Cherish The Change

1 Kings 1:1-4

King David was now very old, and no matter how many blankets covered him, he could not keep warm. So his advisers told him, “Let us find a young virgin to wait on you and look after you, my lord.  She will lie in your arms and keep you warm.”

So they searched throughout the land of Israel for a beautiful girl, and they found Abishag from Shunem and brought her to the king.  The girl was very beautiful, and she looked after the king and took care of him.  But the king had no sexual relations with her.

The one part of my job I love more than anything else is being a part of young lives growing up.  I love to watch as they first “get” God.  I love to walk alongside as they begin their journey with the Holy Spirit.  My heart breaks when they stumble and my spirit struggles to lift them back up.  But I MOST love watching them later, as somewhat more mature disciples, when they make decisions that they wouldn’t have made just a few short years earlier.

That’s what I see here in 1 Kings.  David’s lived a long life, from humble shepherd to giant slayer to king’s servant and eventually to the throne itself.  Early in his kingship, he saw a woman he liked, had an affair, and did everything he could, including murdering her husband, to have her.  As a result, he suffered some serious consequences from his actions and repented before God.

Now, decades later, at the end of his life, he’s laying in bed waiting to die and his advisers have a great idea.  ”Let’s get a beautiful young virgin to sleep with David and keep him warm.”

But David’s learned from his mistake and Scripture tells us, “[he] had no sexual relations with her.”

And, in my heart, I applaud a somewhat more mature David who is making decisions he wouldn’t have made a few years before.

Look around you for the David’s who are maturing and changing right before your eyes.  And applaud them.  Encourage them.  Cherish them.

 

Live

2 Samuel 23:8-12

These are the names of David’s mighty men:

Josheb-Basshebeth, a Tahkemonite, was chief of the Three; he raised his spear against eight hundred men, whom he killed in one encounter.

Next to him was Eleazar son of Dodai the Ahohite.  As one of the three mighty men, he was with David when they taunted the Philistines gathered at Pas Dammim for battle.  Then the men of Israel retreated, but he stood his ground and struck down the Philistines till his hand grew tired and froze to the sword.  The LORD brought about a great victory that day.  The troops returned to Eleazar, but only to strip the dead.

Next to him was Shammah son of Agee the Hararite.  When the Philistines banded together at a place where there was a field full of lentils, Israel’s troops fled from them.  But Shammah took his stand in the middle of the field.  He defended it and struck the Philistines down, and the LORD brought about a great victory.

These men knew no fear.  Neither did Abishai, who killed 300 men, or Benaiah, who killed a lion.  Neither did David, who killed Goliath.  Neither did Peter, who attempted to defend Jesus at His arrest, or Paul, who faced down kings and emperors.

They knew no fear in the service of the Lord.  The only thing they feared was the result of not serving God with their life.  Trying and failing wasn’t on their radar.  They didn’t hesitate to act because of the possibility of missing the mark.  They saw the goal, made the choice, and committed themselves to the course.

None of those men were perfect.  They all failed at some point.  They all died in the end.  They all bit off more than they could chew.  They all lived.

And they were called “mighty men” in the end.

I ask you…  What will you be called?  At the end of your life, as you are remembered and possibly even written about, will your caption read, “Mighty man who lived for Christ,” or will it say, “Good person who lived a safe life?”

It’s your call.  See the goal, make the choice, commit yourself to the course.

And live.

Poorly Solved Problems Multiply

2 Samuel 6:6-7

When they came to the threshing floor of Nacon, Uzzah reached out and took hold of the ark of God, because the oxen stumbled.  The LORD’s anger burned against Uzzah because of his irreverent act; therefore God struck him down and he died there beside the ark of God.

Some parts of the Bible just don’t make sense to me at all.  This is one of them…  In verse 6, Uzzah is in perfect health, serving the Lord.  By the end of verse 7, he’s dead as an example to Israel.  And why?

