YOU and GOD

The phone rang the other day and although there was no name that popped up on the screen, I recognized the number because I had talked with this middle-aged woman only a few days previous to this; in fact, she had called several times recently so the number was easily recognizable.  Ellen had just gotten word from our doctor that her Covid-19 test was positive and though I had not yet been tested I was feeling the same symptoms that had caused Ellen to get tested a few days earlier. So, when I saw the phone number, knowing who it was and feeling as raunchy as I did, my first impulse was to just let it ring.

It was a call from Mali, who, when we first met her, was a teen age girl who, with her mother, either came to our church on one of our church busses that we sent from our church to the near down-town Indianapolis neighborhoods, or with an aunt and uncle who were members of our church but have been deceased now for several years.  Mali’s mother never drove and Mali, a developmentally challenged child and now adult, cared for with love by her mother with whom she has always lived, of course has been totally dependent on others for a ride to church and, consequently, she has not been in our services for years. She has though periodically called to share a prayer request, and it is pretty common for her to say before she concludes her phone conversation, “I love you, Pastor Slutz. You will always be my pastor.” She recently called the church, Thompson Road Baptist Church, trying to contact me; and one of our male members, doing security detail that evening, told me after the service that a woman Mali (not her real name) called during the service asking to speak to me. The gentleman informed Mali that the service was in progress but that he would pass the message on to me which he did at the conclusion of the service. In the course of her conversation with our security watchman, Mali said, “Pastor Slutz saved me when I was 15 years old.” Well, she has said that many times and, though I corrected her reminding her that only God can save a person and I was simply the messenger, I have not been able to succeed in getting her to say correctly something to the effect that “Pastor Slutz led me to Christ when I was 15.” Mali has the heart of a child and the Lord knows what she means so I just ceased trying to get her to say it with theological preciseness.

But, as you might guess, for a woman to call seeking to talk with Pastor Slutz and manifesting such love and appreciation, and the man taking the call not knowing the woman or anything about her, could be problematic!  Mali does not know our current pastor, my pastor, Pastor Joel Stevens, a loving and caring under shepherd, or she would have the same tender affection toward him. And I know that Pastor Joel is not bothered by someone such as Mali reaching out to her pastor of old for help. We have that kind of working relationship. He is my pastor; He is the Senior Pastor of Thompson Road Baptist Church and I am Pastor Emeritus.

So, when the phone rang last week, and I recognized the unidentified number and was about ready to ignore it being about overwhelmed with the symptoms of C-19, Ellen, my dear help-meet, knowing also who it was that was calling, said, “You’d better answer that,” and at once I did.  I had known Mali had said she was being tested for cancer and was supposed to find out, I thought, on the day the call was coming my way whether it was positive. I answered the call and Mali said, “Pastor Slutz, I have cancer.” I expressed my heartfelt sorrow for that news and reminded her of what we had rehearsed in our last phone conversation a few days earlier: “Mali, you can just grab ahold of Ps.23:1—the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want.” When I started quoting that verse Mali chimed in and quoted it with me.” Then Mali said, “I’m afraid, Pastor Slutz,” and she began to cry. I assured her that the Lord was her shepherd and then quoted another verse, Ps.55:3, and began to pray. I was barely into my prayer when I started getting choked up also and struggled getting words out. I was thinking not only of Mali who was fearful of what having cancer would mean to her (she had shared with me that she weighed only 108 pounds) but I was thinking and being rebuked in my spirit that I had almost not answered the phone when this dear soul needed prayer. I did not verbalize it in my prayer with Mali, but I surely did ask God to forgive me that I could be tempted not to answer the phone when someone needed my counsel, encouragement and prayer. It was a humbling lesson.  Mali has called since and she will continue to call and this is one former pastor who will thank God that he can still have a ministry, forty years and counting, with a developmentally challenged teenager and now an adult in mid-life who is struggling for her life. I hope God helped Mali the day we prayed and wept together.  I know He helped me.

“Is any sick among you? Let him call for the elders of the church…and the prayer of faith shall save the sick.” (James 5:14,15)

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 the time of this writing more than 75 lives with the death toll expected to be in triple digit figures before the final assessment is made. Following that devastation, the Midwest was hit with multiple tornados days after the monster had made its way through Arkansas, Kentucky and other states; plus, winds of upwards to 80 and 90 mph raged through some midwestern states leaving a path of death and destruction.

