God: Our Ultimate Refuge in Times of Distress

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“But you are a tower of refuge to the poor, O Lord, a tower of refuge to the needy in distress. You are a refuge from the storm and a shelter from the heat. For the oppressive acts of ruthless people are like a storm beating against a wall, or like the relentless heat of the desert. But you silence the roar of foreign nations. As the shade of a cloud cools relentless heat, so the boastful songs of ruthless people are stilled. In Jerusalem, the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world. It will be a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat.”
Isaiah 25:4-6 NLT

What a wonderful picture of a secure and invincible fortress, established by God because He is the “tower of refuge to the needy in distress”. Isaiah builds on the picture with thoughts about storms beating against its walls, or shelter against the “relentless heat of the desert”. And he then compares the storms and heat with the “roar of foreign nations” and “the boastful songs of ruthless people”. But whatever the analogies, anything arraigned against God, the “tower of refuge”, would come to nothing. The “tower of refuge” is compared to Jerusalem, where “the Lord of Heaven’s Armies will spread a wonderful feast for all the people of the world”. 

The “poor” and “needy in distress” describe people who are not just financially deprived, but also those who are very much aware that they cannot save themselves. God identifies with such people, and He has provided the answer to all their needs. He gives them protection from those who would exploit and terrorise them, and he feeds them with the richest of foods in a place of security. Throughout the Bible, there are verses that confirm who God is to His people. In Psalm 46:1, we read, “God is our refuge and strength, always ready to help in times of trouble.” The psalmist continues with a reference to Jerusalem, the City of God, with, “A river brings joy to the city of our God, the sacred home of the Most High. God dwells in that city; it cannot be destroyed. From the very break of day, God will protect it”. And then we read, “The Lord of Heaven’s Armies is here among us; the God of Israel is our fortress”. 

Once again, Isaiah points out the futility of national pride and arrogance. Human pride always appears impressive, that is, until God speaks. We see in our history books the accounts of the rise and fall of empires and cultures, with nations ruled by men who think that they can change events for the future, even change the very stories in the history books yet to be written. Yet God can silence the loudest voices with a single word. In Acts 12, we read of the death of Herod Agrippa. A grovelling delegation of people from Tyre and Sidon came to plead with Herod for favour in the supply of food, and they were treated to a speech from Herod, dressed as he was in his royal clothes. In the account we then read, “The people gave him a great ovation, shouting, “It’s the voice of a god, not of a man!”” (Acts 12:22). But because of his pride, things didn’t end well for Herod, and we read in the next verse, “Instantly, an angel of the Lord struck Herod with a sickness, because he accepted the people’s worship instead of giving the glory to God. So he was consumed with worms and died”. For us pilgrims, it doesn’t matter what world leaders say or claim. One day, such words will disappear and never be heard again, no matter how terrifying or loud they are. It is only God’s Word that is true and eternal, and we can read God’s perspective in Psalm 2:4-5, “But the one who rules in heaven laughs. The Lord scoffs at them. Then in anger he rebukes them, terrifying them with his fierce fury”. 

In the New Testament, we read what Jesus said to the people around Him. “ … Come to me, all of you who are weary and carry heavy burdens, and I will give you rest” (Matthew 11:28). And then we have the parable about the Wedding Banquet, in Matthew 22. It started with Jesus saying, “The Kingdom of Heaven can be illustrated by the story of a king who prepared a great wedding feast for his son”. A common enough event in those days, so the people would have been familiar with the scenario. But Jesus related it to His teaching about the Kingdom of Heaven, and the importance of being ready and willing for the ultimate Heavenly celebration. In a country where finding sufficient food to live on was difficult at best, the vision of a feast, “a delicious banquet with clear, well-aged wine and choice meat”, would have immediately grabbed people’s attention. One of Scripture’s most beautiful pictures of heaven is a banquet. Throughout Scripture, meals represent fellowship, with the most famous one being the Lord’s Supper, where we see Jesus celebrating the Passover with His disciples over a shared meal. And the meal ends with Jesus saying, “Mark my words—I will not drink wine again until the day I drink it new with you in my Father’s Kingdom” (Matthew 26:29).  God is not merely preparing a place for us; He is also preparing a celebration.

