OUR BLESSED HOPE!

Whatever problems you have had in your past, or struggles you have in the present, know this—a child of God has a glorious future—our blessed hope!  We see this in Revelation 7. Specifically, I understand these verses point to those who come to Christ in the future Great Tribulation, but spiritually these promises apply to all God’s people. 

There is the promise of SALVATION, “These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb,” (v. 14). Apart from Christ, there is no hope. We cannot wash away the stain of our sins by the sprinkling of water, or the sacraments we observe, or the self-effort in religion we exert. Only the blood of Christ can cleanse us. Yet, Hallelujah, His blood does wash us, and we shall stand before a Holy God in white robes!

Further, we find the promise of SERVICE, “Therefore they are before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple. And He who sits on the throne will dwell among them,” (v. 15).  When I was a child and heard preachers speak of Heaven, it seemed that all we would do is float around on a cloud, strumming a harp, and that seemed rather boring. Yet, heaven will be a place where we will employ the gifts God has given us, unencumbered by the toil and travail of thorns and thistles. It will be service without sweat! 

The promise of SATISFACTION, “They shall neither hunger anymore nor thirst anymore; the sun shall not strike them, nor any heat,” (v. 16).  This world is under the curse of sin, and so there is hunger, thirst, and  a scorching sun—paradise has become more like perdition. Nothing this world offers brings lasting satisfaction. Yet, there is coming a day when the curse is reversed. God’s people will be blessed with continual provision, and thus perpetual satisfaction!

The promise of SERENITY“for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and lead them to living fountains of waters. And God will wipe away every tear from their eyes.” (v. 17‬‬). What a beautiful picture of peace! These words remind us of Psalm 23, “The LORD is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters.” (v. 1-2).

In this fallen creation, we sometimes enjoy an oasis in the desert, but before long we find ourselves once more in the valley of the shadow of death. The tears flow like a river as we face the death of loved ones, and our own demise. Heartaches and disappointments abound. Yet, our hope is in knowing that God will personally wipe away our tears when we reach the glory of eternity! Suffering and sorrow will be supplanted by serenity!

What a blessed hope!  Press on weary pilgrim; the Celestial City awaits! “And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever,” (Ps. 23:6b).

THE PLEASURE FROM GOD’S PLEASURE

David said there is pleasure that comes from a life that brings pleasure to God.

“You will show me the path of life;
In Your presence is fullness of joy;
At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”  (Psalm 16:11)

God means for us to have joy in Him.  The gladness of God should be reflected in our countenance and conversations.  Of all people on earth who ought to be rejoicing, it is those who have been shown the path of life.  It isn’t the sinner who is “living it up,” but the believer—at least we should be.

Three things then gladden us—God’s path, for it is true life; God’s presence, for it is full joy; God’s pleasures, for it is eternal favor.

We are further enjoined to:

“Serve the Lord with gladness; Come before His presence with singing.”  (Ps.100:2)

The gladness of God has practical implications for the believer.  Our service for Him should be attended with gladness and not grudging.  Entering His presence requires a song—and not a dirge either!  In ancient times, it was punishable by death to be a servant attending a monarch with a sad countenance (Nehemiah 1 is an example).  How much more should we seek to serve the King of kings with a smile and a song!

“Because you did not serve the Lord your God with joy and gladness of heart, for the abundance of everything, therefore you shall serve your enemies, whom the Lord will send against you, in hunger, in thirst, in nakedness, and in need of everything; and He will put a yoke of iron on your neck until He has destroyed you.”  (Deut.28:47-48)

Will we ever learn that God isn’t just after the outward action—although obedience is a must—He is looking at our heart.  The problem here is one of going through the motions without joy!  This is serious.  God brought discipline on Israel accordingly.  You can serve an oppressive enemy without joy—just doing it because you have to.  God would teach them that their attitude was no different by allowing them to do that very thing.  Had they chosen to serve God with a heart of gladness then they would have enjoyed blessing and not bondage.

Learn this: “for the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Spirit.”  (Rom.14:17). Since God’s eternal kingdom is marked by joy, the church should manifest it today.  It was true in the first century and ought to be in the twenty-first.

Paul extolled how the Thessalonians had great joy.

“And you became followers of us and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the Holy Spirit,” (1 Thess.1:6). Consider the pattern in the early church by studying Acts 2:46-47; 5:40-41; 16:22-25.

We have seen that Scripture knows nothing of a grumpy God—moody and morose!  He does grieve, but also is glad for He will be glorified in all things.  Paul was “sorrowful, yet always rejoicing” (2 Cor. 6:10).  This is how God’s people are to be. Have you the joy of salvation?  Have you lost it like David did (Ps.51:12)?  It can be restored.  Why would we abandon God and His joy in us to pursue the things of this world that only leave us craving more?  That is like trying to satisfy your thirst by drinking salt water from the ocean—the more you take in, the thirstier you become. But, “In [God’s] presence is fullness of joy; At Your right hand are pleasures forevermore.”

