Strength Renewed

Posted on by korgrocker

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need. He lets me rest in green meadows; he leads me beside peaceful streams. He renews my strength. He guides me along right paths, bringing honour to his name. Even when I walk through the darkest valley, I will not be afraid, for you are close beside me. Your rod and your staff protect and comfort me.”
Psalm 23:1-4 NLT

With our picture building of “green meadows”, “peaceful streams” and times of “rest” it is inevitable, or so we think, that our strength would be renewed. After a hard day’s work, a good meal and an evening on the sofa followed by a good night’s sleep, we will be equipped for the next day with all the strength we need. But that’s the physical strength that is necessary for our work-a-day lives. When we consider our spiritual strength we are in a different league, one that needs a different approach, and one that cannot be achieved without God. 

Consider the spiritual “green meadows” and “peaceful streams”. They are places where we can satisfy our spiritual hunger and thirst, but finding them is impossible for those who don’t believe in Jesus. We have said before that counterfeit solutions are sought after, in the hope that a worldly solution exists to renew an unbeliever’s spiritual needs (they definitely have them, by the way). Just because someone says he or she doesn’t believe in God doesn’t remove the need to find a remedy to the internal craving in their souls. Just yesterday, I shared the Gospel with a neighbour who subsequently became quite agitated and defensive. I suspect that I wasn’t the first to talk about God in his presence but he explained that he wasn’t “religious” and that he tried to be a good and kind person, worthy of respect. Of course he was, but that won’t feed and satisfy his soul. I pray for another opportunity to introduce him to God, the only One who can satisfy his spirit’s needs.

We pilgrims know where we can find the “green meadows” and “peaceful streams”. We find a quiet place somewhere and open God’s Word if we can, or remember a particular verse if we don’t have our Bibles with us. It could be a park bench, or a corner of our bedrooms. Our office desk or on a walk somewhere. I can remember the rich times I spent with God feeding my spirit as I walked around the Union Canal in Edinburgh during my lunch breaks. I was going through a stressful time at work and I needed to “renew my strength” before facing the second half of the day. It was truly amazing how God spoke to me and encouraged me through God-incidents and encounters on those walks. I am eternally grateful.

Isaiah wrote, “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding” (Isaiah 40:28). We worship a God who is limitless, who has all the resources we need, and who is always looking for an opportunity to bless His people. But we have to put ourselves into a receiving mode. For most of our waking hours we are filling our lives with noise, not just of the audible variety, but also with our busyness, with our activities and distractions. Hence the need to find a quiet place, where we can get away from all our worldly cares and anxieties. Isaiah knew the limitlessness of God. He knew about God’s constant presence and he went on to write, “He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:29-31). What an amazing picture of God’s bountiful provision. It doesn’t matter if we feel “weak” and “powerless” because God has, and is, all the strength that we need. It’s not a physical thing, with muscles strong and functioning. It is all about our spiritual resilience in a world that despises anything to do with God. 

Yesterday I had a walk in a local park, where the weekly “Parkrun” was taking place. Runners displaying a cacophony of colours, with different forms of attire. Lycra very much in evidence. People of all ages and shapes pounding their ways around a circuit marked out with different coloured cones. I was amused to even see a man with a toddler in a running buggy (one with extra large wheels) puffing and panting, pushing his way around the course. What the toddler thought I don’t know. The runners’ dedication to their event was commendable. They would have eventually returned home, full of self-satisfaction no doubt, but the hunger and thirst in their souls would have still been there. I remarked to one of the stewards that physical exercise was good, but all these sweating bodies would one day lie “mouldering in the grave”, their souls that will live forever sorely neglected. 

We pilgrims “trust in the Lord” don’t we? David did and he wrote this wonderful Psalm from his own experiences. Pastures and streams for his body and his soul. He knew them all. He fed his soul in places of rest, as he worshiped and meditated in God. There he renewed his strength, just as Isaiah wrote. And so can we pilgrims. If we find that we don’t have time in the morning to spend it with God, then we must get up a bit earlier. But find the time we must, because our spirits are refreshed and our “strength renewed” only when we sit in God’s presence.

Dear Lord Jesus. Only You are the Way to Heaven. Only You have the word of eternal life. Only You can refresh our souls. Thanks You. Amen.

The Lord’s Thoughts

Posted on by korgrocker

“For who can know the Lord’s thoughts? Who knows enough to give him advice? And who has given him so much that he needs to pay it back?”
Romans 11:34-35 NLT

Again Paul dives into his memories and quotes two Old Testament Scriptures, one from Isaiah and one from Job. He was surely well versed and even “steeped” in the Jewish Scriptures, making it all the more remarkable that he was able to embrace the Christian faith. But then he had a life changing encounter with Jesus back on the Damascus Road. 

