Praise God that Christmas happened. That holy night was not thwarted by Satan. God's purpose was not stopped.
“But you, Bethlehem Ephrathah,
though you are small among the clans of Judah,
out of you will come for me
one who will be ruler over Israel,
whose origins are from of old,
from ancient times.” (Micah 5:2)
That special night.
That holy night.
Thank you, Lord!
The wee babe of Bethlehem grew up and became what we humans call a grown man. He had left the glories of heaven to come to us; we mocked and jeered, and then we crucified Him. He rose again as He said He would; and He is our Redeemer.
The spotless Lamb of God.
I'll be taking this week off to recharge and rest . . . I'm going to post some carols and songs to help us in this Christmas season. I know some of us are feeling sad and I hope that the Lord will comfort and protect us as we make room for Him in our hearts, and as we tell others of His love.
I will be back next week.
Praise His name!
Addressing and mailing cards.
Selecting and wrapping presents.
Choir practices and children's pageants.
Baking grandma's special recipe cookies.
We're ready for Christmas, right?
Or are we harried? Hurried? Irritated? Sad?
Being ready for Christmas takes some looking inward. It takes some prayer time, and some listening to the Lord. It takes effort to make sure our attitudes are right, and that Christmas can happen in our hearts.
Our last lesson from Joseph is that Joseph gave whatever he had to give.
Joseph was a plain man. He was not wealthy or powerful. He wasn't dressed in rich garments, nor did he have a retinue of servants and a polished, gleaming, massive home in the middle of town.
Joseph didn't know as he walked toward Bethlehem that he would need to take Mary and Jesus into far-away Egypt. He didn't know as he watched and listened to the shepherds that he would be separated soon from his home town and his relatives for quite a while. He didn't know all of the demands that would soon be made on his time and his wallet.
But whatever God asked of him, Joseph said "yes," and freely gave.
That's what Christmas is. When God gave Himself, Christmas happened. When Joseph gave of himself, Christmas happened. There's nothing wrong with giving tangible gifts, but the greatest gift is the gift of love.
I found this story that I couldn't find an author to attribute to, but I offer it here with my gratitude for whoever first told it:
Wally was a 7th grade student who was bigger than any of the other students in his Sunday school class. His mother had been an alcoholic when he was born, & as a result, Wally just did not have all the mental capabilities that the rest of his classmates had. But somehow he managed to get by.
Christmas time came and his class decided to put on a Christmas pageant. Since he was the biggest, Wally was selected to be the innkeeper. After all, the innkeeper is kind of a villain in the Christmas drama. So they coached Wally to be just as mean as he possibly could be.
Well, the night came for the Christmas play. And in it, Mary & Joseph came to Bethlehem, went to the Inn & knocked on its door. Wally opened the door & said, "What do you want?" just as mean & gruff as he could possibly be.
Joseph said, "We need a room. We need a place to stay tonight." "Well, you'll have to stay someplace else," said Wally, "because there's no room here. There's no room in the Inn." Joseph said, "But my wife's expecting a baby just any time now. Isn't there someplace where we can stay, where we are protected from the cold & where she can deliver her child?" "No," said Wally, "There's no room here."
Suddenly there was a silence on the stage. It was one of those embarrassing moments when you know someone has forgotten the lines. From behind the curtains you could hear the prompter saying, "Begone. Begone." Wally was supposed to speak, but for some reason he had choked up & forgotten to say "Begone." Finally, after he had been coached for several long seconds, Wally managed to say, "Begone." Mary & Joseph sadly turned to leave. But just as they did, Wally said, "Wait a minute. Wait a minute. You can have my room."
The director of the play was ready to pull out her hair because she knew that the whole Christmas pageant had been ruined. But had it? Maybe Wally, better than anybody else communicated the real spirit of Christmas. "You can have my room."
When that first Christmas happened, it was God saying, "You can have Me. I give you Myself." That is still the greatest gift of all.
Are we ready for Christmas? I hope we are ready in attitude. I hope we are all ready for the real spirit of Christmas. Jesus stands before us today, inviting us to make a real commitment. He extends His hands, pierced by the cruel nails, and asks us, "Will you give your all to Me? I have given all for you."
