YOU and GOD

Fifty years ago, Ed Christy graduated from Beech Grove High School in Beech Grove, Indiana. After graduation he found a job, and working alongside of him was a man who was a member of Thompson Road Baptist Church, at that time pastored by Dr. Fred Moritz.  One day, Dick Reed, Ed’s co-worker, invited Ed to attend services at TRBC (Thompson Road Baptist Church), and Ed responded saying that he would one day.

Ed had attended a local Methodist church with his family all of his life. He was a “good person” and had felt no need of any further religious experience.  But, one Sunday morning, though it was a rather cold and snowy day, remembering his promise, Ed drove the short distance to the Baptist church.

It so happened that Pastor Moritz was sick on that particular Lord’s Day and the youth pastor was filling the pulpit. He preached, and while the message was going forth the Holy Spirit was doing His work in Ed Christy’s heart. He testifies that the message he heard that day was the first time he had ever heard the gospel plan of salvation. He knew he had not had that personal experience, so when the invitation was extended he responded by going forward to meet a personal worker to whom he said, “I need to be saved.” And so he was. A layman knelt with him, explaining further the simple plan of salvation and encouraging him to by faith ask Jesus to forgive his sins and come into his heart. In a few moments of time, Ed Christy was gloriously saved and a short time later baptized by immersion and joined in membership to the local Baptist assembly where for the first time ever he had heard the gospel proclaimed. But that is just the beginning.

In the course of time, Ed enrolled at Tennessee Temple University, graduating from there with a B.S. in Secondary Education, then he attended and graduated from San Francisco Baptist Theological Seminary with an M.Div. (Masters of Divinity), and finally from Bob Jones University with a Ph.D. in Old Testament. It was at BJU that Ed met Sylvia Carr, a graduate with a nursing degree who at the time was working on staff at the university hospital. Ed had sought the Lord’s will for a life’s partner earnestly, and year after year his friends had intensified their prayers for Ed that he would find God’s choice for him. Sylvia was a “jewel,” and they have been married 37 years and have two grown children and two grandchildren, all living in France. Not by chance, Sylvia had wanted to travel with a Wilds Christian Camp team the summer that Ed met her, but her contract with the university mandated that she remain there for the duration of her commitment, so she “happened” to be there just at the time that she and her future husband would meet. God had that meeting planned and prepared in answer to the effectual, fervent prayers of His people!

When Dr. Christy was attending TTU he was challenged in a missions conference for world missions. He learned from one of the speakers that France had 35,000 villages in which there was no witness for Christ. He listened carefully over a period of time to that still small voice of God’s Spirit speaking to his heart about taking the Goods News to one or more of those villages in France. Sylvia shared that burden with her husband, so the Christys made plans to go to Europe as vocational missionaries. They were led of God to the southeastern city of Bordeaux, France, where God has used them to plant two New Testament churches.  

The work at times has been slow. When Covid-19 made its ugly appearance in France, like churches most everywhere, the in-person meetings were curtailed and “on-line” services were substituted. At the end of June, 2020, an attempt was made to resume on-site services, but the first such service had the Christys and one other person in attendance. So, back to the “virtual” services for a while longer. Not long after that, a young couple called to see if they could attend a service, and Ed said the services were on-line but that they could come to the place where he was transmitting the message if they wanted to.  They came and kept coming, and are now enrolled in the Bible Institute that Ed ministers in near Paris where they are preparing for ministry.

One Sunday morning after in-person services resumed, Ed arrived at the church site to open up finding two adolescents at the front door. Ed asked them if they were from the neighborhood and they said “no” and told the missionary that their parents were coming. When the Dad and Mom arrived, four other children were with them, so their attendance that day swelled by eight! This family still attends and the father has had some ministerial experience. They are, of course, a great blessing!

At present, the church is meeting in a restaurant. Buildings are hard to find and very expensive to rent. When Ed inquired about the restaurant as a meeting place, asking what the rent would be, the proprietor asked Ed what he would be willing to pay, something unheard of! The amount was agreed upon and though not an ideal meeting place it has met a need. Now, however, with forty or fifty or more in attendance on some Sundays it is becoming evident that a larger meeting place is an urgent need.

So, from six people on a Sunday in June of 2020, to forty or fifty people regularly in attendance, the Lord has built and blessed this church in Bordeaux, France. Missionary/pastor Ed Christy shakes his head and says it has really been “nothing we have done, but the Lord has just been bringing people to us.” If you are like me, you cannot help but think of that admonition in Gal. 6:9 where Paul wrote: “And let us not be weary in well doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not.” And it all began 50 years ago when one believer extended a simple invitation to his co-worker to attend a service at his church. Think of the rewards that person will receive at the judgment seat of Christ!

