Without God - Part 10: It's Time to Pay the Piper

 

“Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.”

—Ecclesiastes 3:15

In every situation in life, there comes a time when we must give an account of what we’ve done. We may do something over and over for a long time. But, eventually, if that “something” has caused harm to someone or is constituted of a substance that is morally or spiritually wrong, then the price of doing that “something” will sooner or later come due.

You no doubt know the story of the Pied Piper. The city was overwhelmed by rats. The leaders were beside themselves. No matter what they did, they couldn’t get rid of the rats. A piper came along who offered to rid the city of the rats for a specific price. The leaders readily agreed to pay that price. The piper proceeded to pipe his magical and enticing tune. And, sure enough, the rats gathered behind him. He marched them to the water’s edge, where they entered the water and promptly drowned.

Now, if the story ended there it would be a wonderful tale of triumph over evil. But, the leaders refused to pay the piper. And so, the piper began to pipe an even more magical melody.

Soon, all the children of the city gathered behind the piper. He led them to the water’s edge where they, too, entered the water and promptly drowned.

“How horrible!” you may say. “How awful! What a despicable man that piper was!” But, you have misplaced your disgust. You should direct your horror at the leaders of the city who failed to pay the piper after agreeing to his price.

Life’s like that parable. Sin has a price attached to it. We may enjoy the pleasure of that sin for a season. But, eventually, we will have to pay the price for that sin.

In this life on earth, we often have to pay the temporal price for sin. In other words, the harm that sin causes others and ourselves extracts a price in the here and now. Fortunately, the ultimate eternal price for our sins has already been paid by Jesus’ death on the cross, His resurrection from the grave, and His ascension to heaven.

We sometimes think that no matter what we have done we have gotten away with it. But, sin always extracts a price. We should bow to the ground in thankfulness that the only price we have to pay is the temporal one. Because of Jesus, the eternal price for our sin has been paid.

King Solomon wrote of this reality, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 3:15:

Whatever is has already been, and what will be has been before; and God will call the past to account.

One of the reasons that the Holy Spirit leads those of us who believe toward holiness is so that, by becoming what God wants us to be, we will avoid sinning as much as possible. We remain stained by the sin curse of Adam until we pass from this life to the next. So, we will always have the pull of sin on our lives.

But, the more we yield our lives to God, the less we will desire to sin. It’s a long process, what the author Eugene H. Peterson has called “a long obedience in the same direction.” But, it is a road worth traveling.

As disciples of the Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit is our guide and our companion. He will help us learn about holiness. And that, dear ones, is what the walk of sanctification is all about.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 9: Enduring Forever

 

“I know that everything God does will endure forever…”

—Ecclesiastes 3:14a

When you buy an ice cream cone, do you ever wish that it would last longer than it does? What if that ice cream cone would last forever? It would never get warm and melt. The same amount of ice cream would be waiting for you whenever you decided to eat from the cone. Even if you took a spoon and scooped out a significant quantity of ice cream, you would find that the amount of ice cream in the cone would not diminish.

For one thing, you would want to choose your flavor carefully because, after all, it’s going to last forever. You would want to choose the type of cone carefully—waffle cone or sugar cone—because no matter how many bites you take, the cone never disappears.

As silly as this analogy may seem, everything that God does is like this imaginary, never-diminishing ice cream cone. That is to say, everything God does lasts forever.

King Solomon wrote about this attribute of God’s mercy, grace, and love, when he penned these words found in Ecclesiastes 3:12-14:

I know that there is nothing better for people than to be happy and to do good while they live. That each of them may eat and drink, and find satisfaction in all their toil—this is the gift of God. I know that everything God does will endure forever; nothing can be added to it and nothing taken from it. God does it so that people will fear him.

This quality of God that endures forever, Solomon states, is so that people will fear Him—or, as we may be more comfortable saying: revere, or honor, or obey Him. God is who He is. While we puny humans can only partially comprehend the fullness of who God is, in His written Word (the Bible) He has revealed enough of Himself for our finite minds to apprehend this quality of His forever endurance.

The stability that we have in our lives, as followers of Christ, comes from the fact that God’s nature and activity endures forever. James 1:17 states these familiar words:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

The “un-shifting shadow”—or as the Authorized King James Version states: “with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.” God has ultimate stability. And, because He is who He is, we can build the entirety of our lives on that ultimate stability.

As we begin a new day, let’s thank God for the fact that everything He does endures forever. His mercy, grace, and love will never fail because everything God does endures forever. His power to redeem us from the penalty of our sins will never fail to preserve us for eternity because everything God does endures forever. His ability to set us on a pathway toward holiness will never turn in an unchartered direction because everything God does endures forever.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 8: The Burden on the Human Race

 

“He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.”

—Ecclesiastes 3:11

Did you ever think of yourself as laboring under a burden? For the last week or so, I’ve shared with you some thoughts of King Solomon’s that he wrote at the end of his life. Some of these thoughts seem to drip with the early spring sap of helplessness—helplessness because there is more winter to come and the next freeze will stop the flow of sap.

But, when we read Solomon’s words, we have to focus on a phrase that he uses many times throughout this Book of Ecclesiastes. They are the words: “under the sun” or “under heaven.” It is as if Solomon is drawing a line between the earth and heaven and purposely excluding any influence that God might have on the spiritual well-being of His people.

The Bible Scholar/Teacher, Ravi Zacharias, suggest that we might paraphrase these modifiers in yet another phrase: “without God.” In other words, the helplessness and futility of which Solomon writes must be perceived as if the world was without God’s intervention by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.

This, of course, is not the world in which we live. We, who follow Christ, have the power of the Spirit within us. He literally dwells inside our hearts and minds. As such, the Holy Spirit amplifies the Presence of God and His divine influence on our daily lives. So, as we read what Solomon has written, we must take each statement of helplessness as if the world around us was one in which the redemptive power of God, and His loving efforts to help us, were absent.

In that light, I suggest that you re-read the previous blog posts. Imagine, if you can, a world in which you did not know God personally through His Son, Jesus, and one in which you did not experience the Presence of God in your life through the power of the Holy Spirit. It’s pretty frightening, isn’t it? And, it would definitely be a world where meaningless futility was at the end of every transaction.

In today’s reading, found in Ecclesiastes 3:9-11, notice what Solomon states:

What do workers gain from their toil? I have seen the burden God has laid on the human race. He has made everything beautiful in its time. He has also set eternity in the human heart; yet no one can fathom what God has done from beginning to end.