What can we give the Creator of the Universe? The one gift He desires most: we can give our lives to Him. We can seek Him and enjoy His peace and love.
We can have the most meaningful and blessed Christmas ever.
Praise the Lord!
Merry Christmas!
Being ready for Christmas means that our hearts will be ready, both to welcome our Savior and to tell others about His love. It means that our attitudes will be right . . .
Joseph teaches us to accept God's will, even when it's really tough to do so. He also teaches us to care about other people.
Joseph's "assignment," if we call it that, was pretty simple. It's revealed in the way we portray him in our Christmas pageants, and in the way he is posed as a character in nativities.
We've all seen them.
There is Mary, her new-mother's face radiant with love in spite of her weariness. Over on the side are the excited shepherds, telling anybody who will listen about their hillside visit from the angels. Right or wrong, most scenes have the wise men in attendance, too, with solemn looks, royal robes, and extravagant, kingly gifts. In the midst of all is the manger of wood or stone, full of fragrant hay - and there, wrapped in clean cloths, is a Baby. A Savior. Our Redeemer. Somewhere in the background or on the side stands Joseph. His is not a starring role, but it's SO VERY important. If he'd received a memo, it would have read, "Take care of Mary and the baby Jesus."
His was the important role of caring for the needs of others.
Christmas comes once a year, and this season probably causes us to be more giving, and more sensitive to the needs of others. Sometimes there is so much that needs to be done that we find ourselves overwhelmed, or even frustrated.
But still we try.
The Old Testament scriptures exhort us:
Whoever is kind to the poor lends to the Lord,
and he will reward them for what they have done. (Proverbs 19:17, NIV)
therefore I am commanding you, saying, ‘You shall fully open your hand to your brother, to your needy and poor in your land.’ (Deuteronomy 15:11b, NASB)
And in the New Testament, too:
Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others. (Philippians 2:4)
Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ. (Galatians 6:2)
So then, as we have opportunity, let us do good to everyone, and especially to those who are of the household of faith. (Galatians 6:10)
Are there people in our family who need our compassion?
Are there people in our community who need help?
Are there any in our church family that need a helping hand, a voice of cheer and caring?
Christmas came because Joseph listened to the angel, and accepted the will of God. And then he showed his caring attitude toward others. He took care of their needs. When we learn to care about others, our hearts will be ready for Christmas!
Am I ready for Christmas? Amidst all the hustle and bustle and business, is my heart ready? Are my attitudes right?
Our focus passage was in the first chapter of Matthew. Be sure to re-read the verses each day as we study, ok? Thanks!
We are focused on Joseph in these verses (18-25).
The first attitude that Joseph teaches us is that he was willing to accept God's will, whatever it might be. Joseph was open, ready, and willing to accept God's leading in his life.
Ouch.
Did we have to start off with what seems to be one of the hardest things for us as believers to learn?
Let's dig in . . . .
. . . . and let's put ourselves into Joseph's dusty sandals. Joseph was a fine carpenter. He was probably well known in the village for his craftsmanship. He thought he had his life pretty well planned out; he had his business and he'd prepared a home, because he was pledged to be married. That means that all of the necessary arrangements had been made, and the wedding would take place soon.
We can be pretty sure that he was looking forward to his life in Nazareth with his new bride and his carpentry business. But then Mary came to him and said, "Joseph, I'm going to have a baby."
Don't you know that must have hit him like the proverbial ton of bricks? It was probably hard to breathe. He thought that Mary loved him just as much as he loved her. But now, it seemed she had been unfaithful to him. He knew that the child she was bearing was not his -- so the only conclusion he could come to was that she'd broken her vows to him. She had been unfaithful. According to the law, Mary should be stoned to death. But Joseph couldn't stand that thought, so he decided to divorce her quietly.
He might have been thinking along those lines as he fell into an exhausted sleep, and then an angel came to him in his dream. In effect, the angel told Joseph to trust God -- that Joseph might not understand what was happening, or why, but that he should trust and everything would be ok. Sorry for the paraphrase of Matthew, but have we been in this situation before? Have we been in prayer or been counseled by a friend, and we hear "trust God"? I hear heads nodding. I know I have heard that, too.