The first Scripture he quoted from was from Isaiah 40:13, in a section labelled “The Lord Has No Equal” in my Bible translation. Isaiah wrote, “Who else has held the oceans in his hand? Who has measured off the heavens with his fingers? Who else knows the weight of the earth or has weighed the mountains and hills on a scale? Who is able to advise the Spirit of the Lord? Who knows enough to give him advice or teach him? Has the Lord ever needed anyone’s advice? Does he need instruction about what is good? Did someone teach him what is right or show him the path of justice?” (Isaiah 40:12-14). These questions seem so obvious that it is a wonder that they were asked in the first place. But in Isaiah’s day perhaps the wonder of the world around him caused mankind to question how it all happened. Our specialists in earth sciences today issue the results of their investigations and research, puffed up with their “factual” explanations of how it all happened. But we have to go to the Creator of the Universe for the answers because there is so much that neither we, nor the so-called experts, know anything about.

There is much going on around us that seems inexplicable. The mother who has lost a child to war, or a businessman whose company has collapsed, or a footballer struck down with motor neurone disease. A nation suffers from famine, or earthquakes. And people and national leaders come up with advice of how God should run the world, and how they would do it so much better. They perhaps question if God knows what he is doing. They try and offer advice – “If it was up to me, I would …”.

We pilgrims know that there is a God in Heaven. And we acknowledge that we could never know His thoughts. But Isaiah 40 famously ends with these much-quoted verses, “Have you never heard? Have you never understood? The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of all the earth. He never grows weak or weary. No one can measure the depths of his understanding. He gives power to the weak and strength to the powerless. Even youths will become weak and tired, and young men will fall in exhaustion. But those who trust in the Lord will find new strength. They will soar high on wings like eagles. They will run and not grow weary. They will walk and not faint” (Isaiah 40:28-31). 

We pilgrims “trust in the Lord” knowing that there is no other way. And through His Spirit we too can “soar high on wings like eagles”, never needing to fret over our lack of understanding of God’s thoughts and ways. We trust that He is a God of righteousness and justice. We know that He is behind our every breath. And freed from the worry of finding answers to seemingly inexplicable world and societal events, we can perhaps have a glimpse of God’s perspective, as we soar high above all that is going on. We read the news reports and feel God’s pain with the sinful practices of men. We experience our own challenges, with health or finances, with family difficulties – the list seems endless sometimes – but we trust that our loving Heavenly Father is there with us, holding our hands and even carrying us through the pain. Perhaps answers will only come when we see Him in Heaven. With David we acknowledge Psalm 18:30-31, “God’s way is perfect. All the Lord’s promises prove true. He is a shield for all who look to him for protection. For who is God except the Lord? Who but our God is a solid rock?” There is no other way.

Dear Father. You have supplied us with spiritual wings to allow us to rise up above circumstances. Please forgive us for the time we spend worrying about what is happening around us and instead please help us to trust in You. In Jesus’ name. Amen.

“Truly”

Posted on by korgrocker

“Truly my soul finds rest in God; my salvation comes from him. 
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I shall never be shaken. 
Yes, my soul, find rest in God; my hope comes from him. 
Truly he is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I shall not be shaken. 
My salvation and my honour depend on God; he is my mighty rock, my refuge. 
Trust in him at all times, you people; pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.”
Psalms‬ ‭62:1-2, 5-8‬ ‭NIVUK‬‬

Truly isn’t a word in everyday usage. You don’t hear someone say, “Truly, that car is a lovely colour”, or, “Truly, the weather was good this morning”. But there is something about the word that underpins some great sentiments in this Davidic Psalm. “Truly, my soul finds rest in God” builds a picture of a place of safety, a warm place of love and peace. Many would perhaps wonder if such a place exists, but that was the very point of David’s choice of the word “Truly”. What he was describing was completely and totally true. His experience of, and relationship with, God Himself was true. And he goes on to describe a dependable God. One who is his salvation. A God who provides safety and a solid foundation in an impregnable place. He uses words such as “Fortress” and “Refuge”. “Hope”, “Rest” and “Salvation”. 

The place David was talking about was, to him, very real and true. Of course he was not referring to a physical place. He was in a spiritual place, where his soul was safe from destruction. A place where enemies and circumstances could not reach him. It was a place where the presence of God was so real and strong to him that, truly, he was in a different world. And the amazing thing was that he was unshakeable – there was nothing in the physical world around him that would destroy his trust and hope in God.

