Radiant Joy

“Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.” (Psalm 34:5 NLT).

Where do you go when the world seems to be closing in around you? When the dark clouds of trouble begin to gather? Remember the setting to this Psalm. David is running for his life from King Saul and the armies of Israel. He is public enemy number 1, anyone in Israel found helping him was executed. He flees into Philistia, to the town of Gath whose hometown hero he had slain. His identity is quickly discovered and he has to act like a madman to survive. In all of this, he is calling upon the Lord for help and deliverance. The result he discovered that “Those who look to him for help will be radiant with joy; no shadow of shame will darken their faces.”

What is it that you face today? May I suggest that the solution that David found is just as valid for you today? Your circumstances may not change overnight (David’s lot didn’t change until 13 years later), but your circumstances don’t have to change your demeanor–look to Him for help and discover a joy that cannot be hidden!

Freedom From Fear

I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” (Psalm 34:4 NIV).

We began our study in this Psalm yesterday. Let me back up and give you the setting. This Psalm was written by David while he was running for his life from Saul. During this time, David was forced to flee into enemy territory. While in Gath, the people recognized him and brought him to the attention of the king, Achish (Abimelech is the title of Philistian kings).

Quick quiz: what famous person was from Gath? If you said Goliath you are right! David seeks refuge in the city of the great Philistine champion. David had killed this home-town hero and by that act had turned the fortunes of war to Israel’s favor. I don’t believe the sight of him in the city was a very welcomed one! If you want to read more of the setting of this Psalm read 1 Samuel 21:10-22:1.

With that said, let’s pick up where we left off in our study. “I sought the Lord, and he answered me; he delivered me from all my fears.” Did you catch that? David wasn’t instantly delivered from his circumstances, that would not happen for another 13 years. But David was delivered from the fear of his situation. When we seek God’s face, worry and fear flee. Like David we can find ourselves in what appears to be hopeless circumstances and yet experience a blessed, unexplainable peace and sense of comfort and security. The Bible says, “6 Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God. 7 And the peace of God, which transcends all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.” (Philippians 4:6-7 NIV) The Message renders this particular passage this way: “6 Don’t fret or worry. Instead of worrying, pray. Let petitions and praises shape your worries into prayers, letting God know your concerns. 7 Before you know it, a sense of God’s wholeness, everything coming together for good, will come and settle you down. It’s wonderful what happens when Christ displaces worry at the center of your life.” (Emphasis mine). Pearrell loose translation: “The peace that God gives doesn’t make sense to those watching.”

David’s deliverance was from his fears, not from his circumstances. Many times we seem to get upset with God when He doesn’t rend the heavens and come to our aid. Truth be told, He has come to our aid. The problem we have is that we want His help on our terms and because of this sinful selfishness we miss the help He has given!

What fears are you facing today? You can either focus on them and develop all sorts of worries, anxieties and emotional problems, or you can focus on God and find His wonderful freedom from fear.

Where is Your Focus Today?

1 I will extol the Lord at all times; his praise will always be on my lips. 2 My soul will boast in the Lord; let the afflicted hear and rejoice. 3 Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together. (Psalm 34:1-3 NIV).

Solomon wrote, “The tongue has the power of life and death. . . .” (Proverbs 18:21 NIV). We all know the truth of that statement. What we say has powerful consequences. Psychologist tell us that it takes 10 positive remarks to off-set the damage of one negative remark. You’ve heard about the pessemist club haven’t you? They have never met because they were convinced that no one would ever come!

Many live their lives with negativity. No matter how good things may be, they will always find the proverbial fly in the ointment and focus on that. Such people are draining, emotionally and spiritually. They will bring you down in a heart-beat.

Now, those who are “amening” this, let me ask you, where is your focus? Are you like David who exalts the Lord in every circumstance or are you like those who exalt the problem, turning mole-hills into insurmoutable mountains? Is the praise of God constantly on your lips or is your focus on the complaints you have against God?

Here’s what I know: those who learn to focus on the good things (keeping their eyes always upon our good and gracious God) always have something to rejoice about. Not only do they lift their own spirits from the pits of despair, but others who are afflicted are lifted as well (see verse 2 of our text).

