Thoughts on Death: 59 in Las Vegas, Tom Petty, and my Own

Yesterday was a very difficult day in America. Over 59 people‘s last day earth was yesterday in Las Vegas as they were brutally gunned down. On another note, beloved rock singer Tom Petty died at 66 of a sudden heart attack. I think more people were shaken by his sudden death than the 59 in Vegas. But, that’s not what my posting is about. Days like yesterday, can cause some of us to have a deep wake up call to a sense of our own mortality. I myself am 64 years old and I have outlived many of my heroes. I’ve also seen my own younger brother die at 21 and have lost several dear friends who died suddenly while others died slowly and agonizingly prematurely. 

  Yesterday has made me realize the closeness of death like never before. Death snatches us all. In Hebrews 9:27 we are told, “And as it is appointed for men to die once, but after this the judgment.” In Ecclesiastes 7:2 Solomon wrote, “For death is the destiny of every man.”

How do you feel about your death? Are you prepared for your own inevitable last day of your life?  Jonathan Edwards.lived his life by 70 resolutions to help focus his thinking. Several were in regards to thinking about his own death:

#7 Resolved, never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if it were the last hour of my life.

#9 Resolved, To think much, on all occasions, of my own dying, and of the common circumstances which attend death.

#17 Resolved, that I will live so, as I shall wish I had done when I come to die.

#19 Resolved, Never to do anything which I would be afraid to do, if I expected it would not be above an hour before I should hear the last trump.

An entry in his diary reads: Monday, Feb 24, 1724. Let everything have the value now which it will have on a sick bed; and frequently, in my pursuits, of whatever kind, let this question come into my mind, How shall I value this on my deathbed? “   Jonathan Edwards lived with an awareness of his death. I’m asking myself I do this. I wonder if you live aware of your death as well? Does this affect your daily actions?

I have had a reality check, that has caused me to do some real thinking about my life. Listen to the insight God gave to Moses. Standing on THE SHORES OF THE Jordan River. Moses looks over the Promised Land and cries “Lord teach us to number our days!”  “Let me be aware of  the limitations of my life. Let me have a outlook on my death and my life. Let me remember.

“Teach us to number our days”  Moses paints a picture of life being like a book. Each day is a new page. Each night another page is turned. We don’t know when the final page will be turned. Moses says, “You return man to dust and say, "Return, O children of man!... You sweep them away as with a flood; they are like a dream, like grass that is renewed in the morning:in the morning it flourishes and is renewed; in the evening it fades and withers… The years of our life are seventy, or even by reason of strength eighty; yet their span is but toil and trouble; they are soon gone, and we fly away.” (Verses 3,5,-6,10) 

Moses concludes: “Teach us to number our day’s.” Little children don’t number their days; they don’t think about the reality that they will die. Most teenagers don’t either; rather they are indestructible and immortal.  When someone close to us dies we are shocked, especially if they are our age or younger. Every day someone dies. We sneak a peak at the obituaries, we hear the news, we see it on T.V.. Yet we still deny it will happen to us. Though we deny it, it means nothing to it, since death doesn’t have to ask for our permission. Death is coming and everyday is someone’s last.  In spite of the prevalence of death, we prefer not to talk about it. Most of us recognize that we will eventually die, but this recognition is reserved for a distant event decades from now, not today, not this week, not this month, not this year.  Death is a foreigner, not a close neighbor.

William Law wrote that the living world's brilliance blinds us from eternity and the reality of death.  "The health of our bodies, the passions of our minds, the noise and hurry and pleasures and business of the world, lead us on with eyes that see not and ears that hear not."'

It is this unexpectedness of death like took place yesterday that should encourage us to take a second look, to reconsider our pleasant denial, to admit that, yes, death might visit us as early as this week. 

Jesus tells a story that illustrates this. Luke 12:15-21, “Then he said to them, "Watch out! Be on your guard against all kinds of greed; a man's life does not consist in the abundance of his possessions." And he told them this parable: "The ground of a certain rich man produced a good crop. He thought to himself, 'What shall I do? I have no place to store my crops.' "Then he said, 'This is what I'll do. I will tear down my barns and build bigger ones, and there I will store all my grain and my goods. And I'll say to myself, "You have plenty of good things laid up for many years. Take life easy; eat, drink and be merry." '"But God said to him, 'You fool! This very night your life will be demanded from you. Then who will get what you have prepared for yourself?' "This is how it will be with anyone who stores up things for himself but is not rich toward God."

The reality is none of us know when it’s her time. Did those 59 in Las Vegas know that it was going to be the last day of their life, Tom Petty know that he was going to have a massive heart attack he and that would be the last day of his life?

Thomas A Kempis urged, “Thou oughtest so to order thyself in all thy thoughts and actions, as if today thou were about to die. What ways shall I wish that I had taken when I am leaving this world?”’

When confronted with the reality of death, it is amazing how we begin to see what is really important in life.  That is why young people give little thought to the significance of their lives, while the elderly think about it all the time.  In the face of the end of life, questions about its significance loom large.  There comes a time when we stop denying our death and start numbering our days.  Do you?

