My Hiding Place

“For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God.”

(Col. 3:3)

One of my favorite songs is, “You Are My Hiding Place.”

You Are My Hiding Place

You Always Fill My Heart

With Songs of Deliverance

Whenever I’m Afraid

I Will Trust In You

What a hiding place! For Satan to get to one of the Lord’s children he must first get past God, then Christ. How ridiculous an assumption! Christ is hid in God and we are hid in Christ. If the devil wants to play the child’s game of Hide and Seek he will search for eternity and still come up frustrated and exhausted to find our secret and secure hiding place.

“...the shadow of his hand hath he hid me...in his quiver hath he hid me.”

(Isa. 49:2)

God's Guidance

Abraham had no other guide than God to direct his steps over the trackless desert to the place he knew not. The importance of God’s guidance in our lives cannot be over exaggerated. And I mean in every area. We do not know what lies around the next turn; He does, thus, the necessity of His leading.  

The scriptures abound in promises of God’s guidance in the lives of those surrendered to Him. “I will instruct thee and teach thee in the way which thou shalt go: I will guide thee with mine eye”; “And the LORD shall guide thee continually”; “The meek will he guide in judgment: and the meek will he teach his way”; “He will be our guide [even] unto death.”

If you think for a minute you can run your own life, listen to Jeremiah, “O LORD, I know that the way of man [is] not in himself: [it is] not in man that walketh to direct his steps.” This is the reason we are to acknowledge Him in all our ways. For if He is not guide in all, then He will not guide at all.

Most informed Christians are aware in seeking God’s guidance that He generally uses means: enlightenment from the Bible, promptings of the Spirit, immediate circumstances, godly friends, etc. But sometimes it is forgotten He also uses a sanctified mind. Filling one’s brain with facts and information can be a determining factor which way He is leading. Common sense in weighing the pros and cons can go a long way in helping us.

After the angel delivered Peter from prison we are told, “when he had considered the thing,” he then set his steps for Mary’s house. How about some of us setting down and considering some things? We might just see our way through a confusing and difficult time.

Richard. D. Sandlin

Hopeless Hopers

“…all hope that we should be saved was then taken away.” The poet, Joaquin Miller, wrote these following lines in his poem that he simply called, Columbus: “What shall we do when hope is gone…Sail on! Sail on! Sail on! and on!” He got his inspiration for writing this from reading Columbus’ log from his first voyage across the uncharted Atlantic. In spite of storms, the threat of mutiny, hunger, darkness, and exhaustion, over and again, the captain recorded these words, “This day we sail on.”

Paul was one of those rare breeds who believe, no matter what, you keep on keeping on. He was like Abraham of old, who, “against hope, believed in hope.” He could go against all odds and encourage others to “…be of good cheer.” This was because of the fact that he belonged to God—lock, stock, and barrel. His telling testimony was, “For their stood by me this night…God, whose I am…”

"If Christ is our Hope, we need never lose hope."

(rds)

Psychological Jargon

For the past twenty-five years or so, the Church and other religious institutions has been turned into a world-like psychological clinic for the disturbed. We see this both in the preaching from its pulpits, and the counseling that comes from office calls to the church’s pseudo therapist. When will we learn Biblical principles outshine psychology as much as the sun does a lit match?

Martyn Lloyd-Jones comments, “Psychology, I believe, is one of the most subtle dangers in connection to our faith.” An area in which I find many Christians are taken up with is in the matter of self-image. The “doctors” tell us this is very important in facing life with its difficulties. But you need no PhD. to understand this. A simple saint with a sixth grade education, who loves God and lives in His Book, could grasp this truth.

Any Spirit-filled Believer, reading the story of the twelve spies in the Old Testament would be aware of this. The timid ten, in making their excuse for not wanting to face their giants said, “We were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.” Their problem was that they saw themselves the way others did. No soul can be a giant-slayer in his or her life by accepting another’s evaluation of himself or herself.

Both Saul and Goliath said of David, “Thou art but a youth.” But the shepherd boy brought down his giant in spite of what others thought of him. He would not allow others to define him. David knew who he was and was content with what God had made him. He refused to pass himself off as another, hiding in their armour. Little David would have never said, “Why hast thou made me thus?” But he did say, “I am fearfully and wonderfully made.”

