Monthly Archives: July 2010

Jeremiah 26

At the beginning of the reign of King Jehoiakim son of Josiah of Judah, this word came from the Lord: 2 Thus says the Lord: Stand in the court of the Lord’s house, and speak to all the cities of Judah that come to worship in the house of the Lord; speak to them all the words that I command you; do not hold back a word. 3 It may be that they will listen, all of them, and will turn from their evil way, that I may change my mind about the disaster that I intend to bring on them because of their evil doings. 4 You shall say to them: Thus says the Lord: If you will not listen to me, to walk in my law that I have set before you, 5 and to heed the words of my servants the prophets whom I send to you urgently—though you have not heeded— 6 then I will make this house like Shiloh, and I will make this city a curse for all the nations of the earth.

7 The priests and the prophets and all the people heard Jeremiah speaking these words in the house of the Lord. 8 And when Jeremiah had finished speaking all that the Lord had commanded him to speak to all the people, then the priests and the prophets and all the people laid hold of him, saying, “You shall die! 9 Why have you prophesied in the name of the Lord, saying, ‘This house shall be like Shiloh, and this city shall be desolate, without inhabitant’?” And all the people gathered around Jeremiah in the house of the Lord.

10 When the officials of Judah heard these things, they came up from the king’s house to the house of the Lord and took their seat in the entry of the New Gate of the house of the Lord. 11 Then the priests and the prophets said to the officials and to all the people, “This man deserves the sentence of death because he has prophesied against this city, as you have heard with your own ears.”

12 Then Jeremiah spoke to all the officials and all the people, saying, “It is the Lord who sent me to prophesy against this house and this city all the words you have heard. 13 Now therefore amend your ways and your doings, and obey the voice of the Lord your God, and the Lord will change his mind about the disaster that he has pronounced against you. 14 But as for me, here I am in your hands. Do with me as seems good and right to you. 15 Only know for certain that if you put me to death, you will be bringing innocent blood upon yourselves and upon this city and its inhabitants, for in truth the Lord sent me to you to speak all these words in your ears.”

16 Then the officials and all the people said to the priests and the prophets, “This man does not deserve the sentence of death, for he has spoken to us in the name of the Lord our God.” 17 And some of the elders of the land arose and said to all the assembled people, 18 “Micah of Moresheth, who prophesied during the days of King Hezekiah of Judah, said to all the people of Judah: ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts,

Zion shall be plowed as a field;

Jerusalem shall become a heap of ruins,

and the mountain of the house a wooded height.’

19 Did King Hezekiah of Judah and all Judah actually put him to death? Did he not fear the Lord and entreat the favor of the Lord, and did not the Lord change his mind about the disaster that he had pronounced against them? But we are about to bring great disaster on ourselves!”

Jeremiah, for the second time (see chapter 7), is told by God to prophesy at the entrance to the temple in Jerusalem. The message is not a pleasant one and the priests and prophets of the land do not respond very favourably to what Jeremiah has been saying. They threaten to kill him (verse 8 ) and ask him why he should say such nasty things about the people, the city and the temple. The reason given for wanting him killed is that he has prophesied against Jerusalem (verse 11).

Jeremiah’s opponents are not concerned with whether Jeremiah’s words are true. Their concern is that he said something against what they hold dear. Jeremiah’s defense, and the defense given by his supporters (verses 16-24) is that the test of whether Jeremiah should be put to death is the truthfulness or lack thereof of what he has been saying.

We live in a culture that is very much like Jeremiah’s opponents. The issue is not truth. It is whether what is said benefits, or appeases, or helps. No one, it is maintained, has the right to say what is right or wrong. Those who say things that are true but hurtful are to be shut down, or at least encouraged to keep quiet. To maintain that there is only one truth can land a person in some trouble as well.

This is not just a characteristic of the culture. It happens big time in churches as well. Church discipline for sin is shunted to the back burner, if it is believed at all, because churches don’t want to offend people. But if those who have been entrusted with the truth of the Word of God do not clearly and lovingly state what that Word says, then we do far greater harm than if we keep quiet for fear of offending people. It is truth that sets people free and the truth of the Gospel is the most liberating thing there can possibly be.

