The Carpenter's Chapel (7)

God is great and we cannot know Him

“Behold, God is great, and we know him not neither can the number of his years be searched out.” - Job 36v26

Elihu was the youngest of Job’s four companions. He patiently waited his turn while the other men spoke and Job responded. Finally, he entered the fray after Job gave what surely seemed to him like a long statement of self-righteousness. Like everyone else there Elihu did not know that was going on, but he seemed to him that Job was blaming God for punishing him and that Job was claiming perfection. Job was not doing that of course, but perceptions are important and we must all watch how others perceive us.

In the midst of his spirited response Elihu makes some brilliant statements. Here he reminded Job and the others of something they had already alluded to a couple of times – “God is great and we can’t know Him.” Of course, it is possible to know God personally, but it truly knowing Him and all that He does is beyond our ken. How can sinful, frail men ever hope to understand the perfect, holy, omnipotent God?

The answer is of course that we can’t. That is why it is important that we learn how to trust God in situations where we can’t figure it out. We are much better off if we stop trying to figure out the “whys” and trust that He is doing what is best.

 

Wednesday, 3rd May, 2006
Now my eye has seen you

“I have heard of thee by the hearing of the ear: but now mine eye seeth thee.” - Job 42v5

Nothing helps us draw close to God like trials. From the very start we saw that Job was a spiritual man. He hated evil and did all he could to take care of his family’s spiritual needs. Yet, something was missing.

After all of the tribulations Job discovered something. He realised that before the trials his knowledge and awareness of God was secondary and only based on what he had heard about God.

After he had been through the trials he truly saw God for who He is. Too often we face trials with dread and fear. Every trial is chance to see God and to get to know Him better. Lets count it all joy when we fall into diverse temptation.

 

Kingdom of Priests

Monday May 29, 2006

I'm back

"And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel." (Exodus 19:6)
These are the words of God to Israel, even before they received the Ten Commandments on Mount Sanai. As a priest serves as an intermediary between God and men, so this "kingdom of priests" had been called by God to bring God's Word to man. As a holy nation with such a high calling, its people also should have been holy (that is, consecrated to God) in life and witness. But instead, after almost 2000 years, God had to lament: "All day long I have stretched forth my hands unto a disobedient and gainsaying people" (Romans 10:21)
A day will come when "all Israel shall be saved" (Romans 10:21), but God has, in the meantime, chosen a new people, in whom "There is neither Jew nor Greek...for ye are all one in Christ Jesus" Galatians 3:28). We are now "one body in Christ, and every one members one of another" (Romans 12:5).
We now have been given the same high privileges long ago given to Israel. We who belong to Christ have been "born again" into the "kingdom of God" (John 3:3), and this is nothing less than a kingdom of priests, a holy nation. The apostle Peter said: "Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God by Jesus Christ" (I Peter 2:5).
Not only are we a holy priesthood, we are a royal priesthood, a kingdom of priest-kings. "Ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of Him who hath called you out of darkness into His marvelous light" (v.9). We, indeed, have a high calling, and should devote our lives to showing forth His praises, for He "hath made us kings and priests unto God and His Father; to Him be glory and dominion for ever and ever" (Revelation 1:6).

 

Isaiah Part Two?

"Comfort ye, comfort ye my people, saith your God. Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the Lord's hand double for all her sins" (Isaiah 40:1-2).
These two verses introduce the so-called book of "Deutero-Isaiah," which Biblical critics (who deny that prophecy can be fulfilled) claim was written by a second Isaiah simply because it contains prophetic claims which have come to pass. The Lord Jesus, however, quoted more than once from both "divisions" of Isaiah, attributing both of them to the same inspired author, and He surely knew more about their true authorship than do modern liberals!
Actually, however, the two divisions of Isaiah are quite distinctive in their respective vocabularies, simply their respective themes are different. In fact, the chapter structure of the two divisions is quite remarkable, possibly even providential. The first book (chapter 1-39) contains the same number of chapters as the Old Testament has books. Book II (chapter 40-66) contains 27 chapters, the same number of books in the New Testament. The New Testament portion begins with John the Baptist (Isaiah 40:1-5), just as the New Testament itself does, and ends with the new heavens and the new earth (Isaiah 65 and 66; compare Revelation 21 and 22).
The central chapter in the New Testament part of Isaiah is Isaiah 53, which contains the clearest and fullest exposition of the substitutionary death of Christ for our sins to be found anywhere in the Bible. And the central verse of this chapter (which actually should begin at Isaiah 52:13 is: "But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our inequities: the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are healed" (Isaiah 53:5).