It is altogether well and should surely be expected that the elephant in the room question, “What is God doing?” be asked. At the onset, it should be understood there is no simple answer to that question, but there is a Biblical train of thought woven throughout scriptures that will give 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 and, 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?”

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

Well, Bible-believers come to the query with certain foundational bed-rock principles as a starting point.  First, we absolutely believe that God is in charge, ultimately, of His world. Satan, the “god” of this world (2 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 have otherwise made themselves deafened to His voice. “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)

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

First, let it be noted that in the Nahum 1 passage quoted above that in two verses following 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 good. He is not the author of evil; He still is “not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.” (2 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 like tranquility when the Lion and Lamb shall lie down together. The violence which we observe in “nature” as seen in monster storms, floods and fires are part of this convulsing of creation; never intended by God but given as part of the curse of man’s original disobedience and continuing 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 which 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)

Christmas Daze
Joyous times those Christmas days;	
	Happy times with carefree ways;
Children’s laughter filled the air,
	Moments precious all to share.

Gathered round the evergreen,
	Lights and glitter bright with sheen;
Gifts all wrapped and neatly placed,
	Smiles of love each face did grace.

It was Christmas, day of days,
	Time to sing great songs of praise.
Time to give and time to share,
	Time to let folks know we care.

Quickly did the wrappings fly,
	Wildly little fingers pry;
Off with paper, off with bows,
	Hope with every second grows.

Ah, the beauty of the doll!
	Long black hair and, oh, so tall.
Hold it close and tightly hug,
	Every heartstring it does tug.

Wow! the train, bright shiny red!
	Just like visions in his head.
Seen in dreamlands of the night,
	Now it dazzles in the light.

Toys and cheers and oohs and aahs!
	Dolls and dogs with velvet paws.
All are gathered round the tree,
	For this moment there is glee!

Gather round the table spread,
	Christmas turkey all are fed.
Naps and games-- now most are still,
	Food and fun, all got their fill.

Once again, they go their way,
	On another Christmas day.
Back to work and back to school,
	 To a world that can be cruel.

Back to thinking in the heart,
	How it long ago did start,
With the coming of God’s Son,
	Jesus, His beloved One!

His, the gift above all giving!
	His, the gift that still is living!
His, the gift of purest love,
	From the Father up above.

Thank you, Lord, for your great grace,
	For your Son’s death in our place.
Thank you, God, for Christmas Day,
	As our hearts bow now to pray.

                     Anthony Slutz
	
(Best of all to all! I hope you will enjoy some Christmas Daze on Christmas Day)

She had a sort of contorted smile, but we youngins did not realized why. A wheel-chair bound woman, probably in her 60’s when our mom became a friend of hers and began to interact with Mrs. Land, all that my sister and I knew was that we did not like her stories about her own children. She would weave some words, hard to understand at times because of her speech impairment, together about some experiences she had rearing her own little ones, from the handicap position of a wheel-chair. What really turned our hearts away from this lady who attended our church and worshipped with our church family every Lord’s Day was when she explained her form of discipline when a child had transgressed the law she had laid down for her household.  She did not have the advantage of other mothers who would go to get a belt or a stick off the lilac bush with which to give the disobedient kids a whack or two, so she did the only thing she could do; she demanded they kneel before her wheel-chair and then, when they were perfectly in place, she would, in her words, grab a fist-full of the woeful and wayward one’s hair and give it a brisk yank or two. Then, having spun her reminiscing yarn, she would, with a contorted grin, chuckle about it, looking intently as I suppose my sister, Cakie ,and I looked on with horror.

Now we had never heard of child abuse back in those “pre-enlightenment” days. We had never had too many meetings with the belt or stick and, for sure, never as many as we might have had. But when we heard of how those hapless little devils, children of this woman who hailed from California before she intruded into our quiet midwestern world, we were horrified. There were a few nights when we actually thought we could hear her creaky voice outside our upstairs bedroom door saying, “Come kneel down now; let’s get this over with.” Then, if we listened intently in what must have been our nightmare, we could hear that warped chuckle of delight coming from the little old lady who could not walk but who could rule her household from a mobile chair.

When she was not sharing part of a day with our family from her choice corner of our living room, she was engaged in long telephone conversations with, yes, our mom; and usually it was when we thought we needed mother to answer a question or to help find something or to give us permission to visit a friend’s house for an hour before supper.  Well, Cakie and I, (affectionately known as “Tonk,”) only thought we needed Mom because whatever dear old Mrs. Land was talking about—Mom hardly ever said anything–was far more important than the attention we thought we needed at that time.