Joseph was a man of faith, and sometimes it's hard to live in faith. Maybe if God always did what we expect, it wouldn't be so hard. But sometimes He does the opposite of what we expect. Even though Joseph must have had a long list of questions, he trusted God. He believed that God's will was the best.
Don't we find ourselves in Joseph's position? Christmas carols are about peace - but our world is full of conflict. We read Christmas cards that talk about joy, but there is an awful lot of sadness this time of year. We know that Christmas happened because of love -- but there's so much hatred in our world.
We cry out to God just like Joseph may have done. "God, how can this be happening?" But just as Joseph did, we hear a still small voice saying, "Trust Me."
God's ways are not always our ways, and His thoughts are higher than ours.
“For as the heavens are higher than the earth, So are My ways higher than your ways And My thoughts than your thoughts." (Isaiah 55:9, NASB)
We may not understand everything He is doing.
Trust in the Lord with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding; (Proverbs 3:5, NIV)
But we don't have to understand. We just have to hear that voice and trust Him to work things out.
And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose. (Romans 8:28, NIV)
Christmas happened because Joseph listened and trusted God. We need to learn to trust Him, too. We need to have an attitude of accepting God's will to be ready for Christmas.
I've already heard it several times.
I bet you have, too.
We'll probably hear it many times between now and December 25th!
"Are you ready for Christmas?"
What the questioner really is saying is, "Have you mailed your cards or sent your emails?" "Have you decorated?" "Are you finished with your Christmas baking?"
We meet ourselves coming and going, much like the Dunkin Donuts man in the commercials years ago. The season is hectic, and we call it the Christmas "rush." We tend to forget the reason for the Christmas celebrations.
But there's another reason for my asking the question. We need to think about more than just our baking, or our cards, or our festive gatherings. We need to think about our attitudes. Have we said "I just can't get into the spirit?"
What does Christmas, and the Christmas spirit, really mean? The Christmas story says "God became a human being. He expressed His love by living among us, walking and talking with us, and by dying for us." But what is the Christmas spirit?
It's an attitude, right?
So what are the right attitudes we ought to have so that Christmas can really happen in our homes and in our lives?
Let's look in Matthew:
Now the birth of Jesus the Messiah was as follows: when His mother Mary had been betrothed to Joseph, before they came together she was found to be pregnant by the Holy Spirit. 19And her husband Joseph, since he was a righteous man and did not want to disgrace her, planned to send her away secretly. 20But when he had thought this over, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream, saying, “Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife; for the Child who has been conceived in her is of the Holy Spirit. 21She will give birth to a Son; and you shall name Him Jesus, for He will save His people from their sins.” 22Now all this took place so that what was spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: 23“Behold, the virgin will conceive and give birth to a Son, and they shall name Him Immanuel,” which translated means, “God with us.” 24And Joseph awoke from his sleep and did as the angel of the Lord commanded him, and took Mary as his wife, 25but kept her a virgin until she gave birth to a Son; and he named Him Jesus. (Matthew 1:18-25)
Joseph doesn't stand there in the spotlight for very long.
We don't know an awful lot about him.
But I think that Joseph can teach us a lot about attitudes.
And these can make Christmas real for us.
And can make us "ready" for Christmas.
What if Christmas had not happened?
What if the first Grinch, Satan, had been successful in stopping God's plan?
No joy. No peace. No redemption.
Praise God! Our Savior did come to earth - He came to save us from our sins.
If the very first Grinch, Satan, had been able to stop Christmas from coming; if he had thwarted God's plan . . . we've seen that there would probably be no celebrations. No redemption. No joy.
Have you ever thought about the benefits of Christ and His followers on the world?
He presentedanother parable to them, saying , “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed , which a person took and sowed in his field ; and this is smaller than all the other seeds , but when it is fully grown , it is larger than the garden plants and becomes a tree , so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches .” (Matthew 13:31-32, NASB)
Before that first Christmas, the world was a cruel place. It was dark with the depravity of man. Everything that Jesus touched, He transformed. From individuals to families to cities, cultures, and nations.