“But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” (Acts 1:8)

‘’Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently for Him.” Good counsel from the Psalmist’s pen (37:7), but experience has proven that it is often easier said than done. So many examples of disaster have been recorded when it is not heeded, however, that it behooves all who want to go the way of wisdom to think twice before ignoring the admonition to “Wait on the Lord, and keep His way.” (Ps. 37:34)

Abraham and Sarah wearied of waiting upon the Lord to fulfill His promise of a seed who would carry on their family posterity, and through whom God had promised to bless their descendants immeasurably. But their plot to take things into their own hands and involve Sarah’s handmaid, Hagar—using her as an accomplice with Abraham in birthing a son, Ishmael—was fraught with unending, calamitous results. It was all a matter of not being able to do what the Psalmist would later personalize when he wrote: “I waited patiently for the Lord, and He inclined unto me and heard my cry.” (40:1)

Or, remember Saul, newly anointed, first-ever human king of Israel, who had been instructed by the prophet Samuel to wait at Gilgal for Samuel to arrive there, so that offerings and sacrifices could be made to God? But when Samuel did not arrive just when Saul thought he should have, Saul took it upon himself to offer the burnt offerings. The price he paid for not waiting upon the Lord in that instance was huge. Samuel announced that same day to Saul: “But now thy kingdom shall not continue…because thou hast not kept that which the Lord commanded thee.” Getting out ahead of the plain directives of God is never a good idea, to which Saul’s life sadly testifies. (I Sam.13:8-14)

David, the man after God’s own heart who succeeded Saul as king, learned that lesson the hard way, too. The Ark of God had been in the cities of the Philistines, and the people of Israel had not enquired of God at the Ark in over 20 years. After having been afflicted with severe boils, the Philistines sent the Ark, in the way their “priests” had directed them, to the city of Beth Shemesh—and eventually to Kirjath-jearim, where David and his men retrieved it as they set out to move it to Jerusalem. The problem was, they got ahead of God. Rather than seeking God’s counsel as to how the Ark should be moved, they tried, unsuccessfully, using the methods of the Philistines. In the process of moving it, an Israelite, Uzza, died because he was the wrong man, doing a job that God had given specific instructions for (Numbers 4:15). His death could have been avoided, had David sought to do God’s work in God’s way. But he impatiently forged ahead with what he thought, in all sincerity, was the best, quickest, and easiest way to get the job done.

We’ve all done similar things. Maybe a young preacher, having gone to a Bible school or institute for a couple of years, feels he does not need to finish the requirements for the course that would demand two more years of schooling.  After all, he reasons, Jesus is surely coming soon, souls need to be saved, and “I have the Bible to study—that’s all I need.” So he jumps feet first into the ministry, only to soon find out that he would have been wise to have spent the extra two years in preparation; now, however, with a wife and small child to care for, he cannot possibly see his way to return for more schooling. Sadly, in time, he becomes a ministry “dropout.”

A pastor, a few years into his first pastorate, is restless about how his people are responding to the preaching and teaching of the Word. He doubtless has some good opportunities in this field, and there have been victories, but things are not moving as fast as he had anticipated they would. With very little prayer and patience, he submits his resignation and puts the word out that he is available and seeking a church. Only His heavenly Father knows what might have been in that place, which had at one time looked so promising, with some patient waiting on God.

Many of us, whether in ministry or in secular vocations, are afflicted from time to time with what has been called “Go Fever.” That is when we are so bent on doing a certain thing that we are willing to forge ahead with our plans, in spite of good counsel from the best sources, that we should pause our plans and seek more time for further wise direction.

Such was the case in the ill-fated launch of the Challenger space ship in 1986. The temperature in Houston on January 28, 1986, was a record low of 18 degrees Fahrenheit. The engineer of the rubber O-rings that were critical to the mission had raised concerns with his superiors that those rings might not be able to expand properly, given the extremely low outside temperature.  His caution was not heeded. The mission was ready to launch. Seven astronauts, including the social studies teacher Christa McAuliffe, were suited and in their places. Sadly, 73 seconds into the flight, the world watched as a terrible explosion blew the craft to bits. The entombed astronauts had no expulsion equipment, and all perished in the disaster.  Some later attributed the failed mission to “Go Fever.” Everything was set to launch. There was pressure on NASA to execute another space mission. So, in spite of concern about the possible O-rings failure, the order was given to “Go!” 

How about you? Can you wait for certainty from God that right now is the right time to “Go?” Or, might you have a case of “Go Fever?” That’s between you and God. But if you get out ahead of His clear leading, it could be dreadful.

