A World out of Touch with God

January 11, 2020

 

Psalm 145:8-16

 

“The Lord is gracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love. The Lord is good to all, and his mercy is over all that he has made.   All your works shall give thanks to you, O Lord, and all your saints shall bless you!  They shall speak of the glory of your kingdom and tell of your power, to make known to the children of man your^[a] mighty deeds, and the glorious splendor of your kingdom.
Your kingdom is an everlasting kingdom, and your dominion endures throughout all generations.  [The Lord is faithful in all his words and kind in all his works.]   The Lord upholds all who are falling and raises up all who are bowed down.  The eyes of all look to you, and you give them their food in due season. You open your hand; you satisfy the desire of every living thing.”

 

As a follower of Christ, I often am confused when I hear someone including myself saying we should turn that area in to glass, talking about Iran.  Yes, I will agree that their rulers are evil, they support terrorism and in the last weeks we have witnessed our President giving the command to kill a general in their military that was responsible for killing over 600 of our soldiers and was planning to kill more people.  We waited for response after they sent missiles into one of our military bases in Iraq and the next day God answered my prayers and I’m sure many others, in that President Trump saw no need to hit back and take the life of Iran’s people.

 

Many feared and the media added to those fears of an all-out war, but God, who is gracious and compassionate gave our leader the wisdom to stand down, in that we did not lose any of our troops.  We need to understand that the most pagan leaders such as those in Iran are restrained in action by the hand of our loving Father.  And before saying something stupid like we should turn that country into glass, do you understand, that God loves them as much as He loves you and me?   The apostle Peter gave this insight to all of us; “The Lord is not slow to fulfill his promise as some count slowness, but is patient toward you, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should reach repentance.”

 

We need to take to heart who God is and how out of touch our world is to God.  A God that is beyond our understanding, but who loves us so much that in grace and mercy He sent us Jesus His only Son.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

It is all about God

Psalm 145:1-7

 

“I will extol you, my God and King, and bless your name forever and ever.   Every day I will bless you and praise your name forever and ever.  Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised, and his greatness is unsearchable.  One generation shall commend your works to another and shall declare your mighty acts. On the glorious splendor of your majesty, and on your wondrous works, I will meditate.  They shall speak of the might of your awesome deeds, and I will declare your greatness. They shall pour forth the fame of your abundant goodness and shall sing aloud of your righteousness.”

 

“It is not about you, it is all about God;” never have truer words been spoken!  Because we live in a culture of it’s all about me, a follower of Christ can easily be molded into a pagan mindset of, I’m special, I need to be recognized, and the list gets longer and longer.  That’s why I put to memory 2 Corinthians 13:5, “Examine yourselves, to see whether you are in the faith. Test yourselves. Or do you not realize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you?—unless indeed you fail to meet the test!”

 

I find a need to take that test often, who or what am I extoling?  Is it all about me and what I’m doing for God or is it about all that God through Jesus is doing and has done?  Extol is what you admire and worship, and there are many people I admire but when examining why, it is because of Christ doing it all for them.  When we grasp that truth, we do begin to extol God.

 

As we understand that our world feeds our fleshly desires to have it all about me, we come to an understanding that as the Psalmist has stated; “His greatness is unsearchable.”  His superiority goes beyond comprehension, and the prophet Isaiah states so in chapter 40:28, “Do you not know? Have you not heard?  The Lord is the everlasting God, the Creator of the ends of the earth.  He will not grow tired or weary, and his understanding no one can fathom.”

 

I often drop the ball when it comes to telling others what God is up to in my life, I hope that my actions are louder than my words, but words are needed.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

A New Song

Psalm 144: 9-15

 

“I will sing a new song to you, O God; upon a ten-stringed harp I will play to you, who gives victory to kings, who rescues David his servant from the cruel sword.  Rescue me and deliver me from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.   May our sons in their youth be like plants full grown,
our daughters like corner pillars cut for the structure of a palace; may our granaries be full, providing all kinds of produce may our sheep bring forth thousands and ten thousands in our fields; may our cattle be heavy with young, suffering no mishap or failure in bearing; may there be no cry of distress in our streets!  Blessed are the people to whom such blessings fall!  Blessed are the people whose God is the Lord!”

 

Once more it is not about David, it is about God and David is asking God to come fight his battles.  A new song may be for the victory God has given over his many enemies, and it may be for a special occasion, we do not know.  This question is the elephant in the room that each of us is ignoring, when was the last time you sang a new song to the LORD?  Not at church, we often do that, I mean a song that comes into your thinker “mind” that comes from a heart of thanksgiving for all that God is doing in your life.

 

I’m not a teacher, that’s not part of my gift mix but I do have the gift of being an exhorter and it comes with a desire to see those you mentor or teach apply the teaching.  If we read the Scriptures and do not apply them to our lives are they of any real value?  Are we not living in a time of great need to cry out to God for deliverance from those in our government that are haters of God and all authority?  My new song this morning was;  “America, America, why are you so blind, hating and being hated, not looking for why,  Church O Church why are you not being His hands and His feet, for love and grace is the key.  I long to tell the story but my mouth often does not speak, the amazing truth, I’ve been set free.  Free, praise Jesus, His blood has set me free. His love, His love has no price you see, and grace is the key that has set me free.”