Therefore if anyone is in Christ, this person is a new creation; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come. (II Corinthians 5:17)
Our world is better, because Jesus came. Think of the things that have transformed our world because of Christ, His kingdom, and His followers. Medical care and hospitals came about because of Christian compassion. Education for all became a theme for believers. Compassion for all, and help for the poor, the needy, the orphaned, and the homeless. Government of the people, for the people, and by the people. Freedom for all races, the right of all to vote. Some of the greatest works of art are based on the Bible and on biblical beliefs. Justice systems, moral codes, and codes of ethics. Almost universal knowledge of the "Golden Rule."
Of course, we can find fault with Christianity, and with those who will abuse the name of our Savior. Many will do wrong in the name of Christianity. And there are still dark systems and depraved people in this world.
But the positive contributions to mankind are undeniable! All because Jesus, our Savior, was born in Bethlehem. Men's hearts were changed, and by God's power, they set out to change the world.
Christmas happened!
And we have a reason to serve. The greatest work a person can be engaged in is the work of the Lord. Whether we are at school, at work, on the farm or the street corner, at the store or in church -- wherever we are in the mission field that God has blessed us with . . . . we have a calling. We have a Great Commission to go and tell the story of Jesus and His love. Because of Christmas, we can share the greatest love story of all time!
Because of all that God has done for us, can we do any less? God knows everything we have ever done - and loves us anyway. Let's tell others of a Savior Who cares and can change lives. Let's tell others of a Father who blesses us with hope, with love, and with joy.
The Grinch (Satan) couldn't stop it!
Christmas happened!
Praise God!
If the "first Grinch," Satan, had succeeded, and there had been no Christmas, we have seen there would be no real celebrations, and there would have been no redemption for us.
We also would have no real joy in this dreary world.
Mean-ness. Sickness. Financial problems. Arrogant boss or co-workers. Food prices going up. Gasoline prices going up. Sinful habits that drag us down.
Many a sinful person has had their life be turned around.
Because God is good.
But God demonstrates his own love for us in this: While we were still sinners, Christ died for us. (Romans 5:8, NIV)
Because God is love.
We love because he first loved us. (I John 4:19, NIV)
We've heard the story of the slave trader and ship captain, John Newton, who was never the same after his salvation. "Amazing grace, how sweet the sound, that saved a wretch like me -- I once was lost, but now I'm found. Was blind, but now I see."
We've heard the stories other people tell of lives rescued from sin, addiction, and trials. Our own lives reveal God's love and grace: He reached down in love to change us.
We have peace in a strife-filled world!
We have joy in the midst of dreariness and trials!
We rejoice not because another baby was born, but because life was born anew for all mankind. We rejoice because Christmas DID happen, and we have a Savior. A Savior Who knows us perfectly, but still loves us! He loves us in spite of our sin and wants to spend eternity with us! A God Who doesn't need us, but wants us!
We rejoice because Christmas happened, because of our redemption. Before Him, life was me, myself, and I. It was "every man (or woman) for themselves." It was "dog eat dog." All of those old cliches fall away when a person is saved; something happens to a person when Jesus comes in.
Without Christmas, how could we have joy?
If we who are [abiding] in Christ have hoped only in this life [and this is all there is], then we are of all people most miserable and to be pitied. (I Corinthians 15:19, AMP)
Jesus makes all the difference in the world.
So my soul shall rejoice in the LORD; It shall rejoice in His salvation. (Psalm 35:9)
Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation. (Habakkuk 3:18, NASB)
If there is no Virgin; if there is no Baby; if there is no cross or Calvary or Savior, if Christmas never happened, then we would be hopeless, indeed!
But the truth is that Christmas DID happen! And God's gifts to us include celebrations, redemption, and joy!
More to come -- tune in tomorrow!
What if the "first Grinch" (Satan) had succeeded?
What if Christmas wasn't Christmas?
