A Psalm of Praise for Christmas; Isaiah 63:7-14, Matthew 2:13-23

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His Arms Are Still Outstretched; Luke 2:1-20

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It's Almost Time!; Isaiah 66:7-17

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Tired of Being Walked On; Isaiah 55:12-23

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An Answered Prayer for Peace; Isaiah 33:2-24

 

It used to be and maybe still is that when asked what you would like to see in the world was world peace.  And truly, most of the world’s citizens just want to live their lives in peace.  They want to be able to raise their families.  They want safe communities.  We have a President who ran on being a peacemaker, but that certainly hasn’t happened.  I’m angry about Venezuela.  I’m angry about Syria, where historic Christian communities have been wiped out.  I’m angry about Gaza where only 500 Christians and one church building remain.  The Ukraine/Russia conflict continues to rage.  Militias in Sudan, Nigeria, the Democratic Republic of Congo and other parts of Africa continue to terrorize citizens.  Myanmar has been in a state of civil war for decades.  Our own cities are riddled with crime and violence.  Children can’t even go to school without wondering if they will go home at the end of the day.  Yes, we need peace!  While some places have been more peaceful than others at various times, we have always lived in a world of violence and conflict.  The devil, whose modus operandi is to kill, steal, and destroy, is very active in the world.  People continuously come up with new ways to harm other people.  And still we pray for peace.  It is not a futile prayer, for it reminds us that there is only One who can bring lasting peace.  And one day, He will. 

            In verses 2-9 of today’s text, we have a prayer for peace.  Verse 2 gives us the specific request:  “O Yahweh, be gracious to us; we have waited for You.  Please be our strength every morning, and also our salvation in the time of distress.”  In this short prayer request is a cry for mercy.  Asking for mercy is sign of repentance.  The request for salvation is also from a people who have come to the realization that no one else and nothing else can save them.  Repentance is a key to answered prayers.  If you are harboring sin, don’t expect God to grant your request.  Self-reliance and trusting in other things or people are blocks to answered prayer.  If you can do it, then you don’t need God’s help.  If someone else can do it, you don’t need God’s help. The truth is without God, we can do NOTHING, but we must acknowledge that fact in order to see God at work.  When we reach the end of ourselves, God says, “Now I can do something!”

            Verses 3-9 provide the confidence in asking this request.  When God gets active, people pay attention!  When God starts to judge the nations, they scatter like, as our text says, “locusts rushing about”.  I would say like cockroaches when you turn on the light!  I think Eugene Peterson missed it when he didn’t use that as his metaphor when he wrote the Message.  He leaves metaphor out altogether.  God is going to collect what is His.  Verses 5-6 are written in present tense.   This is who God is even now.  He is exalted.  He is in control.  He reigns.  He fills Zion with justice and righteousness.  He is our stability.  His wealth is salvation, wisdom, and knowledge, all of which He graciously shares with His people.  And He values when people fear Him.  For us the fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom.  Knowing who God is we can make our requests confidently. 

            There is debate among scholars as to whether the brave men and peace ambassadors who are crying at their wits end because they have failed belong to Zion or Assyria or the other nations.  I don’t know that it matters who they are.  We all know that peace treaties get broken, negotiations fail, and covenants get broken.  We have seen Israel break them with Qatar, Yemen Iran, Gaza, Lebanon, and Syria.  We have seen efforts in Ukraine and Russia fail.  We saw our own country fail miserably in Korea, Iraq, Afghanistan, and Vietnam.  Often sabotage has come from the inside.  We have seen good people die and be permanently wounded in body, spirit, and mind.  We have seen honest people betrayed, people who have dedicated their lives in service to their country.  Only God can bring lasting peace.  If Jesus, the Prince of Peace, is not involved, peace cannot last.  Peace takes trust.  If people prove to be untrustworthy, then the best you can ever have is a temporary truce.  Broken covenants are hard to remake.  What’s so great about the covenants that God makes with us, is that He takes full responsibility if they are broken, even though we do the breaking, and He does not.  He did this in the Garden of Eden, when He promised the Seed of the Woman would crush the serpent’s head.  He did it with Abraham, when He alone passed through the sacrificed animals as a firebrand and smoking pot.  And Jesus Himself did it when, at the Last Supper, He gave us the New Covenant of love of the forgiveness of our sins, by the giving of His own flesh and blood for us and not requiring ours.  He is the repairer of broken covenants because He alone is fully trustworthy.  When we are praying for peace, we must put all of our trust in Jesus, and ask Him to take His rightful reign over the nations, in our communities, and in our relationships.  People will betray our trust, but Jesus is the restorer of covenants.  He is the only One who can make lasting peace. 

            In verses 10-16, we have Yahweh Himself answering the prayer for peace.  Because God’s people have humbled themselves, God declares that He will take action in such as way that His reign is made more evident.  God rightly says that we reap what we sow, and in our case, it’s not good fruit, but that which will be burned up in fire.  Just in case we think God is only talking about the people of the nations, He says in verse 14, “Sinners in Zion are terrified.”  But God tells us how to avoid the fire.  He says in verse 15-16 that the one who walks righteously, speaks with sincerity, rejects unjust gain (doesn’t exploit others and isn’t greedy), who agrees via handshake instead of bribery, who doesn’t engage in evil via gossip or gory fascination will dwell on the heights, will find refuge in the impregnable rock, and will have daily bread.  We heard that Jesus is the Rock in a weary land last week.  We avoid the fire by taking refuge in Jesus.  Paul puts it this way in I Corinthians 3:11-15:

"For no one can lay any foundation other than the one already laid, which is Jesus Christ.  If anyone builds on this foundation using gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay or straw, their work will be shown for what it is, because the Day will bring it to light. It will be revealed with fire, and the fire will test the quality of each person’s work. If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward. If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames."