In these few words, Solomon begins to take a momentary turn in his methodical declaration that all is meaningless. Instead, he holds out a ray of hope. To answer his question regarding the reward for hard work, Solomon suggests that God has burdened the human race with the glories of a beautiful creation. More so, God has placed a longing for eternity in the depths of the human heart.

How can this longing for eternity be a burden? C. S. Lewis provides an answer in his book, The Weight of Glory, where he writes:

Now, if we are made for heaven, the desire for our proper place will be already in us, but not yet attached to the true object, and will even appear as the rival of that object […] If a transtemporal, transfinite good is our real destiny, then any other good on which our desire fixes must be in some degree fallacious, must bear at best only a symbolical relation to what will truly satisfy.

The fact that God has placed within every single human heart the desire for eternity means that, when humans seek to satisfy that longing apart from God, they will find that nothing, absolutely nothing, truly satisfies. The hole in each of our hearts that God intends eternity to fill will remain vacant until He fills it with His glory.

Show me people running here and there trying to satisfy a longing that nothing can fill, and I will show you people who are truly living meaningless lives. No matter what they may accomplish, no matter what they may experience in the moment, no matter what they may say, they will always fall short and remain unsatisfied apart from becoming filled with the glory of God. Thus, Solomon has accurately predicted their state. They will, indeed, live lives that are truly meaningless.

The only way this burden on the human race can be lifted is through a personal relationship with God through His precious Son, Jesus. Yes, salvation is all about the forgiveness of our sins, the satisfaction of God’s wrath toward us—because in His holiness, He cannot tolerate the presence of sin—the atoning sacrifice, the substitutionary death of Jesus in our place. But, salvation is also about filling that hole in each of our hearts where the longing for eternity resides. For, without salvation, we cannot experience eternity with God. Unless our sins are covered by Christ’s blood, we cannot enter into eternal life with God—our uncovered sins would be an abomination to our Holy God.

As we begin a new day, let’s think about the great joy that we experience because God has placed eternity in our hearts. Let’s be glad that this longing is not a burden to us because God’s Presence has given our lives true meaning, value, and worth. We were made for eternity. We have heaven in view. And, our purpose here on earth is to share the vision that we can see through our spiritually healed eyes, so that God might draw those to Himself whom He has chosen.

The gospel songwriter, Mary Reeves Davis, captured a bit of this in a song that most of us have heard at one time or another. It may seem simplistic and quaint, but it smacks of great truth.

This world is not my home. I’m just a-passing through.
My treasures are laid up somewhere beyond the blue.
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door.
And, I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.
Oh Lord, You know, I have no friend like You.
If heaven’s not my home, then Lord, what will I do?
The angels beckon me from heaven’s open door.
And, I can’t feel at home in this world anymore.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 7: What Time Is This In Your Life?

 

“There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens…”

—Ecclesiastes 3:1

Have you ever stopped to consider what time this is in your life? What do I mean? I’m asserting that in our lives we have specific times or seasons through which we pass as we move from one time in our lives to another. If my assertion rings true for you, then I ask again, “Have you ever stopped to consider what time this is in your life?”

I like to think of myself as someone who has rather eclectic musical tastes. I’ve mentioned that before on these blog posts. I enjoy what is commonly called classical music—although “classical” is but one period in the development of serious music. I also enjoy what is sometimes called “God, Home, and Country Music.” I even enjoy certain more modern Country tunes.

I am not much of a rock music fan, but I have been a big fan—even a huge fan—of two major rock groups: the Eagles and the band that began as the Chicago Transit Authority, but for many years has now been known as simply Chicago.

I can hear the shouts from certain rock fans insisting that were it not for Joe Walsh, the Eagles would be considered mostly a Country-Ballad group. Similarly, these same critics would say that Chicago, with its heavy emphasis on brass instruments played by largely college music majors, is only marginally considered a rock group.

I would respond by saying that both groups have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. And no matter what rock-purist-critics might say, these are the groups that I favor and the only ones for which I have collected all their available recordings and videos and for whom I would travel to see live and in concert. It doesn’t hurt that for the most part the founding musicians in these groups are people of my age or a little bit older. I identify with their musicianship, their emphasis on precision and quality, and their attention to musical details. Plus, I like the sounds they produce and the songs they sing.

But, back to my point: when I think of the “times of our lives” I always think of a particular “Chicago” song: “Does Anybody Know What Time It Is?” the next line of which states, “Does anybody really even care?”

At the end of his life, King Solomon cared. In fact, he cared enough that he penned these words found in Ecclesiastes 3:1-8:

There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under the heavens: a time to be born and a time to die, a time to plant and a time to uproot, a time to kill and a time to heal, a time to tear down and a time to build, a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance, a time to scatter stones and a time to gather them, a time to embrace and a time to refrain from embracing, a time to search and a time to give up, a time to keep and a time to throw away, a time to tear and a time to mend, a time to be silent and a time to speak, a time to love and a time to hate, a time for war and a time for peace.

No matter how we may choose to answer the question—“What time is this in our lives?”—we can move forward into this new day knowing that God has charted a pathway for us. His pathway includes every possible joy and maybe a few periods of testing, even sorrow. Each of these seasons in our lives will ultimately secure for us the best possible existence that He has to offer. As the Potter, He will shape us as His clay into the best form to serve His purposes and share His mercy, grace, and love with those around us.

I’ve quoted Adelaide Addison Pollard’s hymn several times over the years I’ve written this blog. It speaks to our response to the seasons of our lives:

Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way;
Thou art the Potter,
I am the clay.
Mold me and make me
After Thy will,
While I am waiting,
Yielded and still.

Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way;
Search me and try me,
Master, today.
Whiter than snow, Lord,
Wash me just now,
As in Thy presence
Humbly I bow.

Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way;
Wounded and weary,
Help me, I pray.
Power, all power,
Surely is Thine,
Touch me and heal me,
Savior divine.

Have Thine own way, Lord,
Have Thine own way;
Hold o’er my being
Absolute sway.
Fill with Thy Spirit
Till all shall see
Christ only, always,
Living in me

May we pray this prayer today. Amen.

Here’s a ten-year-old appearance by the band Chicago appearing on the television program Ellen, singing the song mentioned in this blog post:

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 6: For Without Him

 

“A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?”

—Ecclesiastes 2:24-25

Sometimes I wonder if we really understand what the Apostle James was writing about when he penned these words found in James 1:17:

Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, who does not change like shifting shadows.