Moses goes on and writes, “that we may get a heart of wisdom.”  What is a heart of wisdom? Let’s look at the opposite. It is one who does not number his days aright. The fool who lives in denial of death! “The heart of wisdom is the one who lives his or her life in view of the reality of their death.”  I want to challenge us to look death in the face, to seize its reality, and make it the very tool that inspires us to live.

Deuteronomy 32:29, “If they were wise, they would understand this; they would discern their latter end!”  Psalm 39:4,  “O LORD, make me know my end and what is the measure of my days; let me know how fleeting I am!”  Ecclesiastes 9:10, “ Whatever your hand finds to do, do  with all your might, for in the grave, where you are going, there is neither working nor planning nor knowledge nor wisdom.”  Ephesians 5:15-17, “See then that you walk circumspectly, not as fools but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.  Therefore do not be unwise, but understand what the will of the Lord is.” What happens when we reflect on our death?

1. Reflecting on our death refocuses our perspective 

Remembering my death is acting like a filter, helping me to hold onto what is essential and to let go of what is trivial. Why let trivial things capture our hearts?  When we forget death we lose perspective. 

Eternity turns everything around.  On judgement day I suspect, the things that bother us now, that force us out of our agenda's and schedules-taking the time to help someone, reading our bibles-will be the very things we deem most important.  We may not remember the t.v. show we skipped, the surf session we missed to do God's will, but in eternity we'll be so g!ad we did.

A group of 50 elderly people over 95 years old were asked one question: “If you could live your live over again, what would you do differently?” The three most dominant answers were: I would reflect more, I would risk more, I would do more things that would live on after I am dead. When confronted with the reality of death, it is amazing how we begin to see what is really important in life. 

2. Reflecting on our death filters our passions and priorities

What person in his right mind would continue contemplating an affair if he knew he wasn't going to wake up the next morning?  What person would risk eternity in a drunken stupor? What fool would ignore his loved ones and his God for one last night so he could make an extra thousand bucks just before he died? "Death is the best rule which we can make for all of our actions and undertakings.” Fenelon

 When we schedule our priorities and follow our passions without regard to eternity we are essentially looking out of the wrong end of the telescope.  Instead of seeing things clearly, our vision gets distorted.  We miss the big picture.  It will cause us to continue rebelling against God thinking later on we'll set things right, then death comes and surprises us, because we soon forgot we were presuming.

Remember Jonathan Edwards 17th resolution? "Resolved that will live so, as wish I'd done when come to die." Paul exhorts Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:5-8, “But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, and discharge all the duties of your ministry.  For I am already being poured out like a drink offering, and the time has come for my departure.  I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, and I have kept the faith.  Now there is in store for me the crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, will award to me on that day- and not only to me, but also to all who have longed for his appearing.” 

Jesus teaches us in the parable of the talents that each person's perspective affected how they lived.  "His master replied, 'Well done, good and faithful servant You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things.  Come and share your master’s happiness!” (Matthew  25:21-30) John Maxwell says, "In order to hear well done from the Lord, we have to well do for the Lord.  John Mason says, “Do today what you would postpone until tomorrow.”  The only thing that comes to a procrastinator is death. Do it now! Start living for God, start serving Him and His people. Find out His will and do it.

How to keep death alive-“Remember”

When my dad died three years ago  it reminded me in a way that nothing ever had that one day my body, my bones will be lying in a casket.  My work on earth will be done.  What will matter than?  What should matter now? What should matter in the light of my future death?  I would encourage you all to remember,

1. Remember in reflecting on those who have lived and died before you

Hebrews 12:1-4, “ Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us,  looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured from sinners such hostility against himself, so that you may not grow weary or fainthearted.   In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood.”

We are here for such a limited time, and it may be shorter than I think.  What did their life mean?  What does my life mean? Paul said,

Philippians  1:20-21, "It is my eager expectation and hope that I will not at all be ashamed, but that with full courage now as always Christ will be honored in my body, whether by life or by death. For to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain."

Acts 20:24,  "But I do not count my life of any value nor as precious to myself, if only I may finish my course and the ministry that I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify to the gospel of the grace of God."

2 Timothy 4:7, "I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith."

2. Remember Jesus death. 

John 19:30, “ When he had received the drink, Jesus said, "It is finished." With that, he bowed his head and gave up his spirit.”

 What is your "it"?  What must you accomplish so that, like Jesus, at the Hour of your death you can look up to heaven and say.  "I've been faithful."?   

3. Remember we glorify the Lord by our death 

"Truly, truly, I say to you, when you were younger, you used to gird yourself and walk wherever you wished; but when you grow old, you will stretch out your hands and someone else will gird you, and bring you where you do not wish to go." Now this He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God. And when He had spoken this, He said to him, "Follow Me!" (John 21:18-19)  

Jesus told Peter about the fact that he would die in his service. It was indirect, but Peter probably got the message. And who knows what look was on Jesus' face when he said it. But such is the price of following Jesus Christ. This isn't so different from what he predicts for each of us. "If anyone comes to Me, and does not hate . . . his own life, he cannot be My disciple" (Luke 14:26). "He who loves his life loses it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it to life eternal" (John 12:25). "If anyone wishes to come after Me, he must deny himself, and take up his cross and follow Me" (Matthew 16:24). "They will put some of you to death, and you will be hated by all because of My name" (Luke 21:16-17). 