Because he…  Did his job?  Kept the Ark out of the mud?  Did the logical thing?

Seriously, why did Uzzah have to die?  I think the answer is, at once, incredibly simple and equally condemning.

Uzzah had to die because he did something that I do everyday.  (You probably do too.)

Uzzah saw a situation and he immediately reacted. In one moment of rash action, Uzzah sealed his fate.

It’s “simple” because you and I do it all the time.  It’s “condemning” because if Uzzah’s punishment was death, what is mine?

To avoid the situation (and the resulting condemnation), I rationalize it to the point of actually being a strength.  In fact, I often brag about my ability to “see a problem and fix a problem.”  But in seeing and fixing a “problem,” I am often creating an even bigger problem.  I might solve the present situation but by not taking God’s eternal perspective into consideration, I inadvertently remove myself from His Will.

When Uzzah saw the Ark teetering, the most pressing problem was the symbol of God’s glory falling into the mud.  He saw the problem and fixed the problem by reaching out a hand and lifting it up.  The bigger problem came in that Uzzah failed to consider God’s law against touching the Ark.  He saw the problem and fixed the problem but he fixed it with a human solution.  And was punished.

By the way, Uzzah’s “situation” was caused because the prior problem of how to transport the ark was solved with a human solution.  Putting the Ark on a cart seemed like a great idea but it wasn’t God’s idea.  If the men moving the Ark had considered God, the Ark would have been mounted on poles on the shoulders of Levites and Uzzah would have never had a problem to solve.

Poorly solved problems multiply. And eventually men die.  Maybe physically.  Probably spiritually.

In your ministry, what problems have you solved poorly?  What “solutions” have grown into bigger problems than the original?

If “see a problem, fix a problem” is your mantra, I would suggest a change.  Try this on for size…  ”See a problem, pray about a problem, fix a problem.”  I’m finding that it works much better.

When God Enters The Equation…

2 Samuel 1:1-16

After the death of Saul, David returned from defeating the Amalekites and stayed in Ziklag two days.  On the third day a man arrived from Saul’s camp, with his clothes torn and with dust on his head.  When he came to David, he fell to the ground to pay him honor.

“Where have you come from?” David asked him.  He answered, “I have escaped from the Israelite camp.”

“What happened?” David asked.  ”Tell me.”  He said, “The men fled from the battle.  Many of them fell and died.  And Saul and his son Jonathan are dead.”

Then David said to the young man who brought him the report, “How do you know that Saul and his son Jonathan are dead?”

“I happened to be on Mount Gilboa,” the young man said, “and there was Saul, leaning on his spear, with the chariots and riders almost upon him.  When he turned around and saw me, he called out to me, and I said, ‘What can I do?’

“He asked me, ‘Who are you?’  An Amalekite, I answered.  Then he said to me, ‘Stand over me and kill me!  I am in the throes of death, but I’m still alive.’  So I stood over him and killed him, because I knew that after he had fallen he could not survive.  And I took the crown that was on his head and the band on his arm and have brought them here to my lord.”

Then David and all the men with him took hold of their clothes and tore them.  They mourned and wept and fasted till evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the army of the LORD and the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.

David said to the young man who brought him the report, “Where are you from?”  “I am the son of an alien, an Amalekite,” he answered.

David asked him, “Why were you not afraid to lift your hand to destroy the LORD’s anointed?”  Then David called one of his men and said, “Go, strike him down!”  So he struck him down, and he died.  For David had said to him, “Your blood be on your own head.  Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I killed the LORD’s anointed.’ “

I am thankful for David’s respect and honor for Saul, God’s Anointed.

Saul hated David and hunted him mercilessly and it would have been natural for David to let that hatred seep into his own heart.

It would have been understandable for David to kill Saul in the wilderness when he was able to sneak up on him in his sleep.  It would have been appropriate for David to celebrate when he learned of Saul’s death.  It would have been expected for David to breathe a sigh of relief when he was told his life wasn’t in danger anymore.

