Waiting on God

Psalm 106 is a “Salvation History Psalm” – a retelling of God rescuing His people from slavery in Egypt.  You know the story: God brought the Israelites out of bondage and led them to the edge of the Red Sea – impassable waters in front of them and their enemy close on their heels.  He made a way through the sea and when the last Israelite foot cleared the dry sea bed, He closed in the walls of water on Pharoah and His army.  The Scripture says, “Then [the Israelites] believed His promises and sang His praise” (v. 12).  Wouldn’t you?  If God had done a miraculous thing for you, wouldn’t you believe?  Wouldn’t you sing a chorus of, “You’re a good, good, Father!”?

But wait. The next verse says: “But they soon forgot what He had done and did not wait for His plan to unfold” (v. 13).  And they grumbled. On the heels of the Red Sea miracle. Remember the celebration in verse 12? Check out verses 24-25: “They did not believe His promise. They grumbled in their tents and did not obey the Lord.” Makes me want to shake my head.  They failed to trust God – the same God who had rescued them in dramatic fashion just a few weeks before.

But, let’s be honest here, don’t you and I do the same thing?  God works powerfully on our behalf and we celebrate and sing His praises and the next time we face a challenge, we worry.  We forget what God did and focus on the new hardship as if God used it all up on the first one.  Or maybe that’s just me. 

I wrote in the margin: “Lord, I want to always believe Your promises and sing Your praises while I am still waiting.”  I am there right now – waiting. And trusting.  And reminding myself of His powerful acts of the past, how he made a way where I couldn’t see a way. How He softened hard hearts. How he rescued someone I love. And I know He will do it again. So I’m gonna sing His praises now, during the crisis, not just after. 

Have you forgotten His goodness to you?  The God who was faithful yesterday will not be unfaithful today. He is the same good Father who carried you through the last storm – and He will not abandon you now.  Beloved, come sit here with me, and let’s praise the Lord while we wait.

Hebrews: The Promise

Joy has a very good memory. She plays a memory game on my phone and can recall where the puppy was that she spotted three turns ago. She remembers that she sleeps with Nana and Poppy the night before she goes to “honey school” (Sunday School). She remembers letters and numbers and all the words to her favorite songs. And let me tell you, she remembers when we make a promise to her. If I say I will take her outside after a nap she will wake up and immediately put her shoes on. This girl doesn’t forget a promise.  And neither should you.

We’re still camped out on Hebrews 10:36 – it’s just such a rich verse. The author said, “You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised.”  So what is it that God has promised? We saw it earlier: an “eternal inheritance” (Heb 9:15). What it is we’re inheriting? Hold on to your hat, cause this is so good!

In His discourse on “the sheep and the goats” in Matthew 25, Jesus said, “Then the King will say to those on His right, ‘Come you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world” (v. 34). What is your inheritance? Only the Kingdom of God. To a people who had lost their beloved Jerusalem to Babylon, Persia, Greece, and Rome, the idea that they would inherit the Kingdom of God was more than comforting, it was extraordinary. They were promised more than a nation. They were promised everything. And so are we.

For every believer, this is a remarkable promise of eternal life and blessings in the Kingdom we can claim as our own. I don’t think we get how huge this is. The kingdom of the God of the Universe, who called light from darkness and a dead man out of the grave is ours. How can we be so sure? Go back a few verses; the writer said, “He who promised is faithful” (v. 23). Go back even further if you need more assurance. Joshua 21:45 says, “Not one of the Lord’s good promises . . . failed; every one was fulfilled.” Every single promise God has ever made is as good as done. Including His promise to save you and bring you home. You can count on it, Beloved – your room is already waiting on you.

Don’t Forget!

How fickle we are in our faith. How unstable and wishy-washy we can be. One day we are on fire for God, the next we act as if we don’t know His name. We thank Him for His goodness on Sunday and complain about trivial inconveniences on Monday. One day we believe, another day we doubt. But this is nothing new. All through the Bible, we see people who start great and stumble along the way. I am convinced it’s because we are forgetful.

Peter is a good example of this.  Matthew 16 records Peter’s great confession. Jesus asked, “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” The answers varied from John the Baptist to the ancient prophets.  Then He asked, “But what about you? Who do you say I am?” Peter boldly proclaimed, “You are the Christ [the Messiah], the Son of the living God.” Jesus called Peter blessed for this heavenly knowledge. (vs. 13-17). The next account (which was probably not immediately after, but later in time) has Jesus proclaiming His coming death at the hands of the Jewish religious leaders. Old Pete was not having it. “Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke him. ‘Never, Lord!’ he said. ‘This shall never happen to you.’ Jesus sharply rebuked Peter – “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” (vs. 21-23). Do you see how Peter in one instance proclaimed Jesus as the Son of the living God, then in the next regarded Him as subordinate to himself and worthy of rebuke? Peter forgot His great confession. He forgot who Jesus was.

I can’t condemn Peter, I have done the same too many times. I suspect you have as well. We read our Bible in the morning – great proclamations of God’s goodness and faithfulness and power and love, yet before the day is out, we are grumbling or fearful or falling into sin. Is He not the same God we read about this morning? We need to stand on the truth. We need to continually remind ourselves of what we know about God because we have an enemy who wants to distract us and derail our faith. Beloved, invest your mind in knowing God and strengthen your heart to hold fast to Him. Don’t forget who He is.

Remember to Remember

“Why are you so downcast, O my soul? Why so disturbed within me?” (Psalm 42:5a).

 

Why, I wondered, with so much Joy in my life, am I so down? Why am I so discouraged? Why do I feel like there’s such a weight over me? I asked the Lord about it this morning and He showed me an image of a heavy, gray blanket over me and my house. “Where did this come from Lord?” From the enemy. He has covered me with a spirit of discouragement. Add to it my own battle with depression and anxiety and that blanket becomes a dead weight over me. What can I do? How can I be free?

The Psalmist that asked the question also provided the answer: “Put your hope in the Lord” (v. 5b). Oh, that sounds really spiritual, doesn’t it? But not very practical. Ah, but he’s not done. He said, “My soul is downcast within me, therefore I will remember you . . .” There’s the answer. Remember God. Remember His promises. Remember His faithfulness. Remember His Son on the Cross bearing that heavy, grey blanket of my sin. Remember the empty tomb. Remember His Spirit in me. Remember His power. Remember His mercy and grace. Remember every time He came through for me. Remember the rainbow in my backyard. Remember that He bends His ear to hear my cries. Remember and be at peace that “By day the Lord directs His love, at night His song is with me. Remember that He is “the God of my life” (v. 8).

Have you felt the same heavy weight? It’s understandable given the way this year has gone. Even if everything was peachy-keen in your life, the virus, lockdown, unrest, political turmoil, and sense of fear and hopelessness that has gripped the nation is enough to bring even Pollyanna down. But, Beloved, you have a God in heaven who loves you. So much that He gave His only Son to redeem you and give you eternal life. Remember?