Archives for June 2020

We use the word ‘delightful’ to refer to those few things that are extra enjoyable or which bring a special sense of pleasure to us. If something is a ‘delight’ then it’s something we would like to enjoy over and over again.

A life filled with delight is a rare and special existence. Most of us feel pleasure from time to time, but may go for a long while before saying we are really delighted with something.

Delight speaks of our emotional response. It is a personal feeling of pleasure and appreciation. It is lovely to see someone’s eyes light up with delight, as we see with young children being amazed at something new.

When a life is empty of delight people seem to just drag themselves through each day. There is no joy or delight to give spark to their existence.

The things of God are meant to be a source of great delight to us. We are to find wonderful pleasure and sweetness in God’s law and in our relationship with God.

“Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers. But his delight is in the law of the Lord, and on His law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1,2

“Hallelujah! Blessed is the man who fears the Lord, who greatly delights in His commandments.” Psalm 112:1

“Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.” Psalm 37:4

To people raised in a secular society, chasing after material possessions and self-indulgence, it can seem unlikely or even impossible that there is joy and sweetness in God or God’s laws. However, the things of God are sweeter than anything we can enjoy in our natural life.

King David praised God’s laws and precepts and the fear of God. He said these things were sweeter than the honeycomb.

“More to be desired are they than gold, even much fine gold; sweeter also than honey and drippings of the honeycomb.” Psalm 19:10

So, believe it or not, there is a source of great delight available to you right now, as you choose to delight in God and His ways.

Note, too, that we can direct our delight. It doesn’t have to be ruled by our emotions. Random delight is as fickle as the wind. For example, we can be delighted with the talents of a musician or actor and find their performance really impresses us. But if we were to hear terrible things about that person our feelings about the performance could turn to strong repulsion.

We can direct our delight by choosing to give value to something. We can choose to spend time with spouse and children, rather than chasing our interests or work. We can choose to be with fellow Christians rather than giving time to our pastimes. We can choose to delight in God’s Word rather than wasting our hours and days on mindless distractions.

When we purposefully take delight in something we find that it brings us delight. When we place our value in things that have value we soon find rich blessing in them.

King David made a prophetic declaration that turned out to be the mind of Christ speaking about being delighted to obey God. Jesus came to earth to do the will of the Father.

“I delight to do your will, O my God: yes, your law is within my heart.” Psalm 40:8

For Jesus, doing God’s will meant being opposed by religious leaders and being put to death. It was terribly challenging. How could it possibly be a ‘delight’? Yet it was.

Further to that, there was great joy waiting at the end of the terrible things Jesus had to go through. Anticipating that joy gave Jesus strength to endure being crucified.

“Look to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.” Hebrews 12:2

Friends you are meant to be delighted. Delighted with God and delighted to do God’s Will. God’s Word is your delight. God’s laws and precepts and the fear of God are your delight. They are extra sweet, even sweeter than honey. If the things of God don’t seem very delightful to you then realise you have become distracted with empty things and are trying to give yourself happiness in things that won’t satisfy.

Choose today to take delight in being God’s child and in all that God stands for, such as building God’s Kingdom, doing God’s will, loving God’s Word, being with God’s people and upholding God’s values. As you do that you will be surprised how delightful it is to be in God’s family, with Him as your Heavenly Father. Friends, my desire for you is that every moment of your life is one in which you are Delighted!

Mid last century quirky American Physicist Professor Julius Sumner Miller was featured on Children’s programs stimulating interest in science with his question “Why is it so?”

Much of science is based on enquiry into what things are and how they work, so the question “Why is it so?” is a great foundation for scientific investigation.

However, there is a problem with asking “Why?” when one ignores the answer or the evidence.

Scientists made the determination long ago that science would be limited to only that which could be tested and verified in the material world. This is the mindset of ‘materialism’, based on the assumption that only material things exist. It was a way of ignoring God and teaching the world to be secular, instead of God-fearing.

The continued focus of materialist thought, and scientific study, is that nothing happens without a material cause and explanation.