But the Gospel begins with some very negative truth. After telling us that God made everything and that He is holy and just and created everything very good including mankind, the news gets very negative. We have rebelled against God and have offended the holiness of God with our sin. Sin must be punished and that is why Jesus died – as a punishment for sins He never committed, so that those for whom He took the punishment would be saved on the basis of His death. If, in our giving of the Gospel, we skip over the bits about God’s justice and holiness and punishment of sinners, then the Good News of the Gospel can make no sense at all.

The message of the Gospel has great similarities to the message of Jeremiah to Jerusalem that he gave 2600 years ago. If we do not listen to God and turn to Jesus Christ in repentance and faith, then we will fall under the wrath of God and suffer the just punishment for our sins. This is the truth of the matter and we cannot change that by choosing to ignore it or trying to be more positive.

Jesus is the only way to God and we cannot ignore that on the basis that many religions claim that there are other ways to God. Of course they do. That is why they need the Gospel.

You cannot be more positive than the Gospel delivered to humanity for its eternal salvation. But that very good and liberating message can only make sense if people are told what great danger they are in without it. If it were not true we could leave those parts out. But it is true and it is necessary and it is beneficial to all who will give it audience and believe in Jesus Christ to save them from their sins.

The church of Jesus Christ is the pillar and ground of the truth. That means, at the very least, that we believe it, confess it and unashamedly hold to it, no matter what.

Finally, it needs to be emphasized that to speak truth cruelly, harshly, or without compassion for those to whom it is delivered, is to abuse the truth. Truth sets people free. It is not meant to be something that contributes to the arrogance of those who speak it. It is not intended to be a sledge hammer that crushes people. It is not something that allows people to shout “I win, I win!”. We are commanded to speak the truth in love. Better to say nothing at all if we cannot obey that commandment. In fact, Jesus threatened to shut one church down if they continued to show commitment to truth so lovelessly (Revelation 2:1-7).

Be committed to truth. And speak it with a broken heart of love for those who will give you audience.

Psalm 13

1 How long, O Lord? Will you forget me forever?

How long will you hide your face from me?

2 How long must I bear pain in my soul,

and have sorrow in my heart all day long?

How long shall my enemy be exalted over me?

3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

4 and my enemy will say, “I have prevailed”;

my foes will rejoice because I am shaken.

5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me.

Does God forget his people? It sure seems like it to many believers when they get into circumstances that they feel are too big for them to handle. Does this Psalm verify such feelings? And if it does what do we do with lots of other biblical texts that affirm that God never leaves us? Note a few things about this Psalm:

1) While David asks God if God has forgotten him and hidden His face from him, he does so by prayer. In other words, David is talking to God about God being far away. If David really believed that God was far off and forgetting him, would he be talking to God about it? No. David knows that God is there. He knows that God has not forgotten. He knows that God hears what he is saying. His question is about the circumstances and God’s response to them. He is poetically asking why God does not intervene in ways that would make his troubles go away. The poetry does it more powerfully than simply asking “Why does it feel like you have forgotten me?”

v. 1How long will you hide your face from me?

2) The second line of verse 1 helps explain. The “forgetfulness” of God is this: that He does not shine on us with benevolence all the time. God is still at work in and for us. He still loves us. But He does not always show it in giving us only pleasant circumstances and easy travels.

3) We may see the purpose of God a little bit in verse 2. In the absence of getting what he wanted from God, David has been forced to look inward and find counsel from his own wisdom and experiences. This has proven to him to be a most useless endeavour. Mission accomplished. This reminds us of Jesus when He questioned the twelve about whether they wanted to dessert and leave Him like all the other so called disciples. “Where would we go?” Peter asked in response. Say all we like about how dependent we are upon God for everything, it does us good now and then for God to close up heaven and leave us to our own resources and experience the despair that such a thing causes. It will help us live truly dependently and not just be mouthing pious sounding words.

verse 3 Consider and answer me, O Lord my God!