“Wait on the Lord: be of good courage, and He shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say, on the Lord.” (Ps.27:14)

A boy once asked his father what a preacher does. The Dad replied, “Well, his time is his own, which means he is always on the job. You see, the man who is cursed with punching in a time-clock in the morning is also blessed with the privilege of punching one out in the evening. The preacher teaches, though he must solicit his own classes. He heals, though without pills or knife. He is sometimes a lawyer, often a social worker, something of an editor, a bit of a philosopher, and entertainer; a lecturer, a salesman, a handy decorative piece for public functions, a local representative for every relief movement in the land. He is supposed to be a scholar as well as a promotional man. People come to see him, and he goes to see people continually. And he rejoices with exceeding joy when in the midst of this an opportunity arises to be a genuine personal spiritual help. He visits the sick, marries people, buries the dead, labors to console those who sorrow, and to admonish those who sin, and labors to stay sweet when chided for not calling enough. He plans programs, appoints committees and does their work for them, spends considerable time in keeping people out of each other’s hair, and more time in trying to scramble out himself with the least possible loss. Oh, yes, and between times he prepares a sermon and preaches it on Sunday, to those who do not happen to have any other engagement for the Sunday holiday. Then on Monday he smiles when some jovial chap roars, “What a job—one hour of work a week!” (copied)

Well, we can chuckle (if you are a pastor or know one who is) at this view of the work of the ministry. But there is, of course, a grain or two of truth in it. Paul speaks of the work of the ministry. Jesus prayed “…I have finished the work, which thou gavest me to do.” (John 17:4) Jesus came from heaven on a mission and that mission involved work, much work, climaxing on Calvary when He cried, “It is finished.”

We all have work to do. The consequences of the fall were that by the sweat of his brow man would work the ground, and that sweat and that toil would be the lot of mankind.  Work was not the curse, but labor that would require tiresome toil was. So no matter what your calling, you have a job to do and it will not be finished until God calls you to your eternal rest. The key is knowing what He wants you to do and then putting your hand to the plow and doing it to the best of your ability with a positive attitude. Whoever puts his hand to that plow and looks back is not fit (ready) for the kingdom of God. (Luke 9:62)

Clare Boothe Luce, U.S. Congresswoman from Connecticut, (1943-1947) was 75 years of age when someone asked her if she had any regrets. She answered, “Yes, I should have been a better person. Kinder. More tolerant. Sometimes I wake up in the middle of the night and I remember a girlhood friend of mine who had a brain tumor and called me three times to come and see her. I was always too busy, and when she died I was profoundly ashamed. I remember that after 56 years.”

So, when one considers work and occupying, it is wise to keep in mind that it is not “busy work” that counts, but work that is meaningful and advancing the calling God has given you and with which He has equipped you.  Charles Swindoll in his book Killing Giants, Pulling Thorns said, “Busyness rapes relationships. It substitutes shallow frenzy for deep friendship. It promises satisfying dreams but delivers hollow nightmares. It feeds the ego but starves the inner man. It fills the calendar but fractures the family. It cultivates a program but plows under priorities.”

There is a barrenness in busyness. It involves lots of motion without much movement. It may be the result of a good deal of planning with little or no effort at producing. It is fraught with activity that is minus well directed action. There will be evident many leaves without much if any fruit. It might be the curse of the 21^st century, as we stand here on the precipice of “Artificial Intelligence.” What on earth will we do if in seconds some robot “spits” out a paper or outlines a project that would have required days or weeks to have completed just a few years ago?  How will we then “Look Busy?” How will we then “Keep Busy?”

Some reading this post may remember a grandma who, on a cold winter day, milked cows, slopped hogs, got the children headed toward the country one-room school house, did a washing and hung it out on a backyard line to stiffen up in the winter chill; mopped the floors, what there was of them, got wood in for the pot-belly stove, pressed the Sunday-go-to meeting clothes for the entire family, baked rolls and bread, made the beds, cleaned the oil lamps and refilled them, churned butter, stewed some apples and baked a cake plus one or two pies so that she could serve her guests Sunday dinner. Oh, did we mention that she had to round up calves that had gotten out of the pastures as well as breaking up a fight between the family dog and a stray dog that had wandered into their yards. This is not to mention repairing the breach in the fence, gathering up eggs, checking on the stable, setting the table, cooking supper and then washing the dishes afterwards, mending some socks for two of the boys to wear the next day and sprinkling the clothes, all before asking herself “Where has the day gone?” Finally, the dear woman sits down at the old pump organ and plays, “When We Come to The End of the Day.” (Adapted)

Well, some of us can remember such women of old. I had a grandmother whose husband died leaving her with four small children to rear. She did so by cleaning houses for others. She brought her three girls and her son in the post Great Depression years (all of whom became productive citizens) to adulthood by menial labor at less than minimum wage. ($1 a day!)

“And He called His ten servants, and delivered them ten pounds, and said unto them, Occupy till I come.” (Luke 19:13)

Picture this hypothetical scene with me: It is mid-19th century and you are living on a large and beautiful plantation in a southern state. Your farm consists of hundreds of acres of good, tillable soil that generates a good income. Your daughters are beautiful and your sons are brilliant, and you have planned to leave a generous inheritance to each of them. Your wife is a charming “southern belle.” Your plantation is self-contained with delicious drinking water from deep artesian wells; and you warm yourself by the side of your hearth where fires fueled by wood hewn in your fruitful forests keep your family warm.