It would have been unthinkable for David to mourn for his enemy.  It would have been unfathomable for David to enforce justice on the man who essentially ended the death sentence on his head.  But that’s just what he did.

David’s respect for the man God had chosen was more powerful than his need for revenge and vindication.

I can say with relative surety that that wouldn’t have been me.  If I’d been running for my life and a man came and showed me proof that my pursuer was dead, I would have thrown a party and rewarded him with whatever he wanted.

David knew something I struggle to realize.  David knew that when God enters the equation, you can’t solve it with human answers.

What divine equations are you trying to solve with human answers?

Who Is Your Ahimelek?

1 Samuel 22:11-19

The king sent for the priest Ahimelek son of Ahitub and all the men of his family, who were the priests at Nob, and they all came to the king.  Saul said, “Listen now, son of Ahitub.”

“Yes, my lord,” he answered.

Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, giving him bread and a sword and inquiring of God for him, so that he has rebelled against me and lies in wait for me, as he does today?”

Ahimelek answered the king, “Who of all your servants is as loyal as David, the king’s son-in-law, captain of your bodyguard and highly respected in your household? Was that day the first time I inquired of God for him?  Of course not!  Let not the king accuse your servant or any of his father’s family, for your servant knows nothing at all about this whole affair.”

But the king said, “You will surely die, Ahimelek, you and your whole family.”

Then the king ordered the guards at his side:  ”Turn and kill the priests of the LORD, because they too have sided with David.  They knew he was fleeing, yet they did not tell me.”  But the king’s officials were unwilling to raise a hand to strike the priests of the LORD.

The king then ordered Doeg, “You turn and strike down the priests.”  So Doeg the Edomite turned and struck them down.  That day he killed eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod.   He also put to the sword Nob, the town of the priests, with its men and women, its children and infants, and its cattle, donkeys and sheep.

When life goes south and it seems like everyone is against you, who stands beside you?  When your family comes under attack and your ministry is under scrutiny, who will defy the king for you?

Saul went rogue and his hatred of David led him to a wild life-and-death chase across the country.  Saul was literally willing to risk anything and pay any price if it meant David’s death.  Siding with David on anything was a death sentence but Ahimelek didn’t hesitate.  David had done no wrong so Ahimelek stood before Saul, looked hatred in the eyes and answered the call.

No long after, Ahimelek died for his actions.  Actually, Ahimelek’s words so enraged Saul that 85 priests and an entire town died.

Who’s your Ahimelek?  Who will stand for you and who will die for you?

Life is cutthroat and ministry can be worse.  You need someone at your back.  You need someone who will die for you and for whom you will die.

It might not be today, but someday you will need Ahimelek beside you.

Find him.

Day 21 — 1 Samuel 16:1-28:19

Three thoughts on today’s reading…

1 Samuel 16:7 — “The Lord said to Samuel, ‘Do not consider his appearance or his height, for I have rejected him.  The Lord does not look at the things human beings look at.  People look at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart.’”

No matter how many times I read it, I love this verse.  In the middle of a world where much is decided based upon your social status or last name, I love the reminder that God looks at the heart.  We get so wrapped up in keeping “key people” happy that we forget who the “key people” are in God’s eyes…

Through Scripture, God seems to bless people who are humble, compassionate, committed and motivated by love.  So why do we tend to “honor and respect” people who are wealthy, influential, outspoken and motivated by politics?  It’s time for our actions to reflect God’s vision.

1 Samuel 19:11-13 — “Saul sent men to David’s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning.  But Michal, David’s wife, warned him, ‘If you don’t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you’ll be killed.’  So Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped.  Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats’ hair at the head.”