We would have no "glad tidings" to celebrate . . . there'd be no rejoicing. All these years, Christmas has developed from a simple recognition of the birth of our Savior. Of course, it is unfortunate that it has grown into a super-commercialized season full of things that have very little to do with our Redeemer! Many of us keep trying to get back to the "reason for the season," and keep it a joyous time for thanking God Who sent His Son. We've added lots of stress and lots of hoopla and hassles to what could be a simple time of rejoicing -- celebrating the glad tidings that the angels sang.
But there would be more consequences if there were no Christmas. If Satan had succeeded, there would be no redemption, no gospel, no Gift.
For all who depend on the Law [seeking justification and salvation by obedience to the Law and the observance of rituals] are under a curse; for it is written, “CURSED (condemned to destruction) IS EVERYONE WHO DOES NOT ABIDE BY ALL THINGS WRITTEN IN THE BOOK OF THE LAW, SO AS TO PRACTICE THEM.” (Galatians 3:10, AMP)
For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but to save the world through him. (John 3:17, NIV)
You see, we NEEDED a gift from God. We are sinful, fallen creatures. We are racked by the disease of sin, and we are condemned forever without Him. We can see evidences of this fallen condition in our world, our acquaintances, and in our own lives each and every day. If we are honest when we look at ourselves, we see "stuff" we don't like: rebelliousness, pride, greed, selfishness, uncontrolled passions, rage, anger, lusts . . . . the list goes on and on. We commit sin each day and there is no remedy within us for our condition. Our conduct, our behaviors, our habits, and our choices reveal our sin nature.
Each of us is lost. We are separated from God by the huge wall of our sin.
We need the mercy of our holy God. We need His grace and compassion. We don't deserve it, but we surely do need it!
Christmas is the beginning of the mercy. Help started in Bethlehem. That's where the Gospel came to shepherds and an innkeeper (I kinda think he was a spectator in the stable, too, when the shepherds came. He would have to have been totally heartless to have stayed away. He might even have brought some soft cloths and some food for the weary couple.)
"The gift of God is eternal life through . . . " Through what? Religion? No. Santa Claus? Of course not. Government benefits? An emphatic "no!"
How about education? Financial stability? Our good morals and our kindness and good deeds?
Still no.
We need a Savior Who was (and is) willing to take away the curse of sin. We need the Gift from God, a Redeemer Who pays our debt. We need a God Who provides cleansing and Who then forgives and forgets our sins.
This is not something that we can pay for. Not something we can purchase.
For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. (I Peter 1:18-19, BSB)
This is the Gift of Christmas. This is the Savior Who came as a wee babe to Bethlehem. This gift could not have happened without the plan and will of our Father.
More tomorrow......
I expect that all of us have seen the "old" Christmas video (wow, do I feel ancient....it was shown on television for the first time in 1966, which would make me how many years old.....oh, never mind!) of the Grinch who wanted to "steal" Christmas so that it wouldn't happen. "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" became quite famous.
But did you know he was not the first Grinch?
Satan is the first Grinch, and he has tried to stop Christmas from the very beginning. And he tries to steal its true meaning, today.
(Now, let me say at the outset that I'm not trying to say the date we celebrate, December 25, is the absolute certain date that Christ was born so many years ago. In fact, I will easily say that it might not be! But I'm going to let the scholars debate that, OK?
Because to me, it's not nearly as important what date it happened. The truly important thing is that it DID happen! I hear some heads nodding, so I will go back to my post.)
Since the first promise in the Garden of Eden, Satan has known about God's plan. He has known about the Messiah Who would come.
"And I will put enmity
between you and the woman,
and between your offspring and hers;
he will crush your head,
and you will strike his heel.” (Genesis 3:15, NIV)
Since that time, Satan has tried to stop Jesus' birth. He corrupted the entire world, and all the people in it; it would need to be destroyed! But Satan wasn't counting on the fact that there was a righteous man still there . . .
Noah was a righteous man, blameless among the people of his time, and he walked faithfully with God. (Genesis 6:9b)
After that, Satan tried time and again to get rid of the children of Israel. For hundreds of years he tried to subjugate them, to destroy them, to stop that line that led to the Babe of Bethlehem. Remember the book of Esther? That was just one of Satan's plots. It didn't work.
