AN ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE

Bless the LORD, O my soul, And forget not all His benefits….  (Psalm 103:2)

Your attitude determines your altitude.  Among the instruments in the cockpit of a plane is the attitude indicator.  It shows the relationship of the wings to the horizon.  If you want to climb higher, it requires an attitude adjustment.  That is true spiritually, as well.  If we want to soar, we must adjust our attitude according to the heavenly horizon.  If our attitude is set relative to earth’s perspective, then we’ll never take off.  What would happen if we adopted the attitude of gratitude displayed in Psalm 103?

We should be grateful for God’s benefits (v.1-5).  The Psalmist underscores this with the phrase, “forget not all His benefits” (v.2b).  There are so many.

The key benefit is forgiveness of iniquity (v.3a) for it unlocks the door other blessing.  It is the greatest provision for our gravest poverty.

The Great Physician—Jehovah Rapha—heals us body and soul (v.3b).  Someone asks, “Do you believe in divine healing?”  What other kind is there?  There is the guarantee of ultimate healing in the resurrection.

God redeems us (v.4a).  This means we are set free by payment of a price.  Jesus did that on the cross!

The Lord crowns our head (v.4b).  God promises a crowning grace.  The New Testament also teaches there are crowns we may win.  In heaven, we will cast all our crowns at the feet of Jesus recognizing that any crown given is for His glory.

God satisfies our needs (v.5a).  Only He can.  Everything this world offers is like trying to satisfy your thirst by drinking water from the ocean—the more you take in, the thirstier you become.

The Lord renews our strength (v.5b).  As the eagle molts--shedding feathers and gaining new ones so he can continue to soar—we exchange our weakness for God’s power.

Furthermore, we should be grateful for God’s bounty (v.6-10).  The text testifies that God is “abounding in mercy,” (v.8b).  The first stanza of the Psalm is personal and the second one is national.  In verses 1-5, there is a solo, and in v.6-10, the choir adds their voices.

God gives abundant liberty (v.6).  Israel had been oppressed in Egypt, but God set them free.  There are injustices and inequities in this sin-cursed world, but the hope that God may deliver us now, and will assuredly right every wrong in the end.

God bestows abundant life (v.7).  God led and fed His people through the wilderness and brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey.  In a place of barrenness, they had blessedness!  God has pledged to meet all our needs, too.

God grants abundant life (v.8-10).  It takes Him a long time to become angry and a brief time to forgive.  By grace He give us the eternal life we cannot deserve, and in mercy keeps us from the hell we do merit.

Finally, we should be grateful for God’s benevolence (v.11-22).  It is, “So great…So far” (v.11-12).  The song builds to a crescendo—from personal, to national, and now universal—the voice of every creature, terrestrial and celestial, blending their voices in a symphony of praise!

There is extensive mercy (v.11-14).  It is three-dimensional: in height (v.11), breadth (v.12), and depth (v.13-14).

There is enduring mercy (v.15-18).  Here we see a contrast between our frailty and God’s faithfulness.

There is exhaustive mercy (v.19-22).  The word, “all” is used nine times in this Psalm.  

Old Graham Scroggie put it well, “Those whom the Lord blesses should bless the Lord.”

THE REWARDS OF OBEDIENCE

 

‘If you walk in My statutes and keep My commandments, and perform them… then I will…look on you favorably and make you fruitful, multiply you and confirm My covenant with you.’  (Leviticus 26:3, 4a, 13)

Traffic laws are a nuisance.  I despise them.  You are in a hurry, but stop signs and red lights make you wait.  I do not understand why you can’t drive as fast as your car will go. We could be so much more productive with our time than just sitting in a car poking along.  I wonder why if you are stuck in traffic behind two semis doing the speed limit, why not cut across the median into the other lane if traffic is thinner.  The most irritating thing is the cops, who are just waiting for you to whiz by, so they can stop you—a needless delay and a hefty fine.  Imagine how horrible the carnage would be, if every driver did whatever they wanted.  The laws are for our benefit.  That is true of God’s laws as well.

There is the reward of PROVISION (Lev.26:4-5, 9-10).  God tells them He will bless them with His bounty, if they will walk in His ways.  If Israel served God, God would open up the windows of heaven and send the right amount of sun and showers.  America has enjoyed such bounty.  We were founded on the principles of God’s laws and have been a light to the nations for sharing the Gospel.  Now, we are turning from the truth—and that is a fearful thing.  It has been rightly said that, “America is great because she is good, and if America ever ceases to be good, America will cease to be great.”  God’s willingness to bless us is only limited by our willingness to obey Him. 

There is the reward of PEACE (v.5c-6).  Peace with God is unconditionally extended through a personal relationship with Jesus Christ (Rom.5:1).  To know the peace of God, however, demands our devotion to Him (Phil.4:6-9).  If I am at war with the will of God, I cannot know peace.  I must unconditionally surrender.  I must cease my striving against His plans and purpose for me.  We live in a land that is increasingly marked by strife.  We are divided along major fault lines of race, politics, age, gender, economics—and many, many more.  An earthquake of social upheaval is looming that threatens to break us apart.  Unless we are, “under God,” we will not be, “indivisible.”