That leads to rejection of God, the supernatural and miracles. And that’s why so many people tend to ignore the Bible because it includes so many accounts of miraculous events in answer to prayer. And, of course, it focuses greatly on the reality of God, spirits, blessings, curses and the miraculous.

So now we have a conundrum, a strange situation where people ask “Why is it so?” but ignore the answer and the evidence. Scientific and academic thought keeps seeking a natural explanation to things that are supernatural. And so these minds become blind to the truth while parading as the greatest minds. What folly!

We have in our world today an ignorance that is cherished, promoted and protected, as if being blind and ignorant is being better than being honest and real.

This ties in with the verse about people ‘ever learning but never coming to the knowledge of the truth’.

“Always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 2Timothy 3:7

My wife was challenged in her school years by a girl in her class who wanted to prove her superiority. The girl thought my wife would be easy to beat and challenged her to an arm wrestle. What the girl did not realise is that by learning piano and playing tennis my wife had strong forearms. My wife beat and humbled the braggart girl.

But what happens when the unexpected takes place? People come up with an excuse. “You tricked me!” “You pushed me!” “That was unfair!” and so on.

People need an excuse, to cover for their hurt pride.

When evidence has come up over the years to support the Bible it has often been ignored or sidelined by researchers and academia. Why? Because it undermines the ground they stand on.

It is at times suggested that some Old Testament writings are more recent than their supposed origination date. It is suggested they were doctored by the early church. However discovery of the Dead Sea Scrolls brought to light ancient manuscripts which show clearly that the suspect documents are genuinely from ancient times.

The choice to be blind to evidence keeps creeping in. When someone prays and their problem is solved, the materialistic mind refuses to accept that God exists, hears prayers and answers them. So they search for an explanation.

Materialist minds can’t believe God opened the sea for the Israelites and then drowned the Egyptian army. When it came to light that the word Red Sea could be translated ‘Reed Sea’ those scoffers proudly announced they had proof there was no opening of the sea. The Israelites, they suggested, simply walked through shallow water. That, however, doesn’t explain how an army drowned in that water, but it gave scoffers great delight anyway.

What those scoffers ignored is that the Red Sea, which could be called the Reed Sea, was deep enough for sailing ships to set off for far off lands. That fact is an inconvenient truth for them, so it is ignored.

Sadly, the blindness of materialism prevails in science and academic thought. Men and women are brainwashed into ignoring the truth and chasing the wind. It’s called science, but it is not the honest asking of “Why is it so?” but a pretended study of reality while ignoring the very serious reality of God in our world.

Why do some people get blessed and others miss that blessing? Because of God and people’s relationship with Him.

Why do nations rise and fall? Because of God and people’s relationship with Him.

Why do people escape tough situations and find a place of strength and protection? Because of God and people’s relationship with Him.

“Why is it So?” Because God is God and man is accountable to Him. Because God has made a plan and those who follow it have a different outcome to those who reject it. Because God provides blessings and has given us amazing promises and those who receive God’s goodness by faith get to enjoy it.

My friends, don’t be fooled by scientists who have their eyes closed. Don’t be fooled by experts whose greatest skill is to ignore truth. Don’t be fooled by materialists who want to convince you they are right.

Be wise. Be aware. Be filled with the truth of God’s reality and God’s great graces available to you when you trust Him.

And, because you believe in God and know Him to be all the Bible says He is, you can be ever ready to answer the question, “Why is it so?”

There is an interesting statement made by the Apostle Paul which suggests people can spend their whole life studying and still not know the truth.

“Always learning but never able to come to a knowledge of the truth.” 2Timothy 3:7

Do you know people who have done course after course, yet who have not found stability in their life and beliefs? People chase philosophies and knowledge, and study ancient civilisations and distant cultures, hoping to find a kernel of insight that gives them the edge in life. Yet those people end up in the same messes, same frustrations and same fruitlessness as everyone else.

They are constantly learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth.

Then there are those less academic types, who devour magazines, scour the internet, keep up with the latest ideas, again hoping to find something that will liberate them from the ordinary and make them somehow successful or special.

