THE WORD IN THE WILDERNESS

John the Baptist would be in the wilderness of preparation when he received the Word for proclamation. It is interesting how many of God’s men were readied for public declaration through private isolation. Moses was in the wilderness caring for his father-in-law’s flocks when the Lord spoke to Him. It took him forty years to graduate from that “seminary,” but what a man of God he had been molded to be!  David was likewise tending sheep when he was summoned to become the shepherd of Israel. God assigned him a work, but also gave him His Word. The anointing with oil was an attestation of the anointing of the Spirit. Further, Amos was a shepherd whom God set apart for prophetic declaration. Do you see the pattern here?

It is good to be alone with God—to be apart from the din and clamor of our world. Horns honking, engines racing, radios blaring, voices calling—all the raucous noise that can drown out the still, small voice of God. 

This time I am now spending has often been referred to as “the daily quiet time.”  It has been the pattern of my Christian life to rise early in the morning to meet with the Lord. Being alone, having conversation with God as I hear His voice in Scripture and lifting my voice in supplication in response. If there is anything that has propelled me forward in maturity and prepared me for ministry, it has been this daily discipline. It has been said that my worth to God in public is what I am in private.  How can I speak for God until I hear from Him?

Yet, this is not sermon preparation, but the spiritual preparation of the preacher. There is a time for study in anticipation of the proclamation of God’s truth from the pulpit. Certainly, God may give us a message as the one I am sharing today. Yet, the intent of morning devotions is for our own growth in godliness. It helps me to be and not just to say.  

Of course, the daily quiet time is vital for every Christian’s development and not just meant for preachers. Before God called me to preach, the pattern had already been established in my life.  Whatever the nature of service in the church—a Bible study leader, a deacon, a children’s worker, a member of the finance committee—each disciple needs development and this discipline is demanded.

I would also advocate a “sabbatical,” for elders in the church, as such a time is often called. I began a yearly pattern of a few days away alone with God to pray and plan. It may be profitable after a number of years in church work to have a longer time—several weeks to reflect and be refreshed. Visit other churches, hear from other preachers, just soak in without having to give out.

 “If the ax is dull, And one does not sharpen the edge, Then he must use more strength; But wisdom brings success.”  (Ecclesiastes‬ ‭10‬:‭10‬‬). Some of us have been so busy swinging the ax, that we have failed to sharpen the edge. We work feverishly, but not fruitfully.  Go to the woods, not to cut logs, but to pause and regain your edge. 

Does God have you in a season of being in the wilderness?  Do not strive to escape, but rather embrace it as the providential hand of God shaping you for your work.  You can turn the time of present inactivity into future productivity.  Wait, reflect, grow, prepare—God knows where you are and can get you where you need to be.  A dear friend gave me that counsel as a young student at Fruitland Baptist Bible Institute (now College). It was the crucible of refining—helping to make me a man God could use. 

The work continues.

THE DISCIPLINES OF OUR FAITH

 

Hall of Fame coach, the late Vince Lombardi ,would begin every training camp with this statement, “Gentlemen, this is a football.”  Then, he would drill them in the fundamentals over and over.  These were professional athletes who had played football most of their lives. They were not going to win because they learned something new, but because they reinforced what they already knew.  That’s what makes a winning team. 

It is also what makes a championship church.  So many churches are looking for the latest fad and innovative method—a quick fix to take them to the next level.  

I am all about creativity and innovation, but we also must be aware that God never changes, His Word never changes, and there are some fundamentals of our faith that dare not change.  I am going to coach you in six disciplines this week that God will bless, in your walk with Him, in your family, and in the church. 

GOD THE FATHER: The Leader of His Household

“Trust in the LORD with all your heart, And lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, And He shall direct your paths. ... “My son, do not despise the chastening of the LORD, Nor detest His correction; For whom the LORD loves He corrects, Just as a father the son in whom he delights.” (Proverbs 3:5-6,11-12)

God has designated me to be the leader of my household.  That’s a father’s job.  Too many men fail in that role.

