“Teach me Your way, O LORD; lead me in a straight path because of my oppressors. Do not turn me over to the desire of my foes, for false witnesses rise up against me, breathing out violence.” -Psalm 27:11-12
God loves justice. One day, He will dispense perfect justice for all mankind and every wrong will be made right. For the Christian, this incomprehensible work was done for us at the cross. All our injustices toward God and others was laid on Jesus’ body. The price to pay for the Christian’s crimes was the life of the sinless and innocent Christ. This is the best news. The worst news is justice given to every unrepentant soul. God’s mercy is no more once their short lives end. It is then too late.
As David cries out for help against present enemies, he commits his life and circumstances to the omnipotent God. Throughout his life experiences, David is aware of God’s sovereignty over events and people. Therefore, his prayer is a plea and a confession of trust. When you know God is for you it doesn’t matter what lies ahead or who is against you. There is no one like God to trust so fully, His covenant of love over you securely. Keeping an eternal perspective when the dark waters rise is crucial. When the disciples were beginning to drown in the storm, Jesus challenged them over their lack of faith (Mark 4:35-41). Faith that the Lord is sovereign, good and victorious is the framework for peace filled Christians. If the Lord allows people or circumstances to slay us, it is only for a moment. This was Job’s cry when his livelihood, family, servants and health were taken from him (Job 13:15) because he knew this life is temporary.
God will not be mocked, therefore He will not allow His children to be mistreated in eternity. We do not lose even when all signs appear otherwise. Perfect justice will be executed by the God of Heaven and earth in His perfect time and way. David looks to God each time he is in distress. Yahweh is his protector, provider and teacher. The shepherd king does not rely on his own understanding, but looks to God for instruction (Proverbs 3:5-7). David’s humility to be teachable produces wisdom and spiritual maturity over his lifetime. When God leads our day to day, we are safe and victorious over anxious thoughts, fear and pride.
The Lord’s battle plans might look different than what we would expect, but believers who remember this will not grow easily discouraged. Keeping an eternal perspective is the key to live in the present with peace and joy. If your soul is kept in Heaven by God and your enemies will meet their Maker one day, what do you have to lose? We do not have to fear even death, because that too, is temporary. Death is only the beginning. Dearly beloved Christian, be confident in Who you serve, the time you’ve been given to faithfully live for the Lord without reservation, with a pure and holy passion.
“Do not hide Your face from me, do not turn Your servant away in anger; You have been my Helper. Do not reject me or forsake me, O God my Savior. Though my father and mother forsake me, the LORD will receive me.” – Psalm 27:9-10
Does it ever feel like God is hiding from you? As if God is absent? The Bible says He is always actively at work for His children (Philippians 1:6). He also promises in Scripture to never leave you, but always be with you (Hebrews 13:5). The believer’s help comes from the Lord. He says we belong to Him, sinful though we are. Sanctifying faith wrestles with our feelings on a daily basis! The temptation to despair and throw in the towel is a spiritual fight straight from Hell. The Lord will not let you go if you belong to Him. He has received you. This is the greatest news a soul can hear. You, dearly beloved Christian, are accepted by God, loved by Him and sustained in your faith by Jesus. He prays for you, interceding on your behalf to the Father’s ear because the Perfect Sacrifice is also your Great High Priest.
Even if all others turn away from you because your pursuit of God in practical holiness seems too zealous, too self-righteous for some, trust that God knows your sincerity. Sincerity is vulnerability of worship and this God will not despise. When we come to our Father in humble transparency, He will honor this posture of worship. We bring nothing to the Father but our sin and need. As the old hymn says, “Nothing in my hand I bring, simply to the cross I cling.” The Lord receives the contrite heart (Psalm 51:16-17). Even if all others reject you or disappoint, God will not. He has been our faithful helper and will continue to be as we serve Him. God gives enough grace for this small day to put our hand to the plow. Perhaps the work you do isn’t considered “spiritual”? It all matters to God. All work done for His glory is worship and “spiritual”. Whether you change another diaper, write code for computer software, wait on tables, plant a garden, or drive a loved one to another doctor appointment- the attitude we have determines whether it is pleasing to God or not.
The Lord will never turn His face away from His own, but how are we living faithfully in return? If God is not ashamed to call helpless rebels His adopted children, do we shame His Name by our grumbling and thanklessness? Let us not grieve the Spirit with callous hearts. This is the day that the Lord has made. He commands us to rejoice in it, to enjoy Him and His blessings (Psalm 118:24). Even when life is bleak and gray so that putting one foot in front of another is a challenge know this: the Sovereign Lord who sent His Son to die for you will never cast you off even when it feels that way (John 6:35-40). God always proves Himself faithful as a constant friend and helper, even if all others fall away. Remember what Christ endured for you so that these truths could become your reality.
