Steps Directed

I am encouraged how faith in God provides insight to look beyond what can be humanly seen and known.  Man   Proverbs 16:9 reads, "A man's heart plans his way, but the LORD directs his steps."  God is always at work and leads people to do His ways in situations man cannot plan for.  A great illustration of this is seen in the salvation of the harlot Rahab and her family.

Before the children of Israel crossed the Jordan river into Canaan Joshua 2:1 says, "Now Joshua the son of Nun sent out two men from Acacia Grove to spy secretly, saying, "Go, view the land, especially Jericho." So they went, and came to the house of a harlot named Rahab, and lodged there."  It turned out Rahab previously heard of the God of Israel and believed He had given the city and land into the hand of the Hebrews.  She sheltered and protected the Hebrew spies, and then she asked that her life and the lives of her family members would be spared.  The spies agreed if she kept silent concerning their agreement and if she tied the scarlet rope she let them down to escape from her window, all of her family who assembled in her home would be spared.

After Jericho fell by the miraculous power of God, the Hebrews made good on their promise to Rahab.  Joshua 6:22-25 states, "But Joshua had said to the two men who had spied out the country, "Go into the harlot's house, and from there bring out the woman and all that she has, as you swore to her." ²³ And the young men who had been spies went in and brought out Rahab, her father, her mother, her brothers, and all that she had. So they brought out all her relatives and left them outside the camp of Israel. ²⁴ But they burned the city and all that was in it with fire. Only the silver and gold, and the vessels of bronze and iron, they put into the treasury of the house of the LORD. ²⁵ And Joshua spared Rahab the harlot, her father's household, and all that she had. So she dwells in Israel to this day, because she hid the messengers whom Joshua sent to spy out Jericho." 

The two men sent to spy out the country were called "messengers" in verse 25.  This is not a contradiction but a shift of perspective:  they were sent into the country by Joshua to spy out the land secretly, yet they became messengers of a promise of salvation from God to Rahab and her house who believed.  Two Hebrew spies entered a stronghold that was shut up because they feared the Hebrews, and when the city fell Rahab and her whole family were delivered safe.  When the book of Joshua was written Rahab lived in Israel at that time because she hid the spies and gladly received the message by faith in God.  The New Testament affirms the men were messengers indeed in James 2:25:  "Likewise, was not Rahab the harlot also justified by works when she received the messengers and sent them out another way?"

The spies intended to be secretive and God made them messengers of His grace and salvation.  Isn't it wonderful man's plans can be to have a walk, look around and give a report when God's design is to be a messenger that brings life others?  Praise the LORD His ways are higher than ours, and all His plans and purposes are good.

God's Glorious Grace

It is easy to take God's grace for granted.  The grace of God is given continually and infinitely it is like the oxygen we draw in with every breath without thinking to satisfy our needs.  Being deprived of oxygen for a short while makes us appreciate the ability to breathe freely again, and even in the season of difficulty God's grace still remains abundant.  How good it is to consider all we have in Jesus Christ and to bless His holy name.

As born again Christians in this marvelous season of grace, the Gospel having been revealed to all through Jesus, reading about the past can open our eyes to better appreciate and celebrate the present.  God's grace, kindness and goodness have been extended to all people from the beginning, yet to everything is a season and a time to every purpose under heaven.  A season of lawlessness preceded that of the Law of Moses, and now Jesus has ushered in a new covenant by which Jew and Gentile alike are united with God as one by faith in Him.  We are most privileged to live in these exciting times where Jesus is the head of the church and each member of the Body of Christ can be comforted, guided and helped by the Holy Spirit.

Last night I was reading for the conditions which used to exist under the Law of Moses in Numbers 3.  The children of Israel were God's chosen people, and He chose the males of the tribe of Levi to serve as priests and Levites unto Him in the service of the tabernacle.  Numbers 3:10 says, "So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons, and they shall attend to their priesthood; but the outsider who comes near shall be put to death."  The word "outsider" is a stranger, a foreigner.  No one but the sons of Aaron were to be appointed to the priesthood, and this excluded a lot of people.  Later in the chapter the charge and warning was repeated in Numbers 3:38:  "Moreover those who were to camp before the tabernacle on the east, before the tabernacle of meeting, were Moses, Aaron, and his sons, keeping charge of the sanctuary, to meet the needs of the children of Israel; but the outsider who came near was to be put to death."  No one but the sons of Aaron could minister unto the LORD as priests, and if a curious stranger even came near they were to be executed.

