Treating God like an Idol

This morning at Calvary Chapel Sydney we finished 2 Samuel 5 during the morning service.  One of the points which impacted me was how after God defeated the Philistines who encamped in the valley, those who fled left their idols behind.  Their false gods were exposed as the feeble nothings they truly were.  The Philistines brought their idols to the field of battle, thinking that by their presence they would gain the victory.  In the end, the idols left behind were gathered by David's men and burned.

Two times in the chapter, God fought for His people Israel and defeated the Philistines.  The key to their victory was that David first sought the LORD for guidance and walked in obedience to His commands long before the fight was enjoined.  There were two battles fought against the same enemy in the same valley, yet God directed David with two very different courses of action.  The first time God told David to go up against them directly to fight, and the second time he was to stealthily wait in front of a grove of trees.  When he heard the sound of marching in the tops of the trees, he was to attack immediately, for God went before His people to smite the Philistines.

The theme which weighed heavily upon my heart was the fact that David sought counsel of God before he went into battle.  Sometimes we treat God like the Philistines treated their idols.  We attempt to bring God along into our daily activities and plans, thinking that if we find ourselves in trouble He will deliver us.  That is exactly what Hophni and Phinehas tried to do with the Ark of the Covenant.  Instead of inquiring of the LORD for direction before going into battle, they brought the Ark thinking by virtue of its presence they would have victory.  They perished on the field of battle, and the Ark was taken by the Philistines!  As Christians, we have the living presence of God dwelling within us but can treat God like an idol that cannot think, speak, listen, or answer.  We don't bother to seek or inquire of Him, so He allows us to stumble in the dark.  If we choose this way of dealing with adversity or trouble, we should not expect a better outcome than the beaten Philistines.

When we are attacked or troubled, our first course of action is to take refuge in the stronghold that is Jesus Christ.  David was speaking from personal experience when he penned Psalm 18:2:  "The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold."  David sought guidance from God before he responded, and he was obedient to do what God commanded.  God's Word contains the answers to questions we have not yet asked!  He speaks, guides, instructs, and keeps us.  God is the One who gives us the victory.  God has provided the Way:  may we walk therein!

Hands of Love

Last night I read in James, "My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into diverse temptations..."  Falling isn't a joyful experience.  Skinned knees, broken bones, torn clothes, and embarrassment can all be effects of a fall.  Yet this is the very first exhortation James gives in his epistle:  "Count it all joy when you fall."  In context, James is not speaking of a literal fall or being overtaken by sin.  He is talking about times in our lives when we experience difficult trials.  The trial itself may not be joyful, but in Christ we can respond with pure joy knowing that God is working for our good and His glory through it.  James 1:2-4 says, "My brethren, count it all joy when you fall into various trials, ³ knowing that the testing of your faith produces patience. ⁴ But let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking nothing."  When our faith is tested, patience is produced.  It is God's way of bringing us to completion.

Sometimes we experience pain and discomfort because of our wandering, even like a wayward, stubborn sheep.  In ancient times, if a young sheep was prone to wander the shepherd would carefully break a leg of that sheep.  He would carry the sheep wherever he went and a close bond would form.  Even after the leg healed and the sheep could run away, it would freely choose to remain near the shepherd.  From the perspective of the sheep, a broken leg was a painful trial.  But somehow, through the continuous gentle care of the shepherd, the sheep knew that staying with the shepherd was the place of safety.  When we wander, the Good Shepherd Jesus Christ may discipline us sharply.  The purpose of this is to keep us closer to Him in the future.  That is why David wrote after his sin with Bathsheba in Psalm 51:6-8, "Behold, You desire truth in the inward parts, and in the hidden part You will make me to know wisdom. ⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean; wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. ⁸ Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice."

Did you catch that last verse?  "Make me hear joy and gladness, that the bones You have broken may rejoice."  Broken bones rejoicing!  A loving father disciplines his children, and God disciplines those He loves.  He allows trials, difficulties, and even chastens us so we might mature in faith.  When we recognise the love behind those hands which can hurt, even the bones which are broken rejoice.  No one curses a surgeon for cutting through skin to reach the malignant tumor that will cause certain death.  The surgeon that successfully operates is counted as a hero, not a villain!  Job understood the goodness of God though he found his life bitter.  He said in Job 13:15, "Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him. Even so, I will defend my own ways before Him."  By the end of the book of Job, he had changed.  He still trusted God no matter what, even at the cost of his own life.  But his suffering taught him the folly of justifying himself before the holy, All-Powerful God.  As long as we walk upon this earth, even the most righteous require refinement.

May we have this heart of trust and faith in the God who loves us and sent Jesus Christ as Saviour.  Whether we find ourselves fallen in a trial or being chastened by a God, never allow you pain to blind you from the loving God who wounds and heals. God proclaims in Deuteronomy 32:39, "Now see that I, even I, am He, and there is no God besides Me; I kill and I make alive; I wound and I heal; nor is there any who can deliver from My hand."  No one can snatch us out of those loving hands, hands pierced with crude Roman nails.  Abide there, believer.  May the joy of the LORD be your strength!

The Cost of Worship

"Whenever the living creatures give glory and honor and thanks to Him who sits on the throne, who lives forever and ever, ¹⁰ the twenty-four elders fall down before Him who sits on the throne and worship Him who lives forever and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying: ¹¹ "You are worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created."

Revelation 4:9-11

In a world preoccupied with acquiring, how thought provoking it is to fix our eyes on this heavenly scene of worship.  When the living creatures praise God who sits on the throne, the elders fall before Him and worship Him.  Their worship is not limited to words, but they cast their crowns before the throne of God.  These were crowns given them by God.  Crowns are valuable.  Even more importantly, they represent authority.  Usually tooled from precious metals and adorned with priceless jewels, it wouldn't be the sort of thing a person would think to throw.  Yet so great is the power, worthiness, and goodness of God that the only thing the elders could do was to cast their crowns at the feet of the One who lives forever and ever.