 

Holy Calling

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to His own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began (II Timothy 1:9).
Our "calling" to follow Christ Jesus was not a human decision, and certainly not one based on human works, for it was issued in Christ before He had even created us. In some inscrutable way, we are a part of His eternal purpose, and it was altogether by His grace. We were "chosen...before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love" (Ephesians 1:4).
Our calling is therefore a most "holy calling," that is, a sacred calling to be consecrated and separated unto God. It is, moreover, a "heavenly calling," one originated in heaven, by our heavenly Father, centered in His divine will and purpose. In the Father's sight, in Christ Jesus, we are nothing less than "holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling" (Hebrews 3:1).
We should therefore be able to say with Paul: "I press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 3:14). The high calling is not quite the same as the holy calling or the heavenly calling, though all are components of one great whole.
He has called us before the world began, He is calling us daily to a heavenly walk with the Lord, and He will call us up to His eternal presence some day soon.

 

Enter into His gates with thanksgiving

“Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the LORD is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations.” - Psalms 100v4-5

Thanksgiving is a consistent, regular, and dominate theme in the word of God. Why then do so few of us ever learn to be thankful Christians? Why, as a rule, are we not thankful? We whinge and complain about the weather, the traffic, our jobs, other people, and everything else under the son. We are thankful when things go “our way” but not when they don’t.

There is an obvious reason why thankfulness is so hard. We focus our thoughts on our circumstances instead of on the Lord. Verse four tells us to be thankful and praise God – verse five gives us the reasons. Note that none of these reasons has anything to do with our circumstances. These are eternal truths that do not vary.

The Lord is good
His mercy is everlasting
His truth endures to all generations

The Lord is good no matter what I perceive today. God’s mercy is everlasting no matter how I may struggle. God’s truth endures, no matter how string the opposition is.

Indeed, we must be heed the words of this passage – “Enter his gates with thanksgiving and His courts with praise, be thankful unto Him and bless His HOLY name”
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Amen.

Thank you Roger. Is good to see the devotionals back again. Is watchman ok? I miss seeing his devotionals.

Blessings

Sheila

 

Tuesday, 27th June, 2006

They shall perish, but You will endure

“They shall perish, but thou shalt endure: yea, all of them shall wax old like a garment; as a vesture shalt thou change them, and they shall be changed: But thou art the same, and thy years shall have no end.” - Psalms 102v26-27

“Nothing lasts forever” is a saying we hear quite often. We say that, but there appear to be a lot of things that do “last forever.” We see the sun, moon, and stars. We see mountains, oceans, rivers, and valleys and we say, “These things will always be there.” This is why some peoples have worshipped these very things.

Today we see the same stars that Job saw. The same sun that God created in the creation week shines on us today. Yet, one day all of these things will pass away. They will “wax old like a garment.” God will change them like we change our clothes.

In all of that eventual change God will endure forever. He will not change. He will endure, He will be the same, and He will have no end.

There is only one place to put our confidence. The Lord alone will not change or pass away. He was there before anything else and He will be there when in it all changed. Praise God that He loved us enough to give us the opportunity to put our faith in Him, the Unchanging One.

 

As far as the east is from the west

“As far as the east is from the west, so far hath he removed our transgressions from us.” - Psalms 103v12

One of the greatest problems Christians face is the guilt carried over from their life before Christ. Folks just can’t seem to come to grips with the fact that we are well and truly forgiven. As humans we can choose to not let memories affect us, but we truly can never forget past offences. They always stick in our memories so we can saddle God with the same emotion.

Yet, God is not us. He is not limited by our sin nature. He is perfect and because He is perfect His forgiveness is perfect. God tells us here that He has removed our transgressions totally and completely. So far in fact that they are separated as far and east is separated from west. God used the perfect illustration here. If we travel far enough north, eventually we will travel south. No matter how far east we travel we will never go west. In other words, at salvation God infinitely separated our sins from us!

Praise God for His total and absolute separation of our sins from us and the freedom from guilt that allows.

 

What can man do unto me

“The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?” - Psalms 118v6

Everyone likes to have the best player, the biggest guy, or the smartest guy on their side. In sports teams spend millions to get the best players. Armies train their soldiers to perform the best in battle. We know that we can have a better chance of victory when we have this kind of person on our side.