When Jesus cried out "It is finished!" and laid down His life on Calvary, the veil of the temple which blocked the view into the Holy of Holies in the temple was ripped top to bottom.  To venture or even look into the Holy of Holies was reserved for the high priest alone only on the Day of Atonement.  This divine act revealed the way into the presence of God was not only made possible but all people--Jew and Gentile, male and female, free and slave--were invited to draw near to God through faith in Jesus.  After Jesus rose from the dead and ascended into heaven in the sight of hundreds of eye witnesses, the Holy Spirit was sent to fill believers and empower them to be witnesses for Christ everywhere we go.

In light of the death sentence for strangers who approached the sanctuary, consider the impact of what is written in Hebrews 4:14-16 to all Christians:  "Seeing then that we have a great High Priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. ¹⁵ For we do not have a High Priest who cannot sympathize with our weaknesses, but was in all points tempted as we are, yet without sin. ¹⁶ Let us therefore come boldly to the throne of grace, that we may obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."  Foreigners and aliens in the land of Israel could not approach the sanctuary or holy place which contained no throne:  heaven is God's throne and the earth His footstool!  By the grace of God sinners, born again by faith in Jesus, are invited to boldly come to God's throne room of grace themselves to "obtain mercy and find grace to help in time of need."

Drink in the grace, my friends, breathe it all in freely with gratitude!  That God would dwell in us and we in Him!  What better passage to emphasise this than Ephesians 2:11-22:  "Therefore remember that you, once Gentiles in the flesh--who are called Uncircumcision by what is called the Circumcision made in the flesh by hands--¹² that at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope and without God in the world. ¹³ But now in Christ Jesus you who once were far off have been brought near by the blood of Christ. ¹⁴ For He Himself is our peace, who has made both one, and has broken down the middle wall of separation, ¹⁵ having abolished in His flesh the enmity, that is, the law of commandments contained in ordinances, so as to create in Himself one new man from the two, thus making peace, ¹⁶ and that He might reconcile them both to God in one body through the cross, thereby putting to death the enmity.

¹⁷ And He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. ¹⁸ For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father. ¹⁹ Now, therefore, you are no longer strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and members of the household of God, ²⁰ having been built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the chief corner stone, ²¹ in whom the whole building, being joined together, grows into a holy temple in the Lord, ²² in whom you also are being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit."

Give God His Due

I am studying the book of James at the moment and the connection is made between faith and works.  We are saved by grace through faith in Jesus and cannot be saved by working to obtain righteousness by the Law of Moses.  The reality is when people are born again and the Holy Spirit takes up residence within them, the lives of people will not be the same because God makes all things new:  a soul dead in sins has been raised to life and forgiven, the eyes of the blind have been opened, the lost has been found, a foreigner has been adopted as a son and made co-heir with Christ.

A point made by James is genuine faith will have supporting evidence of life.  A heartbeat in the womb of a mother is a sign a baby has been conceived and is developing.  There are many who make a profession of having faith without any evidence of a changed life even as there were people who pointed to their  good works as a means of obtaining favour with God.  A wondrous truth of the Gospel is it is all of grace:  it is not by works we have done but by God's mercy He has saved us.  Having been given eternal life, we are divinely enabled to repent of our sin, put off works of the flesh and produce the fruit of the Spirit.

One of the big talking points for believers is our personal responsibility in our own sanctification.  J. Vernon McGee wrote this in a commentary, “A minister once talked to a man who professed conversion, and he asked, “Have you united with the church?”  “No, I haven’t,” the man replied.  “The dying thief never united with the church, and he went to heaven.”  The minister asked, “Have you ever sat at the Lord’s table?”  “No, the dying thief never did, and he was accepted,” was the answer.  The minister asked, “Have you been baptised?”  “No, “he said, “the dying thief was never baptised, and he went to heaven.”  “Have you given to missions?”  “No, the dying thief did not give to missions, and he was not judged for it,” was the reply.  Then this disgusted minister said to the man, “Well, my friend, the difference between you two seems to be that he was a dying thief and you are a living thief.” (McGee, Thru the Bible, Vol. 5, pg. 651)

The point McGee made is a good one, how people can cherry-pick examples from the Bible to justify their own indolence and indifference which exposes their lack of love of God.  I remember talking to a man who declared he didn't need to go to church to go to heaven because his grandmother told him so as a child.  Using the thief on the cross or what grandma said should not discount the commands of our LORD Jesus and the responsibilities we have as believers, things like loving the LORD with all our hearts and loving one another as Jesus loves us.  As children of God He is faithful to guide and correct us, and He uses countless means to communicate His wisdom and truth even to faithless hearts like ours.