I assure you, God the Father, never fails.  He leads His dear children along (Prov.3:5-6).  It doesn’t mean the path will always be easy.  It will always be best.  We may not understand the ways God leads us—but we are told not to lean on our own understanding.  What are we to do when we don’t understand with our head?  Trust Him with all our heart!

The Father’s leadership isn’t just in direction, but in discipline (Prov.3:11-12).  He is not a permissive parent.  The man who decides to be his son’s friend rather than his father, allowing him to pursue his own path, may think that he is being loving, but is actually being cruel.  Children need discipline. God the Father sets the pattern. He corrects us with compassion and disciplines us because He delights in us.  Our response determines whether the pain makes us better or bitter.

HUMAN CLAY: Nurture and Admonition

Read Ephesians 6:1-4.

Every child is born with self-centeredness and rebellion in their heart. There has only been one virgin to conceive and bear a sinless Child, and thus, we have a job on our hands as parents, grandparents, and mature Christians to help shape that little lump of human clay.

We train children in obedience. “Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.” (v.1‬). Some have a personality that makes them more readily compliant, yet all to some degree or another manifest disobedience.  It is woven into the fabric of our being.

The training must go beyond actions to attitudes. “Honor your father and mother,” which is the first commandment with promise:” (v.2‬). If adults are to be honored, they must demonstrate they are honorable. Kids can sniff out a phony a mile away.

We must show them not only what to do, but why. “‘that it may be well with you and you may live long on the earth.’” (v.3‬). If all children hear is, “No!” without being taught the positive benefits and protection from evil consequences of obedience to God, it will be counterproductive.

The direction of children toward God and salvation in Christ by discipleship requires both negatives to avoid and positives to apply. “And you, fathers, do not provoke your children to wrath, but bring them up in the training and admonition of the Lord.” (v.4‬). Two extremes must be avoided: being loose where we set few boundaries and fail to enforce those we set, or being legalistic and demand our preferences rather than God’s principles. Both are frustrating to a child and end in anger and bitterness. Positive training and corrective confrontation in the Word to lead them to the Lord must be our persistent effort.  We reward good actions and attitudes while disciplining bad ones to open the child’s heart to God.

GOOD FOR NOTHING

Read Jer.13:1-11. 

Good for nothing—not a flattering description to give someone.  Yet, it was the accurate assessment of God concerning Judah.  

It was illustrated by an object lesson—a visual aid—Jeremiah used to communicate the wicked ways of his people.  God told Jeremiah to buy a sash and wear it.  This was a garment, much like underwear worn against the skin, stretching from the waist to the thigh.  Being made of linen meant it was rather expensive—not cheap material.  He was not to wash it, so you can imagine how underwear might get a bit nasty. After a time, the prophet was told to take the garment and bury it under a rock beside the Euphrates River which bordered Babylon. Later, he was commanded to make the seven hundred mile round trip and recover the garment, which was now ruined—good for nothing.

The message was plain.  God valued the Jews.  He brought them close to Him.  They might have been a people “for renown, for praise, and for glory; but they would not hear.”  Failing to listen to God’s commands and cling to Him, Israel and Judah would be cast away as worthless, soiled underwear.  Babylon’s armies would cross the Euphrates and conquer Jerusalem.

There are few things more tragic than wasted potential.  We hear the sad stories of a gifted athlete who might have been a champion, but their lack of discipline kept them from attaining the crown.  Instead they chose the party scene—drugs and drunkenness, wine and women—the nightlife when they ought to have been sleeping.  What might have been would never be.  They became washed up, wasted, worthless to the team.

I have seen this among church members and leaders.  I have witnessed the giftedness of a singer, teacher, deacon or preacher, walking close to God and being blessed and blessing others.  Then they begin to drift.  They no longer are as passionate for God.  They bury their talent under worldly concerns and amusements.  Their soul becomes soiled and their witness in tatters.

Is God speaking to you today?  Will you hear and heed the message?  

Good for nothing—don’t let that be your epitaph. 