  The only way we can be the kind of person Isaiah writes about in 33:15-16 is if Jesus is our foundation.  Then we do not have to fear the fire of God.  It is a purifying fire, not a punishing fire.  The peace we find in Jesus is not just peace between nations and people, it is eternal peace, peace within our own soul, and peace with God. 

            The final part of our text, verses 17-24, is an oracle of God’s ultimate answer to our prayer for peace.  Our eyes will see the King in His beauty.  Everyone will be able to understand everyone else.  There will be no violent people.  Jerusalem will be permanently established in peace.  Yahweh will be there, and He will be for us.  He will save us.  There is no need for boats as there will be no need for trade, because we will have no needs.  Everything will be provided for us by the Lord.  There will be no need for warships because the city cannot be attacked.  There will be no sickness.  The weakest will thrive in abundance.  And the people who will live in this new, peaceful Jerusalem are those whose sins have been forgiven.  Notice the language in verse 22—Yahweh is judge, lawgiver, and king.  These are words used to describe Jesus.  We can see the oneness of God.  Jesus is the same as Yahweh.  Jesus is coming again to reign on earth.  All will be peace. 

            On this second Sunday of Advent, the Sunday of peace, we join in the billions who’ve gone before us and around the world who have prayed for peace, knowing that one day soon, that prayer will be answered.  Peace begins with Jesus, not with us.  We can’t make peace without Him.  When we confess our sin, the failures of our efforts, our trying everything but Jesus, then Jesus will bring us peace and transform us into peacemakers, even then, we cannot bring peace on earth, but Jesus will when He comes again as King. 

Get Up, Get Dressed, Get Out, and Get Going with the Gospel of Peace

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The Righteous King; Isaiah 32:1-8

 

    We stand on the edge of Advent where we look forward to Christ’s coming, but today, we celebrate with thanksgiving that Christ has already come, that He is here, and that He is reigning, not that we don’t eagerly await His return.  I know that I hope Christ returns soon, but even with the world crazy out of control, we can take comfort in knowing that Jesus is King and is on the throne.  There’s so much bad leadership in our world and in our country that many people struggle with Christ the King Sunday. We do see a lot of corruption.  Our own government is full of it, and it isn’t just in the executive branch, though it’s there as well.  We have seen “No Kings” protests around the country.  People don’t like the idea of being ruled by a king or dictator or an oligarchy, which is what is really is.  As I travel the “conspiracy theory” road, reading books like this one, The Pentegon's Brain by Annie Jacobson, I realize it’s not democrats versus republicans, it’s a handful of interconnected people who have gained power and kept it for decades and aren’t willingly going to give it up any time soon.  Just because your person is in power doesn’t mean things will get a lot better or change all that much.  We don’t get to elect those with the real power, which makes us not so different from the people in Isaiah’s day who didn’t get to choose their leaders.  We are ruled by “foolish nobles,” as our text describes this morning.  Billionaires toss a few dollars our way or to some seemingly good cause, but only to disguise their roguery.  When the poor go hungry and thirsty, fools are in power.  Proverbs 29:2 says, “When the righteous are in authority, the people rejoice; but when the wicked rule, the people groan.”  There’s a lot of groaning going on.  

            This isn’t unique to our day.  Jean Calvin noted it as well.  As pastor Dennis Davidson said in a sermon on this text, “Calvin points out that in bad government the covetous are honored because possessions are everything. In every society those who have managed to gain power are treated as great, deserving persons regardless of their true character, because others are afraid of their power.”  Pastor Dennis Davidson also notes, “Fool is one of the strongest negative words in the OT because it depicts the person who has consciously rejected the ways of God, which are the road to life, and has chosen the ways of death. His folly is disastrous because its short-term results may make God’s way and God’s word appear wrong.”  We are surrounded by so many negative examples of people in power, noble fools, that some of my colleagues want to avoid Christ the King Sunday, but I think it’s more important than ever to lift up the true King of Kings and Lord and Lords.  Without it, we can get cynical or we can despair.  There have always been and always will be corrupt and foolish leaders until Christ returns, so we need to be reminded and to know that we have a Righteous Ruler.

            This is the promise that we have in Isaiah 32.  The people of Isaiah’s day had lots of experience with unrighteous kings as well.  But God told them through Isaiah a righteous king is coming!  We know that righteous king has come.  What does a righteous King look like?  A righteous king is one who administers true justice.  A righteous King is generous.  A righteous King defends those who cannot defend themselves.  A righteous King exposes corruption and gets rid of it.  A righteous King is not corrupted, bribed, or compromised.  We can trust in Jesus to do what is right.  Jesus already sees what’s going on.  Jesus cares about it, and Jesus will do what is right.  We might not see it happen in this life, but every single human being will stand before the judgment seat of Christ. 

