Awesome Responsibility

"Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid

to take to you Mary your wife,

for that which is conceived in her

is of the Holy Spirit,

and she will bring forth a Son,

and you shall call His name Jesus,

for He will save His people from their sins."

Matthew 1:20-21 NKJV

Do you realize what an awesome responsibility Joseph was being entrusted with? Do you think Joseph did?

Joseph may have been just a young carpenter from Nazareth, but he was a Son of David, a direct lineal descendant of the patriarchs and kings of his people. Had their been a Jewish kingship in Israel, his family would have been ruling the land, and he himself would be in line for the throne. As it was, he was a humble man with humble means living in obscurity in a humble town in Galilee. He was betrothed to be married to a local girl whose heritage was just as noble and rich as his--on her father's side, she shared both royal and noble ancestors with him, on her mother's side she was a descendant of the High Priests of Israel. And these two young Israelites were being thrust into a drama not of their own making that would change their lives forever.

He was already facing the hardest decision he had ever made--did he commit Mary to the community for punishment, did he divorce her quietly and get on with his life, or did he simply excuse her pregnancy and marry her anyway? He obviously didn't believe her terrific story about an angel and a child conceived by the Holy Spirit; his imagination probably ran wild with all sorts of scenarios to explain her predicament. And then one night he went to sleep with all this on his mind, and an angel appeared to him in a dream. When he woke from that dream, his world had changed.

In Joseph's likely knowledge of Scripture, he knew of the Holy Spirit's presence at Creation. He knew of the Spirit falling on men and women of old--Moses and the elders of Israel, Ehud, Samson, Deborah, King Saul. He knew about the Spirit's work through the prophecies of Isaiah and Joel. But it must have been quite a leap for him to accept that the Holy Spirit was actually and directly responsible for the conception in Mary's womb. Yet here was an angel of the Lord telling him it was so.

Mary would bring forth the Son of God, but Joseph would be, for all intents and purposes, his father. The Child wasn't his. But when Joseph took Mary into his home, and when he held her Son and gave Him the name JESUS, Joseph would in effect be saying, "This child is mine." It's one thing to know that the woman you love has cheated on you, conceived a child, and you choose to raise that child as your own. It must have been a whole other thing completely to know that the woman you loved had been specially and specifically chosen by the Almighty to bring His Son into the world, and that God Himself was asking you to raise His Child as if that Child was your own. How overwhelming could that have been? After all, what could a simple carpenter from Nazareth know about raising the GodChild?

And this baby JESUS would be the savior of the world, the One to redeem Israel from their sins, to redeem Joseph and Mary from their sins. I'm sure Joseph knew his own imperfections, his own faults, flaws and failures. And yet God was entrusting him with the care of the long-awaited Christ, the Messiah, the most important man who would ever live.

Remember that the next time God gives you something important to do. Will you live up to the task as Joseph lived up to his?

While He Thought About These Things

But while he thought about these things,

behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying,

"Joseph, Son of David, do not be afraid

to take to you Mary your wife,

for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit."

Matthew 1:20, NKJV

Depressed. Bitter. Dejected. Betrayed. What would your feelings be if you found out the love of your life was pregnant, and you knew the child was not yours? Young Joseph--and unlike those who want to portray Joseph as some eighty-year-old widower with six grown children, I do see him as a young man--was a typical Jewish man, educated in the Law of Moses, specially trained as a carpenter, and now on the verge of marrying his beloved Mary.

He had specifically chosen her from among all the other local girls to be his bride, and she had consented. Everything had been done in proper order. The bridal contract had been drawn up, the bride price had been paid. In the interval, he had put his carpentry skills to work preparing that very special place for their first night together, that place where they would begin the rest of their lives together.

I'm pretty sure his mind stayed occupied with memories and visions of Mary, imagining their coming happiness together. Maybe he blushed at the mention of her name. Maybe his heart beat a little harder, maybe his breathing came a bit faster when he saw her in the community. Maybe his dreams were filled with her face, her form, their future. Maybe his daytime thoughts as well. And in one moment, all of that comes crashing down around him. Nothing will ever be the same! Nothing will ever be like he planned it! And in the days when he should have been building for their future, he was now faced with the decisions that could lead to her mortal demise. What was he to do? Who could counsel him correctly?

And then one night, as the troubled young man tossed and turned in his bed, a messenger from heaven stepped into his dreams. An angel of the Lord addressed him in his sleep and said, "Don't be afraid!"

Gabriel appeared to Zacharias while he burned incense in the temple, and he appeared to Mary perhaps while she pondered the candles of Hanukkah. I wonder why Joseph's visitation happened while he was asleep? Both times Joseph is visited by an angel, here and again in Matthew Chapter Two, he is sound asleep and the angel comes to him by way of a night vision. Why not just pop into the carpentry shop and say, "Surprise!" While the Bible doesn't explain the reason for the difference, I think what it does show is just as important--God deals with different people in different ways. And He doesn't have to do the same things the same ways every time. One time the angel shows up during worship service, another time he appears in a dream.

