Be careful of the good times.

 

One of the crucial lessons from the Old Testament is the vulnerability of God's people. We tend to think that we are more vulnerable to spiritual danger when times are tough, and then (in our own eyes) we are more prone to lean on our own understanding. However the Old Testament seems to suggest that the opposite is more often true. Human nature means we are often less careful in "good times". There is a reason why most speeding offences happen within 2 miles of home. Familiarity breeds contempt and complacency is a dangerous place to be. Humbly reflecting on our vulnerability and need of GOD each day is not pessimism but wisdom, the foundation of being geared for growth in all that He has for us. Never has it been more important for us to hear God speak His authoritative and life giving word into our lives than in our age where pride and self sufficiency is the prevailing culture. 

*Read Deut 8:1-20

 It was in the time of daily supernatural provision (miracle food, God's provision of clothes on their back and shoes on their feet (8:4)) and after miraculous rescue (through shed blood and superior protection  (8:14-16, Exodus 12:7-13)) that Israel forgot the goodness and spectacular redemption provided by our God. In our good times (when we feel wealthy in one way or another) and when circumstances are without volatility, we detect less danger and are more prone to slip, less reliant on the total dependance we do need in GOD constantly in all circumstances.

"Take care lest you forget the LORD your God by not keeping his commandments and his rules and his statutes, which I command you today, lest, when you have eaten and are full and have built good houses and live in them, and when your herds and flocks multiply and your silver and gold is multiplied and all that you have ...

God tests his people in the Good times, and the bad, and both are good for us by His gracious work in us and provision for us. The scan of GOD is more detailed and precise than any X-ray or CT. In all things and all details GOD sees the depth of our hearts, and wants us as his people to depend on him, moment by moment and for every spiritual resource, blessing, and provision. 

"He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your ancestors had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the LORD."

"Take care, watch out" (v13-14) is the message of Deut 8, for there is a self pride which lifts us to a point of self confidence from which the fall is catastrophic. For some it will be that time when the bank account is healthy, the cupboard is full, and we can afford the heating bill increments. I guess less will go back to work this year with full financial confidence, but I'm sure they partied (drank) just as hard (if not even harder) over Christmas. For others it is when home comforts or family relationships are not disturbed. We don't need lofty ambitions to have a lofty view of ourselves, or a free spirit of independance.  Without any great ambitions for this world (thinking ourselves humble) we can reach a time of quiet equilibrium, but even this is not from ourselves and should not be the source of any pride. Every peaceful healthy day is a gift from GOD. If our feet get out of the bed, this a great blessing. If our minds are alert, and we have purposeful work, and roles of responsibility, there is an even greater reason to be humbly thankful.

In whatever form it comes, and whatever our ambition or temperament, self dependance is a total wolf, which prowls on humanity until it devours all of us who forget we are but human beings, created by a God of grace, and sustained in each breath and each moment of health each day. 

Considering all that we've been through in 2022 (Covid, the unrest and increasing danger in Eastern Europe, the death of a Monarch / move into multi faith governance, and the shifting sands of both national leadership and the established positions in leadership of the CofE), you would think that we would not be so proud or self confident. Yet fireworks fulminate as we celebrate ourselves, and yearly reviews trumpet our own (human) achievements over covid and as a country and society. We remembered that the Lionesses roared, and as Sam Ryder leads the country into a new year singing and dancing, that we even managed a high placing in Eurovision. In 2023 Britain, we are not short of pride, or for the call for more pride as we are called to aspire to make ourselves "even greater" in the light of the "achievements" last year. 

How important then that the church, you and I, should be humbly on our knees before God and demonstrate anything but self confidence. We need to depend on him and his word as more important each morning than food. We need to depend on him each day for spiritual sustenance and wisdom in a world which is so full of wickedness and spiritual hunger. In him we can be truly confident without reservation, it is possible to be more strong and more courageous by faith when we take our eyes off ourselves and onto Him. We need to acknowledge each fresh day that our only hope is in Him, and in Him is the only hope of spiritual protection. 

As many of us return to the workaday world, and our routines revolve around our business and our busyness, 

RATHER THAN SAYING ...

