YOU and GOD

The Lord is Good

We often quote those words, or the phrase “God is good,” in responding to either an ordinary evidence of His grace in our daily lives or an extraordinary example of His providential provision on our pilgrimage from here to eternity. Yes, “God is good!”

I had the opportunity of preaching this past Lord’s Day in two different churches, and my text was I Peter 3:8. Peter exhorts the “strangers scattered” to whom he addressed this “general epistle” to “be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be piteous, be courteous.”

In the wake of possibly the most destructive hurricane that has ever moved over land in our nation’s history, known as Helene, it was timely that the text for these messages touched on such practical and pertinent subjects as compassion, loving the brethren, and being merciful or piteous.

A member of our home church had traveled to Asheville, North Carolina, a few days before the hurricane hit northwestern North Carolina with ferocious fury. He had gone there to visit his elderly mother who had been hospitalized. He and his wife had driven down from Indiana, and his wife drove back with the understanding that he would fly home later.

Well, he was there on the last Thursday and Friday of September when the hurricane moved through the mountainous region of northwestern North Carolina, leaving an unprecedented and indescribable path of destruction. Electric power was off; cell phones were without any connections; travel was hazardous and very limited, with no highways in or out of Asheville passable for the first few days. Our TRBC deacon was stranded at his motel but could not contact anyone; there was no water, nothing. The room he had stayed in for one night was booked for the next night, so he had to vacate. Thankfully, his wife had made a reservation for him at a nearby motel, which he was able to walk to. Reaching it, he found a long line of stranded travelers waiting to get lodging. He was blessed to have a reservation there, so he was assigned a room and given a key to it—yet there was no power, no water, nothing. He asked hotel personnel how far it was to the hospital where his mother was, and he was flatly told he could walk nowhere.

He was able to get a ride to the airport, believing and hoping that he might be better off there. Our friend—a physician and successful professional for many years—confessed that at this point he was at “the lowest point of my life.” He never travels with cash, yet there probably was nothing he could have purchased anyway. No Uber service was available. He said, though, that he never felt like God was not with him and was going to take care of him, as he whispered many times, “Lord, please help me.” After several hours at the airport, helpless but not hopeless, a man on the tarmac was able to get a cell phone connection in a very limited area and generously offered to let anyone who needed to make a call do so. Our deacon called his wife, assured her that he was safe, and apprised her of the situation. Another friend later made it from Greenville, SC to Asheville—navigating around make-shift detours and fallen trees—and took the doctor from the airport to the hospital where his mother was. He would spend the next several days sleeping on the floor of her room, in a place with no water, no plumbing that was in operation, no food to speak of, and for days no coffee!!

On another glad day, while he was stranded in the hospital, a couple of Bob Jones University students—a brother and sister, members of his home church in Indy—made it up to Asheville, bringing him some staples, a change of clothes, and, yes, a cup of coffee!

In sharing his story, our beloved physician, a committed believer, said he was able to visit with many people who were in the same situation. He would listen to their distressful accounts of tragic losses and would ask, “May I pray for you?” I believe he said that, without exception, no one turned down the offer for prayer.

While we watched with horror the aftermath of Helene on our televisions, the doc did not have access to those visual accounts. But, he knew there had been catastrophic damage and that he was experiencing a test the likes of which he had never known. Through the worst of his time there, he testified that he always had the assurance that God was with him and would bring him through. And, one day this past weekend, a fellow church member here in Indianapolis drove down to Asheville, packed up the doctor and his mother, and promptly turned his vehicle northward, returning him and his mother to his home in Hoosier land safely!

My wife has loved ones in North Carolina. Many were impacted by the hurricane, but none lost their home. It proved an opportunity for many to be merciful and compassionate toward those who had lost everything. It has touched millions of lives. Thankfully, there are numbers of non-profits, ministries, organizations, and just caring individuals who are responding with whatever resources they can get to these dear people. We have followed the events in North Carolina carefully because of Ellen’s family there, but we are also deeply concerned for those in other states that were hit hard by Helene. And, yes, now our hearts are heavy for the dear folk in Florida who are bracing, at the time of this writing, for the second major hurricane there within a two-week period, Milton. We pray earnestly for all the people in any of these locales—in Florida, Georgia, Tennessee, North Carolina, and elsewhere—impacted by these storms

One reliable non-profit that I can recommend is Operation Renewed Hope, directed by Rev. Jan Milton. He is a dedicated believer whose ministry has reached out to thousands, here at home and abroad. You can give through this venue, and rest assured that your gifts will be channeled to those in need—with integrity. Above all, PRAY!

“The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and he knoweth them that are his.” (Nahum 1:7)

Tornados, Earthquakes, Hurricanes, Floods, and God

[Note: This is a lightly edited version of a post that first appeared in “You and God” in December 2021. It remains as relevant as ever today, unfortunately, as the Southeast recovers from Hurricane Helene and awaits Hurricane Milton.]

The second weekend of December and the week following, America was shocked by a killer tornado that was reportedly “on the ground” for 200 miles, claiming (as of this writing) more than 75 lives. The death toll is expected to be in the triple digits when the final assessment is made. Days after the monster had made its way through Arkansas, Kentucky, and other states, the Midwest was hit with multiple tornados, and winds of 80 and 90 mph left a path of death and destruction.

It is altogether well—and should surely be expected—that we ask, “What is God doing?” Although there is no simple answer to that question, there is a Biblical train of thought, woven throughout scriptures, that gives us ample clues as to what the Almighty God of the storms is doing and/or saying. Warning: it should be instructive to anyone who sets out to study the question that three friends of Job and a fourth acquaintance, trying to make some sense out of the calamity that visited the ancient patriarch the day he lost all of his ten children and all of his material possessions, missed the bulls-eye entirely. They misjudged that what Job suffered in the worst 24 hours of his life was God’s heavy hand of judgment upon the man who feared God and eschewed evil. Their conclusion was that Job was to a degree a hypocrite, harboring some secret sin(s) for which God was disciplining him severely. We, with finite understanding and only a limited vision of the field, will make the same mistake apart from direction in our thinking from God’s Holy Spirit. Our conclusions, if we come to any, must be rooted in Biblical theology, not popular psychology, meteorology, or humanistic philosophy.