This verse of Scripture means exactly what it says. Everything in our lives that is truly good and truly perfect has come to us as a gift from God. He is the Giver. We are the recipients. He gives and we receive.

Nothing we have is as a result of our ability to earn it. We do not deserve anything good in our lives. We are wretched, terrible, awful sinners. It is only through God’s mercy, grace, and love that we have been redeemed from our sin by the precious blood of Jesus.

We reach an important step in our spiritual formation when we recognize, accept, and celebrate the reality that all that we are and all that we have has come to us as a precious gift from God. If we look at our lives and declare that we have good people and good things in our lives, then they have come to us as a gift from God. If we see that we have talents and abilities to do things in a better, more effective, way than others, then that has come to us as a gift from God.

King Solomon knew this fact, as well. Here he was, the son of one of the greatest men in all of Scripture, King David. God had given Solomon great wisdom, knowledge, and understanding. There was no problem that Solomon could not solve, no challenge that he could not meet, no obstacle that he could not overcome. Not only was Solomon brilliant, he was handsome. He experienced excellent health. He accumulated great wealth, great power, and great stature in his world.

But, Solomon also knew that all that he was and all that he had acquired had come to him as a precious gift from God. Notice what he writes at the end of his life, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 2:24-26:

A person can do nothing better than to eat and drink and find satisfaction in their own toil. This too, I see, is from the hand of God, for without him, who can eat or find enjoyment?

To the person who pleases him, God gives wisdom, knowledge and happiness, but to the sinner he gives the task of gathering and storing up wealth to hand it over to the one who pleases God. This too is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

A key phrase from this discourse is “…for without him…” Without God, without a vibrant, personal relationship with Him, nothing matters. Without Him, the world around us is bleak and cold. Without Him, the relationships we have with others lack the depth and warmth we desire. Without Him, we cannot possibly meet head on the trials and difficulties of life. Without Him, we cannot fully enjoy the many wonderful gifts that come to us from His loving hand.

As a new day opens up before us, let us recognize with the totality of our beings that without God our lives would stink with the rot of eternal death. But, with Him—with God—our lives have the sweet perfume of God’s mercy, grace, and abiding love. The aroma of the Lord Jesus Christ has infused every pore of our being. And, that scent of victory over sin, death, and Satan gives off an aroma that God uses to draw men, women, boys, and girls to Himself.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 5: The Reward for Labor

 

“What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun?”

—Ecclesiastes 2:22

Have you ever worked very hard and, at the end of the workday, felt that you accomplished nothing?

When I was a student at Houghton College in western New York state, some friends asked me to drive them to a little town about twenty miles south of the college. They had agreed to unload some railroad cars.

Upon our arrival, the four of them went to work unloading 75-pound bags of cement. The boxcar probably held several hundred bags. I was not invited to help. In fact, because they didn’t want to share their wages with me, I was forbidden to help.

Quarter-hour after quarter-hour, they unloaded the boxcar. It was a very warm spring day. They soon soaked their tee shirts with sweat. Bag after bag, they kept unloading. After about seventy-five minutes, they still had a quarter of the boxcar to unload. They were tired and had begun to think better of this task.

Just as they finished unloading the boxcar, a truck drove up. In it was the man who had hired them. “I see you’ve got one car unloaded,” he said. “You realize there are three more cars, right?”

Sure enough, the car they had unloaded was flanked by two cars on the left and one car on the right. Each car was full to the top with bags of cement. I think my friends nearly fainted when they realized the task was only one-quarter completed.

As they started on the second car, I told them I would be back in a few hours. I drove back to the College, worked for about three-and-a-half hours, and drove back to the job site. It was now about seven o’clock in the evening. Fortunately, Daylight Savings Time was in force.

When I arrived, they still had about one-third of the final car to go. To say that they were dragging would be an understatement. They were thoroughly tired and very discouraged. In a little less than an hour later, with a great deal of struggle, they finished unloading the final boxcar. They wearily got into my car and we headed back to the College.

The next morning, all four of them were so sore and so tired that they vehemently stated they would never undertake such a task again. Never, ever, under any circumstances would they work so hard for so little wages. When they finally totaled up their “take” for the day, they found that each of them had earned about a dollar and twenty-five cents an hour. Now this was way back in 1967. But, even so, that was far too little money for such an investment of time and energy.

King Solomon understood their plight. In the Scripture passage for today, he continues the questioning at the end of his life, as we have been sharing with you over the past few days. Notice what he wrote, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 2:17-23:

So I hated life, because the work that is done under the sun was grievous to me. All of it is meaningless, a chasing after the wind.

I hated all the things I had toiled for under the sun, because I must leave them to the one who comes after me. And who knows whether that person will be wise or foolish? Yet they will have control over all the fruit of my toil into which I have poured my effort and skill under the sun. This too is meaningless.

So my heart began to despair over all my toilsome labor under the sun. For a person may labor with wisdom, knowledge and skill, and then they must leave all they own to another who has not toiled for it. This too is meaningless and a great misfortune. What do people get for all the toil and anxious striving with which they labor under the sun? All their days their work is grief and pain; even at night their minds do not rest. This too is meaningless.

Sometimes we invest a great deal of time and effort into a task only to have the next person who takes up that task squander all our hard work. I have a friend who manages a cemetery. When he took over, the recordkeeping was horrible. He spent months and months straightening out a mess that had accumulated over thirty years. In the last twelve years that he has managed the cemetery, he has created systems and procedures to keep the records up to date and the management of the facility moving along like a well-oiled machine.

But, my friend is now in his mid-eighties. He realizes that he will die relatively soon. He fears that, once he is gone, no one will devote the time and energy to the recordkeeping into which he has invested so much of his time and effort. He imagines that soon after he dies, the records will again be in serious disarray.

That’s how Solomon felt. And yet, in considering the work of our hands—work that God has given us to do, as a part of His great plan for our lives—we must accept the reality that we are only responsible for our part. We cannot take responsibility for what has gone on before us and what will come after us.

It’s good for us to recognize, as we begin another new day, that the measure of the value and success of our labor comes from God. Our role is to faithfully serve Him in whatever way He opens up before us. We are judged by our faithfulness. And, our labor for Him is never, ever, in vain.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 4: The Wise, Too, Must Die

 

“For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!”

