Does that describe the hearts of people during a season which I’ve come to call the season of discontent – are they satisfied with less?
Are you?
I call it a season of discontent because when asked, rather than an “I have everything I need”” people young and old readily state what they want for Christmas. In reality, discontent rather than contentment is a problem for many people and the materialism of the season feeds that felt need for more or better.
This isn’t a rant on that but it is meant to challenge you to consider your desires. You see, I believe that the desire which God has for your life is far greater and better than what you want for and from it. I Believe that most people are simply satisfied with less than what God in Christ wants for them.
Those outside of faith in Jesus Christ are perfectly content to be in the condition I just described and that fact makes clear to me that while some people are never truly content with the things they possess – more are simply content with less.
Jesus Christ promised abundant life (John 10:10) to those who trust in Him – abundant life now and forever more but so many people are satisfied with less than that.
So many are satisfied with less because they can’t imagine a better life, a fuller life or a happier life than the one they have – they are satisfied with less because they don’t know or believe that there is more or better than what they have now or that they can have it.
God sent His Son to usher in better things – whether you know it or not, more than anything else, you really have need of those better things – of grace, mercy, forgiveness, eternal life and an eternal relationship with the Lord.
In Christ, those better things have been provided and are yours for the asking.
“You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” (Isaiah 26:3)
Today, in the midst of a global pandemic and the overwhelming political use of it to accomplish certain goals and intentions against our nation and our faith, the population is stuck and divided between two positions: Some of us are in fear and some of us are angry – some are both.
Some of us are in fear – fear for our health and the health of our loved ones, neighbors and friends; fear for our economy and the future of our nation. Others are just angry – angry that some people don’t seem to be as afraid, alarmed or concerned as they are about the health risks concerning the virus and /or that those same people are refusing to heed the cry of the “experts” on the issue (either concerning the virus or the economy) OR they are angry with those leaders who have taken advantage of the crisis to advance their own socio-political and radical environmentalist agendas.
Both the fearful and the angry people have one thing in common – no peace.
Isaiah wrote that perfect peace is only available to those whose minds are stayed (fixed or centered on) God – such a person is at peace because he or she has placed their trust in God. That, “stayed mind” is the third position being expressed today because it takes into account and considers what God’s word says – what it predicts (or prophecies) and what it promises.
Consider this, in (Matthew 24) Jesus both predicts (prophesies) and promises that days like these would come. I say promises because according to (Isaiah 55:11) in which God declares:
“So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; It shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.”
Every word of God WILL come to pass!
In (2 Timothy 3:1-5) Paul speaks to a young minister about the “perilous times” to come and the kind of behavior and attitudes which will mark those days and be manifested through both false teachers and worldly men:
“But know this, that in the last days perilous times will come: For men will be lovers of themselves, lovers of money, boasters, proud, blasphemers, disobedient to parents, unthankful, unholy, unloving, unforgiving, slanderers, without self-control, brutal, despisers of good, traitors, headstrong, haughty, lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God, having a form of godliness but denying its power. And from such people turn away!”
In the gospel of (Luke 17:26-30), Jesus made mention of the days prior to His return characterizing them to be like the days of Noah and Lot:
“And as it was in the days of Noah, so it will be also in the days of the Son of Man: They ate, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. Likewise as it was also in the days of Lot: They ate, they drank, they bought, they sold, they planted, they built; but on the day that Lot went out of Sodom it rained fire and brimstone from heaven and destroyed them all. Even so will it be in the day when the Son of Man is revealed.”
Was there a great revival in those days? No – they were marked by judgment.
The people ate, drank, gave their children in marriage, they bought, sold, planted, built and they were immoral – they lived but they did NOT seek God!
Some view their political party rivals as their enemy but in (Ephesians 6:12), Paul makes it clear that “we do not wrestle (war or fight) against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.”
The tension we feel and the stress upon us because of the evil we see in the world may come through or by the hand of our fellow man but it originates with Satan.