I love some of the wisdom that Winston Churchill displayed in his thinking and writing. Seeing what was happening politically and nationally in 1935 with the rise of fascism and the weakness of western leadership, Churchill said something that bears upon our current discussion:

“Who is in charge of the clattering train? The axles creak and the couplings strain; and the pace is hot, and the points are near, and sleep has deadened the driver’s ear; and the signals flash through the night in vain, for Death is in charge of the clattering train?”

In contemplating the calamities that have besought our nation and the world in the past few years—including earthquakes, floods, fires, pandemic viruses—I wonder what the masses are thinking about it all. Those who believe the Bible and have sought answers from His Word are in the minority. The masses of humanity, 8 billion or so, must be wondering “who is in charge of the clattering train?”

Well, Bible-believers come to the query with certain foundational bedrock principles as a starting point. First, we absolutely believe that God is in charge, ultimately, of His world. Satan, the “god” of this world (II Cor. 4:4), has usurped God’s authority through deceit, and he is in the business of wreaking havoc and destruction and death wherever and whenever possible. But God can and does limit his power and the exercise of his usurped authority. God is in charge and has the absolute, ultimate power over all of His created world.

Sometimes, God speaks with a thunderous voice to command the attention of this world’s inhabitants who are otherwise deaf to His voice. Some examples:

“Wherefore when I came, was there no man? When I called, was there none answer? Is my hand shortened at all, that it cannot redeem? Or have I no power to deliver? Behold, at my rebuke I dry up the sea, I make the rivers a wilderness: their fish stinketh because there is no water, and dieth for thirst. I clothe the heavens with blackness, and I make sackcloth their covering.” (Isa. 50:2,3)

“The hills melted like wax at the presence of the Lord…the heavens declare His righteousness and all the people see His glory.” (Ps. 97:5,6)

“He rebuked the Red Sea also, and it was dried up: so, He led them through the depths, as through the wilderness.” (Ps. 106:9)

“The mountains quake at Him, and the hills melt, and the earth is burnt at His presence, yea, the world, and all that dwell therein.” (Nahum 1:5)

Since God does use what we call “nature” to speak to the world, when we observe an intensifying of these “natural calamities,” it is natural that one should wonder, “what might God be doing or saying through these troublesome times?”

First, note that two verses following the Nahum 1 passage quoted above, the prophet affirms that “The Lord is good, a strong hold in the day of trouble; and He knoweth them that trust in Him.” (Nahum 1:7) Whatever the situation, bad as it might be, God is good. Period. And God has not forgotten you if you, by faith, have been born into His family and have been adopted by His grace, with all the blessings attendant to that humbling status. God is not the author of evil; He still is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (II Pet.3:9)

“For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now.” (Romans 8:22) Paul the Apostle wrote those somber words, acknowledging that because of sin’s entrance into the world, not only was man immediately estranged from God, but that the beautiful, tranquil Garden of Eden and the whole of nature’s realm became “out of joint,” groaning under the weight and burden of the blight of sin. This will be corrected in the millennium, when Jesus comes to restore the world to its Edenic tranquility and the Lion and Lamb shall lie down together. The violence that we observe in “nature”—as seen in monster storms, floods, and fires—are part of this convulsing of creation. It was never intended by God but was given as part of the curse of man’s original disobedience. It will continue until Jesus comes again to “make all things new.”

This discussion can and will continue. I trust that I have shared some foundational, scriptural truths that will stir up “pure minds” as we attempt to reconcile what we are living through with what we believe to be absolutely true. Your comments are, as always, welcomed.

“That they may know from the rising of the sun, and from the west, that there is none beside me. I am the Lord, and there is none else. I form the light, and create darkness: I make peace, and create evil: I the Lord do all these things.” (Isaiah 45:6,7)

The Rise and Demise of Amaziah (8th in a series on Kings and Priests)

If someone asked whether you hoped to succeed or fail on your journey through life, you would surely respond positively with, “Well, I want to succeed.”

Nobody wants or plans to fail. “In the lexicon of youth,” one has said, “there is no such word as fail.”

But, if we could somehow survey all who first heard this message (which I delivered 41 years ago at Thompson Road Baptist Church in Indianapolis), it might be alarming to learn whether—looking back—they felt they had succeeded or failed in achieving their youthful dreams.

Many do fail, even if no one plans to. Some who read these lines just now may be in the process of failing. Things are not going the way you had planned. A third-century philosopher quoted another philosopher who spoke of this universal, age-old dilemma by saying, “It was a saying of Demetrius that men, having often abandoned what was visible for the sake of what was uncertain, have not got what they expected and have lost what they had.”

I believe Amaziah, ninth king of Judah after the kingdom split following Solomon’s death, did not plan to fail. He had every reason to succeed. With a good heritage from his father, Joash, who was for the most part a good king, his future looked bright. But before his 29-year reign ended, Amaziah was disgraced, and his whole reign was marked by a colossal failure.

This king of the past can serve for us, who are “kings and priests” of God, as a lesson on the dangers of success—success that leads to, and ends in, failure.

Consider, then, the rise and demise of King Amaziah, as recorded in II Chronicles 25 and II Kings 14.

