. I imagine it to be all around us like oxygen but for our very spirits. It is there all around us, but we cannot see it with our physical senses. It’s not something we can measure. But God’s love is so extensive and complete that words cannot describe it. Was that Paul’s difficulty as he wrote this verse from the confines of his mind, from the confines of his prison cell? We received a glimpse of God’s love at Calvary, when His Son, Jesus, gave His life for us, for the redemption of our sins. And the same love is still around us today. Seasoned with God’s grace. Disseminated by the Holy Spirit. Covering us day by day. And all we have to do is take deep spiritual breaths to receive it. No wonder in that prison cell, as the enormity of God’s love suddenly hit him, that Paul fell to his knees. What else could he do before our truly loving God? And the same for us. What else can we do? And on our knees we humbly express our praise and thanks, worshipping at His feet. 

In our pilgrimage through life, we do so, rubbing shoulders with our fellow members of society, with our family, with our friends. But do we individually bask in a God-love-bubble? In splendid isolation, keeping His love just to ourselves? There’s something about God’s love that has to be shared. We are wired to spread this love to those around us, the unloved, the lonely, the weary, the spiritually starving. There is something within us that bursts to tell others. We can’t keep it in. So in our war-torn world, we do what Jesus said, we love our enemies. We love the unlovely. Warts and all. And perhaps, through us, they too will feel the love of God in all its width, its height, its length, its depth; the oxygen of God’s Spirit infusing into their very own souls as well as ours. Jackie Pulling is quoted as saying, “God wants us to have soft hearts and hard feet. The trouble with so many of us is that we have hard hearts and soft feet”. She explained that we need to have soft hearts to love people, and hard feet to keep on loving them. Let us pray that we too have soft hearts, with the power to understand “How deep [God’s] love is“.

Loving God

Posted on by korgrocker

“O God-Enthroned in heaven, I lift my eyes toward You in worship.
The way I love You
    is like the way a servant wants to please his master,
    the way a maid waits for the orders of her mistress.
    We look to you, our God, with passionate longing
    to please You and discover more of Your mercy and grace.
For we’ve had more than our fill of this scoffing and scorn—
    this mistreatment by the wealthy elite.
    Lord, show us Your mercy!
    Lord, show us Your grace!”
Psalm 123:1-4 TPT

How would we describe how we love God? Wanting to please Him? As a servant waits for instructions? With passionate longing? Wanting to discover more of His “mercy and grace“? The very nature of this Psalm exposes the dichotomy between those that love God and those that don’t. Between those that have an intimate relationship with Him and those who would deny His very presence. But we who are His children love Him. How do we love Him? As it says in Deuteronomy 5:6, “And you must love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, and all your strength.” A completeness surpassing all other loves. A commitment surpassing all other commitments. A relationship surpassing all other relationships. We love God. There is no alternative.

Amazingly, God loved us before we even knew Him. Romans 5:8 says,  “But God showed his great love for us by sending Christ to die for us while we were still sinners.” He showed us a love that transcends anything His creation can devise or implement. Any response from us cannot even register on the Richter scale of what love means. But we try. We respond to God as best we can, but how? We are drawn to Him by the Holy Spirit that dwells within us, but there’s more.

The Apostle John understood more than anyone about God’s love. He was the disciple that Jesus loved (John 13:23). And it was a love that transformed his life. We read in his first epistle (1 John 4:11-13 from the Passion Translation), “Delightfully loved ones, if he loved us with such tremendous love, then “loving one another” should be our way of life! No one has ever gazed upon the fullness of God’s splendour. But if we love one another, God makes his permanent home in us, and we make our permanent home in him, and his love is brought to its full expression in us. And he has given us his Spirit within us so that we can have the assurance that he lives in us and that we live in him.” We can’t get away from it, folks – because God first loved us, we can only respond by loving one another. And John said that when we love one another, God makes a permanent home in us. Sadly, the world would say that the only person worth loving is ourselves. No home or even a room for God there.

In our Psalm, the writer briefly shifts his adoring gaze away from God onto those around him, the God-deniers, who scoff and scorn. On our pilgrimage through life we will find plenty of them. And not just the “wealthy and elite“. And the Psalmist was so desirous to respond to God in the correct way, that he cries out for grace and mercy. And we echo his call – O Lord, please show us more of Your grace and mercy so that we can love others. Amen.

