Tag: Psalms

What I Want to Tell These Kids…

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… is that they’re being lied to.

In 1994, the picture painted for me by many of the adults in my life was bleak. At the age of 16, I had already achieved obsolescence. And this message came from adults in all areas of my life.

My generation was told that the economy we were preparing to enter wouldn’t exist. And while this was technically true, the insinuation was that we would be left out of the future economy, that the opportunities that were afforded our parents would not be afforded to us.

We were told that Japan’s economic power was rising, and if we were to survive in the 21st century, we best be learning Japanese, because that’s who we would be working for.

We were told that American manufacturing is dead, and that the future belonged to those with college degrees. Don’t go into the trades. Don’t learn mechanics or welding, or the building trades.

We were told we were going to be crushed by the economic load we would inherit. With a skyrocketing national debt, and with there being five Baby Boomers on Social Security for every Gen-X’er in the work force, we should expect most of our income to go to taxes.

I could go on, but the point is, all the negativity, pessimism and hopelessness being peddled to my generation turned out to be completely false.

True, the economy I grew up in no longer exists, and neither does that world or society. But, there’s opportunity here. The world has changed, but life is still good.

We no longer fear the Japanese. It’s the Chinese we fear now. Chances are, we’ll see the same result.

Manufacturing is alive and well, with new facilities being built in Texas and across the American South, with technology and energy production driving much of that growth.

Those who ignored the bad advice and went into the trades are doing quite well now.

Social Security has not imploded, and the Millennials along with a robust economy have helped Gen-X make sure the Social Security checks clear.

Life is different, but still good. Sometimes I grieve the changes, and I feel nostalgic for the way we did things back in the 90s, but overall, life is good.

As I visit with my 22-year-old son, I hear the same hopelessness that was sold to me being sold to him. He is being told he’ll never be able to own a house. In fact, he may never own anything according to what he’s being told.

He’s being told the corporations are stealing everything, the Chinese will replace us as the world’s superpower, and that he’ll never achieve the same standard of living that I did. (And I am far from being in the upper class.)

I can’t for the life of me imagine that he’s the only one being told this. And, unlike me, who heard these lies in small doses, he’s inundated with this via social media and the internet.

So, in addition to the Gospel, what I want to tell these kids is… “It’s all going to be okay.”

Do not be discouraged by the despair that is being pushed on you by miserable people who seek relief by placing their misery upon your shoulders. The things you fear will never happen. The things they fear will never happen.

And faith is key to finding peace in a world that pushes fear.

In Psalm 16, David says, “Preserve me, O God: for in thee do I put my trust.”

David has placed his faith (trust) in God, is praying that the Lord preserves him, and is trusting the Lord to preserve him.

David’s faith was likely based on his experiences. On numerous occasions God stepped in for David, delivered him and preserved him. It was God’s intervention that made him king to begin with.

David’s identity was interwoven with God’s hand on his life, and therefore he could find peace and joy in the Lord, and in life, even when everything around him failed.

Therefore, David was able to “set the Lord always before me: because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.” (Verse 8).

David goes on to make a profound statement in verse 10, “For thou wilt not leave my soul in hell; neither wilt thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption.”

That verse does two things. One, it expresses faith in God that He will not abandon David in his time of suffering. He will not leave his soul in hell. Pain is short, troubled times pass, but God remains, always.

More importantly, however, is that this is a foreshadowing of the resurrection of Christ. One reason for us to be optimistic and trust the Lord is that Christ rose again.

And the resurrection of Christ conquered death, so that we can inherit eternal life and enter into God’s Kingdom when our lives here on earth are over. Furthermore, the resurrection of Christ provides us a divine advocate, as the resurrected Jesus sits at the right hand of God pleading for us on a daily basis.

And even further, the resurrection proves God’s power and His desire and ability to do good to us.

So, on that note, David reaffirms his faith in the Lord, and takes on an optimistic outlook on life as he dwells in His presence.

“Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore.” (Psalm 16:11).