Solomon concluded his remarks in Ecclesiastes 12:13-14 with this timeless truth:  "Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter:  fear God and keep His commandments, for this is man's all. ¹⁴ For God will bring every work into judgment, including every secret thing, whether good or evil."  Even in our age of grace a man can rob God, and may we give Him the honour, praise, thanks and obedience He deserves as our loving Father, Saviour and Sovereign, our all in all.

God is in Command

I recall a memorable scene in a war movie when a captain lead a crew into the heart of a jungle to find a friendly camp in chaos.  Flares exploded overhead and illuminated a rickety bridge.  Flashes of light exposed men huddled in muddy foxholes.  Jeering cries from the enemy were shouted over a loudspeaker while fighters responded with gunfire as they shouted obscenities in terror.  The captain finally demanded of a soldier, "Who is the commanding officer here?"  An unhinged soldier responded, "Ain't you?"  The captain asked another, "Hey soldier, do you know who is in command here?"  The man with a thousand-yard stare answered "Yeah," and slowly walked away.  It was abundantly clear to the inquiring captain no one was in command and left as soon as possible because in that place there was nothing but death for him and his men.

In a limited sense, this is true for all people on this earth.  For the child of God, however, we have received eternal life and a glorious future in the presence of God which we can experience today.  There are times when believers may have the vantage point of those hopeless fighters in the foxholes, feeling without clear guidance and at the mercy of an elusive enemy, forsaken and lost in a trial that drags on without end.  Christians have heard the emphasis of God's love so often they struggle to connect His love with the terrible feelings trials bring:  confusion, worry, cynicism and despair can take hold in a heart created to rejoice in the goodness of God by faith in Jesus Christ.  We can "grit our teeth and bear it" when we are called to cast all our cares upon the LORD because He cares for us, having borne our sins upon Himself on Calvary and caused us to be born again by grace.

When we face troubles a lot of focus is put on 1) what we need to do so 2) God will do what we want Him to.  I have heard a lot of people quote 2 Chronicles 7:14 as a directive for what we should be do when in trouble:  did you know this is in the middle of a sentence?  It did not start with us doing something but what our good and loving God did to draw us to Himself.  2 Chronicles 7:12-15 reads, "Then the LORD appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of sacrifice. ¹³ When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, ¹⁴ if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin and heal their land. ¹⁵ Now My eyes will be open and My ears attentive to prayer made in this place."  Difficult circumstances like drought that affected crops and livestock, locusts which stripped plants of food, and pestilence or plagues which afflicted people, were God's doing to draw people to Himself.

Those who blame the devil or even charge God with wrong by what He allows deny themselves the help God has promised to provide those who humble themselves, pray, seek His face and turn from their wickedness.  We are assured of God's love by the demonstration of Jesus on Calvary and the promises in God's word, for He loves us with an everlasting love; God's mercies are new every morning for great is His faithfulness.  He does not look to a house built with hands but those who humble themselves, fear God and tremble at His word (Isaiah 66:1-2).  The fears and concerns people justify by looking at what is happening in the world are totally unjustified in the knowledge and presence of our awesome God.  Let no one pin the blame primarily on governments, politicians, satanic conspiracies or global warming when God is in command and on the throne, for who is greater than God?  We can know with all certainty, "God is in command here, now and forever."  We don't need to freak out or have the thousand-yard stare but can stand joyful and upright because God is with us.

I urge you, child of God, to lay aside any thoughts or cares that do not fully take God's sovereignty, goodness, love and redemptive purposes into account.  Covid is a global catastrophe like we have never seen, but it is an infinitely greater tragedy when one child of God loses sight of Him and gives into despair and hopelessness when we have the presence of God with us Who will never leave or forsake us.  The trials (and blessings from them) God allows are the proving grounds of faith which strengthen us to endure.  We cannot see good in drought or pestilence, yet our remarkable God remains perpetually good in all seasons.  May our LORD open our eyes to all the good He does like in Ezekiel 17:22-24 with His establishment of Jesus Christ and the everlasting Gospel:  "Thus says the Lord GOD: "I will take also one of the highest branches of the high cedar and set it out. I will crop off from the topmost of its young twigs a tender one, and will plant it on a high and prominent mountain. ²³ On the mountain height of Israel I will plant it; and it will bring forth boughs, and bear fruit, and be a majestic cedar. Under it will dwell birds of every sort; in the shadow of its branches they will dwell. ²⁴ And all the trees of the field shall know that I, the LORD, have brought down the high tree and exalted the low tree, dried up the green tree and made the dry tree flourish; I, the LORD, have spoken and have done it."