So it was for a couple of years and finally, Tonk got his driver’s permit and then his driver’s license and boy did he think he was the “Cat’s Meow!” He actually got to drive an old 1948 Buick (think black Sherman Tank) to school and when it snowed that old Buick could make a path up the hills to the high school for the city snow plows.

But, not only that, the best thing was that Tonk now could drive to church and pick up the wheel-chair bound Mrs. Land! Well, in spite of the night visions of horror, Tonk could think of nothing he would rather do than to give Mrs. Land a ride to church, not now in the Sherman Tank but in the ’52 Studebaker that he was able to drive on occasion since the family car by that time was a more spacious Chevy.

And, it just so happened that the church, at Christmas, was having a special Christmas program about this time, with cookies and Kool-Aid and maybe some cakes and pies, in the Fellowship Hall following the program.  Mrs. Land of course wanted to attend and even planned to bring a pie, but she would need a ride.  No problem! Tonk’s mother volunteered the to your door teen-ager who would pick her up at the usual time.

The special night came, and Tonk, in the bright yellow Studebaker, drove into the driveway as usual and parked parallel with the door at the back of the huge, two-story, northside house in which Mrs. Land lived in an apartment. The youthful chauffer promptly put the car in park, went directly to the back door of the “mansion” and upon opening the door took his place behind the waiting woman’s chair; whereupon he carefully helped her into the front passenger seat, shut the door and placed the now empty wheel-chair into the trunk of the car. So far, so good. And, yes, he had taken the delicious looking pie (Tonk had never laid his eyes on any piece of pie anywhere that did not look delicious) into the back seat on the floor making sure that the pie would not slip or slide en route to the church.

What an exciting evening. Going to church to enjoy a special Christmas program with the music of angels ringing in our anticipation-laden hearts and with thoughts, dancing in our heads in between stanzas, of Christmas cookies, cakes and pies and fun and fellowship with the church family that we loved.

They were almost there, just another stop sign, routine corner to turn and then straight to church. But wait, after Tonk had stopped and was making the “routine” turn at the corner, the front passenger door, which had not closed securely when the precious human cargo had been loaded, flew open and the dear cripple, with a screech of a scream, fell out of the car onto the pavement. Tonk quickly stopped and horror-stricken, ran to the passenger side of the car, used every muscle in his young body that he could muster, and pulled the helpless passenger up and back into the car.  Was she all right? Yes! Any broken bones? No!  Just a bit shaken and disheveled but nothing more than her pride was wounded. And Tonk, well he never said an audible word the rest of the way to church after he had profusely apologized to the woman that he had for so long looked upon with a twitch of disdain.

The program was splendid everyone said as was the time of fellowship and feasting afterwards. But that night, that teen-age boy, could only repeat silent prayers of praise to His God for allowing that lady, fellow believer, friend of his mother, to fall out of the car that he had been driving and to be retrieved whole, unharmed and only thankful to be able to attend the special Christmas program.

It was a special Christmas that year with a gift from God to a young man whose heart was changed and whose mind was humbled by a way that no one could ever have anticipated. The gift? Oh, something that could never have come under a tree, but from the heart of God to the heart of a teen-ager who needed to see every person made of God as a special creation to be respected, treated and looked upon with kindness and with love, as all of us each with our own sometimes unlovely and unlovable ways, are and appear to others to be. That certain Sunday night just before Christmas a lad by the name of Tonk put his head upon his pillow and there were no nightmares, no voices outside the door of his bedroom, no screaming, no screechy laugh. Just a grateful heart to God for His protective grace and a thought of a special child of His whose life God had used to teach this young man a lesson that he would never forget, at least not for the next 60 or so years.

“That there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for the other.” (I Cor. 12:25)

This Christmas story is fiction, based on fact. The names have been changed to protect the guilty! Have a very special Christmas, one and all!

I have asked Ellen to allow me to reprint an article she wrote for the TRBC Times back in 2004 when I was senior pastor and she has agreed, so enjoy a few words from Ellen’s Corner:

“What will your children remember about Christmas? Will they think only of good food and gifts under the tree or will there be an intangible element that produces a sense of belonging? Are you establishing some traditions that say ‘our family is unique in personality, character and heritage?’