The Rise of Amaziah

We read that Amaziah was 25 years old when he began to reign. One of the first things he did, following his coronation, was to slay the servants who had murdered his father on his sick bed. Yet, in doing this, Amaziah showed a respect for the Word of God, for we read in II Chr. 25:4: “But he slew not their children, but did as it is written in the law in the book of Moses, where the Lord commanded, saying, ‘The fathers shall not die for the children, neither shall the children die for the fathers, but every man shall die for his own sin.’” In doing this, the newly crowned king of Judah acted as “the minister of God” in executing justice, but he did not step over the Biblical bounds in discharging his responsibility. He did not violate God’s sixth commandment: “Thou shalt do no murder.”

Shortly afterwards, Amaziah marshaled his troops, organizing an army of 300,000 men skilled in handling sword and spear. To augment that, he hired 100,000 soldiers out of Israel for 100 talents of silver. Whereupon, a prophet of God warned Amaziah, King of Judah, that he was making a mistake by hiring the soldiers of Israel, “for the Lord is not with Israel.” (II Chr. 25:7) The prophet predicted defeat should Amaziah go to war against Seir with the hired Israeli soldiers. Amaziah heeded the prophet’s warning, paid the soldiers from Ephraim what he had promised them, and, to their chagrin and in spite of their protests, sent them home. Amaziah and his thinned-down army then wrought a great victory over the Edomites. (II Chr. 25:11-13)

The Demise of Amaziah

Inexplicably, coming home from the great military victory over the Edomites, God’s Word says “he brought the gods of the children of Seir, and set them up to be his gods, and bowed down himself before them, and burned incense unto them.” (II Chr. 25:14) God sent a prophet to rebuke Amaziah for this idolatry, and the king pretty much told the prophet to “shut up.” (II Chr. 25:16) The prophet complied, announcing to Amaziah that “God hath determined to destroy thee because thou hast done this, and hast not hearkened unto my counsel.”

The rest of the story is sad. Amaziah, swelled with pride following his resounding defeat of the Edomites, challenged Joash, king of Israel, to a fight. Joash tried to dissuade him with the thistle/cedar parable (25:18), but to no avail. The two kings/armies met, and Judah was “put to the worse,” fleeing every man to his tent. Amaziah was taken captive back to Jerusalem, where he watched as Joash sacked the city, pillaging treasures from the temple and taking hostages with him back to Samaria. Amaziah lived several more years, but in the end some of his subjects in Jerusalem conspired against him. Finding him in Lachish, to which he had fled, they slew him and returned his body back to Judah, where they buried him.

There is no understanding why this king, with such a brilliant beginning, turned from the Lord and brought on himself and his fellow Judeans such a colossal failure. It must fall under the heading, “The mystery of iniquity.” It defies reason or explanation. Pride was surely a factor; when the man of God warned Amaziah with a message from God, the king, pumped up following the massive defeat of tens of thousands of Edomites, would not even listen to the admonition. Thus, a king who had such a promising rise to power spent his last years in humiliation and defeat. So, “let him that thinketh he standeth, take heed lest he fall.” (I Cor.10:12)

“His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his own sins.” (Provs. 5:22)

Why Another Missions Conference?

Our church is in the midst of another faith promise/world missions conference, our 43^th annual such missions endeavor. Every previous conference has always yielded lasting fruit for world missions and through the Biblical faith giving approach to supporting missions and missionaries we have enjoyed blessed relationships with hundreds of these choice servants, supporting with both prayers and finances some of them for 30, 40 and even 50 years. Every conference has been memorable and the highlight of our church’s yearly calendar. So, one might ask, why does a church go to the expense and effort of hosting a major missions meeting such as this every twelve months? Glad you asked! My answer is as follows:

Matthew 13 records some interesting parables, beginning with one about a sower that went forth to sow. To understand this parable, in its greater context, one must review chapters 11 and 12. Jesus, like His forerunner John the Baptist, had been preaching that the kingdom of heaven was at hand. (Matt. 4:2) His message was pretty much rejected and He Himself stated that “the kingdom of heaven suffereth violence.” (Matt. 11:12) He concluded chapter 11 with that great invitation to “come unto me all ye that labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.” (11:28) In Matthew 12, the Pharisees rejected Jesus as their King claiming that what He did He did by the empowerment of Beelzebub, or Satan. (12:24) For the nation of Israel at that time, that was their official rejection of His offer to be their King and it set into motion the events that would culminate at Calvary.
In Matthew 13, Jesus outlined for His disciples what would happen in the light of this rejection, speaking in parables so that He could reveal to them that a period of sowing would ensue, followed eventually by a harvest at the end of the world. (13:30) The parables were spoken to reveal to His followers “mysteries of the kingdom,” while concealing from His detractors further accountability and thus further condemnation since “they seeing see not and hearing hear not, neither do they understand.” (13:13) More truth would only bring them under more condemnation for to whom much is given of him shall much be required.
These parables, eight in all in chapter 13, outline what the future of the kingdom will look like in light of the King’s rejection. The first one is called the parable of the sower, and one learns that there is going to be a sowing of seed, ending in a final end of the world harvest. The sower is the Son of Man; (13:37) the field is the world; (13:38-as revealed in a similar parable concerning the sowing of bad seed or tares by the wicked one, a counter sowing) the seed is the word of the kingdom, (13:19) and the result of this period of sowing will be that some of the sown seed will not bear any fruit as some is immediately snatched up by the wicked one, (19) some will wither having been sown on stony ground; some will not bear but will be overtaken by thorns, but some will bear good fruit, some 30, some 60 and some a hundred-fold. (13:23)
In the other parables in Matthew 13, Jesus would further unfold characteristics of this sowing period. There would be a counter-sowing by Satan that would produce tares which would have to be weeded out at the end of the age harvest; the kingdom during this phase which He would later (Matt.16) identify as the church-age would have a very small beginning, (the parable of the mustard seed) but mushroom like growth (the parable of the leaven) and would be like a treasure found in a field or like a pearl of great price and, in the end of the world, it would be like a net that having been cast into the sea when drawn in would be a full net comprised of both bad and good produce, the good being saved in a vessel and the bad being cast into a furnace of fire. Thus, the church-age period of the kingdom of heaven was outlined in the parable of the sower and the ensuing parables in Matthew 13.