One thing that is constant with these angelic appearances in Matthew and Luke is the angel's declaration to whoever he is visiting: "Do not be afraid!" I've written much already about the light-hearted attitude so many seem to have with modern day appearances; I think we should take note of the fact that when Bible people saw angels, they always had to be reminded not to fear. When a heavenly messenger shows up at the foot of your bed with a telegram on the end of a flaming sword, maybe you shouldn't treat it like the most natural occurrence in the world.

"Do not be afraid," the angel says, only this time, he addresses Joseph's other fears as well. "You're afraid to bring Mary into your home, into your embrace, into your life as your wife. You're trying to decide what to do about this girl and the uncomfortable situation you have been plunged into. I'm hear to tell you, don't be afraid. Fulfill your commitment to Mary."

And finally the most beautiful message of all: Mary is not the loose, immoral, lying, blasphemous girl you are thinking she is. She hasn't cheated on you, Joseph. She hasn't been sneaking around with other guys in the neighborhood. She didn't give in to the seductions of a stranger when you weren't looking. She isn't making up her story about the angel and the Holy Spirit and the baby conceived in her womb through an act of God. It's all true.

So don't be afraid. Sometimes we need to sleep on our situation and let God show us what is really going on, because we can be wrong, even when everything we see and hear tells us we are right. We need to rely on God, no matter what!

The Measure of a Prophet

And when they say to you,
"Seek those who are mediums and wizards,
who whisper and mutter,"
should not a people seek their God?
Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?
To the law and to the testimony!
If they do not speak according to this word,
it is because there is no light in them.
Isaiah 8:19-20, NKJV

Prophecy, true divinely inspired utterance, will always line up with the Word of God. No word from the Lord will ever contradict the Word He has already spoken. No word from the Lord will ever go against His Word, it will never add to His Word, it will never take away from His Word. And yet today the church world seems full of people who are saying, "I have a NEW Word from the Lord."

Many years ago, I heard one of them talking, but what they were saying was a direct contradiction of the Apostle Paul's writings in the New Testament. When asked about it, they said, "Oh, we're beyond Paul." Beyond Paul? Really?

And not so long ago, I heard a self appointed prophet say, "We have a persecution complex. We are convinced that the world is supposed to hate us. But if we would just get full of the Holy Spirit, the world around us would fall in love with us and come running to get what we have." It struck me as odd that the mindset he was contradicting was that of Jesus, for it was Jesus who warned of the persecution that Christians would face, it was Jesus who said, "If you love me, the world will hate you, because they hate me, and because they don't have me."

Of course, the same so-called man of God preached an entire series of messages based upon a false concept: that person and sound come from the same root word in the original language of the Bible, therefore Jesus being the personification of God meant He was also the sound of God, and when we speak in His name, we become the sounding personification of God. The message went through several theological gymnastic feats that defied all reason. And as it turns out (and I went home that night to check it out for myself) not only do the words for person and sound come from different root words, they come from different languages! Apparently, the guy had done no real study at all...either that or he was basing his entire message on some revelation he'd had from God, in which God didn't know which languages those words come from.

And it seems popular today for people to have mystical spiritual experiences, going to heaven or hell or halfway around the world, and then writing all about it as if to construct new thoroughfares of truth. Because, after all, God says we'll have visions and dreams, so if I have a dream it must be a message from God. And whatever I see in my vision or whatever experience I have must be true. And when they think they've had a revelation, they write a book or make a video and sell both to a church that is desperate for a new spiritual high, but not so hungry for the truth of God's Word.

Isaiah had the answer. He said, "When they come saying, 'Listen to our necromancers and our soothsayers, our wizards and mediums', seek the Lord instead." When we have the written Word of God to read, and the living Word speaking to us through His indwelling Spirit, why in the world do we still feel the need to run here, yonder and there, from one conference to another, from one revival meeting to another, from one church to another, looking for a fresh word from God? The Word that we have is living and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword, and most Christians don't have a clue what it says. Why would God tell us something else, when we haven't even absorbed and implemented what He's already given us?

When we do receive a "word", how do we judge it? Most of the folks I know will measure it according to how it made them feel, but not put it up against the Word of God to see if the two agree. I've actually heard numerous preachers say, "Don't question this; this is gaaaawwwwwwddddd!" That in itself isn't even Biblical, for the Bible says, "Don't believe every spirit, but test and try them to see what is from God." The Bible says, "Don't despise prophecy; but test everything, holding on to what is good."

Isaiah says, "If they do not speak according to the law and testimony of God, the light is not in them." Let us be sure to remember that the next time someone says, "Have I got a word from God for you."

A Just Man

Then Joseph her husband, being a just man,

and not wanting to make her a public example,

was minded to put her away secretly.

Matthew 1:19, NKJV

Jewish culture of 2000 years ago was a little different than ours today. In today's world, some young people change romantic partners like most people change their socks. Relationships are fleeting, based on passion (or at least lust), and cast aside when it no longer suits. Even marriages are seen as disposable; if it doesn't work out, divorce is easy. Just get out of it and start another. And if that one doesn't work...