PERVERSE PITY

But the LORD said, “You have had pity on the plant for which you have not labored, nor made it grow, which came up in a night and perished in a night.  And should I not pity Nineveh, that great city, in which are more than one hundred and twenty thousand persons who cannot discern between their right hand and their left—and much livestock?  (Jonah 4:10-11)

Pity is a wonderful trait—if directed toward others in need.  Self-pity, however, is a perversion that turns a virtue into a vice.  The book of Jonah begins with the prophet being unwilling to go preach to the Assyrians out of a sense of self-protection, to be sure, but also prejudice toward these pagans.  He wanted them to be judged for he deemed them worthy of it.  Sadly, the book ends with Jonah pouting that God did the very thing he feared—spared the repentant people.  

Jonah had just experienced the greatest revival in history.  We might turn to the fourth chapter expecting to see him rejoicing, but the opposite was true!  The heart of his problem was the problem of his heart.  Is it not true of us?  That is the human condition.  God had been working on him, for God is in the business of sanctifying His children.  The activity of God is woven throughout the book—God prepared a storm, a fish, a plant, a worm, and a wind—all because God was breaking down a stubborn soul.

Jonah wanted his way rather than God’s will.  Like a petulant child, he sulks.  He became a spectator, hoping the Assyrians would backslide and judgment might yet descend on them.  He was bitter—no wonder the whale spit him out earlier—who wants to be around a bitter believer?  How many times I have seen church members who were active become bitter over some disappointment in life—really, disappointment with God or the church—and they wind up pouting on a pew.

God let Jonah stew in his own juices for a while—marinating in self-pity.  Then, in God’s perfect timing, He sends grace, causing a plant to grow up—the leaves providing a shade over the little shanty Jonah constructed.  Jonah was glad, but not grateful.  He rejoiced in the provision and not the Provider.  He enjoyed the blessing, but not the Blessed One.  The plant became the object of the prophet’s affection—and that is idolatry!

Church people can become idolaters the same way—taking that which is meant to be a sacred how to lead them to God and making it a sacred cow to substitute for God.  Preachers can become that.  God sends a man to lead the church to the Lord and we wind up idolizing the man.  Programs can become that—methods meant to bring people closer to Christ that become the object of our devotion.  Places can become idols—a church building where we gather to worship the Lord, and yet the building becomes the focus of our adoration.

God sent a worm to destroy Jonah’s idol.  He may send a pulpit committee to take away our preacher idol, or a financial difficulty to end the church program, or a fire to consume a building.  Then God sent a sirocco—a searing east wind to add an exclamation point.

God is more concerned about people than programs.  If the church is more devoted to preserving what they have within the four walls, than sacrificing to reach people beyond them, then we have missed the point of this story.

A WHALE OF A TALE

 Then Jonah prayed to the LORD his God from the fish’s belly.  (Jonah 2:1)

One of the passages of Scripture that skeptics use to try to make the Bible out to be a fairy tale is the story of Jonah being swallowed by a great sea creature, as recorded in chapter two.  Admittedly, it is a whale of a tale!  Yet, there are documented cases in history where sailors have been swallowed by sperm whales and survived.  Aside from that, Jesus believed the story and used it to illustrate his resurrection (see Matt.12:38-45).  One might understand an atheist’s mockery, but for a professing Christian to try to explain it away is to question the authority of Jesus and the historicity of His resurrection—and I would question the reality of such a person’s faith.  Bottom line: if God is God then He can do anything He wants to do, including making a fish that can swallow a man.  I have no problem swallowing the story!

What happened inside of Jonah was a result of what happened inside the sea creature—literally, the Hebrew word means, “sea monster,” so that we don’t know exactly what kind of aquatic beast it was—only that it had a mouth big enough to swallow the disobedient prophet and a stomach large enough to accommodate him!  I think it likely was a whale—and will so refer to the animal from this point on.  He slept on a foam blubber mattress covered with a blanket of seaweed and plankton pillow!