So, Jesus had already exhorted the disciples to petition the Lord of the harvest to send forth laborers into this vast world harvest field. (Matt. 9:38) Paul would later teach us that we are co-laborers with God (I Cor. 3:9) and that one sows, one waters but it is God who gives the increase. Writing to the church in Corinth in his second epistle to that church Paul said that we should all be sowing and sowing bountifully because we shall reap even as we have sown. (2 Cor. 9:6-8) Jesus told the 12 in His final intimate teaching moments with them in the upper room that His desire for each of His disciples is that we would go and bring forth fruit, and more fruit and much fruit. (John 15:2,8)

The Psalmist, hundreds of years before Paul exhorted believers to sow bountifully, by God’s Spirit, establishing the universal truth that “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with him.” (Ps. 126:6)

With an eye toward future rejoicing over seed that would bear precious fruit, Paul wrote in his first epistle to the Thessalonian church, “For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? For ye are our glory and joy.” (I Thess.2:19,20)

So, thus another world missions, faith-promise conference. We cannot individually go to the uttermost part of the earth, but we can partner with and send Holy Spirit called and separated missionaries from our church and churches of like precious faith who are ready and willing to go to the field, the world, with the good news, evangelizing, baptizing, discipling the peoples of the four corners of the earth, then organizing them into local New Testament churches that will do the same. Our job begins with “Go.” The commission has never been withdrawn so thus another world missions faith-promise conference, the 40^th annual at our church, in obedience to His commands.

“Every man according as he purposeth in his heart, so let him give; not grudgingly, or of necessity: for God loveth a cheerful giver. And God is able to make all grace abound toward you; that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things may abound to every good work.” (2 Cor. 9:7,8)

This article first appeared in “You and God” in September, 2021. It is timely today as our church is this week enjoying our 43rd annual faith-promise world missions conference.

King Joash: His Rise, Rule, and Ruin (7th in a series on Kings)

In As You Like It, Shakespeare wrote these famous lines: “All the world’s a stage, and all the men and women merely players. They have their exits and their entrances, and every man in his time plays many parts.”

The bard went on to say that every man has seven acts in his life: (1) Infancy, when he is “mewling and puking” in his nurse’s arms: (2) Whining schoolboy with satchel and shining morning face creeping like a snail unwilling to school; (3) Lover, sighing like a furnace with a woeful ballad made to his mistress’ eyebrow; (4) Soldier, full of strange oaths; sudden, quick in quarrel; (5) Justice with round belly, severe eyes, beard of formal cut, wise words; (6) The sixth stage “shifts into the lean and slipper’d pantaloon with spectacles on nose…and big manly voice turning again toward childish treble, pipes; (7) Last scene of all that ends this strange eventful history is second childishness and mere oblivion; sans teeth; sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.”

In this post, the spotlight on the stage of scripture is on Joash, the eighth king of Judah in the succession of kings following the division of the kingdom after Solomon’s death. The years are 835-796 B.C., and the record is in II Chronicles 24 and II Kings 12, where we see Joash’s providential rise, privileged rule, and pathetic ruin.

Providential rise: After Jehu had Joash’s father, Ahaziah, king of Judah, killed, the evil mother of Athaliah “arose and destroyed all the seed royal.” (II Kings 11:1). But King Joram’s daughter, Jehosheba, sister of Ahaziah, hid the infant son of Ahaziah, sparing him death when the rest of the royal seed was slain. She hid and nursed him in her house until he was six years of age, while Athaliah reigned over the land. Joash had been marked for death but was providentially spared the wicked woman’s evil plot by a caring aunt.

When the child was seven years of age, the godly priest, Jehoiada, colluded with the rulers over hundreds—captains and guards—and entered into a covenant with them to depose Queen Athaliah and anoint Joash as the rightful king of Judah. The daring plot succeeded; the queen, crying “treason, treason,” was slain at the horse gate by the king’s house, and young Joash was installed as king, entering into a covenant with Jehoiada “between all the people, and between the king, that they should be the Lord’s people.” (II Chr. 23:16)

Privileged rule: His reign of 40 years was summarized in II Chr. 24:2: “And Joash did that which was right in the sight of the Lord all the days of Jehoiada the priest.” He led in the repairing of the temple, spearheading the collection of the funds and materials with which to accomplish this task: “So the workmen wrought, and the work was perfected by them, and they set the house of God in his state, and strengthened it.” (II Chr. 24:13). God’s house had been in a wretched state of disrepair—dirty and ruinous—in a time when magnificent palaces, theatres, ball-rooms and houses of frivolity were garnished. Jehoiada and Joash responded and left a legacy of respect and reverence for the House of God.

Pathetic ruin. We are told that in time Jehoiada, the good priest and godly mentor of King Joash, “waxed old and was full of days when he died.” Almost immediately following the burial of Jehoiada, the princes of Judah, making obeisance to the king, persuaded him to pursue a different course: “Then the king hearkened unto them. And they left the house of the Lord God of their fathers, and served groves and idols: and wrath came upon Judah and Jerusalem for this their trespass.” (II Chr. 24:15-19) From there, things went “south” quickly. Zechariah, son of Jehoiada, rebuked the king and his idol-worshipping court and was stoned to death. Before the year’s end, the king of Syria, with a small band, defeated Joash and Judah “because they had forsaken the Lord God of their fathers.” (II Chr. 24:24) Joash, suffering from an unspecified disease, was slain in his own bed by his own servants, “and they buried him in the city of David, but they buried him not in the sepulchres of the kings.”