But to Israelites like Joseph and Mary, their relationship was something more than that. Once she was of marriageable age, and once he was able to support her financially with his carpentry business, their families had entered into discussion of their future together. Joseph had presented Mary's family with a contract outlining his vows of responsibility toward Mary. Mary had accepted Joseph's ring and they had sipped from a common flask of wine. The trumpet had been blown to announce the betrothal. And in the eyes of the community, these two young people were legally bound to each other in covenant, complete short of consummation, which would come in time. Only death or divorce could dissolve the relationship.

In the interim between betrothal and wedding bed, they would not have seen each other. Joseph was busy building a place for he and Mary to live after they got married, either an extra room attached to his parents' house, or perhaps a small house of their own. Mary was busy preparing herself for her wedding day. Joseph's close friend served as a go between, carrying messages from Joseph to Mary, and the replies from Mary to Joseph. So Mary's three-month absence would not have interrupted any social life the two might have shared.

Now Mary's belly is starting to bulge beneath the front of her robes, and there's talk in the town. Perhaps Joseph comes to her house to see her, and under the circumstances, the cultural expectations might have been relaxed enough to allow for that. Joseph needed answers, and Mary needed to give them. She was pregnant, and claiming that her baby was a miracle baby, conceived by the power of the Holy Spirit, conceived to be the Son of God. That was her story, and it was the truth, but Joseph did not at first believe it. He knew it wasn't his baby, and at that point he had a few options open to him.

He could make her a public example. He could bring her before the elders of the community, the leaders of the synagogue, and charge her with adultery. Her visible pregnancy would be proof enough. As followers of the Law of Moses, the community would be compelled to execute her by stoning. There was a cliff on the outskirts of town to which they would escort her, and from which they would shove her over. And then they would select heavy stones to drop on her until she was battered and crushed to death from the brutal rain of rocks. Joseph would get to go first.

But the Bible says Joseph was a just man; he was righteous and fair, and he had no desire to see the love of his life put to death in such a manner. He had no desire to see her dead at all. Her sin was against him, and he would not make an example of her. He didn't want to marry her, so the only other possibility was to divorce her, to make a quiet application to the community elders for a dissolution of their betrothal. Moses had allowed for men to write bills of divorcement from their wives, and apparently there were some who allowed divorce for any reason, even without just cause. What would have happened to Mary after that would be upon her and her parents. Joseph would be free to find another bride.

What Joseph was about to learn was a lesson in grace, in mercy, in love and in trust. It was apparently a lesson he needed, despite being just. And in his actions that followed, he was going to demonstrate the nature of forgiveness, even though Mary had nothing for which to be forgiven. His life would be a living testimony to the matchless grace being brought into the world through her.

Discovery

Now the birth of Jesus Christ was as follows:

After His mother Mary was betrothed to Joseph,

before they came together,

she was found with child of the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 1:18, NKJV

The last few months had been crazy, full of action and excitement and not a little angst. The girl Mary, about fourteen years old, had been betrothed in marriage to the young carpenter Joseph--a kinsman on her father's side. Sometime after, she received word through an angelic messenger that she was going to conceive the Son of God in her womb by the overshadowing power of the Holy Spirit, and was also told that her mother's cousin Elizabeth had conceived a son in her old age. Upon hearing that news, Mary went to the Judean Hill Country and stayed with Elizabeth for three months, possibly until Elizabeth gave birth to John.

After the birth of John, all of Zacharias and Elizabeth's relatives came to celebrate the birth. It was around the time of Passover and Unleavened Bread, and the timing could not have been more convenient. Everyone traveling to or from Jerusalem could easily stop for the dedication, including Mary's parents and family--her Judean father Joachim, her Levite mother Anna, and perhaps her sisters Mary and Salome. In my technicolor imagination, I like to envision the events surrounding John's birth as the setting in which Mary was reunited with her family. Can you imagine it with me--a small slip of a girl embracing her mother with an unmistakable bump beneath her robes?

How did she break the news to her parents? And what did she tell them? Perhaps she had informed her family of the angelic visitation before she departed for Elizabeth's house. Or maybe this was a surprise for them. Either way, when she finally sat down with them and told them her story, it is possible and even probable that they did not believe her. God didn't get girls pregnant; boys did. And then the question might have been, "Which boy?" Had Joseph, her betrothed, been sneaking into the house at night? Had Mary been sneaking out? Did Mary have another boyfriend with whom she had been misbehaving? Had there been someone during her time with Elizabeth? Later in the gospels, some Jewish leaders would say, "Aren't we right in calling you a Samaritan?" Thirty years later, the community still harbored suspicions that Mary had been naughty on that trip south from Galilee.

What her family knew, and when they knew it, is not told to us in Scripture. The one thing it does tell us about that time in Mary's life is that her betrothed didn't know. At least not until she returned from Elizabeth's and was starting to show. And at that time, she was found to be with child. She was discovered! And Joseph knew--of a certainty, no matter what anyone else speculated or suspected, Joseph knew that the child growing within Mary's womb was not his, for he had not touched her. The gospels show Joseph to be a righteous and just man, and he knew that there had been no misbehaving on his part. If Mary was pregnant, she must have been with another man, because Joseph knew he had not been to visit her, nor she him.