Give light to my eyes, or I will sleep the sleep of death,

4) Look at verse 3. Despite the fact that David feels like God is not there for him, he still asks Him to be. David knows that in the absence of God doing what needs to be done, there is no substitute. There is no Plan “B”. If God does not help us we are completely helpless.

5 But I trusted in your steadfast love;

my heart shall rejoice in your salvation.

6 I will sing to the Lord,

because he has dealt bountifully with me.

5) Finally, David expresses hope in future grace. See verses 5-6. The fact that God seems absent and is not responding in the way that we think He should does not mean that He will never help us again. David knows that God is doing something that he does not know about. David knows he will rejoice because he truly knows that God has not abandoned him and that even now, in His silence, God is doing something for his good. “I will rejoice” he says, even though he was not rejoicing at that moment. And that confidence in the future blessing of God turned into a present blessing because with God, just the promise of good is a tonic to the soul, for our God cannot lie and what He says He will do, He will do.

Hope this helps when it feels like God is not listening.

Psalm 8

1 O Lord, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth! You have set your glory above the heavens.

2 Out of the mouths of babes and infants

you have founded a bulwark because of your foes,

to silence the enemy and the avenger.

3 When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers,

the moon and the stars that you have established;

4 what are human beings that you are mindful of them,

mortals that you care for them?

5 Yet you have made them a little lower than God,

and crowned them with glory and honor.

6 You have given them dominion over the works of your hands;

you have put all things under their feet,

7 all sheep and oxen,

and also the beasts of the field,

8 the birds of the air, and the fish of the sea,

whatever passes along the paths of the seas. 9 O Lord, our Sovereign,

how majestic is your name in all the earth!

God is more glorious than the heavens. The Creator is always more than his creation. We watch the science fiction movies about the great evil genius who makes the robot or super intelligence and it eventually takes control and sometimes even kills its creator. And mankind is testimony to the fact that it is possible to create something that becomes too powerful to manage. One thinks of nuclear weapons. Right now we are witnessing what happens when we are able to drill a hole in the bottom of the ocean without the skill to plug it up should it start to leak.

Mankind has the intellectual skill to make things and hardly any social or moral capabilities to keep them under control and used for only good purposes. So they become uncontrollable and destructive, which is a horrible combination. We are very poor creators. And God is nothing like us in this respect at all. What He creates He controls. What He brings into being He is able to use for His purposes and it shall never rise up and take over. He made the heavens and for all their glories and wonders, and there are endless numbers of those, they are dwarfed by God Himself. For all the mind boggling things that there are in the heavens, God is greater, more stunning and more awe inspiring. He simply cannot be usurped.

One could dwell on such thoughts for a very long time. But the Psalm we are focussed on takes us elsewhere in the very next phrase. “Out of the mouths of babies and infants, you have established strength because of your foes, to still the enemy and the avenger”. The God who is greater than all the wonders of the heavens, brings triumph to His cause, over His enemies, through babies and infants. This is real power.

God is not like some nuclear equipped super power that gets what it wants because it is able to flash a great arsenal of weaponry. He is the God who takes ordinary little nothings and triumphs through them. Gideon, a little coward of a man is threshing wheat in a winepress so that the Philistines won’t find him, is called by God to lead an army against those same Philistines. God whittles the army down because, as He says in Judges 7:1, if he works through greatness, people will think that it was the army that won the day. God defeats Goliath through a young man named David who kills him with a rock form a sling. God calls a stuttering murderer to lead His people out of Egypt. He calls a young child Jeremiah to stand up and pronounce the judgement of God against a whole country. He selects Peter, the foot mouthed apostle to lead the first church. He chooses a murderous hater of Christians to be the greatest evangelist the world has ever seen.

God shows His power, in part, by using people and things who cannot do anything by themselves. He does this so that they will not get the credit – because it wasn’t they who did it. The galaxies cannot come close to imitating the magnificence of the glories of God. And He chooses to defeat nations and demonstrate His power and bring people to faith through babies and infants. What a wonder it is to be called a child of such a God. And what a wonder to seize upon the opportunities that God gives us knowing that the success of them is not a matter of our power, money, intelligence or anything else. It is about being used by Him, out of His love for us and for His greater glory.