 John said Peter's death was to glorify God, "This He said, signifying by what kind of death he would glorify God." The way John said this seems to show that he considers all our deaths as appointed for the glory of God. The difference is: with what kind of death will we glorify God?  Are you ready for this? Will you show God great in the way you die? Will you say like Paul, "To live is Christ and to die is gain"? Will you call this ugly, defeated, torturing enemy sweet names? Will the loss of all your earthly family, friends, and possessions fade at the prospect of seeing and being with Christ?

Are you ready for the end of your time? Psalm 90:12, “So teach us to number our days that we may get a heart of wisdom. ”  Ecclesiastes 7:2 "Death is the destiny of every man; the living should take this to heart" 

It’s been said, “When you were born,' he said, you alone were crying and everybody else was happy.  Live your life in such a way that when you die you alone going to be happy, leaving everybody else crying. ?  

Jonathan Edwards resolved, “Resolved to live with all my might while I live!”

Are you ready for the day of your death?

A Prayer

Oh Father in heaven, giver of life and ordainer of our death. Give us a view of life that would change our view of death. Teach us to number our days aright so that we may gain a heart of wisdom. Cause us like Paul to be able to say and believe from the depths of our heart, “For me to live is Christ, and to die is gain.” Cause us to live each day in remembrance of our death. Make us ready to die well by helping us to live well. Let us never forget how precious life is. Whether we live long lives or short lives, help us to live with all our might while we live. We long, oh Lord, that on the day of our death to be able to face you with joy and hear the words from Your lips to us, “Well done, My good and My faithful servant. Enter into the joy of the Lord.” Oh what gain that will be! In Jesus name. AMEN

Captivated By Beauty!

"One thing have I asked of the LORD, that will I seek after: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to gaze upon the beauty of the LORD and to inquire in his temple."

Psalm 27:4

"On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate."

Psalm 145:5

“In your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore” 

Psalm 16:11

Two of my favorite places in the world and the most beautiful places I have ever been are Hanalei Bay on the island of Kauai and in Kings Canyon National Park by  Boyden Cave. Oh how many days I have surfed at Hanaleiand and sat out in the water looking out over the panorama all across the western horizon with beautiful waterfall cascades throughout the majestic green mountains of the North Shore of Kauai coupled with the beautiful perfect waves of Hanalei Bay and all the sea life. Many times I would sit on my surfboard out in the water with a smile on my face and just breathe it all in and take it all in all the colors and the  life and the feeling of being so alive. 

The other place is on the Boydon Cave trail in Kings Canyon National Park. When hiking there you pass the cave and walk about 2 miles through this narrow canyon full of cascading pools each a little higher than the next that lead to a beautiful waterfall. It used to be the highlight of all the retreats I took youth groups, college groups, singles groups, and my church for 33 years. I'd lead the group to hike up to these pools and we'd spend the day there. Sometimes the trail was overgrown with poison ivy and it was always an adventure to get there but it was well worth it. Once we reached the main pool where people would sun, dive, and swim I would always spend precious and unforgettable time observing the majestic surroundings al around the pool. As I observed the forest and the majestic mountains that surrounded and created the hidden solitude of these pools, I  cannot explain the affect that taking this all in had upon me. I would often be left breathless by the splendor of those mountains and trees and pools surrounding me and my vision. It's as though I'd been granted a brief glimpse of the splendor of the new earth would look like in the ages to come. The best description I could say of what would happen to me was that I was captivated by such beauty. No matter how many times I spent at those pools I never stopped being drawn and moved by such beauty. 

There are many things viewed by our eyes that have the power to evoke delight in our hearts. We could say the same thing about things we hear such as a beautiful song. There is also the beauty of a scent such as that of a flower, perfume, or the fragrance of the ocean when you know you are close to it. 

What makes something beautiful? Sam Storms defines it this way:

"Whatever is done is that surprises and takes our breath away; whether it is the golden  glow of a lingering sunset, the cavernous  depths of the Grand Canyon, or the inaugural steps of a firstborn child. Beauty is whatever causes our hearts to beat with increasing repeatedly and sends chills down our spines or causes goosebumps to rise on our arms. Beauty is whatever stirs up worth in the human Spirit and  enables us to feel the dignity of self in the hope of tomorrow."

But  beauty can also be acts of courage, compassion, kindness, virtue, generosity, or self-sacrifice. But what of God? Can we speak of him as beautiful?

To me God is beauty itself, the source of all beauty. Augustine put it this way: "God is my father, supremely good, beauty of all things beautiful." 