David said he would not offer the LORD what cost him nothing.  Worship for these men was costly, but no cost was too great when they perceived God's splendour, majesty, and favour.  Their riches and roles were laid before the throne of God, left at His feet as an offering of praise.  Worship is more than words, a song, or a body laid prostrate on the ground:  it is a cry of adoration and sacrifice unto God from the heart.  Worship is giving back to God all He has given us, counting all loss so He might be glorified.  It is the natural response of a regenerated soul of thanks and rejoicing, knowing we are unworthy even to speak the name of the living God, much less serve Him or be adopted into His family as children.

The casting of crowns points us to the One who is worthy of all praise:  Jesus Christ.  We should not praise the men who have sacrificed, but the One who deserves such an offering.  It is not what we bring in our hands before the throne, but the God who sits upon it both now and forever.  At the same time we do well to consider:  have I cast my crown before His throne?  Have I freely given back to God the most precious possessions and treasured aspects of my life?  Has my worship stopped short of such sacrifice because I count the gift more worthy than the Giver?

May our lives be a proclamation of the everlasting truth:  "You are worthy, O LORD, to receive glory and honour and power; for You created all things, and by Your will they exist and were created."  God has given us new life through Christ.  We of all men ought to be most generous and thankful, especially concerning our Saviour.  Let us seek to offer a sacrifice of praise worthy of His greatness, not so the gift will be recognised by men, but that God will receive glory.

Have You Seen the One You Love?

The Shulamite says in Song of Songs 3:1-4:  "By night on my bed I sought the one I love; I sought him, but I did not find him. ² "I will rise now," I said, "and go about the city; in the streets and in the squares I will seek the one I love." I sought him, but I did not find him. ³ The watchmen who go about the city found me; I said, "Have you seen the one I love?" ⁴ Scarcely had I passed by them, when I found the one I love. I held him and would not let him go, until I had brought him to the house of my mother, and into the chamber of her who conceived me."

Have you ever felt far from God?  Even people who have trusted in God sometimes feel far from Him.  We know that if God feels far it is not He that has abandoned us, but we have lost sight of Him.  Sometimes it is our doing through wandering, a season of trial may overtake us, or an attack of the enemy of our souls may lay us low.  We know Whom we have loved, but He does not always feel as close to us as He ought.  God's face shines upon us continually with grace and love, yet we can become calloused to His presence.  We are forgetful and easily distracted.  After a dark season we may as the Shulamite come to our senses, and in our waking moments discover we cannot find the presence of the One we love.  How troubling this is!

What happens next is critical and an indicator of our heart.  What should we do?  Do we drown in despair and sorrow?  Do we call frantically upon God to reveal Himself?  Do we become angry or disillusioned?  Or do we care to such a degree that we will relentlessly pursue our Saviour in devotion and worship?  The Shulamite did not confine her love for her beloved to the bedroom or palace, but took to the street in the dead of night to seek the one she loved.  It was not long before she was met by the watchmen.  After consulting with them, it was not long until she met face to face with her love.  In her words, "I held him and would not let him go!"

Though there is great depth of meaning in this passage beyond what can be delved in volumes, allow me to point to the important role of the watchmen.  The watchmen found the frantic woman who ran through the darkened streets looking for the lover she had lost sight of.  The Shulamite asked a question of them:  "Have you seen the one I love?"  The response or words spoken are not recorded.  But it was not long after their interaction that she found her betrothed.  When we read this verse last week in homegroup, it occurred to me that the watchmen act as the Holy Spirit does, prompting our hearts to enter into the LORD's presence.  It is God who has come to us; He has sought us out and found us.  When we lose direction or heart, He is the One who draws us to Himself.

Christians are told many times in scripture to be sober and watchful.  All of us are called to be watchmen, and the pastor doubly so.  Quoting Charles Jefferson, "Men are called to pray and to watch.  Now, if every man is surrounded by perils, if the universe is alive with forces hostile to the soul, then watchfulness becomes one of the most critical of all the pastor's responsibilities.  To him precious lives are committed, lives for which he is to render an account.  Watching, surveying, scanning the horizon, peering in to the darkness of days not yet born, spying out the interior nature of forces which are working like insidious and poisonous leavens, calculating the advent of storms asleep as yet in the caves of coming days - all this is pastoral work." (The Minister as Shepherd, pg. 37)  It is easier at times to watch for dangers coming outside a fellowship than the condition of the people within.  We are all called to make disciples, that is, to encourage and lead people in following Jesus.  Disciples are not made in a day.  The command of Jesus should not be limited to the evangelism of the unsaved, but the continual discipling of those who genuinely love Christ and seek Him.  The watchmen found the woman, but it was important that she found her lover.  Each of us must seek and find God for ourselves, and we need the Holy Spirit to guide us.

After the Shulamite found the one she loved, she did not rest until she had shared him with her closest family members.  She immediately took him to her mother.  We are to share Christ with those we know.  We ought not to neglect the introduction of our Saviour and Lover of our souls from those closest to us.  We should be active in sharing Christ with those who already know Him as well so they might be encouraged and exhorted to glorify Him always.  Let us as believers always seek to hold fast to Christ, seeking Him alone.  Do you notice when His presence is strangely absent?  How many hours or days must pass before we realise it?  Even a moment without our Saviour is one too many.  Let us seek guidance from the Holy Spirit so we might abide in Christ.  May we also keep watch over those who are in the faith that they too might cling to the One they love.