As I’ve been reading through Scripture, I’ve seen a lot that reaffirms what I already “knew.”  But I’ve also had moments when I’ve had to stop, think, flip back a page or two and re-read just to wrap my mind around a tough thought.  1 Samuel 19 was one of those moments…

I about choked when I read the “the man after God’s own heart” owned an idol.  And I was reminded again that no one is perfect.

1 Ssmuel 28:6-7 — “[Saul] inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets.  Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.”

We’re all searching for something.  God turned against Saul but Saul was still looking for something.  He couldn’t find it in Yahweh so he turned to a medium to bring Samuel back to talk to him.

Remember this:  Your neighbor is looking for something.  Your friend is looking for something.  Your teacher is looking for something.  Your boss is looking for something.

Give them God or they’ll search somewhere else.

Day 20 — 1 Samuel 2:30-15:35

1 Samuel 15:22-23 — “Does the Lord delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obeying the Lord?  To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.  For rebellion is like the sin of divination, and arrogance like the evil of idolatry.  Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

Saul led Israel in a battle and won, but broke God’s command to destroy everything completely.  They kept the best sheep and cattle for themselves.  When Samuel confronts him, Saul cooks up an excuse that they didn’t destroy it all because they wanted to sacrifice the spared animals for God.

Samuel looks Saul in the eye and tells him that God would rather Saul obey than do what he thinks is best.  God loves sacrifice – literal sacrificed animals in the OT, figurative sacrificed lives in the NT – but He loves obedience even more.

How often are we – and our churches – guilty of ignoring what God commands and doing what we would rather do (and hoping it pleases God in the process)?  How often do we skip the command to live transformed lives of constant worship in favor of setting up and pursuing “laws” that we like better?

I talk to people all the time who get much more consumed with what can and can’t happen in the “church building” than they are with what will or won’t happen in “God’s house.”  By “God’s house,” I’m referring to your body, where the Spirit of God dwells, of course.

It is so stinkin’ easy to get worked up about all that other stuff because it takes the pressure and focus off what I am supposed to do.  Saul and his army spent significant time and resources to set up a situation that other people could look at and say, “Wow!  That’s great!” when they could have spent much more quality time simply doing what God told them to do in the first place.

Bottom line for us:  God says, “Love God with everything you’ve got – heart, soul, strength, time, resources, thoughts.  And love every other human being as much as you love yourself.”

If I’m loving God with all I’ve got, I don’t have time to worry about making my job or my church building or my worship service into something that makes me happy.  I don’t have energy to pour into making sure no one else breaks one of my favorite “rules” and messes up my experience.

If I’m loving every other human being as much as I love myself, then my neighbors have the same (or better) standard of living that I have.  Their house is as nice as mine.  Their car runs as good as mine.  Their kids have as good a Christmas as mine does.  Their clothes are as “in style” as mine.

Ask yourself this question:  If Samuel were here to look you in the eye, what would God say?

Total Devotion…

1 Samuel 4:17-22

[A Benjamite ran from battle and came to Eli and said,] “Israel fled before the Philistines, and the army has suffered heavy losses.  Also your two sons, Hophni and Phinehas, are dead, and the ark of God has been captured.”

When he mentioned the ark of God, Eli fell backward off his chair by the side of the gate.  His neck was broken and he died, for he was an old man, and he was heavy.  He had led Israel forty years.

His daughter-in-law, the wife of Phinehas, was pregnant and near the time of delivery.  When she heard the news that the ark of God had been capturedd adn that her father-in-law and her husband were dead, she went into labor and gave birth, but was overcome by her labor pains.  As she was dying, the women attending her said, “Don’t despair; you have given birth to a son.”  But she did not respond or pay any attention.

She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel” – because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.  She said, “The Glory has departed from Israel, for the ark of God has been captured.”

Follow the chain of events here…  A war is fought and lost.  Two corrupt priests are killed.  The Ark of the Covenant is captured.  A nation is thrown into despair.  The leader is stunned enough to fall out of a chair and break his neck.  His daughter-in-law is stunned enough to go into labor and die as a result.  But just before she dies, she names her son and makes him a living memorial to the tragedy of God’s Ark being captured.