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.”

THIRSTY

Early will I seek You; My soul thirsts for You….  (Psalm 63:1a)

We have a thirst in our soul for God.  This is why humans are inherently religious—we know there is something else, something more—someone above and beyond us that we want to know.  Man was created with the capacity to walk with God—Adam and Eve did, until they chose the path of disobedience and then the fellowship was broken—infidelity disrupting intimacy.  God, in grace, reached out to His fallen creatures—and still does today.  We can once more know the Father through the Son by the Spirit.  Nothing else can satisfy the thirst in our souls.  We must drink from the well of salvation. It is the living water Jesus promised. 

We must also acknowledge that even as God’s people, we may foolishly turn from drinking deeply of God and pursue the world’s empty cisterns.  “For My people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”  (Jer.2:13).

In Psalm 63, we find David in a place of barrenness, expressing this deep thirst for God (v.1).  God will seal up the Scripture, shut up the heavens to prayer, shrivel up the joy in worship—whatever it takes to intensify our thirst, and drive us in desperation to Him.  We find satisfaction in God only when we desire satisfaction in Him alone.  It is not a passion for what His hand can give us, but a desire to see His face and abide in His presence.  This is one reason why God sends troubles into the lives of His children—to drive us to Himself.  Trials have a way of diminishing our taste for the things of this world and elevating our thirst for the eternal.

David desired to see the manifestation of God’s power and glory (v.2).  It was not enough to hear about what God had done for others in the past—he wanted to experience it in the present for himself.   Listening to someone describe the sensation of drinking from a clear, cold mountain stream is not the same as taking a drink!  The testimony can make you salivate, but only the experience can bring you satisfaction.  Theologically, we may know the Lord is omnipresent in our doctrine, but experientially, we long to know Him manifestly in our daily life! 

This demands seeking God wholeheartedly in His Word and in prayer.  The corporate worship with the saints in the house of God can encourage us as we gather with others.  The sermons and songs can stir us to seek God.  It is in the daily quiet time—sitting before and open Bible and kneeling with an open heart in prayer, however, that will ultimately lead us into divine encounters.  This is the only way to know God’s power and glory.

The thirst for God will lead us to be satisfied with His love (v.3-6).  We will meditate on Him and rejoice in God—knowing His lovingkindness that is better than life itself.  We will experience the very life of God (v.7-11) and in so doing find true meaning in life.  Apart from Him, there is only an existence.  In Him, we rejoice—fully alive!  The presence of God does not alleviate all our opposition (v.9-11)—the Devil will see to that!  Yet, God is our Deliverer.  Having Him, we have the victory.  We must press on boldly to the throne room!

Stay thirsty, my friend—thirsty for God—and you will find satisfaction in Him!

THE BREAD OF LIFE

And Jesus said to them, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to Me shall never hunger, and he who believes in Me shall never thirst.  (John 6:35)

There is within every human heart a hunger for God.  God and God alone can satisfy that longing of our soul.  Sadly, many turn to the world to seek to fill that gnawing void.  It is like trying to quench thirst by drinking water from the ocean—the more you drink of that brine, the thirstier you become.  To go into eternity in that condition is to be in a place of unending thirst—without so much as one drop of water to cool the tongue.  Since only God can fill that emptiness, should a man or woman choose a life without God, then He will at death saturate their existence with His absence.  What a horrible thing to contemplate!  It is our choice.  God makes Himself available.  We may feast on Him and have life, but He will not cram Himself down our throats.  We must reach out a hand of faith, take His life into our own—feed upon Him and live forever in heaven with Him.

The Bread that God gives is His Son.  Jesus plainly said that He is the Bread of Life.  In the first century, bread was the basic food staple—the stuff of life.  You could not run to the grocery store and find shelves stocked with a wide variety of food.  The Jews would have equated the two—you have bread and you live; you do not and you starve.  If we feed upon Christ we have eternal life.  He promises to meet the heart hunger and fully satisfy the thirst in our heart—for He is likewise the Water of Life—a Well that never runs dry.  Bread and water—we can survive on that!

It is the privilege of the believer to daily feed upon that Bread of Life.  We come to Him and receive nourishment and strength to sustain us on our journey.  The Psalmist beckoned,

“Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good;
Blessed is the man who trusts in Him!”  (Ps.34:8)

For eighteen years of my life, I sought satisfaction in this world.  I consumed all I could which appealed to my carnal appetite.  It seemed so sweet to the taste, but was a poison in my soul.  The momentary pleasure of sin that made me salivate with anticipation could never deliver all it promised.  In fact, when the waiter brought the bill for what had been consumed, it cost far more than what it was worth—the high cost of low-living!  In a sense of desperation, I turned to Christ.  I tasted the Bread of Life—and I am so glad I did!  I have found Him to be all that I longed for, and all I could ever need.

Dear reader, please, if you have not received Him, do so today—not as some morsel to sample among a wide-variety of delicacies that this world offers—but as He truly is—life itself!  You will never hunger and never thirst again!

