Escape by Grace

We live in a world where we experience toxic or poisonous fumes, chemicals and plants.  In recent times referring to people, a workplace or a relationship as "toxic" has become widespread.  Our mental and spiritual well-being are easily thrown off kilter by our own toxic pride and love of self only Jesus Christ can deliver us from by His grace.

If the air is polluted with toxins, the risk and danger to our health does not eliminate our need to breathe.  So how can we navigate the toxic behaviour and attitudes that can spring up all around us--even within us?  A situation Paul experienced on the island of Malta provides a good example.  Paul, fellow prisoners, Roman soldiers and sailors were shipwrecked and came ashore the island of Malta.  As Paul and others gathered sticks for a fire Acts 28:3-6 tells us:  "But when Paul had gathered a bundle of sticks and laid them on the fire, a viper came out because of the heat, and fastened on his hand. ⁴ So when the natives saw the creature hanging from his hand, they said to one another, "No doubt this man is a murderer, whom, though he has escaped the sea, yet justice does not allow to live." ⁵ But he shook off the creature into the fire and suffered no harm. ⁶ However, they were expecting that he would swell up or suddenly fall down dead. But after they had looked for a long time and saw no harm come to him, they changed their minds and said that he was a god."

We know Paul by faith in Jesus Christ was a righteous man in the eyes of God Who is the Judge of all the earth.  He had wrongly been imprisoned and found himself shipwrecked on an island.  It is one thing for toxins to be around us in the air or water, but Paul had venomous toxins injected into his bloodstream.  The natives who were familiar with the bite of that particular viper expected him to swell up or suddenly keel over dead.  After Paul shook off the viper into the fire, the islanders were shocked Paul suffered no harm whatsoever.  By the miraculous power of God, Paul was spared the deadly effects of the toxin and continued living, helping, healing and blessing those around him.  As God protected Paul from a toxin in his body, so God is faithful to protect us from toxic behaviour around us.

It may seem God is far from us when we are immersed in a situation where hateful and unkind speech is the norm, where complaining and scorn is constant.  We might feel like we have no choice but to be paralysed by it--or at least it seeping into us and corrupt us from within.  God has a solution for this seemingly inescapable, hopeless problem in Psalm 34:17-19:  "The righteous cry out, and the LORD hears, and delivers them out of all their troubles. ¹⁸ The LORD is near to those who have a broken heart, and saves such as have a contrite spirit. ¹⁹ Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all."  When toxic behaviour either within or outside of us works to destroy us, we can cry out to God in broken contrition.  God is more near to us in that moment than venom in our bloodstream or curses in our hearts, and He is able to deliver us from our many afflictions.

We can complain about problems we can do nothing by ourselves to fix, or we can seek God Who hears our cries and has promised to deliver us.  The question is not if God can help or save us, but will we seek God in humility, believing He will be gracious to deliver us?

Advanced in Service

I like how God says it like it is--whether we want to hear it or not.  Yesterday Joshua 13:1 coaxed a smile and chuckle out of me:  "Now Joshua was old, advanced in years. And the LORD said to him: "You are old, advanced in years, and there remains very much land yet to be possessed."  When Moses was old and advanced in years God told him to call Joshua and present him before the LORD, one chosen by God to lead the children of Israel into the land of promise.  There is a time for God's service to pass the mantle to another person, and there is also a time (as in the case of Joshua) to embrace new tasks according to God's command.

I have heard it said you cannot teach old dogs new tricks but humility, grace and obedience to God are all things God's people are called to grow in.  Even as Joshua was directed by God to walk where he had never gone before, even in his advanced age he was called to do things he had never done before:  to divide the land by lot and give it to each tribe.  While God had given all the land and the people of the land into the hands of His people, God held them responsible to rise up and go possess the land.  Victories and successful conquest presented a new danger of being complacent, to stop short of driving out all enemies from the land of their inheritance.  For decades the Hebrews were nomads, and with the opportunity to settle down and enjoy a season of ease a new temptation for selfish laziness arose.

Despite his advanced age, Joshua was not called to hand over his duties to another person or group:  God directed and empowered him to continue in service unto the LORD and people.  A day would come when his earthly pilgrimage would come to an end, yet God had much for Joshua to contribute of value to the nation.  I believe the contribution of Joshua in his advanced age was just as important whether it was on the national stage or in his own household.  It was not that other people or even God "needed" Joshua or his faithful, godly example, but by His grace God ordained and called Joshua to His good purposes.  Before his passing, Joshua urged all the people in Joshua 24:14-15:  "Now therefore, fear the LORD, serve Him in sincerity and in truth, and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD! ¹⁵ And if it seems evil to you to serve the LORD, choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods which your fathers served that were on the other side of the River, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you dwell. But as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD."

How effective and impactful would this statement and sentiment have been if Joshua was not living out the reality of serving God in his own house?  These would be empty words.  Joshua chose to serve the living God every day, and over the course of his long life Joshua advanced in his obedience, reliance and service unto the LORD.  He did not quit when things were difficult, when he "felt" his age, if there was a more charismatic or skilled leader than himself, nor did he abandon his personal or public responsibilities to pursue his own private interests.  As God gave Joshua and all the people an inheritance, so God gave Joshua guidance and a role both at home and in the greater community.  Age did not disqualify or qualify Joshua:  it was God who ordained and sustained him in his pilgrimage through life and made him fruitful.  Blessed is the one who serves the LORD all their days, and regardless of our age there remains much to do.  Praise the LORD the awesome, eternal God Who created work is with us every step of the way.