How do we think God thought about David? After all, he had a spectacular moral meltdown over his adultery with Bathsheba, and the attempted cover up that followed. Surely that was enough to separate David from God forever. The truly amazing thing is that God considered David as being a man after His own heart (1 Samuel 13:14). You see, it is only unconfessed sins that block God’s love and grace. David put his heart right with God – we can read about the conversation he had with Him in Psalm 51.

Finally, in verse 8, David, from his position of unshakeable strength, appeals to those around him to join him in this place, the fortress and refuge, built on the Rock that is God Himself. He implores the people to “Trust in Him at all times“. That’s a problem for many of us because although we find it possible to trust God in the good times, we don’t find it so easy when times are hard. When a sick loved one is knocking on Heaven’s door. When an unexpected bill hits the doormat. But that is exactly the time when we need to be with God, in His presence. Is David’s invitation possible to accept? Jesus told the parable of the Marriage Feast – we can read it in Matthew 22 – and He finished up with the comment, “For many are invited, but few are chosen.” Let us be counted among the “few”, chosen to be part of the ultimate refuge.

How Long?

Posted on by korgrocker

How long, Lord? Will you forget me for ever?
How long will you hide your face from me? 
How long must I wrestle with my thoughts and day after day have sorrow in my heart?
How long will my enemy triumph over me?
Psalm 13:1-2 NIVUK

This is the “How long” Psalm. Just a few verses but profound in its message. “How long” appears four times in the first two verses, so it must have been a phrase significant in David’s mind when he wrote this Psalm. In the first verse he questions God’s silence and accuses Him of forgetting him. In the second he turns inward and asks the same question of his soul. He must have been an impatient and demanding man at times! 

We too get caught up in “How long” situations. How long will I have to put up with this illness? How long will I have to work at this job? How long will I …. (fill in your own problem). In Western society we are very much wired into expectations that we want delivered instantly. Instant coffee. Turn on a tap and water comes out instantly. Even though, rationally, we know that “instant” is not always possible, it doesn’t stop the expectations of immediacy from rolling in, nagging us with their strident demands. Some want to lose weight. Or learn a foreign language. Or play a musical instrument. Or get a University degree. Instantly! Right now! We want to download a film from the internet instantly and pursue the fastest broadband solution to get as close to instant as we can. We want an electric car (when we can afford to buy one!) to charge up – yes, you’ve guessed it – instantly. The opportunities for the demands of the “How long” generation are endless. Frustration builds and dissatisfaction permeates our minds and corrupts our very souls when “instant” cannot be delivered.

David wasn’t caught up with ancient Jewish gadgets though. Or the faucets in the palace plumbing. Rather, he was in a hard place, once again, because of his enemies. And obviously he was getting impatient with God for not dealing with them. Note that he wasn’t saying that the issue was too hard for God to sort out. He was instead trying to twist God’s arm into helping him out of his predicament sooner rather than later, as we can see in his demanding prayer in verse 3. 

The worldly spirit of urgency also has a pervasive influence on our Christian lives. We want an immediate answer to prayer. We want to see church growth straight away, by Sunday, or perhaps the next, God, if you can’t organise it earlier. But we worship a God whose timing in everything is totally spot on. Never too late. Never too early. 

Many years ago my daughter was hospitalised with a serious, and at the time possibly terminal, illness. The prognosis was grim. And around the world good Christian people prayed for her. A well known itinerant preacher with a proven healing ministry prayed at her bedside. The church Elders anointed her with oil. The family held a daily vigil, each day and most of each night. I personally rattled Heaven’s gates asking God to bring about a breakthrough. But one day halfway through her four months in hospital, I was summoned from my office in Glasgow to her bedside in Edinburgh, the medics fearing the worst. And half way along the M8 motorway I was crying out to God, yes – you’ve guessed it, “How long” God? And amazingly I heard this voice from the back seat say, “Trust Me”. God in His mercy heard my anguish and gave me something that has stayed with me ever since. A reminder that He is in control of all situations and His timing will be perfect. There were further crises in her remaining hospital stay, but we were eventually allowed to bring her home to commence a long, but successful, convalescence. God healed her, not instantly as we would have liked, but nevertheless He healed her. And those two words, “Trust Me” turned me from being a “Believer” into being a “Knower”. 

David finished his Psalm with a declaration of his trust in God’s love, in faith rejoicing in the coming rescue, proclaiming the goodness of God. We don’t know how long David had to wait for God to sort out his enemies. But perhaps, as David lifted his thoughts into Heavenly places, the importance of his problems dimmed, replaced by the comforting arms of his Lord and God, and that still small whisper, “Trust Me”