This we know—Jonah was disciplined by this descent into the deep (v.1-3).  He had tried to escape from God’s call to go preach at Nineveh, and headed the opposite direction.  God sent a storm to stop him and a whale to swallow him all in order to send him to the place where he needed to be.  My old neighbor, the late preacher Cecil Fox, said to me many times, “God can make you want to do what you ought to do!”  

Jonah was given a taste of hell—for so he describes it.  The temperature inside the whale would have been 108 degrees, the gastric juices would have burned and begun to eat away at him.  Can you imagine the darkness and stench?  No wonder Jonah got on his knees and did some serious repenting!  What will it take to drive you back to God if you are currently in defiance of His will?

His prayer was urgent, as you might imagine (v.4-9).  He had sought to hide from God and now he worries that God will hide from him.  When he was asleep in the ship as it rocked along on the waves, he felt no alarm.  Now, in the belly of the beast at the bottom of the sea, terror is what he feels—yet, that is a good place to be.  When God takes you down that low, you have nowhere to look but up!  That’s when things change.

Jonah would experience a resurrection of sorts.  Did you consider that maybe he actually died in the whale and God raised him?   One thing is for sure, he died to his sin and was now alive to God.

Did you know that whales sometimes beach themselves and will vomit out the contents of their stomachs just before they die?  The whale lived to do the will of God and died in peace.  A beast was more obedient than a prophet!  Yet, Jonah repented and “You can’t keep a good man down!”

YOU CAN'T RUN AWAY FROM GOD

But Jonah arose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the LORD.  (Jonah 1:3a)

The great boxer, Joe Louis, was once told how his opponent, Billy Conn, intended to beat him with quickness, to which the Brown Bomber replied, “He can run, but he can’t hide.”  Louis knocked him out.  In a much greater way, Jonah found out that you can’t run away from God.  That is the lesson in the first chapter of Jonah.

He tried (v.1-3). The Lord commanded his prophet to go preach a message of repentance to the citizens of the Assyrian capital of Nineveh, and he boarded a boat to go the opposite direction.  Before we shake our heads and judge Jonah’s folly, let us take personal inventory.  Some who read this are out of fellowship with God—fleeing from His will in some way or another.

Jonah acted on reason rather than revelation; by fear and not faith.  His intended audience was a cruel and evil people.  Jonah knew the danger of his assignment.  As much as he feared that, an even greater fear was that perhaps his mission would be successful!  He wanted the Assyrians to be judged—after all their brutality he thought they deserved it—the filthy pagans!  Have we not too often—like Jonah—leaned on our own logic, rather than trust in God’s way?  Nineveh needed to be confronted—and so does our culture today.

The disobedient prophet found out that God disciplines His defiant child (v.4).  The seeming fair weather circumstances Jonah enjoyed were suddenly interrupted by a storm that God sent to arrest him.  The storm was bad, but the sin was worse.  Whatever it takes, if you continue to run from God, He will hunt you down—for your own good and His glorious purpose.

If we are in a storm in our life today, we should pause and seek the reason.  Sometimes trials come out of the blue sky like a summer thundershower.  They may be inexplicable.  Faithfulness to God is no assurance of immunity from trouble.  Facing such is part of living in a world under the curse.  There are other instances where we are reaping what we have sown.  Another prophet, Hosea, wrote, “They sow the wind, and reap the whirlwind” (8:7a).  

Not only did the sin of Jonah affect him—bad as that was—but it threatened to sink the sailors on board with him (v.5-17).  We may decide that our disobedience is our business—that it is between us and God alone.  As dangerous an attitude as that is—it is also wrong.  We do not know how far-reaching the results of our sin may be—the lives we will bring down with us.  

Jonah is unconcerned.  He is asleep!  Sin has that kind of deadening effect.  The pagan mariners meanwhile are desperately trying to save themselves.  There was a man who knew the problem and the solution, but had not told them.  This is a picture of the grim reality in our world today.  Our world seeks a solution to the problems faced—and it is futility—while the church sleeps on in sinful disobedience to the Great Commission mandate to share the Gospel!  Jonah is cast out—which is what Jesus said would happen when the salt of the earth lost it seasoning potency.  It is branded, “good for nothing but to be thrown out,” (Matt.5:13b).