The life, labors, and last days of this king—spared by God from death as a baby, to live to reign as a child and later as an adult with guidance from a guardian-priest of God—offer many priceless lessons. We cannot live on the faith and obedience of others. As long as Jehoiada was alive, Joash walked the straight and narrow; when this godly guide passed away, at the age of 130, it seems as if the devil’s minions had an easy time in dissuading Joash from continuing the life that pleases God. “To him that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin.” (James 4:17) Let us all look, listen and live in the light of the spiritual warfare all around us, and let us ever “Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might.” (Eph. 6:10)

“Ye therefore, beloved, seeing ye know these things before, beware lest ye also, being led away with the error of the wicked, fall from your own steadfastness. But grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To him be glory both now and forever. Amen.” (II Pet. 3:17,18)

Cabul: Plain and Simple

Now, don’t let the title discourage you from reading on. I know the word Cabul, which occurs in I Kings 9:13, does not ring a bell with most of us (including myself until recently), but there is an important lesson to be gleaned therefrom. So bear with me please.

The subject of this post is ingratitude. Here are some thoughts on the subject from various sources, just for starters. Shakespeare described ingratitude as a “marble-headed fiend.” He went on: “I hate ingratitude more in a man than lying, vainness, babbling, drunkenness, or any taint of vice, whose strong corruption inhabits our frail blood.” And Shakespeare, in King Lear, made the line famous, “How sharper than a serpent’s tooth it is to have a thankless child.”

Another writer says that “a thief may have some streaks of honesty in him, the deadbeat spots of honor, the liar hours when he loves the truth, the libertine occasions when he has impulses to be pure; but there is nothing redemptive in the ingrate.” (Author unknown.)

A wise man said it well: “Trust the ungrateful soul with money—and he will steal it; with honor—and he will betray it; with virtue—and he will violate it; with love—and with hellish alchemy, he will transmute it into lust; with your good name and he will besmirch it.”

Well, speaking of wisdom, that brings me back to the title of this post, Cabul. I would guess that many who read these words will fall into the category in which I found myself. I have read the Bible through many times, including I Kings 9:13. It describes what King Hiram thought about the 20 cities in northern Galilee that King Solomon gifted him with for the incalculable help Hiram had rendered in building the Lord’s temple, followed by Solomon’s own palace. Together, the two grand buildings took 20 years to construct.

Hiram, king of Tyre, had furnished Solomon with cedar and fir trees and gold—as much as he wanted. He also made his navy available to the King of Israel; and Hiram, who loved King David, personally crafted some of the lavers and other furnishings of the elaborate temple. As a “thank you” for this incredible contribution from Hiram, Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in Galilee.

In time, Hiram paid a visit to survey these cities. Here is what we read about his assessment of the gifts: “And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.” (I Kings 9:13). I have read that passage with passing interest who knows how many times, never bothering until recently to look up the meaning of Cabul, just assuming it was a particular name that King Hiram assigned to that territory that he had recently received from King Solomon. Most modern translations do not suggest any alternative translation of Cabul, except maybe changing the spelling to Kabul. Looking the word up in a Hebrew lexicon and/or a Hebrew to English dictionary, the meaning of the word is said to be “worthless.” Hiram said plainly that he found these 20 cities to be worthless. Put that statement into the context of the indescribable sum of valuable resources that the King of Tyre had given to Solomon—including as much gold as Solomon requested to overlay all the pillars and trim of the temple and of his dwelling place—and one understands that it was not King Hiram who was ungrateful, but rather King Solomon.

In modern English, I think the following paraphrase of Hiram’s response to Solomon’s gift might be, “What do you mean by giving me these worthless cities? You, Solomon, are nothing but an ingrate. I helped you with whatever you needed or asked for, even personally crafting some of the temple furniture, expecting nothing in return. I did it because I dearly loved your father, and I wanted to have a part in the building of his dream. But, though I expected nothing in return, you ‘gifted me’ with some good-for-nothing towns in northern Galilee. You should be ashamed of yourself, Solomon.”

King Solomon, the wisest of humanity, had a lapse here when it is shown that, for all the goodness and material assistance that the King of Tyre had granted him in the herculean task of the temple building, Solomon’s thanks was indeed thankless! He gave his friend cities that were, in King Hiram’s view, worth nothing. That is a stunning illustration of ingratitude—on the part of one who had received so much!

We too, children of the King of kings, need to guard against this insidious sin. We marvel that the man who had been given so very much by God, including not only wisdom but wealth and power, could respond with stinginess and a tightly closed fist in showing his appreciation to his benefactor. The sin of ingratitude may have been the seed sin of all the other sins of Solomon—and, quite possibly, his worst!

Yet we are liable to do the same with an ungrateful, grumbling attitude. “When gratitude dies on the altar of a man’s heart, that man is well-nigh hopeless.” (Dr. Bob Jones, Sr.) Be ye thankful. Let us not be guilty of giving that which is Cabul.

“Being enriched in every thing to all bountifulness, which causeth through us thanksgiving to God.” (2 Cor.9:11)

From a Godly Heritage to An Ungodly Holocaust (6th in a Series)

The Bible says, “Be not deceived. God is not mocked. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.” (Gal.6:7)

Few would argue the validity of the natural law of sowing and reaping. The farmer who does not sow much cannot expect to reap much; the farmer who doesn’t sow anything can expect to reap nothing. The farmer who sows much can hope to reap much. It is, in the natural realm, the law of sowing and reaping.

The same law governs our lives in the spiritual realm. Sow discord and discord you will reap; sow love and love will be produced; sow righteousness and the fruit of righteousness, peace, will be reaped. Sow sin and sin will be reaped.

The Old Testament affords us a striking illustration of the principle of sowing and reaping in the life of King Jehoram, oldest son of King Jehoshaphat.

No one born in Judah contemporaneously with Jehoram enjoyed a brighter prospect for life at birth.

His family was royalty. No educational opportunity known to his peers was denied young Jehoram. His father was a good king and was a godly example for the most part. His grandfather, King Asa, was also a godly king whose ways pleased the Lord. His great, great, great grandfather was King Solomon. Jehoram had been blessed with a goodly heritage.