Daily Dependence

Few things in the Christian life that are once-for-all settled. Certainly our salvation tops the list in this brief category (Heb.10:10). But most things are on-going. For example, we are told God gives out His benefits on a daily basis. Israel found they were to be daily dependent during their forty year pilgrimage in the desert.

God has arranged things so that the Christian’s life is to be lived in perpetual day by day reliance upon His faithfulness. Thus He keeps our lives from becoming boring and matter-of-fact. For, says He, “Thou knowest not what a day may bring forth.”

It’s reassuring to know He’s planned ahead for each new day. And exciting to anticipate what new things He has in store for us on any given day. David knew his days were in Deity’s hands, and so he penned, “This is the day which the Lord hath made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.”

“When I am anxious it is because I am living in the future. When I am depressed it is because I am living in the past.”

(rds)

Stars, Salvation, and Victory

“…one star differeth from another…”

You’d be hard pressed to come up with a plan of salvation or a formula for victory in the scriptures. Why is this? Simply because, like the stars, no one of us is like the other. This is why it is so dangerous trying to emulate another’s spiritual experience, either in the former or latter case. We are to seek the Apostles teachings, not their experiences!

The Bible was written to meet the need of individuals, in the way each of us is going. We all travel different directions; therefore God meets us on the road we are traveling. Is it any wonder, for this reason, many believe the Bible contradicts itself? For example, to the self-righteous seeking salvation Jesus says, “Keep the commandments.” But to the convicted sinner Paul says simply, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ.” In the first case, it was to produce conviction, but in the second, conviction had already set in.

So it is in trying to live the Victorious Christian Life. There are many Christians who are habitually reading about the experiences of others, trying to relive them in their own lives. We are not identical in our natural makeup; therefore God deals with us on an individual basis. Oswald Chambers mentions we should allow the Lord to be as original with us as he has been with the ones we seek to copy. Say and do as little David did, when he put on Saul’s giant armour, “I cannot go with these…And David put them off him.”

“Be yourself. Everyone else is taken.”

(Charles Schulz)

FRAGILE

“LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is; that I may know how frail I am.”

(Psa. 39:4)

It’s early morning and I just woke to face my fourth day of having the flu that has invaded our State. Believe me, it’s as bad as they say it is. I might add even worse for us Octogenarians. During this time alone with God I've thought of darling David’s words in the text quoted above. Maybe some of you need the following article as I do.  

The word “frail” is used only once in the Bible. David asked the Lord to make known to him his frailty; that is, how weak he actually was and how easily the earthen vessel could be broken. It’s interesting to note that in David’s autobiography (Psalms) he speaks so often of his sorrow, sickness, pain, and afflictions. I heard a preacher jestingly say once, “Be careful what you pray for; you just might get it!” It is evident from David’s life, God answered his prayer request.

It is important for all of us to have our frailties revealed to us, for we are so prone to think of ourselves as indomitable, thereby making ourselves independent entities. But once God brings a crack in the vessel, we are more apt to put our fragile lives in His hands for safe keeping.

Interestingly, earlier in his life, robust David killed lions, bears, and giants with his own hands; but later on, when the frailties of life set in, he needed others that God sent his way to help him in killing his giants. Our frailties not only make us realize our dependence upon God but also on one another. “No man liveth to himself.”

“If your life has been marked ‘Fragile,’ don’t worry, God will handle it with care.”

(rds)

Losing Your Edge

“Iron sharpeneth iron…so a man sharpeneth…his friend.”

(Prov. 27:17)

By friction is one iron instrument sharpened by another. And so it is with us, when we become dull and lose our intellectual and spiritual edge. God has ordained an instrument made of the same material to be used in taking off our rough, blunt edge, thereby making us sharp once again. The wise man tells us, “If the iron be blunt, and he do not whet the edge, then must he put to more strength.”

A recluse is invariably a one-sided person. This is one reason, no doubt, we’re told, “It is not good for man to be alone.” We need to learn to mingle with those with diverse opinions and viewpoints: people who’ll make us think, that keep us from being intellectual and spiritual sloths. Brisk, lively, spirited conversations can not only be enlightening but even enjoyable.

There is great gain to be acquired from conversations with those possessing superior knowledge, mainly the increase of wisdom. Need I point out Timothy and Paul as an example? Challenging conversations are advantageous to all parties involved. Anytime we’re provoked to independent thinking, it will always be to our profit. A stagnant mind produces the same as stagnant waters.