How do you suppose that conversation went? Once Mary had returned home, did her parents insist that she inform Joseph at once of her condition, or did word filter into the carpentry shop some day through mouths dripping with salacious gossip? I imagine Joseph as a sensitive young man, a man of deep feelings that were cautiously and strictly controlled, but not easily hidden from sight. I imagine him standing in the doorway and Mary breaking the news to him, gently, softly, forthrightly. "Joseph, an angel came to visit me."

He didn't believe her.

"Joseph, I know it's hard to accept, but this angel told me that I was going to have a son, and that he would be the Son of God."

I'm sure Joseph was thinking, "Well I know he's not my son, but I can't believe you're really trying to lay this off on God. God doesn't do things that way!"

"Joseph, I know God has never done anything like this before, but it's what He has done now." There were probably tears and protestations of innocence, declarations of love and honor and faithfulness. But no matter how sincere Mary was, in Joseph's heart there was only doubt. The Bible tells us so.

And how like that we are sometimes, when God does something contrary to our human logic, reasoning and understanding. Sometimes it's enough to make one question their faith. Sometimes some have turned away from God because they didn't understand. But we need to be open to the wondrous works of God, because sometimes He has finds ways of surprising even us!

Prophecy in Futility

And He said, "Go and tell this people:

'Keep on hearing, but do not understand;

keep on seeing, but do not perceive.'

Make the heart of this people heavy,

and shut their eyes;

lest they see with their eyes,

and hear with their ears,

and understand with their heart,

and return and be healed."

Isaiah 6:9-10, NKJV

How many times have we read the story, or heard it preached, of the call of the Prophet Isaiah. In the year that King Uzziah died, Isaiah was worshiping in the Temple and he had a vision of the Lord enthroned in glory, surrounded by angels whose singing and shouting shook the building to its doorposts. And Isaiah cried out, "I'm undone and no good! I'm not worthy to see the Lord."

An angel took a coal from the altar and touched Isaiah's lips, saying, "Now you're saved and sanctified."

Then the Lord asked, "Who will go and preach for Us?"

And Isaiah volunteered on the spot. "Here am I; send me!"

And most of the time, we stop right there. We talk about how admirable Isaiah was for signing up for the ministry, for responding to the call of God, for being ready, willing and able to go and proclaim the message of the Almighty. But have we read further? So many think the ministry of the prophet is running around predicting everybody's future, telling how God's going to use them and bless them and make them great. And I suppose there are times for that, if the Spirit is truly inspiring. But for the most part, Biblical prophets did 2 things: they called people to repentance, and prophesied doom and destruction if they didn't.

Israel had been in decline for 200 years, God had been calling them through the writing prophets for 100 years. And still the people did not respond. So now God says to Isaiah, "I want you to preach this message of repentance and judgment. They've heard it before, and ignored the warnings, and I've determined their doom. So you just keep preaching it until they tune you out. Preach it until their hearts harden and they grow blind and deaf to your message, because I'm finished with them, and I don't want them to repent."

Where are those prophets today? Is it possible that there are some individuals who have resisted God so long that they have passed the point of no return? Are there some churches which have died and are no longer useful to the Kingdom? Are there nations which have turned away from their righteous calling and pursued sinfulness so long that God is ready to overthrow them? And if so, where are the prophets that are calling for repentance?

Where are those prophets that will declare that kind of truth? Who will hear the call, know the message, and volunteer anyway. "Here am I, Lord, send me!"

Til the Day of His Manifestation

So the child grew and became strong in spirit,

and was in the deserts till the day of his manifestation to Israel.

Luke 1:80, NKJV

Thirty years of John's life is summed up in that one verse. There are lots of things we will not know about him until we get to heaven, and then one has to wonder if it will even be stuff worth knowing. But the Bible says he grew up, developed a strong inner being and personality, and he remained out of sight until the time was right. It says he was in the deserts, but it's not talking about sand and cactus. It means he spent most of his time in solitary, uninhabited places instead of in the midst of people. And he lived that way until it was time for him to fulfill the purpose for which he came.

In short, John couldn't begin his ministry until Jesus was almost ready to begin his. From the Biblical account, it seems that there was not much passage of time between the beginning of John's ministry in those deserted places along the Jordan River and the arrival of Jesus to be baptized. We're talking months, here. Not years.

From before his conception and birth, John had a specific call on his life. Like Jeremiah, John would know that he was foreordained--predestined, if you will--to be a prophet with a purpose: to prepare the way of the Lord. John's was the role of forerunner, of announcer, of the one who was to get everyone else ready for the main event. In age, Jesus was six months behind John. Perhaps their ministries unfolded the same way.

But what I love most about this verse is that it says there was a specific day on which he was to be revealed--manifested--to Israel. I think we should take note of that. God may indeed call you into the ministry, but there are things that need to take shape in your life before you drop everything and run out to fulfill God's call. It's not the same for every person; God deals with each one differently. But there is definitely a time of training, of maturing, of growing and learning and following that needs to take place before we can do all that we are supposed to do.