            Many of you know the hymn, “A Shelter in a Time of Storm.”  That hymn is based on Isaiah 32:2. The correct translation of this verse is “A man will be like a refuge from the wind, and a shelter from the storm.”  It’s not each prince who will be like this, but the Righteous King.  Oh, Jesus is the Rock in a weary land, a shelter in the time of storm.  Even the princes take refuge in Him.  When we see all the craziness in our world and how corrupt it is, and people suffering under unrighteous leadership around the world, we can go to Jesus as our Refuge.  We can trust He has the real power, and we can find refreshment in His word and spirit.  He protects us, He provides for us, He gives us strength.  Jesus stands as a refreshing contrast to the powers of this world.  He rules by love. 

            As we look to Advent, we know we still await the day that the princes under Jesus rule justly.  We await the end to the foolish nobility.  That isn’t to say it has never happened.  History tells us that there have been some pretty good leaders.  They haven’t ruled perfectly, but there are some who have understood that their position and authority have been granted to them by God.  They have tried to rule according to God’s principles.  I mentioned King Wenceslas last week.  Some of these hold lesser offices like sheriff, or judge, or mayor, or town councilmember, or boss.  There are many leaders who have dedicated their lives to Jesus who have exercised authority with great care and responsibility.  But power has a tendency to further corrupt corrupt people.  And so, we await the day that all leaders will carry out Jesus’s righteous commands.  But since we have been enlightened by Jesus, since we do know Him as the righteous king, we must use the authority we have been granted by Him to carry out noble plans.  And we have been given authority by Jesus.  He said in Luke 10:19, “I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy.”  We’ve been given the command to be truth-tellers in our world.  We have been commanded to act justly.  We may have been given authority only over little things, but if we steward those little things rightly, Jesus will grant us greater authority, not to “lord it over people,” but so that others will thrive. 

            Friends we have to stop expecting that the government will save us. It can’t and it won’t.  And when it tries, it fails miserably.  It’s clumsy and inefficient and creates more problems than it solves.  But we can trust Jesus to save us, and we must.  Psalm 118:8-9 says, “It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in humans.  It is better to take refuge in the Lord than to trust in princes.”  Trusting in the Lord not only means letting Him be our shelter in the time of storm, but it also means taking seriously what He says, not just His promises but also His commands, so we must live out His commission.  We need to be noble workers for justice.  We need to be able to bridge divides of right and left and work for the flourishing all people by loving our neighbors and building healthy communities.  I was at the Small Church Gathering a couple of Saturdays ago.  The pastor at the church in Manteo reminded us that the government wasn’t the one who originally took care of the poor, the homeless, the widows and orphans.  It wasn’t the government that started schools and educated children and built hospitals and took care of the sick.  All of that was done by the Church. And little by little, we outsourced our Christ-given responsibility to an institution that cannot possibly do it well.  We need to reclaim our mission.  The Righteous King is already ruling.  We can help others to see it.  We carry the Kingdom of God in us wherever we go, and we build up the kingdom of God among us, even as we await the fullness of the Kingdom to be revealed.  So even while noble fools govern the world, we can rejoice that the Righteous King is sitting over them all.  They will answer to Him, but so do we.  So let us happily claim Him as our King and strive to the live as He commanded us. 

In Whose Light Are You Walking?; Isaiah 50:10-11, Ephesians 5:8-20

 Both of our passages today are about walking in the light.  We are supposed to walk in the light, but we need to ask ourselves in whose light are we walking?  These two verses from Isaiah 50 are probably not familiar to most of you, but they are to me.  I had a Bible study teacher who would constantly quote them.  He knew that many of us struggle with and even insist on doing things our own way.  We think our way is best.  We want to be in control.  We want others to see what we’ve done.  We like being the boss, even if it is just being the boss of our own lives.  But God tells us in Isaiah 50 that this is not going to end well.   In contrast, we see in our Ephesians passage that we have been made light in the Lord, and that it is in the light that He has given that we are commanded to walk. 

            The metaphor “walk” in the Bible is to live, but it is actively living, not just existing.  To walk is the manner in which you conduct your life.  We all live by a set of values and principles.  Sometimes we are more conscious of those values and principles than at other times.  We acquire these values from a variety of places—our families, media, culture, religion, peers, etc.  We take bits and pieces from these sources and develop our own manner of life.  Most of us don’t live exactly by the same values of our peers, family, culture, etc.  But for followers of Jesus, there should be some commonalities in how we conduct our lives because God has given us some very specific instructions in His Word.  Psalm 119:105 tells us that God’s Word, “is a lamp unto our feet and light unto our path.”  We see some of these instructions in our Ephesians passage today.  Verse 11 tells us we should be exposing deeds of darkness rather than participating in them or even gossiping about them.  We are to speak truth.  We are supposed to be wise.  How do we know what wise living is?  We ask God for wisdom.  We learn wisdom from the Scriptures.  We are to be productive and to use our time wisely.  What does this mean?  It means caring for those God entrusts to us, it means contributing to a healthy society and human flourishing, it means spending time on things that have eternal value, it means sharing the gospel and worshipping God.  We are to discern God’s will.  In verse 18, we are not to get drunk—wine is mentioned, but this would apply to any intoxicating substance.  Instead, we are to be filled with the Spirit.  What does it mean to be filled with the Spirit.  It is to live joyfully.  It is encouraging others.  It is using whatever gifts the Spirit gives us to build up the Body of Christ.  It is being thankful.  It is to be guided daily by the Spirit.  It is not doing things that offend God.  It is in all these things that each of us will have some differences as God leads us, so it means following God. 