Our traditions include the following: (1) Attending the Christmas Eve service. It’s one of the best ways to show the family Who is important in this celebration. (2) Sitting around the tree with all the lights off except the tree lights with a hot glowing fire in the fireplace. (3) Freshly baked cinnamon rolls for breakfast Christmas morning. (4) The reading of the Christmas story from Luke 2 before any gifts are opened. (5) An ornament for each grandchild every year. (6) Collecting change all year and giving it to the grandchildren so they can buy gifts. (7) A Christmas eve party. (8) Remembering those who do not have family. (9) Baking Christmas cookies.

These are just a few of the traditions that we have established for our household. We hope they will keep our children and grandchildren returning year after year, and that they will pass them on to their children.”

“The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places; yea, I have a goodly heritage.” (Ps. 16:6)

Thank You, Ellen.

And, for several years I have made it part of my Christmas tradition to write a Christmas poem each Christmas. The following is my contribution for the year 2021:

Through Christ Our Lord

He hung the stars in space,

            He made the human race;

He sent His Son by grace,

            Through Christ our Lord.

He spoke the truth so sure,

            He wrote His Word so pure;

He gave sin’s only cure,

            Through Christ our Lord.

He made the blind to see,

            He set the prisoner free;

He ransomed you and me,

            Through Christ our Lord.

He made the lame to walk,

            He made the dumb to talk;

He turns the stones to chalk,

            Through Christ our Lord.

He brings the dead to life,

            He calls the Church His wife;

His peace will end all strife,

            Through Christ our Lord.

Anthony Slutz, 2021

From our Home and Hearts to you and yours, “Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.”

“In the little village of Bethlehem, there lay a child one day; and the sky was bright with a holy light, O’er the place where Jesus lay.  Alleluia! How the angels sang! Alleluia, how it rang! And the sky was bright, with a holy light, ‘Twas the birthday of a King.” (William Harold Neidlinger, 1863-1924)

And, oh, what a birthday that was! History had to be rewritten because of it. Potentates quaked at the news of that birthday. Calendars world-wide give evidence every day to it and documents are dated with reference to what happened before and after that indelible date.

We who know the Word of God know it is no accident that all the world once a year sets aside a day to commemorate the most important birthday of all time. It is an event that impacted time and eternity for it is the birthdate of the King that is Lord of time and of history.

The birthday of the King: we will, in a few days, be remembering His birthday with special gatherings and celebrations.

If one were to ask a dozen “men on the street” why Jesus came into the world, no doubt there would be nearly a dozen different answers offered. But if one were to ask the Lord Jesus Christ Himself why He was born, why He came into the world in the humble fashion with which He made His entry, there would be one answer given and it would echo the answer Jesus gave to Pilate in his Judgement Hall:

 “To this end was I born, and for this cause came I into the world:  that I should bear witness unto the truth.” (John 18:37)

Why was Jesus born? He came into the world to bear witness to the truth:

• He bore witness to the truth regarding SIN. The Devil had lied to mankind regarding the results of sin: “…ye shall be as gods, knowing good and evil.” (Gen.3:5)
• The Devil had lied to mankind regarding the responsibility for sin: “And the serpent said unto the woman, Ye shall not surely die.” (Gen. 3:4)
• The deceiver has been lying to men ever since regarding the results and responsibility for sin.

Jesus minced no words when he confronted the religious leaders of His day: “Ye are of your father, the Devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he speaketh a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar and the father of it.” (John 8:44)

• Jesus testified of the truth regarding the results and responsibility for sin:

“I said therefore unto you that ye shall die in your sins: for if ye believe not that I am He, ye shall die in your sins.” (John 8:24)

“…whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin.” (John 8:34b)

Winston Churchill once said, “Men stumble over the truth from time to time, but most pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened.” He went on to affirm that truth is incontrovertible. Malice may attack it; ignorance may deride it, but in the end, there it is.  Jesus came to bear witness of the truth. Men did deride it and it was viciously attacked, but the witness from heaven came and delivered and there it is.

So, our Lord was born into this world to bear witness to the truth regarding sin, the results of sin and the  responsibility for sin.

“The whole world was lost in the darkness of sin; the light of the world is Jesus.”