The foot-note of the Life application Bible says, “God promises great blessings to his people, but many of these blessings require active participation. He will deliver us from fear (34:4), save us from our troubles (34:6), guard and deliver us (34:7), show us goodness(34:8), supply our needs (34:9), listen when we talk to Him (34:15), and redeem us (34:22), but we must do our part . . . .”

What is our part? We must appropriate his blessings and we can only do that by keeping Him before us at all times and praising Him for His goodness and grace. Focus on the things around you and you will become negative. Focus on God and you will soar!

When God Doesn't Come Through Part 4

For the last few days we have been trying to gain a Biblical perspective to help us understand that when God does not answer prayer the way we want him to does not mean that something is wrong with either his promises or our faith or prayer itself. Prayer is the one of the greatest privileges we have as believers and when we become discouraged and give up on it, we harm ourselves and hinder God’s work on earth. God has chosen to do some things only through answers to our prayers.

Yesterday, we began to give three examples of men in the Bible, men of faith, who did not receive what they asked for, when they asked for it. We started our example with Abraham, whose promises were not fulfilled in his own life-time and in fact are still waiting to be completely fulfilled.

We then turned to Paul and discovered that this great man of faith prayed three times for deliverance from what we believe was a painful and blinding eye condition, and three times God told him “No! No physical healing! Instead I will give you my grace to get you through this.” Now that is Scripture (See 2 Corinthians 12:1-10), yet there are those today who in arrogance and in their own sinful imaginations would have us believe that such teaching is really unbelief! They want us to believe that if we only have enough faith, and claim it positively enough, God is obligated to give us our temporal wishes. Personally I find it disturbing that most of the prayer meetings in our churches seem to focus more on keeping people out of heaven than they do praying for people to enter heaven.

Let me explain that last statement. Aunt Suzie is 98 years old. She’s lived a full life, has been a faithful believer, and now wants to go home and be with her Lord. She’s sick and frail and is ready to go. Yet we focus on praying for healing, another touch of God, spare Aunt Suzie so she can go on suffering here with us rather than deliver her safely into the kingdom. Now I understand the pain of separation by death. But frankly there comes a time when the most loving thing we can do and the most faithful thing we can do, is trust God in and through the valley of the shadow of death and not keep praying for deliverance from it! Just a thought.

Now there are those who are livid with that statement, and perhaps are questioning my faith. After all, if we really had faith, no one would die (and what hell that would be, eternally separated from the glorified body, the joys of being with our Savior because our “faith” keeps us going strong in this fallen, sin-filled world).

Perhaps there are those who may be tempted to argue that Paul’s imperfections were revealed in his thrice unanswered (at least in the terms of healing) prayer. If they won’t go there, they will at least try to explain away the situation but claiming that it wasn’t really a physical problem but a spiritual one (then again, he still did not get his deliverance did he?).

So let’s look at one more example. Our Lord himself, Jesus of Nazareth. Jesus prayed three times to be delivered from the cross (See Matthew 26:36-44). I do not think anyone, no matter how brazen, would ever suggest that there was any lack in our Lord’s faith. Yet here, we have an example where the Father’s plan does not coincide with the Son’s request, and Jesus goes to the cross. Lack of faith on his part? Be very careful how you answer that. Jesus doesn’t pray, “Father I thank you that you won’t make me go to the cross.” There is no positive confession here. Even our perfect Lord recognizes that in the limitations of the flesh, we have to pray, “Yet not as I will, but as you will.”

That too is a prayer of faith. Perhaps the most difficult prayer of faith. It is much harder for me to pray that God’s perfect will be accomplished in me than it is for me to ask for some coveted thing from him. But until we learn to trust him totally, our prayers will suffer.

When God Doesn't Come Through 3

Over the last few days we have been exploring the subject of prayer and faith. We started this series mentioning that while prayer is the great privilege of the believer, yet prayer is probably one of the most neglected disciplines of the Christian life (the other being personal Bible study).