DOUBLE TROUBLE

 

“For My people have committed two evils:

  They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

  And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.” 

  (Jeremiah 2:13)

There have been times during the course of my ministry that I have ministered to those with severe illness.  Sometimes a pattern develops that leads to their death.  One thing goes wrong—and there is a treatment for it—then another problem arises that also could be treated, except that the medication works against the first condition.  It is double trouble—and before long I am meeting with the patient’s family to plan a funeral. 

Jeremiah was seeing this double trouble afflict the kingdom of Judah.  If something didn’t happen quickly, the nation would die.  Nations are birthed, they decline, and they die.  Here is the solemn warning,

“Has a nation changed its gods,

  Which are not gods?

  But My people have changed their Glory

  For what does not profit.”  (Jer.2:11)

We have recently celebrated another birthday for America, but we look at the worsening condition of the nation and wonder how many more will we have?  God does not change, and if we abandon the Living God for idols we will soon discover that God has abandoned us.  Yet, this is what we are doing.  It is a frightening prospect.

“Be astonished, O heavens, at this,

  And be horribly afraid;

  Be very desolate,” says the LORD.  (Jer.2:12)

Here is the double trouble: we forsake the Lord and His precepts and follow the world and its philosophies.

“For My people have committed two evils:

  They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters,

And hewn themselves cisterns—broken cisterns that can hold no water.”    (Jer.2:13)

Physically, we cannot survive without water.  Spiritually, God is the fountain of living water—and to forsake Him is to commit suicide—whether it be the self-inflicted death of an individual, a family, a church, or a nation.  God’s precepts in His Word lead us to Him, and we can drink deeply of the life sustaining and soul satisfying truth.  Yet, how many of us leave our Bibles closed, and even in churches encounter little solid Bible teaching?  Still we thirst, and rather than return to the source of life, we may seek to dig our own wells.  Science, education, government, self-help gurus, cults, false religions, and the rest offer solutions.  It is all empty promises—just dry holes.

For such double trouble, there is a “double cure,” to “save from wrath and make me pure.” (Augustus Toplady, “Rock of Ages”)  There is water flowing from that Rock!  The Rock is Jesus (1 Cor.10:4).  We must reject the broken cisterns, repenting of the folly of trying to solve our own problems with the world’s vain philosophies—for that only leads to death—and return to the flowing fountain of life.  That is our only hope!

WATER FROM THE ROCK

“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”  (Exodus 17:6a)

When some folks get to heaven, they will probably want their mansion a different color.  They always seem to find something about which to gripe.  That was a persistent flaw among the Israelis in the Exodus.  God’s provision in the past ought to have instilled confidence, but instead they respond to their problem with complaining.  How much like them we can be!

In Exodus 17, there is an example of one such DIFFICULTY (v.1).  They had no water.  This did not surprise God for He had led them to that very place by the pillar of cloud and fire.  The child of God must know that God brings us to barren places.  We arrive in seasons of dryness sent to test us and meant to teach us.  They come to drive us in desperation to God, not to make us despair of God.  Difficulties will make us better or bitter.  It depends on whether we respond with faith or fretfulness.

In their case, the Hebrews responded with DISCONTENT (v.2-3).  The root problem was their unbelief.  They failed to recall God’s unlimited power or rest in His unfailing promises.  Their stubborn heart of unbelief was an affront to God.  They set limits on Him by failing to recognize the boundless ability and absolute integrity of Almighty God.  “How often they provoked Him in the wilderness, And grieved Him in the desert!  Yes, again and again they tempted God, And limited the Holy One of Israel.”  (Ps.78:40-41)  God is warning us lest we have the same sinful spirit (see 1 Cor.10:1-13).

That is what brings DELIVERANCE (v.4-7).  Moses responded properly.  Rather than complain about the lack, he cried out to the Lord.  That is what difficulties are meant to cause.  If you are a leader in the church, you will find members who attack you because they are angry with God.  They can’t get to Him, so they gripe to you as His representative.  Moses, like all God’s men, become targets for the arrows of murmuring meant for God.  They fall short of heaven and hit our heart.  The example of Moses helps us.  He didn’t yell back at them in frustration, but called out to God in faith.  Like Jesus, Moses was meek (Num.12:3)—an essential quality for spiritual leaders.  Instead of clubbing the complainers, he strikes the rock.  That rock symbolized the Rock of Ages—Jesus Christ.  Paul said, “For they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them, and that Rock was Christ.”  (1 Cor.10:4b)  As Moses struck that rock, so Christ was smitten on Calvary, and from His side flowed the water and the blood.  In that stream alone can we find eternal satisfaction.  Jesus told the Samaritan woman that drinking of this world’s wells would only lead to thirst again—she had tried that!  He offered her Living Water—that which will fill the thirst of our soul.  That is Jesus and Him alone.

Have we trials and temptations?
Is there trouble anywhere?
We should never be discouraged—
Take it to the Lord in prayer.  (Joseph Scriven)