Now we see Joseph and Mary traveling carefully to the town of his ancestors. Making their way on the dusty road to a stable. The scholars tell us it was probably a cave. Dirty. Dusty from hay and straw. Animals and manure. Satan probably was rubbing his hands in glee that perhaps Mary might have complications, or the Baby might catch sick because of the surroundings.
Disappointment for Satan. Christ is born. But maybe he can still stop God's plan! The wise men come to Herod and ask for directions so that they can worship the newborn King. After all, Herod should know what's happening in his region, right?
In Herod's evil mind, this was a threat to his rule. He told the wise men to let him know when they found the Child. But Herod had no plans to worship. His plans were far worse. After he realized that the wise men were not going to let him know where to look (God warned them to go home by a different route), awful, evil Herod the tyrant ordered all of the babies two years or younger to be killed.
Murdered. The soldiers marched through the tiny town looking for babies and killing them. They followed the orders of a ruthless, fearful king. Mothers clung desperately to their little boys. Fathers were struck down when they tried to save their sons.
Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled:
“A voice is heard in Ramah,
weeping and great mourning,
Rachel weeping for her children
and refusing to be comforted,
because they are no more.”(Matthew 2:17-18)
Jesus, the Savior, escaped the sword by the providential care of God.
When they had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream. “Get up,” he said, “take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.” So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. (Matthew 2:13-15a)
What if Satan had succeeded? What if Jesus Christ had never been born? We'll study this week......
Our Savior left heaven to come to earth as a wee babe.
In your relationships with one another, have the same mindset as Christ Jesus:
6 Who, being in very nature God,
did not consider equality with God something to be used to his own advantage;
7 rather, he made himself nothing
by taking the very nature of a servant,
being made in human likeness.
8 And being found in appearance as a man,
he humbled himself
by becoming obedient to death—
even death on a cross! (Philippians 2:5-8)
Surely we can venture outside of our comfort zones to seek Him? To worship Him?
Seek ye the Lord while he may be found, call ye upon him while he is near: Let the wicked forsake his way, and the unrighteous man his thoughts: and let him return unto the Lord, and he will have mercy upon him; and to our God, for he will abundantly pardon. (Isaiah 55:6-7)
When we began our study of Psalm 57, David was inside a cave.
He's still there.
Nothing's changed.
Oh, wait. Something HAS changed.
He's singing praise songs!
Like we said before, as far as we know, Saul is still king. And if David so much as pokes his head out to see if the armies are still around, he will probably be spotted and killed!
But in spite of all this, David is not whining in self-pity. He's not complaining. He is praising God. David's making sure that God is glorified, even in his trials.
We saw yesterday that praise in difficult times is a matter of deliberately focusing on the Lord, and on praising Him. Today, we will study and see that David says praise is a matter of testifying to others of God's goodness:
I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
10 For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
David wants the "nations," that is, the people who don't know God, to hear his praise. Even though he is going through extreme difficulty, David wants to sing about how good God is -- not only does he want to praise God, but he wants others to hear and glorify God, too.
We saw in verse three that David picked two aspects of God's goodness to exalt:
He sends from heaven and saves me,
rebuking those who hotly pursue me—
God sends forth his love and his faithfulness. (v. 3)
And we see this again in verse ten, up above this text. David is praising God's love (lovingkindness) and faithfulness. Scratching aside some cobwebs, we remember from a previous study that the Hebrew word for lovingkindness is related to the stork. The Hebrews saw the diligent, loyal love of the stork for its young and said, "God's love is like that - only greater!" God the Father cares for us and nurtures us with His never-ending love.
Know therefore that the Lord your God is God; he is the faithful God, keeping his covenant of love to a thousand generations of those who love him and keep his commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9)
And so we know and rely on the love God has for us. God is love. Whoever lives in love lives in God, and God in them. (I John 4:16)
When David mentions faithfulness, he is pointing to God's being consistent. He is trustworthy. He never, ever fails His children. He may allow us to be in severe situations, and even to premature death; but there is not one person in history who has trusted in our Savior and been disappointed. Even those who have suffered persecution have testified to God's abundant love and faithfulness which has sustained them. Paul was in prison and facing execution when he said what he desired:
I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death. (Philippians 1:20)
In the midst of our trials, Satan will tempt us to doubt. We must focus on God's love and faithfulness to us, because those are exactly the avenues the devil will take, to try to get us to fall away from our Lord. "Love? Faithfulness?" he will sneer into our ears . . . "If He loves you, why is this happening?"