We pilgrims stand strong because God is our security. Yes, we will experience trials and challenges, but God is always there for us,. Jesus said, “I have told you all this so that you may have peace in me. Here on earth you will have many trials and sorrows. But take heart, because I have overcome the world” (John 16:33). He didn’t just say that just because He wanted to give His disciples some encouragment at that moment. He said that as encouragement for all believers throughout history, even pilgrims such as us. So when we face situations in this life that are testing us, we turn to 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“.

Dear Heavenly Tower of Refuge, our Father God. Thank You for Your Word from Psalm 91 that says, “[You] will cover [us] with [Your] feathers. [You] will shelter [us] with [Your] wings. [Your] faithful promises are [our] armour and protection”. Amen.

Preparation for Burial

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“But Judas Iscariot, the disciple who would soon betray him, said, “That perfume was worth a year’s wages. It should have been sold and the money given to the poor.” … Jesus replied, “Leave her alone. She did this in preparation for my burial. You will always have the poor among you, but you will not always have me.””
John 12:4-5, 7-8 NLT

Mary caused quite a stir amongst the disciples. To recap, she poured a very expensive quantity of the perfume nard all over Jesus’ feet and then wiped it all with her hair. Judas was outraged and told everyone present that this was a missed opportunity and that Mary had wasted her resources on anointing Jesus’ feet. 

But as an aside, this probably brought into focus Judas’ relationship with Jesus. His opinion of the Master was lacking integrity and he had obviously failed to grasp who Jesus really was. But before we condemn him, think about this. Although we would all have liked to be present with the Son of God, the question of us all is this – would be willing to waste something worth a year’s wages on anointing Jesus’ feet? Hmmm…

Back to John’s account. Jesus came to Mary’s defence and He said something that must have appeared strange to the disciples – “She did this in preparation for my burial”. The disciples were probably having trouble keeping up with events, and what was going on before them was puzzling to them. Why was Jesus thinking about His own death and burial? After all, He was still a relatively young man, and anyway no-one knew when they would die. After death, a person in those days was buried wrapped in shrouds of cloth and heavily anointed with perfumes. But as we know, the smell of a perfume, even an expensive one, fades away over a few days, so, the disciples thought, was Jesus’ death and burial so close? With the benefit of hindsight, we know that it was but the disciples didn’t.

Jesus then said something that superficially seemed a bit callous, and dismissive of the problems of being poor. The rest of the disciples may have agreed with Judas, that surely benefiting poor people was more important than “wasting” all that perfume. But Jesus knew what was happening. The next few days would have been marked by one significant factor as the smell of the perfume followed Jesus everywhere He found Himself. In the Garden, before Pilate, abused by soldiers, and lastly on the Cross. And through it all was Mary, smelling of nard herself, reminding everyone of her act of worship at Jesus’ feet. Jesus was telling the disciples that poor people could have been helped at any time but  Mary’s act alone would not have made even a dent in the overall problem of poverty. Jesus wasn’t dismissive of the poor. He was focused on His mission “and that was not to feed the poor”to seek and save the lost“. 

By the way, we mustn’t take from today’s verses the thought that the poor don’t matter. Of course we must help those in need, in every aspect of their poverty, natural or spiritual. The Apostles James wrote, “Pure and genuine religion in the sight of God the Father means caring for orphans and widows in their distress and refusing to let the world corrupt you” (James 1:27). And there are other impoverished groups in the world today who need our help. And we may even need that help ourselves. 

Perhaps one day we will meet Mary in Heaven and will still be able to smell the perfume. But on the other hand, we will be too busy worshipping Jesus, I’m sure. Mary knew who Jesus was and she was prepared to lay down her life and possessions for Him. Her example has travelled through the centuries ever since, as a reminder that we truly do worship at Jesus’ feet with all that we are.

Dear Lord Jesus, we worship You today with all our beings. You are our Lord and Master and before You today we bow down, unworthy even to be in Your presence. Amen.

Solomon’s Prayer

Posted on by Adrian Clark

“Give your love of justice to the king, O God, 
and righteousness to the king’s son. 
Help him judge your people in the right way; 
     let the poor always be treated fairly. 
May the mountains yield prosperity for all, 
     and may the hills be fruitful. 
Help him to defend the poor, 
     to rescue the children of the needy, 
     and to crush their oppressors.”
Psalms‬ ‭72:1-4‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Psalm 72 was written by Solomon, David’s second son from his marriage with Bathsheba. This Psalm is a prayer with three interwoven themes, instructions to the king, prosperity for all, and justice and provision for the poor. But do these themes have any relevance for Western societies today? 