Being Double-minded

Posted on by korgrocker

“I hate double-minded people,
but I love Your law.”
Psalm 119:113 NIV

Two strong, emotionally-charged, words come out in this verse – “love” and “hate”. In meaning, they are opposites. But in the context of this verse what is the connection between being double-minded and God’s law? Is the implication something to do with the reality that we must be single-minded when it comes to following God and His ways? Is being “double-minded” something that is at odds with a Godly life?

First of all, what does “double-minded” mean? One dictionary definition says that “double-minded” means “wavering in mind, vacillating”. Perhaps we get some idea what these verses mean from James 1:6-8, “But when you ask, you must believe and not doubt, because the one who doubts is like a wave of the sea, blown and tossed by the wind. That person should not expect to receive anything from the Lord. Such a person is double-minded and unstable in all they do.” What James is describing here is a person who has divided loyalties. On the one hand he or she wants to follow God and His ways, but on the other hand they still want to live a worldly life. They are “double-minded”. 

But surely “hating” the “double-minded” isn’t right. I think the Psalmist uses such strong language to highlight the importance of not wanting to keep a foot in both camps. There is no middle ground. I think we have all seen videos of someone who has tried to step out of a small boat onto dry land, only to end up in the water because the boat wasn’t attached to the bank. It’s a bit like that – if we try and keep both feet dry, we will end up wet in a place we didn’t want to be! We need to “hate” the thought of trying to be two things at once. In Revelation we read about the message from Jesus to the Laodicean church. He said, “I know your deeds, that you are neither cold nor hot. I wish you were either one or the other! So, because you are lukewarm – neither hot nor cold – I am about to spit you out of my mouth“. Jesus used strong language in referring to double-minded people.

In our pilgrimage, we can’t afford to be double-minded. We have to press on towards the goal that Paul described in Philippians 3:14. If we persist in pursuing other goals we will fall by the wayside, unable to finish the race. The key in doing this is the second part of our verse in Psalm 119. The Psalmist said, “I love Your law.” Single-mindedly, we pursue God and His ways, sure of our destiny, keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus (Hebrews 3:1). There is no other way.

Evil for Good

Posted on by korgrocker

“O God, whom I praise,
don’t stand silent and aloof
while the wicked slander me
and tell lies about me.
They surround me with hateful words
and fight against me for no reason.
I love them, but they try to destroy me with accusations
even as I am praying for them!
They repay evil for good,
and hatred for my love.”
Psalm 109:1-5. NLT

David is being slandered by people telling lies about him. And he appeals to his Heavenly Advocate for vindication. He appeals to God Himself, that He will get involved in the injustice David is experiencing. David feels particularly aggrieved because the people he loves, the people he prays for, are all paying back his goodness to them with a wicked and evil response. And much of the Psalm is devoted to a list of what the evil people are saying about him and what they would like to do to him. 

I’m sure we have all been in a place where we think or feel that people are saying negative things about us. Those whispers and sidelong glances apparently pointed towards us in the office, at a party, in the school playground or on a university campus (for those of us young enough to remember!). It’s human nature to amplify what might not really be a negative situation or a problem into a full blown disaster, with our thinking extrapolating into worries that people might want to murder us, or slander us at the very least. And before we know it we retreat into a corner, behind our front doors, anywhere, away from the potential or imagined abuse that we’re suffering, to a place where we anxiously dwell on the injustices of life. Was David suffering from paranoia, or was there a real problem with his friends and relatives, with those people he knew? Either way, it doesn’t matter, because the attack upon him was to him very real.

What about us? Do we suffer from paranoia, or are we too experiencing all sorts of unmerited abuse? We can take a lesson from David and his life. Having listed all the abuse being lined up against him, he finishes the Psalm with this: “May my accusers be clothed with disgrace; may their humiliation cover them like a cloak. But I will give repeated thanks to the Lord, praising him to everyone. For he stands beside the needy, ready to save them from those who condemn them“. That’s the place we need to find. In the end it doesn’t matter what others think about us. For me, God is enough. He has told me, and still tells me, that He loves me. The Passion translation of the Bible translates 1 John 3:1 as, “Look with wonder at the depth of the Father’s marvellous love that he has lavished on us! He has called us and made us his very own beloved children.” Somehow, as we rest in our status as God’s children, it doesn’t matter much what others think of us. It’s what God thinks that matters. And He loves me.