Blessed to Fear the LORD

"Blessed is every one who fears the LORD, who walks in His ways."

Psalm 128:1

There are plenty of things in the world which can move us to fear.  These rational and sometimes irrational fears often spring from negligence to consider God, His promises and power.  People who believe in the existence of spirits seek to placate or protect themselves against them.  Charms, amulets and crystals can be utilised in superstitious occultic practices to wield power to benefit the user by warding off evil, attracting wealth or emanate "good" energy.  In the world people's practices and beliefs differ, but fear is a common enemy we all face (or try to avoid!) in various ways and degrees of success.

I watched a comedic foreign film where one character was a eastern religious stereotype who did everything he could to placate deities for personal benefit.  Though he didn't receive any measurable benefits from his religious habits and piety, he imagined the key to success in education and life was by paying homage to idols and wearing trinkets for good luck.  In a nutshell, the character in the film was scared to death of failing out of school and returning home in shame.  He needed to commit his life and future to something greater than himself.  With his confidence placed in traditions of men, he always lacked assurance he gained the favour of the gods.  It would be a shame if Christians who know and serve the living God give place to fear when our God lives, speaks, helps and comforts us.

The one who fears the LORD and walks in His ways is blessed, and nothing can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus.  The devil and demons have no power to strip us of our blessed Father or of all His great benefits offered us.  A child of God ought to fear God but not the devil, for God's power is infinitely greater.  Fear can prompt us to seek help and comfort, like when a child hears a strange sound in the dark.  The little one runs to their mum or dad for safety, scared by what they heard, thought they saw or imagined was there.  The fear of God attracts us to God rather than repelling us, for we know He is stronger, wiser and capable than we are.  It is good for the sheep of God's pasture to run to Him, not because they are afraid of the wolves that howl nearby, but because they fear the Good Shepherd who loves, protects and provides for them.

A vast majority of fears we give place to are in the realm of the imaginary, what might or could be.  Compared to the goodness and power of God to deliver and save, all fearful things might as well be imaginary.  Who can compare with the greatness of God?  What danger exists that can separate the child of God from the Father's love?  What can man, sickness or spirit do to us without God's guiding, limiting, redeeming hand?  Having established God is love and we abide in Him, 1 John 4:17-19 says, "Love has been perfected among us in this: that we may have boldness in the day of judgment; because as He is, so are we in this world. ¹⁸ There is no fear in love; but perfect love casts out fear, because fear involves torment. But he who fears has not been made perfect in love. ¹⁹ We love Him because He first loved us."  If we are made complete in God's love, fear of man and what might happen is expelled from our hearts.  The one who fears God walks in His ways, and the love of God casts out all fear.

Delivered from Afflictions

"Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the LORD delivers him out of them all. ²⁰ He guards all his bones; not one of them is broken."

Psalm 34:19-20

It occurred to me recently that I have not given the miraculous preservation of the bones of Jesus on the cross just due:  how many times have bones been broken in innocuous or routine ways?  People have broken bones playing games like hide-and-seek and dodgeball!  Others have broken bones while working, accidentally kicking a table or falling down.  God allowed His only begotten Son Jesus to be cruelly tortured and crucified, yet all His bones were preserved.  He was beaten and battered beyond recognition, yet Jesus did not suffer a broken jaw, tooth, orbital bone or rib--because God's word cannot be broken.

John cited this Psalm after witnessing the death of Jesus on the cross and observed the breaking of the legs of the criminals crucified beside Him.  John 19:33-36 reads, "But when they came to Jesus and saw that He was already dead, they did not break His legs. ³⁴ But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately blood and water came out. ³⁵ And he who has seen has testified, and his testimony is true; and he knows that he is telling the truth, so that you may believe. ³⁶ For these things were done that the Scripture should be fulfilled, "Not one of His bones shall be broken."  It is amazing the human hands have 27 bones in them and the human foot 26 bones, and though the hands of Jesus were pierced by nails not one of them was broken.  God sent His Son as a Saviour to be broken on the cross so all who believe in Him can be made whole.  He was afflicted and broken, yet all His bones were preserved.

This is very encouraging for believers given the context of Psalm 34, a song David penned after God delivered him from the Philistines.  David was afflicted when his father-in-law Saul tried to kill him and pursued him without a cause; he was troubled when he heard of the deaths of the priests at Nob.  He was greatly afraid when the Philistines recognised him as a great warrior of Israel as he went to see king Achish.  "This poor man cried out," David sung speaking of himself, "and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles."  David was afflicted but God delivered him out of all his trouble; Jesus was also afflicted, yet God preserved His bones.  We are greatly comforted to know when we are afflicted God will deliver us too, having been made righteous by grace through faith in Jesus.  Jesus was battered, bloodied and died, yet His intact bones are a testimony of God's faithfulness to keep His word and to deliver us out of every affliction.

When afflicted, let us cry out to the God who hears us as David did.  Then the beginning of Psalm 34:1-4 can be our anthem and testimony as those delivered by our awesome, gracious God:  "I will bless the LORD at all times; His praise shall continually be in my mouth. ² My soul shall make its boast in the LORD; the humble shall hear of it and be glad. ³ Oh, magnify the LORD with me, and let us exalt His name together. ⁴ I sought the LORD, and He heard me, and delivered me from all my fears."