Start before you're ready, and you may get puffed up with pride from your lack of maturity and cause damage that you wouldn't have--if you had just waited a little while longer. Wait too long to get started, and you may miss out on the opportunities God set up for you. We need to be aware of God's timing in all things, and follow His lead. And when God says go, that's when we go!

The Secret Place

He who dwells in the secret place of the Most High

shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty.

Psalm 91:1, NKJV

Do you know where the secret place is? It's not necessarily a place of position but of attitude. It doesn't have physical coordinates on the global positioning system, but rather. The secret place is a state of spiritual being, that place of perfect communion with God. It is wherever you make it, because you are the temple of the Holy Spirit, you are the dwelling place of God, and you can take the secret place with you wherever you go.

But long before the Holy Spirit came to dwell within us, men and women of God had to go find a place to meet with the Lord. For Adam it was within Eden in the cool of the day. For his sons, and perhaps the many generations preceding the flood, it was between the wings of the cherubim at the entrance to the Garden. For Abraham it was wherever he built an altar of worship to the Lord. For Jacob it was Bethel. For Moses and Elijah it was Sinai, that cleft in the rock where they both met with God. Moses saw Him, Elijah heard Him, both experienced Him there in a mighty and powerful way. For David it was a goatskin tent pitched on top of Mount Moriah, that transitional covering between Tabernacle and Temple that housed the Ark and the presence of God. But wherever they found God, there they communed with Him, there they had fellowship with Him.

I love the words of the bridegroom in the Song of Solomon, the voice of the beloved to his loving bride that called, "Arise, my beloved, and come away! In the secret, in the quiet place, in the cleft of the rock, come away with me to that place and let me see you. Let me hear your voice. Let me touch you in a personal and intimate way." It is the voice of our beloved calling to us, "Let me know you from the inside out, and know me too."

That is the secret place. We find it in worship, and in prayer. We find it when we seek Him with all of our heart. We find it when we center ourselves upon and within the presence of the Most High God, letting His Spirit fill us up and overflow in our lives. We find it as we lose ourselves in Him.

Some people are afraid of that kind of intimacy, perhaps of any intimacy at all. I know from past experience that there have been times I didn't really want to be in that kind of close contact with God. It was too painful, because of the things that I knew God would bring to the surface in my life to deal with. It was too terrifying, because of the things I knew were in my life, the things I was ashamed of. It was too enlightening, showing me things that I didn't really want to know. And yet that is where He calls us. He beckons us into His arms, into His loving embrace. And He says, "I know who you are, I know where you are and what you've done. I know your frailties, your weaknesses, your failings. I know your fears and your dreams. Come unto Me and let me help you." God doesn't want us close enough to destroy; He wants us close enough to bless!

And when the Lord is our refuge, our fortress, the One in whom we put our trust; when God is our dwelling place, He says:

·         I will deliver you from every trap and danger and peril

·         I will cover you and shield you, before and behind

·         I will encourage you, and you will have no fear

·         I will protect you from destruction

·         I will hold you up, though others fall all around you

·         I will keep you from all evil

·         I will give the angels charge over you, and they will guard your steps

·         I will give you power over the serpent and the lion--power over the devil

·         I will set you upon high

·         I will answer your prayers

·         I will be with you in trouble

·         I will deliver you

·         I will honor you

·         I will satisfy you

·         I will show you My salvation in every possible way!

I want to live my life in the secret place, in the shadow of God!

 

The Prophet of the Promise

As Zacharias stood before the gathered crowd of kith and kin, all of them marveling at the sudden recovery of his faculty of speech, he uttered by the Holy Spirit a two-fold prophecy about two sons--one that had been born to him and his aged wife; the other still a growing bump in His mother's womb. The first part of his prophecy was about the unborn Son, the One who would arrive with salvation in His hands for His people. The second part was about the son Zacharias held in his arms, his own.

From before his conception, little John was called to be a prophet of the Highest, a proclaimer of truth, righteousness, and preparation for the soon arrival of the great deliverer of Israel. His ministry was to prepare the way for Messiah's entrance into the world, to prepare the hearts of all Israel to receive their promised savior.

His ministry truly defined the Biblical ministry of the prophet, a ministry so desperately needed in today's world to prepare for the second coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, and yet a ministry so often misused and misunderstood. For John, the prophetic ministry was one of proclaiming salvation, giving people the knowledge that they needed to receive it and offering the means of ridding themselves of sin. It wasn't through the blood of bulls and goats, but through repentance and faith in God and His coming One. It wouldn't be through their works that they obtained salvation, but through the tender mercy of God.

And that mercy was being personified in the womb of a young virgin, the Savior of the world, the Dayspring of God had come down from on high, had become flesh, and was on His way into a world of darkness and death to give them the light of life. John would lead his world to Jesus, Jesus would lead His world into the way of peace, the way of salvation, the way of God!

Our ministry--the ministry of pastors and prophets, of believers and churches--should be the ministry of John the Baptist, preparing the way of the Lord, giving knowledge of salvation to all who need it, offering forgiveness and mercy through Jesus Christ, so that our world can also experience the light of life!

The Lord's Counsel

There are many plans in a man's heart,

Nevertheless the Lord's counsel--

that will stand.

