RIGHT PLACE, RIGHT TIME

“So [Elijah] did what the LORD had told him. He went to the Kerith Ravine, east of the Jordan, and stayed there.”
I Kings 17:5

Have you ever found yourself in the right place and at the right time? Maybe you were standing in line one day and became the lucky one hundredth customer, therefore receiving the prize of a year’s supply of free product. Perhaps you were fortunate enough to be the lucky recipient of a parking spot near the front on a day when the parking lot was overly full and you were sure you would have to walk from the back. Or maybe you just so happened to be walking and found a $10 bill on the floor. Whatever it was, and wherever you were, at that exact moment you just so happened to be in the right place at the right time. For many who experience this, it could just be luck. Yet for others it may come as a result of listening to God’s voice and being obedient, no matter how crazy it may sound.
When the army of Israel marched on Jericho under Joshua’s command, the order to march once for six days, quietly, may have seemed a little bazaar. Yet they just so happened to be in the right place at the right time on day seven, following God’s orders, when they received the victory over the city. And the same is true of Gideon. Taking an army of only three hundred, and being told to stand still, they obeyed God and also received His blessing for being in the right place at the right time. In both these instances, and so many more found in the Bible, obedience to God paid off. This should serve as a reminder to us to obey God.
Even though I understand the concept of obeying God and the pay off for doing so, I was once again enlightened recently as my daughter and I read our morning devotional. We read the account of Elijah as he was fed by the ravens in I Kings 17:1-9. The account starts out with Elijah going before King Ahab and declaring that God was going to shut off the skies, allowing no rain or dew to be found for the next few years. From here, God told Elijah to go to the Kerith Ravine. In obedience, Elijah went. The ravine served to quench Elijah’s thirst, but what about his hunger? God had this taken care of also as He provided ravens to come twice daily with bread and meat for the prophet. When the ravine dried up due to the lack of rain as prophesied, God spoke to Elijah again and commanded him to go to Zarephath.
In reading this account, the obvious details are remembered as I think back to the display of this story on the flannel board in Sunday School. But God showed me something deeper last night. How many times do we move out and expect God to bless our move as opposed to waiting on Him to tell us where to move? We read in I Kings 17:5 that Elijah did what the LORD had told him. Elijah went to the Kerith Ravine. He didn’t go to another city and expect God to still take care of him but rather went to the exact place God told him to go. This begs the question of whether or not God would have still taken care of him had he gone to another ravine, another city, or another hiding place apart from God’s direction. The blessing of food and water that God told Elijah about was waiting for him at this exact spot. It wasn’t at another place.
So bluntly, let me ask you. Are you where God has told you to be? Are you at His commanded Kerith Ravine, or are you at another ravine still waiting for this promise to come to pass? The blessing comes when we are in the right place at the right time. So are you? And deeper still, are you obeying His voice regardless of how crazy His request may sound? I am asking myself these same questions more and more recently, and maybe for good reason. I too have heard God’s voice in the past and refused to obey, yet sit around wondering why I am not seeing His hand of blessing. Is it really any wonder why, now? Deuteronomy 11:26-28 tells us that God places before us the decision of life and death. Life comes in obedience to His ways while death comes as a result of our disobedience. Which one we choose is in our hands. Which then will we choose?

JUST SHEPHERDS

“Pharaoh said to his brothers, ‘What is your occupation?’ They answered Pharaoh, ‘Your servants are shepherds, both we and our ancestors.’”
Genesis 47:3