 

I’ve often sang a new song to the Lord, and I know they are not going to make the hit parade but is that of importance?

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

My rock and my fortress

Psalm 144:1-8

 

“Blessed be the Lord, my rock, who trains my hands for war, and my fingers for battle;
he is my steadfast love and my fortress, my stronghold and my deliverer, my shield and he in whom I take refuge, who subdues peoples^[ under me. O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?  Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.  Bow your heavens, O Lord, and come down!  Touch the mountains so that they smoke!  Flash forth the lightning and scatter them; send out your arrows and rout them!  Stretch out your hand from on high; rescue me and deliver me from the many waters, from the hand of foreigners, whose mouths speak lies and whose right hand is a right hand of falsehood.”

 

David declares, God you are my Rock and my Fortress, it matters not who you are, how much wealth you have, a time will come in each life where one needs God’s steadfast love, and nothing can take the place that only God can fill.

 

The Holman Christian Standard Study Bible tells us that Psalms 18 has a lot of the same thoughts as 144, and both use metaphors to convey God’s attributes.  Many of them relate to a military setting where God is seen as the real strength behind the person.

 

In verse three, David said; “O Lord, what is man that you regard him, or the son of man that you think of him?  Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.”  Many today are asking the same question, in many different ways, but the answer is not hidden. It is found in Genesis 1:26, “Then God said, let Us make man in Our image, according to Our likeness.”  And after man sinned, he no longer had a heart that longed for God and yet God still had a great love for him.  You have heard the verse often, if you have been to “In and Out burgers you have seen John 3:16 on your drink cups.   Have you stopped and allowed the verse to speak what God is saying to all who will listen?  “For God so love the world that He gave His only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.”  But if you stop reading you will miss the reason and never get a full understanding of God’s love for you it’s all centered on His grace.  Verse 17-18, “For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him.  Whoever believes in him is not condemned, but whoever does not believe stands condemned already because they have not believed in the name of God’s one and only Son.”

 

God has already given us His Son, Jesus to rescue and deliver us from the hands of our enemy, the one Jesus tells us is a thief and a liar, whose goal is to kill, steal, and destroy.

 

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice

 

  

David is in a dark place

Psalm 143

Verse 1-6, “Lord, hear my prayer, listen to my cry for mercy; in your faithfulness and righteousness come to my relief.  Do not bring your servant into judgment, for no one living is righteous before you.  The enemy pursues me, he crushes me to the ground; he makes me dwell in the darkness like those long dead.  So my spirit grows faint within me; my heart within me is dismayed. I remember the days of long ago;  I meditate on all your works and consider what your hands have done.  I spread out my hands to you; I thirst for you like a parched land.”

Verses 1-6 set the stage for so many who have lost hope or have never understood the love of Jesus Christ.  I experienced a gifted man who lost his title, he was my bosses boss, and was one of the better salespersons I met.   Like David after losing the trust of the person he answered to, he went into a very dark place for a while.  The good news is like David he had to recall God’s mercy shown to him and like David I hope he remembers; no one alive is righteous in God’s sight.

I have seen this played out in my life, in families, in churches, in business, and in government, its name is jealousy or fear of the loss of position.  And instead of being  in harmony you have division and lack of trust.  David was in a very dark place; he was spiritually and physically weak or as my mother often said, I’m spent.  When a life is void of God’s love or when one forgets how much they have been forgiven, it is an easy place to find oneself, being the victim or the judge.

Do you have a place to go back to in your mind, a place where you recall all that God has done and will you sit still in a room and reflect on His faithfulness?  When we find ourselves in a time of deep depression we need God, and we need Him to answer quick.  Often God speaks to us in a very direct way, and sometimes he uses a person.  

In my darkest hour of my marriage, I was living apart from my wife and little girl, and my friend Ronnie had a nice big house and took mercy on me and allowed me to stay at his home.  One day I did or said something, and Ronnie who was not at that time a church person, looked at me and said I thought you were a Christian, that sure does not sound like one.  I had no defense, he was 100 % correct, I was a hypocrite for I was not acting like who I was.  I heard that many in the church we attended thought I was the lowest of scum, but let me tell you about Micky Johnson and how he also was sent at the right time to give me hope.  Micky called me one day and said this; Bob, I do not agree with one thing you are doing, but I must tell you I love you and am here anytime you want to talk.  Like Ronnie, I had no defense for love, for I did not like myself at this stage of life.