There is the reward of POWER (v.7-8, 13).  God promises power for those who obey.  We can put our enemies to flight and live in victory.  God wants His people to walk in victory over our foes: the world, the flesh and the devil.  Yet, so many Christians are living in defeat, made impotent by disobedience.  In the past, America has risen to overcome every challenge to our existence that has come from other shores.  We had become the world’s super power, but that power seems to be fading fast—corresponding to our moral freefall.

There is the reward of PRESENCE (v.11-12).  This is the best promise!  If we have God’s presence with us, then we can be sure of the other rewards.  A Christian cannot lose God’s presence, but we can lose the manifestation of it.  You cannot walk with God unless you are going the same direction!  God wants us to be His special people—a beacon to the world!  May we not only declare the rewards of obedience, but demonstrate them today!

MAXIMUM IMPACT

 

Now Abraham was old, well advanced in age; and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things.  (Genesis 24:1)

Many people walk through life, leaving footprints in the sand—the tides of time sweep in and wash away those imprints and it is as though they had never been.  Little impact was made.  Others leave such a legacy that it is as though their footprints were set in concrete.  Years roll by, but the path they traveled is still clearly marked for others to follow.  That is a life of maximum impact—and it describes well the life of Abraham.  As we come to the twenty-fourth chapter of Genesis, we see this man nearing the finish line of his earthly pilgrimage.  It has been a marathon, with many hurdles to cross, but God has blessed him and he is almost home.  Yet, he feels the need not to slow down, but to pour it on—to run through the finish line.  There are some loose ends to tie up and make sure the legacy he leaves is one of maximum impact.

Abraham will leave a LEGACY OF PREEMINENCE.  He, along with Moses and David, are the three preeminent figures of the Old Testament era.  God chose Abraham and called him out to make a difference in the world.  He would be the recipient of a covenant of grace, so that through him all the nations of the earth would be blessed.  God blessed Abraham that he might be a blessing to others.  That is the heritage of faith that this man and his wife, Sarah, left behind.  His name is associated with greatness.  

He left an example of a LIFE OF PROMINENCE.  Abraham’s servant, Eleazar, testified, “The LORD has blessed my master greatly, and he has become great…” (Gen.24:35a).  Some people have a reputation that is a charade.  Later, people dig beneath the surface and expose that the façade of greatness only hid a shriveled soul.  That could not be said of Abraham.  His renown was backed by reality.  All of us would like to be successful in life—to make our mark on the world.  Though Abraham was a flawed man, he was a faithful man.  He slipped a few times, as we all do, but he got up, dusted himself off, and moved forward.  God made a difference in him, and so made a difference through him. 

Abraham possessed a LOVE OF PERMANENCE.  He accumulated a lot of stuff.  For his time, he was exceedingly wealthy.  But, he did not give his heart to any of those things.  Abraham knew that he would leave all that behind, and eventually the thief of time would steal and destroy all that is of this world.  He did not build a mansion, but moved about in a tent, restless, yearning for something permanent—out of this world.  Here is the New Testament commentary:  “By faith he dwelt in the land of promise as in a foreign country, dwelling in tents with Isaac and Jacob, the heirs with him of the same promise; for he waited for the city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.”  (Heb.11:9-10)

In Proverbs 10:7 we read,“The memory of the righteous is blessed, But the name of the wicked will rot.”  Which legacy will we leave—one of blessedness or barrenness?  I pray that all who read this will seek a life of maximum impact!  Such are truly the children of Abraham.

THE STEPS OF GOD’S MAN

 

The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD,

And He delights in his way.  (Psalm 37:23)

Our business is to seek by the grace of God to show the goodness of God in our walk, and the business of God is to provide His guidance in our way.  The good man or woman is godly—and the Lord finds pleasure in establishing our path.  This road is ever a good road, but is not always an easy road.  The beloved old hymn puts it like this:

In shady, green pastures, so rich and so sweet,
God leads His dear children along;
Where the water’s cool flow bathes the weary one’s feet,
God leads His dear children along.

Refrain

Some through the waters, some through the flood,
Some through the fire, but all through the blood;
Some through great sorrow, but God gives a song,
In the night season and all the day long.

Sometimes on the mount where the sun shines so bright,
God leads His dear children along;
Sometimes in the valley, in darkest of night,
God leads His dear children along.

Refrain

Though sorrows befall us and evils oppose,
God leads His dear children along;
Through grace we can conquer, defeat all our foes,
God leads His dear children along.

Refrain

Away from the mire, and away from the clay,
God leads His dear children along;
Away up in glory, eternity’s day,
God leads His dear children along.

Refrain  (George A. Young)

Joseph is a classic case.  His serene stroll through flowering fields on mission for his father, in search of his brothers, suddenly turned to trouble.  It took him into a pit, sold as a property, facing a sinful peril, forgotten in a prison—but, then elevated to a palace!  God was ordering that good man’s steps, but, surely, he must have wondered at times.  I know I do.