—Ecclesiastes 2:16

In the midst of considering his life, now that he is approaching the end of it, King Solomon shares these thoughts, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 2:12-16:

Then I turned my thoughts to consider wisdom, and also madness and folly. What more can the king’s successor do than what has already been done?

I saw that wisdom is better than folly, just as light is better than darkness. The wise have eyes in their heads, while the fool walks in the darkness; but I came to realize that the same fate overtakes them both.

Then I said to myself, “The fate of the fool will overtake me also. What then do I gain by being wise?”

I said to myself, “This too is meaningless.” For the wise, like the fool, will not be long remembered; the days have already come when both have been forgotten. Like the fool, the wise too must die!

Some think that Solomon was far too concerned about his life and what he had done than was healthy for him. But, as I suggested in yesterday’s blog post, it is often good for us to take stock of where we’ve been, what we’ve accomplished, and where we intend to go.

My dear friend, Wayne Moore, in observing the timeline of most men’s careers, once remarked: “In our careers we go from ‘Who’s he?’ to ‘Who’s who!’ to ‘Who cares?’” I chuckle every time I think about that because I know many who have experienced such a career arc, including me.

Within the narrow context of what we do for a living, men often define their existence by what they’ve accomplished and, especially, what other people think about what they’ve accomplished.

I believe women view this quite differently. Most women skillfully and devotedly play many roles in their lives: daughter, wife, mother, grandmother, career person, and so forth. Men, on the other hand, seem to really play only one or two roles—at least to the extent of where they place the most of their energy.

So, for a man, when his career ends at retirement—or, in some unfortunate cases, even earlier—he begins to sense the loss of his identity that he has forged in his career. That’s why so many older men seem to be driven to find relevancy in their dotage.

But, God uses the people He has chosen to belong to Himself at all of the phases of their lives. That’s why the Bible urges young men to learn from older men. And, the Apostle Paul has given older men and older women key places in the development of the spiritual formation for the younger members of their churches (1 Timothy 5).

As we consider the beginning of a new day, if we are younger, we should look to those men and women who are older for their wisdom and grace. If we are older, we should willingly share the wisdom, knowledge, and understanding that God has given us over the course of our lives. Together, we can continue to serve in the way God has provided, no matter what age we may have reached.

All the while, we can celebrate the great joy that we have in fellowship with one another. We can also know that our relevance comes from God, not from what we have done in our careers. It is what we have done for Him that really has eternal value.

In previous blog posts, I have quoted the inspirational poem by C. T. Studd. But, this poem seems particularly appropriate today:

Traveling along life’s busy way;
Bringing conviction to my heart,
And from my mind would not depart:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Only one life, yes only one,
Soon will its fleeting hours be done;
Then, in “that day” my Lord to meet,
And stand before His Judgement seat:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Only one life, the still small voice,
Gently pleads for a better choice;
Bidding me selfish aims to leave,
And to God’s holy will to cleave:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Only one life, a few brief years,
Each with its burdens, hopes, and fears;
Each with its clays I must fulfill,
living for self or in His will:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

When this bright world would tempt me sore,
When Satan would a victory score;
When self would seek to have its way,
Then help me Lord with joy to say:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Give me Father, a purpose deep,
In joy or sorrow Thy word to keep;
Faithful and true what e’er the strife,
Pleasing Thee in my daily life:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Oh, let my love with fervor burn,
And from the world now let me turn;
Living for Thee, and Thee alone,
Bringing Thee pleasure on Thy throne:
“Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

Only one life, yes only one,
Now let me say, “Thy will be done.”
And when at last I’ll hear the call,
I know I’ll say “’twas worth it all”:
Only one life, ’twill soon be past,
Only what’s done for Christ will last.”

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 3: A Life Considered

 

“Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.”

—Ecclesiastes 2:11

Do you ever look back over your life and ask whether what you’ve accomplished has genuine value?

If God so allows it, in just five short months, I will reach an important milestone, as I complete 72 years of life. I know that old men often become nostalgic, longing for the “good old days.” I admit that I feel a little bit nostalgic. But mostly, I feel a sense of failure. As I look back over my life, I’m not at all certain that I have lived up to my potential. I’m not certain that I’ve accomplished everything that I should have accomplished. I fear that sometimes I have taken the easy way out and not forced myself to accomplish more.

I know I’m not alone in that feeling. King Solomon accomplished far more in his life than I have ever accomplished. Yet, he was not certain he had lived up to his potential either. Notice what he wrote, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 2:4-11:

I undertook great projects: I built houses for myself and planted vineyards. I made gardens and parks and planted all kinds of fruit trees in them. I made reservoirs to water groves of flourishing trees.

I bought male and female slaves and had other slaves who were born in my house. I also owned more herds and flocks than anyone in Jerusalem before me.

I amassed silver and gold for myself, and the treasure of kings and provinces. I acquired male and female singers, and a harem as well—the delights of a man’s heart.

I became greater by far than anyone in Jerusalem before me. In all this my wisdom stayed with me.

I denied myself nothing my eyes desired; I refused my heart no pleasure. My heart took delight in all my labor, and this was the reward for all my toil.

Yet when I surveyed all that my hands had done and what I had toiled to achieve, everything was meaningless, a chasing after the wind; nothing was gained under the sun.

I think to myself, “If Solomon felt that all he accomplished was meaningless, how much more should I feel that way when I consider my own puny life?” And yet, I know that God has chartered the pathway of my life. I committed my life to him way back in 1956 at the age of nine. I know for certain that He has guided me through my life and I recognize that everything I have accomplished has been through His enabling.

Perhaps that should be good enough. Instead of looking back with regret, I should look back with thanksgiving and joy that He has nudged me along the way and opened up so many wonderful opportunities for me.

That’s a lesson for all of us. We will never really know, this side of eternity, what we have truly accomplished in our lives. We need to trust God that His plan is perfect. He is the One who determines what value our life has. If we have devoted ourselves to serving Him, He is the One who judges our success. And, it is a much better reality to accept that in His love for us, He will accept our offering of ourselves to Him as the best accomplishment we could ever have.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 2: The Pleasure Test

 

“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”

—Ecclesiastes 2:1-3

Have you every wondered why pleasure is so… err… pleasurable? I mean wouldn’t it be a lot easier if “pleasure” had a bitter taste or an obnoxious smell attached to it?

King Solomon admitted that he was testing his subjects with pleasure, just to see how they would respond, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 2:1-3:

I said to myself, “Come now, I will test you with pleasure to find out what is good.” But that also proved to be meaningless.