Jacob, his sons, and their families, had made it to Egypt. From Joseph’s instruction, they were to make their way to the land of Goshen. It was here in Goshen that Joseph insisted that they live, for the land produced the best fields and crops for their animals, but also because being a shepherd was an occupation frowned upon by the Egyptians. But even this idea took planning. Knowing how Pharaoh would react, as well as other Egyptians, Joseph spoke with his brothers ahead of time. It was in this time of chat that Joseph had advised his brothers to admit to their occupation of shepherding. And it was because of these skills that Pharaoh also asked the men to care for his animals as well. While the brothers were honest in sharing that they were ‘just shepherds’, God was working behind the scenes to both protect and work with His people.
Sometimes I find it hard to admit. When I was single the questions would arise as to if I am divorced, who has custody of the kids, how much do I pay in support, who filed against who and why, and do I ever plan to get married again. While I had answers to all these questions, I always found myself leaving the conversation with the idea of ‘failure’ in mind. It was as if I was standing before Pharaoh and being asked, “What is your marital status?” With timidity I found myself responding, “I am divorced.” How great of an answer is that? If I was embarrassed to share it at times, how could any good come from it? It was in those moments I had to open my eyes and see my Goshen.
Goshen wasn’t the land that God had promised, but it was the land in which God preserved His people. And although it would be four hundred years before they returned to their homeland, it was four hundred years of His people thriving off the best that Egypt had to offer. I have learned to see it the same way. Divorce was never the route I expected, but it was the route that brought me the closest to God. And although I had to wait five years before the right woman came around, I knew that God was preserving me and allowing me to thrive in His blessings as a single man until He saw fit to change it. They may have been ‘just shepherds’, and I may have been ‘divorced’, but God had everything in His hands and was working it all out for His glory.
So how about you? When you stand before Pharaoh and he asks your occupation, or status, or any question about you, do you too find yourself timid to answer? Do you find yourself wanting to tell a lie for fear of the embarrassment of the truth? Perhaps what I learned, and in ways am still learning is the same lesson you find yourself learning. Although we may not be in the place we were once promised, we are in the place where God is preserving us and calling us closer to Him. Let us then not live in the mindset of ‘just shepherds’, but instead embrace what we can learn and grow from while in Goshen.

BLOCKED BLESSINGS

“After Job had prayed for his friends, the LORD made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had before.”
Job 42:10

I personally am not one to play video games often. Yes, I have a version of air hockey and Cut the Rope on my phone, but they are there mostly to entertain me when I am waiting in line at school on days when I pick up the kids. At home, however, it is a rare thing to find me playing videos games and working to save the world. For my children it is a different story. It seems as though they are so set on saving the world via the game system that to deny them is a sin in their eyes. That said, there have been many times when I have had to put my foot down and not let them play. In my eyes it is not that I am trying to be mean, but rather am pointing them into other behaviors that are not so addictive. Sometimes in my stance, however, I my denial of playing the games leads to an attitude issue and ultimately a taking away of the system altogether for some time.
I share all this not to inflict you with my methods, but to ask a question. As I have seen in my kids, so I wonder. How is it that my children think having a tantrum with me over a video game system is going to make me change my mind and give it back? How is the child being mean in action to me going to make me think, “Oh no, I should give it back so this will stop?” If anything, it only goes to prove my point that they are consumed and need a break. Yet, while I am not addicted myself to the game system, I still find myself grumbling, complaining, and throwing a fit at times when God asks me to cease something. Do I think that my fit will make Him change His mind and grant me what will spoil me?
This question became more real to me as I was reading through the book of Job early this week. When the devil came before God in Job 1, God gave permission for the enemy to test Job’s faith in hurting his family and possessions. Disaster happened and Job took it in stride, not once cursing God. Frustrated perhaps, the devil came a second time before God and was given permission to inflict Job as long as his life was spared. This time Job suffered pain, depression, and a host of instances. In all this, Job did not curse God. He cursed the day of His birth (Job 3:3), but never God. His wife even encouraged him to let go of his faith and curse God in Job 2:9, yet he did not. With so many reasons to throw a tantrum to try to get his way, Job did not. Truth is, Job took it in stride.
I once heard it preached that our complaining only stops the blessing that is coming to us. Let us think about this in the angle of what I experienced just yesterday. Having taken the system away over the weekend based on attitudes and such, I was prepared to return the game system to the children, with an understanding of what games I was going to allow to be played. When the attitudes began to fly again about why I would not allow violent games to be played in the home anymore, and tantrums began to be had again with negative words being spoken and over-dramatic crying fits being played out, I simply disconnected the game system again and returned it to my hiding place. I was all ready to bless the children, but their complaining once again blocked the blessing. This example once again speaks of me. Job, in his phase of testing, did not throw a fit. I, when I cannot have my selfish way, act like a child and kick and scream and in so doing, block the blessing that is coming.
In the end of Job we read that Job’s attitude brought forth a double blessing on him. Is it safe to say that our attitudes too could produce a blessing on us? If we can understand as parents that we are not going to ‘reward’ our kids for their negative actions and tantrums, then we should be able to understand that we too are not going to receive the blessing God wants to bestow on us when we act childish to His rules, ways, and disciplines. What does grumbling and complaining get us? Nothing. It honestly gets us cut off from the blessing that God wants to give us. So then I wonder, how many blessing have I been denied based on my attitude? How many blessings have I ceased simply because I threw a tantrum? I am embarrassed to know the answer to this, but encouraged now to change my attitude so that I do not prevent any more blessings to come.

