Fountain of Life

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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

On the holy mountain stands the city founded by the Lord.  He loves the city of Jerusalem more than any other city in Israel.  O city of God, what glorious things are said of you!      Interlude

I will count Egypt and Babylon among those who know me—also Philistia and Tyre, and even distant Ethiopia.  They have all become citizens of Jerusalem!  Regarding Jerusalem it will be said, “Everyone enjoys the rights of citizenship there.”  And the Most High will personally bless this city.  When the Lord registers the nations, he will say, “They have all become citizens of Jerusalem.”      Interlude

The people will play flutes and sing, “The source of my life springs from Jerusalem!”  Psalm 87:1-7[2]

Problematic to the church is eisegesis, that which happens when people look at Scripture and see only what they want to see; that’s a sticky wicket indeed.  Followers of Jesus think this only happens with pagans who want to attack Christian belief and use a passage out of context as a bludgeon to (supposedly) discredit and disprove Christianity as a whole.  But, sadly, it also happens in the church family.  In fact, it happens especially in the church family. 

The last sentence of the 87^th Psalm has singers gathered around the Lord’s presence lifting a testimonial song of praise:  …the source of my life springs from Jerusalem!  In a casual reading of that verse it’s easy to start feeling all warm and fuzzy with thoughts of a nice, comfortable sense that everything is right in Zion.  It’s that picture of everything finally being in proper places with no problems, mortgage paid, kids safe, great doctor’s report, and no cracks in any foundations.  Many people get that same feeling in church services when we sing a song like When We All Get to Heaven or In the Sweet By and By; there’s such a sense of a secure future in heaven, which is so totally foreign to the present reality of chaos on earth.  We live in a shadowy, troubled in-between time, here below, while perfection is off, somewhere beyond the blue.

Now, while it is true we have not yet arrived at the throne, and we are pilgrims in this life, the awkward shadow trailing that truth is we wind up settling-in with this existence, managing the pain of life with a teaspoon-full of religion, instead of being fully-immersed in the fountain of life.

Let me put it simply:  

Jesus didn’t die in Jerusalem so we could wring our hands over what this life offers or doesn’t, just waiting to die and finally be with Him.  Jesus died so that we could be forgiven and freed to have an overflowing cup of the river of life eternally…beginning RIGHT NOW!

Here’s one other, related simple thought to chew on as you hit the rocky road today:

Whatever circumstances your life holds at this moment, if you’ve decided to settle-in with the misery chaos brings in this life, just waiting, trying to hold-out until God finally takes you home, it’s a good bet you can’t sing the end of Psalm 87 now…that the source of your life springs from Jerusalem.  And if you’re not ready for His fountain of life here, you’ll have a hard time finding it in the hereafter!

For You Today

From the birth of the church on earth on the Day of Pentecost, to this very day, God’s Spirit has been giving new life from the fountain of life.  An old Gospel song says it well:

There came a sound from heaven as a mighty rushing wind.

It filled their hearts with singing and gave them peace within.

The prophet gave this promise, he said the Spirit will descend

And from your inner being, a river with no end.

There is a river, and it flows from deep within
There is a fountain, that frees the soul from sin
Come to this water; there is a vast supply
There is a river, that never shall run dry.[3]

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road; have a blessed day.

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[1] Title Image:  Pixabay.com    Unless noted, Scripture used from The New Living Translation©

[2] For another post on Psalm 87 see God’s Much-Loved Hills

[3] Words and Music ^©David Sapp All rights reserved

The Plans I Have For You

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Monday, October 10, 2016

This is what the Lord says:  “You will be in Babylon for seventy years.  But then I will come and do for you all the good things I have promised, and I will bring you home again.  For I know the plans I have for you,” says the Lord.  “They are plans for good and not for disaster, to give you a future and a hope.  In those days when you pray, I will listen.  If you look for me wholeheartedly, you will find me.  I will be found by you,” says the Lord.  “I will end your captivity and restore your fortunes.  I will gather you out of the nations where I sent you and will bring you home again to your own land.”  You claim that the Lord has raised up prophets for you in Babylon.  But this is what the Lord says about the king who sits on David’s throne and all those still living here in Jerusalem—your relatives who were not exiled to Babylon.  This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says:  “I will send war, famine, and disease upon them and make them like bad figs, too rotten to eat.  Yes, I will pursue them with war, famine, and disease, and I will scatter them around the world.  In every nation where I send them, I will make them an object of damnation, horror, contempt, and mockery.  For they refuse to listen to me, though I have spoken to them repeatedly through the prophets I sent.  And you who are in exile have not listened either,” says the Lord.   Jeremiah 29:10-19^(NLT)

Who can know the mind of God?  His plans and ways are more like a tapestry than a picture, and we tend to look at it from the wrong side!

Evidence of that is the way we use Scripture to suit our own thoughts and preferences rather than seek the will of God.  Through Jeremiah God said, I know the plans I have for you….  We want that to mean everything is going to be peachy, lovely and easy. 