Proverbs 19:21, NKJV

I used to be more of a planner.

20 years ago, I had everything all mapped out. On paper. And I believed it, too. College. Law School. Politics. Certainly by this time, I had planned on running for governor of Texas with my sights on the White House. With my wife and 6 (or 8 or 12) children at my side. Oh, also a published author, independently wealthy, and owning the family farm. On which I had rebuilt the farm house, only modern. It was going to be cool.
 

Then God stepped in and intervened.

How? one might ask. And skeptics of course would say that it was just coincidence or my imagination, that God doesn't personally intervene in people's lives the way I think He intervened in mine. But most skeptics don't know God the way that I do. In fact, I'm convinced that skepticism is the result of NOT having a relationship with Him. But I digress.

I had my life all planned out. And then God turned my little red wagon upside-down. First He used the words of an evangelist to reset my dreams. God called me into the ministry when I was a child, called me to preach, called me to be a pastor, and I had been running from that call. But one night in Clovis, New Mexico, I heard Him speaking directly to me through the mouth of another preacher, reminding me of His call on my life. I knew then I could not be happy on my present course. As alluring as a life--a successful life--in politics looked at the time, even occupying the Oval Office would be a step down from the High Call of God.

Then God disrupted my love life--at seven-thirty on a Saturday morning with a collect call that said, "I'm breaking up with you because I have a date tonight." So long, sucker! And of course, there is much more to the story than that, but that's all you're going to get today.

With my heart set on ministry, my mind still said education. I had a scholarship, a job as a youth pastor with a place to live, and I figured I might need a degree to fall back upon. God had other plans. He used the words of an atheist lesbian anarchist professor to spur me into abandoning my educational plans. It wasn't the fallback position He wanted me to prepare for; it was the primary position I needed to be concerned about.

So I went to Bible College. Through the almighty hand of His provision, everything was paid for. I was looking three years down the road, thinking I would leave Bible College with a degree, a suitable spouse, and a promising future. That entire semester, all I did was build relationships with the people around me. I was looking for Miss Right. But God got ahold of me, using the words of a professor that had nothing to do with matchmaking or graduating. It had to do with intercessory prayer, and I can take you to the very spot (that is, if it's still there) where I know my life changed because God intervened one more time. There was something in my life He wanted to deal with, had to deal with for my sake. And when I got up from my place of prayer, nothing was the same.

When I went home at Christmas, I had a message to preach. My Dad often said that before I left home, I couldn't play the piano very well, and I certainly couldn't preach. Four months away at Bible College, and all of a sudden I could play and preach and even he was impressed. The anointing of God will do that for you. And when my Dad's youth pastor suddenly resigned, my path was clear. It wasn't a return to college that was in my future; it was on-the-job training under the best mentor a man could have. And on those things, I've never looked back.

Don't get me wrong. I still make plans. I make plans for the day, for the week, for the month, for the year. But I always keep them flexible. None of my plans are ever written in stone, because in twenty years, if I've learned anything I've learned this. My plans aren't always His plans. And His plans are infinitely better. I certainly never expected--twenty years ago--that I would be where I am today. I won't waste the space by telling all the details of life since I abandoned my plans, but after a winding, rocky road that has been both productive and painful, I feel like I'm making a fresh start with a clean slate and God is saying, "Now when we do this THIS TIME, it's gonna be better for you. Just stay close to Me. And listen."

I can make all the plans in the world. Nevertheless (and that truly is a million-dollar word)...it is the Lord's counsel that will stand in the end. If I will stay close to Him. And listen.

God Remembers His Promises

Often the psalms recorded in Scripture recount the promises of God, and His remembrance and fulfillment of those promises. Zacharias' Spirit-inspired proclamation recounts several of God's promises, and declares that God has now fulfilled them.

He refers to God's covenant with David, that there would always be an heir to sit on David's throne--a promise seen by the Jews as Messianic in nature. Now God was raising up the strength of salvation in the house of David, something promised by all of the prophets since the world began. The very first prophecy made, in Genesis 3:15, was one of Messianic salvation for a fallen race. What really strikes me about this particular declaration is that Zacharias was a priest, as was Elizabeth. They were of the tribe of Levi, not the family of David or the tribe of Judah. Zacharias wasn't speaking about the birth of his son, John. He was speaking about the child yet unborn, growing in the womb of his own young house guest.

The promises of Messianic salvation include guarantees of deliverance from their enemies, and from all who hated them. Through Jesus Christ, God was accomplishing that liberation--not just of the Jews, but of all mankind--from the greatest enemy of all, our adversary the devil.

And Zacharias sings of the mercy promised to the fathers through holy covenant, a covenant made with Abraham 2000 years in the past. The saving grace of God was not a back-up plan; it was not plan-B, or God's second choice for mankind. It was the only plan that God ever had, a plan that he reiterated every time He made a covenant with mankind--from Adam to Noah to Abraham to Moses to David and finally to us. His is a plan of salvation, instituted before time began. The Revelation calls Jesus the Lamb slain from before the foundation of the world, and says that our names were written down in the Lamb's Book of Life from before the foundation of the world. In other words...