DEVOTION AND LIGHTS

DEVOTION AND LIGHTS
“When Jesus spoke again to the people, he said, ‘I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will never walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.’”
John 8:12

This year something odd will take place. Chanukah and Thanksgiving will be celebrated at the same time. While Thanksgiving won’t come until tomorrow, Chanukah begins tonight. For the Christian it has true importance, as this is the season of miracles. Expectations grow high, and my expectation is that you will see a miracle in your own life. But let us first take a moment to break down any misunderstandings about Chanukah. Chanukah is not the Jewish version of Christmas. While at Christmas we celebrate the birth of Christ, it is a Chanukah we celebrate the miracle of a people and nation saved. Chanukah has other spellings, but it also has other names. Some call this holiday Hanukkah, some the Festival of Lights, and others the Feast of Dedication. However, the custom of decorating our homes with Christmas lights is derived from Chanukah, as again, it is known by some as the Festival of Lights.
To the surprise of many, Chanukah is named in the Bible and was celebrated by Jesus, Himself. John 10:22-23 reads, “Then came the Feast of Dedication at Jerusalem. It was winter, and Jesus was in the temple area walking in Solomon’s Colonnade.” Let us focus for a moment, though, on the word ‘Dedication. In simply looking into the life of Enoch, we see how his name is translated in the Hebrew as CHANOWK, which means dedicated. Chanukah is derived from this same root word, meaning dedication. It was during this Feast that the Jews recalled the victory of the Maccabees over their enemy, and the provision of God to allow the menorah to burn for eight days when there was only enough oil to burn for one night. This was the provision of God, and a celebration of His miracle working power.
But why do we find Jesus walking in Solomons’ Colonnade during the Feast of Dedication? For that answer, let us look at the verses that follow. The Jews gathered around Jesus to ask for a blunt response - are you the Christ or not? Jesus responded simply, “I did tell you, but you do not believe. The miracles I do in my Father’s name speak for me.” The relationship between the miracle that God did for the Maccabees, cross-referenced with the miracles Christ was doing currently, should have been enough for the people to link a connection. The season and the hand of the One doing the miracles was staring them in the face.
The burning candles on the menorah are a reminder to us all, not just the Jews, of God’s provision and the victory won by the Maccabees. But as we are talking about dedication, I want to bring our attention to a passage we probably are not familiar with. It is in 1 Maccabees 2:19-22 that we read, “Mattathias answered in a loud voice, ‘I don't care if every Gentile in this empire has obeyed the king and yielded to the command to abandon the religion of his ancestors. My children, my relatives, and I will continue to keep the covenant that God made with our ancestors. With God's help we will never abandon his Law or disobey his commands. We will not obey the king's decree, and we will not change our way of worship in the least.’"
Mattathias, a priest in the Jewish village of Modein around the year 165BCE, along with his sons, saw the evil Syrian King’s officers coming their way and working to enforce pagan rules on God’s people. Faced with the option to forsake God and embrace the Greek ways of life, or die, Mattathias chose to take a stand for the one true God. His dedication was undeniable; his mind made up. Even with death starring him in the face, he would not forsake or denounce his God.
Countless times throughout the Bible we read of men and women who faced disaster and hardship. Yet as we also see, those who stood up for God’s truth and justice were those who received God’s miracles. As we launch into this season, I want to encourage you to stand up for God’s truth and justice. The enemy will find ways to try to knock you down and take you out. He will work to snuff your flame and deplete you of the oil needed to burn for God. But do not lose heart. Do not stray from the ways of God. Your miracle is coming, and the Light of the world will overcome the darkness at hand. Take your stand, my friend.
Happy Chanukah to all.