Jesus bore the Father’s wrath and rejection so you never have to. “The LORD will receive me” is a precious promise for the Christian pilgrim to carry. You are His, but do not grieve Him with shallow faith and an anxious heart. Grow deeper, by His grace, and drink deeply from the cup which never runs dry. His mercies are new everyday. Truth and grace are freely given to the one who asks. His storehouse is abundant, His vow to you unbroken and constant.
Faith over feelings will sharpen your spiritual vision, helping you patiently endure God’s will for your life. One day when you look back on it all, the loneliness and hardship of following Christ will be worth it (Romans 8:28-29). Becoming more like Jesus is costly, but it is a priceless treasure which will never run out or wear out when we are Home.
Grace upon grace,
April
O MY LORD AND SAVIOUR,
Thou hast also appointed a cross for me to take up and carry,
“You are the salt of the earth. But if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made salty again? It is no longer good for anything, except to be thrown out and trampled by men.” -Matthew 5:13
Imagine with me for a moment there was no such thing as salt. No salt to flavor your food. No salt to preserve meat, heal wounds, or use as a cleansing agent. Now imagine there were no such thing as Christians. No one to tell you, or anyone, about the remedy for our sinfulness. No one to be used by God as His hands and feet, restraining evil, healing, serving, or ministering to others. The world would still go on, but in a very shallow, hopeless, chaotic existence.
But God had a plan. Not only did He make a way for sinners to have eternal fellowship with Him through the blood of Jesus Christ, He then gave those same redeemed sinners a job to do. The Lord equates believers with salt in the Bible, because we are to be preservers of righteousness in the times and places God has put us, from worldwide apostasy.
In the book of Esther, the name of God is never mentioned, yet His providence is on full display. Queen Esther has been told by Mordecai of Haman’s wicked plan to slaughter all Jews in Persia. She responds with trepidation, knowing that anyone who approaches the king unannounced is liable to death. Mordecai answers her, “Do not think that because you are in the king’s house you alone of all the Jews will escape. For if you remain silent at this time, relief and deliverance for the Jews will arise from another place, but you and your father’s family will perish. And who knows but that you have come to royal position for such a time as this?” (4:13-14).
Esther then asks Mordecai and all the Jews to pray and fast for three days, then she will go to the king. She ends her speech with these famous words, “And if I perish, I perish.” In this historical account, God used a Jewish woman blessed with a position of influence, to deliver the Jews from annihilation. Orthodox Jews today celebrate this momentous occasion with a festival, known as Purim.
God used Esther as a means of restraining evil in her time, and He does the same today with His people. Christians are tools in the hands of God to be used by Him as He sees fit. This includes evangelism and discipleship, but also living faithfully in your own home, raising children in the fear of the Lord, stewarding the time and resources you have to glorify God. The prophet Jeremiah told the people of Israel to do this while living as exiles in Babylon. He also told them to “seek the peace and prosperity of the city to which I (God) have carried you into exile. Pray to the LORD for it, because if it prospers, you too will prosper” (Jeremiah 29:7). They were living in a pagan place and yet God commands them to do good right where He planted them.
Americans have been abundantly blessed with prosperity and personal freedoms. Sadly, those privileges are often taken for granted, compartmentalized from the Christian faith. Who allowed these blessings in the first place if not God? It is not unspiritual or doltish to be concerned with the affairs of the public sphere. Every Christian has a duty to be aware and informed so that we can rightly promote peace and prosperity where God has placed us. If believers are to be salt in a tasteless world, then we are to use the means given to us to be preservative agents of righteousness. Under the constitutional republic, voting is one of the privileges we have in this country to do the best good out of the choices given. We need to pray for godly leadership in government. But if godly people neglect their spiritual responsibility to lead, the godless will. To “let go and let God” is a passive attitude many Christians take, even though they would never utter this unbiblical saying. It is exactly this worldview that has led our country to choose between two immoral people.
The judgment on our country should shake every believer awake. Have we been the salt God commanded us to be? Are we growing in our personal fellowship with the Lord? Or do we distract ourselves with lesser things? Have Christians spoken against the slaughter of children in the womb or kept silent? Have we openly shared our faith in the public square or left that up to other Christians? It might be costly. In fact, I’m sure it is, but that doesn’t mean we shy away from what God commands. Every single Christian is called to live as ambassadors in a pagan land that will mock, reject and push back against God’s laws.
In our sin nature, anything can become an idol. Our spouse, children, material wealth, job, reputation and even politics. All Baals must be smashed and all blessings viewed in their rightful place. A right order of affections is required, with God above everything else. However, you and I have been born in a time and place where we are to be salty Christians. Be an Esther. This includes voting the lesser of the two evils on Election Day. We are not voting for a pastor, but a politician. It is disheartening that Donald Trump has waffled on conservative issues, like abortion, and moved to a moderate position. But he did appoint three Supreme Court justices who overturned Roe v. Wade. He is strong on issues like the economy, immigration and foreign policy. The American people have already had a taste of what a Kamala Harris term looks like under the current administration, who views all Trump supporters as “garbage”. Harris’ record bears out her harmful progressive values and she stands behind them.