Our response to a beautiful sunset, an inspiring action, the grandeur of the mountains, or a captivating song stir in me the realization that God desires no less, and indeed far more, from all of us in our relationship with him. God's revelatory manifestation of himself in creation, providence, in scripture, and preeminently in the face of his son, Jesus Christ, is designed to evoke within our souls the  breathtaking delight and incomparable joy to which God alone is worthy. Beauty is that in God which makes him eminently desirable and attractive and quickens in our soul a realization that it was made for a different world.

God, the source of all beauty, suddenly pulled back the curtain on his glory, which is his beauty made manifest. He has disclosed Himself into the creation and redemption in order that we might stand full of wonder in his presence, beholding the sweet symmetry of his attributes, pondering the unfathomable depths of his greatness, amazed by the wisdom of his deeds, and awestruck by the limitless extent of his goodness. This is his beauty!

God's beauty is perfect, absolute, and independent. All other beauty is is a derivative of the creators beauty. Therefore,as beautiful as it is, it is only beautiful in a secondary sense and only to the degree that it reflects the excellencies of God and fulfills the purpose but which he made what is beautiful. The Spirit of God communicates God's beauty to this world through creation. 

"The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard."

Psalm 19:1-3

But whatever beauty we see now is what I feed echo of the invisible realm from which it came, a dim fortaste in anticipation of the beauty of the world to come. Fourth century church father, Gregory of nicer put it this way:

"Hope always draws the soul from the beauty which is seen to what is beyond, always kills the desire for the hidden to what is constantly perceived. Therefore, the ardent lover of beauty, although receiving what is always visible as an image of what he desires, he longs to be filled with a very stamp of the arch type. And the bold request which goes up the mountains of desire asks this: to enjoy the beauty not in mirrors and reflections, but face to face."

It was never God's plan for me to worship Kings Canyon, Hanalei Bay, or anything that he has made; but to see in and through all these things a glimpse of the glory that yet awaits me.

CS Lewis reminds us that, 

"the books are the music in which we thought the beauty was located will betray us if we trust to them; it was not in them, it only came through them, and what came through them was longing. These things, the beauty, the memory of our own past, are good images of what we really desire; but if they are mistakes for the thing itself, they turn into dumb idols, breaking the hearts of their worshipers. For they are not the thing itself; they are only the scent of a flower we have not found, the echo of the tune we have not heard, news from a country we have never visited."

When we encounter divine beauty, it is more than merely enjoyable, it is profoundly transforming. The apostle Paul says that this encounter of seeing Christ is the very means a change or is John piper put it be holding is the way of becoming. Paul alluded to this in 2 Corinthian's 3:18  when he says, "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." 

His point is that what we see is what we be! When you see the beauty of Christ his beauty takes hold of is and awakens us to the reality of it being whode beauty we are being called to and conformed to by his gracious initiative. God's beauty has the power to dislodge from our hearts all that is ugly and unattractive and awakens us to embrace all that is beautiful, lovely, and God like. God's beauty has the power to dislodge from our hearts the grip of all moral and spiritual ugliness. When we engage with heavenly beauty it elicits love and forges us new affections that  no earthly power can ever overcome. Light of Christ beauty also exposes all those things that once captivated our hearts but we find out our incomparable to the beauty that we find in him. Not only that we discover the destructive powers of all those lesser beauties that once captured the desires of our hearts.

King David's passion was to see and behold this beauty. I am not trying to take away the joy and delight that you have in seeing, hearing, and sensing beautiful things. What I'm challenging you to do this is to see that the essence of Christianity is raising your eyes to the source of all beauty the beautiful one Jesus Christ!

Jonathan Edwards said it this way, 

"there is a very great delight the Christian enjoys in the sight he has of the glory and excellency of God. How many arts and contrivances have men to delight the eye of the body. Men take the light in the beholding a great cities, splendid buildings, and stately palaces. And what delight is often taken in the beholding of a beautiful face. May we not well conclude that great delights may also be taking in pleasing the eye of the mind in seeing the most beautiful, most glorious, the most wonderful being in the world? 

The answer is YES! That sort of true happiness and sin killing spiritual delight rises from the sight or apprehension of the most beautiful being in the universe who is preeminently excellent.

 To be continued...

Content or Discontent, Which "Tent" Do You Live In?

"Not that I am speaking of being in need, for I have learned in whatever situation I am to be content. I know how to be brought low, and I know how to abound. In any and every circumstance, I have learned the secret of facing plenty and hunger, abundance and need. I can do all things through him who strengthens me."

Philippians 4:11-13

What makes you happy? Is it physical comfort? Six-figure salary? Emotional stability? The absence of conflict? Sexual gratification? Any earthly or  temporal achievement? What if these are all absent from your life? Are you therefore unhappy? 

God has destined you to a state of soul in which we experience and express optimum happiness in God. True happiness is your whole soul resting in God and rejoicing that  so beautiful and glorious a being as God  is ours. God has so loved us and given us the privilege to  be able to enjoy making much of him forever. It is there where true happiness lies.

Another word use by the apostle Paul for happiness is contentment. Which tent do you live in contentment or dis-contentment?