The reason I stated for this neglect is often disappointment with God for what appears to be unanswered prayer.

As we have examined this subject my text has been that great Hall of Fame chapter on faith, Hebrews chapter 11. We have seen that faith sometimes changes our circumstances (verses 1-35a), and faith sometimes does not change our circumstances (verses 35b-39).

What makes the people who did not experience miraculous deliverance equal in faith to those who did? They never questioned God (at least to the point of giving up on him) in their circumstances. Faith, real faith, is not receiving from God what we demand, real faith, true faith, accepts what God gives without doubting him or questioning him, or saying as the woman used in the illustration that opened this series, “Because God did not answer all those prayers (the way we wanted), I’m never going bother him with another request again!”

There are all sorts of things for which we pray. Sometimes God steps in and does the miraculous, sometimes he works through such natural means that if we are not careful we will miss the fact that he has answered. Other times, for reasons known only to him, he doesn’t answer the way we want, and if we are not careful, we can mistake those times either for his absence or we can believe the lies of some who proclaim that we simply don’t have enough faith, or we can rest assured that the God of the Universe might know better how to do his job than we do! Our text says in Hebrews 11:30-40, “All of them pleased God because of their faith! But still they died without being given what had been promised. This was because God had something better in store for us. And he did not want them to reach the goal of their faith without us.” (CEV).

It is easy to prove that great men of faith did not always receive exactly what they wanted when they prayed. Let me give you three examples (though I could give you many more, but space limitations are always a concern.) First is the example of these people in our text. Abraham for instance, had many promises that were not fulfilled in his own lifetime. That doesn’t mean that God doesn’t keep his promises, it simply means that he does so on his time-table. Many people mistakenly think that God has abandoned them because he isn’t blessing us now in some way, when in reality, his greatest blessings are yet to come! But we want temporal riches while his view is eternal riches. God always keeps his promises.

Second is the example of Paul. Paul had a “thorn in the flesh” (see 2 Corinthians 12:1-10). Many scholars believe that this “thorn in the flesh” was a painful eye disease that was not only excruciating but was robbing Paul of his vision. Galatians 4:12-16 seems to be a reference supporting this belief. Some apparently were questioning and leading the Galatian believers away from the truth he had taught him, probably by stating that if Paul really was a man of God he wouldn’t be suffering this way. Yet the text makes it clear that in this case, the “messenger from Satan” was in the plan of God, and the form of healing that God chose was grace to get through the circumstances not a miraculous healing of Paul.

When God Doesn't Come Through Part 2

In my last article we approached the difficult issue of prayer. Particularly, we looked at the discouragement that believers have in this important area of faith. While it is one of the most effective tools in the Christian’s arsenal it is also one of the most neglected tools. The reason for this neglect is a general misunderstanding of what God does and does not promise and a resultant disappointment when he doesn’t do what we want him to do.

We began our study in this subject by looking at Hebrews 11, a chapter described as the “Hall of Fame of Faith.” In verses 1-35a of that chapter we see a group of people who discovered that faith sometimes changes our circumstances. But in verses 35b-39 we discover a second group of people who discovered that faith does not always change our circumstances. The people mentioned in verses 1-35a experienced marvelous deliverances while the people in 35b-39 faced horrible suffering and death. Yet they too are considered heros of faith. In fact, verse 39 clearly says, “All of them pleased God because of their faith! But still they died without being given what had been promised.” (Hebrews 11:39 CEV). The Message Translation renders this same verse, “Not one of these people, even though their lives of faith were exemplary, got their hands on what was promised.”

There is, unfortunately, a vast plethora of very poor theology that goes under the guise of positive confession. Those who promote this errant and unbiblical teaching basically teach that we can have anything we want, as long as our faith is strong enough. They isolate verses of Scripture, put their existential philosophy (the living for the “now”) into promises of Scripture and make claims that the Bible knows nothing about! I have found that when you believe an illusion about what God does or does not promise, you will always eventually become disillusioned. The reason that many Christians have given up on prayer is because they have become disillusioned when God didn’t do what they thought he was going to do!

