So, I am sitting at my desk eating my lunch which normally consists of "Maruchan Beef Flavor Ramen" , Lance Cheese on Wheat Crakers (thanks to my oldest sister for getting me hooked on these when I was three), and either water or lemonade. As I was waiting on my ramen to cool and thanking God that this was the last of the beef ramen packets I have and that tomorrow I will start some chicken flavored ramen (you know, keep it changing), I looked at my open Bible on my desk. Earlier today I was preparing a Bible study I teach on Wednesday mornings and then I went to visit some of our shut ins with a couple of our elderly ladies and our interim pastor. The passage we have been working through on Wednesdays has been Psalm 103 and looking at the idea of being "preoccupied" with God. My glance at my Bible while cooling the ramen noodles was unintentional. I wasn't expecting God to show me anything, I was just waiting to take a bite of scalding hot noodle soup. But, I saw it:
"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!" Psalm 105.1 (ESV). Simply put and repeated throughout the Psalter. A reminder that we are to give thanks to God and make Him known. Now, I'm not going to take the route that some may expect here given the context of me eating lunch when I noticed this verse. I am not going to call anyone to the task of remembering to thank God for food just before they eat. I'm not even suggesting that this is what I did. How boring of a blog post would that be? How disappointed would you be to read my build up and then me state, "So, I said my blessing and ate." The End? No, this verse appeals to so much more than that.
Let us first start with the simple and most obvious: we (being those who have tasted the goodness of knowing God and have trusted in Him for salvation) are to live our lives forever grateful for the grace which God has bestowed upon us. We are to see every facet of our lives as a blessing from God for which we are to give thanks; our jobs, our homes, our parents, our children, our spouses, our vehicles, the breath we take, the food we eat, etc. all fall into the category of "provided to us by God" whether we choose to see that or not. But let us not do God an injustice to His provision by stopping there. We must also categorize our struggles, our hardships, our pains, our misunderstandings, and our disappointments as God's provision. This is not to be a discourse into the "storms of life" but is to be a simple reminder that there is always something that God is trying to teach us or show us in EVERY situation, whether that situation is difficult or easy. Did not Job say "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" The Psalmist here reminds us that we are to live our lives in giving thanks to God.
The second thing we see is a call to action. This is the part we all struggle with. We know we do and when we see someone who doesn't seem to struggle with it we marvel at their spiritual brilliance as if they are some sort of "super saint". Maybe they are, because they realize the value of what God has done more than we do and act upon it. This call to action is the call to "make known his deeds among the peoples." We see two levels here: first, not taking credit for what God has done and, second, evangelizing. The first is easier than the last. We use it in our church language: "You know, I was sick and the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong, but God healed me" or "I was down to my last dollar and I had bills that I couldn't pay, but God is faithful and provided me every penny I needed to pay." Praise God for both of those opportunities, but what about the spiritual healing He has offered or the sin debt that He paid? I see the Psalmist talking about things that are deeper here than just a physical condition being changed.
See, the "super saints" know the value of salvation and that what they have done is told others about it. We marvel at their eloquent ability to share their faith without fear and say things like "I don't want to say thing wrong thing" or "I just can't talk to people like that" or any other excuse we make. We marvel at the pastor/preacher who has "been trained" to share his faith so we bring people to him for answers like he is the village medicine man or soothsayer that will remedy our spiritual ailments. When we do this we sidestep the clear call to action that David puts in front of us. Further, we rebel against the command of Christ (upon whose name we call for salvation) to go and teach all nations the Gospel. Let me be clear, we will not reach the nations with the Gospel if we are not doing it at home.
So, I will start here. I have not posted a blog in two months. I will tell you of the things God has done. I will make known His mighty deeds. I am a church brat that has never lived outside of the fellowship of believers. I have seen the good things in church and I have seen the bad things. I have failed to recognize the grace that has been freely offered to me, but God has always been faithful. When I was 14 I received Christ as my savior and I have tried to follow Him. I am a preacher of the Gospel of Christ. I know that God has called me to preach and that He wants to use me in some way, whether it is in a pulpit, on a street corner, through a blog, in your living room. God has a purpose for His Gospel to be taught. He has blessed me beyond measure. Not a day goes by that God does not pour out His grace on me and my wife, Christi.
Yesterday, He showed us a new way He has cared for us. What has God done? He has protected my son. Yesterday morning Christi woke up with substantial bleeding. She is three days short of being 24 weeks into our first pregnancy. This shot a spike of fear and worry into our lives. There are few things that rattle someone the way knowing your child could be in danger. Just last week I was excited because I felt Brayden kick for the first time. It was a proud moment for me as a dad. Now, I am standing in my bedroom staring at the blood in panic that something might be wrong. We had several men and women praying for us and for our son, our only son, the one whom we love. If that sounds familiar, it is the way Isaac is identified by God to Abraham in Genesis 22 and the way God identifies His own Son, Jesus Christ. Christi and I were immediately placed in a position where we had to trust that God would protect us and would protect Brayden. There was nothing we could do, but pray and go to the doctor. Some would call us paranoid or nervous first time parents, but for us it was a paralyzing position of fear.
The ultrasound showed Brayden moving and kicking just like he is supposed to. We could see his heart beating. The doctor finished examining Christi and assured us that Brayden was fine. God did protect us and He did protect our son. You and I can only do so much to protect our children. God is completely in control and has our best interest in mind. We had to trust Him and we HAVE to make His deeds known among the peoples. But knowing for that brief time that there was danger facing my son gave me a new appreciation for the greatest thing that God did. See, God had to look down from heaven and watch His Son go through beating after beating until He was crucified. Could God have stopped it? Yes, but if He had, we would still have our sins for which payment must be made. Let us not forget the sacrifice made for us, nor let us neglect any longer our responsibility to make this deed known to all the people.