Before there was a sinner, there was a savior.

Before there was a fall, there was a forgiver.

Before there was a ransom needed, there was a redeemer.

Jesus Christ the righteous. And Zacharias recognized the real reason that the time of salvation had come. They and us both have been delivered from the enemies of sin, sickness, satan and self that we might serve the Lord without fear, that we might live before Him in righteousness and holiness all the days of our lives. But such service, such life, can only be experienced through the blessing that is Jesus Christ!

My Own Counsel

"But my people would not heed my voice,

and Israel would have none of Me.

So I gave them over to their own stubborn heart,

to walk in their own counsels."

Psalm 81:11-12, NKJV

The Lord would speak to us and help us, guide us and govern our every thought, our every move, on every day of our lives. If we would let Him.

If the Bible shows us anything about God, it certainly demonstrates His great desire to have constant communion with His creation, the crowning jewel of His earth, the people made in His own image and after His likeness. In the very beginning, He walked with Man in the cool of the day and talked to Him. And ever since Man's fall from that fellowship, God has been looking for and providing ways to reach every descendant of Man, to bring all of humanity back into close relationship with Him.

God chose a people, Israel, and He told them that He would be with them wherever they went. God had no need for an earthly house--heaven is His throne, earth is His footstool, He says. Who can build a house to contain Me? And yet He instructed them to build an earthly tent to house His visible presence on earth. No other construct on earth has had such direct and detailed input from God as the Tabernacle in the wilderness. The cloud of His glory rested over it by day, and blazed above it by night. The tangible presence of His very person resided between the wings of the golden cherubim which overlooked His covenant with Israel. God was with the ancient Israelites in a very personal, very powerful way.

As believers in Jesus Christ, we also have that personal presence in us today. For we are His tabernacle, His dwelling place, the temple of the Holy Spirit of God. Those who have placed their faith, their trust, their confidence and their hope in Him have provided Him with their hearts, have invited Him to come in and dwell within them. It is an error to believe that there is some "divine spark" within every human being, some element of God's nature. We are born without God, and have to reach a point in our lives where we recognize His absence. And once we recognize His absence and our abject need need of Him, we have a decision to make. Will we give place in our lives to the Lord of all Creation, or will we continue to try and make our own way?

Israel learned a hard lesson. In Eden, Man had one rule to follow. He failed to keep it. Israel had ten commandments to obey. They couldn't keep it. God expanded His law to include 613 regulations of holiness, and for 1500 years, His people failed again and again and again, at last coming to a place where their whole attention was upon the letter of the laws rather than upon the spirit. People were more concerned with their own appearance than the condition of their heart. And God sent Jesus to save us from our sins, and reduced the commandments back to one--to Love. He gave the commandment two directions--upward toward Him, and outward toward others. On the commandment and covenant of love hang all other rules and regulations for life and living.

In the wilderness, Israel rebelled against God over and over again, until God reached the point where He stepped back and said, "Fine. You don't want to follow Me and do what is best? Go ahead and do whatever you want. Follow your own counsel." And an entire generation--more than a million Israelites--died in the wilderness without ever entering their Promised Land. And if we don't heed the voice of the Lord and follow His commandments, the same will happen to us.

To be quite honest, I don't want to be left to my own counsel. I don't want to be left to my own devices. Because in the absence of God, without His power and presence dwelling in me, convicting me, convincing me, covering me constantly in the cloud of His glory--without God governing my life, I know the choices I would make. I know the things I struggle with now; with no restraint in my life, I know with what abandon I would chase my own thoughts, my own desires. I know that my heart is deceitful and vain and would lead me to my own destruction.

God, please don't leave me to my own counsel. I don't know what I'm doing without You!

Look What the Lord Has Done (Now)

He held up the table for all to see the words he had written:


His name is John.


In the nine months before, he had been totally silent, mute, wordless, communicating with signs and gestures and the written word. But in the moment after, his tongue was loosened and his words given voice. He began to praise the God of heaven, and I can see him now, the aged priest taking his newly circumcised son in his arms and with trembling hands and quavering voice. And as the Holy Spirit welled up within him, he began to speak.


"I bless the Lord! I lift up the name of the Lord my God! I praise the God of my people, and my person!"


And what had God done that made Zacharias so happy?


He said, "God has visited us!" There's this gospel song that says, "He came down to my level, when I couldn't get up to His." The God of Zacharias, the God of Abraham, the God that I personally love and serve, is not some far-off mythical being who usually stays uninvolved in human affairs. He is a personal God who steps in whenever He wants to, to do whatever pleases Him. He is a God who visits His people with His presence, His power, His divinely prophetic Word. Yes, let God be praised because He knows me.

"God has redeemed us." Zacharias was living at a time when his country was not his own, the land of his forefathers had been ravaged and occupied by a brutal enemy force. For too long, Israel had been the hostage of first one nation then another--Babylon, Persia, Syria, Egypt. Now Rome. And the people of Israel were hostages in their own land, not just captives of the iron hand of Caesar, but of their own hardened hearts. They honored God with their lips, though their hearts were far from Him. They did all the right things, but their souls were dark and cold, their religion empty ritual for ritual's sake. And their lives were ensnared by their own sins. But now their personal God had not only visited them, but He had paid for their ransom Himself, with Himself. It was something not yet realized, but in the person of Jesus Christ it would be.