When the shock of God’s glory “leaving your country” is enough to cause the shocked death of leaders amid a grief stricken nation, you know that nation has put quite a bit of stock in the presence of the Lord.

As I think about the world I live in, I can’t help but be confronted with the truth that God is being pushed farther and farther away.  I’ll admit, I’ve never been one to claim America as a “Christian nation,” but the steady removal of all things “God” from our culture is unmistakable.  And I wonder…  Why is our shock and grief so much less than Eli’s?

When our churches are more concerned with the horror of a potential coffee cup in a room labeled the “Sanctuary” than they are about the increasing distance between the Creator and the Creation, we’ve got a problem.  And I ask this question…  ”Why are we so much less dependent on God than the ancient Israelites were?”  Where have we gone wrong?  What gives us the idea that we can live life in any way BUT total dependance on the Creator?

Church, it’s time to repent of pointless arguments.  It’s time to grieve the loss of souls.  It’s time to discover what life completely dependent on God could resemble.

Day 19 — Judges 15:13-1 Samuel 2:29

1 Samuel 1:24-28 — After he was weaned, she took the boy with her, young as he was, along with a three-year-old bull, an ephah of flour and a skin of wine, and brought him to the house of the Lord at Shiloh.  When the bull had been sacrificed, they brought the boy to Eli, and she said to him, “Pardon me, my lord.  As surely as you live, I am the woman who stood here beside you praying to the Lord.  I prayed for this child, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord.  For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.”

One of my most powerful memories is from March 20, 2005.  That Sunday morning, Grace and I stood in front of our church to “dedicate” Andrew.  Standing there holding my 5 day old son, I meant every word of this…  I prayed for this boy, and the Lord has granted me what I asked of him.  So now I give him to the Lord.  For his whole life he will be given over to the Lord.

And I still mean it today.

My Name Is Micah…

Judges 17:1-13

Now a man named Micah from the hill country of Ephraim said to his mother, “The eleven hundred shekels of silver that were taken from you and about which I heard you utter a curse—I have that silver with me; I took it.”  Then his mother said, “The LORD bless you, my son!”

When he returned the eleven hundred shekels of silver to his mother, she said, “I solemnly consecrate my silver to the LORD for my son to make an image overlaid with silver.  I will give it back to you.”

So after he returned the silver to his mother, she took two hundred shekels of silver and gave them to a silversmith, who used them to make the idol.  And it was put in Micah’s house.

Now this man Micah had a shrine, and he made an ephod and some household gods and installed one of his sons as his priest.  In those days Israel had no king; everyone did as they saw fit.

A young Levite from Bethlehem in Judah, who had been living within the clan of Judah left that town in search of some other place to stay.  On his way he came to Micah’s house in the hill country of Ephraim.

Micah asked him, “Where are you from?”  ”I’m a Levite from Bethlehem in Judah,” he said, “and I’m looking for a place to stay.”

Then Micah said to him, “Live with me and be my father and priest, and I’ll give you ten shekels of silver a year, your clothes and your food.”  So the Levite agreed to live with him, and the young man became like one of his sons to him.  Then Micah installed the Levite, and the young man became his priest and lived in his house.  And Micah said, “Now I know that the LORD will be good to me, since this Levite has become my priest.“

Micah is a thief who collects gods to worship.  If he can just get enough of the right ones, his life will be blessed.  He steals for his mother, but then confesses and she thanks him for it, and even rewards him with an idol for his collection.  He has a shrine filled with an ephod and all kinds of idols.  He convinced one of his sons to be a “priest” for him…  That is, until he discovered a real, honest-to-goodness, Levite to be his priest.

One god.  One idol.  One priest.  None of that was enough, he was constantly searching for just the right thing that would put him over the top.

How do you approach religion?