Lamentations 3

"Yet this I call to mind and therefore I have hope..." 

{Lamentations 3:21} (NIV) 

There are many things in this life that I don’t want to experience. The book of Lamentations lists many of them. As we read through this little book, we reach a point of despair, a giving up where Jeremiah actually says that everything he hoped for from the LORD was gone. 

The prophet focuses his mind on his affliction and his wandering, the bitterness and the gall, and this action of his mind causes his soul to despair. But then he forces his mind to remember something else. He remembers that the LORD is Love! He remembers that there is hope because His compassions never fail and that they are new every morning. Therefore he tells himself to wait on the LORD. He reminds himself that the LORD is his and he is the LORD’s. He reminds himself that the LORD is good to those whose hope is in Him, to the one who seeks Him. 

Jeremiah then makes a logic leap that only a person who is actually experiencing these things can make. He states that because the LORD is good to those who hope and seek Him, then it is GOOD for a person to wait quietly and to bear the yoke of affliction. It is impossible for those who are not in affliction to follow this logic trail, but Jeremiah’s testimony teaches us that the LORD Himself will lead each of us to the place of hope in the midst of our despair. He will do it for us as He did for Jeremiah; through the renewing of our mind, and our faith and our hope as we think on the goodness and compassion of our LORD!

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Revelation 21:9 thru 22:5

"The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp."

{Revelation 21:23} (NIV) 

When I read this section of God’s Word, I get so blessed that I think to myself that I should read this every day. To actually spend time considering what this means for me blesses me even more! 

God’s purpose in this creation for the sun and the moon is to serve people. They serve the earth and therefore the people who inhabit the earth, by providing light. In the new creation, God does that Himself. 

God’s purpose in this creation for water and for fruit is to nourish us and to keep us alive. In the new creation the river flows constantly - the purest of water - and the tree of life bears fruit continually. 

God’s purpose in this creation for plants is healing. In the new creation the leaves of the tree of life heal us. 

God’s purpose in this creation for the temple is to bring us into His manifest Presence. In the new creation He and the Lamb are our temple; we experience His real Presence. 

God’s purpose in this creation for walls and gates is our protection from evil. In the new creation there is no longer any evil to be protected from. 

God is the same yesterday, today and forever. He will provide for His children in eternity. We believe this don’t we? Then believe that He will provide for YOU (His child) in this life. Oh friend know this: our God, the Lord God Almighty cares for you and is helping you even now! 

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Genesis 21:1-21

"She gave this name to the LORD who spoke to her: “You are the God who sees me,” for she said, “I have now seen the One who sees me.”

{Genesis 16:13} (NIV) 

Hagar is just a slave woman, who was used and then discarded by her mistress. Who cares about a slave woman? You say, “Come on John; every person is important!” To which my response is, “Only to God, only to God.” 

The ugly truth is that there are millions of people alive today in terrible situations, especially women, for whom no one will lift a finger to help.  Yet here in this account of a young Egyptian woman, we see the wonderful truth that her Creator, the God above all Gods, the Creator of heaven and earth, sees her. Not only does He see her in distress, but He comes alongside her and speaks words of encouragement to her. Then just a few years later as she wept for her son Ishmael who was dying of thirst, the LORD heard the boy, came alongside her and helped her find water. 

Many ladies wonder, “Who helps me? Who cares about me? I spend my life helping others, but who helps me?” Lift your eyes to the mountains -  for your help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth. The LORD created women because of His compassion for men, and their need for a helper. But the LORD helps women Himself!

Ladies, never doubt your importance in the eyes of the LORD. Never doubt His great love for you, and His ability and willingness to help you.

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Genesis 2:4-25

"My help comes from the LORD, the Maker of heaven and earth."

{Psalm 121:2} (NIV) 

We are so sinful that we have trouble comprehending how amazing this statement is! We are talking about the Maker of heaven and earth; the Great I AM! Surely He has more important things to do than be bothered with me and my needs. Yet this amazing truth is taught throughout Scripture, and every person who has faith believes it. When His face is turned towards me, when His thoughts are on me, He helps me. 

In Genesis 2 we learn that from the very beginning that God sought to help us. Males need help! This is pretty obvious to the females out there, and yet it is solid biblical truth: men need help! We look to the heavens. We cry and weep. We pray and we look for a miracle and all the time, she is right beside us. That’s right. God sent a woman. 