But if we read the whole context, God is getting his people ready for losing the war with Babylon’s King Nebuchadnezzar, and the seventy years of brutal captivity that will follow.  Not exactly something you’d want to write on the flyleaf of your Bible!

It is dangerous to predict any future, especially if you’re basing it on something that happened to someone else.  But we tend to do that, don’t we.  And we tend to do that as we deny facts.  You can lay down on a train track and assume everything is alright because the sun is warm on your face, and the gently vibrating rail beneath your back is like a massage to your degenerated spinal discs.  You can deny the fact that the gentle hum you feel is really the approach of a 195-ton locomotive, and it’s getting really close.  Your spine isn’t going to enjoy the meeting unless you change your thoughts and ways!

There was a lot of uneasiness in Jerusalem.  Strong and evil enemies were gathering on the horizon, and the words from the seat of government were:  oh, don’t worry; we’re going to be just fine…go back to your parties, vacations and shopping.  Hey, go get a tattoo, it’s all good here!

But the voice from the prophet was:  when things fall apart, look for plenty of bloodshed, famine and slavery to prevail for the next few generations.  And, by the way, God will do this.  Eventually he will bring your descendants back from the woodshed…but, for now…brace yourselves…your greatness is over!

We have conflicting views in America (boy, do we ever!!!), especially now that we’re in an election year.  TV is inundated with urgent messages to elect one or the other to fix everything from terrorism to budget woes and toenail fungus. 

We may be headed for the kind of wake-up call Israel received at the point of Nebuchadnezzar’s sword.  I pray it will not be that, but the parallels are too much like the hum of the locomotive on the train tracks.  Consider another nation/city steeped in wickedness - Nineveh; they heard God’s prophet speak God’s word and repented:

Who can tell? Perhaps even yet God will change his mind and hold back his fierce anger from destroying us.”  When God saw what they had done and how they had put a stop to their evil ways, he changed his mind and did not carry out the destruction he had threatened.   Jonah 3:9-10^(NLT)

For You Today

America has been greatly used before by God for good; perhaps we ought to give His ways another try, because the only One who will fix what ails us isn’t on the ballot. 

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road…have a blessed day!

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NOTES

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[i] Title Images: By Artyominc (Template:Artyom Sharbatyan), via Wikimedia Commons

But the Lord Supported Me

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Thursday, April 7, 2016

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He reached down from heaven and rescued me; he drew me out of deep waters.  He rescued me from my powerful enemies, from those who hated me and were too strong for me.  They attacked me at a moment when I was in distress, but the Lord supported me.    Psalm 18:16-18^(NLT)

In this particular Psalm, David utters great praise to God for being preserved from fierce adversaries over the course of his life.  Seventeenth century preacher and pastor Matthew Henry said of this Psalm:  The poetry is very fine, the images are bold, the expressions lofty, and every word is proper and significant; but the piety far exceeds the poetry.[2]  This is David’s expression of devotion to the God who was his rock and shield throughout a lifetime of war, political enemies, and even David’s own failure.  It is a testament of how God never lets down those who bow before the king of glory.

I have to admit that when I was much younger I would read verses like these and interpret them according to what I wanted, rather than seek God’s face, or his will.  It’s called “eisegesis”, or reading-into Scripture what you want to be there, rather than what’s really there. 

In earlier days (and, to be honest, sometimes even now), when going through a rough patch, my prayer life turns into a shopping-list of wanting what I want; God’s will (at times) is lost in the shuffle; well, HE certainly isn’t lost, but I’m looking in the wrong direction.  After all, as it has been observed, it’s hard to remember you’ve been sent to drain the swamp when you’re up to your neck in alligators!  My prayers sometimes turn into:  God, I need this, that, and don’t forget the other… and You’ve promised….

Whenever I look back on such times, I’m amazed how I was able to read a Bible passage about how God dealt with someone else, and then act as if it was written just for me, so I can get my prayers answered my way – so I can tell God what I want, proving I deserve it with Scripture, and then just about demand that God live up to his end of the bargain.

In haste to fulfill our own agenda, laced with personal desires and gains, we instruct the Lord, misapplying Scripture after Scripture, until our prayer sounds like it is lifted right out of Holy writ, when it’s really only been lifted out of its original context!

Zero humility; off-the-chart arrogance!

And at times such as this, just like the Prodigal son, I wake up in the hog pen with the cold-water reality of my incredible foolishness smacking me in the face.

And I repent.

And I remember – God’s deliverance isn’t always from the bad guy or the mountain that wants to fall on me; often his saving me is a matter of saving me…from me!

For You Today

Have you ever prayed against God’s will, and tried to use His holy Word to prove you’re right?

You chew on that as you hit the Rocky Road today…and have a blessed day!

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[1] Title Image:  See page for author, via Wikimedia Commons

[2] Matthew Henry’s Commentary on the Old Testament © 2000, Findex.com, Inc.