VENOM

“Their venom is like the venom of a snake, like that of a cobra that has stopped its ears, that will not heed the tune of the charmer, however skillful the enchanter may be.”
Psalm 58:4-5

Not too long ago, as we were flipping through the channels, my son landed on the Discovery Channel. In some ways I think he takes after me in that he also loves to learn new things. It was while we watched an episode where researchers went out in search of the creature with the greatest amount of venom in its bite, that we both learned a little more about venom. Surly on the list were different types of snakes, spiders, and scorpions. But I was surprised to learn about other creatures such as the blue ringed octopus and cone snail. When all the tests were completed and the rankings shown based on location, interaction with people, aggressiveness, and toxicity, the title of the most venomous creature went to the box jellyfish.
Now while I plan to stay away from this jellyfish, and any other creature that has venom in it, I find that there is one creature not on the list, but just as venomous. That creature is the unjust judge. Psalm 58 starts off questioning, “Do you rulers indeed speak justly? Do you judge uprightly among men? No, in your heart you devise injustice, and your hands mete out violence on the earth. Even from birth the wicked go astray; from the womb they are wayward and speak lies.” These lies and judgments are the exact same venoms that come around and bite, injure, and kill the innocent. And as is written, we teach our children at a young age to judge others and go astray as well. Rather than showing them how to use their poison, we should point out to them, and be reminded ourselves, of Matthew 7:1-2. “Do not judge, or you too will be judged. For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.”
In considering further this passage of Psalm 58:4 where we read of the venom of the one who judges, let us take a look also at the thoughts of Matthew Henry. “Though the poison be within, much of it may be kept from breaking forth to injure others. When the Savior's words are duly regarded, the serpent becomes harmless.” So then, how do we become harmless? How do we move from the point of injecting venom to the point of bringing healing? Is not the anti-venom made from the creature’s venom? If the poison kills, then can we use the same method as scientists and use our venom for good instead? Yes, we can.
When I think about this, I think of the cliché, hate the sin and not the sinner. If we are judging a person we are judging the whole of the person, therefore making ourselves the measuring stick. But we cannot hold the position of God. We are told in Galatians 6: 1 that when we see our brother in sin, we are to help him out, not sit there and judge him. Then, with this truth, let us judge the sin of a person against God’s measuring stick, not the person as a whole. For we all, at one time or another, have fallen or will fall into sin. In those moments we do not want to hear how terrible we are. Instead, we must point out the sin and how wrong the sin is. Let us use the venom in us in a good way, as the anti-venom that brings a healing verses judgment.

SAVING THE REFUGEES

“’Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you…’”
Matthew 28:19-20a

Recently I watched the movie “Tears of the Sun”, starring Bruce Willis. In the movie he plays a Special-Ops commander who leads a team into the jungle area of Nigeria to rescue a doctor. His mission was to get only the doctor, but the doctor refused to go without the deliverance of the seventy refugees as well. As Bruce’s character is arguing this point with his Commander, he makes a statement that I find bold. “My team will complete this mission.” He went in for one mission, to save the doctor, and yet when faced with the possibility to leave helpless more to suffer the fate of death, he changed the rules by changing the goal of his mission.
I think what I find so bold about this comment is not that he stood up to his Commander, but that he saw the bigger picture. It would have been enough to obey his orders and get the doctor. It would have been commendable even. But seeing that all these innocent people were in the line of soon coming fire and disaster, he made the choice to extend his mission to include them.
This reminds me of our mission. However, I think it is safe to look at our mission in two ways. First, our mission is to get to heaven. How do we do that? We do that by accepting Christ as our Savior. In Romans 10:9-10 we read that, “If [we] confess with [our] mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in [our] heart that God raised him from the dead, [we] will be saved. For it is with [our] heart that [we] believe and are justified, and it is with [our] mouth that [we] confess and are saved.” This action and confession of Christ as our Lord brings us into a relationship with Him. Still this is only a portion of our mission. Should our mission stop here, however, it is still commendable. In essence we saved the doctor.
But the second part of our mission, and perhaps the part that many do not complete, is the making of disciples. In the final words of Matthew’s gospel, Jesus gives these words. “’Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you.’” This is the saving of the refugees. Are we completing this order given by our Commander? Granted some are. Yet not all people are Billy Graham. Because I am not, does that mean I should not even try to complete my mission? By no means. Keep in mind that not each person is given the same drop off location in the military. Does that make one unit better than another? It should not, for we are all on the same team.
So what is it I am trying to suggest in this devotional today? I am trying to get us to answer honestly the question of if we are saving the refugees. A few days back I posed on On The Vanguard’s facebook page this question, “If we are soldiers in God’s army, and the mission is clear, then are we fulfilling our mission?” Can I just be honest with you? I cannot say I have been fully fulfilling my mission. Some days I try, other days I leave it to the others in my unit. But those orders were given by Jesus to us, both individually and as a unit. Following this, I was placed here, at this drop off location in time and space, to work to save the number of God-less refugees that I can touch. It may be commendable that I am saved and my rescue is coming, but there are many more who need to be saved still. What am I doing to save them?