God knows what we do not.  We live life forward, but understand it backward—how the way of difficulties faced is the way of dreams fulfilled.  This is the providence of God, that calls for patience that we might ultimately see the promises realized.  “But if we hope for what we do not see, we eagerly wait for it with perseverance.”  (Romans 8:25)  By patience we possess the promises.  Disappointments are His appointments, if we are His.  Never forget that delays are not denials—journey on in faith.  Spurgeon said it well, “By patience the snail reached the ark!”  The way of the good man is the way of the cross—but, the way of the cross leads home!

It is an old cliché: “Haste makes waste.”  Most often it is true.  “Therefore do not cast away your confidence, which has great reward.  For you have need of endurance, so that after you have done the will of God, you may receive the promise”  (Hebrews 10:35-36).  We are too quick to discard our confidence as being worthless, when had we persevered we would have been richly rewarded.

Lord,

I can be so impatient!  That is sin.  I am sorry that I have sometimes been so quick to quit when the path became dark, steep, just creeping along, and even brought to a standstill.  Had I continued on, what blessing I might have known!  You know I chafe at the unexpected traffic jam on the highway of life, or the detour that I think diverts me from my destination, when it is directed by You to take me to my goal.  I do not know what this day will bring.  Remind me that its events are in Your sovereign hands.  What is in my hands is to pursue being a good man, and then I will be a guided man and a graced man.  You have promised to direct and delight in one who desires the Highway of Holiness.  Best of all, You will walk with me!  What more could I want?

In the Name of the Good Shepherd, Jesus,

Amen!

BOUNTIFULLY BLESSED

 

Blessed be the Lord,

Who daily loads us with benefits,
The God of our salvation!
Selah  (Psalm 68:19)

Glory to the God of all grace!  Praise God from whom all blessings flow!  Every day, He loads down my wagon with goodness.  How about you?  Stop and count your blessings.  In the words of the old hymn, “name them one by one, and it will surprise you what the Lord has done.”

Foremost, I am grateful that the Lord my Shepherd sought patiently for this wandering lamb.  He saved me, cleaned me up and secured me in His fold.  Oh what a price He paid to rescue me!  From this great salvation, every spiritual blessing is mine in Christ Jesus!

Behind that eternal relationship, is the next best—my earthly relationships with my family.  What a gift from God my wife is to me!  She is all I could have ever hoped for—a dream come true!  Marilyn has given me five precious children, and thus far, eleven grandchildren—and they are grand.  It is possible there might be even more to come.  I was blessed to be raised in a Christian home and still have my parents with me.  Insofar as I know, the family circle will be unbroken in heaven for all profess to follow Christ.  How inexpressibly wonderful this is!

Besides the blessing of my faith, and family, there is the blessing of my flock—the privilege of serving the church through the call to preach the Word of God!  To exchange the position of serving as a pastor for that of a prince, would be to take a step down!  If you had told me that I would teach a Sunday School class as large as the congregation I served in the first two churches, I would have found that hard to believe, but I do.  In the little country church where I first ministered, I often thought that to preach to one hundred each Sunday would be thrilling, and yet I preach to four and five times that amount each week!  I would have laughed at that as an impossibility, but it is a reality.  To think, that as I type these words—through social media—I can instantly reach around the world with the Gospel is amazing!  It is an amazing grace.

The particular church I serve—Pole Creek Baptist Church—has just honored me and our other ministers with Pastoral Appreciation Day.  They expressed their love with words of commendation, a meal they served and an offering they received.  Throughout this month, and really day after day, for the nearly twenty years I have served here, I have been prayed for and partnered with by a good and gracious people.  Sure, there have been some burdens, but the blessings have far outweighed them.  Indeed, every congregation I have served, has been wonderfully supportive of me and my family.  They have loved us, and we love them.  Out of those flocks, we have made many friends that remain dear to us.  When I hear the horror stories of what some pastors go through, and how I know that many serve faithfully while receiving condemnation instead of commendation, it makes me so thankful to God for the blessings He has given me in the churches I have led.

I am a prosperous man!  Compared to most people in the world today, I am rich.  No, I won’t be on a Fortune 500 list, nor be featured on “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous.”  Nor would I want to be.  Nevertheless, God has prospered me far beyond anything I could have expected.  This morning I woke from a soft bed, dry and safe in the house I live in, with the health and strength to rise up.  I have filled my stomach with food and am drinking a cup of hot coffee.  I will take a warm shower in a little while, and then select some clothes and shoes to wear from a number of options.  Instead of walking where I need to go, I expect to sit down in my car and drive across town.  With all the problems facing our nation currently, I have the privilege still to cast a vote to help determine the government leaders we have, and the course of our country.  Indeed I have journeyed to many parts of the world, and witnessed much splendor in creation.  For the vast majority of people on this planet, all this would be a fairy tale, but it is my life.  I count my blessings and have no reason to complain!

There is so much more that might be said, but I will need eternity to say it—every minute can be filled with praise to the One who has filled me with bountiful blessing!  I will begin today, and will not stop, forever speaking of God’s goodness and grace! 

When we've been there ten thousand years
Bright shining as the sun.
We've no less days to sing God's praise
Than when we've first begun.