Thank you Lord

July 7

Philippians 2:3-4

Do nothing from rivalry or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others5 Have this mind among yourselves, which is yours in Christ Jesus, 6 who, though he was in the form of God, did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, 7but made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant, being born in the likeness of men. 8And being found in human form, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. 9 Therefore God has highly exalted him and bestowed on him the name that is above every name, 10so that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, 11and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father..

The Apostle Paul seems to have been a sports fan. That is very helpful. I can use the justification.  He compared the Christian life to an athlete who dumps everything that hinders in his goal of winning the prize:

I Corinthians 9: 24

Do you not know that in a race all the runners run, but only one receives the prize? So run that you may obtain it. 25Every athlete exercises self-control in all things. They do it to receive a perishable wreath, but we an imperishable. 26So I do not run aimlessly; I do not box as one beating the air. 27But I discipline my body and keep it under control, lest after preaching to others I myself should be disqualified.

It’s somewhat encouraging to know that the great Apostle just might be interested in who wins the big soccer (football) game on Sunday. One wonders what he would say about the salaries that athletes are able to garner and the fact that a basketball player can actually stage his own one hour television special simply to let he world know where he will be playing next year. And then there is perhaps one of the greatest sports quotes of all time made this week by some former Toronto Raptor when he said that Cleveland wasn’t big enough for him. Not big enough for the ego perhaps.

Humility is a rare bird in all avenues of life and is threatened in the heart and mind of every person on the planet. But in athletics it is simply off the scale. Children earning tens and hundreds of millions of dollars. Fans swooning over their performances. People spending obscene amounts of money for the privilege of watching them play their sport. Thousands of people wearing clothing with their names written on the back. An ordinary person would be seduced into believing that he is as great as people say he is. But for a person who is not far beyond childhood, who actually has some talent, to have these things done to and for you is absolutely crushing to any humility that was latent in the basement of the soul somewhere.

A culture that will complain about bail out money for banks, the salaries of top executives, tax breaks for corporations and then defend the salaries of athletes is very twisted. Humility is not a value of our culture. People value it when they see it in others but one does not get the impression that it is promoted very much as something to be chased after. Not many teaching sessions dedicated to considering others more important than yourself. But there are those dedicated to developing a high view of yourself.

There is little that is as anti-Christian as this. Satan’s sin was his desire to be in charge. The first temptation in the garden was for Adam and Eve to be as God. The devil promised Jesus all the kingdoms of the world if He would only bow down and worship him.

There is, of course, a vicarious success thing going on in our adulation of our sports heroes. They have become what we wish we had become and we want them to get whatever they can – because we can at least pretend that we were that good and that rich and popular. The pre-requisite for it all is an absence of humility that can handle being able to look down on the rest of the world and pity them for their lack of skill, money, fame and power.

Such a world does not understand “Blessed are the meek” hardly at all. And the text of Scripture at the top of this posting is saying that we should see others as more important than ourselves. Who is your favourite sports star? How would you treat him/her if he called you and asked to come to your house for lunch? Or, to make it perhaps more relevant to the Christian community – what if Billy Graham called and asked to come to see you, or D.A. Carson, or CJ Mahaney, or John Piper? Treat others like that. Treat the poor little thing at the coffee shop today as if she were the author of great books, the preacher of great sermons, the solver of great mind twisting conundrums. Think about this today when a pan handler hits you up for a couple of bucks. See others as better then yourself.

To get the point across the Apostle Paul gives Jesus as the example of He who became nothing to win sinners to Himself. He did not consider equality with God something to be held on to. The salaries being asked for by athletes can be gotten because they, in their minds, deserve it. What did Jesus deserve? But He surrendered it, became obedient to death, the death of the cross. Verse 5 says that we should have the same attitude as that. It would help people see Cleveland as a little bigger.

