Hope Lives

Do you ever feel down, maybe alone, even depressed? If so, you are not alone. Several Bible characters expressed being low, very low. Numerous great leaders throughout history have experienced such dolefulness. There is a tonic for this condition. It consists of several components. The primary factor is the pledge of the Lord, “My spirit remains with you….” There are times you may not feel that He is, but He is. The writer of Hebrews referred to Jesus as the “forerunner” of believers. The Greek word translated forerunner is “prodromos” (6: 20). In secular use it referred to the pilot of the small ship from the home port sent out to guide an incoming ship to port. The pilot knew the home port, where the deep channels were as well as where the impediments were. Thus, he could guide the incoming vessel safely to the dock.

Jesus knows how to guide us safely to the port’s haven. He knows the safe channels as well as places posing shipwrecks.

A starting point in delivery from the doldrums is to acknowledge His presence regardless of your feelings. It might even help to acknowledge you don’t feel His presence. Remind yourself He said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” Thank Him for His presence regardless of your feelings.

King David admitted his depression several times. In Psalm 42 he acknowledge his efforts at recovery by making an admission: “Why are you cast down?”  He faced the fact and admitted it. He did not pretend to be a spiritual superhero by being pious and pretending he was never down. Admit it. God won’t get mad with you, He will understand and still love you. It is His nature, not your charm, that prompts Him to love you.

This action is a stimulus to hope. Hope isn’t a tenant in a heart that has never been broken. It resides in those that have been broken and then healed. It acts to inspire and renew. Its effect is emotionally healing.

There are only two places where there is no hope, heaven and hell. It is fulfilled in heaven, and impossible in hell. Admit the presence of the lord with you and hope will begin to emerge. Twice David cried out “Hope you in God.” Such open candor is an acknowledgment you trust God.

David declared “God is my rock.” Rocks don’t shift position, they are stable, so is Jesus. In this unstable world stable footing is needed.

In the Judean Desert rocks are often used as landmarks, like roadside signs on modern highways. Let Jesus be your stop sign when the way is hazardous. Let Him be your “Go” directional sign to show the way and time to act. Don’t neglect His “Caution” signs either. 

His directional signs can build your hope and hope overcomes your heavy heartedness. Hello Sonshine. Be gone ennui.

A New Renewed You

A short course in Christian behavior psychology is found in Col. 3: 1 – 15

“If then you were raised with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ is, sitting at the right hand of God. Set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth….

Therefore, put to death your members which are on the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry. Because of these things the wrath of God is coming upon the sons of disobedience, in which you yourselves once walked when you lived in them.

But now you yourselves are to put off all these: anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language out of your mouth. Do not lie to one another, since you have put off the old man with his deeds, and have put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him….”

A reading of the things that should be put to death will leave most people feeling good about their conduct: “fornication, uncleanliness, passion, evil desire, covetousness.”

The second list is more personal: “anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy language.” Then lying is added as the capstone. Oops! 

Most will conceive of the first list as alpha evils, and rightly so. However, notice the second list which most people are inclined to think of as more acceptable is listed as though equal to those in the first list. That puts them in perspective. 

Both lists note the things to be put off. Now comes the positive things to be “…put on the new man who is renewed in knowledge according to the image of Him who created him….”

Then follows the new man’s spiritual wardrobe: “Therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, put on tender mercies, kindness, humility, meekness, longsuffering; bearing with one another, and forgiving one another, if anyone has a complaint against another; even as Christ forgave you, so you also must do.

But above all these things put on love, which is the bond of perfection.

And let the peace of God rule in your hearts, to which also you were called in one body; and be thankful.

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.” (Colossians 3: 11 – 16)

Don’t leave these truths having given them a nominal reading. Instead pause and do two things. First, read them again and evaluate your lifestyle in light of them. Then pause and make a conscientious commitment to the Lord to live according to them. This will result in a spiritual renewal.

Why God, Why?

When something imperfect happens in what we expect to be our perfect world we want to summon God, put Him on the carpet, and demand to know “Why?”

“God, our generation believes in ‘the public’s right to know.’ Now, I want to know why this happened and why you haven’t corrected it?”

What we fail to realize is God isn’t part of this generation. He doesn’t deal on a “right to know” basis, but on a “need to know basis.” Problems arise when we feel we have a need to know and are entitled to know, but God doesn’t think so.

Why do you ask God “Why?”                       

We sometimes ask “Why” in order to vindicate ourselves.  It implies God has done something wrong. He owes us an explanation. When life’s smooth running joy car runs off the road we want to ask, “Why me, God? Why did a bad thing happen to good little ole me?”

It rarely occurs to a person to ask, “Why NOT me?” After all, you know God doesn’t really owe you. What did you do to make God indebted to you?

Isn’t it strange we seldom, if ever ask such a question about good things. Why is it we never admit how undeserving of a good thing, and why it was our good fortune for it to happen to us.

Job suffered and demanded of God an explanation. He extensively questioned God. Thereby, he implied God was inadequate and didn’t have an answer. Inherent in Job’s demand for an answer was the implication God didn’t have love or wisdom.

God didn’t give Job an answer. Instead He asked Job a question: “Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand. Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?” (Job 38: 4, 5).

What is God saying? He is saying, “Job, turn on the Discovery Channel. I have the wisdom, power, and love to do what is right and I always do.”

There are times God does not give us an answer to our questions. He remains silent and watches to see our response, to demonstrate our faith.

To properly relate to God is not to get the right answers to our questions. It is to learn to ask the right questions.