Old 100th

Posted on by korgrocker

“Shout with joy to the Lord, all the earth! 
Worship the Lord with gladness. 
Come before Him, singing with joy. 
Acknowledge that the Lord is God! 
He made us, and we are His. 
We are His people, the sheep of His pasture. 
Enter His gates with thanksgiving; 
go into His courts with praise. 
Give thanks to Him and praise His name. 
For the Lord is good. 
His unfailing love continues forever, 
and His faithfulness continues to each generation.”
Psalms‬ ‭100:1-5‬ ‭NLT‬‬

The 100th Psalm. An icon in the Book of Psalms. A pillar of praising poetry that has passed the passage of time. Enriched by words such as “joy”, “gladness”, “praise”, “thanks”, “faithfulness” and “love”. All words expressing God’s character and our response. And the whole Psalm describes a relationship between our wonderful God and His people, you and me. So before Him we shout, we worship, we sing, we give thanks, we praise, and we bask in His love and faithfulness. There’s not much else to say about this Psalm. It is an essential part of the pilgrim’s library. A place to go to on the journey through life. A place where our souls can be refreshed in this topsy-turvy world. Let us all read it again this morning, eating and drinking soul-food beyond anything that the secular world around us can provide.

Vengeance

Posted on by korgrocker

“O Lord, the God of vengeance, 
O God of vengeance, let your glorious justice shine forth! Arise, O Judge of the earth. 
Give the proud what they deserve. 
How long, O Lord? 
How long will the wicked be allowed to gloat? 
How long will they speak with arrogance? 
How long will these evil people boast? 
They crush your people, Lord, 
hurting those you claim as your own. 
They kill widows and foreigners 
and murder orphans. 
“The Lord isn’t looking,” they say, 
“and besides, the God of Israel doesn’t care.””
Psalms‬ ‭94:1-7‬ ‭NLT‬

Is that really true? That God is a God of vengeance? Surely not – aren’t we taught that God is a God of love? Doesn’t His grace cover over all our sins? Sadly, there have been many people shipwrecked on a wrong view of God. Yes, He is a God of love and grace, but He is also a God of righteousness and justice. I’m sure that if more people realised what was coming down the track towards them on Judgement Day, they would change trains and get on the right track. But it is a frustration for God’s people, for you and me, that so much injustice is allowed to fester away in our nations. So many people break the laws, including God’s laws, in our societies, committing all sorts of heinous crimes. And because they apparently get away with such behaviour, escaping a lightning bolt from Heaven in the process, they think that God never noticed, let alone the authorities. Gloating, arrogance, and boasting are attributes often seen in the lawbreakers.

The Psalmist goes on to describe three categories of people – widows, foreigners and orphans. Those in his society least able to protect themselves. Today the same message rings out – there are social groupings today that are oppressed and undervalued in our societies. But the mention of “foreigners” is interesting. In British society today there is a growing anger about the scale of illegal immigration. We need to perhaps remember that Jesus was an economic migrant soon after he was born, when His earthly parents escaped to Egypt, getting away from King Herod’s murderous clutches. In the next village to me there is a Bulgarian couple that I sometimes meet when they are walking their dog. They have a very poor grasp of English, but I have managed to get across a welcoming message and soon I hope to share the love of God with them. I don’t know why they are in Scotland – perhaps I’ll find out one day – but they come into the category of “foreigners”. People from other lands and nations, from other ethnic groups, “foreigners”, get a special mention in Psalm 94.

But one thing certainly isn’t true about God, that He doesn’t care about the wicked behaviour of evil people. He just bides His time, in His grace and mercy giving plenty of opportunities for evil to be turned into good. And His people – you and me – mustn’t forget that we are the dispensers of His message of love and grace even to those who are the evil ones in our societies. Religious people will tut away in front of their TV screens as the newsreels roll, as they show yet another act of atrocity. But if the “religious” tag includes us then we need to turn tutting into praying, inaction into action, praying for our governments and societies, for those creating such mayhem, pushing back the tides of evil wherever and whenever we can. Oh – don’t forget we can help the disadvantaged in our societies as well – we just need to look out for them. 