“Laughter,” I said, “is madness. And what does pleasure accomplish?”

I tried cheering myself with wine, and embracing folly—my mind still guiding me with wisdom. I wanted to see what was good for people to do under the heavens during the few days of their lives.

Of course, not everything we deem pleasurable is bad for us. God has given us some things that we find filled with pleasure that come as a direct gift from Him. But usually, such things have some regulations attached to them—they can be “good for us” only under certain circumstances where these pleasures are experienced in the proper time, place, and with the proper motive.

Contrary to what some think, living a life dedicated to Jesus does not take away all pleasure. Instead, serving Christ makes the truly pleasurable things that are good for us even better. Consciously following in the footsteps of our Savior enhances the pleasurable things in this life.

As we begin a new day, let’s learn to enjoy God’s gift of pleasure in the framework that He has given us. Instead of pursuing pleasure in the selfish way that normally marks us, let’s determine to follow God’s plan whenever He gives us pleasurable gifts. If we do this, we will truly experience the very best God has to give us. And, we will do so in the best possible way.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Without God - Part 1: Meaningless! Meaningless!

 

“The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.”

—Ecclesiastes 1:8b

When things don’t go your way, have you ever cried out in frustration? If so, you are certainly not alone. Even kings sometimes become frustrated with the world around them.

King Solomon cried out in frustration, as recorded in Ecclesiastes 1:1-11:

The words of the Teacher, son of David, king in Jerusalem:

“Meaningless! Meaningless!” says the Teacher. “Utterly meaningless! Everything is meaningless.”

What do people gain from all their labors at which they toil under the sun? Generations come and generations go, but the earth remains forever. The sun rises and the sun sets, and hurries back to where it rises. The wind blows to the south and turns to the north; round and round it goes, ever returning on its course. All streams flow into the sea, yet the sea is never full. To the place the streams come from, there they return again.

All things are wearisome, more than one can say. The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing.

What has been will be again, what has been done will be done again; there is nothing new under the sun. Is there anything of which one can say, “Look! This is something new”? It was here already, long ago; it was here before our time. No one remembers the former generations, and even those yet to come will not be remembered by those who follow them.

What does it mean when Solomon says, “The eye never has enough of seeing, nor the ear its fill of hearing”? Doesn’t that indicate that we humans are never satisfied? We always want more. We never reach our capacity. Even if we have everything possible heaped on us, we feel frustrated and disappointed.

But, God is the giver of every gift—every perfect gift. How do we dare not be satisfied with His provision?

As we begin a new day, let’s contemplate King Solomon’s words. Let’s rejoice that whatever we have it has come to us as a precious gift from God. Oh, we may have difficulties in our lives. Our existence may seem almost unbearable at times. But, God has not forsaken us. He is at work in our behalf. Without His loving provision we would be far worse off than we are.

Let’s rest in His unfailing love this day. And, let’s thank Him for His faithfulness. Our lives may not have turned out like we once thought they would. But, we would be in much more dire straights if God were not caring for us in His unique way.

Sometimes life does seem meaningless. But that’s because we still don’t see the end. And, what’s up ahead will tell a tale of ultimate victory. Of that I am absolutely certain.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Write Your Own Copy of Scripture

 

“When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests.”

—Deuteronomy 17:14-20

No, I’m not suggesting that we create our very own version of Scripture, containing only those verses that we especially like and eliminating all the other verses that we don’t particularly like. Instead, I’m suggesting that, from time to time, we take a Chapter of Scripture that we want to learn and word-by-word write that Chapter down on a piece of paper or in a notebook.

The very act of writing the words of Scripture will help cement them in our minds and hearts. And, it will make the particular passage all the more meaningful when we hear someone read it during a worship service, or when we hear someone preach a sermon based on that passage.

On one of my many bookshelves, I have a red three-ring notebook that contains the photocopied pages of those originally written by a very a dear friend. This friend, while she was in college in the late 1950s and early 1960s, read through the Bible and, after reading each Chapter, wrote out a summary of the Chapter in her own words. It makes fascinating reading. Starting as an 18-year-old and progressing to the age of 21, it is interesting to see glimpses of how she was maturing spiritually. Her summaries of the New Testament Epistles, for example, exhibit a much deeper spiritual understanding than her summaries of the earlier Books of the Old Testament.

The idea of writing, or actually copying, portions of Scripture is not a new one. In fact, Moses shared the Law of God and gave some very specific instructions to His chosen people, the Jews, as recorded in Deuteronomy 17:14-20:

When you enter the land the Lord your God is giving you and have taken possession of it and settled in it, and you say, “Let us set a king over us like all the nations around us,” be sure to appoint over you a king the Lord your God chooses. He must be from among your fellow Israelites. Do not place a foreigner over you, one who is not an Israelite.

The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them, for the Lord has told you, “You are not to go back that way again.” He must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.

When he takes the throne of his kingdom, he is to write for himself on a scroll a copy of this law, taken from that of the Levitical priests. It is to be with him, and he is to read it all the days of his life so that he may learn to revere the Lord his God and follow carefully all the words of this law and these decrees and not consider himself better than his fellow Israelites and turn from the law to the right or to the left. Then he and his descendants will reign a long time over his kingdom in Israel.

I hope you noticed the last paragraph above. The king is instructed to write for himself, on a scroll, a copy of the law that Moses conveyed in this Book of Deuteronomy. Why? So that it would be with him, he could read it all the days of his life, learn to revere (or fear) God, follow carefully the words of the law, and not consider himself better than his fellow Jews.

Do you not think that if we did the very same thing—wrote out our own copy of Scripture—we could derive the same benefit. I think we could. I think we should. Why not start today?

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

What Does God Ask of Us?

 

“And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you…”

—Deuteronomy 10:12a

In developing a relationship with someone, have you ever asked the question, “Exactly what do you expect of me?”

Such a question usually arises because something has happened that has put a bit of a strain on the relationship. Not wanting to cause a further disturbance to the equilibrium of the relationship, we reach out to try to understand exactly what the other person expects of us.

As Moses led the children of Israel out of Egypt and into the desert, there came a time when God instructed Moses to ascend the mountain and receive the stone tablets on which God had written ten laws he wanted His people to follow. While Moses was absent, the people became impatient. They created a golden calf and began to worship it, instead of remaining faithful to God.