That great intellect, C.S. Lewis, would meet with friends in a local pub for informal discussions. Not all held the same views, hence it could become quite spirited but all remained friends. They called their group, “The Inklings.” This continued for some twenty years. Such dialogue can be very profitable. J.R.R. Tolkien was one of the members of this group; he was instrumental in Lewis’s conversion.

Those who “pick up their marbles and go home” in disagreeing debates, have lost their marbles.

(rds)

Daniel's Belief in God

“But there is a God in heaven...”

(Dan. 2:28)

Daniel was taken captive by Nebuchadnezzar at the age of around twenty years old most Bible teachers believe. He was one of a small band of Jewish captives carried off from his native homeland Jerusalem to distant pagan Babylon. He lived through the seventy-year Babylonian captivity. He was both a godly and handsome young man. He was a political prophet; “God rules in the affairs of men,” said he.

There is much debate among the apostates as to the authenticity of his writings, as well as the existence of such a person as himself. But Jesus vouchsafed both. That is the only authority I need, though there are many other proofs.

In spite of his lot in life, whatever that might entail, his testimony from youth to old age was, “There is a God in heaven.” Taken from home never to return again, made a slave, lied about, and put into a lion's den, he never questioned his God’s dealings with him. He was resolute. Daniel’s faith was not passive. He not only believed God COULD; he believed God WOULD. He carried this unwavering faith from youth down to his hoary hairs of old age. He was preeminently a man of prayer!

O, that our Lord might grant us the godly character of this“greatly beloved,” man of God, a man with a spiritual backbone. As the old-timer said, “The lions didn’t eat Daniel because there was too much gristle in his backbone.”

“But the people that do know their God shall be strong, and do exploits.”

(Dan. 11:32)

Ham, Christmas, and Eggnog

There are specific “Thou shalt not[s]” in the Bible that all Christians are to conform to. None of us is to lie, steal, murder, commit adultery, etc. But there are other things that God does allow, and they are individual and particular. For example, in Romans chapter fourteen we see differences among God’s people concerning diet, days, and drink (vss 2, 5, 21).

Allow me to take this primitive setting and advance it to our modern, contemporary, Christian age. We have meat-eaters as opposed to vegetarians; those who recognize Christmas, and those who refuse to acknowledge it; and the “tee-teetotalers,” over against those who believe moderation is Biblically acceptable. You will find that time, geography, culture, temperament, tastes, and tradition have a lot to do with deciding the above.

I read a little tract once entitled, Others Can; You Can't. But there is a flip side, and that is, You Can; Others Can't. The truth is, God has accepted both. Neither side is the better or the worse for what they do, or abstain from. All the frustration that comes into our lives is because we want everyone else to do and see things as we do.

Never make a principle out of your experience; let God be as original with others as He is with you.

(Oswald Chambers)

Sacred Secrets

“...great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh…

(1Tim. 3:16)

“...this mystery...is Christ in you”

(Col. 1:27)

The word mystery as found in the scripture simply means a sacred secret. It does not mean a secret withheld, but truth previously hidden but now made known, for and to whom God intended it (cp. Col. 1:26). Also you can see this illustrated in the book of Daniel, chapter two. Elements of these supernatural secrets, even after it be once revealed, can still possess a sort of shadowy secrecy.

The Bible tells us the incarnation, God manifest in the flesh of the “Man Christ Jesus,” is a great mystery. The mystery not being great in its obscurity, but rather in its importance. But there is another mystery, among the eleven mentioned in the New Testament, not as great as the incarnation, but great in its own right. We are told, “God is in you of a truth.” (1Cor.14:25)

Once this startling truth is grasped and appropriated by faith, it will transform us in a way that all who beholds us will be amazed. Most of all, the Christian themself. Jesus, our example, said “I have glorified thee on earth.” Is it any wonder then that Paul tells us to, “Glorify God in our bodies?” If our dying words are the six that Jesus uttered, our lives will not have been spent in vain!

“To glorify God, simply put, is to make HIM look good.”

Hurry Up and Wait

“Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD...he that believeth shall not make haste.”

(Isa. 28:16)

Anyone the least bit familiar with the military knows firsthand the meaning of the title of our article. It all begins in Basic Training. You double-time to the mess hall, to mail call, and the list goes on. There is hardly a place you do not run to get to, then you wait.