Today, let’s behave like Christians in this. It will make the world a tiny bit more civilized. It will please the Saviour who gave up everything for us. It just might lead someone to ask you about the hope that is in you.

Jeremiah 25

17So I took the cup from the LORD’s hand, and made all the nations to whom the LORD sent me drink it: 18 Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, its kings and officials, to make them a desolation and a waste, a hissing and a curse, as at this day; 19 Pharaoh king of Egypt, his servants, his officials, all his people, 20and all the mixed tribes among them; all the kings of the land of Uz and all the kings of the land of the Philistines ( Ashkelon, Gaza, Ekron, and the remnant of Ashdod); 21 Edom, Moab, and the sons of Ammon; 22all the kings of Tyre, all the kings of Sidon, and the kings of the coastland across the sea; 23 Dedan, Tema, Buz, and all who cut the corners of their hair; 24all the kings of Arabia and all the kings of the mixed tribes who dwell in the desert; 25all the kings of Zimri, all the kings of Elam, and all the kings of Media; 26all the kings of the north, far and near, one after another, and all the kingdoms of the world that are on the face of the earth. And after them the king of Babylon shall drink.

27″Then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, the God of Israel: Drink, be drunk and vomit, fall and rise no more, because of the sword that I am sending among you.’

28″And if they refuse to accept the cup from your hand to drink, then you shall say to them, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: You must drink! 29For behold, I begin to work disaster at the city that is called by my name, and shall you go unpunished? You shall not go unpunished, for I am summoning a sword against all the inhabitants of the earth, declares the LORD of hosts.’

Jeremiah continues to deliver God’s message to the people of Judah announcing the impending judgement upon them for their rebellion and intransigence in disobedience. In chapter 24 God says through Jeremiah: .

9I will make them a horror to all the kingdoms of the earth, to be a reproach, a byword, a taunt, and a curse in all the places where I shall drive them. 10And I will send sword, famine, and pestilence upon them, until they shall be utterly destroyed from the land that I gave to them and their fathers.

The nation known as the people of God are about to be severely punished by God for their rebellion and stubborn refusal to repent.

There is only one God. There are not, as many have thought, and no doubt many in Jeremiah’s day thought, gods for all kinds of things and all kinds of people. The God of Israel is not some regional deity who might lose some contest against the gods of the surrounding nations. There is only one God and He is sending judgement upon the nation called by His Name. But this in no way means that the surrounding nations can rest easy. God did not just make Israel and He does not just hold Israel accountable for their actions.

All the peoples of all the world are accountable to God. There is hardly anything in the world that is more offensive to the contemporary mind than this. For if it is true today, as it was then, that there is but one God who holds all peoples accountable for their actions, then it must necessarily also be true that this one God is the one who must save from whatever judgements He has upon them. Only this one God can hold us to account and only this one God can save us from the consequences of the judgement once that account has been given.

In Jeremiah 25, God gives Jeremiah a cup for the nations to drink. In the event that they refuse to drink it, God tells Jeremiah to say to them “You must drink”. Whether they acknowledge God or not is not the issue. They have no choice. But the reason God says they must drink? If the city called by God’s name is under judgement, then how much more will the unbelieving cities in the region also be held accountable? God will not treat His own people worse than He treats their pagan neighbours. The fact that they deny Israel’s God does not make things better for them. It makes things worse.

God sent Jeremiah to warn the nations that a judgement was coming. It was coming to nations who did not acknowledge that the God who was sending it existed or, if he did exist, could do anything to hurt them – He simply was not their God. But that did not excuse them or decrease the damage.

Today, there are no nations or cities that can say that they are the people of God, in the same sense that Israel and Jerusalem could in the Old Covenant. God has His people in every city and every country in the world. We have a city not made by hands. But God is still the ruler of the whole world. He still holds the nations of the world accountable for their behaviour. And He will judge them, whether they acknowledge Him or not.

We, like Jeremiah, are given a message to deliver to the nations so that people can flee to God before the judgement comes, and be saved. The predominant belief in the world is that if there is a God He is certainly not the only one and He is certainly not the only way to eternal life. And He most certainly will not judge very severely.