"Oh give thanks to the Lord; call upon his name; make known his deeds among the peoples!" Psalm 105.1 (ESV). Simply put and repeated throughout the Psalter. A reminder that we are to give thanks to God and make Him known. Now, I'm not going to take the route that some may expect here given the context of me eating lunch when I noticed this verse. I am not going to call anyone to the task of remembering to thank God for food just before they eat. I'm not even suggesting that this is what I did. How boring of a blog post would that be? How disappointed would you be to read my build up and then me state, "So, I said my blessing and ate." The End? No, this verse appeals to so much more than that.
Let us first start with the simple and most obvious: we (being those who have tasted the goodness of knowing God and have trusted in Him for salvation) are to live our lives forever grateful for the grace which God has bestowed upon us. We are to see every facet of our lives as a blessing from God for which we are to give thanks; our jobs, our homes, our parents, our children, our spouses, our vehicles, the breath we take, the food we eat, etc. all fall into the category of "provided to us by God" whether we choose to see that or not. But let us not do God an injustice to His provision by stopping there. We must also categorize our struggles, our hardships, our pains, our misunderstandings, and our disappointments as God's provision. This is not to be a discourse into the "storms of life" but is to be a simple reminder that there is always something that God is trying to teach us or show us in EVERY situation, whether that situation is difficult or easy. Did not Job say "Shall we receive good from God, and shall we not receive evil?" The Psalmist here reminds us that we are to live our lives in giving thanks to God.
The second thing we see is a call to action. This is the part we all struggle with. We know we do and when we see someone who doesn't seem to struggle with it we marvel at their spiritual brilliance as if they are some sort of "super saint". Maybe they are, because they realize the value of what God has done more than we do and act upon it. This call to action is the call to "make known his deeds among the peoples." We see two levels here: first, not taking credit for what God has done and, second, evangelizing. The first is easier than the last. We use it in our church language: "You know, I was sick and the doctors tried to figure out what was wrong, but God healed me" or "I was down to my last dollar and I had bills that I couldn't pay, but God is faithful and provided me every penny I needed to pay." Praise God for both of those opportunities, but what about the spiritual healing He has offered or the sin debt that He paid? I see the Psalmist talking about things that are deeper here than just a physical condition being changed.
See, the "super saints" know the value of salvation and that what they have done is told others about it. We marvel at their eloquent ability to share their faith without fear and say things like "I don't want to say thing wrong thing" or "I just can't talk to people like that" or any other excuse we make. We marvel at the pastor/preacher who has "been trained" to share his faith so we bring people to him for answers like he is the village medicine man or soothsayer that will remedy our spiritual ailments. When we do this we sidestep the clear call to action that David puts in front of us. Further, we rebel against the command of Christ (upon whose name we call for salvation) to go and teach all nations the Gospel. Let me be clear, we will not reach the nations with the Gospel if we are not doing it at home.
So, I will start here. I have not posted a blog in two months. I will tell you of the things God has done. I will make known His mighty deeds. I am a church brat that has never lived outside of the fellowship of believers. I have seen the good things in church and I have seen the bad things. I have failed to recognize the grace that has been freely offered to me, but God has always been faithful. When I was 14 I received Christ as my savior and I have tried to follow Him. I am a preacher of the Gospel of Christ. I know that God has called me to preach and that He wants to use me in some way, whether it is in a pulpit, on a street corner, through a blog, in your living room. God has a purpose for His Gospel to be taught. He has blessed me beyond measure. Not a day goes by that God does not pour out His grace on me and my wife, Christi.
Yesterday, He showed us a new way He has cared for us. What has God done? He has protected my son. Yesterday morning Christi woke up with substantial bleeding. She is three days short of being 24 weeks into our first pregnancy. This shot a spike of fear and worry into our lives. There are few things that rattle someone the way knowing your child could be in danger. Just last week I was excited because I felt Brayden kick for the first time. It was a proud moment for me as a dad. Now, I am standing in my bedroom staring at the blood in panic that something might be wrong. We had several men and women praying for us and for our son, our only son, the one whom we love. If that sounds familiar, it is the way Isaac is identified by God to Abraham in Genesis 22 and the way God identifies His own Son, Jesus Christ. Christi and I were immediately placed in a position where we had to trust that God would protect us and would protect Brayden. There was nothing we could do, but pray and go to the doctor. Some would call us paranoid or nervous first time parents, but for us it was a paralyzing position of fear.
The ultrasound showed Brayden moving and kicking just like he is supposed to. We could see his heart beating. The doctor finished examining Christi and assured us that Brayden was fine. God did protect us and He did protect our son. You and I can only do so much to protect our children. God is completely in control and has our best interest in mind. We had to trust Him and we HAVE to make His deeds known among the peoples. But knowing for that brief time that there was danger facing my son gave me a new appreciation for the greatest thing that God did. See, God had to look down from heaven and watch His Son go through beating after beating until He was crucified. Could God have stopped it? Yes, but if He had, we would still have our sins for which payment must be made. Let us not forget the sacrifice made for us, nor let us neglect any longer our responsibility to make this deed known to all the people.
Great encouragement, Evan. Thanks for sharing. Praying for you and your growing family. :)
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