Educationally, materially, spiritually, socially, and culturally— Jehoram’s advantages were totally out of the reach to most young people of his time. Surely he would follow the example of his father and grandfather and “buy up” these extraordinary advantages.

Sadly, it was not to be. II Chronicles 21:6 gives us God’s evaluation of Jehoram’s life: “And, he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, like as did the house of Ahab.” No king in Israel (the northern ten tribes of the divided kingdom) displeased God more than Ahab, and Jehoram—fifth king of Judah, the southern sector of the kingdom, following the post-Solomon division—walked in the ways of wicked Ahab.

We can follow his fall by looking at his Youth, his Adulthood and his “Old Age.”

His Youth: An Unhealthy Devotion.

In II Chronicles 21:2,3 one reads that Jehoshaphat had seven sons including Jehoram. Jehoram was the firstborn, but Jehoshaphat left abundant riches to all of his sons born after the first son, Jehoram. Those gifts were “great gifts of silver, and of gold, and of precious things with fenced cities in Judah: but the kingdom gave he to Jehoram; because he was the firstborn.”

But following his father’s death, Jehoram strengthened himself and “slew all his brethren with the sword, and divers also of the princes of Israel.” (II Chr. 21:4) In his youth, this firstborn son of the king got everything he wanted, but it would seem he got nothing of what he really needed. He apparently was spoiled to the core as his selfish, wicked acts of murder would suggest. He was a young king whose sails for life were set early—against truth, humility, gratitude, honesty, morality, and against God.

His Adulthood: An Unholy Decision.

Jehoram was 32 years of age when he ascended to the throne. His life was set on a collision course when he took the daughter of the wicked King Ahab for his wife. (II Chr. 21:6) The Bible promptly states, right after it tells us of Jehoram’s unbiblical alliance through marriage with Ahab’s daughter, that “he wrought that which was evil in the eyes of the Lord.” (II Chr. 21:6) No doubt the murders of his six brothers had the blessings of the family of Ahab.

God had plainly warned against unholy unions with unbelievers in marriage. (Deut. 7:1-4) Samson, a judge of Israel, ignored God’s warning—and his parent’s pleading—and got one of the Philistines’ daughters. Along with her, he got more grief than he could have imagined. “A mistake made here (in marriage) is a mistake for life. One can remove a partner from sight, but not from the soul.”

His “Old Age”: An Unheeded Warning.

Jehoram’s pitiful plight is outlined in II Chr. 21:8-17. He waged war unnecessarily with the Edomites. He built shrines of idolatry in the high mountains of Judah and compelled his subjects to worship at these places rather than in Jerusalem. For these transgressions and the murders of his brothers who were “better than thyself,” God sent Elijah to tell Jehoram that he would send a plague to his people, to his children, his wives, and all of his goods. (II Chr. 21:14) Besides that, God was going to smite Jehoram with a sickness, so that his bowels would “fall out by reason of the sickness day by day.”

But, before dying his slow death, God stirred up the Philistines and the Arabians, who came up against Jehoram and Judah and “brake into it, and carried away all the substance that was found in the king’s house, and his sons also, and his wives; so that there was never a son left him, save Jehoahaz, the youngest of his sons.” (II Chr. 21:16,17)

Jehoram’s “old age” came early. He was made king at the age of 32, and by the time he was 40, death by disease had claimed his life. His biography is sadly summarized by the chronicler: “Thirty and two years old was he when he began to reign, and he reigned in Jerusalem eight years, and departed without being desired.” (II Chr. 21:20)

“It is a fearful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.” (Hebrews 10:31)

Editor’s Note: If you are keeping track of this series on the Old Testament Kings, you will find the installment on King Asa in the September 26, 2023, edition of this blog, appearing under the title “Good Starter, Good Finisher.” To find it, click here, or click “read in browser” at the end of any of these “You and God” blog posts. When you do, you will find the text of the post repeated. Scroll all the way to the end of that text and keep scrolling, and you will find a complete archive of all my 450 posts by month and year. The Asa post is in September 2023. Or, if you prefer, simply email me and request that I forward you a copy of the post.

Safe Am I

Remember that chorus some of you used to sing at camp or in youth meetings: “Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hand; sheltered o’er, sheltered o’er, with His love forevermore. No ill can harm me, no foe alarm me, for He keeps both day and night. Safe am I, safe am I, in the hollow of His hands.” Boy, they just don’t make choruses like that anymore!

But, that is so true! No ill can harm me, no foe alarm me! Eighteenth-century cleric and hymn writer Augustus Toplady put it this way: “A sovereign Protector I have, unseen, yet forever at hand.”

“When actor Jimmy Stewart left Hollywood to become an Air Force pilot following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor, his father gave him a copy of Psalm 91 to carry with him as he flew bombing missions. According to the Jimmy Stewart Museum, the actor said, ‘What a promise for an airman. I placed in His hands the squadron I would be leading. And, as the psalmist promised, I felt myself borne up.’ Stewart was referring, of course to Ps. 91:1,2: ‘In their hands (the angels) shall bear you up.’” (copied)

One scribe confessed that there comes, at times, weariness and maybe a temptation to doubt or fear life’s bombardments, but “there comes the blessed assurance that Jesus lives within, the Holy Spirit is our companion, and the Father watches over us. That is safety and security; and we say, with the Scotsman, ‘Who ever heard of anybody drowning with his head that high above water!’”

God, said one wise person, is able to spare us from the furnace: but if not, He will join us in it. Whether He spare or share, He will be there!

