Tag Destiny

Glory Days Have Not Passed You By

Todd R 1 Comment

One of my favorite books of the Bible is Ecclesiastes, and chapter 7 in particular is full of practical wisdom, such as:

“Be not quick in your spirit to become angry, for anger lodges in the heart of fools. Say not, ‘Why were the former days better than these?’ For it is not from wisdom that you ask this. – Ecclesiastes 7:9-10

People commonly refer to the “glory days” of their past.  When they were an athlete.  When they were younger.  Before they had responsibilities.  Before they experienced a loss of a loved one, job/career, home, or anything they held valuable.  Before the Covid-19 pandemic.  Somehow the past looks better.

In these verses, Solomon, who lived a life where he gained and lost far more than nearly anyone else ever will, categorically says this is foolish. He’s not doing this to criticize, but to keep others from repeating his own mistakes. To advise against anger for the wrong reasons about things that can’t be changed or fixed.

God’s mercies are new every morning, and with the path we’ve taken before today, He has prepared us for the day ahead in a way no other path could. Strive for what is ahead – your true “glory days” in Him! Start from here and listen for Him. Perfection lies ahead.

“Give us each day our daily bread” – Luke 11:3

“If Necessary”

Todd R 1 Comment

All Christians face trials for following Jesus.  These can range from being disregarded or ignored, all the way to physical persecution and even death.  In the face of these trials, Christians can feel targeted or that their trials are unfair.  However, Peter assures us that all the trials we face for Jesus have a purpose.

In 1 Peter 1:6-7, he wrote: “In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”

Note the words “if necessary.”  Those words beg the question of what is necessary and who decides that it is necessary?  Do we get to pick and choose our own trials, or would probably choose to avoid them altogether?  Should we trust ourselves to choose wisely?  If we chose for ourselves, we might pick only trials we’ve already overcome or ones we are sure we can handle, but as Warren Wiersbe wrote: “We must not think that because we have overcome one kind of trial that we will automatically ‘win them all.’ Trials are varied, and God matches the trial to our strengths and needs.”[1]

Fortunately for all of us, God is the one who decides if, when, and why trials are “necessary.”  He decides whether we have trials, and only He knows all of the flaws in our faith and the best way for us to overcome them and grow in faith.  He ensures we face only “necessary” trials that test the “genuineness” of our faith and turn it into something “more precious than gold.”  These trials expose our impurities so that they may be removed.  Because of the words “if necessary,” we can rejoice in our salvation even when going through trials of all kinds.  They aren’t random or meaningless.

Therefore, we can rejoice even in our trials knowing they will “result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.”  Any time we feel “grieved by various trials” we know they are temporary, and they serve God’s purpose for us.

Amen.

[1] Wiersbe, Warren.  Be Hopeful (1 Peter) (1982).  P. 35.

He Who Sits in the Heavens Laughs

Todd R 3 Comments

Are you frustrated with politics?  Maybe the politicians you prefer are not currently in power and you are disappointed or angry.  Maybe you are just tired of political divisiveness.  Maybe you are tired of the 24/7 barrage of bad news online and on TV.  There are many ways politics can be draining and rob us of peace and joy, and a lot of it seems very un-Christlike.

One of my favorite Bible passages to read when I feel this way is Psalm 2, which begins with these verses (1-3):

“Why do the nations rage and the peoples plot in vain?
The kings of the earth set themselves,
and the rulers take counsel together,
            against the LORD and against his Anointed, saying,
Let us burst their bonds apart
            and cast away their cords from us”

The Psalm refers to the rebellion of nations, peoples, kings, and rulers against the “bonds” and “cords” of “the Lord” and “his Anointed”, or God the Father and God the Son.  All nations have always been rivals, not just with each other, but also with the kingdom of God.  Within nations, political parties also have fierce rivalries.

The ultimate example of the nations’ rebellion is referenced when the first two verses from the Psalm are quoted in Acts 4:25-26, followed by: “for truly in this city there were gathered together against your holy servant Jesus, whom you anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever your hand and our plan had predestined to take place.”  The crucifixion of Jesus was the result of a massive conspiracy, including possibly six separate trials by both Jewish and Roman authorities.  The Jews hated Him because He was not the political messiah that would lead an insurrection against Rome.  The Romans, led by Pilate, answered the call to crucify Him, to avoid a Jewish riot that would result in their punishment or removal by higher Roman authorities.  So Jesus, who was not guilty of what He was charged with and also is the only human to never participate in insurrection against His Father, was crucified and died.

Jesus was a threat to Jewish and Roman authority and had to go, and they literally succeeded in killing God.  Brutally.  Imagine if you saw that on the news.  There’s nothing worse than this on today’s news or happening in the world today.  But then Psalm 2:4 tells us:

“He who sits in the heavens laughs;
the Lord holds them in derision.”

A Surprising Victory

Surprising even His followers, on the third day, Jesus was resurrected from the dead, and after a few weeks, was raised “far above all rule and authority and power and dominion, and above every name that is named, not only in this age but also in the one to come.”  (Ephesians 1:21).  This Jesus is the one laughing in heaven, and He can laugh because He knows any and all nations are no threat to Him and His kingdom.

