Sovereign, Strangely Enough copyright Doug Blair, Waterloo, ON, 2017
God has everything in control, and yet we look around at all the mess in the world and in the Church and we wonder. Each believer has made a quality decision to trust in the finished work of Jesus and His God-pleasing righteousness. There has been rejoicing over a rescue from guilt, grief and the grave. But the question is asked: Have you a Saviour...and a Lord? Can one place all of his trust in the lordship, direction and keeping care of the Man of Galilee? Is there an all-certain assurance of coming through in victory? We hear those words “righteousness, peace and joy in the Holy Ghost” but tomorrow's headlines paint a pessimistic picture. Our attitude is not where it is supposed to be. Where are the guarantees, and what can be done about today's less than enlightened attitude?
His Strange Yes
What does it look like? God’s “Yes” When your fears hurl Up those knee-jerk petitions.
And reproach Takes on some novel editions. When the wicked Frustrate blessing well-earned And your good ill-taken Your witness spurned. It looks like He is busy elsewhere Your family’s needs Beyond His care. But take a moment Try to see The others searching you Curiously. They will not speak Too proud to ever Let their troubles leak. But you have this grit And hurl up thanksgiving In spite of it. At end of themselves They know you have The reach to go beyond That slough of despond And see the feast Yes even for the least Or great ones Tired of the pace Who whisper they would Gladly take your place. God’s answers shine And go beyond This place and time. He never leaves your side He puts the “starch” of Christ inside And makes you see These tests as small Christ’s fellowship worth it all. His blood was spent And you have precious inkling What it meant.
All the Best
We are told There is no bad news Just unfolding Of God's will Though the packages Are daunting He's the Keeper Keeping still. And He lets The darkness threaten Til we moan Without a plan So that we might Well abandon All the strategies Of man. That's the time When Christ's power Masters That's the time When demons flee What a trade-off My sad failures All made right at Calvary. And He works The work so gently And He hauls our Common yoke Just a please And then a thank you That a small child Might invoke.
Matthew 11: 27-30
Clearing (Hebrews 12:11)
I stand here In this place of former sorrows Where rain had drenched the trees And stung my eyes But now the sky is blue
And clouds have passed on And brilliant golden glory Meets my surprise The ground is sure My Lord through all Upheld my safety And loving ones He nurtured just the same The Shepherd knows The path, the perils And the purpose And I His treasured charge Must praise His Name. Oh how I moaned When drizzle soaked my spirit Expectant singing droplets Left unheard But in the flowers' fresh fragrance Now I hear it And thank Him As a free high-flying bird.
Let’s Understand This…
The Lord was having dinner His departure close at hand And the format echoed Moses’ Tortured trek to Promised Land And the blood that worked Passover Now was in a cup Christ raised His a Life of selfless giving Coming ages thanked and praised. And a promise now so strangely To dear friends who scarcely knew That the Spirit’s help was coming More than meet to see life through. His a power of conviction Touching both the good and grim Citing sin and righteous victory Filling judgment to the brim. Yes to judge the Prince of Darkness Who has held sway o’er this place Jesus came and Jesus conquered Though it seemed all sad disgrace. Wicked men would raise Him cross-wise And would jeer at all He said But an empty tomb endorsed Life And brought ceaseless joy instead. Can you hear this? “Prince of Darkness.” And you thought this World was kind But it blinks at so much suffering That Love’s Gospel brings to mind. John 16: 8-11 Settling
10 But the God of all grace, who hath called us unto his eternal glory by Christ
Jesus, after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you. (1 Peter 5: 10)
I get the first two points. Our faith puts us on solid footing, a trustworthy rock of revelation. We are stablished in God’s constancy and sovereign will. (Psalm 40)
Then all the means of grace strengthen us in our faith childhood and adolescence (Bible study, prayer, meditation, worship, exchange with fellow believers, chastening trials and temptations, suffering, giving of our means and service, the Lord’s Supper).
But this third one , being settled? Think of a stormy lake surface being made calm. Gone are the doubts, fears and cross-purposes. A condition of rest prevails. Assignments are accomplished with greater efficiency.