            Isaiah 50:10 says that if we fear the Lord, if we are serious about God, we will obey the voice of His servant.  This is a reference to Jesus.  We are called to follow Jesus—to live as he lived.  When we are confused about how to walk, “What would Jesus do?” is a legitimate question, and we can also ask, as was said at presbytery meeting a few weeks ago, “What is Jesus doing?” because He is still very much at work right now.  Sometimes when we are walking in the light of Christ, we don’t get to see very far ahead. We might only get to see the next few steps or even just the next step.  There’s a lot of darkness in our world.  I don’t think I have to elaborate on just how dark it can be.  Sometimes we find ourselves immersed in it.  But because God is everywhere, there will always be light.  As Julie Miller sang in “Love Will Find You,” “When you’re covered by a cloak of sorrow in the night, and all your hope seems lost without a trace, even in the darkness there is still a shining light, you will see on Jesus’s loving face.”  That light might seem like a pinpoint, but as we move in that light, we will be safe and we will know where to go.  If we step in the light of Christ and follow His steps, we won’t be led astray.  We won’t fall off a cliff or step in some mess we would rather not step in.  I think of the story told of Good King Wenceslas, a follower of Jesus, who could say to his servant, “Follow me.”  The story told in the song was that as the king and his servant were taking food and wood to a poor man, the winter storm got so bad that it was hard to see, so King Wenceslas took the lead and told the servant to walk in his footsteps.  His footsteps stayed warm.   How much more can we can trust the Lord to lead us?  Jesus will lead in the right path if we listen to His voice and follow His commands.  In John 8:12, Jesus calls Himself the Light of the World and says, “the one who follows Me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.”  God often uses dark times to strengthen our faith and increase our reliance on Him.   Shortly before her death, Mother Theresa said, “You will never know that Jesus is all you need until all you have is Jesus.”

Sometimes walking in the light may mean that we need to slow down and take one step or a few steps at a time until the way becomes clearer.  We don’t want to try to outpace the Spirit or to pass Jesus on the road.  That is walking by our own sparks. 

            Why is walking by our own light so miserable?  Our Ephesians passage tells us that without Jesus, we weren’t only walking in darkness, we were darkness.  We are incapable of producing our own light.  Any light that is true light comes from God through Jesus who is the true Light who enlightens every person, as John says in his gospel 1:9.  We must be enlightened by Jesus.  He fills us with His light so that we are light.  Any light we think we might produce cannot save us.  We think of good people who bring light to the world by their generosity, kindness, and creativity, but if they do not acknowledge that it is God who has wrought all their works in them, their end will be torment.  We cannot save ourselves.  Jesus said in Matthew 7:22-23, “Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in Your name, and in Your name cast out demons, and in Your name perform many miracles?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness.’”  This doesn’t sound like lawlessness to me.  When I think of lawlessness, I think of out-of-control people, people who commit crimes, people who are destructive, people who are evil.  But this is not what Jesus says.  Some people may be doing what we think of as good things, but they are not the things Jesus wants them to do.  Others might be doing good things, but doing so pridefully, taking credit for that which they cannot do without the Lord. 

            What about people who claim to followers of Jesus but who aren’t shining.  In that same Matthew passage, Jesus addresses them first:  “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven; but the one who does the will of My Father in heaven.”  Paul’s exhortation in Ephesians 5 to live as children of light is an emphatic command, and taken with Jesus’s words, can even be an alarm.  If you aren’t showing forth goodness, righteousness, and truth, if you aren’t trying to please Jesus, can you really say that you believe in Him?  Paul commands us to live as children of light because even when we have trusted in Jesus Christ, we can still fall back into the trap of trying to walk by our own fire.  We even have examples of this in the Bible.  Sarah and Abraham walked in the light of their own fire when Sarah gave Hagar to him so they could have a son.  It caused misery between Sarah and Hagar, until Sarah kicked her out for good.  David walked in the light of his own fire when he took a census that God told him not to.  Solomon walked in the light of his own fire when he made alliances through marriages to pagan women.  Peter walked in the light of his own fire when he used a sword to cut of Malchus’s ear.  It’s really easy for us to do.  Can you recognize when you are walking by your own sparks instead of walking in the footsteps of Jesus? 

            Proverbs 3:5-6 sums it up, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”  Don’t get swallowed up by the darkness.  Look for the light of Christ and follow it.  Don’t try to create your own fire to walk by; it will lead you to a dead end.  When you are walking in Jesus’s light, you can invite others to follow you, just like King Wenceslas, just like the apostle Paul, who said, “You be imitators of me, just as I imitate Christ.”