The Bible tells us how to wage a spiritual war in (2 Corinthians10:3-6). First, it says that the weapons we wage war with are NOT carnal – “we do not war according to the flesh.” We don’t mock, don’t shoot, don’t slander, don’t assault – don’t let our flesh respond to the emotional and or physical stresses upon it; instead, we bear the weapons of God and wage a spiritual warfare. We prayerfully use the word of God – even if it only assails our own attitudes rather than the issues around us. We bring EVERY thought into captivity (v.5) to the obedience of Christ! Such was Paul’s warfare, so it should also be the warfare of all who have believed in Jesus Christ.
The Lord Jesus Christ said in (Matthew 24:12) that “because lawlessness will abound, the love of many will grow cold.” What love, emotional love, physical love? No, more like empathy and compassion for our fellow man will grow cold. More than that, a lack of “love for the truth” (2 Thessalonians 2:10) of God – to deny His truth is to reject God. When we face oppression, the flesh wants to lash out against our oppressors but as we have seen, God would not have us to respond according to the flesh. When our answer to His word is “yeah, but…” we are NOT loving His truth! I think that this is part of what the “apostasy” which Paul mentions in (2 Thessalonians 2:3) looks like – a departure from loving God and the people He created AS WELL as a rejection of His authority and truth.
Both are taking place today!
Somehow, those of us clinging to either fear or anger in response to the world around us MUST return to seeing this world and reacting to it in light of the words and promises of God rather than the carnality of our emotions.
“The Lord is my shepherd; I shall not want. He makes me to lie down in green pastures; He leads me beside the still waters. He restores my soul; He leads me in the paths of righteousness For His name’s sake. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil; For You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies; You anoint my head with oil; My cup runs over. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me All the days of my life; And I will dwell in the house of the Lord Forever.” (Psalm 23)
Green pastures…still waters – you can just about hear the gentle
breeze blowing in the trees and through the grass as the water gently passes
by; it just doesn’t get much better than that – this is a picture of the peace
of God. I love that picture don’t you?
If such a place as that spoken of in this passage is the only place where we
may find peace and rest for our souls you and I are in deep trouble because
it’s a rare occasion that we get to a place like that.
Does that mean that we can’t have the peace that David spoke
of in these verses?
No, the peace of God is not circumstantial –it isn’t dependent on where you’re at physically; it is dependent on where you are spiritually. The peace from God is first a mindset that comes from a confidence that all will be well and that confidence comes from trust. Isaiah said of God, [Isa.26:3] “You will keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in You.” King David, the ‘under-shepherd’ of God’s people Israel wrote this psalm as a dependent follower of the living God; his mind was stayed on, concentrated on, and focused upon – God. No matter what was happening on the outside, he had peace because it was his God rather than his circumstances that gave him peace.
Think about that for a moment.
The pandemic affecting the world has led to the shut down of nearly everything. Some people haven’t stopped working – truckers, first responders, doctors, nurses and others in the medical profession, retailers and grocers to name a few, but the majority of us have been told to stop and stay home. But what if what most of us have viewed as a negative situation could really be for our good? When He makes us to lie down, when He gives us a moment to rest in green grass – what do you do? You only have two choices: you can choose to lie down OR you can choose to refuse to lie down.
God uses, He turns, He makes “…all things work
together FOR GOOD to those who love God, to those who are the called according
to His purpose.” (Romans 8:28) Even something like what the
world is going through right now.
What is the Lord’s purpose in THIS moment that we are all
going through?
Consider the fact that some of you, prior to this “storm”
were complaining about how tired you were. Some of you, prior to this “season”
were so busy that your spiritual life was suffering; some of you were so busy
that your family life was suffering and some of you were so busy that your
marriages were suffering. Some of you, prior to this moment were longing to get
closer to God but because you were so busy could never find the time.
In this moment, He has slowed you down. In this moment, He
has caused you to lie down. In this moment, He has given you an opportunity to
rest yourself, an opportunity to repair your relationships and an opportunity to
search for, listen to and hear Him.