But our Savior also testified to the truth regarding SALVATION. Consider His truthful testimony to:

• Nicodemus: “…except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)
• The woman at the well: “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst: but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” (John 4:14)
• To His Disciples: “I am the way, the truth and the life; no man cometh to the Father but by me.” (John 14:6)
• To Martha: “And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believeth thou this?” (John 11:26)
• To unbelieving Jews: “Verily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me hath everlasting life.” (John 6:47)
• To the Jews again: “Verily, verily I say unto you, if a man keep my saying, he shall never see death.” (John 8:51)
• Again, to His Disciples: “I am the door; by me if any man enter in he shall be saved, and shall go in and out and find pasture.” (John 10:9)
• To the blind man that He had healed “…for judgment I am come into this world, that they which see not might see….” (John 9:39)
• To a tax collector that had faith in Jesus: “…this day salvation is come to this house forasmuch as he also is the son of Abraham…for the Son of Man is come to seek and to save that which was lost.” (Luke 19:9,10)
• And, to a woman known to be a sinner who anointed Jesus’ feet: “…thy sins are forgiven…thy faith hath saved thee; go in peace.” (Luke 7:48,50)

So, on the upcoming birthday of the King, we have so much to celebrate, not the least of which is why He came to this earth, became a servant, was made like as we, His created beings, remaining sinless while becoming sin so that we who are sinners could become ultimately like Him, sinless. He came, as He would tell the Roman interrogator, to testify to the world of the awful results of sin and the truth about the responsibility for it. Satan has deceived mankind since he lied to Adam and Eve about what sin would result in; Jesus came to set the record straight about it, but not only about sin but about salvation. The old Devil-Liar had from the beginning lied about salvation, how to receive it and what would happen to those who did. The proto-type of salvation, true and false, can be seen in Genesis 4 where Cain believed the Devil’s lie about how to be saved while his brother rejected Satan’s falsehood about this crucial matter. History since has been the working out of the histories of men and women, those who believe Satan or those who reject his deceit. None will stand before the final judgment bar of God with any excuse for going to Hell: Jesus came, in person, giving His life in so doing, to set the record straight. He told the truth. There it is.

 “Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved.”  (Acts 4:12)

We are not through the Covid 19 pandemic that the world became acquainted with in March of 2020, a world-wide threat to life on earth that keeps morphing into variant virus strains to this hour.  We have experienced unwanted quarantines, agonizing separation of loved ones some of whom we had to bid farewell to through a glass window as their life ebb away. Those of us who are living through this now will never forget it. Those who are believers would affirm that God has given us a “graduate school” course on TRUST. We are not the first nor will we be the final generation to have been enrolled in the “crash” course. Solomon learned and taught to “trust in the Lord with all thy heart; lean not unto thine own understanding; in all thy ways acknowledge Him and He shall direct thy paths.” (Provs. 3:5,6)

In an issue of Our Daily Bread the late Henry G. Bosch related a story about an elderly woman in England who endured nerve-shattering bombings during World War II with extraordinary calm and apparent peace. When a friend asked her how she could experience the war-time calamities with such composure, the senior saint replied, “Well, every night I say my prayers. And then I remember that God is always watching, so I go peacefully to sleep. After all, there is no need for both of us to stay awake!”

That is the kind of trust the Psalmist had in mind when he wrote “Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust.” (Ps.40:4) He confessed in another psalm “O my God, I trust in Thee….” (Ps.25:2) And, he would exhort us in Ps. 37:3 to “Trust in the Lord and do good….”

Sometimes, through forced shut-downs like we have experienced nationally and individually these past eighteen months, unexpected good can come. In 1832 the French engineer Ferdinand Marie de Lesseps was traveling on the Mediterranean Sea when some fellow passenger become sick with a contagious disease, prompting the ship’s captain to issue a quarantine order. It was of course a frustrating time for the engineer and all fellow passengers. Lesseps decided to spend the long hours of isolation in studying further the proposed development of the Suez Canal, something he had been contemplating but had not had the time to give his full attention to. So, he read the memoirs of another well known engineer who had also studied the feasibility of constructing such a water-way. Lesseps developed, during the quarantine, a detailed plan for construction of the canal which was in time begun and then completed 37 years later in 1869, an invaluable gift to the world of then and now!