God Will Not Forget You; Isaiah 49:14-50:3

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Near to the Broken-Hearted; Psalm 34:15-22

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From Womb to Tomb, God Cares for Us; Isaiah 46

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The Lamb Who Takes Away Sin; Leviticus 16, 23:26-32, Numbers 29:7-11, John 1:19-36, Hebrews 9

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God Can Use Anyone--Even You!; Isaiah 45:1-10

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God is Superior; Isaiah 44, Acts 17:16-34

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God--Forgiver of Sins; Isaiah 43:8-13, 22-28

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Something to Sing About; Isaiah 42:10-25

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God at the Beach; Isaiah 41:1-20

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A Dumb Decision; Isaiah 39

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God Our Creator; Isaiah 40:12-31

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When the Enemy Attacks; Isaiah 36-37

 

I have always found the Hezekiah stories interesting.  He’s one of those mixed bag Judean kings.  He gets rid of the high places and idols, emphasizing that the temple is the only legitimate place to offer sacrifices to the Lord.  He undoes a lot of the evil that his father Ahaz had done.  He worships the Lord, but he also makes some pretty stupid mistakes, which we will see in the next couple of weeks.  In today’s story the Rabshakeh, which means cup-bearer, comes to Jerusalem on behalf of King Sennacherib of Assyria with a large army to threaten the people and try to get them to make an alliance before it is too late.  Assyria has already defeated the Egyptians and several prominent Judean cities.  That alliance God said would fail has fallen.  The threat is real, and they knew it was coming.  They had been given opportunities to repent, and they had not.  In this story, I think there are some lessons we can learn when we are threatened by enemies. 

            One good thing to do when the enemy attacks is to keep your mouth and don’t escalate the situation.  The Rabshakeh’s insults are strong.  He attacks the King.  He attacks the Lord.  He tries to put doubt in their minds about Yahweh, insinuating that it is a bad thing that Hezekiah has limited their place of worship.  He claims that Yahweh is the one who has told them to go up and destroy the land and that Sennacherib and the Assyrians are the ones with Yahweh’s approval, and it’s not a total lie.  God has directed them to go up and attack, but perhaps what he doesn’t know is that God has already assured the Judeans that Assyria will not succeed.  He tells of other conquests and how those lands gods did not save them.  He threatens their lives with starvation and death.  A lifetime ago, I was a 6^th grade teacher at Gramercy Christian School, and the Hezekiah stories were part of our Bible curriculum.  This story is a bit spicy, and of course certain kids wanted to be the one to read particular verses from the King James Version!  I’m sure it was spicier when Rabshakeh said it.  The leaders didn’t want the regular folk to understand what he was saying, and so they asked him to speak in Aramaic instead of Judean, but Rabshakeh doubles down on his insults.  I’m sure in more modern language it would be something like, “Eat sh—and die.”  In fact, if someone insults you in this way, you can reply, “I didn’t know you could quote the Bible.”  And then tell them this Bible story, and the next thing you know you could be having a spiritual conversation with someone who was an enemy and end up telling them about Jesus!  Hey, you never know.  But the leaders of Judah wisely do not respond to the Rabshakeh.  “They were silent and answered him not a word according to the king’s command.”  When you refuse to respond to threats, you buy time.  You don’t have to prove anything.  Reason doesn’t work when emotions run high.  Our tendency is to get defensive.  We even think we have to defend God’s honor, but there are times for apologetics discourse, and there are times to remain silent.  Sometimes the best thing we can initially do when an enemy threatens us is to remain calm and not respond in haste. 

            The next good thing to do when the enemy threatens is to turn to God’s word.  The three return to the king in mourning and despair.  The king also rends his garments in mourning, but he immediately, through these same ambassadors, sends for Isaiah t, whom he knows speaks the Word of the Lord.  Isaiah gives a reassuring word from the Lord that the Lord will cause the Assyrian army to return to their own land, and God’s answer is quite specific.  When our enemy threatens us, we can turn to God’s Word to hear a reassuring Word.  God tells us again and again to not be afraid, that He is with us no matter what, that He has and will overcome all our enemies, that He holds us in His hands.  We have so many promises right here in this book.  We can’t go and ask Isaiah in person what God says, but we have God’s words through Isaiah written down for us, and not just his but so many others have recorded God’s words for us in this book. 

            Another good thing to do when your enemy threatens is to pray.  Notice as Eliakim goes to Isaiah on Hezekiah’s behalf, he asks Isaiah to pray for them.  Hezekiah specifically says, “Perhaps the Yahweh your God will hear.”  Hezekiah’s faith is weak.  Although he has destroyed all the false places of worship, his trust is not fully in Yahweh.  Like his father, he still thinks of Yahweh as Isaiah’s God, not his own, or it could just be that in the face of threat, Hezekiah is in a place of doubt.  Friends, this is part of the reason the Church exists.  We were not meant to face all the threats of the world on our own.  We need the spiritual support of other believers.  When you have doubts, other believers can pray for you.  It is a good thing to enlist others to pray for you and your circumstances, especially when your faith is weak. 

            But we should also pray for ourselves.  hen Hezekiah gets a letter back from King Sennacherib, who had turned back, just as God promised, but who still threatened, Hezekiah prays for himself and his nation.  Look at how Hezekiah prays.  He takes the threatening letter to the temple, spreads it on the floor and prays over it.  His requests are very specific.  He asks God to pay attention.  He tells the specific things that Sennacherib and his army have done.  We should be specific and intentional in our prayers as well.  Tell God what has happened and ask for His intervention.  In describing his circumstances, Hezekiah realizes that some of his fears aren’t all that rational.  As he talks about Assyria destroying the gods of various nations, he realizes, “O, those gods are just manmade idols anyway.  They don’t have any power.  Of course their gods couldn’t save them, but You the real God.”  Naming our situation when the enemy threatens us helps us to clarify it and what we need God to do about it.