"My power and the might of my hand have gotten me this wealth.’ (8:17) 

WE SHOULD SAY...

• I Know then in my heart that, as a man disciplines his son, the LORD your God disciplines me. "
•  "it is He who gives power..." (8:18)

His love and His desires for me are constant in the good and bad circumstances of life and the program of eternal redemption.  In Christ I have true wealth that this world can not afford. In Christ... His greatest desire is my permanent holiness, which is far more significant than my temporary happiness. 

"And you shall remember the whole way that the LORD your God has led you these forty years in the wilderness, that he might humble you (8:2)"

Humility before GOD is always appropriate, always wise and always yields untold riches as we discover more of Him and His way. 

May GOD give us hearts full of his goodness, alert to the danger and void of self confidence. May our love for him and worship of him be displayed in humble obedience. We know that in Christ, our underserved inheritance is greater than any other land of promise, it is the eternal provision of Christ himself. Living in him we lack nothing, either in the good or bad times, and in our certain future in Him we can have total certainty that living for Him now in total trust and humble dependence is the best place to be.  

"Observe the commands of the LORD your God, walking in obedience to him and revering him. For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks of water, of fountains and springs, flowing out in the valleys and hills. (8:6-7)"

"You shall remember the LORD your God, for it is he who gives you power to get wealth, that he may confirm his covenant that he swore to your fathers, as it is this day. " (8:18).

LORD help us to deal with our pride before you need to deal with it for us. 

(1 Peter 5:6, James 4:10, 2 Chron 7:14)

Speak, O Lord, as we come to You
To receive the food of your holy word.
Take Your truth, plant it deep in us;
Shape and fashion us in Your likeness,
That the light of Christ might be seen today
In our acts of love and our deeds of faith.
Speak, O Lord, and fulfil in us
All Your purposes, for Your glory.

Teach us Lord full obedience,
Holy reverence, true humility.
Test our thoughts and our attitudes
In the radiance of Your purity.
Cause our faith to rise
Cause our eyes to see,
Your majestic love and authority.
Words of power that can never fail;
Let their truth prevail over unbelief.

Speak, O Lord, and renew our minds;
Help us grasp the heights of Your plans for us.
Truths unchanged from the dawn of time,
That will echo down through eternity.
And by grace we’ll stand on Your promises;
And by faith we’ll walk as You walk with us.
Speak, O Lord, ’til your church is built
And the earth is filled with Your glory.

Stuart Townend & Keith Getty Copyright © 2005 Thankyou Music (Adm. by CapitolCMGPublishing.com excl. UK & Europe, adm. by Integrity Music, part of the David C Cook family, songs@integritymusic.com)

Newness that never grows stale, fresh for every new day and all it brings.

 

Lamentations is a book about the pain of real life in fallen world. As many friends in Ukraine wake to 2023, the pain of a broken world is all too obvious. In many other parts of the world, friends suffer for sharing Christ and those who pioneer to the unreached often suffer the most. In the UK context we wonder what this year will bring, and how many prime ministers we will have this year. In such a context and with such realities it would be so easy to become tired, cynical and fatigued with disappointment. Yet I find that those in Christ are not so, but actually display the greatest optimism and certain hope. Why ?

Lamentations 3:23 is well known...

The steadfast love of The LORD never ceases;

His mercies never come to an end;

They are new every morning;

great is your faithfulness.

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

Therefore I will hope in Him. 

We have a saying  that "a  dog is not just for Christmas", reminding us of the daily realities behind dog care which last long after the tinsel wrapped grand gesture. Be reminded when you look at the social  media post or bedroom poster, that behind every soft focus image of a fluffy puppy... there is an owner with a bag and "poopascoop". Those friends who saw my Facebook photos of Harvey's bed destruction over Christmas will have seen the reality of dog care after 8 years. Friends who commented have suggested it as a great advertisement and highly effective campaign for not buying a puppy on a whim. Harv. has brought a lot of joy to the family but also at times the same amount of despair. I love my faithful friend, and yet he destroys where I live if there is not much on the TV that catches his eye, and our neighbours are not always blessed by his good morning greetings and barks. 

In the same way that we perceive the realities of a Christmas puppy, we can also say on a much more profound level, the faithfulness of GOD is not just for the 1st of January.