My wife and I, after our separate morning devotions, use to discuss this very topic. What was the cause of this obsession to hurry, hurry, hurry? Was it temperament, the age we live in, or just getting old? Possibly a little of all three, but especially the middle reason.

An old preacher use to say, “I’m not going anywhere anymore, I’m just dodging.” Daniel speaking of “the time of the end” says, “...many shall run to and fro.” We hurry and scurry to get somewhere, get something done, or to catch up, but at the end of the day we wind up waiting.

All our frustration and anxiety comes from not accepting the fact that God is not in a hurry! To Him a day is no more than a thousand years and a thousand years as a day in His sight. Time means nothing to our Eternal God. God is not on a time clock! He has all the time in the world.

“Time is a Parenthesis in God’s Eternal Sentence.”

(rds)

The Afflictions of Godly David

“It is good for me that I have been afflicted...”

Psa.119:71

God’s darling, God's pet, the very one who wiggled himself into God’s own heart, was afflicted. The only one in the Bible of whom it is said, “He (God) liked me.” You can love someone without liking them, but God had both affections for this rare breed of a man.

In the 119th Psalm David speaks of his afflictions and their purpose on at least four occasions. Let us take a brief look at each individually.

“Before I was afflicted I went astray…”

Psa. 119:67

David himself could have penned the words to the song, “Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love.” They tell me a shepherd sometimes has to break the leg of one of his sheep that wanders habitually. Then it stays close to its shepherd. “...in their affliction they will seek me early.” (Ho 5:15)

“...I have been afflicted; that I might learn thy statutes.”

Psa. 119:71

It is not the scholar who has taught me most about God’s Word, but the lowly afflicted saint. I remember a dear preacher friend, who had cerebral palsy, who spoke for me annually when I pastored. He once asked me, “Why did God have Abraham offer up his beloved son Isaac?" To which I gave a standard, as well as a lame answer. His reply was, “Two loves cannot co-exist, one must die: his love for his son or his love for his God.”

“I know, O LORD...that thou in faithfulness hast afflicted me.”

Psa. 119:75

No father worth his salt enjoys taking severe measures in correcting his child. He does it in love. Thus emulating his Heavenly Father, “As many as I love, I...chasten…” It is not something He likes doing, but something He has to do for our benefit. “For he doth not afflict willingly…” (Lam 3:13)

“This is my comfort in my affliction: for thy word hath quickened me.”

Psa 119:50

This, no doubt, is what another afflicted saint in the New Testament refers to as, “The comfort of the scriptures.” It is within the sacred pages of God’s Book we find comfort in such texts as: “I have seen the affliction of my people," (Acts 7:34).  “In all their affliction He was afflicted," (Isa.63:9). “For our light affliction, which is but for a moment (some 20 years), worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" (2Cor 4:17).

WOULD YOU LIKE TO BE ONE OF GOD'S CHOICE ONES?

"Behold, I have refined thee, but not with silver; I have chosen thee in the furnace of affliction."

(Isa.48:10)

Those Pseudo Love Advocates

I have been told on more than one occasion, I’m sorry to admit, that I needed more love in my life as a Christian. I was even told this once by a professed drunken believer. Since I take all rebukes seriously I took into consideration the inebriated one’s also. We can not always choose the one God uses to tell us the truth about ourselves: as in Baalam's case! (2Peter 2:16)

I’m sure many of those well-meaning but misguided saints would have shown a little more pity toward this wretched man had they walked in his skin from childhood. Don’t misunderstand me, it is not what they said, but the way they said it I have a problem with. I totally agree with what they said! I long to love as our blessed Lord Jesus loved!

My dilemma comes from the fact that the love advocates trying to straighten me out on my lack of love seem to show little toward me while attempting it. In these conversations many, if not all, show irritation, hostility, and yes, even anger in their rebukes in spite of what we’re told about love in 1Cor. 13. Love manifests itself in longsuffering, kindness, etc.

After all is said and done I think it wise to let God do the work of teaching each of His children to love. “But as touching brotherly love ye need not that I write unto you: for ye yourselves are taught of God to love one another,” (1Thess. 4:9). “...because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us,” (Rom. 5:5).

