How the Unbeliever and the Believer Handles Evil in Their Lives

Posted by Staff on Oct 26, 2008
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Often men will be heard question God and why He allows evil. They find it strange that the believer should praise the Lord when so much evil is in the world, even in their own lives. Awful things happen, and we are at a loss as to why.  Health, accidents, death, divorce, strife, deprivation and many other things attend our lives. Yet the believer praises the Lord. He praises the Lord even though things are “bad.” Has it occurred to you and I that the same things happen to all men and women? Let the believer stop rejoicing in the Lord in the midst of life’s troubles. What then shall he do? Does not the man and woman of the world realize that without God they have the same troubles and calamities we have as believers? I think the world thinks that somehow that our praising and rejoicing in the Lord in the midst of bad things somehow makes God responsible for the bad. What they don’t realize is the same things are happening to them. The difference is how they explain them and find help in the midst of them. The world explains bad things as bad luck and tries to handles it by at the best hoping for better things to come tomorrow. The believer handles it by recognizing the Lord is over seeing all these events (good or bad) and even using them to do the believer good in the end. That is the difference, and what a large difference! One has no hope other than in chance. The other has hope in a God who knows all things, has power over all things and is using all things to our good. That is why we praise the Lord in the midst of extreme opposition and bad in our lives. Not praising God will not take away the evil. Becoming an atheist doesn’t take away the heart breaks of life. It rather leaves men and women without hope, living is a world of chance, trying to keep their chin up. Praising God does not take away the evil. But it is the result of understanding evil’s limited place in this fallen world. It is the result of knowing there is a God who “doeth all things well.” It results in testifying as Nebuchadnezzar that God “does according to his will in the army of heaven, and among the inhabitants of the earth: and none can stay his hand or say unto him “What doest thou?” Brethren, two family members often illustrate this. One child looks at his parents as unfair and directly or indirectly complains of all the trouble in his life as some how rooted in them as faulty.  The other child, though, looks at his parents as beneficial and good to them. Even though they suffer troubles, they are thankful to parents, knowing they are doing “their best.” How much more does our Heavenly Father do perfectly! We can praise Him without hesitation. So in many ways it is how the world views God that shows up in their disdain for our praise to Him even in trouble. Don’t then think it strange that we would praise Him in the midst of trouble. All have trouble. We, though, have the right view point of things. The result in a perpetual stream of praise for His abundant goodness in the worst of life’s circumstances. 

The Need To Record What God Has Done In Our Lives

Posted by Staff on Oct 19, 2008
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“I will remember the works of the Lord: surely I will remember thy wonders of old,” the Psalmist wrote. We hear much about the works of the Lord. They are called wonderful or marvelous works at times. These are things the Lord has done that are noticeable or outstanding to you and I. Just as we might praise the artist or craftsman for what they have accomplished, so likewise we praise the Lord for what He has done. I have over the years categorized His works into four areas.
First, His creation works. That is creation. Look around at what He has created, and it stands out to us as a wonderful work. Then, His miraculous works.  Think of the many miracles He has performed. We think especially of Jesus walking on water and raising the dead. Third, there is His saving works. The work that is done when someone is drawn to the Lord and saved by His grace. What a wonderful work! Last, there is His providential works. They are events in our lives that worked out in a way that we see the hand of the Lord in it. We are in the right place at the right time because He is directing our paths. We are all familiar with His deeds in the Bible. God’s word is filled with examples of all of them. And we do find them thrilling at times. Further, we have heard from our parents and others of what God has done in their and other lives. That is good. But what about our lives? Surely He has done some wonderful things in our lives? Yes, He has. He has saved us. He has worked circumstances in divine ways. He has answered prayer in direct ways (a miracle-not technically-but similar effect). He has done something and we know He did it.  Brethren, it is at this point I am writing.  It has been my personal experience to forget so many things the Lord did.  I don’t remember more than not. Yet the Psalmist said he would remember the works of the Lord. This is especially needful and encouraging in regards to what He has done in our own personal lives. Yet we often can’t remember. Or if we do remember, it is vague as to the details. Let me encourage all of us to consider doing this. Remember His wonderful works in your and my lives. Begin to record what God has done in your life. Be specific.  Record it in a book. It will become a source of great blessing. It will enable to see the hand of the Lord in our lives. It will be something we can hand down to our children verbally and in written form. I have not done this, but imagined doing so many times. What assurance and reality such a record would give to our souls. Say as the Psalmist “I will remember the works of the Lord.” And remember specially the work that He has and is doing in your own life. It will do so much for your heart, and what a legacy to leave our children. To have them grow up hearing of what God has done in our lives. See to it and God will bless it.