When Moses came down from the mountain, he was furious that the people had disobeyed God, created an idol to worship, and generally put themselves in severe disarray. In disgust and anger, Moses threw down the two stone tablets on which God had written the Ten Commandments. The tablets broke into pieces.

Now, God had summoned Moses to return to the mountain, fashion two new tablets, and God had graciously written His ten laws on the new tablets. As Moses comes down off the mountain, he gathers the people together and answers the question, “What does God expect us to do?” Moses’ answer is found in Deuteronomy 10:12-13:

And now, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you but to fear the Lord your God, to walk in obedience to him, to love him, to serve the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to observe the Lord’s commands and decrees that I am giving you today for your own good?

As “Christ’s-ones,” we have been grafted in to the chosen people of God. And, while we are no longer under the Law, but under grace, the message of the Law reminds us of what it means to be devoted to God.

Therefore, this new day, let’s understand that with our sins covered by the blood of God’s Son, Jesus, He still relates to us in a way that demands our obedience in all things. Thus, God asks us today to fear Him—that is to hold Him in the highest possible regard—to walk in obedience to Him, to love Him, to serve Him with all our heart, mind, soul, and strength, and to observe His commands by and through the power of the Holy Spirit, who dwells within us.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

The Seeking Time

 

“Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near.”

—Isaiah 55:6

Whenever I watch the television quiz show Jeopardy, I am often amazed at how easy it is for a contestant who obviously knows the “question,” during one of the three “Daily Double” answers, to fail to recall the “question” before the buzzer sounds that time has expired. In fact, I recognized long ago that if I could have an unlimited amount of time to come up with the “question,” I would be a great Jeopardy contestant.

The same thing happens with certain coupons. I routinely get bonus coupons from Staples, the office supply store. In fact, between Amazon and Staples, I rarely have to leave the comfort of my desk chair to purchase most anything I desire. But, the Staples coupons have an expiration date, as do many other types of coupons. More than once, I’ve missed the deadline and lost the benefit of the coupon.

Lots of things have expiration dates. In declaring an admonition to the people of Judah, the Prophet Isaiah says these potent words, found in Isaiah 55:6-7:

Seek the Lord while he may be found; call on him while he is near. Let the wicked forsake their ways and the unrighteous their thoughts. Let them turn to the Lord, and he will have mercy on them, and to our God, for he will freely pardon.

So, Isaiah seems to imply that God has determined a timeline during which we may seek Him. That timeline is defined as “while He may be found.” Fortunately, we do not to have to wait to hear a buzzer or keep watching the expiration date on a coupon. Rather, it is the Holy Spirit who determines “while He may be found.”

Actually, as someone who embraces Reformed Theology, I believe that, before the foundation of the earth, God chose the ones to whom He would send the Holy Spirit to call to Himself. It’s not up to us at all. But, when we sense that tug deep within us to acknowledge that God has redeemed us through the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus, we need to hasten to respond by giving ascent to the great gift God has given to us.

In effect, God’s mercy, grace, and love have no expiration date until we pass from this life into the next. Yet, if today we sense God’s call, let us hasten to respond. This day may well be our seeking time. And, that is a glorious day, indeed.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

A Charge to a Son

 

“…acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you;…”

—1 Chronicles 28:9:

When a father passes on the responsibility of running the company business to a son, it is a momentous occasion. This is all the more true when that company business is serving as king over a kingdom.

King David took the responsibility of handing the torch of power to his son, Solomon, very seriously. David recognized that Solomon had to come to grips with the fact that without the hand of God on his side, Solomon would fail and do great harm to the Kingdom of Israel.

Notice the charge that David gives his son, Solomon, as recorded in 1 Chronicles 28:8-10:

“So now I charge you in the sight of all Israel and of the assembly of the Lord, and in the hearing of our God: Be careful to follow all the commands of the Lord your God, that you may possess this good land and pass it on as an inheritance to your descendants forever.

“And you, my son Solomon, acknowledge the God of your father, and serve him with wholehearted devotion and with a willing mind, for the Lord searches every heart and understands every desire and every thought. If you seek him, he will be found by you; but if you forsake him, he will reject you forever. Consider now, for the Lord has chosen you to build a house as the sanctuary. Be strong and do the work.”

We may not think of ourselves as sons of a king. But, in a very real sense, we are sons of the most high God. He has chosen us to belong to Himself. He has redeemed us from our sins through the shed blood of His precious Son, Jesus. And, God has passed the ambassadorial torch to us in our role as His servants and representatives to a troubled and needy world.

It is fitting, therefore, that we take the words of King David’s charge to his son, Solomon, very seriously. Like Solomon, we have been chosen to advance the Kingdom of God here on earth through the testimony we give of what Jesus means to us and how graciously and kindly God has treated us, as His dearly loved children.

This new day, let’s grab onto this charge with great joy and with determination to do all that we can do to devote ourselves to serving our Father—The King Over All—and representing Him well to all who cross the pathway of our lives.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

But If From There...

 

“But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.”

—Deuteronomy 4:29

I’ve long been a fan of the television show MacGyver—both in the original 1985-1992 version and in the current 2016-2019 version starring Lucas Till. No matter what mess Mac and his cohorts get themselves into, we viewers know that eventually, through some miraculous use of whatever he finds at hand, Mac will get out of the mess and bring the episode to a satisfactory conclusion. We could summarize each plot as “Mac gets into a mess. But if from there he finds the right stuff around him, he will escape that mess.” Those words “but if from there” have great power in describing a point of ultimate decision that turns the world upside down.

I find it fascinating to note that in our spiritual lives each of us has had some moment—either in split second of time, or over a very long, gradual period of time—where we could say, “But, if from there.” In declaring words of instruction to God’s chosen people, the Jews, Moses writes the following in Deuteronomy 4:25-31:

After you have had children and grandchildren and have lived in the land a long time—if you then become corrupt and make any kind of idol, doing evil in the eyes of the Lord your God and arousing his anger, I call the heavens and the earth as witnesses against you this day that you will quickly perish from the land that you are crossing the Jordan to possess. You will not live there long but will certainly be destroyed.

The Lord will scatter you among the peoples, and only a few of you will survive among the nations to which the Lord will drive you. There you will worship man-made gods of wood and stone, which cannot see or hear or eat or smell.

But if from there you seek the Lord your God, you will find him if you seek him with all your heart and with all your soul.

When you are in distress and all these things have happened to you, then in later days you will return to the Lord your God and obey him. For the Lord your God is a merciful God; he will not abandon or destroy you or forget the covenant with your ancestors, which he confirmed to them by oath.