Onlookers are attracted by this strange resource of calm and confidence. The work of the Kingdom goes on with surprising efficiency. This was always something about Jesus’ earth walk that amazed and attracted me; His obvious calm, moderation and control, every day, every waking hour. Is this achievable? Not in my own power or resolve. But then, that is not the entire story for the child of God.
And that calm, settled lake surface reflects the Son.
Jesus I Want You, And Nothing Else
Seven beautiful words. Seven life-straightening words. Setting again the North Star.
Putting us in the sure place of His Sovereignty. Do not short-circuit salvation by aiming only for the seeming benefits to the flesh: a removal of guilt material well-being a cleaning up of life a physical or emotional healing a restoration of relationships a currying of favour or forgiveness an end to abusive habits wisdom for difficult encounters
It must be Jesus for himself alone. And he becomes the gyroscope settling the ship in any kind of weather. It is not to have this or that. It is to have Him. Thereafter one is never alone; never without indomitable guidance seeing through each storm; assuring arrival at safe harbour (Psalm 107).
Lamination
Different kinds of wood Small blocks only Fractional inches thick Some light, some dark Some harder than others Glued together Under clamp pressure And a glued base plate Time passes‌
Cometh the lathe And the clamping The spinning The varieties of chisel Cutting rough And cutting fine Making noise Or hardly heard First the outside contours For general appearance But eventually face on For the inner, working Part of the vessel Craftsman knows His job Wood submits Spinning And dis-oriented But strangely all working Together for good A beautiful piece created Every step necessary In the delightful Age-old process Of shaping a saint. Every cut with love. And Sovereign vision.
Five Chapters of Grief Vividly Felt (Lamentations)
Mine eyes run down with waters I see the judgment come And not a one in Zion’s walls Repents to save our home. The women leave the homesteads The children roam in sin And not a priest will call it foul The heresy we’re in. The young men waste their vigour The judges issue floss. So You have launched your arrows And You have brought us loss. And bread has caught our bellies The search transcending all Neglecting writ of righteousness And plunging fast, we fall. It starts with my own person Left weak and in the pit And feeling, right or wrong, your ire And terrified by it. Our prayers don’t leave the temple Not solemn now or real And strangely, you still harbour hope Though all this muck you feel. Lord please hear my petition Let Sovereignty dash our foe And not just archers from without
The barbs within must go. Then maidens pure will sing and dance And young men pledge their heart And children rest in safety’s arms Your people set apart.
Lamentations 3: 42-50 Hebrews 2: 3, 4
Note: The Greek word for church “ecclesia” means a people set apart unto God.
As God, and Aaron Thy Prophet
Egypt, Pharaoh. A system of slyness, leverage and idolatry. Enslaving those weaker. Foolishly worshiping false gods in serpents, River, frogs, lice, flies, cattle and sun.
And God said to Moses, “You go down there and submit yourself to that mess, and understand the sufferings and despondency of your people. I shall make you as God unto Pharaoh and Aaron as your prophet. You will speak Words of authority and promise as I have directed you, and Aaron shall execute these Words with the supernatural power of your rod.”
Does this sound familiar? Anything like Jesus the Living Word of God and the Holy Spirit, the accompanying and following Comforter/Executor? Yes there are very strong Bible types here. And one by one those Egyptian gods were humbled and mocked by the sovereignty of the Great I AM. He told Moses to separate the children of Abraham in Goshen (“mound of earth”); and then He would make a division between Egyptian and Hebrew. Tormenting plagues of flies would come and would interrupt everything. In the Bible flies often represent corruption, irritation and the slings and arrows of this mortal mess. And God’s people would be spared as if by miracle.
Think about these things. Think about the wonderful, well-rounded, harmonious balance of the entire Bible, Old and New. And that ever-appearing Bible theme “in wrath, remember mercy”. (Habakkuk 3: 2c)
Ten plagues (God’s power)…Ten Commandments (God’s ethic)
PSSSST, We Win!