Now, with that pleasant picture in mind, try to imagine with me how you would feel if suddenly, virtually overnight, foreigners came onto your elegant estate and forced you to abandon your home to them. These ruthless strangers proceed to eliminate you, leaving your dear wife without a husband. Your sons they humiliate and your daughters they violate. They confiscate your property, cutting down trees and selling the wood. They commandeer your wells, and your wife and children have to buy a drink from these awful intruders to assuage their thirst. The inheritance that you had worked hard to save up to give to your sons and daughters they have squandered. Your family suffers daily from hunger. There is now no joy at all left in life for your loved ones!

If you think that’s unreal, it’s not! That’s a picture of what happened to Judah when God opened the flood-gates of divine chastisement upon His people and allowed Nebuchadnezzar to come into the holy land to take over. Someone has called the book of Lamentations “the Wailing Wall of the Old Testament.” Chapter 5 draws the conclusion to the sad lament, ending, though, on a note of praise and prayer:

• Their Problem once again, v. 1

“Behold our reproach,” v. 1
“Thou hast utterly rejected us” v. 22
“Thou art very wroth against us” v. 22
The cause of it: sin, vss. 7,18 (Provs.14:3)
The completeness of it: total! vss. 1-18 (Jer.24:9)

• Their Praise, v. 19 (cf. 3:22-25)

For God’s mercies, 3:22a, 23a
For God’s compassions, 3:22b
For God’s faithfulness, 3:23b
For God’s goodness, 3:25
For God’s eternality, 5:19

“When time and history shall be no more; when the earth has melted and vanished and the heavens have been rolled up like a scroll; when the last soul has been judged and assigned his place of eternal abode; when Satan shall have been cast into the Lake of Fire and when sin and sickness, death and disease, sorrow and disappointment, fear and failure, trials and tears shall have vanished, the Lord God will remain still on His throne; and He will rule, King of Kings and Lord of Lords!”

• Their Prayer, v. 21

“Remember us,” 5:1
“Consider us,” 5:1b
“Turn us,” 5:21
“Renew our days,” 5:21

“Guide me O Thou great Jehovah, pilgrim through this barren land; I am weak but Thou art mighty, hold me with Thy powerful hand.”

“It is of the Lord’s mercies that we are not consumed because His compassions fail not. They are new every morning: great is thy faithfulness.” (Lamentations 3:22,23)

Father’s Day gives us a special opportunity to reflect not only upon our responsibility as a father, but also upon the heritage of Godly fathers and fathers-in-law that many of us have been blessed with. In this post, I want to share some memories of my father-in-law, Marvin Beshears.

Marvin grew up in the Depression years in the Blue Ridge mountains of Western North Carolina. He was one of 9 children, and though we marvel today at the lush landscape of those mountains, eking out an existence was a daily, toilsome task for Marvin and his parents and siblings. He was able to finish eighth grade in school before he felt a need to devote his full energies to helping his parents with the support of their large family.

When World War II called upon Marvin to serve his country, he reported for a routine physical but failed the exam—the doctor declaring that with his heart in the condition it was in, he would be doing good to make it back home.  Marvin never, in the ensuing 60 years or so that he lived following that exam, had any problems with his heart. He was not to be denied, though, in his effort to lend a hand to the war effort, so he went to the Virginia shipyards where he was employed in painting U.S. battle ships. It was there, on a radio broadcast, that he heard Rev. Charles E. Fuller of the Old-Fashioned Revival Hour from Los Angeles preach to and plead with soldiers—who were about to ship out for their foreign field assignments—to accept Christ as Savior. Marvin accepted Fuller’s invitation, invited Christ into his heart there in the shipyards, and would never be the same.

Returning to North Wilkesboro, NC, after the war, Marvin was employed in a factory as a painter. He also was a farmer of sorts, and in time became a pastor of an assembly of believers, a church he would shepherd for more than  50 years. He also had a local radio ministry and visited nursing homes weekly, as well as prisons when he had the opportunity. In that Northwestern North Carolina community, he was known as a “man of God,” and it has been said that his handshake on a deal was as good as any signature on a contract. He was a shrewd businessman in his own right, and though he never received a salary for his ministry, he was able to leave not only a good name as an heritage but also some material blessings for his posterity when he passed away in his mid-80s. He and his wife sacrificed to send their children (three of the five) to Bob Jones University. Their older son, Alphred attended BJU for a year before enlisting in the Marine Corps, after which he was deployed to Vietnam. Marvin’s ceaseless prayers for his soldier son—in his prayer place in the woods near his home—were answered, and “Al” returned from Vietnam but, sadly, died of leukemia in his early 30s.