The apostle Paul in Philippines 4:11 says that he had to learn to be content. Contentment does not come naturally for us. We are all discontent by nature because though we think things on earth will bring contentment, the fact is that nothing on this earth can bring true happiness and contentment to us. So we have to learn the secret of happiness. 

The lie we must fight is the frantic effort to think that money, drugs, chocolate, and a full equipped SUV can do for us with God cannot.

Contentment and discontentment is all a matter where you look or who you love or who's offer of pleasure you'll accept. If you look for anything in the world to find your happiness and joy you will inevitably become discontent. I have said many times that virtually everything you find on this earth that brings you happiness will one day make you sad. First, because nothing on this earth lasts. Secondly because the way God made your soul is so that nothing can satisfy your soul on this earth, therefore, you will always end up discontented in life if you think you can find your contentment here on earth. 

Augustine said it best, 

"Oh Lord you have made us for yourself and our hearts find no rest unless we find it in you."

You were made to find your greatest joy and greatest happiness and greatest contentment at the display of God's glory in Jesus Christ. Jonathan Edwards put it this way:

"The pleasures of loving and obeying,loving and adoring, blessing and praising the infinite being, the best of beings, the eternal Jehovah; the pleasures of trusting in Jesus Christ, in contemplating his beauties, excellencies, and glories; in contemplating his love to mankind and to us, in contemplating his infinite goodness and astonishing loving kindness; the pleasures of the communion of the Holy Spirit in conversing with God, the maker and governor of the world; the pleasure that results from the doing of our duty, and acting worthily and excellently; these are the pleasures that are worthy of so noble a creature as a man is."

So how do we learn contentment? We must endeavor to increase our spiritual appetites by meditating on spiritual objects. Every time I surrender my mind to meditate on base and sordid objects  their grip on my life will be intensified. The apostle Paul tells us that these are the things that will elevate and deepen your joy to daily meditate on:

Finally, brothers, 

whatever is true, 

whatever is honorable, whatever is just, 

whatever is pure, 

whatever is lovely, 

whatever is commendable, 

if there is any excellence, 

if there is anything worthy of praise, 

think about these things. - Philippians 4:8

Paul is challenging us to actually think about these things, ponder them, pour over them, and become vulnerable to the power of God is invested in them to transform our values of happiness and feelings of happiness and to energize our wills.

Perhaps no one was more diligent on meditating on spiritual objects than David, king of Israel. I'm reminded of three statements in particular, which express the intensity and single-mindedness of his devotion.

"I say to the LORD, "You are my Lord; I have no good apart from you."  Psalm 16:2

"I have set the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not be shaken." Psalm 16:8

"Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever." Psalm 73:25-26

David was so diligent to avert his eyes from all lesser beauty. His resolve was to set the Lord before him, to concentrate his attentions and the energies of a sore on the majesty and power of the one who alone who would sustain him when all else is shaking. This was not just in frequent or occasional choice or one he reverted to in times of crisis,but was in orientation of life to which he was always committed.

Like David that was Paul's orientation in life. That is why he was able to say that no matter what state of life he was in abasing or abounding. He was a contented man. His happiness, his joy, his contentment, the color of his life, was bound not on anything in this world whether good or bad, rich or poor, not on any circumstances good or bad, not with whether life was going good or life was extremely difficult; no, Paul's contentment was rooted in God and God alone and is it no wonder why Paul can say things like "rejoice in the Lord always"(Philippians 3:1; 4:4)

One of my great heroes, Jonathan Edwards tasted this kind of contentment in the midst of the most bitter experience of us really life. After 24 years faithfully pastoring his church in North Hampton, Massachusetts, he wasn't just the fired by an overwhelming vote of the Mail membership of his church. But like Paul, he seemed to live above earth and hell, out of reach of everything here below, so that he looked in all the rage and torment of men with a kind of holy indifference and undisturbed tranquility. How did he do it? One church member sympathetic to Jonathan Edwards described in which reaction to being fired:

"That faithful witness received the shock, unshaken. I never saw the least symptoms of displeasure in his countenance the whole week, but he appeared like a man of God, who is happiness was out of the reach of his enemies and his treasure was not only a future but a present good, over balancing all imaginable ills of life, even to the astonishment of many who could not be at rest without his dismission."

I love this, "out of reach of his enemies and his treasure was not only a future but a present good."

That is the contentment that Paul learned and spoke about. That is the contentment that David knew. 

Have you been living in the tent of discontentment? Oh dear reader order your in such away life so that you can be easily enticed by the beauty of Christ. Make it easy on your soul by exposing yourself to the things that will awaken your desire and deep in your holy longings. Ask God to become the epicenter of your life, joy, and as a result, to help you like Paul learned the secret of contentment: 

"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me." (Philippians 2:13)

Whether you are  abased or abounding  may you become a contented person because your joy, your happiness, and your life is routed not on this earth but I'm Jesus Christ.

HOW GREAT IS YOUR GOD?

How big is your God? There are ways to answer that question. 