What’s On My Mind

Posted by Staff on Oct 12, 2008
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I am afraid the Lord’s people labor under an unnecessary guilt too often. And it is because they do equate temptation with sinning. We can think/feel if we are tempted to think, talk or act in ways that are sinful, that we are guilty of those particular sins. But such is not the case.  James said we can be drawn away by our lusts, but that lust must conceive (yielding to the temptation) for it to bring forth sin (James 1:14-15).  If we don’t yield, by God’s grace, we have not sinned. Remember that. And let it be a reason to praise the Lord. And recall that there is no temptation that has taken you, but such is common to man and that God is faithful to provide a way of escape. Recognize that while we fail and sin in our walk with the Lord, we often resist temptation, thereby escaping. Don’t be hard on your self unnecessarily. Realize that temptation is not the same as sinning. It has been my observation that anyone can succeed at anything if they are disciplined or diligent. Solomon said if you see a man diligent in his business; that man will stand before kings (Prov.22:29). Whatever that business might be, he will stand before kings. So whether learning to grow a garden, building a business, winning the lost or playing an instrument. Be diligent (disciplined) and that person will succeed. They may not succeed as highly as others, but they will succeed. Stars vary in brightness and glory, but they are all stars.

Expressions of Love

Posted by Staff on Oct 05, 2008
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During Christine & Warren’s wedding reception, Chris turned to me and said “Isn’t love wonderful?!” Yes, it is. And his comments came as a result of all the expressions of that love going on between the family members as well as friends. Is it not evident in the Bible that God favors such expressions of love? Of course, the love between a man and woman is very verbal and expressive in the Song of Solomon. But think of the many times love between God and His people as well as between people is expressed. Very strong phrases are used. “One thing have I desired of the Lord and that will I seek after....” the Psalmist wrote. Turn almost anywhere in the book of Psalms, and these expressions will arise. Read Jeremiah 2:2 as the Lord tells Israel “I remember thee, the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness, in a land that was not own...” “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love.” Jeremiah also writes.  “O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires,” Isaiah writes. “As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem,” again, Isaiah writes. It would takes pages to write all the expressions of love God speaks towards His people. On the other hand are many expressions of love coming from the believers lips. “I will extol thee my God and my King...will praise thy name for ever and ever...” is but a line representing the hundreds of such phrases of praise and affection from the believer to the Lord. Why so? Because He loves us and we love Him because He first loved us. And love is wonderful. It is full of expression. Let us not wait until a wedding, funeral, or crisis to express our love. I am afraid we express it not enough, even in this day of “soupiness” and “feigned” affection. True genuine expressions are powerful and wonderful Let us all abound in them towards the Lord and towards our loved ones. I doubt we can do it too much, unless it is feigned (pretend). And think, is not eternity’s atmosphere somewhat revealed in that it begins with the marriage supper of the Lamb?! Yes,"let us be glad and rejoice, and give honor to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready,” he writes. Let us then begin the music here. Let us show our affections here. And how much more we will do this when brought to perfection in the presence of the Lord?! “Peter, lovest thou me? Yes, Lord you know that I love you!”