This Sunday we will be looking at the great declaration of God’s character in Exodus 34:6. Compassionate is the first descriptive word used by the LORD to describe Himself. He comes alongside us to help us; this is who He is. This is the glory of the LORD! We are so sinful, that we miss the hand of God in our lives. We don’t recognize the miracle of marriage. God created women out of compassion for men, and then all over the world over and over again, out of compassion He brings them to each other and tells them to live in love forever. Praise His holy Name!

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Isaiah 66

"However, the Most High does not live in houses made by human hands. As the prophet says..."

{Acts 7:48} (NIV) 

We live our lives in our homes, our schools, our workplaces, on our roads, and playing fields, but when we enter church we hush, we change our language, we imagine that God is here, and therefore we act different. We say words on Sunday that we may never say through the week. We sing songs on Sunday that we may never even think of again, let alone sing during the week. 

Stephen is addressing men who imagined that they were God’s people because they had God in a building. What a building it was! A very impressive building, a great building suitable for a great God! The problem that Stephen is pointing to, and that Isaiah pointed to, is that God doesn’t dwell in buildings. He dwells with those whose hearts are broken before Him. When our hearts are not broken and contrite, when we imagine that we have God in a ‘room’ that we can visit every now and then, and then do certain things that will cause Him to bless us and our families - when we reduce the worship of God to activity that is separate from our ‘real’ life, we make the mistake that the Jews who killed Stephen made. We make a huge mistake! To be so close to God and yet so far! How many millions of people throughout the ages have made the tragic mistake of thinking that God belongs in a special room, and if we just do what the priests tell us, we have peace with God. 

Friend, don’t make the same mistake! Let us humble ourselves before our God right now, this very moment, wherever we are. "These are the ones I look on with favor: those who are humble and contrite in spirit, and who tremble at my word."  (Isa 66:2b)

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2 Samuel 7

“Go and tell my servant David, ‘This is what the LORD says: Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?"

{2 Samuel 7:5} (NIV)

David loved the LORD and desired to honour Him always. As he sat in his palace and thought about the manifest Presence of the Almighty God, resting in a tent, he decided to build a temple. This chapter is so full of beauty! There are expressions of love, there are amazing prophecies, and there are these poignant moments; a reminder of Saul’s rejection, a prophecy of Solomon’s future disobedience, and a promise to treat him differently than Saul and a rejection of David himself as being unworthy to build the temple. (1 Chron 22:6-8) 

The most precious of all is the LORD’s declaration that He will build an everlasting house for David. This prophecy is none other than the prophecy of our Lord Jesus Christ who is the Root and Offspring of David (Rev 22:16), and the Builder of the great temple of the LORD Almighty. A temple not built by human hands, but by the LORD Jesus Himself. A temple not built by bricks made of earth, but built out of living stones, chosen by the Father, placed by the Carpenter and held together by the bond of the Holy Spirit. Somehow David knew that the LORD desired a house, but David only saw this precious building from a distance through a prophetic haze. We however are his house! IF indeed we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope in which we glory. (Heb 3:6)

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Psalm 27

"I remain confident of this: I will see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living."

{Psalm 27:13} (NIV) 

This verse brings us back to right now, right here! We gaze on the beauty of the LORD; our souls are lifted up and we are encouraged through His Spirit’s ministry in our minds as we reflect on His good plans for our future, and then we come back to earth and our specific situation. David links his corporate worship experience with the terrible things that are about to happen to him. He is expecting days of trouble, and to be surrounded by enemies, (David obviously hadn’t heard about only speaking positively about your future), and yet he is CONFIDENT that the LORD will be good to him NOW in this life, not just in the life to come. 

David makes many links in Psalm 27 between corporate worship and the LORD protecting him in this life (vs 1,2,3,5,6,13,14). He is CONFIDENT in the LORD and is convinced that even if his dad and mom won’t have anything to do with him, the LORD will still help him. The confidence he has in the LORD, and in the LORD’s willingness to intervene on his behalf, is startling. This type of CONFIDENCE and HOPE in the living God, makes other people sit up and notice. They will even ask you about it (1 Pe 3:15). 

What is the secret of David's CONFIDENCE and HOPE? He loves to go to church! David is known for his praise and worship songs. He is known for his exuberant, unseemly worship style. He is known as the man who is after the LORD’s own heart. May we imitate his attitude toward church!

"Better is One Day", Matt Redman, via YouTube

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