Marvin and Carrie (his wife) celebrated their 50^th wedding anniversary in 1991. I feel blessed beyond measure to have been a part of this special family and to have married Ellen, Marvin’s second child, whom I met when she was a freshman at BJU. Marvin’s nickname for Ellen was “fairy,” and she accompanied him to prisons and nursing homes with her accordion, on which she played hymns for the services he led.  On the occasion of their 50^th wedding anniversary, I wrote the following poem as a tribute to Marvin and Carrie. The title is “Golden Reflections”:

“Down where the Blue Ridge mountains rise,

With lofty peaks toward azure skies,

A lanky man and slender maid,

Their holy marriage vows did trade.

They both drank deep from life’s sweet cup,

With grace, their Father filled it up;

Their song of praise and lifelong story:

“To our great God be all the glory!”

Five children did this couple rear,

And each was taught the Lord to fear.

One was a soldier strong and brave,

Who loyal, fearless duty gave.

He served his God and country true,

And prayers to Heaven brought him through.

Yet death did claim him for his own,

And Al did lay his armor down.

Oldest of the five was June,

Sweet as summer’s happy tune;

Loyal to her Mom and Dad,

Never made them one day sad.

After June came Ellen “fairy,”

Gentle girl and lovely, very!

She the church piano played

While her daddy preached and prayed.

Next in line came Brenda “Po,”

Pride and joy her folks did show;

Caring, kind and giving she,

Youngest of the sisters three.

Finally came a second son,

Greg was full of life and fun;

Builder with his hands is he,

Craftsman skilled all would agree.

As years on years flew by each faster,

The Cricket Church had but one pastor;

“Brother Marvin” was his name,

And preaching Jesus was his fame.

In Church of God or on the air,

He calls his fellow man to prayer;

And pleads for sinners to repent,

He is God’s man from Heaven sent.

His help-meet dear of fifty years,

Has been his stay through toil and tears;

She’s always been close by his side,

And ever faithful does abide.

Their children bless their names today,

And all who know them join to say,

“Wishes all and tidings merry,

Brother Marvin and Sister Carrie!”

ALS/September, 1991

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In 1981, a roaring fire started by an arsonist raged through the downtown area of Lynn, Massachusetts. Hundreds of people, including many elderly folk, were evacuated from their homes. Millions of dollars’ worth of buildings were completely ruined. It was a horrible Thanksgiving nightmare for the town, leaving the core of the city a smoldering heap of ashes. Citizens viewed the ruins with awe; for the people of Lynn, it might have been described as simply “unbelievable!”

That’s exactly how the inhabitants of Jerusalem felt in the wake of the calamity that occurred in 586 B.C., when King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylon, having besieged the glorious city for more than 18 months, broke the walls down and swept into Jerusalem, bringing devastation and destruction to both buildings and bodies.

Jeremiah expresses the feeling that both the Jews and their neighboring nations had when they assessed what had happened (Lam. 4:12): “The kings of the earth and all the inhabitants of the world would not have believed that the adversary and the enemy should have entered into the gates of Jerusalem.”

But, really, they should have believed it! The same thing had happened more than 100 years earlier to Judah’s counterpart, Israel. In a pungent, prophetic passage to the 10 northern tribes, Amos, in like fashion as Jeremiah, delivered God’s message to the nation just before judgment was to come: “I have smitten you with blasting and mildew…I have sent among you pestilence after the manner of Egypt; and I have taken away your horses; and I have made the stink of your camps to come up to your nostrils…yet ye have not returned unto me, saith the Lord: and because I will do this unto thee, prepare to meet thy God.” (Amos 4:9-12)

But they did not return, and God turned them into captivity. And neither did the southern kingdom of Judah return; and therefore, in 586 B.C. God turned them into captivity also, and the judgment was UNBELIEVABLE!

Lamentations 4 is the pathetic picture of the people of God in the wake of the chastening hand of God upon them. The various classes of the population are described here, and a contrast is portrayed between what they once were and what they had become under judgment.

(1) The inhabitants of Jerusalem
• What they once were, v. 2
They were at one time like gold, “worthy persons,” and “precious.” Like precious stones, they were highly prized, treasured, sought after. God called them a “peculiar treasure…above all people…and ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5,6) Hosea said, “When Israel was a child, then I loved him and called my son out of Egypt.” (Hosea 11:1) God affirmed through Amos (3:2): “You only have I known of all the families of the earth.”
• What they had become, vss. 1b,2b
The sons were like earthen pitchers; the daughters like ostriches which leave their eggs on top of the earth to hatch by the heat of the sun: “…she is hardened against her young ones as though they were not hers.” Mothers had sodden their own children (v. 10).
(2) The Nazarites
• What they once were:
They were once purer than snow, whiter than milk, more ruddy than rubies, polished like sapphires.
• What they had become: They had become blacker than coal; their skin cleaved to their bones.
(3) The Prophets and Priests, vss. 13-20
• What they once were:
Spokesmen for God; intermediaries between God and man; examples of purity, leaders in prayer.
• What they had become:
“blind wanderers; polluted sinners, as lepers, unclean.”
(4) The Edomites (enemies of the people of God who were rejoicing in Judah’s plight) 4:21,22
• What they were doing: rejoicing, reveling in gladness for Judah’s misery.
• What they would become: drunken, naked.
(compare Obadiah, 11-15)