That Jesus Christ is the only way to God is the most offensive teaching on the planet. But it is still the Gospel. And people need to be warned. And those who have been given the truth of the Gospel have also been told to share it with those who are perishing. And they are perishing.

God holds those who know Him to account. He will not let those who are not called by his Name go unpunished. And they need to hear it and they need to believe it. If Jeremiah had refused to give the message of judgement to the nations, God would have made him answer for it. We can expect no less for ourselves.

This past Sunday, the morning message was from Numbers 11 and dealt with the grumbling against God and Moses by the children of Israel. There was a post here about grumbling a short while ago.

At the close of the message I gave a list of hints about how to work against the sin of grumbling that we all commit. Here they are.

1. Get a proper understanding of the seriousness of this sin. I Cor. 10:6-13

2. Know and believe the promises of God

a. Romans 8:28 is true even in this thing. See Psalm 119:67, 71, 75

b. Faith in future grace – Isaiah 55:12

3. Expect Change

a. I Cor. 10:13. If you are a believer, there is not a reason in the world why you cannot stop your whining. There are far too many “that’s just the way I am” believers.

4. Cultivate an attitude of gratitude

a. Start your prayers with a list of things to be thankful for. And recite them – out loud. Let yourself hear the things that God has done for you. Read the great texts of Scriptures that speak of the marvelous things that God has already done for you.

5. Go to the cross

a. Can you go to the cross dear child of God and grumble? Can you look into the face of the eternal Son of God who left glory for you and died for you and now lives to present Himself to the Father for you so that you are not destroyed as you deserve to be – and still grumble about your lot?

b. “But Ken” you say “I have very serious issues.” I know you do, so hear Paul speaking to us about his issues – II Cor. 4:17-18 and II Cor. 11:23ff.  He learned contentment even in these trials and God can enable you to do the same.

c. Our grumbling dear ones, comes from forgetfulness. We forget what our lives before Christ really were like and where they really were sending us and what God really thought of them.

6. Christian fellowship – James 5:19-20, Galatians 6:1-2, Hebrews 3:12-13

a. Do you have a Christian confidant who really knows you and with whom you can really share everything? One who will pray for you and pray with you and help keep you on the straight and narrow? If not – you will fall into grumbling and the more you grumble the less likely you are to find someone who is willing to meet with you.

7. Time

a. Hear the Apostle Paul – Phil. 4:12-13 – I have learned to be content. Do you seriously want to stop your griping? Paul had to learn how to be content and this is more than a matter of simply praying a couple of times and then being zapped with a sweet disposition.

8. Prayer

a. Have you ever prayed about your grumbling? Some of us only pray about the issues that make us grumble. “O Lord, you know that I need …….” Pray about the fact that you have a complaining spirit, a grumpiness to you. Ask forgiveness and do real repentance. I John 1:9

b. This is too big for you but it is not too big for God.

Proverbs 2:1-6 (ESV)

My son, if you receive my words

and treasure up my commandments with you,

[2] making your ear attentive to wisdom

and inclining your heart to understanding;

[3] yes, if you call out for insight

and raise your voice for understanding,

[4] if you seek it like silver

and search for it as for hidden treasures,

[5] then you will understand the fear of the Lord

and find the knowledge of God.

[6] For the Lord gives wisdom;

from his mouth come knowledge and understanding;

Read the above text carefully. Note the verbs that are used in verses 1 – 4 regarding a person’s commitment to getting wisdom. He is to receive it and treasure it up (verse 1). He is to make his ear attentive to it and incline his heart to it (verse 2). He is to call out for it and scream for it (verse 3). He is to seek it as if it were a valuable mineral and diligently hunt for it as if it were buried treasure (verse 4).

And why is the writer’s son, for that is who Solomon is primarily addressing here, why is he to do that? Verse 6 tells us. Because the Lord gives wisdom.