"God has raised up a strong salvation for us." The horn of God's salvation was a poetic symbol of power, strength and authority. The personal God of Israel had visited them, had paid for their rescue, but He was also providing the power that would save them--not just for a moment, but forever and ever! It was a salvation that could not be thwarted or defeated or reversed or nullified by any actions of any man or woman. It was a salvation strong and sure, powerful and unprecedented. God was lifting up the means of salvation to all, through His redemptive visitation.

Blessed be God, who still visits us and redeems us and raises up a strong salvation for us today!

A Man's Ways...and a Woman's Too

For several reasons, Proverbs 16 is my favorite chapter in the book of wisdom. I've read it too many times to count, and maybe these patterns have jumped out at me before, but I took special notice of them today. Those particular proverbs are primarily concerned with how a person makes their way through life. What governs their plans, their intentions, their dreams? What guides their steps? The answer to that question makes all the difference in the world.

All the ways of a man are pure in his own eyes,

but the Lord weighs the spirits. (v. 2)

I can justify anything I want to do. And anyone who has ever wanted to do something they knew they weren't supposed to, or even something that was questionable, knows what I'm talking about. Faced with decisions everyday, thinking through the nuances of each choice, we can usually reason ourselves into doing whatever we want to do. Whatever pleases us. Whatever makes us happy. Whatever satisfies our immediate need. Whatever seems right at the time (I'll come back to that thought). And once we've made our choice, we can usually look back on it and justify it...or excuse it. But we must remember that it is the Lord who weighs the spirits; it is the Lord who truly knows whether what we did was right or wrong in His eyes. And His eyes are the only eyes that count. We can justify our actions, but are our motives pure?

When a man's ways please the Lord,

He makes even his enemies be at peace with him (v. 7)

We all want to live in peace. We want to live in a world where everyone likes us, even loves us, where nobody hates us, where all people are happy with us all the time. Unfortunately, we often think that they key to peaceful living is pleasing people. That if we do the right thing where everyone is concerned, then everyone will be okay with us. And I could quote many an old adage here: for example, you can please some of the people all of the time, and all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all the people all the time. At any given moment in my life (especially my life as a pastor), there is almost always someone at odds with me, someone who didn't agree with my last sermon or my last decision. And I could expend all of my energies on efforts to make every last one of them happy, or I could simply choose the easy way and make God happy. Because when God is pleased with me, I will have peace.

A man's heart plans his way,

but the Lord directs his steps. (v. 9)

I could probably get into deep theological water with this one, but I've been in over my head before. People plan and plot and scheme and dream, and they make decisions based on the belief that each person determines their own destiny, that each person makes their own luck, that the fate of one's life is in one's hands. And yet the Bible declares that there is a Sovereign God who sees all, knows all, and is in control of all things. So I can either blunder along, blindly frustrated because things never go the way I want them to, or I can surrender to the awesome foreknowledge of God and rely on Him to guide me and get me through. Either way, God still governs the universe, including me.

There is a way that seems right to a man,

but its end is the way of death. (v 25)

This one is perhaps the most troubling of all, because it tells me that something can look absolutely right to my eyes, and still be wrong. I can look at a situation from every angle, seek every opinion, carefully weigh every option. I can reason out my choices, justify my decisions, I can work to please people, and make my plans to accomplish my goals. And when I study it with human understanding, I can see that everything I've done, everything I'm doing, and everything I'm going to do is the way that seems right to me. It is the way that makes sense, that gives me what I want, that works out perfectly. But if it is not the way of the Lord, it is a straight line to sudden destruction.

So what is the answer then? What should govern and guide my decisions? Obviously, it can't be my own heart and mind, because both are part of a fallen existence. My heart is deceitful, and my mind plays tricks on me. I don't always have all the facts. So what is there that will guarantee I make the right decisions in life? The Word of God and the Will of God. One we find by reading what He wrote; the other we find by living it out as we listen for His voice. If we will surrender our will to His and stop talking long enough for Him to get in a word, He will tell us what we need to do.

The Prophecy of Zacharias

Now his father Zacharias

was filled with the Holy Spirit,

and prophesied, saying:

"Blessed is the Lord God of Israel,

for He has visited and redeemed His people,

and has raised up a horn of salvation for us

in the house of His servant David,

as He spoke by the mouth of His holy prophets,

who have been since the world began,

that we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us,

to perform the mercy promised to our fathers

and to remember His holy covenant,

the oath which He swore to our father Abraham:

to grant us that we,

being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve Him without fear,

in holiness and righteousness before Him

all the days of our life.

And you, child, will be called

the prophet of the Highest;

for you will go before the face of the Lord

to prepare His ways,

to give knowledge of salvation to His people

by the remission of their sins,

through the tender mercy of our God,

with which the Dayspring from on high

has visited us;

to give light to those who sit

in darkness and the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into the way of peace."

Luke 1:67-80