The Philistines surely though they had it made when preparing for battle against Israel. The had Goliath of Gath, all 9 ½ feet of him, the champion of champions on their side. Israel were quaking in their sandals. Fear ruled supreme in Israel’s camp.

Then a young shepherd came to bring food to his brothers. When he saw Philistine’s champion he was mystified by Israel’s fear. “God helped me to kill a lion and a bear and He will help me now.” David knew that the battle was not his, but the Lord’s. He knew that the Lord was on His side. He knew that man had no power over him.

Even today fear is a powerful force. The truth has not changed. The Lord is still on our side – we still need never fear what man can do to us. Lord I believe, help my unbelief.

 

Friday, 7th July, 2006

How can a young man cleanse his ways?

“Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way? by taking heed thereto according to thy word.” - Psalms 119v9

We live in a filthy world. The filth of the world is like a living being. We are always under assault from it. Sometimes it attacks is a frontal assault like a massive landslide. Other times it is like muck seeping under the door, but the attack is always on. Somehow filth always seems to find a way in.

So how do we deal with filth? What do we do when the filth sneaks in? Christians have all kinds of resources on how to deal with it. We have books, audio, and seminars on dealing with sin in our lives. All of those are well and good, but the psalmist hit the nail on the head

“How can a young man cleanse his ways?” The answer is simple – “by taking heed to the cleansing word of God!” God’s word is a mighty tide to wash away the filth of this world. If we could just learn to live and abide in His word, obeying it and meditating on it, the filth of the world would be washed away and would have no staying power. May we take heed to the word so that we are cleansed from the filth of this dirty old world.

 

There remaineth therefore a rest...

"There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God. For he that is
entered into His rest, he also hath ceased from his own works, as God
did from His" (Hebrews 4:9-10)
This is an important New Testament affirmation that God's work of creation was "finished from the foundation of the world" (Hebrews 4:3).
The reference is to Genesis 2:1-3, where the writer has told us that God had "rested from all His work which God created and made," thus
completely denying the contention of theistic evolutionists that the
processes of "creation" (that is, evolution) are still going on.
In addition, it makes significant comparison between the believer's rest and God's rest. The word "rest" here is not the usual word for "rest," and is used only this once in the New Testament. It means, literally, "Sabbath rest," or "keeping of the Sabbath." In the context of chapters 2 and 3 of Hebrews, the concept of rest is being expounded with several meanings. The original warning was in Psalm 95:11, where it referred both to the Israelites entering into the promised land under Joshua and to God's own rest after His work of creation. Psalm 95 is repeatedly quoted in Hebrews, where other meanings are also implied: the keeping of a weekly Sabbath in commemoration of God's rest after creation; the promised future rest to the world and its believing inhabitants-possibly in the millennium, but certainly in the new earth; and the believer's present spiritual rest after he puts his faith in Christ, no longer trusting in his works for salvation.
With such a rich investiture of meaning in the fact of God's past rest and the promise of our future rest, it is appropriate that there should be a perpetual weekly commemoration and expression of faith in that rest in every generation, until its ultimate fulfillment in the eternal rest in the New Jerusalem.
In the meantime, we are urged to "labor" to "enter into that rest"
(Hebrews 4:11).

 

The Lord is your keeper

“The LORD is thy keeper: the LORD is thy shade upon thy right hand.” - Psalms 121v5

Psalm 121 is a beautiful Psalm with the theme of the Keeper. It was to be sung as pilgrims drew close to Jerusalem on their journey home. The hills of Jerusalem are in sight. The next psalm, Psalm 122, is to be sung as they stand at the gates of the city the next day. The pilgrims have almost finished a long journey. The Hebrew word “Shamar” appears six times in this Psalm. It is translated “keep” in verses 3,4, and 5; and “preserve” in verses 7 and 8. The word first appears in Genesis when Adam is instructed to keep the garden. It appears 470 times in the Old Testament. There are several applications of the word. It means to “hedge about”, “to guard a flock”, “to tend a garden”, “to keep safe and preserve”, “to watch over”, and “to pay heed.” All of these fit into Psalm 121. As we travel our pilgrim journey and look forward to our heavenly Jerusalem, we need to look more at the fact that “The LORD is thy keeper.”

When I think of a keep my mind goes to the marvellous castles in Ireland. Inside the castle walls is what most people think of when they think of a castle. The main building inside the castle walls is actually called the keep. It is here where the family was safe and where the treasure was kept. Guards kept the keep safe and secure. They were the keepers.