Where do you turn when you have problems, what gives you the most pleasure in your life? Where do you turn when you feel guilty and shame? When you hear reports of problems in the world, what is your reaction? When people wrong to you or treat you unjustly what is your response? When you feel lonely and have lost hope where do you turn? Is God big enough for your problems? Is he big enough for your circumstances? Is he big enough to free you from your sins and weaknesses? Is he big enough to heal your sicknesses? Is he big enough to provide for your needs? Is he big enough to free you from your guilt and your shame? Is this a God you can hope in? Is this a God you can sing about on Sunday? Is this a God who give you a reason not to sin on Monday?  

In a world where God has been shrunk to a small size. In a world where God is been minimalized and marginalized, if not out right ignored, we need to reinvigorate our hearts with a fresh vision of the magnitude and beauty of God's divine power and greatness. The testimony of God and his word is unmistakable.

He is mighty and strength parenthesis (Job 9:4). Our God is the Lord strong and mighty (psalm 24:8). Our God is in our midst, A great and awesome God (Deuteronomy 7:21).

He is the Lord of hosts, the mighty one of Israel (Isaiah 1:24). Jeremiah said this of God in celebration:

'Ah, Lord GOD! It is you who have made the heavens and the earth by your great power and by your outstretched arm! Nothing is too hard for you. You show steadfast love to thousands, but you repay the guilt of fathers to their children after them, O great and mighty God, whose name is the LORD of hosts,Great in counsel and deed(Jeremiah 32:17-19).

Creation is a testimony to the greatness of his might (Isaiah 40:26).

He is lord, owner, ruler, and king of all creation home none can resist or over power (Matthew 11:25; Revelation 1:8; Psalm 29:10; Jeremiah 10:7, 10).

He is the Lord Almighty (2 Corinthians 6:18; Revelation 4:8;11:17).

He is the blessed and only sovereign, the king of kings and Lord of lords (1 Timothy 6:15).

Nothing is too difficult for him; all things are within his power (Genesis 18:14; Zechariah 8:6; Jeremiah 32:27)

The angel Gabriel told the Virgin Mary that she could conceive a child without the involvement of a man and said, nothing will be impossible with God." (Luke 1:37)

After contemplating the difficulty of a rich man getting into heaven, Jesus said:

"With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." - Matthew 19:38

Be still dear reader and that you're mine Basque on these incredible declarations about our God: 

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.  - Psalm 115:3

Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps.  - Psalm 135:6

For the LORD of hosts has purposed, and who will annul it? His hand is stretched out, and who will turn it back?  - Isaiah 14:27

I am God, and there is no other; I am God, and there is none like me, declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose,'  - Isaiah 46:9-10

Then Job answered the LORD and said: "I know that you can do all things, and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.  - Job 42:1-2

All the inhabitants of the earth are accounted as nothing, and he does according to his will among the host of heaven and among the inhabitants of the earth; and none can stay his hand or say to him, "What have you done?"  - Daniel 4:35

So again I asked the question, does God have the power to break the stranglehold that sin has on our hearts? YES!

Does God have the power to strengthen us, to energize us, and to enable us to persevere with every fiber of being cries out to quit and give up? YES!

Does God have the power to defeat Satan,his temptations, his torments, his continuous accusations, and his lies?YES HE DOES! Does God have the power to heal our inner wounds, our brokenness, and years of bitterness in our souls? YES! Does God have the power to break any habits and bondages in our minds and life? YES!

This is a point in which we should all stop and pause to a door, honor, and praise our God. 

I close with with Steven Charnick said: 

"Wisdom and power of the ground of the respect we give to men; they being both infinite in God, are the foundation of a solemn honor to be returned to him by his creatures. If a man make a curious engine, we honor him for his skill; if another vanquish a vigorous enemy, we admire him for his strength; and shall not the efficacy of God's power and creation, government, redemption, inflame us with a sense of the honor of his name and perfections! We admire those princes that have fast empires, numerous armies, that have a power to conquer their enemies, and preserve their own people in peace; how much more ground have weed to pay a mighty reference to God, who, without trouble and weariness, made and manages this fest empire of the world by a word and back! What sensible thoughts have we of the noise of thunder, the power of the sun, the storms of the sea! These things, that have no understanding, have struck man with such reference that many have a door them as gods. What reference in adoration this is mighty power, joined with an infinite wisdom and God, demand at our hands."

Basking in His greatness,

Pastor Bill

GODS FAVORITE AROMA

"And when he had taken the scroll, the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders fell down before the Lamb, each holding a harp, and golden bowls full of incense, which are the prayers of the saints."

Revelation 5:8

"And another angel came and stood at the altar with a golden censer, and he was given much incense to offer with the prayers of all the saints on the golden altar before the throne."

Revelation 8:3

My mother was a fantastic cook. One of the favorite things that she would make would be chocolate chip cookies. I could remember being outside to play and as  I got close to the house when the windows were open I would begin to get a scent of my favorite aroma, fresh baked chocolate chip cookies! When I would open the door the entire house was filled with the fragrance of those cookies from the kitchen.

The scent reminds me of childhood, but it’s not just the aroma that I love; it’s everything that I associate with it: contentment, nostalgia, memories. How this particular aroma stirs me is beyond explanation. It runs deep.