Have you slowed down or are you now complaining about what
might happen because you’re not busy at work? He has given you a moment to
catch up, check up and listen up – are you?
Like some of you, I’m pretty stubborn – I like to be in
control of my life. When I’m told to sit down, I want to stand up. When I’m
told to be silent, I want to talk. I’m the guy who thinks to himself after he’s
been told to sit down, “I’m sitting on the outside but I’m standing up on the
inside!” All joking aside, the reality
is that like it or not, God IS in control – not you and not me. Jesus told us
not to worry. Why, because it changes nothing. He said in (Matthew 6:27): “Which
of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature?” Worry
changes nothing but your attitude and your health – stress kills – worry fixes
nothing.
Considering the opening statement in (Psalm 23), can you say that the Lord is YOUR Shepherd?
If He is, let Him lay you down to rest; don’t worry, don’t
let your wants consume your thoughts – be content in this moment. If the Lord
is YOUR Shepherd, let Him lead you beside still waters and restore your soul
(v.2-3) – draw near to Him, seek Him, find your rest in Him; let Him turn even
this moment into something good in your life.
Is He your Shepherd? Let His presence in your life comfort
you (v.4) – because He IS with you, you need not fear.
Is this moment REAL?
Yes.
Is Almighty God MORE REAL? Yes.
Is our Great God MORE THAN ABLE? Yes, His word declares that HE is able to deliver us either FROM the fire (see Daniel 3:17) or THROUGH it (see Daniel 3:22-26).
It is not my intention to diminish or dismiss the
seriousness of this season into which the whole world finds itself. But neither
can I diminish or dismiss that He who is God over both the hills and the valleys
of life IS also IN CONTROL!
What is God’s purpose in this moment for you? For some, it
is a time to rest, for others it may be a time to restore relationships and
reflect on Him who saved you and also for others it may be a time to finally
repent of your sins and believe in Jesus Christ. Take the time! Use it for the
purpose for which it has been given! Whatever the purpose, the opportunity may
not come your way again.
“For He Himself is our peace…”He came and preached peace to you who were afar off and to those who were near. For through Him we both have access by one Spirit to the Father.” (Ephesians 2 14, 17-18)
No peace, no joy; know peace, know joy. I had to stop and think about whether joy came first and peace follows or the other way around. I decided that it only makes sense that peace comes first – peace with God.
For the world it is as the word of God declares in (Isaiah 48:22): “There is no peace,” says the Lord, “for the wicked” for “the way of peace they have not known.” (Isaiah 59:8) Every one of us in our natural spiritual state is wicked before God – sinners at war with God. Jesus Christ, “the Prince of peace” (Isaiah 9:6) came to set us at peace with God, this He did through His death and resurrection.
By His Spirit He left us peace for life:
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.” (John 14:27)
Our external circumstances can not be counted on for peace and joy; to know peace and thereby its by-product of joy each of us need only to welcome the Christ of Christmas: “the Christ of God” (Luke 9:20) and the Christ of the gospel into our hearts by faith.
“Now may the Lord of peace Himself give you peace always in every way. The Lord be with you all.”(2 Thessalonians 3:16)
We all have our battles to fight – things that keep us all night with the same thoughts and questions that plague our days: “what if“…”what now“…”whynow“…and “what’s next?” We go to bed wore out and wake up unrested with no answers, only bags under our eyes and the wrinkles of worry streaking across our faces. Peace eludes us more than the fish on a Sunday afternoon at the coast.
We all have our battles to fight.
Today my friend and pastor Mike Hurt, preaching from the book of James, started a series titled “Life Hacks for Tough Times.” He reminded us to hit the pause button when times get tough – to respond instead of react; he reminded us to pray.
But what stayed with me most of all was the plain counsel of God he shared from the first part of (Psalm 46:10):”
“Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth!“
I’ve been thinking about those words, “be still and know” all day.