God was not through with Jonah.  He persistently pursues His erring child.  What will it take to bring us into surrender to God’s will?

A FAITHLESS NATION AND A FAITHFUL GOD

I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness,

And you shall know the LORD.  (Hosea 2:20)

On July 4, 1776, America’s Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence.   It begins, “When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.  We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness…” and concludes by appealing to God, the Supreme Judge of the world and says, “with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.”  Indeed, Providence smiled upon them and America was birthed with the blessing of God.  He has been faithful through our meteoric rise, but we have been unfaithful to Him.  Systematically, we are stripping away all reference to God from the public arena.  That vacuum is filled by paganism, Islam and the cults, even as Christianity is held up to contempt.  There are some lessons for us from ancient Israel.  God brought them into a land flowing with milk and honey, but they spurned Him for false gods.  Hosea has a message for such people.

THE LOVE OF GOD SEEN IN A MARITAL ILLUSTRATION (Chapters 1-3). These chapters present the broken home of Hosea (1:1-11).  His marriage would be a living message—a picture of the sermon he preached.  Hosea was commanded to marry Gomer.  Although I do not think she was a harlot at the time, it was in her heart.  She began to cheat on Hosea.  In fact she has children, which aren’t even Hosea’s (v.8-9).  Night after night of shameful living took its toll (2:1-13).  Having all those children affected her figure.  Time and gravity set in and she was not the beauty she once was, and her lovers began to desert her (v.6-7).  Picture this: Gomer has sold herself into slavery to avoid starvation.  Hosea is commanded to go and buy this cheater and bring her home!  He will forgive her and restore her (2:14-3:5).  She has been faithless, but he will be faithful to his promise.  This experience illustrated the relationship of God and Israel.

THE LOVE OF GOD SHOWN IN THE SPIRITUAL APPLICATION (Chapters 4-14).  Gomer broke Hosea’s heart.  Israel broke God’s.  They treated God as Gomer did Hosea (4:1-19).  Reading these verses is like reading the newspaper or watching the TV today.  These same sins are epidemic in America!  We thumb our nose at God; we shake our fist at Him; we bite the hand that feeds us!  Just like Gomer trying to appeal to her lovers, so Israel looked to man rather than God for deliverance.  Don’t we try to do that?  God would break them (5:1-13:16).  He will drive us to our knees, if we don’t go willingly.

As Hosea restored Gomer, so God would restore Israel (14:1-9).  The promise remains, “Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.”  It is a personal response.  If enough believers get right with God, a church can be revived.  If enough churches are revived, a nation can be restored!

FADING AT THE FINISH LINE

For it was so, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned his heart after other gods; and his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, as was the heart of his father David.  (1 Kings 11:4)

 

It is important to start well, but it is more important to finish well. There are horses that charge out of the gates and lead the race early, only to fade at the finish line. It can happen in the church. Paul said to the Galatians, “You ran well. Who hindered you?” The church at Ephesus was enjoined to repent and do the first works. We all know people who have joined the church with great enthusiasm, began serving with high energy, but flamed out—their spiritual life just cold ashes now. Solomon is a classic example of fading at the finish as described in 1 Kings 11.

 

Think about THE CAUSE OF HIS FALL (v.1-8).  The law of the harvest is this: we reap what we sow, more than we sow, and later than we sow.  Solomon is an example. The sins of the fathers are visited upon the children. David had fallen into lust with Solomon’s mother. Now we see his son caught in the web of immorality. In Proverbs we read how Solomon warned his son of seductive women, but the wisest man became a fool.  Imagine—Solomon—a man who had conversed with Living God, bows to graven images.  He had built the house of God and seen the glory fill it.  Now, he erects altars where the foulest blasphemies are acted out—orgies of sensuality and child sacrifice.  Once the devil gains a foothold, he moves to build a stronghold. The man given to sensuality will become a compromiser.  