It occurred to me that this must be how God feels when our godliness ascends to him. Pleased beyond explanation — a delightful aroma which he could breathe in all day long. In fact, all throughout the Bible, certain scents seem to hold specific meanings for God. While some delight him, others, unfortunately, cause him to recoil.

Did you know that God has a favorite scent that he delights in? 

When we pray, he smells the aroma from the kitchen as you prepare his special dish. What God delights to do more than anything else, Is the smell our prayers for him to answer. Our prayer is the sweet aroma from the kitchen sending up into the kings chamber's making him hungry for the meal. But the actual enjoyment of the meal is his own glorious work in answering our prayers. The food of God is the answer you get  in your prayers. 

The most wonderful thing about the Bible is that reveals a God who is a happy God who satisfies his own appetite for joy by answering the prayers of the Saints. God doesn't have any deficiency in himself that he needs to fill up, so he gets his great satisfaction by magnifying the glory of his riches by filling up the deficiencies of people who pray. 

No wonder why the Psalmist could cry out,

"Let my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!"

Psalm 141:2

Because that is exactly what our prayers are to God

In the Old Testament, God commanded the priests of Israel to continually burn aromatic incense — made from a blend of five exotic spices — on the golden altar inside the Holy of Holies. But, like my moms chocolate chip cookies, it wasn’t simply the fragrance itself that pleased God, but what it represented: the constant prayers of his people.

In fact, the incense, associated with the people’s prayers, was so pure and sacredly sweet to God that any deviation from what God had explicitly commanded was met with swift death, as Nadab and Abihu found out (Leviticus 10:1–2)

Just as God prescribed a specific recipe for the incense, he also prescribes specific prayers for believers today — prayers of:

Thanksgiving (1 Timothy 2:1)

Forgiveness (1 John 1:9)

Intercession (1 Timothy 2:1)

Praise and adoration (Psalm 148:1–14)

Utter dependence (Matthew 7:7)

Seeking wisdom (James 1:5)

Petitions and supplications (1 Timothy 2:1; Philippians 4:6)

Seeking peace (Philippians 4:6–7) 

Salvation (Romans 10:9–10).                                  

These particular prayers, in fact, are so pleasant and precious to God that he lovingly collects them in “golden bowls” in heaven (Revelation 5:8). By keeping them close, he can continually enjoy their blessed bouquet.

Think about this God has designed prayer where God is both the source and the agent in doing good to his people. This is one of the reasons that twice that the book of Revelation describes the prayers of the Saints as golden bowls of incense before the throne of God. God delights in the aroma of his own glory as he smells it in the prayers of his people.

God loves to see us do it, which is probably why Revelation 5:8 describes the prayers in the golden bowls in the hands of the elders as incense before God. What does incense before God do? Well, it just fills his room with pleasant fragrance. That is what it does. And what a beautiful image to get down on your knees with and say: I am right now going to light a sweet smelling lamp or candle and it is going to fill the room of heaven with a fragrance this afternoon or this morning that God is going to be pleased by. 

Your prayers are the aroma of heaven, sweet smelling before the throne of God and before the Lamb. I am strengthened and encouraged to pray all the more often and all the more vigorously when I think that my prayers are being assembled and stored up in heaven and offered to Christ repeatedly in heavenly acts of worship.

Let’s all bless and honor and adore Christ here below with our prayers, and then doubly rejoice that the worship council of heaven offers them again to Christ as sweet smelling incense before the Lamb who was slain.

Thoughts on God, His Freedom, and Pleasure in What He Does

One of my all-time favorite books and most impactful on my life was a book that I read when I was a young Christian by JI Packer called simply Knowing God. One of my favorite sentences of the book that has stuck with me for over 40 years goes like this; "the people who know God think great thoughts about God". So today I wanted to write a simple blog just posting something thoughts about God, Why he does what he does, and the unconstrained freedom he has and what he does. 

One of the hardest things to comprehend and the greatest mystery of the universe is that from all eternity,before there was ever a creation, the one reality that has always existed is God. It is exceedingly difficult for us to think of God having absolutely no beginning and just being there for ever and ever and ever, without anything or anyone making him be there, just absolute reality that everyone of us has to reckon with whether we like it or not.

This is the only fountain of lasting joy, God. Without beginning and without ending, without source and without costs, without help or assistance, the spring is eternally self replenishing. From this unceasing fountain flows our being, our life, our existence,  and all the grace and joy and love in the universe.

All of us have an immense void inside us that craves satisfaction from people, pleasure, and powers outside of ourselves. Yearning, longing, hunger, thirst, and desire are the very essence of who we are. We are born deficient, needy, and perpetually dissatisfied, and truth be told these never go away do they?

Think about it we come into the world knowing almost nothing, and have to spend years upon years going to classes, or learning in the school of hard knocks, in order to in a very tiny way fill up a little of this deep void of ignorance inside of us. Parents and teachers tell us to things that we don't like to do because we need to do them to overcome some weakness in ourselves, to increase our knowledge, or strengthen our bodies, or refine our manners, or sharpen our intellect. 