As we begin a new day, we must remember that no matter what mess we may get ourselves into, we do not need to “MacGyver” a way out of that mess. Rather, we simply need to turn about face and seek the Lord our God. If we seek Him, we will surely find Him. Therefore, we must continually seek Him with all of our hearts, minds, souls, and strength and love Him with this kind of devotion.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

God Answers Our Cry

 

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”

—Jonah 2:1-2

Have you ever gotten into a situation where you needed to cry out for help? Did someone come immediately to your aid?

Years ago, an acquaintance of mine drove her car off the road in a snow storm. Actually, she had earlier dropped an empty can of soda on the floor of her car. Instead of pulling to the side of the road, so she could retrieve the soda can, she kept driving on the Interstate. A bit later, the car in front of her suddenly came to a stop, as a gust of wind whipped the snow across the highway. When my acquaintance went to press on the brake pedal, the soda can had rolled underneath the pedal. The harder she pushed on the pedal, the more the soda can became wedged onto the bottom of the brake pedal impeding the braking of the car. To avoid hitting the stopped car ahead of her, she veered her car off the road. It rolled down an embankment and came to rest against a tree.

By God’s grace, she was not hurt. But, she couldn’t get the driver’s door open so she could exit the car. This was in those long ago days before cellular telephones. After a while, she heard a car stop along the road above her. So, she did what any of us would do, she called out for help. And, fortunately, a kindhearted individual came to her aid.

Every one of us gets into difficulty from time to time. We all need to seek the help of others. We cry out for help and trust that someone will come to our aid.

In our spiritual lives, as well as in our normal everyday lives, we need someone we can depend on to help us when we call out. The Prophet Jonah knew this, too. Notice what he writes, as he describes his time in the belly of the great fish, as recorded in Jonah 2:1-2:

From inside the fish Jonah prayed to the Lord his God. He said: “In my distress I called to the Lord, and he answered me. From deep in the realm of the dead I called for help, and you listened to my cry.”

Jonah recognized the extreme value of trusting that God would respond to his cry for help. Jonah knew that God was willing and able to provide the aid that Jonah needed. Jonah remember these words, “God is our refuge and strength,” from the magnificent song of Psalm 46:

God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble. Therefore we will not fear, though the earth give way and the mountains fall into the heart of the sea, though its waters roar and foam and the mountains quake with their surging.

There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy place where the Most High dwells. God is within her, she will not fall; God will help her at break of day.

Nations are in uproar, kingdoms fall; he lifts his voice, the earth melts. The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

Come and see what the Lord has done, the desolations he has brought on the earth. He makes wars cease to the ends of the earth. He breaks the bow and shatters the spear; he burns the shields with fire.

He says, “Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth.”

The Lord Almighty is with us; the God of Jacob is our fortress.

This new day, let us not hesitate to cry out to God when we need help. He will always answer. He will always come to our aid.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

God the Mighty Warrior and Powerful Singer

 

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

—Zephaniah 3:17

When we think about God, how do we picture Him in our mind? Maybe we think of Him as a benign Creator, One who loves us, One who has saved us from our sins, One who cares for us, nurtures us, and helps us. He is certainly all those things. But, He is also a Mighty Warrior.

Notice how the Prophet Zephaniah speaks of God in Zephaniah 3:17:

“The Lord your God is with you, the Mighty Warrior who saves. He will take great delight in you; in his love he will no longer rebuke you, but will rejoice over you with singing.”

Because we know from 1 Peter 5:8 that Satan desires to destroy us, we should also realize that to protect and save us we need a Mighty Warrior. God is such a One. And, one of His powerful weapons is the powerful voice He uses to sing over us.

Have you ever found yourself in a scary situation where you almost automatically began to sing? I have and I found that singing brings great comfort and even a bit of courage. Thus it is, when God begins to sing over us. Satan hears the voice of God and runs away in terror.

I believe that God’s voice has a sweetness to it, a lovely expression of melodic line, a tenderness, yet a firmness and a strength. I believe that God can out-sing the finest voice on our planet. I believe God’s voice in singing can bring such a peaceful calmness, that all who hear it will lay down at His feet and sense how protected they are from all harm. I also believe that God’s singing voice has enormous power to dispel all evil and vanquish any foe that might try to come against those God loves.

As we begin a new day, let’s imagine God singing over us and take great comfort from His love expressed in this amazing and powerful way.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Where is Your Heart?

 

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

—Matthew 6:19-21

What has captured our hearts?

I once knew a man who had admired a particular brand of sports car since he was seven years old. Finally, in his mid-fifties, he had earned enough money and saved enough money to purchase this $90,000 sports car. It was bright red with black interior trimmed in white.

To say that he was ecstatically proud does not begin to describe how he felt. He gladly showed anyone who wanted to see this new possession all of the features of the vehicle. He even agreed to take certain people, especially young women, for a ride in hs new car. You could hear him arrive in the parking lot at work each day because, once he found his parking spot, he would let the engine roar a couple of times before turning off the key.

About a month after he had bought the car, it was stolen from the parking lot at work. The police notified him a few days later that the car had been found, totally demolished, at the bottom of a steep ravine. It turned out that, while he had purchased liability insurance, he had not had enough funds left to purchase collision or comprehensive coverage. Thus, the theft of the vehicle and the total destruction of his prized possession was not insured.

He was so devastated that he became a shell of a man for many, many months. You see, he had placed all of his heart into the ownership of this longed-for possession. It was so very sad to see how much this car had meant to him.

In talking with the crowd gathered on the hillside in Galilee, Jesus gave these instructions, found in Matthew 6:19-21:

“Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moths and vermin destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where moths and vermin do not destroy, and where thieves do not break in and steal. For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

I ask again, “What has captured our hearts?”

As we begin another new day, let’s pause to consider what, or whom, we have allowed to capture our heart. Have we allowed something we own, or some human whom we hold onto tightly, capture our hearts? Or, have we given over our hearts to the One who loves us with His everlasting and unfailing love? This answer is critical to our well-being, even our very existence: “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.”

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Made Perfect in Love

 

“There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.”

—1 John 4:18

Love is such a powerful force that no one can tame it. Oh, some may try to put love in a frilly box, decorated with hearts, perfumed with the loveliest of fragrance, adorned with flowers, dripping with the sweetest taste. But, genuine love is not at all wimpy.