He gives wisdom? Solomon is directing his son to search and call out for and pay attention to and incline his heart and scream and seek and find. That doesn’t sound like God is giving anything. It sounds like the one seeking is doing all the work. That sounds like earning. The man puts all that effort into the attainment of wisdom and his hard work produces the fruit of a wise life. Where does Solomon get off telling us that the Lord gives wisdom, or anything for that matter, to people who so obviously worked so hard to get it?

1) No matter how much work we put into the pursuit of good things it will produce nothing if God does not cause it to. Psalm 127 kicks in here. Unless the Lord builds the house, they labour in vain who build it. We can produce nothing. God must do it.

2) The pursuits here are the things that God says need to be pursued. What we produce will lead straight to hell. This is not a lesson in “work hard at something and you will achieve your dreams”, even if there is some truth in that advice. But this is about chasing after what God has ordained to bless every time someone honestly desires it.

3) The command is basically to want the right things. It is a matter of desire. The reason people do not have eternal life, fellowship with God is because they do not want it. God demands that we want what is good and right. What is being chased after here is the wisdom that comes from God and all the effort that is encouraged does not produce wisdom. It finds it.

The treasure spoken of in verse 4 is not created by the one hunting for it. It is found. God has put it there and it is there for all who will search for it. But make no mistake. It is still a gift of grace. If not for grace the treasure would not be there. If not for grace the desire for it would not exist. If not for grace the search would be futile. If not for grace there would be no invitation to come and find.

Rejoice today if you have a desire for the things of God, because that desire came from Him. And here is the great encouraging thing. God does not send you on a fool’s errand. He does not invite without the intention of enabling you to find. He does not say “search here” and then hide the treasure somewhere else. A desire for God, a real desire for the real God who is and not some counterfeit, can only come from God. Jesus Christ is the real wisdom that this Proverb is directing us to search for. He is there. He gives real wisdom and life. Accept no substitutes and know that He will receive you.

HAPPY CANADA DAY!

1) Pray the Psalms

Several years ago, I went to a Pastors’ Conference which had, as its main preacher, Dr. Donald Whitney. Dr, Whitney has become somewhat famous in the last couple of decades for his writings on the spiritual disciplines. At the conference I attended he introduced those attending to the practice of praying through the Psalms. I have been following the schedule he gave us for praying the Psalms ever since. I introduced it to the church several years ago and just this week I encouraged some of our leaders to start in on it again. The plan is simple and if you are interested you can find it here. God included the Psalms to be read, sung, memorized. Many of them are prayers to God and there is nothing but good that can come out of praying them in our daily times with God. Give it a go. I hope that you find it useful.

2) A Strange Encounter

I was walking home from the church to my home on Tuesday and a young lady approached me and said “Don’t feel down. The divine Jesus can save you.”  She handed me a tract that she had written herself. I had been feeling pretty good as I walked home and my first thought was that if she thought I looked down, she should see me when I really am! In any case, the tract encouraged me to go to church here or “especially” here. And then it encouraged me to watch a you tube video claiming to reveal  a secret given to the three children of Fatima in1917. The music in the video is an instrumental rendition of “Imagine” by John Lennon, which claims that the world would be a better place without any religion at all. The prophecies in the video were to have occurred before 2010, so we know that it is false (Actually, we would have known it in any case). The tract is quite a mix of opposing theologies, prosperity Gospel and false prophecy. The young lady is not well and that is evident from what she writes in her tract.  It cannot but break your heart. What does one conclude when encountering such things? First of all, I am going to try to look a little more cheerful when I walk anywhere. Secondly, I rejoice that Thistletown Baptist Church, which is between the two churches promoted in the tract, is not referred to in it. Third, there are times when it is right to be very angry. In my years as a pastor I have been in contact with some very strange and needy people who were convinced that they had secret messages from God. No amount of reasoning or Scripture will convince them otherwise. Abuse, neglect, mental illness … Who knows what has happened to people to rob them of living in a state of reality. The mind is a powerful and delicate thing and it is right to be angry at people who have so influenced others that they drive them out of a sane state. How do you help them? How do you convince them that what they are so sure of isn’t real? What a world. And what a mess sin has made of it. And what a glory to be called to minister the Gospel that can even overcome such pain and illness and nonsense.