 

This brings us to THE CONSEQUENCE OF HIS FALL (v.9-13).   God is not mocked. Solomon had sown to the flesh and would reap corruption.  After all God had done for him, Solomon thumbs his nose at God.  He bites the hand that feeds him.  No wonder God was angry. He is not a God to be trifled with.  Twice before God had appeared to Solomon and promised blessing to him and his descendants.  These promises were conditioned upon his obedience.  Solomon failed and God will be faithful to his warnings also.  So God announces He will show His displeasure for Solomon’s disobedience by bringing discipline on him.  We should never use the grace of God as an excuse to sin.  Even forgiven sin can have temporal consequences.

 

The end was THE CHASTISMENT OF HIS FALL (v.14-43).  God brings out the rod and chastens His child.  Note that it was the Lord who raised up these adversaries.  Solomon could not conquer them.  The faithful child of God will face fierce foes, but has grace to overcome them.  The backslider cannot draw upon God’s power.  The implications of sin can be far-reaching, extending to many people over many years.  It certainly will impact our family. 

 

By contrast, Paul finished well.  In his last will and testament he declares, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.  Finally, there is laid up for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the Righteous Judge will give to me on that Day, and not to me only, but also to all those who have loved His appearing.”  I want to be included in that number.  You are going to die and face judgment for your works as a Christian—what kind of reward will you achieve?

TRAINING FOR TRIUMPH

Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may obtain it.  (1 Corinthians 9:24)

Athletes who excel are talented—but, they are also trained.  There are many skilled athletes that are not successful athletes.  Winners are workers—they train for triumph.  The Apostle Paul uses this truth to illustrate spiritual success.  Every child of God has the potential for victory because of the indwelling Holy Spirit.  Despite this, we can see that few excel in their spiritual race.  Why?  We must work out what God works in.  The Apostle lists three essentials in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27 for excelling in our efforts.

We must have DRIVE.  “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize?  Run in such a way that you may obtain it.”  (v.24)  You cannot be content with a participation ribbon—you must have the drive to attain the championship trophy!  Don’t be happy with being on the track—strive for triumph!  Paul had that kind of passion.  He was a man who was driven.  There was no half-heartedness about him.  How driven are you in the things of God?  Apathy is affecting many in the church—and it is appalling.  We have the potential to shake the world and shape our culture, but instead we are shaky about what we believe and the culture is shaping us!  What will rekindle our passion for Christ?  Take a trip to Calvary.  Kneel at the cross.  See the puddles of blood.  Look up into the eyes of love.  Stay there until your heart is ignited with a renewed zeal for Him who gave His all that you might give your all!

We must also have DIRECTION.  “And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown.  ‎ Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty.  Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air.”  (v.25-26)  The athlete who wins looks beyond the present price of training for the prospective prize of winning.  Playing football in high school demanded two-a-day practices in full pads under the hot sun of August.  The toil was meant to toughen us as we looked forward to walking off the field in victory later.  We listened and learned from our coaches’ direction.  The Christian life is to be lived with purpose.  Paul says that he is running for the goal—his eyes fixed on the prize.  He isn’t engaged in shadow boxing, but has put on the gloves, climbed into the ring, and has his eyes fixed on the enemy in front of him—to deliver a knockout to the Devil!

Finally, we must have DISCIPLINE.  “But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified.”  (v.27)  You must practice the principles of training in order to triumph.  Let me suggest a few.

• ·        EAT RIGHT.  A daily intake of God’s Word provides the needful nutrition for spiritual vitality.  Refuse to consume the world’s junk-food that harms you.
• ·        BREATHE RIGHT.  A championship athlete expands his or her lung capacity in order to have stamina.  As you pray consistently, exhale your sin by confession, and inhale God’s power by faith.
• ·        WORK OUT.  You can’t develop muscle by being a coach potato—or a pew potato!  Get busy serving Christ and sharing your faith!

Now, stop whining and start winning!