The Apostle John wrote these words in 1 John 4:18:

There is no fear in love. But perfect love drives out fear, because fear has to do with punishment. The one who fears is not made perfect in love.

Love has the ability to cast out fear. It has the ability to wash over punishment and banish all thoughts of recompense to the farthest part of the universe. Yes, fear simply withers in the face of love. Love has the ability to make perfect all that has become defective.

As we begin this new day, let’s allow God—who loves us with His everlasting love—to fill us full-to-overflowing with His God-breathed love. Then, with love as our bulwark against all foes, let’s share God’s love in such a gentle, kind, and harmless way, that God will use our sharing as a means of His grace in this world.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

You Will Not Be Shaken

 

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

—Isaiah 54:10

Whenever we think about earthquakes in the United States, we immediately think of California. In fact, many comedians have included California earthquake jokes in their repertoire: “Someday, during a earthquake, California is gonna detach from the mainland, float out into the Pacific Ocean, and disappear.”

That joke is not funny for those Californians who have lived through an earthquake. In fact, one of the most devastating earthquakes in modern times took place in 1906 in San Francisco. One of the many results of that quake and subsequent fire was that 97 insurance companies went out of business, creating an enormous financial crisis.

But, did you know that the most active seismic area in the United States is located in the middle portion of our country? Geologists call it the New Madrid Seismic Zone (NMSZ). It is located in southeastern Missouri, northeastern Arkansas, western Tennessee, western Kentucky and southern Illinois. Southwestern Indiana and northwestern Mississippi are also close enough to receive significant shaking from large earthquakes occurring in the NMSZ. Here’s a bit more about this phenomenon, courtesy of the Missouri Department of Natural Resources:

The active faults in the NMSZ are poorly understood because they are not expressed at the ground surface where they can be easily studied. The faults are hidden beneath 100- to 200-foot thick layers of soft river-deposited soils called alluvium. Fault scarps and traces in the soft alluvium erode in a very short time, or may be rapidly covered by new deposits, thereby quickly hiding evidence of earthquake fault lines. Faults in places like California, where rocks are at or near the ground surface, are much easier to study because the faults are readily found, seen, measured and analyzed.

Location of earthquake epicenters in and near the New Madrid Seismic Zone (circles scaled according to magnitude.)

Knowledge about some of the NMSZ faults is obtained by seismograph recordings of the frequent small earthquakes. St. Louis University, University of Memphis, the U.S. Geological Survey and University of Kentucky operate more than 30 seismograph stations to monitor earthquake activity in the NMSZ and Central U.S.

Microseismic earthquakes (magnitude less than 1.0 to about 2.0), measured by seismographs but not felt by humans, occur on average every other day in the NMSZ (more than 200 per year).

A series of three to five major earthquakes (believed to have been magnitude 7.0 or larger earthquakes) occurred in the NMSZ in the two month period between December 16, 1811 and February 7, 1812. Several thousand additional “smaller” earthquakes occurred during the three month period from December 16, 1811 to March 16, 1812. These included 15 earthquakes believed to have been magnitude 6.5 to 8.0 (the size range of the 1989 San Francisco, 1994 Los Angeles, and 1995 Kobe, Japan earthquakes) and 189 earthquakes magnitude 5.0 to 6.5.

Two thousand were felt by people, indicated by crude seismograph instruments and recorded in personal journals at Louisville, Kentucky and Cincinnati, Ohio, which are respectively 250 and 350 miles away. The New Madrid area was at the very frontier of European settlement at this time so there were very few non-native Americans living in the immediate area to report the earthquakes.

That is startling information. While most people thought that if they stayed out of California, the chance of significant earthquakes was greatly reduced. Yet here, in the very center of our country, lies the most potentially deadly earthquake zone that would affect literally millions upon millions of our citizens.

No one—no one—wants to endure such shaking. And, that’s equally true when it comes to a shaking in our emotional, intellectual, and spiritual lives, as well as in our physical lives. We want to rest on a secure foundation with no possibility of being tossed to and fro. That is exactly what led the Prophet Isaiah to report the following words from God, as found in Isaiah 54:10:

“Though the mountains be shaken and the hills be removed, yet my unfailing love for you will not be shaken nor my covenant of peace be removed,” says the Lord, who has compassion on you.

God’s love is unshakable. His foundation is secure. His covenant will not become nullified. We can totally rest on the solid rock of His mercy, grace, and love. There is no “New Madrid Seismic Zone” in the Kingdom of God.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}

 

Safe in a Fortress

 

“The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.”

—Proverbs 18:10

Not long ago, I heard of a “friend of a friend” who was quite proud of the security measures he had provided at his home to protect his wife and children while he was traveling for business. He had installed an elaborate video surveillance system that covered the exterior of his home, including the vast expanse of his yard.

He had provided a very complete security system with an off-premises monitoring via a cellular telephone transmitter. He had also provided reinforced doors with sturdy locks and windows with hardened glazing. He even had a so-called “safe room” built where his family could lock themselves into if someone tried to forcibly enter their home.

All in all, this man felt he had done everything he possibly could do to keep his family safe in his absence. I commend him for his desire to protect his family from harm. Because of his efforts, it is very unlikely that his family will ever be successfully attacked in their home.

As followers of Jesus, we Christians live and work in a hostile world. Satan is always prowling around trying to find ways to attack us (1 Peter 5:8-9). Just like my friend who went to great efforts to protect his family, so God has given us a strong tower of protection. That protection comes from the power of His matchless name.

Notice what King Solomon writes in Proverbs 18:10:

The name of the Lord is a fortified tower; the righteous run to it and are safe.

That the very name of God would have such power should not come as a surprise. The power of the triune God—Father, Son, and Holy Spirit—is so immense that we cannot possibly comprehend it. The very name of God has great power.

In writing to the Christians in the church at Philippi, the Apostle Paul reminded them of this great power when he wrote in Philippians 2:5-11:

In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:

Who, being in very nature God, did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage; rather, he made himself nothing by taking the very nature of a servant, being made in human likeness.

And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself by becoming obedient to death—even death on a cross!

Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.

As we begin a new day, let’s remember that the very name of God is our protection. His strong tower will provide a place where we can find safety. Let’s hold the name of God dear to our hearts and minds, knowing that His love will surround us with a strong, impenetrable hedge of protection.

 

_{Copyright © 2019 by Dean K. Wilson. All Rights Reserved.}

_{More info at www.DeanKWilson.com}