But not God!

He has been complete and overflowing with satisfaction from all eternity. He needs no education. And no one can offer anything to him that doesn't already come from him. He is not constrained by any inner deficiency or unhappiness to do anything he does not want to do. If God wasn't happy, if he was in someway deficient, then he might indeed be constrained from outside in someway to do what he does not want to do, in order to make up his deficiency  and finally be happy. But, this what makes Him God! He is infinitely free, independent sovereign and happy.

Our God is in the heavens; he does all that he pleases.(Psalm 115:3)

I am God and there is no either, I am God, and there is none like me, Declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done,saying, 'My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my pleasure (Isaiah 46:9-10)

Psalm 135:6,“Whatever the LORD pleases, he does, in heaven and on earth, in the seas and all deeps. ” 

In reading these precious verses I discover a God who always acts according to and for His own “good pleasure,” following the dictates of his own delights. He never becomes the victim of circumstance, or Satan or human decision. He is never forced into a situation where he must do something in which he cannot rejoice. Everything he does he takes pleasure in. He cannot and will not be get back from doing what he delights most to do, and he will never be forced to do what he does not delight to do. And this is true everywhere in the universe

"For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor? Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid? For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever.

Amen"

(Romans 11:34-36)

hoping that you will begin thinking great thoughts about God for your faith, trust, and exceeding joy,

Pastor Bill

THE GODNESS OF GOD

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

The longer I know Christ and the more that I understand His ways, the more  I realize how little I really know him and how much there is to learn. Last week I wrote a post about the revelation of God being a happy God.  This is one of the many things that makes God uniquely who He is. I call this the "Godness of God".  Today I want to reflect on another aspect of His uniqueness in how He thinks and feels and wills. 

God's heart is capable of complex combinations of emotions infinitely more remarkable that ours. 
 He is the supreme being who describes himself in infinitely unique categories. 

"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," says the LORD. "For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways, and My thoughts than your thoughts. (Isaiah 55:8-9)

Consider His unique emotional categories. 

For example, when Jesus entered into Jerusalem He knew what was about to happen. The Pharisees were going to get the upper hand. The people would be fickle and follow their leaders. And Jesus would be rejected and crucified. And within a generation the city would be obliterated. Look how Jesus says it in Luke 19 verses 43-44:

"For the days will come upon you, when your enemies will set up a barricade around you and surround you and hem you in on every side and tear you down to the ground, you and your children within you. And they will not leave one stone upon another in you, because you did not know the time of your visitation."

Yet Jesus’ is also tenderly moved. We read in the proceeding verses 41-42,

"And when he drew near and saw the city, he wept over it, saying, "Would that you, even you, had known on this day the things that make for peace! But now they are hidden from your eyes.."

Jesus felt the sorrow of the situation. This doesn’t mean His sovereign plan has thwarted by human rebellion and will. It means that Jesus is more emotionally complex than we think he is. He really feels the sorrow of a situation. No doubt there was a deep inner peace that He was in control and that His wise purposes would come to pass. But that doesn’t mean He couldn't cry.

Another time we read that when Lazarus died, Jesus said,"for your sake I am glad that I was not there, so that you may believe" (John 11:15). He promised to Martha in verse 23 "Your brother will rise again" and in verse 40 that they would "...see the glory of God". So Jesus had purposely planned to let Lazarus die and that his death was good and that in this death the glory of God would be made manifest.

Yet we also see Jesus' response to the sorrow and mourning of Mary, Martha, and the family in verse 33, "When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, he was deeply moved in his spirit and greatly troubled"; verse 35, "Jesus wept"; and verse 38 "Then Jesus, deeply moved again." Jesus had planned the death and resurrection of Lazarus yet could feel deep sorrow and compassion over the situation.Amazing!

God's emotional life is infinitely complex beyond our ability to fully comprehend. That is what makes Him God. Oh the challenge to know a being who is and expresses Himself in categories beyond our logic, frame of references, experience, and comprehension!

Who can comprehend that the Lord hears in one moment of time the prayers of 10 million Christians around the world, and sympathizes with each one personally and individually as a caring father as Hebrews 4: 15 says, even though among those 10 million prayers some are brokenhearted and some are bursting with joy? How can God weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice when they are both coming to him at the same time, in fact, are always coming to him with absolutely no break at all? Who can comprehend that God is angry at the sin of the world every day (Psalm 7:11), and yet every day, every moment, he is rejoicing with tremendous joy because somewhere in the world a sinner is repenting (Luke 15:7,10,23)? Who can comprehend that God continually burns with hot anger at the rebellion of the wicked and grieves over the unholy speech of his people (Ephesians 4:29-30), yet takes pleasure in them daily (Psalm 149:4), and ceaselessly makes merry over repentent rebels who come back to Him?

Who of us could say what complex of emotions is not possible for God? All we have to go on here is what he has chosen to tell us in the Bible. God's heart is capable of complex combinations of emotions infinitely more remarkable that ours. 

Humbly basking in my limited understanding of the depths of God's nature and glory.

Pastor Bill