Regarding instructions for the king we can overlay them onto our democratic system and its political leaders. The Psalmist lists love of justice, righteousness, treating people fairly and judging in the right way as being qualities that leaders should adhere to. So when the opportunity comes to vote for our leaders, we should look for these qualities in the candidates, praying for God to help us in the selection process. And it reminds us that we should pray for our political leaders, that they will faithfully follow God’s ways.

One word that repeatedly crops up in the Psalm is “May”. It’s a word that is full of a prayerful aspiration for something good to happen. An expression of hope. A yearning for better times. Verse 3 sets out a prayer for prosperity, with a picture of the mountains and hills providing a fruitful source. Prosperity for everyone, not just the favoured few. This is a prayer for today as well. Many parts of our world today are experiencing poverty. Famines and diseases are rife. Wars destroy what little some people have. And we have a terrible imbalance between the rich and the poor nations. So we must pray for all people, and provide from our resources what we can. But there is a wider, more prevalent, poverty. Poverty of spirit is a universal problem, affecting all nations, whether rich or poor. Jesus highlighted the “poor in spirit” in the first of the Beatitudes. Such people realise their need for God, and can approach Him with open hands to receive His riches, the prosperity found in His Kingdom. 

But in this Psalm, Solomon writes about how the leader should protect the poor in his nation. It is interesting that Solomon didn’t pray for the poor to become rich and prosperous. He accepted that in spite of the prosperity of the nation, there were still poor, needy and oppressed people, and he prayed for the leader to do what was necessary to look after them. Though Western societies are generally rich and prosperous, we still have poor people who are needy and oppressed. Jesus said in John 12:8, “You will always have the poor among you…”. And that is certainly today’s experience. The solution has evaded every generation since Solomon. But as God’s people, we must pray and help those in need in our communities and families.

There is perhaps a prophetic hint of the Messiah’s reign to come in this Psalm, with its reference to the “ends of the earth” in verse 8. That is when we will see the reality of the prayers of this Psalm fulfilled.

Poverty

Posted on by Adrian Clark

Oh, the joys of those who are kind to the poor!
The LORD rescues them when they are in trouble.
The LORD protects them
and keeps them alive.
He gives them prosperity in the land
and rescues them from their enemies.
The LORD nurses them when they are sick
and restores them to health.
Psalm 41:1-3 NLT

The very first line of the first verse in this Psalm associates joy with showing kindness to poor people. Sadly, for people in affluent societies, being poor is associated with negative connotations, and perhaps unkind judgements about why they are “poor”. We tend to look at poverty as being a lack of finances, but that is to neglect so many other forms of being poor. There are, perhaps, a few hints in these verses about other kinds of poverty. The poverty of being in trouble. The poverty of being in physical danger. The poverty of sickness. I would add too the poverty of being lonely, without friends or family. 

In Matthew 5, Jesus said to His disciples, “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The “poor in spirit” are those people who recognise that they lack the resources God puts value on. Heavenly currency is not anything of earthly value, like gold (we read in Revelation that it is used to make roads!). Having spiritual currency starts with the realisation that we have nothing to offer God of any value. Because of our sins we are destitute before Him and have to recognise this by coming to Him in faith for the salvation He has offered through Jesus. In Matthew 6, Jesus encouraged His disciples to build up “treasure in Heaven” through their service to Him.

But what was David referring to in these verses in Psalm 41? In verse 1, he was, I think, referring to Godly people in his day, who were looking after the needy people around them. And through them God was providing for them. Although God can directly provide the resources people need for life, most of the time He chooses to deliver His provision through His people. So we are encouraged to be His servants by looking out for those who are poor, in our communities, in our families, supplying fellowship, a helping hand. Nursing those in need. Providing a listening ear when needed. The opportunities are endless. There is a young woman in my community who every week, uses her lunch hour to walk the dog of an old lady, now immobilised following a fall. A young woman banking spiritual currency for her future.

So we, as God’s people, have a challenge today. As the King’s servants, what does He want us to do to relieve the poverty around us? There may not just be financial needs, there will be others as well. In our communities, who can we find who is “poor”?