Matthew Henry reminded his readers that the better we know God, the more we trust Him. Whoever knows that God is a God of infinite wisdom will trust Him further than they can see Him, Henry affirms.
“Although thou sayest thou shalt not see Him, yet judgment is before Him; therefore, trust thou in Him.” (Job.35:14) Job was able to testify that, although he could not see the purposes of God’s work at hand in his suffering “Though He slay me, yet will I trust Him….” (Job 13:15)

This was underscored in my thinking in a real time incident that Ellen and I observed some 15 years ago while visiting the Calvary Baptist Church in San Francisco, then pastored by our good friend, Pastor Ron Allen. Ron’s son-in-law, Bill Johnson, at that time had a cancer in his body that was life-threatening. Bill was taking chemo at the time and on the particular Sunday morning that we were present in the service Bill testified, “How can I do anything but trust God in all of this? I’ve been telling my students for 20 years to trust God. I’d be a hypocrite now to do anything less.” That was in February of 2006 and the disease ran its course in spite of the best medical treatments and Bill died trusting God. Ron and Barb would soon thereafter move to Georgia to be involved in helping their daughter and their grandchildren cope with the big gap left in their lives by Bill’s homegoing.  They all have continued to serve the God whom they had learned to trust. Augustine centuries before had uttered wise words when he said, “Trust the past to the mercies of God, the present to His love and the future to His providence.”

Back in June of 2002 my heart was sorely saddened when I read that a beautiful teenaged girl, Melissa, had been killed in an automobile tragedy at the age of 17. Melissa’s friend Lindsay had died 9 months earlier. Another of her friends, Jon, had been buried in a gravesite within 50 yards of Lindsay and Melissa. Melissa’s father, writing in a daily devotional book, wrote “How could God allow these three Christian teens to die within 16 months of each other? And how can we still trust Him? Unable to comprehend such tragedies, we cling to Psalm 139:16: “In Your book they were all written, the days fashioned for me.” Once again, we are reminded that even when we cannot trace Him, we can, yea, we must trust Him. He makes no mistakes.

A story is told of a young pilot who was on her third and almost final solo flight. She had been practicing some maneuvers at 1500 feet when she lost control of her Cessna 150 and began spinning speedily toward the earth. After an initial panic, the pilot remembered her instructor’s words, “If you ever go into a spin in a Cessna 150, just take your hands off the controls. It is built to fly on its own.”

Susan shouted to herself several times, “Let go!” Finally, she pulled her hands off the controls and prepared in any way she could for what she thought would be an imminent crash landing. But seconds later, the plane began to cease spinning and in seconds returned to a level flight pattern. Having fallen a half-mile in descending altitude, the youthful pilot survived because she was able simply to “let go.”

I surmise that most everyone reading this lesson can recall a time when you to had to simply “Let go and let God.” John MacArthur said in a message that we can know how to trust God in the present by watching Him in the past. “God has already established a pattern of faithfulness.” He is and always has been a faithful God. Even “if we believe not, yet He abideth faithful: He cannot deny Himself.” (2 Tim.2:13)

“Trusting as the moments fly, trusting as the days go by; trusting Him whate’er befall, trusting Jesus, that is all.” (Edgar Page Stites, 1836-1921)

If you are like me, you do not have to look for ways to provoke others; but rather I need to look for ways to NOT provoke: my wife, my children, my best friend(s), my work associates, my neighbors, fellow members of the Body of Christ and, to be sure, my Lord. What I am suggesting is that, as long as we are in the body, we will probably struggle against the “flesh”-our old nature, which naturally and without effort is in the provoking business. Only as we are “walking in the Spirit,” and bearing the fruit of the Spirit—love, joy, peace, long-suffering, etc. (Gal.5:16-23) will we not be provoking someone.

But, when the writer of the book of Hebrews admonishes us in Hebs.10:24 to “provoke one another to love,” he is, of course, using the word “provoke” in the sense of stimulating, encouraging others to do good for Christ’s sake in so much that His body is edified.

In the New Testament there are multiple ways of provoking one another to love: (1) Bear ye one another’s burdens,” (Gal.6:12); “Edify one another,” (I Th.5:11); “Esteem one another in lowliness of mind….” (Phil.2:3) Then, “forbearing one another,” (Col.3:13); and “Be ye kind one to another,” (Eph.4:22; “Prefer one another,” (Rom.12:10 ) and “Receive one another,” (Rom.15:7) and “By love serve one another,” (Gal.5:13); and “Be subject one to another,” (I Pt.5:5); and “Tarry one for another,” (I Cor. 11:33), not to mention “Use hospitality one to another,” (I Pt. 4:9) and “Comfort one another,” (I Th. 4:16).