Once again these people spend their lives constantly learning, but never coming to know the truth that really works for them.

One of the problems with these endeavours is that truth comes from outside this world, not from the people in the world. In this world we can find facts and come up with theories, but truth comes from heaven. Truth is actually a person, Jesus Christ. He told us that Himself.

“Jesus said to him, I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man comes to the Father, except by me.” John 14:6

When people look for truth from man they are looking in the wrong place. So all those great philosophers who put forward their own ideas have actually put forward ideas that are desperately inferior to the truth. Man’s ways are insignificant compared to the height of God’s thoughts and God’s ways.

“My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways My ways, declares the LORD. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are My ways higher than your ways and My thoughts than your thoughts.” Isaiah 55:8,9

And the thoughts that come from mysticism, through occult practices or new age ideas of finding truth are even worse. Those things come from our enemy whose only intention is to destroy you, even if he looks like giving you something good.

“The thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I (Jesus) came so they can have life and have it abundantly.” John 10:10

When people look to man’s ideas or to the enemy’s deceptions it is no wonder they never come to the knowledge of the truth. They are feeding on empty things or even toxic things that keep them in darkness and away from the truth they seek.

God’s heart is that everyone comes to know the truth.

God “desires all men to be saved and come to the knowledge of the truth.” 1Timothy 2:4

We also learn from Paul’s writings that if people don’t have knowledge of the truth they are a captive of the devil.

“God may perhaps grant them repentance leading to a knowledge of the truth. Then they will come to their senses and escape the snare of the devil, who has taken them captive to his will.” 2Timothy 2:25

That’s why Jesus told us that the truth sets people free. It releases them from the devil’s snare.

“You will know the truth and the truth with set you free.” John 8:32

The foundational ‘truth’ we all need to come to is that Jesus is the Son of God, who became human to live sinlessly and then be killed, to pay for our sins, and that he rose from the dead, defeating sin and death for us. When we put our faith in Christ as our saviour, for the forgiveness of all the wrongs we have done, we are forgiven and become God’s child, to live with God forever.

That truth transforms us, because it impacts us at a much deeper level than our mind or emotions. Our spirit comes alive, because we are ‘born again’. That can’t be achieved by philosophy, mysticism, education, knowledge or any form of human or satanic effort. Only God can do that.

When people spend their life looking for truth it’s because they have not become transformed on the inside, and they know that something is missing. Sadly they end up looking in all the wrong places.

Yet there is another problem Christians suffer from that blocks them from the truth. Christians, as well as people in the world, can close their eyes and ears to the truth. They may not do that consciously.

I have often heard Christians discussing some problem or other they need to deal with and tell how they are going to do research on some possible solution or other. There is nothing wrong with getting sound advice and making wise choices, but there is real danger in rejecting what God is saying.

My wife and I have assisted families who have ignored the things we shared with them. They seem to have the notion that there may be a better or easier way to work on their issues than the Biblical wisdom we pointed out to them.

When we reject what the Bible says we are scorning it, or trampling on it, as if it was of no value. So note what wise King Solomon said about that.

“A scorner seeks wisdom, and does not find it: but knowledge is easy unto him that understands.” Proverbs 14:6

When we scorn God’s word we won’t receive the truth and wisdom it offers us. So we start an endless search for the truth, never finding it, since we already rejected it. We end up ‘ever learning, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth’.

When we receive God’s Word and believe what God says, and diligently put in practice what God asks of us, then we know the truth. But if we don’t like God’s way of dealing with things and won’t humble ourselves, we are scorning God and His Word. We end up on a treadmill of trying one thing after another with nothing ever working out for us. Ever learning but never coming to know the truth.

Friends, Jesus is Truth. God’s Word is sure. God has some challenging things for you, like humbling yourself and dying to your selfishness. God has a model for a godly marriage and family and for godly living. God has a very high moral standard. God asks us to trust Him when it looks like everything is going wrong. But if you don’t do what God asks and won’t accept the truth, you will end up in an endless and fruitless search that will get you nowhere.