The world is going to change. It’s been constantly changing and evolving at an increasing pace since World War II. But if you trust in the Lord and follow His leadership, you will find joy and pleasure in life, no matter what the world looks like in the future.

How’s Your Heart?

I can’t lie to my doctor. He always learns the truth.

I can emphatically promise my doctor that I’ve been eating right, exercising, and taking my medications as directed. However, when his nurse checks my blood pressure, heart-rate and blood sugar, we will learn the truth.

If I have not been making the right choices, if I have been eating badly, and not exercising, my blood pressure rises, as does my A1c. High blood pressure and bad A1c readings mean that I’ve been making bad choices. The proof is in the proverbial pudding.

I don’t eat badly and fail to exercise because I have high blood pressure, I have high blood pressure because I eat badly and fail to exercise.

So, the solution is to fix my diet and exercise habits, and in my particular case, the blood pressure and A1c correct themselves.

When scripture describes a righteous man, it is describing the outward appearance of a man who has a deep-rooted faith in the Lord in his heart. The man does not do the things demonstrated in scripture in order to become righteous, he does those things because he is righteous.

For example, in Psalm 15, King David asks, “LORD, Who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill?”

The answer is simple, and is given in verse 2, “He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart.”

That phrase, “in his heart” is key. Because without that phrase, one may get the impression that, to enter into the Lord’s heaven, one must walk uprightly, work righteousness, speak the truth, don’t gossip or backbite, and honor those who fear the Lord.

So, under this misinterpretation, one may be tempted to think that as long as they are fair to others, do good things, preach the word, and speak well of others, they’re ready to enter into God’s Kingdom. However, that not only contradicts the Bible’s message of salvation by grace through faith apart from works, but it also describes those who will face condemnation on judgment day after leading an entire lifetime of self-righteousness and self-deceit.

Such are described in Matthew 7:21-23.

So, the proper way to interpret Psalm 15 is with the greater understanding of the central message of the Bible. Therefore, the reader can understand that the one who speaks the truth “in his heart,” is the one who has the faith in his heart.

The one who has the faith in his heart has been declared righteous by God. And when your faith is that deeply rooted, it shapes your character, and your life is marked by the characteristics listed throughout Psalm 15.

In essence, you should trust in the Lord, and the works will follow. The works then become a Spiritual blood pressure test to check your Spiritual health.

Brother Kelly Moore, former pastor of Rocky Springs Missionary Baptist Church in Jacksonville, TX, demonstrated living under grace to me through his personal example probably better than anyone I had ever known.

While he served as the pastor of Rocky Springs, I began to have some personal problems in my life. I contacted Bro. Moore for help, who immediately dropped everything and made the five hour trip to Brownwood to offer his support.

As I began to lay out what was happening in my life, he began to ask me, “How’s your prayer life? How’s your Bible reading going? How much time are you spending with God? How much time are you spending on your ministry and with your church?”

My answers to these questions were not good. Bro. Moore then used my answers to demonstrate to me that my main problem wasn’t my situation, but rather the fact that I had drifted from God. He led me through a self-examination of my works as a Spiritual blood pressure test to reveal that there was a problem.

I wasn’t in trouble because my prayer life slipped. I was in trouble because my Spiritual walk slipped, as indicated by my lax prayer and devotional life. The other problems were mere extensions of that main problem.

So, with all that said, we want to keep our Spiritual health in check. Stay in the Lord’s presence through prayer, Bible reading, and worship. Trust in the Lord, and endeavor to strengthen that faith.

And then, as you go, evaluate your life. If you don’t like what you see, you can change your habits, but the Spiritual change inside your heart will provide the basis to make the lasting change.

Not Even Satan Will Do This…

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If you look at the world today, and examine human history, you will see that evil often runs rampant, and at times, seems unbridled.

In the years following World War II, hundreds of veterans surrendered to the ministry and returned to the fields in which they fought in order to deliver the Gospel. Whether it was the concentration camps of Germany, or the cruelty of the Japanese empire, these men saw what a dark place the world becomes when denied the light of the Gospel.

Rewind the clock a few centuries, and you will see the cruelty of the Inquisition, the Crusades, the Dark Ages (appropriately named), and the Romans had cruelty down to a science.

Today, the world remains a cruel place, with genocide being common in the third world, and human abuses and degradation common in the first world.

When one looks at the evil in the world, and comes to the realization that all this came into the world when man sinned in the garden at Satan’s temptation, one rightfully concludes that Satan is the source of the evil in the world.

Furthermore, one wonders just how much worse things can get? How much farther down this rabbit hole can society go?

We will learn that when the Great Tribulation comes. In the meantime, as we take all this in, it is interesting to note that there is one sin in which Satan has never been guilty. Atheism.

This notion hit me this morning when a quote from Charles Spurgeon popped up on my social media feed. Concerning atheism, Spurgeon said, “Atheism is a strange thing, even the devils never fell into that vice, for even the devils fear and tremble.”

Of all the lies, evil and sin that Satan has perpetrated onto the world through his willing accomplices, atheism is not one of them. Mainly because Satan knows as well as anyone the existence and power of God.

Which makes atheism even stranger. Because, despite the universal belief in God in the spiritual realm, and the centuries of wisdom guided by a belief in God (even among non-Christians), the modern atheist sees himself as wiser than everyone else. But, he’s a fool.

Psalm 14:1 says “The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they have done abominable works, there is none that doeth good.”

The fool says in his heart, “There is no God.”

Romans 1:21-22 tells us that, “Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. ²²Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools.”

The modern atheist has rejected God, has convinced himself there is no God, and in doing so, has become vain (empty) in his thoughts and dreams, and darkness has filled his heart.

Even though he thinks himself wiser than those around him, he is a fool.

Both Psalm 14 and Romans 1 go on to show us the darkness and sin that follow once someone convinces himself that there is no God. But, there’s another side to this story as well.

Often, the fool that says in his heart, “There is no God,” is not an avowed atheist. In fact, he may even be a professing Christian. However, he is living as if God didn’t exist.

You see, to engage in sinful behavior, you have to at least temporarily convince yourself that either God does not exist, or that He is not watching, or that He doesn’t care. Because if you did believe in that moment that God was present, watching and that He cared, you wouldn’t do the sin you are about to do.

This is not something a Christian does consciously, but rather a state of mind one unknowingly enters into when they are in the process of backsliding. It works like this.

The Christian becomes lax in his Spiritual discipline. He is not praying as he should, is not spending time in God’s word, and is not gathering with his church. As he drifts, so does his consciousness about God.

As that consciousness about God drifts, so does the Christian’s moral compass. He begins to lose sight of his God-given responsibilities, of God’s authority and expectation, and finds himself justifying the things that please his flesh in the moment.

As he does this, he backslides. Until God intervenes and disciplines him. Then, he repents.

The backslide is foolish to the point that even the Christian thinks to himself, “What was I thinking?” Often, there’s no answer to that question. But we know what he wasn’t thinking… and that is that God is present, active, and watching. So, even though he didn’t say “There is no God,” he acted as if that were true, and thus acted foolishly.

When Satan sins against God, he does so in cognizant opposition to God with the misguided thought of either overthrowing God, or hindering His will. When man sins against God, it’s often with the misguided thought that God either doesn’t exist, or doesn’t care.

Don’t fall into that pitfall. We will sin. We will miss the mark. But let’s not backslide by neglecting our Spiritual lives, and let’s not fail to preach the Gospel to ourselves daily and remind ourselves of God’s truth.

The Storm Rages On

I knew the look in her face. I had seen it many times in the eyes of the caretakers of my hospice patients. Exhaustion.

When Mom gets sick, you take off time from work to take her to the doctor. There are the tests, the follow-up visits, the referrals to specialists, a new round of appointments and tests, and a new round of follow-up visits before a treatment plan is established.

Then, there’s the treatment process. The trips to Dallas or Houston, the recovery time from the treatments, and then the follow-up visits with the specialist to see whether the body responded to the treatments.

From there, Mom may have gotten better, or she may have gotten worse.

If she’s gotten better, there is a season when things go back to normal, until the disease flares up again. Then, this whole process starts over.

It becomes a vicious cycle. Mom gets sick, treatments, Mom gets better, but not quite as strong as before.

At some point, Mom loses her independence. The daughter may move Mom in with her, or the daughter may place Mom in assisted living or in a nursing home. Either way, she is caring for Mom daily and spending a lot of time with her at the expense of her family, her career, and her own self-care.

Then, the doctors finally tell her, “There’s nothing more we can do. We can’t beat this disease, we can only manage its symptoms moving forward.” As a hospice chaplain, that’s usually when my organization was engaged, and when I got to meet the family.

Each story is as unique and precious as it is common. The people, places, diagnoses and struggles are different, but the story arc is the same.

Daughter is tired.

Often, the family has been devout in their faith, and they turned to the Lord and the church for help. They prayed constantly, yet things didn’t get better.

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As the Bellamy Brothers famously sang, “And behind each wave of tragedy, they waited for the joy.”

But the joy never came.

“Weeping may endure for a night, but joy comes in the morning.” Yet, the morning hasn’t come, and we’re not even seeing the first light.

I don’t believe in the “too blessed to be stressed” Christianity. My faith cannot fit on a bumper sticker, and it won’t sell many t-shirts. I’ve seen the real world.

The real world is brutal, heart-breaking, devastating, and at times, merciless.

But God is good! All the time! And the heartbreak He allows to touch our lives serves His purpose, and serves our good. It’s just hard to see through the tears, sometimes.

In Psalm 13, King David asked, “How long wilt thou forget me, O Lord? for ever? how long wilt thou hide thy face from me? ²How long shall I take counsel in my soul, having sorrow in my heart daily? how long shall mine enemy be exalted over me?”

You get the idea from these verses that King David, too, experienced times when the world was overwhelming, and he was unsure of how he could survive. King David also prayed, consistently, over long periods of time, only to hear no answer back from the Lord.

Just as our storm often continues to rage, King David also saw his storms rage violently and bitterly over long periods of time. There were times when, like us, King David felt as if God were hiding His face from him.

This is when you find out what you truly believe.

This is when you find out if your religion were a cultural exercise, the right thing to say, or whether it was something you truly believed to the point that it shaped your core.

For King David, his faith shaped his core, because even in these desperate situations, David continued to express his unmovable faith toward God.

He went on to say in Psalm 13:3, “Consider and hear me, O Lord my God: lighten mine eyes, lest I sleep the sleep of death;”

Even though it appeared as if his prayers were going unanswered, David continued to pray to the Lord, pleading with him to “consider” him, meaning to observe him, be attentive to him, and see his plight. David asked God to hear him, to hear his prayer, his words, his heart and his pain.

David went on to express his faith once again.

“But I have trusted in thy mercy; my heart shall rejoice in thy salvation. ⁶I will sing unto the Lord, because he hath dealt bountifully with me. (Psalm 13:5-6)”

David trusts in God’s mercy because mercy is at the heart of who God is, and being confident, David knows that the salvation is coming, and will rejoice in that salvation.

Despite the storms of his present time David remembered how God had been good to him before, and he understood that all of life, the good and the bad, are amazing gifts from God.

Therefore, even in the midst of his suffering, David not only trusted God for deliverance, but praised God for His goodness.

And when we reach that level of Spiritual maturity, we are truly becoming the person God intended on us being.

For my hospice patients and families, this meant accepting the fact that the patient’s time on this earth was coming to a close, and that the family’s time with that patient was fleeting.

My job as chaplain was to help them manage the grief of that reality, regain their hope and trust in the Lord, approach that day with hope and purpose, and be at peace when the time came.

That job was accomplished by opening God’s word and demonstrating to them God’s goodness and love even in the midst of this trying time.

Are you in that place right now? If not hospice, maybe financial? Or is there a family situation?

And you’ve prayed over that situation, but the storm continues to rage?

Don’t give up. Remember how good God is. Keep praying, because the morning comes, and with it, the joy of the Spiritual victory God will give.