STORM WARNING

“I will call to the LORD, and He will send thunder and rain, that you may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which you have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking a king for yourselves.”  (1 Samuel 12:17b)

When clouds gather, lightning flashes, thunder rolls, and conditions are present for destructive storms, the National Weather Service will issue a storm warning.  Data is collected and analyzed, as sensitive instruments indicate dangers that might otherwise catch people unprepared.  Samuel was a man sensitive to the Spirit.  In chapter twelve of 1 Samuel, he issues a storm warning.  God sends a literal storm to confirm the message.  Israel’s first king, Saul has led an impressive victory, but Samuel warns of a storm that is coming.

Samuel had been faithful—his life an inspiring example (v.1-5).  There had been a remarkable consistency from the dawn of his childhood, the brilliant noonday of his ministry, and now as evening shadows of age gather around him, he will leave a legacy of devotion to God and His people.  Will this be our testimony?  Will we end well?  God help us to be faithful!

The Lord is the ultimate model of faithfulness.  Whereas, He has been faithful to His people, they had not been to Him (v.6-11).  They forgot the Lord!  Even so, God disciplined them and did not disown them—remaining devoted to them and delivering them.  For the blessing of God to rest on them, they must fear Him and obey Him (v.12-15).  Those are still the twin rails upon which God’s train of blessing runs—the old T & O: Trust and Obey!

God drives home the point rather dramatically (v.16-18).  During the time of the wheat harvest, rain in rare in Palestine.  God stirs up a storm to show them who is in charge.  The people had demanded a king to reign over them.  In so doing, they had rejected the Lord from being their ruler.  God yielded to their request, but reminded them that their decision would not go well—and that a gnat may as well try to control a rhinoceros as for them to think they could depose God.

Their future prospects would be determined by the degree of their faithful performance (v.19-21).  They confess their sin and cry out for mercy—which is always a good place to start.  If we are off track, the first step to getting back online is to admit it—and that we need God’s help to do so.  That confession is followed by a choice—to spurn the empty wells of this world and drink from God’s fountain that never runs dry.  Our Father may reprove us, but He will not reject us; He may correct us, but will not cast us out (v.22).  He did not choose Israel because they deserved it, but solely by grace.  That is true of us, as well.

If we would stay in touch with God, then His power would deliver us, and His hand would direct us.  Samuel had such a lifestyle of communion with the Almighty (v.23).  To this example here is added the testimony of Ps.99:6 and Jer.15:1.  If we never become faithful in prayer, we will never be faithful in anything else.  How could we fail to delight in His presence and submit in obedience in view of all He has done for us?  Samuel drives home the point (v.24-25).

If God is giving you a storm warning, it is time to drop to your knees and seek shelter in Him!

THE BLESSEDNESS OF OBEDIENCE

And Jeremiah said to the house of the Rechabites, “Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: ‘Because you have obeyed the commandment of Jonadab your father, and kept all his precepts and done according to all that he commanded you, therefore thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: “Jonadab the son of Rechab shall not lack a man to stand before Me forever.” ’ ”  (Jeremiah 35:18-19)

Children are rebellious by nature.  We do not have to be taught to be disobedient.  Defiance is in our blood.  We demand our own way.  The imposing of discipline is essential for breaking down that self-centered spirit, and is an act of love to prepare a child for the adult world where there are rules, direction, and subordination to order if one is to function in society.  For Christian parents, the spiritual dimension is even more important as we are getting the children ready for the world to come—teaching them the need of submission to their Heavenly Father. 

This is why the fifth commandment in the Decalogue is a hinge upon which the two dimensions of duty swing.  The first four commandments point to our duty to God.  The last six point to our duty to man.  That is how the Ten Commandments are typically divided.  I prefer to divide them five and five.  The fifth commandment is to honor your father and your mother.  They are God’s representatives—as such this concludes our duty to God for we honor Him in respecting them.  It also gives us a bridge to the second table dealing with our duty to man.