You don’t have to study far in Scripture before you realize that a life of faith is not a charmed life! Our Lord, perfect man and God in the flesh, because he walked in this fallen world is described as one whose “life was filled with sorrow and terrible suffering.” (Isaiah 53:3 CEV). Now, I submit that if the perfect God/man suffered in this world, it is the height of arrogance and the blindness of sin that teaches that people of faith will not or should not suffer. In our text, Hebrews 11 it is obvious that this second group of people with whom God is expressly pleased did not receive what they desired in this world.

What then makes them heroes of faith? They kept on believing God in spite of their circumstances! I am absolutely convinced that the greater faith is to keep on trusting God in the midst of difficult circumstances than it is to trust him when he does miraculously deliver! Think about that for a minute. In my experience it is much more difficult to see God in the bane than it is to see him in my blessings.

One of the reasons so many today are discouraged with prayer is because they have misunderstood and misapplied many of the promises God makes regarding prayer. For instance, while our Lord teaches us to pray only for our daily needs, there are those who teach us to pray for worldly wealth. Tied in with this teaching is the promise that if you send them your seed money (which represents the proportion of your faith) then God will abundantly bless you with financial riches. Frankly the only people getting rich off that is the charlatans promoting this false theology! The Bible describes such teachers as being men who are totally devoid of any truth (See 1 Timothy 6:3-6).

When God Doesn't Come Through Part 1

Prayer is probably the most effective tool in the Christian’s life, yet it is without doubt the most neglected tool. Many Christians I talk to have given up on prayer. Perhaps an illustration will reveal the reason for the prevalence of the neglect of the practice of prayer among believers.

Years ago there was a young pastor who was greatly loved by his people. He was a compassionate pastor and an accomplished speaker. When it was discovered that he had cancer, his people immediately went to prayer. Prayer was being offered for this young man literally around the clock.

During his time of struggle, he was doing everything humanly possible to defeat this dread disease. He was seeking both medical help and the prayers of those who claimed to have the gift of healing. He found while he was going through this period that people would often stop by and tell him, “Pastor, God has told me that He is going to heal you.” At times that did appear to be the case.

Eventually the time came, however, when this young pastor called his family to his bed-side, said his goodbyes, fell into a comma and died. In light of those tragic events, one woman was heard to comment, “In light of the fact that God did not answer all those prayers that were offered, I’m never going to bother him with another request again! Why should I? I’ll only be disappointed.”

I have been in ministry many years now–32 years of full time ministry to be exact. In that time, I have found that many Christians struggle with the sentiments of the disappointed woman mentioned above. In all honesty, I too have struggled at times with feelings of disappointment and confusion when God didn’t do the thing I thought he was going to do.

How do we respond in such circumstances? I think the eleventh chapter of the book of Hebrews gives us a Biblical perspective on this perplexing issue. Hebrews 11 is known as “The Hall of Fame of Faith.” It is a marvelous chapter. In it we read of some of the great things God did to deliver his people. We read of Daniel, and Gideon, of Moses and Abraham, of David and others, who through prayer conquered kingdoms, closed the mouths of hungry lions, walked safely through the sea, and the list goes on. I get goose bumps just thinking of it!

I believe that the God who did these marvelous acts is the same God we serve today. His arm is not shortened so that the cannot act. He has not gone on vacation. The Bible says he always remains the same (Hebrews 13:8). Any theology that doesn’t recognize this is deficient.

However, as you read through Hebrews 11, beginning in the second part of verse 35 there is another group of people mentioned–a group we don’t like to acknowledge. These people weren’t
miraculously delivered, they suffered and they died for their faith. (See verses 35-39).

Sadly, there are those in the church today who would say that the reason these people were not delivered was because they did not have enough faith! The theological word for such teaching is baloney. These people are included in this great heros of faith chapter which means in God’s eyes they were heros even though they were not delivered the way others had been.

Unfortunately space has eluded me and I must conclude. We will continue our look at this important subject over the next few days.

Let me conclude by observing that what makes this second group great heros of faith is they kept on believing God in spite of their circumstances. And this is where we will pick up tomorrow