What I saw in my wife was Jesus love, it was not earned, for I deserved her wrath, but I got unconditional love.  Today I have looked back on my life and seen how God will restore a mess like me.  Like David I can tell all who will read or listen that I am a saint who sins, but when I do, I run to God for mercy and grace, for all we need, is His grace.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice’

It is Time to seek the Father

Psalm 142:1-7

“With my voice I cry out to the Lord;  with my voice I plead for mercy to the Lord.   I pour out my complaint before him; I tell my trouble before him.  When my spirit faints within me,  you know my way!  In the path where I walk they have hidden a trap for me.  Look to the right and see: there is none who takes notice of me; no refuge remains to me;  no one cares for my soul.  I cry to you, O Lord; I say, “You are my refuge, my portion in the land of the living.”  Attend to my cry, for I am brought very low!  Deliver me from my persecutors, for they are too strong for me!  Bring me out of prison, that I may give thanks to your name!  The righteous will surround me, for you will deal bountifully with me.”

This may be when David was told by Jonathan to run from his dad the king for he was going to kill him.  And David went to Nob to Ahimelech the priest and ask for food for a mission the king had sent him on in haste.  He also told the priest he needed a sword or spear and the priest gave him the sword of Goliath.  Now a man of the Edomites, a servant of Saul, his chief of herdsmen, named Doeg, saw David and told Saul, and also was the one that ended up on Saul’s orders to kill the priest and his family.

David leaves the priest and goes to the cave of Adullam, and when his family finds out they join him and so do all who are in distress, in debt, or bitter gather to David at the cave.  He ends up at this point with about 400 men, a long way from an army, and they are a bunch of misfits.

If your David, you are crying out for God to save you and your family of misfits, and yes you are asking for mercy.  If you’re a wise person as David was you get honest with God really quick and you’re not putting your faith anywhere but in and on God alone.  Now if you put yourself in David’s shoes, you feel alone, one day you are honored in the kings house, the captain of his bodyguard, and the kings son-in-law. 

This is a great reminder to all of us that Jesus told us in the world we would experience troubles, but to take heart for He has overcome the world.  King Saul did not come from a poor family and he was taller than most of his people, handsome and looked like leadership material, but he was fearful, the more power he got 

the more fearful he was of losing it, so he listened to the wrong voices and his leadership reminds me of the Congress of the United States.  Full of people who are full of fear and evil desires.

It is time we the members of the family of God and followers of Christ do as David did, not run to a cave, no, it is time we cry out to God, You are my shelter and my portion.  Dear Father, we are weak our President and nation have been under a massive attack from the enemy of hate and fear, those who see their power and wealth being removed and have no regards for justice or truth, only themselves.  

Father, you know many of us have also fallen victim to not doing as our LORD has instructed, for we have not loved our enemies and prayed for them to come to an understanding of the truth, change our heart to live as instructed in Colossians 4:2-6.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice

Pray is the key to living life on planet earth

Psalm 142

“O Lord, I call upon you; hasten to me.  Give ear to my voice when I call to you!   Let

 my prayer be counted as incense before you, and the lifting up of my hands as the evening sacrifice!  Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!  Do not let my heart incline to any evil, to busy myself with wicked deeds in company with men who work iniquity and let me not eat of their delicacies! Let a righteous man strike me—it is a kindness; let him rebuke me—it is oil for my head; let my head not refuse it.  Yet my prayer is continually against their evil deeds. When their judges are thrown over the cliff, then they shall hear my words, for they are pleasant.
As when one plows and breaks up the earth, so shall our bones be scattered at the mouth of Sheol.  But my eyes are toward you, O God, my Lord; in you I seek refuge; leave me not defenseless!   Keep me from the trap that they have laid for me and from the snares of evildoers!  Let the wicked fall into their own nets, while I pass by safely.”

Reflecting on my life, I often see the enemy and it is I, and I’ve seen a pattern of my messed-up life calling God to hasten to me and solve the latest problem, I’ve got myself into.  When the Psalmist wrote these words, it was the custom to offer incense for both the morning and evening hour.  In Paul’s letters to the saints and faithful brothers in Christ at Colossae we find this instruction in Chapter 4:2-6.  “Continue steadfastly in prayer, being watchful in it with thanksgiving.  At the same time, pray also for us, that God may open to us a door for the word, to declare the mystery of Christ, on account of which I am in prison— that I may make it clear, which is how I ought to speak.  Walk in wisdom toward outsiders, making the best use of the time. Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person.”  For you and I this is more inline with learning our ABC’s, it is basic, the foundation, if you want to read and write the English language.  Having an attitude of prayer is not as difficult as many think it is.  Such as being in a prayer room on your knees, but as you go about living life being grateful and watchful with the door of your heart open to the voice of God’s Holy Spirit.  Praying for all who are over you in authority, and especially your pastor and mentors.

It is clear that just as the ABC’s are key to learning the English language, prayer is the door for living life on Planet Earth, in victory over the evil one.  It is going to take prayer and the desire to die to your fleshly desires, in my case, I am wanting you to think more highly of me than God and I know to be true.  Learning to have a mentality of prayer and asking Jesus as I am doing to live out in me, and that’s going to require a mindset of; only Jesus Christ has ever lived the Christian life, and I need Him to do so in me.

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice