OCTOBER 29, 2024

 “Hath God forgotten to be gracious? hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?” (Psalm 77:9)

This is not the first time that the psalmist Asaph looked at his present circumstances and wondered if the Lord was doing right by him. On one occasion, he confessed that his “steps had well nigh slipped,” as he stewed over what he perceived to be the Lord’s preferential treatment of wicked rich people. In this case his trials are so severe that he is wondering, “Will the Lord cast off forever, and will he be favorable no more?” We are not privy to the particular circumstances of his present “troubles,” only that they had produced sleeplessness and much weeping, and that the recollection of past mercies had not stopped his “sore” from running in the night. His disparate soul is exercised as he argues within himself, “Is the Lord’s mercy clean gone forever?…Hath he forgotten to be gracious?”

God had not forgotten to be gracious, because He cannot forget His own, and certainly “His mercies, they fail not.” The problem was with the psalmist, who Mr. Spurgeon describes as “a musician who often touched the minor key.” He had forgotten that trials and affliction are sent with a merciful design. God in judgment remembers mercy, and the judgment that begins at the house of God is sent in mercy. Life’s finished story will reveal that those times when it seemed that God had forgotten to be gracious, the exact opposite was indeed true.

A bird spent the whole day building her nest in a pile of branches that had been pruned from a tree in a farmer’s orchard. In the evening, however, the farmer, having noticed the nest, scattered the twigs and bits of straw. The next day the little creature resumed her task, but again her work was destroyed. The third day she began her nest once more, but this time she chose a bush beside the kitchen door. The farmer smiled and allowed her to finish. The brush pile where she tried repeatedly to build was destined to be burned, and was so before ever her eggs would be hatched. The farmer appeared to be cruel and ungracious, when, in fact, he was showing mercy to the unknowing bird.

To Asaph it seemed as if the Lord had forsaken him and his nation. He began to wonder if the Almighty had changed, but in reflecting upon God’s ways in the past, and meditated upon His holiness and incomparable glory, he realized that Jehovah forever remains the same. He who created the heavens and the earth and all things therein; where omnipotence caused the waters of the Red Sea to draw back, as if in awe of His majesty still lives. The one who made the clouds to pour down rain, the terrific peals of thunder to reverberate through the sky, the forked lightning to illuminate the world, and the earth to shake, hasn’t changed. While it may sometimes appear that God is cruel in breaking up our nest (our plans, our hopes) we may be sure that He has not forgotten to be gracious. His providences are wonderfully kind and infinitely wise.

“Lord I would clasp Thy hand in mine,

Nor ever murmur nor repine;

Content, whatever lot I see,

Since ‘tis God’s hand that leadeth me.”

OCTOBER 24, 2024

 “I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth.” (Revelation 3:15-16)

Revelation contains seven letters to various Asian churches, but this one is the most convicting. Christ uses the analogy of lukewarm water to display what He thinks about the Laodicean church. The region was famous for having ten thermal springs at the bathhouses and spas beloved by all. It’s essential to understand the historical context because the letter abounds in metaphors taken from the contextual setting of the time. The ranges of temperatures mirror the people’s hearts toward God. Hot water represents a fervent zeal and devotion to the Lord, cold water symbolizes an attitude of utter indifference to Christ, and lukewarm water represents those who have a profession of faith and some outward signs of life but inwardly have either never gained a burning interest in Christ or have fallen back into the conformity of the world. To be lukewarm means to remain half-hearted in our Christianity, which is how Christ diagnosed the Laodicean church. They weren’t fully committed nor completely unconcerned in their faith.

How does it get to be like this? Are we relaxing on our past devotion and spirituality or seeking the Lord with all our strength? There are two directions to this unacceptable lukewarmness: First, cold water can become lukewarm by adding heat. Many have enjoyed the outward blessings of Christianity but have never experienced its actual reality from their souls. Second, hot water can cool off by the removal of heat. All that must happen to grow lukewarm is slowly forsake the spiritual practices you once held to. There is only one trustworthy source of heat, energy, and light in this world: Jesus Christ, and without abiding close to Christ, we will soon lose our zeal for the Lord.

Lukewarmness is a state that must be identified and corrected for several reasons. First and foremost, it is unacceptable. The phrase used in Vs 16 implies rejection. The danger lies in being rejected by God due to lukewarmness. Second, it is a deceptive state. Those who are lukewarm often fail to recognize their own spiritual poverty.

So, how do we go about correcting it? We must run back to Christ, realizing that we are poor, naked, and blind to our condition and can only find spiritual wealth, health, and sight in Christ. Thankfully, God didn’t immediately judge us but gave us time to repent. We’re in immense trouble if we continue to sin and suffer no rebuke. As we read in Proverbs, “For whom the LORD loveth he correcteth, even as a father the son in whom he delighteth.” (Prov. 3:12). Though lukewarm people are in danger of being rejected by God, He still allows us to get right with Him. Christ stands ready to forgive, and the Lord is far more able to help us than we are to help ourselves.

The counsel that Christ gives Laodicea is simple yet profound. It is the common remedy for all sinful states: We are to repent. Repentance, the sum total of all Godly sorrow, regret, and conviction is the key to overcoming lukewarmness. Our incredible loss and deterioration can be immediately forgiven and put away upon confessing our sins and turning from them. We should not underestimate the power and present efficiency of a complete atonement.

The easiest way to remedy lukewarmness is to return to our old ways, the ways we held to when hot. We must recapture our fervency. If we’re no longer hot, we should ask ourselves if there is something we’re neglecting regarding our faith that needs to be brought back. Whether it be reading, praying, or meditating on the Word, whatever it is, we need to return to our zealous ways.

OCTOBER 22, 2024

 “And every oblation of thy meat offering shalt thou season with salt; neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God be lacking from thy meat offering: with all thine offerings thou shalt offer salt.”(Leviticus 2:13)

Devout Israelites would bring many offerings of different kinds to the Lord as expressions of their gratitude. Likewise, devout believers wish to express their love to our gracious and merciful God for all He has done for us. With the psalmist, we would frequently say, “What shall I render unto the Lord for all His benefits toward me?” It is only reasonable that we should “present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God.”

How is this to be done? Paul says, “holy, acceptable unto God.” In the language of our text, that which we render to the Lord is to be “seasoned with salt.” Let us ask with Paul. “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” Let us also ask another question, “How wilt Thou have me to do it?” Will-worship is not acceptable to God. If an Israelite brought an offering that God did not require, such will-worship would have been rejected. If he brought the required sacrifice but offered it not according to God’s prescribed manner, that too would have been unacceptable, for He is a jealous God.

In the text the Lord three times expressly commands that the offerings were to be offered with salt. Does the All-Mighty Creator of heaven and earth condescend to concern Himself with such minute details in matters of worship and service? Can the absence of a dash of salt render a sacrifice unacceptable, or its presence be absolutely necessary to its being received by Him? Then, let us be certain that nothing in the service of God is dispensable, and nothing can be considered trivial. A pinch of salt may seem exceedingly unimportant, but before the Lord it may not be so. In the service of God, the modification of an ordinance may seem a matter of indifference; or the alteration of a text of Scripture may be thought harmless, but our Lord does not agree, for it is written, “Whosoever therefore shall break one of these least commandments, and shall teach men so, he shall be called least in the kingdom…”

Notice, the text offers its own explanation for this requirement: “neither shalt thou suffer the salt of the covenant of thy God to be lacking from thy meat offering.” It appears, then, that salt was the symbol of the covenant. “The Lord gave the Kingdom to David for ever by a covenant of salt.” By this He meant that it was an unchangeable, incorruptible covenant which would endure, as salt makes things to endure, so that it is not liable to putrefy or corrupt. Whenever you and I are bringing any offering of sacrifice to the Lord, we must take care that we remember the covenant. When we are serving God with our daily service, let us continually offer the salt of the everlasting covenant with our sacrifices.

Some are doing good works in order to be saved. They are under the wrong covenant. All that they shall receive is a curse, for “cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.” Therefore, says the Apostle, “As many as are of the works of the law are under the curse.” Get away from that and get to that other covenant which has salt in it, namely the Covenant of grace, the New Covenant of faith in Christ. Our works are to be sacrifices of salt, made acceptable by the grace of God in Christ.

Let us also understand that salt is the type of purifying power, and with all our sacrifices we have need of a great deal of salt. The salt permeates the meat, it drives away the corruption; it preserves it. Should we come before God with holy things while we are living in sin, we need not deceive ourselves, we shall not be accepted. We have our imperfections, therefore we must also offer our service with frankincense, as we also see in this chapter. This is to remind us that the sweet savor of our sacrifice is only provided through the intercession of Christ. Thus, no service is pleasing to God apart from the Covenant of Salt. Yet, we must always remember that we must have clean hands and a pure heart if the Lord is to accept our sacrifice. (Psa. 24:3, 4; Rom. 12:1, 2; Heb. 12:14)

OCTOBER 17, 2023

 “And Saul was very wroth, and the saying displeased him; and he said, They have ascribed unto David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands: and what can he have more but the kingdom? And Saul eyed David from that day and forward.” (I Samuel 18:8-9)

The last few chapters of this book contained an account of Saul’s arrogance-fueled ignorance of God’s command that forced Him to choose a new king. David, who Samuel had anointed, was beginning to rise, while Saul had begun his hard fall. So, Saul is still king, but David is God’s chosen next man up. We saw David facing and slaying the giant, Goliath, and we now see Saul’s reaction to word spreading about this and other exploits of David. The Israelites say, “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.” (Vs. 7) Saul became increasingly jealous of this, as well as David’s rising through the military ranks. We’ll consider how this will affect Saul, a noted, proud man.

The people of Israel are singing songs about how great David is and how much stronger he is than all others. Saul hears this and takes it as a shot to his pride, blaming David for being so good. So, he begins to keep a close, watchful eye on David and if David slips up even once, he will be prosecuted to the full extent of the law.

Saul knows that the Lord is on David’s side and not his anymore because Samuel had told him that God had turned from him to the next king. So, Saul has been on the lookout for this new challenger because he fears God deeply. This isn’t like a respectful fear; he is genuinely afraid of God and seeks to destroy His chosen because of it. In verse 11, Saul “cast the javelin; [in his hand]; for he said, I will smite David even to the wall with it. And David avoided out of his presence twice.” Saul’s jealousy fueled his plot to kill David here, and we see this anger again in verse 13 when Saul promotes David to captain over a thousand men. This promotion almost assuredly wasn’t given based on respect for David; this is another one of Saul’s attempts at getting David killed. He doesn’t want to kill David personally and Saul knows that David is the kind of guy that will be on the front battle lines. So, if he was really afraid of God, then here he’s trying to kill God through the murder of David. But David lives past this because not even an army can stop God or His chosen people.

Finally, in the first verse of the next chapter, Saul sets his plan to kill David in motion by telling his son, Jonathan, and various other high-ranking officials.

Saul was displeased, partly because the singers did not give him his royal title in Vs. 8, but mainly because the singers had given what he saw as more honor to an inferior officer than to the commander-in-chief. Some think he feared that Samuel’s words were true: that the kingdom would be taken from him and given to a better man.

Instead of looking with respect justly due to this better man’s gallant and courageous behavior, he looked at him with an evil, spiteful, malicious, and envious eye. He diligently watched and observed all his motions and actions, whether they tended to disloyalty and treason to dethrone him and take the kingdom to himself.

Saul’s jealousy eventually drove him mad and led to his death. The king should have embraced the young David for his military accomplishments, considering they were on the same side, but his own ego got in the way. Saul’s hubris would get him killed in the same way it did Goliath previously. We need to guard our hearts against this immense pride and humbly submit to God and His will in the same way David did.