And today, God’s people, like Judah and Israel, often turn away from His gracious waiting and warnings. With long-suffering, God waits for us to return to Him. He sends His prophets and preachers to plead with His people to turn from their sin. He sends blasts and mildew, pestilences, fires, floods, and billows of wild-fire smoke.

Sometimes they hear and heed; but often, His flock goes blindly on, crosses the line of God’s patience, and the floodgates of His wrath are opened! When these people have fallen into the hands of a living God and have come under His chastening, we sometimes can only exclaim, “Unbelievable!” Our God is a holy God and will not tolerate sin. He will deal with it if we will not. And when He does, it is both definite and dramatic. These are the word pictures of Lamentations. This is the message of the weeping prophet. It is a message not to be ignored, especially in these last days.

“Oh that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people!” (Jer.9:1)

“O wretched man that I am!” (Rom. 7:24) Those words, exclaimed in exasperation by the Apostle Paul, followed a deep look into his soul and self after which he exclaimed: “For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) there dwelleth no good thing.” (Rom. 7:18)

Every human being has been created in the image of God, that is, with a mind with which to know Him, a heart with which to love Him, and a will with which to serve Him. I call these the mental, volitional, and emotional capacities of man. When Adam and Eve sinned, all of our inner-most being—our capacities cited above—were deadened, darkened, and depraved by the blight of sin’s corruptive influence. (Rom. 1) So we—our core being—cannot, apart from the regenerative power of God through the new birth, know, love, or serve God as we were created to do. In salvation, we receive a “new nature,” being made “a new creature” in Christ Jesus, (2 Cor. 5:17) so that we can know Him, love Him, and serve Him as we were intended to do as originally created.

Therefore, mankind has always had a “self” problem to deal with. Even after our new-birth experience, as Paul writes so graphically in Romans 7, we have a daily struggle between the “old man” and the “new man.” When we were saved by grace through faith, the old, fallen nature was not reformed, nor was it eradicated; we were, though, given a new nature, unspoiled and unspotted by sin. As we yield to the Holy Spirit, walking in the Spirit, we will please God; but whenever we yield to the “flesh/old nature,” we will be walking in the flesh, and in that condition we cannot please God no matter what we do. (Gal. 5:16-26) Paul confessed that, often, what he would not do, he found himself doing; and what he would do, he too often found himself not doing. This self-struggle caused him frustration and exasperation, and he finally cried out: “Who shall deliver me from the body of this death?” (Rom. 7:24) He answered his own question in the next breath by affirming: “I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord.” (Rom. 7:25)

So, how are you coping with that daily inner warfare of which Paul spake? Victory is possible, but only through the power of the indwelling Spirit of Christ. Struggling to please God in the power of our inner self will prove without exception fruitless.

The Old Testament record of Jacob’s life illustrates this struggle, though he lived before the time when the Holy Spirit was given to indwell every believer. Jacob’s life began in a literal struggle: The Scripture conveys that, at birth, when his elder twin Esau was being delivered from Rebekah’s womb, Jacob grabbed ahold of Esau’s heel. From that point on, for the next many years, there would be self-struggle between these sons of the patriarch, Isaac. Jacob (the name means “supplanter”) would connive to cheat Esau out of his coveted “birthright,” and later his even more coveted first-born blessing. This struggle eventuated in Esau’s vow to kill Jacob; in Jacob’s leaving his home country for 20 years, where he would continue to struggle with his father-in-law, Laban, over women and wages; and his move back to Beer-Sheba, when he would have a tense reunion with Esau and God would, for the second amazing time, appear to Jacob, instructing him that he would be the recipient of incalculable blessings, both material and spiritual, by the grace of God. In this second appearance at Bethel, God told the supplanter that the name change from Jacob to Israel that he had informed Jacob of in Genesis 28 would now “stick,” and that he would be called and known as “Israel-prince with God.” Jacob’s struggle lasted decades before God’s plans and purposes for Jacob’s life were believed and acted upon by this father of 12 sons. (Gen. 35)

The struggle with self is universal and ongoing. Some of the names given for it are: Self-absorbed, self-confident, self-destructive, self-denial, self-abasing, self-pity, and many other names assigned to the abnormal behavioral characteristics rooted in the fruit of self, left to itself.