            Notice that Hezekiah begins his prayer with praise.  When the enemy threatens, we should begin our prayers with praise.  Praise reminds us who God is.  It helps us to remember God’s power and presence.  It reminds us of the reality of God.  Did you catch how Hezekiah’s praise reflects his circumstances?  His praise of God is relevant to the threat at hand.  He praises Yahweh as Yahweh of Hosts—Lord of the Armies.  This is a military threat, but God’s got a mightier army.  He lifts up Yahweh as the God of Israel.  This is the God of his people, but then he goes on to praise God as not just the God of Israel but the God over all, the only true God, the maker of heaven and earth.  Whatever threat we are facing, we can praise God as being the One who can overcome that threat.  If faced with a medical situation, we can praise God for being the one who heals, the Great Physician, the one who saves, the one who has power over life or death.  If we are faced with financial threat, we can praise God for being the one who owns all things, the one who provides for all our needs.  If we face natural disasters, we can praise God for being Lord of Creation, the one whom the wind and waves obey, the One who can walk on water, the one who sends rain from heaven, the one who draws a line in the sand for the sea.  Whatever kinds of threats we may face, we can praise God in a way that reminds us that He is in control and has all power against every enemy that may come against us. 

            When petitioning God, Hezekiah gives the “why” for the outcome he desires.  Hezekiah asks for deliverance, but he does so that, “all the kingdoms of the earth will know that You alone, Yahweh, are God.”  We need to think about our petitions and tell God our “why”.  What is the purpose of the outcome we desire?  It is just to solve a problem?  How does the answer we desire play into the bigger part of God’s plan for the world?  Maybe we ask God to deliver us for what God wants to do through us to expand His kingdom.  Maybe we ask for God’s help so that in answering it can show an unbelieving friend or even the enemy who threatens us who God is.  Sometimes when I have come to the “why” of my prayers, it has changed my request.  I realized that what I was praying for was completely self-centered.  We are told to pray in accordance with God’s will.  The “why” of your prayer can very often help you determine whether or not you are praying in accordance with God’s will. 

            The story ends with God answering Hezekiah’s prayer.  First God brings the word of promise through Isaiah, and then we have the actual account of how that answer came to pass. 

God’s answer came in multiple parts.  The angel of the Lord, symbol of the pre-Incarnate Christ, destroyed 185000 Assyrian soldiers, causing the retreat of the army and Sennacherib to go back to his home in Nineveh.  God promised the land would provide for them for the next two years, taking care of all those who were faithful to the Lord.  God promised that a faithful remnant would remain and continue to rise up.  Sennacherib was killed by 2 of his sons while he was worshipping his false god 20 years later.  When we ask in confident faith according to the will of God, we can trust that God will answer our prayers. 

            When the enemy threatens, remember, sometimes the best thing to do is to keep your mouth shut.  You don’t have to respond to the threat.  Turn to God’s Word to see what God has already said about your situation.  Ask others to pray for you.  Pray for your situation remembering to praise God in light of the threat you face.  Be specific about your situation.  Remember to not only ask the Lord for what you want God to do buy why you want God to answer, so that you can pray in accordance with God’s will.  Look for the answer, and remember to thank God for it.

The Final War; Isaiah 34, Revelation 6, I Peter 4:7-19

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The Devil is Defeated!; Isaiah 33:1, Hebrews 2:14-16, Romans 16:17-20

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Where Do You Put Your Trust?; Isaiah 30-31

 

Once again, I’m amazed at the relevance and timeliness of this scripture.  We have an anxiety epidemic in this country.  People are stressed out. Long term economic outlook for the younger generations is very bleak.  Want to flee to somewhere else?  Things are even bleaker in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, the UK and most of Europe.  We think, “If so and so could get elected, things will get better.”  Then so and so doesn’t get elected and we feel defeated, or so and so does get elected, but nothing changes.  Campaign promises are broken, and the status quo remains.  I listened to a doctor this week who told one of his patients with high stress to turn off the news for a month.  The patient followed orders, came back in a month, and their sleep quality had improved and their blood pressure had gone down.  We find ourselves anxious and despairing because we put our trust in the wrong things.  We think this program or this person can fix things, if we passed this law or got rid of this one, if we got this job or moved to this place, or made this investment.  King David wrote in Psalm 20:7 “Some boast in chariots, and some in horses, but we trust in the name of Yahweh our God.”  God is the only person in whom we can fully trust.  God’s Word is the only Word we can truly trust. 

            There are many wrong places in which we can put our trust.  One of the worst things we can do is trust in ourselves and make up our own plans without consulting God.  When we don’t ask for God’s guidance, when we try to go it alone, when we devise our own schemes, they very often come back to bite us.  Jeremiah 17:9 says “The heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked.  Who can know it?”  We can get deceived if we follow our heart, especially if we let our emotions lead us.  Even if we use our rational minds, we often do not come up with all the possible solutions.  And although our instincts can be very trustworthy because God gave them to us, we really need to consult God with our plans.  Who knows the heart?  God does.  The Bible study group is looking at the Exodus Way—how God leads us out of bad situations, leads us through wilderness times, and leads us into the Promised Land, God’s kingdom.  Our podcast episodes this week pointed out that many of the situations from which we need Exodus—for God to lead us out—are ones of our own making.  Somewhere along the line, we deviated from the plan God had for us.  This is what we see in our passage today.  God’s own people are falling under judgment because they had devised their own scheme instead of trusting God.  Assyria was threatening them, but instead of asking for God’s direction and deliverance, they rebelled against Yahweh, and looked elsewhere for help.