A family was once camping in a park in British Columbia. Their seven-year-old son was playing nearby; but after a while, one of the parents, not able to hear the boy, went looking for him to no avail. An intense search ensued and, when the lad was located by the Canadian Mounted police, eight miles from the campsite, it was reported that he had ridden his toy truck into a swiftly flowing river. The trip, thoroughly enjoyed by the youngster, lasted two hours until he finally was lodged onto something in the river. The police reported that the youngster was “very excited.” We, too, find ourselves at times on wild rides in life’s currents. When those times come, that wonderful promise will help get us through: “When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow you.” (Isa. 43:2)

If you are a child of God through faith in Jesus Christ, then you are as safe as you need to be—as safe as you can be—not only physically but, more importantly, spiritually.

Nineteenth-century world-renowned evangelist D.L. Moody said, “It is a great thing to be an heir of glory. It is a great thing to have your life guarded by the Son of God and to have His angels encamping round about you.”

Ira Sankey, a composer associated with Moody, wrote the song “A Shelter in the Time of Storm.” It begins, “The Lord’s our Rock in Him we hide, a shelter in the time of storm; secure whatever ill betide, a shelter in the time of storm.” That truth is based upon scriptural declarations such as Ps.61:3: “For thou hast been a shelter for me, and a strong tower from the enemy.” The safest place in the world is the center of God’s will for His own. He truly is “A shade by day, defense by night—a shelter in the time of storm.”

James McConkey, author and teacher, shares the following illustration of God’s loving watch-care and protective grace over us: “A beautiful lesson comes to us from Proverbs 30:26. ‘The conies are a feeble folk, yet they make their houses in the rocks.’ The coney is a weak, timid little animal like our rabbit or hare. He has no means of defense in himself, so when his foes, the vulture or eagle, come in sight the coney does not turn at bay and do all he can to defend himself ere he flees. If he did he would be torn to pieces in an instant by a fierce enemy of the air. Nay, the coney has learned a wiser course than this. He knows he is a ‘feeble folk,’ so he rushes straight to the rocks without attempting any defense whatever in his own strength, which is but weakness. Likewise is it with us. Our only course is to learn the coney lesson; to fly straight to our Rock, Christ Jesus, in prayer, and to trust the Rock to keep us.” (copied)

So, yes, “Safe am I; safe am I, in the hollow of His hand.” If you ever did learn that chorus, with its catchy tune, I can almost guarantee you that you’ll be humming it to yourself throughout the rest of your day. By the way, I just paused to look it up in a hymnal that I have at hand. Maildred Leightner Dillon wrote it in 1938; but its truth is timeless. And, I just “googled” “Safe Am I” and found a beautiful rendition of this chorus on YouTube by the “Daybreak Quartet.” Try it, you’ll like it. (Not a commercial, but a great encouragement!) Yes, “He keeps both day and night!” Be safe!

“For Thou art my rock and my fortress; therefore for Thy name’s sake lead me, and guide me.” (Psalm 31:3)

The Worst of the Wicked (5th in series)

“And hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on the earth.” (Rev. 5:10)

In the Old Testament books of Kings and Chronicles, the lives of more than 40 kings were divinely sketched for us and included as part of God’s permanent record. Paul suggests that these Old Testament passages afford us examples from which we should learn. Good kings are to be studied for their goodness, and those characteristics which made them good should be mimicked. Bad kings should be studied for their badness, and that which made them bad should be avoided in the lives of those who are said to be “kings and priests” unto our God.

In this installment, the subject of our study is the eighth king of Israel.

He was an unfit king. Of few men in history, Biblical or secular, can it be said that not one good thing is known of them. Most men who leave marred records have some goodness that commends them. Few are so diabolical, so depraved that no bright spot illumines the total story of their lives. But of such a man we are about to speak. From the beginning of his reign to the last day of his life, his was a wretched record. Like other infamous names—Haman, Judas, Mussolini, Hitler—his name is spoken with distaste.

But we should not neglect to pause and review his life, praying as we do that God in His grace will help us to avoid the satanic snares into which he fell.

I introduce to you King Ahab, wicked above all the kings of Israel that preceded him. His wickedness is seen in whom He hunted, heeded, and hated.

• Whom he hunted

→ Ahab was told by Elijah that there would not be dew nor rain for years. Following this prophecy, God instructed Elijah to hide by the brook Cherith, where he was fed by ravens and drank of the brook until it dried up. (I Kings 17:1-7)

As Ahab and the prophet Obadiah were searching for rain, Obadiah came upon Elijah, whereupon Elijah instructed Obadiah to go tell Ahab that he had found Elijah and to tell him where he was. Obadiah at first protested with these words: “As the Lord thy God liveth, there is no nation or kingdom, whither my lord hath not sent to seek thee.” (I Kings 18:10)

→ Elijah was a man of God who spoke the truth. (I Ki. 17:24) He was also a prophet who fought the Devil and his false prophets. (I Ki. 18:19ff.) Ahab wanted to find Elijah for sinister purposes, hunting him in every nation and kingdom; but the man of God was indestructible—for God was not finished with him yet.

• Whom he heeded (a devilish woman)

→ When Ahab told his wife Jezebel that Elijah had confronted the people and false prophets, slaying 450 of the prophets of Baal, Jezebel vowed to hunt him down and do to Elijah what Elijah had done to the false prophets. The hunt was on, and Elijah, a man of God though yet with feet of clay, “went (ran) for his life,” first a day’s journey, then 40 more days. (I Ki. 19:1ff)

→ Ahab also heeded Jezebel’s advice about wickedly getting possession of his neighbor Naboth’s vineyard. (I Ki. 21:1ff.) The perverse plot ended in the murder of Naboth, and Elijah announced to Ahab, “thou hast sold thyself to work evil in the sight of the Lord.” (I Ki. 21:20) The judgment God promised would obliterate the posterity of the wicked king of Israel.