Humble yourselves before God and come to the Knowledge of the Truth.

I was recently asked by a grandchild how I became a Christian. I answered that it was because of the fear of hell. 

My parents had become Christian, through a Billy Graham Crusade, when I was about six years old. So our family began going to church and I regularly heard about heaven and hell.

I knew the smart thing to do was to be a Christian so I would go to heaven, not hell. But when I looked around the church all the people looked so serious and almost grumpy, to my young eyes. That made me think being a Christian was a pretty unhappy way to live. I also heard all the things you are not supposed to do if you are a Christian and I thought, “No wonder these people don’t look happy!”

I decided I’d live a normal life and then become a Christian just before I died. That way I’d get the best deal. I would enjoy life and also enjoy heaven.

One Sunday the preacher said, “There may be people here who are putting off becoming a Christian until a later time. But what if you are hit by a bus on the way home?”
That really bothered me. I hadn’t thought of the danger of dying before I could become a Christian. So that day I prayed the sinner’s prayer and made it official that I was a Christian. I was about eleven years old.

Through my teenage years I did my best to be a good Christian. I tried to read the Bible and pray and I made sure I was at all the church meetings. I wanted the angels to assure God I was a good Christian. My concept of God was of someone to be afraid of, so I needed to go out of my way to keep Him happy.

In my late teens my family came across Christians who had a very different experience of God. They knew God as a loving heavenly Father who was keen to bless His children. They knew God as a God who answers prayer and who has wonderful plans for our lives. They experienced God’s blessing on their lives.

My mum received prayer for a serious back problem and was instantly healed. That turned our idea of God upside down. As a family we began going to various churches and hearing wonderful preachers and seeing God touch people in ways we never expected.

That caused a great turnaround in me and my understanding of God. In time I came to understand and to believe God really did love me. I found God setting me free on the inside from things I didn’t realise were messing up my life. I felt challenged by God about my fears and my pride.

I realised the Bible was a living input of God’s truth into my life, not just a relic from centuries ago. I received the infilling of the Holy Spirit and found that spiritual things came alive to me. And I began a journey that continues to this day of growing in faith and in experience of God’s goodness in my life.

My grandchild had another question for me. “Why do you think people should become Christian?”

I answered that being a Christian is the only way to truly live. We were designed to be in loving fellowship with God. If we don’t do that we are not truly living, just existing. All the things that seem important and seem to be fulfilling are empty compared with being a child of God.

I didn’t mention anything about hell. Being a Christian is not about having ‘fire insurance’ from the flames of hell, though I believe hell is real, since Jesus said so. I didn’t mention anything about needing to please or impress God, even though I had spent years trying to do that. I didn’t mention anything about all the “Do’s” and “Don’ts” I had heard preached about for many years.

Being a Christian is not meant to be driven by fear, or by religious duty. It’s a relationship with the Living God as our Heavenly Father. It’s about knowing Him and enjoying our life in His family. It’s about receiving all the blessings He has created for you and fulfilling the plans He has for you. There can be no greater joy than that.

There are people travelling the world today, and others piling up assets or filling their bank account, and yet others serving whatever impulse they feel like pleasing, expecting that by doing that they truly ‘live’. Yet that leaves people empty and unfulfilled. It’s not what we were created for.

Your telephone might make a nice lamp-stand, but that’s not what it was made for. Your car might make a nice garden feature, but that’s not what it was designed for.

If you are not a Christian, not in close loving relationship with your Creator, then you are like an aeroplane trying to swim. It’s not what you were designed for. You are created to be loved by God and to live a most fulfilling life with moment by moment experience of that love in your life.

It comes from receiving Jesus Christ as your Saviour and Lord.

“As many as received him (Jesus), to them he gave power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name.” John 1:12

I call each of you to receive Jesus Christ into your heart and life right now, and to receive divine power to become a son of God. That’s what it means to be a Christian.