Love

Posted on by korgrocker

I love you, Lord, my strength.
The Lord is my rock, my fortress and my deliverer; my God is my rock, in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Psalm 18:1-2

When did you last tell someone you loved them? Hmmm. That’s a hard question. I must confess that expressing my emotions in that way is hard for me. Not that I don’t mean it. It’s not that I don’t do it, because the sentiments are there inside me, but somehow those early conditioning years discouraged me speaking out anything emotional. I’m sure I’m not alone. 

But what did the Psalmist, David, mean with the use of his word “love”? It implied not just a feeling, though that may be part of it, but mainly an attitude of heart, confirming and affirming that David was deeply interested in, and aware of, God, His Heavenly Father. That he was grateful for all His wonderful works and provisions, in fact all that he needed for life. And it involved the reciprocation for all the love God poured out on him, His son. Many years later, Jesus, in answer to a question from a Jewish religious lawyer, said that the first and most important commandment was, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength and with all your mind.” (Luke 10:27 NIV). It doesn’t get more complete than that! And that was the kind of love David was implying right at the start of this Psalm.

David associated the love of his Lord with His strength, using words such as “rock”, “fortress”, “deliverer”, “salvation” and “stronghold” to describe the way he felt about God. To David, God was utterly dependable. But how do we view God? In 21st Century Western society? Can we apply the same words David used in his day to our own relationships with God in our day? Or do we have God put in a box, with limits to what we think He can do. A box full of Sunday hymns and nice feelings but without any particular substance to help us, or a relationship to be lived out. It doesn’t matter where we live or what we do or think. Somewhere along the way, in our pilgrimage through life, we will come up against a problem. Will it overcome us, or will we rise up and declare, as David did, that God is our strength and our salvation? But one thing is for sure. God is always there for us. We may stumble and fall from time to time, but he will help us up and dust us off. And set our feet back on the Rock, ready and equipped for the next time something comes against us. Remember – God is the Lord of all.

Jesus asked Peter three times if he loved Him. And Peter finally responded in a way that shaped the rest of his life. What would we say if Jesus asked us three times if we loved Him? Would we evade the question or embrace our wonderful Saviour with a resounding “Yes Lord, we love You!” A question to mull over in the day ahead.

Thankful Hearts

Posted on by korgrocker

“Make thankfulness your sacrifice to God, and keep the vows you made to the Most High. Then call on Me when you are in trouble, and I will rescue you, and you will give Me glory.” 

But giving thanks is a sacrifice that truly honours Me. If you keep to My path, I will reveal to you the salvation of God.””

‭‭Psalms‬ ‭50:14-15, 23‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Psalm 50 starts with the picture of God sitting in judgement over His people. I love the poetic language, for example, in the words of verse 1, where God summons everyone “from where the sun rises to where it sets”. That is, everywhere in the world. And here is God, surrounded by fire and storms, coming to be the Judge on Mount Zion. He lays out the problem. It’s not about the sacrifices His people bring. It’s not about the value placed on animals used in sacrifices, the bulls or the goats. He points out that everything belongs to Him anyway; after all, all life wherever it is belongs to Him. So He doesn’t need anything His people can supply. No. God was pointing out that the promises made to Him by His people must be backed up by thankful hearts. Hearts that truly honour Him by keeping to His teaching with the right attitudes. And the benefits are plain to see; a relationship where God’s protection and salvation are echoed by His people’s expressions of giving glory to Him.

I always feel sorry for those people who do not believe in a Creator God. Who believe that the world happened to be what it is by chance. Those people who appreciate the beauty of a sunset over the Isle of Jura, in the West of Scotland. Who look at the stunning colours displayed by flowers such as the poppy. Who look at the perfection of a new born baby. And in their gaze they acknowledge the wonder but have no one to thank for it. And those of us who do believe in a Creator God, we have to be careful that we don’t become too familiar with what God has done, failing to offer Him the thanks He deserves for His countless wonders, His countless blessings. Instead we can fall into the same trap as the people we read about in the Psalm, people who were going through a religious ritual, without having thankful hearts turned towards Him.

So how is our relationship with God? Do we try and do things for Him to gain His favour? Do we worship our denominational liturgy instead of the Person the liturgy points to? Do we sit in a Sunday pew allowing our minds to wander to what we are going to eat for lunch or what we are going to do after church? Do we rush our way through our morning prayer time, reciting our prayers by rote without touching the Person we are praying to? Or do we kneel before our wonderful Creator God, offering Him a sacrifice of our thankful hearts, acknowledging all that he has done for us, honouring the Person who loves us so much? Worth a thought? 