Ancient philosophers urged disciples to “know thyself,” but the Bible says the heart (core of self) is desperately wicked and “who can know it?” (Jer. 17:9)

Almost every aberrant behavioral trait can be traced to a problem with self; and every problem with self will find its origin in the fall of mankind into sin on one of earth’s earliest days. Subtle Satan deceived Eden’s sole occupants into believing that to eat of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil would make them wise, like God. They bought into that lie, and pride—the sin of which Lucifer, the Devil, was taken down by when he was an archangel—took down our first parents and, along with them, the human race.  Satan, centuries later, would pull that same ploy out of his bag of dirty tricks and, in a wilderness, would tempt Jesus, weakened by 40 days and nights of fasting, with the pride factor: “Cast thyself down if you are the Son of God and your Father will ‘give His angels charge concerning Thee: and in their hands they shall bear Thee up, lest at any time Thou dash Thy foot against a stone.’” (Matt. 4:6) Jesus said to Satan: “It is written again, ‘Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.’” Jesus 2, Satan 0. Satan got blanked out, as he could not successfully get Jesus to sin in three tries—failing again when he promised Jesus the kingdoms of the world.

But we deal with this self issue every day. Our young people are struggling, as recent peaks in teen suicides have shown. The whole world lies in the lap of the wicked one (I John 5:19), and if the Devil will succeed in destroying your life here and/or hereafter, he will do so by appealing to your inner self.

Be filled with God’s Holy Spirit. Like our first parents, you are no match for the wicked one. He is the master deceiver. There can be victory over Satan and self—but only by faith and, moment by moment, yielding to God’s Spirit and not to your self.

“So then they that are in the flesh cannot please God. But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his.” (Romans 8: 8,9)

I am convinced that there is not enough encouraging prevalent in our local churches today. And, there definitely is not enough encouraging in our world at large. Just listen to any newscast today, local or national, and see how uplifting that experience was not!

In the early church, there was a believer, Joses, who was known as a “comforter,” “consoler,”  in so much that the apostles changed his name from Joses to Barnabas, which means “The son of consolation.” Do you know of any Barnabas types? There are some in every New Testament assembly, but it is a spiritual gift that is not as commonly exercised today as are most of the other gifts. “He that exhorteth” (Romans 12:8) is one who is an encourager. It is one of the several spiritual gifts the Holy Spirit imparts upon members of His Body, the Church, and one that is desperately needed in today’s world!

But then, there has always been a need. Catherine, the wife of Martin Luther, dealt with a depressed husband in a rather dramatic way. F.W. Herzberger related this incident: “One day when skies loomed blackest, this greatest and bravest of men, lost heart and in an oversad spirit refused to take courage again. Neither eating nor drinking nor speaking to anxious wife, children or friends, till Catherine dons widow garments, and deepest of mourning pretends. Surprised, Luther asked why she sorrowed, ‘Dear Doctor,’ his Katie replied, ‘I have cause for the saddest of weeping, for God in His heaven has died!’ Her gentle rebuke did not fail him; He laughingly kissed his wise spouse, took courage, banished his sorrow, and joy reigned again in the house!”

Mickey Mantle’s bout with discouragement did not turn out so happily. One day, the legendary home-run king of the 50’s, after striking out repeatedly, was obviously depressed. He says, “When I got back to the clubhouse, I just sat down on my stool and held my head in my hands, like I was going to start crying. I heard someone come up to me, and it was little Tommy Berra, Yogi’s boy, standing there next to me. He tapped me on the knee, nice and soft, and I figured he was going to say something nice to me, like ‘You keep hangin’ in there,’ or something like that. But all he did was look at me, and then he said in his little kid’s voice, ‘You stink.’”

Maybe others, at a time when you were especially discouraged, did not say “You stink,” but they may have non-verbally conveyed little Tommy Berra’s message to you. What to do? Well, thankfully we have Paul’s counsel “…that we through patience and comfort (encouragement) of the scriptures might have hope. Now the God of patience and consolation grant you to be likeminded one toward another according to Christ Jesus.” (Romans 15:4,5)

One German writer well spoke when he said, “Correction does much, but encouragement does more.” Correction  and encouragement combined, of course, does most. Paul wrote to more than one church words of correction, but as in Galatians 5:10 he would often say something to the effect that “I have confidence in you….” We could learn from Paul that sometimes with difficulty correction must be meted out, but a word of encouragement at the right moment and in the right spirit can go a long way in providing hope as well as help. “Encouragement is like a peanut butter sandwich—the more you spread, the better the sandwich sticks together.”

Charles Plumb was a U.S. Navy jet pilot in Vietnam. After 75 combat missions, his plane was destroyed by a surface-to-air missile. Plumb ejected and parachuted into enemy hands. He was captured and spent six years in a communist Vietnamese prison.

He survived the ordeal and now lectures on lessons he learned from that experience.

