God's Faithfulness

God remains faithful in all seasons of life, and there is no substitute for His gracious presence.  While my family and I are still in the process of settling in a house after moving, I felt it fitting to magnify God for the help He has provided step by step when everything seemed too arduous to endure.  When we are overwhelmed, God remains sovereign and is truly a present help in times of exertion, trouble, inconvenience, uncertainty and hard work.  As our Good Shepherd, He makes His people like sheep to lie down in green pastures, leads us to green pastures, restores our souls, leads us in paths of righteousness to a broad place.

It was just over two months back my wife Laura and I discussed embarking on looking for a house to buy in a nearby suburb and to see what we could sell our house for.  What followed was a whirlwind of driving to open houses and vacating our house for open houses, meetings with realtors, banks and solicitors.  Laura handled the vast majority of the administrative burden.  To make a very long story short, the LORD provided a house we liked with owners that accepted our offer, our house was sold via auction, and loans were secured.  I quite liked our other house, a gift from the LORD that was compact and suitable for our needs.  But with all the building in the area the traffic was growing more congested and will only continue.  In Sydney it seems the traffic needs to become a hopeless mess before one lane can be added to each side when it should have been a three-lane road to start with.  It might be 2030 before Garfield Road receives a much needed upgrade.

Our moving day illustrated God's faithfulness and help He has shown through the whole process.  I rented a large box truck for 24 hours to move our stuff, and it happened to be one of the hottest days of the summer.  The Grisez family plus people from church helped one or two at a time over that period of hustling back and forth.  All of us who were outside in the heat were likely suffering from various stages of heat exhaustion as we were cramping up.  I don't think I ever had hand cramps before!  But God gave us strength to keep going.  By the time I drove to return the truck, I was praying for everything:  that I could find a petrol station with diesel, drive into the correct bay, that I could unlock the petrol cap, that I would return the truck in time despite traffic.  The LORD worked it all out.  We had been planning on coming back to the "old" house to cleanup and finish moving in days to follow, but with the help we had--like Gideon's skeleton crew--we were able to have the house cleaned and emptied right when the new owners showed up for their walkthrough.

God's grace has continued as a couple from church came over that evening and helped us haul desks and beds upstairs so we had a place to sleep.  That evening there was a massive change in the weather as a "southerly buster" rolled in and we have enjoyed the cool breeze ever since.  The house is well on the way to becoming more functional with hot water, internet and laundry going, and there is no doubt in my mind it is the LORD's doing.  We are continuing to pray both properties will close on the proper date, and trust God will be with us and will help us every step.  When we consider the world He has made with the sun and moon, the living birds, trees, flowers, bugs and how they all live together, we can see God has thought of everything and is faithful.  Psalm 107:31 is a fitting conclusion to this testimony of God's faithfulness I desire to practice continually because He is worthy:  "Oh, that men would give thanks to the LORD for His goodness, and for His wonderful works to the children of men!"

Serving the LORD Joyfully

When going on full-time paid staff at church, your eyes are opened to many tasks and responsibilities you did not consider previously.  Even with many hard-working volunteers, there are many duties that fall to you.  One of the maintenance tasks I tackled was keeping an eye on the vacuums, making sure they were serviced regularly and the bags emptied.  I was amazed at the sorts of things I would find lodged inside people imagined the vacuum could pick up.  The most unpleasant discovery was fresh vomit, but I digress.

I genuinely believe there was not a single occasion during my time on church staff that anyone but staff emptied the contents of a vacuum.  It was a blessing to have vacuums to use and people who wanted to leave the place clean, but the condition of the vacuums and the belts became my responsibility.  I was reminded of that season when I emptied a vacuum bag at church today, and the thought came to mind:  have you ever had a task you faithfully did and wondered, "Who would be doing this if I didn't?"  It likely isn't exactly true, but perhaps we have felt if we didn't scrub the tub, wipe out the microwave, clean out the fridge, empty the vacuum bag or change the belts no one would do so.  As we grit our teeth and do a job that goes unrecognised and taken for granted, we can feel our efforts are going unnoticed.  We say to ourselves, "Aren't they in for a surprise when I'm not here any more!"