Every time I visit a castle and enter the keep I am reminded of my Keeper. In Him and in Him alone I find perfect preservation and protection. Praise God that He is my keeper!

 

His mercy endures forever

“O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks unto the God of gods: for his mercy endureth forever. O give thanks to the Lord of lords: for his mercy endureth forever.” - Psalms 136v1-3

Praise God for His enduring mercy! No wonder the psalmist here seems caught up in the goodness of God in extending His mercy to us. God shows His mercy in His character, in His creation, and in His care for us.

There is a whole litany of struggles, some of them they brought on themselves, but still God’s mercy endures forever. Verse 23 is especially appropriate – “He remembered us in our low estate: for His mercy endures forever.” All of us were in that low estate, “But God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, Even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ, by (grace ye are saved And hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus: That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” (Ephesians 2v4-7)

Where would we be without God’s ever enduring mercy? We would still be walking “according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience: Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind; and were by nature the children of wrath, even as others “ (Ephesians 2v2-3)

Praise God that His mercy endures forever and that it extended, and extends today, to me!

 

When sinners entice you

“My son, if sinners entice thee, consent thou not.” - Proverbs 1v10

I love the “deep” things of the word of God. The study of theology is fascinating. I love coming across little nuggets that deal with the character of God similar topics. I love studying about all of the “-ologies” in the Bible.

However, I also love the simple things in scripture. Today’s verse is an example of such a great truth – “If sinners entice you, don’t give in.” We certainly live in a day of enticements. Every place we look there is something to tempt and entice us away from God. Television and the internet are only a couple of examples of how sinners may entice us today.

How do we handle enticements? I wish there was some seminar we could go to. I wish there was book to read or CD to listen to that could sort it all out. There are plenty of “helps” out there, but at the end of the day it is really up to us – “If sinners entice you, consent thou not.” If that is not simple enough there is even a children’s song – “If sinners entice you don’t give in, say ‘no’, say ‘no.”

It seems like we have almost forgotten how to say “no.” When enticements come there is a very simple answer, one that some anti-drug schemes have used. “JUST SAY NO!!”

 

The poor little rich man

“There is that maketh himself rich, yet hath nothing: there is that maketh himself poor, yet hath great riches.” - Proverbs 13v7


This passage is an enigma. How can a rich man be poor and how can a poor man be rich? Like many teachings in the word of God this one seems to be “upside down” or “inside out.”

Obviously there is more to this than meets the eye. There are clearly two kinds of wealth and two kinds of poverty. There is a physical wealth and a physical poverty and there is a spiritual wealth and a spiritual poverty.

It is common enough to have both physical and spiritual poverty. It happens, but it is rare that a man would have both physical and spiritual wealth. Too often men will rush off to make themselves rich physically while they ignore their spiritual needs. On the other hand there are many men who have nothing in this world, yet are rich spiritually.

This same truth is played out in Revelation. The church in Smyrna is poor in the eyes of the world, but rich in God’s eyes. The church in Laodicea thinks they are rich and need nothing, but they are “wretched, and poor, and blind, and miserable.”

What happens here? How does this some about? The problem is the same thing that we see over and over again. When we look at the things of the world, the things we can see, we focus on them and that is what we go after. While we may very well become rich in the eyes of the world we would have nothing. When we look at the things to come, the things that are not seen, we may never get rich in the eyes of the world, but we will have great wealth in God’s sight.

It is a battle, but may God always give us the wisdom to seek after the unseen things and not the things that we can see.

 

Wisdom, True or False?

"This wisdom descended not from above, but is earthly, sensual, devilish" (James 3:15)
True wisdom is "from above" and is "pure, then peaceable, gentle, and easy to be entreated, full of mercy and good fruits, without partiality, and without hypocrisy" (v.17)
False wisdom, on the other hand, may come from the world outside us ("earthly"), the flesh within us ("sensual"), or the powers of darkness tempting us ("devilish"). All such wisdom leads to "envying and strife...confusion and every evil work" (v.16). Believers, therefore, should be able to recognize the influences of the world, the flesh and the devil.
The good news is that each divine Person of the Tri-une Godhead is on our side. The Father is opposed to the world, the Spirit to the flesh, and the Son to the devil, and they are well able to give victory.
"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him...And the world passeth away, and the lust thereof" (I John 2:15,17). Thus, to overcome the love of the world, we must cultivate the love of the Father in our hearts and lives.
Similarly, to overcome the desires of the flesh, we should follow the leadings and convictions of the Holy Spirit, "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other (Galatians 5:17). Therefore, "Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh" (v.16).
The devil and his evil hosts use their own dark powers to tempt and destroy the people of God, but "For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil" (I John 3:8). Christ assured Satan's defeat when He paid for our redemption on the cross. "And having spoiled principalities and powers, He made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it" (Colossians 2:15).