Memories of Zion

Posted on by korgrocker

“Great is the Lord, and most worthy of praise, in the city of our God, His holy mountain.
Walk about Zion, go round her, count her towers, consider well her ramparts, view her citadels, that you may tell of them to the next generation.”
Psalms‬ ‭48:1, 12-13‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

Many years we used to sing the song derived from the first two verses of Psalm 48, and written by Steve McEwan in 1985. It’s one of my favourites still, over 30 years later. The contemporary Christian music genre is full of good songs, from worship powerhouses such as Bethel and Hillsongs, but also from individuals hearing from God and writing down what they receive through the Spirit. In it all, though, there is something significant about singing Scripture. It has already been “God-breathed” through Godly men and women, many centuries ago, and has stood the test of time in one of the most important written works mankind has ever had the privilege to hold, The Holy Bible.

Psalm 48, though, enthuses over Zion, the city of God. But what is all this about this place called Zion? It initially appeared in the Bible as a fortified part of Jerusalem, to which was added the Temple area, but became extended in scope to eventually mean a figurative description of the people of Israel, the Jews. And then in the New Testament it took on a spiritual significance as God’s spiritual kingdom. Today the word “Zionist” has become synonymous with the Jewish nation, and sadly has become a derogatory term for Jews adopted by anti-Semites everywhere. A situation which is not really surprising because the enemy of God’s people, Satan, does not like to think that there is a physical and spiritual domain belonging to God in this world, which he claims for himself. And so he whips up anti-Jewish feelings among other nations and peoples everywhere.

However, the Psalmist ends his Psalm with the instruction to “walk about Zion”. Imagine if someone had said to you that they want you to walk around, say, Edinburgh Castle or Westminster Abbey, observing and recording the layout, with all its artefacts and architectural features, making notes so that you can share everything that you have seen with your children, your next generation? It could be quite a project, I think you will agree. But what about doing the same with our spiritual Zion? Where God lives? That would be a project that will take a lifetime and more, because no matter how hard we try, and how much time we can devote, we will never plumb the depths of God and His Kingdom. We will never find the limits of His domain. But we can share the glimpses of His home that the Holy Spirit reveals to us. Sharing a physical picture of an earthly edifice is only of limited value to the next generation, but sharing a spiritual picture of God’s Kingdom, particularly through our own experiences of His grace and love, will save their lives.

So today, join me in “walking around Zion”. I find my “Zion” in the pages and verses of Scripture. In the highways and byways of my local prayer walks in Dean Woods. In the company of God’s people. But where do you find your “Zion”? The amazing fact about God’s Kingdom is that it is everywhere. No matter where we are, where we live, who we are with, even when using technology such as WhatsApp or Zoom, we will find God and His presence. If we look for Him.

Panting

Posted on by korgrocker

“As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul pants for You, my God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?” Psalms‬ ‭42:1-2‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

I must confess that I have never seen a deer panting for water. Having said that I must also confess that I have never been physically thirsty to that extent either. But I have been in a place where I have been spiritually thirsty. A place where God seems far away, where circumstances have been overwhelming, where prayers are seemingly unheard and ineffective. A place where I have cried out to God for His grace and mercy. But I can also say that in time God has appeared to me with a solution to my distress. To my spiritual loneliness. To my thirsty soul.

Where are these spiritual deserts? They could be anywhere. In the middle of the night while tossing and turning in sleepless anguish. In a hospital bed fighting sickness or enduring pain. Reflecting on the news or some piece of information just received. During a conversation with workmates. Even in a church service. Whenever possible, during those dry times, I take a walk and ask God to speak to me, humbly trusting that He is there and able to pour out those streams of living water into my thirsty soul. And eventually He always turns up with words and thoughts full of love and reassurance. Just because my feelings tell me that He isn’t open for business that day doesn’t mean that this is a fact. It just means I need to search diligently for that spiritual oasis in the middle of the desert. Because there I will find God. It means that in the process of the searching I must clear out the blockages that are stopping me from seeing Him. Those proudful thoughts and attitudes. Those unconfessed sins. And then I must continue to search for God, believing in faith the verse that says, “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.” (‭‭Jeremiah‬ ‭29:13‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬). I will find God. He will pour out the spiritual water that I need in my time of thirst. And I will respond in a hymn of praise and thankfulness, refreshed once again.