One day, Plumb was sitting in a restaurant with his wife when a man from another table came up and said, “You’re Plumb! You flew jet fighters in Vietnam from the aircraft carrier Kitty Hawk. You were shot down!”

“How in the world did you know that?” asked Plumb.

“I packed your parachute,” the man replied.

Plumb gasped in surprise and gratitude. The man pumped his hand and said, “I guess it worked!” Plumb assured him “It sure did. If your chute hadn’t worked, I wouldn’t be here today.”

Plumb lost sleep over that chance meeting, wondering what he might have looked like in a Navy uniform: a white hat, a bib in the back, and bell-bottom trousers. “I wonder how many times I might have seen him and not even said ‘Good Morning, how are you? Or anything—because you see I was a fighter pilot and he was just a sailor.’” Plumb thought of the many hours the sailor had spent on the long wooden table in the bowels of the ship, carefully weaving the shrouds and folding the silks of each chute, holding in his hands each time the fate of someone he didn’t know. (copied)

The pilot now tells his story of survival, and when he does he asks the question, “Who’s packing your parachute?” He wants to create an awareness of how interdependent our lives are and how thankful we ought to be for the “parachute packers” in our lives and how much a simple word of encouragement could make a difference. We cannot all fly high on critical missions; some will be working unseen and unsung in the bowels of the ship, so to speak. But a simple “Good morning, how you doing?” or a word of thanks or a smile can mean the world to someone. Your spiritual gift may not be an “encourager” like Barnabas’ was, but every one of us can find someone today to encourage. It can be inexpensive to do, but costly not to do. Be an encourager now! It is desperately needed in this present darkness.

“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Provs. 25:11)

Can you remember a time that you thought was the darkest hour of your life?

Perhaps you had just made a colossal business blunder that had cost you hundreds, maybe thousands of dollars.

Maybe you had just received news that your spouse or child was hopelessly ill.

Or, you might have come home and found your wife or husband had left you for another “lover.”

Maybe you failed a course that you desperately wanted and needed to pass.

It might have been the news that a loved one or dear friend had committed suicide.

Most of us can remember an hour in our lives that seemed all darkness and no light—a time when our heart was broken, our spirit crushed, and our desire to live exhausted. As a pastor, I have suffered a few such times, and I have sat in silence beside scores of men and women whose hearts, figuratively speaking, have been twisted and torn from their breasts. In those times, we can understand something of what Job meant when he said “man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.” (Job 5:7)

Though most of us have suffered some great personal losses, probably none of us has suffered in a greater way than did the prophet Jeremiah. He suffered not only as a person but as a prophet.

In his third elegy, Lamentations chapter 3, the shades of the soul of this man of God are pulled up so that we can have an internal view of what he, and others like him, endured when God brought judgment upon Judah and Jerusalem. Note here his affliction (3:1-20); his affirmation (3:21-42); his anguish (3:43-54); and, finally, his answer (3:55-66):

(1) The prophet’s Affliction: He suffered physically, relating that his flesh and skin had been made old and his bones had been broken. The trauma had caused him to age prematurely. He had suffered physical abuse at the hands of the enemy.
He suffered emotionally. His innermost being was shot through with pain; it was as though someone loosed the knot that held everything together. Everything fell apart.
He suffered socially. He was mocked, rejected, disbelieved, and “in derision daily.”
He suffered financially. It had been so long since he had enjoyed pleasant days and times, he had forgotten the feeling. (3:17) He suffered mentally. Verses 1-20 of Lamentations 3 are the “grievous soul-suffering of the godly in their cheerless and hopeless misery.”

(2) The prophet’s Affirmation: Jeremiah affirmed God’s mercies, His faithfulness, and His salvation, expressing against the black backdrop of the book to this point that “the Lord is good to them that wait for Him.” (3:25) He affirmed God’s compassion, concluding that God never punishes His own without purpose; that sin brings judgment, and that affliction should cause us to search our hearts, with honest confession being the result.

(3) The prophet’s Anguish: God numbers our hairs, will He not also number our tears? “Little furnaces are for little faith. The greatest compliment God can pay you is to heat the furnace to the utmost.” (Unknown). “He knoweth the way that I take; when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold.” (Job 23:10)

(4) The prophet’s Answer: (a) God heard Jeremiah’s prayer; (b) reassured the prophet of His presence; (c) gave Jeremiah assurance of his salvation; and (d) gave the prophet assurance that He would right the wrong.

“When through fiery trials thy pathway shall lie,
My grace, all-sufficient, shall be thy supply;
The flame shall not hurt thee—I only design,
Thy dross to consume and thy gold to refine.

The soul that on Jesus hath leaned for repose,
I will not, I will not desert to his foes;
That soul, though all hell should endeavor to shake,
I’ll never, no, never, no, never forsake.”
(How Firm a Foundation—Rippon’s Selection of Hymns)

“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; knowing that the trying of your faith worketh patience.” (James 1:2,3)