 

Revenge is sweet?

“Say not thou, I will recompense evil; but wait on the LORD, and he shall save thee.” - Proverbs 20v22

“Revenge is sweet” is an old worldly saying. Chances are that more trouble is cause by revenge on all levels that anything else. On national levels retribution always escalates into a war. On a personal level revenge and recompensing of wrongs can divide families, friends, and churches. Revenge is not near as sweet as people make it out to be.

God has an entirely different response for His people – “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that ye are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing,” is His instruction from 1 Peter 3v9. Jesus gave the example of turning the other cheek when attacked. Here in Proverbs the instruction is not to try and recompense evil, but to let God sort is and we are promised that He will save us.

One thing stands in the way of this kind of response – our pride will not let us just leave it. We just can’t seem to trust God to work these things out for us. We think that we need to “sort them out” when we are wrongly done by.

If we really trust God we ought to be able to let Him take care of things for us. Lets show our faith by not trying to take care of things ourselves.

 

The Future

"Tell us, when shall these things be? And what shall be the sign when all these things shall be fulfilled? (Mark 13:4)

Within a week of His approaching death, Christ sat down with His disciples to talk of the future. He would be leaving, terrible persecution would come, but He would return.
Purposefully no date was given. Their curiosity was no doubt great, but Christ had other charges for them. Instead, Christ focused on other issues, and His instructions apply to us just as surely as to the disciples.
Whether things are going well or not, we must not be misled into a false sense of security. The disciples were looking at the beautiful and serene temple and grounds, but Christ predicted unprecedented destruction. "There shall not be one stone left upon another" (v.2).
Nor should we allow ourselves to be deceived by false prophets (vv. 5-6). Scripture gives ample information to allow us to identify and shun these "wolves in sheep's clothing." But to our shame, false teachers permeate our churches and television airwaves.
Furthermore, when natural calamities and world turmoil cascade in on us (vv. 7-8). We must not be frozen with fear. These things must come (v.7). Persecution must come also (vv.9-12). We must not allow ourselves to be intimidated in our witness or tripped up by bitterness.
Instead we must "endure" and remain loyal to Him (v.13) We must work to spread the gospel to all nations (v.10) in spite of the opposition. And, "Take ye heed, watch and pray: for ye know not when the time is" (v.33).
As the events in the Middle East escalate and take on a character which could lead to the sort of conflagration Jesus prophesied, let us commit ourselves to the attitude of heart and life He commanded.

 

Daily Bread

"Give us this day our daily bread" (Matthew 6:11).
David was quick to acknowledge God's wondrous daily care in Psalm 68:19 "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation." He recognized that it was the Lord who day by day loaded him down with many glorious blessings, not the least of which was
salvation.
David also recognized that prayer should be offered to God on a daily basis. "Bow down thine ear, O Lord, hear me...Be merciful unto me, O Lord: for I cry unto thee daily" (Psalm 86:13). "Evening and morning, and at noon, will I pray, and cry aloud: and He shall hear my voice"
(Psalm 55:17).
David also experienced daily persecution, "Be merciful unto me, O God: for man would swallow me up; he fighting daily oppresseth me. Mine enemies would daily swallow me up" (Psalm 56:1-2). "As with a sword in my bones, mine enemies reproach me; while they say daily unto me, Where is thy God?" (Psalm 42:10).
Yet, in spite of it all, David could say, "So will I sing praise unto thy name for ever, that I may daily perform my vows" (Psalm 61:8). As with David, so with us. The constant daily exercise of diligently performing that which we have promised God should be of utmost importance. "I will pay my vows unto the Lord now in the presence of all His people" (Psalm 116:18).
May we, like the early church, continue "daily with one accord...Praising God, and having favor with all the people" so that the Lord would be pleased to add "to the church daily such as should be saved" (Acts 2:46-47). May we "die daily" (1Corinthians 15:31) to sin and emerge victorious!