 Notice 3 things about God's ongoing faithfulness in Lamentations 3.

1)DARKNESS SHINES A LIGHT ON GOD'S FAITHFULNESS:

 Read the whole of Lamentations 3. God's faithfulness is known in much deeper ways when we are experiencing dark times and daily need to lean heavily on the arm of grace. Whilst it is one thing to have Lam 3:23 on a bookmark from the Christian bookshop, it is a totally different thing to have it in your heart when everything is falling around you on a daily basis. Here is a deep and profound reality... those who know the brightness of God's faithfulness have been through the darkest of times. In many ways we only truly know God's provision to keep us going when nothing else is there to keep us going. As we pray this verse into 2023 then, we do so knowing that the true reality of God's faithfulness will be seen in the worst of times, as we experience God's glory to shine into them and congruously transform them into even the best of times, as we go deeper with him.

2) HOPE FOR ONE DAY, IN THE CONTEXT OF HIS FAITHFULNESS FOR ALL DAYS: 

Notice the verse that comes after 23, which is so less quoted...

"The LORD is my portion," says my soul,

Therefore I will hope in Him.

There is a reality check which comes with hard days, which says that one day is enough at a time, or let's just try to get through today. Such humility is a good humility. It is part of what Jesus is talking about in Matthew 6:34, when he urges us to trust in The Father's provision one day at a time. It is the same principle that Jehovah taught Israel in the desert (Exodus 16) with the provision of manna, and the same principle we pray in the prayer Christ modelled as appropriate (Matthew 6:11). 

Daily dependence is a decision based on calculated hope. Reminding ourselves each morning in God's word of his steadfast covenant love towards us is congruent to putting our hope in the right place for each day. Such hope has two qualities; it revives because it is fresh hope for fresh problems and challenges, and it sustains as we see the greater and more glorious purposes behind the daily detail. God is weaving history, and the threads of one day make no sense on their own, however as we trace his grace, we see that it runs in the tapestry of history from before the dawn of time, to our preexistence, our birth, our daily breath, our final human breath and to our ultimate destination for eternity and beyond. In all things Christ is LORD. He is the center of all human history. He is the image in whom all humanity finds its place and true identity. He is the one before whom every knee will bow in heaven and one earth. This is where our hope is placed, and nothing can shake it, not even what tomorrow brings, for everything happens under his control and by his will, and good purposes. He does not change even if I mess up beyond my expectations (Numbers 23:19,Titus 1:2,Hebrews 6:18). His faithfulness is not circumstantial on our situation or obedience (2 Tim 2:13). There is great fresh hope each new morning in this bedrock certainty, however badly yesterday went.

3) FRESH EXAMINATION FOR THE NEW DAY AHEAD IN THE LIGHT OF HIS FAITHFULNESS: 

Finally notice that the certainty of GOD's faithfulness and grace each day should cause us to examine our hearts each day. Verses 24 -66 are the bulk weight of Lam 3. The appropriate response to God's faithfulness, the dark times we live in, and the certainty of what is to come in Christ, should cause us to allow him to shine his torchlight of grace into our dark hearts each day the sun rises. 

There is little brightness in the power outages of war, but Christ is shining brightly in God's people. There is little to be radiant about in a prison cell for those who stand for Christ in a hostile place, but there is a deep joy and contentment which causes others to come to him. This is the reality of his grace and provision. Every new day we call on him, we are renewed and made more new. Is this bad grammar? probably, but the reality of what God is doing as he renews all things, and makes all things new. The sun will set on this earth one day, and a new dawn with GOD being the only and constant light will emerge. That process which Christ is orchestrating, the day before the true dawn, is already in preparation and motion. He is getting his bride ready, and this glorious process has has started in you and I. Each new day we trust in him is a day of preparation and renewal for that final day when all things are new and there is no darkness, pain, sorrow, mourning, tears or challenge from a broken world, body  or character. I hope that remains an encouragement for us as we live Jan 2nd to December 31st.

Have a really blessed new year. Praying that each day He gives us will be lived in the certainty of His grace, and that this year you shine brighter than ever, more like Christ, and increasingly renewed in Him.

P