If you have every wondered something like this, allow me to suggest another perspective:  could it be God has you there to serve Him in that precise chore or task no one else notices or thinks of?  It may not be glamorous or a skill to put on your resume, but if you are doing a job no one else is doing it makes sense God has sovereignly placed you there for this purpose--with attention to detail others do not possess.  God has given you an ability to scrub, clean, wipe down, to listen, move chairs from here to there, a skill-set perfectly employed in menial duties others are physically unable or unwilling to do.  Paul wrote in Colossians 3:23-24:  "And whatever you do, do it heartily, as to the Lord and not to men, ²⁴ knowing that from the Lord you will receive the reward of the inheritance; for you serve the Lord Christ."  Every task we do, whether unseen or recognised by others, can be done unto the LORD.  When we think more of ourselves than we ought we are serving ourselves, and feeling like everyone needs your contribution is your reward.  How much better it is so serve the LORD cheerfully in the mundane and menial, for great is your reward in heaven--and humility with joy today!

Going to the Heart

When it comes to treating illness, we know the importance of identifying the root cause rather than seeking to only alleviate symptoms.  Taking an Aspirin may relieve a headache, but it will do nothing to treat a tumour that is causing intercranial pressure.  Negative symptoms are usually major components that prompt us to seek medical help, and in this way a bad symptom can be a positive thing.

I have spoken of my ongoing battle with ongoing scale problems in previous posts, and yesterday I had a breakthrough.  I discovered the reason I am losing the scale battle is because I had been focused on the symptoms rather than the root cause:  ants that place, farm and protect scale to feed on honeydew scale produces!  I had noticed ants on the tree, but I had no idea they were the culprits who persistently placed scale at strategic locations where there was fresh growth.  This knowledge has shifted my tactics dramatically because the scale was only a pawn in this battle.  Eliminating the ants is the first and most important step of ridding the tree of scale.  Unless I deal with the root cause, the symptom will persist.

In a recent study in Revelation 18, I had a similar enlightening moment concerning the Greek word "pharmakeia" that is translated "sorcery" in the KJV and NKJV.  During my youth a lot of teaching I was exposed to about this word happened to be in the 80's and 90's, a time marked in America with a "war on drugs" that aimed to better educate and rid the nation of the scourge of illicit narcotics.  Because "pharmakeia" bears a resemblance to "pharmacy," the application was often along the same popular lines of the day, to connect street drug use with witchcraft as abominable in God's sight.  While this is a fair point, to reduce the meaning of sorcery or "pharmakeia" to drug use runs the risk of doing exactly what I did with the scale--looking at it as the problem in itself when it was merely a symptom of ant activity--it more resembled a shoot than the root.  Unless the root cause of idolatry and self is dealt with drugs, sorcery, pride and sin will persist in a person.

One thing I observed of sorcerers in the Bible is their intention to draw people away from the worship of the true God.  Pharaoh's magicians sought to duplicate God's wonders to show their idols and powers were superior to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.  Simon the sorcerer in Acts 8 amazed the people in Samaria with his magic arts and claimed to have the power of God.  He desired to draw attention to himself.  The Jew Bar-Jesus in Acts 13 sought to draw the proconsul away from faith in Jesus Christ.  In Acts 19 Christians in Ephesus gathered their books of magic and burned them because they were completely opposed to faith and obedience to Jesus.  This goes to the root of what "pharmakeia" is:  a seductive, deceptive lie that man can be god.  To reduce it to "doing drugs" misses the heart of rebellion that can manifest itself in countless ways.