We should not naively think that because this is America we are immune from having all our liberties stripped away. God can do what He wants. This may include the fall of America, and it might be for our good. Americans have rejected God for so long, doing what is right in our own eyes, that repentance and revival come by way of bringing the nation low. But if God should choose to have mercy on us, He will do so and Christians can take part by carrying out our civic duty in voting and through prayer. Since all of life is worship, then our actions through voting and prayer are both important.
Even as I make this argument the obvious needs to be said: This world is not our home, and yet, we do have to live on earth until Christ returns or we go to be with Him through death. Only Jesus can save, satisfy and sustain us completely. But in His wisdom, God uses people to bring about His purposes. The mystery of God’s Sovereignty and man’s will means we cooperate with Him, leaving the results in His Hands. Even if the election outcome is disappointing, we can have a clear conscience knowing we voted for the better option. Choosing not to vote isn’t neutrality, but a passive choice of escaping responsibility to steward a privilege all American citizens have.
If Esther had chosen to shirk her responsibility, the Lord would have used another way to deliver the Jews. The same is true for Christians today. Whether you choose to vote or not, God’s purposes will be carried out. Yet every one of us will have to give an account for our actions here on earth (2 Corinthians 5:10). Dear Christian, live salty lives so that no one will mistake you for anything less than a hope filled Christ follower. We are called to preserve our culture from societal decay. This includes promoting the welfare of others in the Babylon we live in by voting for the best candidate who will restrain evil. As J. I. Packer once said, “Trust God and get going”.
“Hear my voice when I call, O LORD; be merciful to me and answer me. My heart says of You, “Seek His face!” Your face, LORD, I will seek.” -Psalm 27:7-8
Does the Lord hear us when we pray? Is He ever too busy to listen? Are some of our cries not important enough? We may doubt whether God hears our prayers sometimes, and that is why it is crucial to answer our questions Biblically. God in Heaven will always bend an ear to hear His people’s cries and act according to His wisdom. This is God’s nature. The Creator ministers to the created without reservation. When David pleads for God to be merciful to him and answer his prayers, he is asking the Lord to be Himself. God is already merciful. This may mean at times that God does not act as we expect, but He is never wrong in His decisions. It is we who must adjust our expectations, trusting in His Sovereignty.
King David asks for the Lord to see his plight and act on his behalf. He doesn’t yet know the outcome of his prayer request, but David still responds to the Lord with worship. This is an example every Christian can pattern. No matter how God chooses to answer our pleas, the consistent character of worship should be the makeup of our hearts. We seek His face regardless of circumstances because Yahweh is the best refuge for any situation. Even when we don’t like how He answers a prayer- perhaps ‘wait’ or ‘no’ was given? How does the believer respond? What does that do to your faith? Shaken but not shattered.
When our faith is sifted through trials, we can have confidence that Jesus intercedes for us. He prays for our faith to stand firm, just like He did for Peter (Luke 22:31-32). When the dust settles and the shock wears off, the Christian can choose to grow bitter and jaded, or take their broken hearts back to the throne room of grace, crying for more mercy. More trust in His providence, more love to rest secure, more of God to find strength for another day. Perseverance of the saints is grace and mercy at work. The Spirit will bless the believing heart with this lion lamblike quality of humility, trust and boldness after the living God.
Bending to the will of God produces spiritual maturity. God is after a harvest in our hearts, using whatever means necessary for abundant growth. Pray and pursue. Trust and obey. These commands are woven throughout the entire Bible because it is for our good and God’s glory. Believer, you have the privilege of living before the face of the One who made you and saved you. He hears our heart cries. The Lord is most merciful.
“For in the day of trouble He will keep me safe in His dwelling; He will hide me in the shelter of His tabernacle and set me high upon a rock. Then my head will be exalted above the enemies who surround me; at His tabernacle will I sacrifice with shouts of joy; I will sing and make music to the LORD.” -Psalm 27:5-6
God is the God of deliverance, in the grand picture and in the everyday. King David boasts in what the Lord will do for him because the shepherd king belongs to the Shepherd King. He is hidden in the Lord, safe for all eternity and nothing can separate God from His beloved children. God is too powerful, too loving and fatherly to not protect and provide. He has protected every elect sinner from eternal Hell, by providing a way of salvation through His Son, Jesus Christ. The beasts of Hell will not prevail, seen and unseen, God’s enemies cannot win. Their doom is sure because it is promised in Scripture (Romans 16:20).