• Whom he hated (I Kings 22)

→ Strangely, Jehoshaphat, a good king of Judah, agreed to team up in battle with Ahab when Syria came up to war against Ahab and Israel. All the false prophets that Ahab had surrounded himself with assured the kings that victory awaited them. Jehoshaphat was not fully convinced, though, and he wanted to hear from one more prophet, some “prophet of the Lord,” maybe a dissenting opinion. Ahab then acquiesced and called for Micaiah to be fetched, telling Jehoshaphat that he hated Micaiah, “for he doth not prophesy good concerning me but evil.” (I Ki. 22:8) Micaiah was brought and, after a dramatic prelude, prophesied the truth that God was not in the plan the two kings had concocted in plotting aggression against Syria. For his honesty and faithfulness to God, Micaiah was assigned by Ahab to prison, where he was to be fed with “bread of affliction.” (I Ki. 22:27)

→ Ahab’s awful end is recorded in the last chapter of I Kings, where one reads that the two kings, deaf to God’s truth, went to battle with a plan to foil the king of Syria; but “a certain man drew a bow at a venture, and smote the king of Israel between the joints of the harness.” (I Ki. 22:34) The last chapter of wicked king Ahab’s life is found in just two sentences: “So the king died, and was brought to Samaria. And one washed the chariot in the pool of Samaria; and dogs licked up his blood; and they washed his armor; according to the word of the Lord which He spake.” (I Ki. 22:37,38)

No national day of mourning was proclaimed to mark and mourn his passing. As a nation, no doubt his subjects breathed a collective sigh of relief. A wicked king had lived, and a wicked king had died. He had contributed nothing noteworthy for historians to record for future generations to remember. He was a despot. He was diabolical. He worked in concert with his equally wicked wife. We who read the story—even yet today—will do well to avoid imitating anything about a man who is known from biblical writ for whom he hunted, for whom he heeded, and for whom he hated.

“And Ahab . . . did evil in the sight of the Lord above all that were before him. And it came to pass . . . that he took to wife Jezebel the daughter of Ethbaal king of the Zidonians, and went and served Baal, and worshipped him.” (I Ki. 16:30,31)

God’s Protection

(A few weeks ago, I mentioned in the post “59 and Counting” that my sister was involved in a terrible automobile crash on her way to our wedding in 1965. I was surprised to learn that my “children,” now in their 50’s, had never heard of that incident. So I am going to let my sister tell it in her own words. It is, truly, an amazing story of God’s protection):

“Trusting in our loving Heavenly Father, on a hot Saturday afternoon in August, 1965, my sister Nancy and I left my home in Denver, Colorado, in a 1963 VW, heading for Iowa to attend a family wedding. This trip usually took about sixteen hours. A few friends had gathered around the car, and we prayed together for God’s care over us. Our assistant pastor good-naturedly quipped, ‘Don’t let the wind blow this Volkswagen off the road.’ And, since there was no air conditioning in the vehicle, our plan was to drive all night when it would not be so hot. Traveling with us were our three children: Nancy’s son Mark, 9, and my sons, Kerry and Kevin, aged 10 and 9. We had no television, so we were unaware of the weather reports.

Midway across Kansas, in the middle of the night, we encountered rain so heavy that we stopped along the road beside a business where a security light shined brightly above us like a guardian. Moments after we stopped, the light began going off and on again. It did not occur to us that the storm could be causing the interference with the electrical service. Fearful that our presence there was an offense to someone inside, Nancy drove on into the storm, though it was raining so hard we could barely see.

About ten minutes after we left the security light, our Volkswagen was caught by a gust of wind (official reports claimed that the winds gusted up to 85 miles per hour). The small car with its five occupants went end over end three times and rolled over twice, coming to a stop at the bottom of a ravine. It was back on its wheels, lights still on. It looked like a piece of foil paper that had been crushed in someone’s hand, headliner hanging loose, and the key broken off in the ignition.

I was thrown out of the passenger door, clear of the vehicle’s path. When I realized that I was lying on the ground in the rain, I stood up and began walking toward the car lights, about 80 feet away. As I began to walk, I stumbled over Kerry. I pulled him to his feet. He seemed to awaken. He had been thrown out from the rear window, and I believe that he was asleep and had simply slept through the wild ride. What a blessed relief—that he seemed to be unharmed. I breathed a sincere thank you to my heavenly Father.

As I neared the car, I heard Nancy screaming, still seated in the driver’s seat, while Mark and Kevin remained in the rear seat. Incredibly, they were all able to get out of their seats and stand up, and we walked up to the road. A passing motorist notified the highway patrol and we soon had help. The officer took my family to the nearby hospital for a check-up while I stayed at the site, flashlight in hand, gathering up clothing and other personal belongings from all over the hillside.

The following morning, the highway patrolman took us to the place where the car had been towed. He told me he had never seen anyone survive such wreckage. Yet there were no injuries. I believe we have guardian angels, and that God uses them to protect us. I believe in answered prayer. The wonderful hymn “Under His Wings” is a beautiful reminder of God’s protection. I have loved this hymn as long as I have known the Lord.

‘Under His wings I am safely abiding. Though the night deepens and tempests are wild. Still I can trust Him; I know He will keep me. He has redeemed me and I am His child. Under His wings, under His wings, who from His love can sever? Under His wings my soul shall abide,

Safely abide forever.’” (As told by Mary Ann Wilson)

(My father picked up Mary Ann, Nancy, and their boys in Goodland, Kansas, and drove them to our home in Ottumwa, Iowa. Mary Ann’s husband was flown by a friend to Seymour, Iowa, where his folks lived, and he and Mary Ann were reunited; they all then traveled the second long leg of their journey to be at our wedding the next Saturday in North Wilkesboro, NC. Mary Ann sang beautifully at our wedding on a hot—no air-conditioning in the church, either!— Saturday night in August. Their pilot friend then flew them back to Denver.)

“He who dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty. I will say of the Lord, ‘He is my refuge and my fortress: my God, in him will I trust. Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence.” (Ps.91:1-3)