            This leads to the next bad place to put one’s trust which is in unholy alliances.  Israel decides it will make an alliance with Egypt, the country that had oppressed them for 400 years.  Paul warns us about forming unholy alliances in 2 Corinthians 6:14ff.   

    Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?  What harmony is there between Christ and Belial? Or what does a believer have in common with an unbeliever? What agreement is there between the temple of God and idols? For we are the temple of the living God. As God has said:  'I will live with them and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.’  Therefore, ‘Come out from them and be separate, says the Lord.  Touch no unclean thing, and I will receive you.”   And, ‘I will be a Father to you, and you will be my sons and daughters, says the Lord Almighty.’

Unholy alliances can result with us ending up indebted to those who want to see us fail.  Isaiah warns Israel that this alliance with Egypt is going to end up in their humiliation.  The rulers of Egypt will not be able to help them.  Military might often backfires.  We have seen this time and time again in our own country’s history.  Let’s pray we aren’t making the same mistake again!  Certainly, the regime change in Syria hasn’t gone so well, especially for Syrian Christians.  Alliances are costly.  Tribute would have to be paid to Egypt in the form of money and goods, but often in return military service.  Ray Ortlund in his commentary on Isaiah points out that human favor is costly, but often worthless.  It certainly was going to be for Israel.  We must not try to spiritualize unholy alliances nor fall prey to the idea that the ends justify the means.  Sometimes God does call us to work with those who are very different from us, but we must only do so as God guides us. 

            The third bad place to put our trust in bad advice and flattery.  How many times have you witnessed people asking for advice or searching online for advice only to ignore or dismiss said advice when it didn’t affirm what they wanted to hear?  Maybe you have been guilty of this.  We Instead of listening to the Lord, and going so far as to try to silence the seers and prophets, told them to speak pleasant words.  They didn’t want to hear about God, let alone about what God had to say.  They didn’t want to be reminded of God’s commandments.  Often we want to remake God in our image instead of being conformed to God’s image.  We need to be careful not be drawn in by pleasant words when we need to receive the prophetic word.  Flannery O’Connor wrote, “The truth does not change according to your ability to stomach it.” 

            The consequences for misplaced trust can be disastrous.  For Israel, God says through Isaiah that their destruction will come suddenly and unexpectedly and so complete that it will be like a clay pot that is broken so violently that all is left is dust and crumbles so small that none is big enough to scoop a coal from the fire or to scoop water out of a cistern.  Our misplaced trust can leave us utterly defeated and broken. 

            But there is hope and good news.  When we find ourselves broken and defeated because we have misplaced our trust, the solution is simple and readily available.  God’s good word to Israel and to us is this: “In repentance and rest, you shall be saved, in quietness and trust is your strength.”  All we have to do is call out to God in repentance and rest in Him.  We have to let God take control and trust in Him and His goodness.  At first glance, we may find God’s way to be unhelpful.  Waiting on the Lord in the middle of a “crisis”?  That’s a real challenge.  And God can be demanding.  God’s commandments, after all, are non-negotiable, and aren’t always easy to follow.  Loving your neighbor is tough.  Loving your enemy is even tougher.  Denying yourself?  When we find ourselves being offended by something Christ asks us to do, we need to ask ourselves why.  There’s probably a sin in there that needs confessing, and something for which we may need to ask for God’s help.

            Sadly, Israel refused to repent.  God says that they were not willing.  Instead, they tried to flee the coming Assyrian army on horses.  Even so, God didn’t give up on them.  Isaiah says, “The Lord waits to be gracious to you, and therefore, He is on high to have compassion on you.  For Yahweh is a God of justice.  How blessed as those who wait for Him.”  God is patient with us as well.  God waits for us to repent and to call out to Him.  He will carry out justice.  Isaiah continues the good news, “A people will inhabit Zion, Jerusalem.  You will weep no longer.  He will surely be gracious to you at the sound of your cry.  When He hears it, He will answer you.”  Bible study friends, if that last phrase sounds like what we heard this week in our study, you are correct in seeing the pattern that God always answers when His people cry out to Him.  The One who has withheld blessings from the unrepentant lavishes them on the repentant. The One who has wounded in judgment, will heal all wounds in love.  He will be your Teacher and show you the way you should go.  The proverb says, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not lean on your own understanding.  In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your path.”  Isaiah then says they will get rid of their idols.  When we see who God is and what God can do, we will willingly destroy our own idols.  All it takes is repentance.  God always responds to repentance with mercy.