But if our eyes and our hearts are fixed upon Jesus Christ, we will sing with David from the cave, "God, Your lovingkindness is great to the heavens and Your truth to the clouds!" We will praise and glorify Him. Anyone who has a conversation with us will walk away knowing that we love and worship a great God Who is loving and faithful.
If we focus on our purpose: to glorify God -- He will give us a song in the cave.
In verses seven through eleven of our psalm, it appears that David is still in the cave. His circumstances haven't changed much. Things may not have changed at all! But instead of wringing his hands, or whining, or having a good ol' pity party, David breaks forth in praise to God.
My heart, O God, is steadfast,
my heart is steadfast;
I will sing and make music.
Awake, my soul!
Awake, harp and lyre!
I will awaken the dawn.
I will praise you, Lord, among the nations;
I will sing of you among the peoples.
For great is your love, reaching to the heavens;
your faithfulness reaches to the skies.
Be exalted, O God, above the heavens;
let your glory be over all the earth.
We've mentioned that God is glorified as we praise Him in our trials. In other psalms, David has been seen praising God in spite of some pretty scary situations.
Praise is not easy in times like that. It's a matter of deliberate focus.
What does that mean?
Well, praise is not our natural response to trouble. Am I right? When we are faced with obstacles, we humans have all kinds of responses . . . do you remember learning about the effect of adrenaline in our bodies? In schoolwork, did you study "fight or flight"?
Whenever David heard a twig snap or a rock tumble outside his cave, the adrenaline level in his body probably skyrocketed. This would cause his pupils to become more dilated to allow more light in; he would be able to see a threat more clearly. The hormone would cause his heart rate to increase and his breathing, too, so that his muscles would be oxygenated and ready to respond.
When we are faced with a trial, we may respond this way, too. We might be watchful and alert, our heart may be pounding.
We humans are a curious lot, though, and our response might instead be to complain. To whine and be angry with God. To question His plan and His authority.
Some of us may simply withdraw into ourselves and become depressed. It's easy to allow our thoughts to grow dark and to become truly sad; we can even find it difficult to leave our bed or to turn on a light.
Verse six told us that David's enemy had "fixed a net" to catch him, but that David had fixed his heart. Yep, it's the same root word in the Hebrew. Fixed. Prepared. Established.
The scholars tell us that the way David repeats the words, "I will sing, yes, I will sing praises" is a clue for us - it was a matter of deliberate choice.
We have other examples in the Bible of people making a deliberate choice to praise God in the middle of their trials. Let's look at just one:
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them. (Acts 16:25)
This chapter in Acts details the plight of Paul and Silas. They'd been preaching and teaching and now look at them . . . their clothes had been torn and pulled from them; they'd been beaten and whipped; they were now in prison, with their feet secured so that they could not move; it was the middle of the night and they didn't know for sure what would happen in the morning . . . . and they were singing!
I don't really think that if they sat and ticked off their problems on the fingers of each hand that they would have been grinning or giggling. Their bodies were tired and sore and bleeding. Their future was dim. But they made the deliberate choice to praise God - they prayed and they sang hymns of praise to God.
Sometimes we do need to praise God when we don't feel like it. And that is NOT hypocrisy. It's obedience. You see, the definition of hypocrisy is not that I do things I don't feel like doing. (If that were the case, I'd be a hypocrite whenever I climb out of bed when I don't feel like it!) Hypocrisy is presenting a false impression to others so that we look better than we really are. Praising God, though, is a matter of obedience - and the true test of our obedience is that we obey God even when we don't feel like doing it!
Let's make a commitment that the next time we are going through a difficult trial (or maybe we are going through trials right now) we will respond rightly. If we are starting to feel overwhelmed or depressed, we will follow David's example. We will make the deliberate choice to praise God, even if we are still "inside the cave." Let's focus on the Lord and praise Him!