How can something as simple as leaving all of our deepest cares, concerns, griefs and troubles in the hands of an all knowing and all powerful God be so hard? The Psalmist even tells us in (v.11):
“The Lord of hosts is with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge.” Selah
The same God who made that promise to the wandering, wicked and wayward Jews of the Old Testament reminds us again in (Hebrews 13:5): “I will never leave you nor forsake you.” He is present and powerful and still so many of us lack peace.
Myself included…sometimes.
It is far easier and more natural to worry about fearful and grieving things than it is to give them to God, patiently waiting and trusting in Him, but what would your life look like if you did?
It would look like sitting back, poll in hand and cancer in the body, trying for the “grand daddy” of all Red Fish. It would look like a blissful trip to the zoo with the grandkids after the loss of a dear family member. It would look careless even reckless and irresponsible to those who didn’t get it but it’d be right where God wanted you in the midst of it.
Yes, we all have our battles to fight but by faith and because of His grace we do not fight alone. My friend, it may only be when you stand still before Him in the most worrisome moments of your life that you will see His glorious deliverance.
The psalmist, after he finished going on about exalting the God who would be known by those who just stood still in confident reliance upon Him finished his psalm with a word ~ selah; musically it means to pause but to the child of God, it means pause and ponder the words you have just read.
The world is full of strife and striving and it is clear that we cannot “all get along” as Rodney King hoped in the midst of the L.A. riots of the early 90’s. Daily we are assaulted by another ignorant soundbite from society in the media. Daily we are hit by the realities of our mortality – the sudden onset of illness, the sudden loss of loved ones, or of freedoms, or hopes and the dashing of dreams – these come at various times sometimes fast and furiously to punch us once more right in the gut.
About that…Jesus warned us; He said in (John 16:33), “In this world you WILL have tribulation...” – we will have trouble.
So let me ask you again, where do you go to get away from it all? Does peace have an address?
First of all, lets consider where peace CANNOT be found; it cannot be found in this world – Jesus said it. Specifically speaking to His followers, the Lord declared that nothing on earth can give you lasting peace. Look what He said in (John 14:27):
“Peace I leave with you, My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.”
Through His cross, Jesus has “overcome the world” and because of that He said that we could rejoice or “be of good cheer” (John 16:33).
If peace cannot be found around us in this world and Jesus promised that He would leave such a peace with us that we need no longer be overwhelmed by the troubled of this world – where is it?! Where is this peace of which the Lord spoke?
It is IN you. Trusting in Jesus, abiding in Him and He in us (John 15:5) through the person of His Holy Spirit (John 14:17) combine to make peace an ever available resource in every place where your feet may take you.
Sometimes though, we don’t draw from that well within us at first. Sometimes we are so overwhelmed that we become temporarily overcome by the storm around us. Like Peter, we often tend to focus on the storm (see Matthew 14:26-32) around us rather than on Him who calms the storm – we focus on the uncertainties of life and in that moment we are walking in fear instead of faith.
If we focus too long on the storm our heavenly vision gets out of whack and instead of eyes of faith we see through eyes of flesh and what we see drags us down to discouragement, despair and depression.
In that moment, emotion wins out over truth.
The fact is that our emotions and eyes of flesh are always at war with our faith – they seem to have been with the writer of Psalm 42 and 43 and in those moments we must cling to our hope in God and to His promises.
In (Isaiah 26:3) we see one of those promises:
“You will keep him in perfect peace, Whose mind is stayed (focused, concentrating) on You, Because he trusts in You.”
“Why are you cast down, O my soul?” the Psalmist asked himself in (Psalm 42:5), “and why are you disquieted within me? Hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him For the help of His countenance.”
Because of Jesus Christ’s death on the cross and resurrection from the dead; because he keeps His promises and dwells within us in the person of His Spirit we don’t have to search for a peaceful place nor be run over by our troubles.
Faith in Jesus makes peace possible in every place and at ANY time.
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