In Hebrews 10:24 we are commanded to “Provoke one another to love and to good works.” Paul posits in his excellent I Cor.13 treatise on genuine love that love is the coronation of all Christian virtues, greater even than faith and hope.

You can’t be a believer without God’s love in your heart, but you can be a Christian without a full and free flowing of love in and through your heart and life.

Sometimes water ekes barely out of a bathroom faucet until, removing the seal and examining the filter inside, we discover that the screen or filter has become filled up with almost sand-like particles. We rid the filter of those minute particles and tighten up the seal again and water flows freely. So, with us!  Sometimes particles of sin or self clog up the filter of our heart and restrain the full and free flowing of love. It’s imperative that we keep the love flowing freely; nothing is more important in your Christian life.

We provoke others to love and good works by what we think.  Love is as much attitude as it is action. Paul declares that “love suffers long, is kind, envieth not, thinketh no evil,” etc. The way you love is governed by the way you think. Esther, wife of the Persian King, Ahasuerus, garnered an incredulous amount of love focused on her meeting with the King when she would plead for her life and her kindred Jewish people which faced extermination were Haman to have his way.  She fasted and prayed and implored her national yoke fellows to do the same preceding her bold appearance before the autocratic king. The mental, emotional, and spiritual energy focused on that meeting would have been incalculable. It was her love for God, for the people of God and, yes, for her husband-king that was in play through the whole of this prayer-bathed incident. Love won the day. Esther and her people lived; Haman was hanged.

So, we too can provoke to love and good works just by having the right (loving, prayerful, gracious) attitude as was Esther’s.

We can also let love “win the day” by what we say. Words are more powerful than swords or spears. “Thank you,” “I’m sorry,” “You go first, please,” and “What do you think?” are heart-rending utterances that are mountain moving, as also is “I’d like your advice,” or “How can I help you?” or “Please forgive me,” and surely “I love you.”

A word fitly spoken, the wise Solomon penned, is like “apples of gold in pictures of silver.” (Prov. 25:11) It is instructive to study our Savior as He stood before the puppet Pilate who interrogated Christ on His way to the Cross. To the governor’s question “Art thou the king of the Jews?” Jesus simply said, “My kingdom is not of this world.” Can’t you imagine the fire-breathing answer that many of us who name His name would have hurled back at this Roman figure-head? Love won the moment and Pilate would say to the blood-thirsty mob, “I find no fault with him.”

Finally, we may provoke to love and to good works not only by what we think, and by what we say but also by what we do. We have at our disposal the earth-moving mechanisms of GIVING, BEARING, SERVING, FORGIVING, WAITING and SHARING. It is all done in the context of “Provoking one another to love….” Jacob, who had not endeared himself to his twin brother, Esau, twenty years before their tense reunion as recorded in Genesis 28, availed himself of this powerful provoking resource. Before ever meeting Esau face to face, Jacob sent gift after gift after gift; expensive, valuable gifts of livestock. The recounting of the story reads that as he prepared to meet his estranged brother, Jacob “took of that which came to his hand a present for Esau his brother.” (Gen.32:13)

Might we learn a lesson from the patriarch who had wrestled a night with God? Sometimes we can provoke to love and to good works with nothing more than a gift of that which “comes to our hand.” It worked without a doubt good works on the part of Esau who embraced the brother he had once vowed to kill. What might it do for us today?

Might we all be challenged to do what the inspired writer urged his first-century readers to do: “Let us consider one another to provoke (in a positive, Spirit-filled sense) unto love and good works.” (Hebs.10:24) It’s as simple as thinking the right thoughts, saying the right words and doing the right things.

“And Jesus said, Let her alone: why trouble ye her? She hath wrought a good work on me.” (Mark 14:6)

(To be continued.)

In part 1 of this study on marriage, it was set forth that marriage, ordained by God, was established for the REASONS of consummation and communication. Everything God created in six days was said by the Creator Himself to be good; but “…the Lord God said, ‘It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.’” (Gen.2:18) And God put Adam to sleep and from a rib of our first father God made a woman and brought her unto the man, and Adam said “Wow!” Well, that’s my interpretation of Gen.2:23 which says that when God brought the woman to the man Adam said, “This is now bone of my bone and flesh of my flesh: she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of Man.”