1 Corinthians 4:
9For I think that God hath set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed to death: for we are made a spectacle unto the world, and to angels, and to men. 10We are fools for Christ's sake, but ye are wise in Christ; we are weak, but ye are strong; ye are honourable, but we are despised. 11Even unto this present hour we both hunger, and thirst, and are naked, and are buffeted, and have no certain dwellingplace; 12And labour, working with our own hands: being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: 13Being defamed, we intreat: we are made as the filth of the world, and are the offscouring of all things unto this day. People in the Church read these verses and almost despair. They bemoan the disappearance of prayer from public gatherings, the roadblock to the Gideon mission of Bible distribution to the public schools, the scarcity of Bethlehem images on the decorated windows. They suggest that if we do not speak out against such discrimination against the faith, perhaps in a generation or two Christ will be a stranger to Canada. The inference is that if "We" do not act or witness in holy zeal, God's plan will be compromised. Just STOP IT! He has limitless agents, words planted, refrains overheard, shining incidents of love shared and sacrifice offered. Peter even says in his first letter that godly women may win over the commitment of their errant husbands, "without the word" by their testimony of meek, reverent, gracious living. The sovereign plan of a sovereign God is on track. The life-begetting influence of the Word is still in circulation. The convicting power of the Holy Spirit is still softening. Now I am not saying that the Church is to stand by in idleness. Only this morning again in service I was reminded of "How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the Gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things." (Romans 10:14,15)
I am just exhorting all to refrain from fretting over the state of things. If you are overwhelmed by surrounding callousness, unbelief, profanity, cynicsm or haughtiness you need only read again the message of Psalm 37 and FRET NOT. I remember our children reading in home school a novel entitled "Martyrs of the Catacombs". Author unknown. Apparently it was found in a sea chest on a commercial vessel at port. Ancient Roman times. Authorities exasperated by the new influence of Christ followers, and rooting them out for public humiliation and death. The protagonist, a soldier of middle rank, has been given the assignment to discover these hidden ones and their strange ethic, and to gather them for public sport in the arena. What he finds is simply that which was predicted by Jesus, that the love of the brethren for each other would convict the world that God the Father had sent the Son (John 17: 22, 23). The fellowship of the believers, their courageous martyrdom, the mutual respect in their gatherings, their harmlessness, the calm of their leaders. All such influences work upon the soldier, changing him from antagonist to brother in the faith, ultimately at the cost of his own life. The Gospel of love and of peace is unstoppable.
What Of It?
The Church bulletin board read “If Jesus Is God...What Of It?”
It upset me, and had been posted for several weeks. Doubtless the pastor wanted to bring Grace down to home and in a somewhat logical package that might be understood by parishioners. The illustrations and common sense life applications would issue: “Did you ever feel like...”
But...and there is a very big but here. God is Who He is whether we understand it or not. Listen to such words as Uncreated, First of All, Omnipotent, All Sufficient, Triune, Omniscient, Omnipresent, Everlasting. How dare we imagine that our finite thinking processes can get around all of this. Did He not say “For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts higher than your thoughts” (Isaiah 55: 9). Also “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it? I the Lord search the heart, I try the reins, even to give every man according to his ways, and according to the fruit of his doings” (Jeremiah 17: 9, 10)
But then take hope in this promise: “A new heart also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you: and I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you an heart of flesh. And I will put my spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments, and do them.” (Ezekiel 36: 26, 27)
With the gifting of the Spirit and obedience under trial, we come to know some things about the mind of God/of Christ. Not however by way of lecture material. (Philippians 3: 10-12)
Key of Thanksgiving
Just give thanks For every small disclosure Seeing God is no Small chore these days Think that Right and Peace And Everlasting Looks on you with Never changing Grace
Gives you help While you are digging Elsewhere Lifts your chin When you refuse to smile Brings His best And that quite past Imagining Just to have you Sit with Dad a while. So just come And tell Him How you love Him Other words will soon Come pouring From within See with eyes that Claim a Kingdom glorious There to serve Completely without sin.