Such questions as: 
“Does God have the right to govern as He wills?”

“Do I believe that all of God’s actions are born out of love and knowledge and are always right?”

Do we respond like Job who when tested said, “Yea, though He slay me yet will I trust Him.

To Drink or Not to Drink

People who drink intoxicants and those who don’t deserve to know what the Bible teaches on the subject. Is there a Bible based case for abstinence?  

Three Bible events used by some to support use of intoxicants are the Lord’s Supper, the wedding in Cana, and the use as a medicine for stomach problems.

The wedding was a religious service and fermentation was not allowed at weddings. If it is thought the guests had already drunk and become drunk would Jesus have violated Scripture and cause them to get even more drunk?

If Jesus turned the water into an intoxicating drug, He violated Scripture which forbids giving strong drink to a person as recorded in Habakkuk 2:15.

He would have violated the biblical mandates against intoxicating wine in Proverbs 20:1  and 23: 29-35. Persons who insist Jesus turned the water into an intoxicating drug in order to justify their  drinking of fermented wine and other alcoholic beverages are in their insistence saying Jesus violated the Bible teaching as noted in these verses and thus forfeited His sinless nature and relinquished His role as the divine Son of God.

At the Last Supper leaven bread was prohibited because of being fermented. Leavening is a process of fermentation. If fermentation was forbidden in the bread the same would be true of wine. 

Some use the Scripture regarding taking a little wine for the stomach’s sake as license to use intoxicants.

There are secular writings by rabbis from the period regarding the use of strong drink. It was to be diluted with water at a ratio of 20 to 1 to purify the water. This was the formula used at the time of the writing of the passage regarding taking a little wine “for the stomach’s sake.” (I Timothy 5:23). It was medicinal. 

The ratio of water to wine varied. Different ancient writers note different formulas ranging from one part wine to twenty parts of water. Others indicate a ratio of 1-5, 1-4, 2-5. At the wedding of Cana Jesus had the water pots filled with water and when the guests drank they referred to it as “wine” the normal word for the mixture of water and wine.

Unfermented wine was available all season. Ancients had several ways of preserving unfermented wine. One way was to reduce the grape juice to the constituency of a thick syrup or even jelly known in Hebrew as debhash and in Arabic dbs. This preserved form could be used over a long period of time. By adding water the concentrate turned the water to unfermented wine.

Sometimes a cake was made of dried grapes which later was added to water to produce unfermented wine.

In the modern era a conscientious layman responsible for preparing the table at his church for the Lord’s Supper became concerned about using fermented wine. Being a pharmacist he utilized only techniques from the time of the Bible to produce unfermented grape juice for use at the Lords Supper. His name was Mr. Welch of Welch’s Grape Juice fame. Welch’s concern grew out of the fact bread with leavening was forbidden to be used at the Passover. Leavening involved using yeast. As the yeast cells die, the decay produces gasses. This fermentation results in the rising of bread. Purity was desired so unleavened bread was required.  Welch reasoned why would fermentation not be allowed in bread while being allowed in wine?

Test by Schick Laboratory gives reason to abstain. It showed when the human body gets dehydrated the healthy cells of the body send a message to the brain registering thirst. With the use of alcohol the cells start sending a message to the brain to keep sending more alcohol and at that point the person is an alcoholic. Some people drink for years before this happens. For others it is with the first drink. Every drink is a gamble.

Dealing With the Difficult

How do you react when things go wrong, times when it just seems you aren’t getting the breaks? Perhaps there is a lesson to be learned from this story involving former President Dwight Eisenhower. He was asked, “Mr. President, you have known every great man of our time. Who was the greatest man you ever met?”

He replied, “It wasn’t a man. It was a woman. It was my mother. She never had much schooling, but she was wise in God’s wisdom. She went to school to the greatest of all books, the Bible. And she acquired real wisdom.” 

He continued, “Once when I was a boy, my brother and I were playing a game of cards with my mother. The game was with cards — not regular playing cards because she was too straight-laced for that — but a hand of cards was dealt and I remember this night mother dealt me an utterly impossible hand. And I began to complain about it.”

She said, “Boys, put your cards down, I want to tell you something, especially you, Dwight. You are playing a game in your home with your mother under loving circumstances. We all love each other here and I have dealt you a bad hand. What are you to do? You are to pray to God. You are to trust God and like a man you are to play out the hand that is dealt you.”

“And,” said Dwight Eisenhower, “that is one of the wisest things I learned in my youth.”

We all get dealt bad hands. Right? Often it seems it is not fair. Fair isn’t the issue, the right response is. Pray about it and play it out using the wisdom and grace you have. Trust the Lord as you do that He will enable you to get the best possible result. The result may not be what you want, but it will be your best, resulting in the best.

There was a time when the Apostle Paul had been dealt a bad hand that put him in a Roman prison. Not a good hand. How is he to play it out? He wrote what is known as the prison epistles, one of which was the book of Philippians.

Even though this letter was written in the midst of hardship, while Paul was a prisoner, it still shouts victory and joy, because the words “joy” and “rejoicing” are used sixteen times in the four short chapters of the book. There is no hint of “poor little old me,” not a sniveling word. He described his response in such a way worthy of our responses. 

“Brethren, I do not count myself to have apprehended; but one thing I do, forgetting those things which are behind and reaching forward to those things which are ahead, I press toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus.  (Philippians 3: 13, 14)

“I press” indicates it was not easy for him, and will not be for us to play out some hands.