All rulers and nations opposed to God are doomed to fail, because even killing God was not good enough to keep Him down.  Jesus laughs because He knows His plan will work.  In Matthew 16:18, Jesus told Peter that “I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.”

In Acts 4 above, Peter and John quote Psalm 2 after they were released by the religious rulers of Jerusalem, and they testify that Jesus’ enemies only do “whatever your hand and our plan had predestined to take place.”  Peter and John were eyewitnesses to the resurrected Jesus and knew that all the powers of the world could not keep Him down.  They knew that Jesus was exalted and laughing at any opposition to Him, and therefore, to them.  They rejoiced that the same God who had resurrected Jesus had freed them from prison!

Therefore, take comfort that Jesus, knowing all the evil and rebellion of the world that we may feel threatened by or anxious about, laughs.  All who challenge God are ultimately powerless even if they once “succeeded” in killing Him.

“He who sits in the heavens laughs” reminds us that Jesus is laughing with supreme confidence at whatever political mess we find ourselves in – He is not threatened, and He is in charge.  We can trust Jesus, our King laughing in heaven, who says: “I give them eternal life, and they will never perish, and no one will snatch them out of my hand.  My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all, and no one is able to snatch them out of the Father’s hand.” – John 10:28-29.

Amen

Shall the Trees Clap Their Hands?

Todd R 1 Comment

Isaiah 55:12-13
“For you shall go out in joy
            and be led forth in peace;
the mountains and the hills before you
            shall break forth into singing,
            and all the trees of the field shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up the cypress;
            instead of the brier shall come up the myrtle;
and it shall make a name for the LORD,
            an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off.”

Fellow travelers,

Today may bring thorns and briers, but as we travel toward eternity, consider the marvelous picture of nature glorified in a new heaven and earth in this Psalm.

First, the mountains and trees we experience in this world may not be the same as trees in heaven.  They will rejoice when the perfect creation is made manifest because they are not fully what they should be now.  Tolkien may have been thinking of this when creating the Ents of Middle Earth.  If the trees are described as clapping in heaven, what will people do?

Bring some of that joy to this earth.

Second, the Psalm describes a direct reversal of the curse on Adam in Gen 3:17-18, where the ground would be cursed and “thorns and thistles it shall bring forth for you.”  Instead, the cypress and myrtle will come up.  The new creation will not fight against us, but instead sprout glory after glory.

Bring some of that glory to this earth.

God Rules in His Sleep

Todd R 3 Comments

In Mark’s Gospel, he tells a story of Jesus taking a nap, causing His disciples to panic.  Does it ever seem like God is asleep, leaving you feeling adrift amid the world’s circumstances?  When Jesus walked the earth, there were times when God literally was asleep.

The story comes from Mark 4:35-41.

On that day, when evening had come, [Jesus] said to them, “Let us go across to the other side.”  And leaving the crowd, they took him with them in the boat, just as he was. And other boats were with him.  And a great windstorm arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat, so that the boat was already filling.  But he was in the stern, asleep on the cushion. And they woke him and said to him, “Teacher, do you not care that we are perishing?”  And he awoke and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Peace! Be still!” And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.  He said to them, “Why are you so afraid? Have you still no faith?”  And they were filled with great fear and said to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey him?”

At the beginning of the story, Jesus told His disciples they were going to cross the Sea of Galilee, then knowing what was coming, “He who keeps Israel”[1] took a nap.  Had the disciples understood Jesus, His napping should have reassured them that they were safe, since He was not concerned about the storm.  Instead, they thought He didn’t care, which showed that fear of the storm had overcome whatever faith they had.  Jesus said they were going across, but they doubted.

Which brings up a very important question.

When did the wind and the sea obey Jesus?  At the beginning of the story, at the end, or both?  Or at all times?  Before Jesus calmed the storm, was the sea being disobedient to God’s laws and will?

I believe Jesus calmed this storm so that next time He wouldn’t have to.  He was teaching them that He always cares, regardless of what the circumstances seem to say.  He was teaching them that even when it seems like He’s asleep, He is still in control of our circumstances no matter how chaotic they look and feel to us.  During the next storm, He wanted them not to panic, but to trust Him because He showed them no circumstance escapes His notice.  The storm does not control us; He controls the storm.

When Jesus calmed the storm, He did not create a hedge (See Job 1:10) around His disciples, He just demonstrated that it existed all along.  God was not going to let His Son drown before His mission was complete and neither will He let His other children drown before their work is done!

Sometimes when God seems distant and we feel we are sinking, in reality we are being given a divinely designed opportunity to learn to trust that:

The LORD will keep you from all evil;
            he will keep your life.
The LORD will keep
            your going out and your coming in
            from this time forth and forevermore[2]

He knows sometimes we have to learn the hard way, and He knows best.  Even when He is sleeping.

“Let us go across to the other side.”

[1] Psalm 121:4
[2] Psalm 121:7-8