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3000 LOST, 3000 SAVED

“Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
Acts 2:41

I realize we are not currently within the time known as the Festival of Weeks, between the time when Jesus ascended to heaven and when the Holy Spirit fell in the Upper Room, but I felt inclined to share some today concerning events that happened around this time. The Festival of Weeks is first named in Exodus 34:22, with a command given to celebrate with the first fruits of the wheat harvest. It is actually one of three times on the Jewish calendar when men were required to go to Jerusalem to celebrate and pay tithes. Following the timeframe of fifty days from the start of Passover, Jews and Christians alike celebrate and remember what we have come to know as Pentecost. But to gain a little more understanding behind this celebration, I want us to draw our attention today to Exodus 32:28. It is here that we read of more than just an agricultural significance to this festival, but rather are able to relate Pentecost to a commemorating of the giving of the Law, the Torah, to Moses. Let us start our journey then for today.
Starting a few verses earlier in Exodus 32:25, we read of Moses coming down from Mount Sinai to the sights and sounds of the Israelites worshipping the golden calf. The Bible describes that the people had allowed themselves to becoming the laughingstock of their enemies based on this action. So then, Moses took a stand. Standing physically at the entrance to the camp he said, “’Whoever is for the LORD, come to me.’” This decision shot to the hearts of the people and it is recorded that all the Levites rallied to him (v26) as well as others. Moses then turned to those who had come to him and gave the command of God, to strap a sword to the side and go throughout the camp killing those who had not chosen to follow God (v27). When the Levites had completed this command, three thousand people lay dead. Now right away one could argue that God’s ways seemed extreme, but does not Romans 6:23 tell us that the wages of sin is death? For these Israelites that chose not to follow after God and obey Him, they found death to be their punishment. For the remainder that had sinned, Moses sought the LORD’s forgiveness, begging that He forgive them or wipe Moses’ name out of the book.
In order to catch the relationship from this action then to Pentecost, we now need to skip ahead in time to Acts 2. It is here that we see another aspect of God’s redeeming qualities. To quote the former pastor of the church I attend, Don Finto, “On Pentecost fifteen hundred years earlier, when the Law was given on Sinai, three thousand died because of rebellion. On this Pentecost three thousand became the first fruits of new life in the Spirit.” After the Holy Spirit fell on the people in the Upper Room and empowered them with boldness, among other characteristics, Peter addressed the crowd that had gathered around mocking them. He explained that although they looked physically drunk they were indeed not, but rather drunk in the Spirit. Then, starting with a verse in the book of Joel, Peter preached one of the best salvation messages ever recorded (Acts 2:14-41). In the end, when the simple fisherman under the influence of the Holy Spirit had completed his message, he gave an altar call. And here’s the awesome part. “Those who accepted his message were baptized, and about three thousand were added to their number that day.”
In one day, three thousand were slain because they chose to rebel against God and His commands. Years later, three thousand came into a relationship with God because their eyes and hearts were opened to who God was and they wanted to follow Him. The question beckons then, which one are you? Be careful to answer, though. I know personally that I have at times declared to God that I will follow Him and then shortly following found myself worshipping my own golden calf. If not for the grace of God, I too would face the Romans 6:23 penalty of death for my sins. God is looking for people who are sold out for Him so that He can pour His Spirit out on them. I pray this is not only the cry of our hearts, but also the way of our actions.