So, there are specific reasons for marriage as revealed in Genesis 1 and 2. In this installment I want to convey what I would call the “R0LES” of each person in marriage and the “RULES” for a happy marriage.

What are the roles? Without being too wordy, let me just say the God appointed role for the man is that of a Husband, a provider and protector, leading the home as its spiritual leader and assuring the family by God’s grace and His divine enablement that he will be the physical, material and, under God, spiritual headship of the home. The role of the wife is to be the guider and the giver, assuring that the atmosphere of the household is one of loving and orderly peace and also providing through her God-given grace an atmosphere of love, joy and peace. (I Tim.5:14; Titus 2) As you no doubt have heard it said, “Marriage is not a 50/50 proposition but a 100/100 arrangement between a man and a woman, husband and wife, who are “heirs together of the grace of life.” (I Pet.3:7)

Lady Astor, it was once reported, quite frankly said to Winston Churchill, “Sir, if you were my husband, I would poison your coffee.” Churchill responded, “Mam, if you were my wife, I’d drink it!” Not the way one would want to think of any marriage!

Dr. Monroe Parker’s first wife died in an automobile collision and his second wife died due to physical problems. Many of us watched as he was functioning solo having buried two of the most precious women as he would say, “east of the Mississippi.” Life became a struggle for the great evangelist, educator, missions’ statesman; and then, his dear friend, Dr. Bob Jones, Jr., introduced to Dr. Parker a beautiful widow named Ruby. They were married and lived and loved each other devotedly until the preacher was first called home to heaven and later his beloved Ruby to her heavenly home.  While contemplating marriage, Dr. Parker once made a list of “Qualifications for My Wife.” Here is what he wrote in nine points: “1. Born again. 2. Have the same philosophy of life. 3. Have the same ideals/goals. 4. Have affinity or that mystic which is sometimes mistaken as love. 5. Must have a good sense of humor. 6. Must have loyalty. 7. Must have common sense. 8. Must be committed to Christ and 9. Must be committed to me.”

So, having set forth the reasons and the roles in marriage, here are some RULES for a God-ordained marriage:

• Never marry for anything other than love (exist to live with her, don’t live with her to exist)
• Do not expect to live on “romantic” love but do not try to live without it
• Do not take marriage lightly (it is not “incidental,” it is “monumental!)”
• Do not marry someone that does not exist (some ideal image you have created in your mind; say “I love you for who you are.” (Not for what she could be)
• Do not expect more from your mate than you allow him to expect from you
• When you are ready to marry, wait for God to bring to you the one He has for you
• When you marry, decide that it will be for good!
• Do not practice, consciously or unconsciously, “role-reversing” in marriage and expect to find happiness
• Do not expect to have a happy marriage if your marriage consists of two people; there must be a third party, Jesus Christ
• Do not expect that marriage will destroy individual dignity

And remember, “Marriage is like a violin, when the music stops, the strings are still attached.” (unknown)

John Aker, a pastor, author, friend of mine, outlined seven stages of marriage: Delight, Disappointment, Detachment/Disaffection (feelings not all that they once were as separate interests and paths merge), Disillusionment (marriage more like a mirage, great from a distance but up close, what happened?), Despair (there has to be more! That’s it? Where’s the door?), Divorce (if this route is taken, the marriage is dead) OR, DETERMINATION, By God and His Grace!

Selah. Ponder these Biblical and practical truths about marriage. Outside of your relationship with God, your marriage is the most crucial aspect of your life before God under heaven. Don’t short change it!

Be inspired anew by those beautiful words from the heart of a woman in love, Elizabeth Barrett Browning:

“How do I love thee? Let me count the ways. I love thee to the depth and breadth and height my soul can reach, when feeling out of sight for the ends of being and ideal grace. I love thee to the level of every day’s most quiet need, by sun and candlelight. I love thee freely, as men might strive for right. I love thee purely, as they turn from praise. I love with the passion put to use in my old griefs, and with my childhood’s faith. I love thee with a love I seemed to lose with my lost saints. I love thee with the breath, smiles, tears of all my life! And, if God choose, I shall but love thee better after death.” (Sonnet 43 written by Ms. Browning when she was being courted by Robert Browning) The kind of love lasting marriages are made of.

“Likewise, ye wives, be in subjection to your own husbands….” (I Pet. 3:1) “Likewise ye husbands, dwell with them according to knowledge…and as being heirs together of the grace of life….” (I Pet.3:7)