Second in Line

After my dear wife’s death I was crushed with the guilt of regrets, things I should have done and didn’t, and things I didn’t do and should have. But after reading scholarly C.S. Lewis and the godly country preacher Vance Havner, concerning their wives death, I found It was a normal thing.  That is, something  all experience when losing a loved one.

But knowing this didn’t bring peace of soul and mind. The nagging continued. It was then I knew like all sins, faults, and failures, it must be put under the blood of Christ. And so late one night in the darkness of our front room I knelt by my prayer chair and did business with my God. I confessed it, with no intention of doing it again. Knowing, with our merciful God once is enough. Joseph wept when his brothers asked forgiveness a second time, when he had obviously did it earlier. (Gen. 50:17)

As I was about to rise, having settled the matter, I said to myself, “I wish Salle was here so I could ask her forgiveness.” And then the Lord spoke, to my heart, and said, “She is right behind me.” O, the thrill, to know after God she was second in line to forgive me, as she always was while here on earth. God help each of us, when loved ones truly repent, to be second in line to forgive.

“If you’re unforgiving to yourself, you’ll be that way toward others.”

(rds)

Way Back Then

I have never professed to be in the same major league with the theologians and scholars, but I do profess being in the minors with those who are students of the Word. I’ve always tried to follow David’s example when he said, “…neither do I exercise myself in great matters, or in things too high for me.” Nevertheless, many of us have our own personal views on problem texts. These views do not always satisfy others, but they do the individual who holds to them. That is, they are comfortable with their view point.

A text that has always seemed to generate more friction than light among the brethren has been Ephesians 1:4. “…he hath chosen us in him before the foundation of the world.” If we believe the extreme position, that we were always “in Christ,” then we were never “in Adam”; therefore, we were not born sinners. This reasoning creates even a greater problem. On the other hand, for us to try to dismiss the fact of our text is to deny God’s foreknowledge of us (Rom.8:29).

The answer that I can live with is found in Hebrews 7:9-10. Levi was in the loins of Abraham before he was born. Positionally, he was always in his father’s loins; but, practically, he only became his son when he was birthed. And so it is with us and our spiritual birth. Paul, who penned Ephesians 1:4, also wrote Romans 16:7. Speaking of two believers, he says of them, “…who also were in Christ before me.” Not positionally, but experientially. We were not always saved; but, Hallelujah! We were always safe.

It's Not Mandatory

“If he offer…the sacrifice of thanksgiving…”

A number of the Levitical offerings were mandatory, but the thank offering was voluntary. It was not “when ye offer,” but “if ye offer.” As far as I can find, no one offered this voluntary sacrifice of thanksgiving until David—not Moses, not Aaron, or anyone else. For close to 500 years, God had not smelled a sweet savor of a thank offering. Is it any wonder this shepherd boy, who became a man of God, had wiggled his way into God’s heart? How pleased the Lord was with such sacrifices. God seems to have an affinity for those who are most appreciative.

The Scriptures abound with the subject of thanksgiving. “In everything give thanks”; “Always giving thanks..;” “Come before his presence with thanksgiving.” If the Bible did not teach the giving of thanks, common courtesy would demand it for all God’s goodness to us. “O give thanks unto the Lord; for he is good.” In Jesus’ prayers, He said, “I thank thee, O Father…” That’s an excellent example to follow. Let me suggest the next time you have the hum-drums, to try thanksgiving.

God gave you a gift of 86,400 seconds today. Have you used one to say "thank you?"

Walkin and Talkin

“Jesus himself drew near, and went (walked) with them...And he said unto them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk...”

(Lk.24:15,17)

Just as you can walk and chew gum at the same time, one can walk and talk to Jesus at the same time. We’re told in Scripture that both Enoch and Noah,“Walked with God.” I think if we had been close enough to them as they walked we would have heard them singing something like, “And He walks with me and talks with me.”

Our Lord desires fellowship with His elect. We see this fact brought out in the context, “And they drew nigh unto the village, whither they went: and he made as though he would have gone further. But they constrained him, saying, Abide with us...And he went in to tarry with them. (vs 28-29). He wanted to be invited.

A year or so ago I was waiting in the car in our driveway for Salle.  As she was getting in she said, “What did you say?” To which I answered, “I wasn’t talking to you, but the Lord.” She jokingly responded, “I hate it when I interrupt you two.” My friend, that is how real He was and is in both our lives. HE LOVES COMMUNION WITH THE SAINTS!