How important it is for us to go to the hearts of the matters, and Paul did this with his exhortation to believers in the church in 2 Corinthians 7:1:  "Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God."   God has promised to dwell in us, have fellowship with us and receive us a father does his children.  Having been forgiven and cleansed of sin, in the fear of God we are to perfect holiness by cleansing ourselves--by repenting of sin in our minds, hearts and actions.  Our efforts to "say no to sin" will be just as ineffective as saying "no to drugs" when our hearts are inclined to please ourselves rather than God.  Being born again transforms us, and God's desire is for us to continue changing by further yielding to Him inside and out.

God's Awesome Judgments

God is the Judge of all the earth who only does right, and He holds to account every person according to His word and the testimony of our conscience.  Even people who deny God's existence will be weighed in the balances and found wanting like King Belshazzar.  Though a Babylonian ruler who had not been given the Law of Moses, God judged him for his arrogance to live contrary to knowledge of God who humbles the proud, as Nebuchadnezzar his father experienced personally.  The prophet said to him in Daniel 5:22-23:  "But you his son, Belshazzar, have not humbled your heart, although you knew all this. ²³ And you have lifted yourself up against the Lord of heaven. They have brought the vessels of His house before you, and you and your lords, your wives and your concubines, have drunk wine from them. And you have praised the gods of silver and gold, bronze and iron, wood and stone, which do not see or hear or know; and the God who holds your breath in His hand and owns all your ways, you have not glorified."  Though Belshazzar had never willingly entered into a covenant with God, he and all people created in His image will be judged by Him according to our works.

God does not turn a blind eye to the transgressions or pride of His own people who willingly enter into a covenant with Him, for Scripture makes it plain judgment begins at the house of God (1 Peter 4:17).  Judgment will not end there (as some would prefer), for the ungodly, proud and disobedient God will surely hold to account as well.  Any smugness found in us that is pleased to see others others judged and condemned ought to be repented of and tempered with humility, knowing we will be required to give an account of our lives before the LORD of hosts.  God is gracious and merciful to bring incremental judgments in our lives along with trials and pains, to the end we will be further refined and purified.  One reason God allowed the Hebrews to face enemies and attacks within Canaan was to see if they would obey Him or not, to provide every opportunity for them to learn of His goodness, provision and salvation.

I have observed people who have been brought up in a version of Christianity that is preoccupied with setting up boundaries to prevent sin and then judging others who have a different standard as people "holier than thou."  Isaiah 65:5 says before God this hypocrisy is like billowing smoke that burns His nostrils all day.  Activities people viewed as sinful in themselves years ago (like playing cards, dancing or going to the movies) has changed for some people, but the proud and hypocritical spirit observed in the Pharisees according to the Gospels has endured.  What is important to comprehend is God will hold us accountable to our exercise of liberty according to our knowledge, our conscience, His word, and how we walked in love for Him and others.  We will not be judged on the basis of convictions other people maintain, but we will be judged if we willfully sin under the guise of liberty or place others under a legalistic yoke of bondage Jesus did not prescribe--for He does nothing of the sort.

I am often impressed and awestruck with the wisdom of God in His judgments, for those who violate His word and will are taken in their own net.  God made a covenant with His people those who sold themselves as servants to pay off debts were to be released after 6 years, and in Jeremiah's day they released servants only to force them back into bondage.  The LORD through the prophet declared in Jeremiah 34:17:  "Therefore thus says the LORD: 'You have not obeyed Me in proclaiming liberty, every one to his brother and every one to his neighbour. Behold, I proclaim liberty to you,' says the LORD--'to the sword, to pestilence, and to famine! And I will deliver you to trouble among all the kingdoms of the earth."  Those who imagine themselves free to do as they pleased were then given liberty by God to sword, pestilence and famine.  Better to bind ourselves to please God with gladness and hearken unto His words than to bind ourselves or others with legalistic burdens or fall into the snare of sin disguised as liberty.  Consider how the God's ways and wisdom are past finding out, yet He is gracious to show us His awesome works.