In Jeremiah thirty five, we find a family that has honored their father—the Rechabites.  These were not Jews, but were Kenites—descendants of the nomadic people of Midian—the in-laws of Moses (1 Chron.2:55).  They were “sojourners” (v.7) dwelling in tents (v.10) according to the command of their father Jonadab.  They had also been commanded not to drink wine (v.6), so when Jeremiah set wine before them, it was a test—and they passed with flying colors! 

It was more than a test for them, however.  It was a living illustration of the blessedness of obedience in contrast to the bitterness of disobedience (v.11-19).  God had been a Father to Israel, yet they had been disobedient.  They ignored His warnings through His prophets.  They were intoxicated with idolatry.  The result would be a life of bitterness as doom would fall on Jerusalem.  The Babylonians were already on the march (v.11) as the rod of correction God would apply to His children.

We are free to choose our path, but we are not free to choose the results of that choice.  Choices have consequences.  “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long upon the land which the LORD your God is giving you.”  (Ex.20:12)  This is the first commandment with a promise—that obedience brings blessedness.  It is also true that disobedience will result in disaster.  Again, this is about more than submission to a human parent; it is about obedience to the Heavenly Father.  To submit to Him is to experience His blessing.  Rebellion leads to bondage, suffering, and loss.

The Rechabites would be perpetually in a position of service to God (v.19).  They would stand before the Lord marked with approval—honored by the Lord for honoring their father.  In so doing, they had honored God.  Do we not aspire to such?  It is attainable.  It is the blessedness of obedience.

THE POTTER AND THE CLAY

“O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter?” says the LORD. “Look, as the clay is in the potter’s hand, so are you in My hand, O house of Israel!”  (Jeremiah 18:6)

I took two years of art in High School, and then a couple of years in distance learning beyond that.  It has been a long time, in the hectic pace of life, that I have used that ability.  I spend much of my hours painting word pictures rather than landscapes!  One of the areas of study was pottery.  We had the opportunity to sit at a wheel with a lump of clay and shape a vessel.  Little did I know at the time that the experience would afford an illustration of spiritual truth, but that is the substance of these devotional thoughts. 

In the eighteenth chapter of Jeremiah’s prophecy, we take a trip to the potter’s house because God has a word for His messenger—and for us (v.1-2).  Jeremiah observes the potter sitting at the wheel, shaping the clay, with the pressure of his hands as it spins.  Suddenly, it begins to come apart.  The moist clay will have to be broken down and reformed—nothing else will do (v.3-4). 

I can recall the feel of that wet clay as I applied the pressure, and up and up the walls of the vessel would begin to rise as I pumped the wheel with my foot to make it spin.  Then, to much disappointment, it began to unravel before my eyes!  There was a small piece of grit—an impurity in the clay—that necessitated removal.   After breaking down the vessel, the process started all over.

Do you see the illustration?  God is the Potter.  Israel is the clay.  His intent for His people has been marred because of their resistance to His shaping.  The only way the Jews could be mended is by breaking them down and beginning again.  God will use the Babylonian empire to accomplish that painful discipline (v.5-17).

Do we understand that this is eternal truth and speaks to us today?  Certainly, the unchanging character of God means He will deal with our nation as He did with rebellious Judah, for He consistently judges any nation that resists His will, while offering blessing to the people who submit to His hands (v.7-10). 

Let me be even more direct.  I am a lump of clay in the hands of a sovereign God.  He has an intended result He wants to accomplish as He shapes me.  The pressure of God’s hands molds us.  Those pressures come in many forms.  The circumstances of life whether physical affliction, difficult people, financial stress, and a host of other possibilities may be used of God to shape us for His purposes.  I find myself to be as dull of understanding as a lump of clay, however.  I want the pressure gone—without realizing I cannot be what God intends apart from it.  When I resist His work—when an unyielding lump results—He will break me down.  It is not that He is cruel—quite the opposite.  Impurity in my life will necessitate that God break me down and keep working with me. The Potter is intent on molding us into a vessel to use here and display as a trophy of grace and glory for all eternity.  We live life forward, but understand it backward.  Today, may we be pliable clay, praying, “Not my will, but Yours be done!”