When I was young preachers warned of coming social decline. With widespread rejection of God and the Bible they predicted collapse of the strong societies we enjoyed. They described unhappy situations of family breakdown, mental illness, strife, corruption, drug abuse, immorality, suicide, people without foundation in life, godlessness and people with no experience of a normal life.

That seemed like scare talk and we couldn’t imagine western countries ever becoming like that. Sadly we now have multitudes in modern western countries who don’t experience what was ‘normal’ just half a century ago.

Many people today lack any real foundation for their life. They accept as normal things that are terrible and damaging to them and their future. They have no hope of a better life so they give in to the tide of moral failure, abuse, hopelessness and scrambling for existence. In past generations only those whose lives were deeply damaged lived like that. Now it seems the majority of people live like damaged goods.

The hope in such situations is for restoration of the foundations. Life is built on a foundation of one sort or another. That foundation is based on our beliefs and understanding of life. We live out what we believe.

If people build their lives on moral failure and hopelessness then there isn’t much they can build. If they build on a foundation of human ideas then what they build won’t stand. If they build their life on empty religion then what they build will be equally as empty.

Thousands of years ago the issue of collapsing foundations was already being discussed. King David, a man who knew how to build a nation on godliness, talked of destroyed foundations.

“If the foundations are destroyed, what can the righteous do?” Psalm 11:3

When people are not given solid ground to stand on we can’t blame them for being pulled into quicksand or being stuck in the mud and mire. People’s lives today are mired with failure, defeat, abuse, hopelessness and a bunch of other unhappy things. People go from one failed relationship to another, raising children who will stumble into even worse things. In some communities there is an over-riding sense of defeat and dependence, without any hope.

Leaders look for improved social conditions, education, law and order and other human constructs to solve the problems, but the problems are not human. They are from a spiritual source. When man builds society on man’s ideas there is no hope but man’s failed nature to prevail. That leads to all the things we are seeing.

The first true foundation for life is the Fear of God, since God is absolutely real and He is our creator, our owner and the one who judges us and gives us what we deserve.

“The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom, and knowledge of the holy one is understanding.” Proverbs 9:10

Those who reject God’s reality are foolish and chasing the wind, leading them to trouble and defeat.

“The fool says in his heart, There is no God. They are corrupt, they do abominable things; there is none who does good.” Psalm 14:1

Would you want to raise your children and your children’s children in a place where people are corrupt and do abominable things, and where no one does good? Your children would most likely end up like those evil people.

Yet in most western societies today there are many who are just like that. They do not fear God.

The New Testament shows another foundation, after we recognise we are accountable to God. That foundation is the wonderful forgiveness and salvation we have in Jesus Christ. Our sins make us unacceptable to God, but Christ has paid for our sins and can bring us into God’s family.

The Apostle Paul talked of this foundation.

“No other foundation can any man lay than what I laid, which is Jesus Christ.” 1Corinthians 3:11

So the great hope for each nation is that people stop pretending God doesn’t exist and recognise their need to get right with Him. They can only do that through faith in Jesus Christ.

Wonderfully, at times through history, people have risen to call men and women back to God. When that happened whole communities and nations were cleaned up. That’s because foundations were restored.

That brings me to a wonderful promise given by God to the prophet Isaiah, about people who would lead great revivals.

“Your people will build the old waste places: you will raise up the foundations of many generations; and you will be called The repairer of the broken wall, The restorer of paths to live in.” Isaiah 58:12

What a joy to be one of those people who restores communities and families and individual lives. What a blessing such a person is who rebuilds foundations, even foundations that have been crumbled for generations. What a blessing to restore paths of life for people who despair of living.

I pray that God call you to be one of those who rebuilds the walls and restores foundations. May people around you be pulled out of quicksand and mire to get their feet on solid rock. May you even be used to move whole nations out of destructive paths back onto solid foundation.

First, however, you need to be sure your feet are standing firmly on the Fear of God and full trust in the Salvation that comes through Jesus Christ. Please do that, and then look to God for His empowerment so you can get about Restoring Foundations.