The Lord has won every believing soul for His glory and our eternal good. None will be lost who belong to Him. The God of grace and mercy has delivered Christians from certain, endless death, into the freedom of forgiveness and fellowship with Him forever. There isn’t anything greater than that last sentence. The kingdom of darkness will make gains here on earth, but it cannot have you, dear Christian, who belong to something better and true. You are part of a royal priesthood, a holy nation in which God has promised to be your Refuge now, until we go Home.
God is actively at work delivering His people until that time, sanctifying each one for when we go to the Land of the Living. He has delivered our souls from death, continuing to keep our feet from slipping so that we do not destroy the faith He has given us, as Satan would have it. The trials we are allowed to endure are opportunities to humble and grow the Christian in faith. The Lord rescues us at just the right time, but not a minute before. He is never late, never off duty, never asleep or apathetic toward His own. And why? God Almighty is zealous for His Name, His Glory. He must be exalted because Yahweh is the Creator of everything. The Lord is not vain, vindictive or a wimp, and He will not be mocked.
Deliverance for His chosen people will come because God has ordained it so, just as He has ordained all of your days on earth. Every soul that is His will be kept by the Lord of the living. Trouble, enemies, even sin cannot thwart God’s plan. His providence rules as He orchestrates man’s will alongside it. This mystery is the believer’s confidence that we serve a sovereign, sinless God who is also our defense, deliverer and Father. King David declares future promises of God in the middle of present danger. The believer can also look ahead out of the current circumstances and fix their eyes on King Jesus. Keeping an eternal perspective while enjoying temporal blessings or enduring the storms of life is the key to navigating the pilgrim way. God will be glorified and we will praise Him for it.
What has God’s strong arm accomplished for you? Eternal salvation. Praise Him!
Who is at God’s right hand interceding on your behalf? Jesus Christ. Praise Him!
How is God at work in your life this moment? Daily sanctification. Praise Him!
When will you behold the face of God, faith becoming sight? In earthly death. Praise Him!
Where is the Holy Spirit? In my heart forevermore. Praise Him!
Not by our merit, but of His great mercy.
Even if God were to strip away every temporal blessing He has given you and me, like Job, we would still have the Lord. The Lord is my Shepherd, He is all I’ll ever need.
The Lord “watches over the way of His saints.” -Proverbs 2:8
I’ve heard this poem before and recently read it in the Epilogue to ‘The Hiding Place’ by Corrie ten Boom. The poem is called, “My Life Is Like a Weaving” by Grant Colfax Tullar. I hope it blesses you too.
My life is like a weaving
between my God and me.
I do not choose the colors
He works steadily.
Sometimes He weaves sorrow
and I in foolish pride
forget He sees the upper,
and I the underside.
Not till the loom is silent
and the shuttles cease to fly
will God unroll the canvas
and explain the reason why
the dark threads are as needful
in the skillful weaver’s hand
as the threads of gold and silver
in the pattern He has planned.
Our understanding is finite, His is infinite. We were never in control, God is Sovereign over all. He is perfect in love, we love imperfectly. Given the comparison in character traits, we are better off trusting the Lord with His plans for us rather responding in fear, anger or bitterness.
When WWII began in Corrie ten Boom’s city of Haarlem, the dogfighting in the sky kept her and her sister Betsie awake. They decided to go downstairs in the middle of the night for a cup of tea to calm their nerves until it was over. Finally, Corrie made her way back upstairs to her bedroom where she felt in the dark something sharp on her pillow. It was a 10 inch piece of shrapnel from the night bombings. She ran back to her sister and showed her in terror, what had been laying on her pillow. “What if I had still been in bed?!” Corrie exclaims. Betsie assured her there are no “what ifs” in God’s plan. Whatever He purposes for us, good or bad, we are safest when we are in the center of His will.
As the war progressed the ten Booms would later be arrested for hiding Jews in their home. The horrors of their experience in concentration camps are told in Corrie’s book ‘The Hiding Place’. From these events, she learns to forgive the humanly speaking, unforgivable acts of the Nazis. She even learns to love her enemies, setting up several homes after the war, as a rehabilitation center for those not ready to face the world yet. Corrie went on to travel the world telling others the love of God through the gospel of Jesus Christ.
She likely would not have chosen the tapestry of sorrow and loss weaved into her life, but God sees the overall picture. He took what was meant for evil and used it for good. Everything the Lord does, throughout all of history, has always been for His glory. Elisabeth Elliot once noted, “It is not what the Lord is doing TO you, but rather, what the Lord is doing FOR you.” Whatever He purposes for us in this life serves as an opportunity to refine our character into Christlikeness, and untether us from this temporary world. Author Sam Wellman who wrote the Epilogue to ‘The Hiding Place’ says, “Love triumphs over all afflictions. Our earthly sufferings only serve to make that which awaits us an even greater glory.”
redeemed in grace 