            This message in Isaiah 30-31 was for the nation more than it was for individuals.  I think we need to hear the same concerns as a nation.  We have celebrated Independence Day, but our nation is not in great shape today.  The dollar is on the verge of collapse.  Our Constitutional freedoms for which the founders of this country fought so hard for and drafted so carefully are being eroded.  Our citizens are largely unhealthy.  Our people are divided.  As a country, we are putting our trust in the wrong places.  I finished reading my required books for my theology group in October, so I am back to reading for fun.  I picked up this book about the CIA.  Listen to this snippet about the fall of Communism in Europe after the Berlin wall and Soviet Union collapsed…

    ...The fall of Communism was the result of a huge undercurrent; a longing for civil and religious freedom among the people which could no longer be restrained...When Communism fell in the East, the people did not pour into the streets waving American flags or praising the CIA for its power and prowess.  They broke out into the streets in droves and celebrated Communion.  Churches barely tolerated during the Cold War which had not been closed down by the government were swamped.  The Soviet Duma began having daily Bible studies during its sessions.  The sad part was, while the former Soviet Union was introducing the Bibe in its government sessions and placing it as a part of student curricula in its schools, America had kicked the Bible out of education and almost every part of open public life.  I watched the beginning of one inspiring revival of religious freedom in the East, and the slow elimination of another in America, occurring despite the warnings of the framers of the Constitution.  It was if we had become so fat and happy we had forgotten the fundamental truth which gave us our freedom and liberty.

The author, Kevin Shipp, goes on to share a conversation he had with a former KGB agent.

    'You know, Kevin, our country has left communism and is now a democracy.'
     'Yes, I know, that is wonderful.'    
     'But there is one thing we have learned.'     
     'What is that?'                      
     'We have learned a free society cannot function without a belief in the Bible.'                                       

 Amazed, I responded, 'You know, you are right!'  I will never forget that moment and how ironic it was that the opposite seemed to be happening in America--the country which had communicated this truth to the world for so many decades.  Communism had fallen because of human being's innage thirst for true religion, freedom, and meaning in life.

And we as a country have turned even further from God today than he was talking about then.  And for some reason, we want to make Russia, a majority Christian country, whose adherence to the faith rivals and percentage wise by some surveys, exceeds ours, our enemy.  Perceived enemies are not the real threat.  God will take care of them, just as God took care of Assyria.  God told them that He was going to fight them in multiple ways—with natural disasters, and in battles, and that they would be the one burned up on the Topheth.  God is our ally.  The gospel is truth. God is our only hope.  Ray Ortlund in his commentary on Isaiah wrote, “Our only hope is in abandoning every other hope, however obvious.  Our only truth is in disbelieving every other truth, however widely accepted.  Our only safety is in trust; our only stability is in yielding control; our only freedom is in surrender.”  Our future with Christ is secure and joy-filled, and nothing can separate us from God’s love.

            What do your actions say about your trust in God?  Do you act like God isn’t in the picture?  Do you ask God to bless your schemes and plans instead of asking God what His plan is?  Do you live as if you have to go it alone?  Do you try to find your own solutions to your problems without consulting God?  Do you feel like you have to make compromises with people whose values oppose yours simply to get things done?  It happened a lot during COVID.  Remember that God is not obligated to bless your plans, but God does bless your obedience when you walk in His plans.  Again, from Ray Ortlund's commentary on Isaiah:

  ...whatever God says to us in the gospel, he speaks with love and grace.  Some of his truths will melt in your mouth.  Other truths will hit you like a ton of bricks.  But everything God says opens up to you the life hidden with Christ in God--if you are open.  Trust him enough to keep listening.  Give his gospel a willing audience in the inmost chamber of your soul, whatever his Word says.  Do not listen with detachment, but open your heart wide to God.  He will surprise you with how his wisdom really does work. 

May we off-load “our alliances with the false salvations of this world, and enter more and more into the life that is hidden for us with Christ in God.”  How do we do this?  We become like little children reaching out to our Heavenly Father, and He will give “songs in the night.” 

A Grain of Wheat; John 12:20-26

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When It All Falls Apart; Isaiah 29:1-14, Matthew 15:1-9, II Timothy 3:1-5

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Dream Dreams!; Joel 2:28-32, Acts 2:1-21

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The Invisible Church; Ephesians 1:1-14

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The Visible Church; I Corinthians 12:12-31a

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Proclaiming the Resurrection; Acts 10:34-48

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Unbelievable News; Luke 24:1-43

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Jesus Is Buried; Luke 23:50-56

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The Lamb Comes into the House; Exodus 12:1-6, Mark 11:1-11

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An Innocent Man; Luke 23:47, Matthew 27:54, Mark 15:39, Hebrews 7:23-28

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"I Commit My Spirit"; Luke 23:46, Psalm 31

 

“I commit my Spirit into Your hands.”  These are dying words.  They are literally the dying words of Jesus—His last statement from the cross.  These are the dying words of Stephen, the first martyr, who in his own death, mirrored Jesus in all of his words and actions including interceding for forgiveness for his murderers.  These are words of total surrender to and trust in God the Father.  But one doesn’t have to wait until one is dying to utter these words.  These words were first spoken by David in a psalm he gave to his choir director so that it could be performed for corporate worship.  They came from a personal place in his own experience but can be used by anyone.  These are words that we can use as an expression of our own trust in God.

            The psalms are the prayerbook of the Hebrew people.  Both Jesus and Stephen would have grown up singing and reciting Psalm 31.  Think of how many hymns you know by heart.  Jesus and Stephen would have been able to recall these words and apply then to their situation. 

As David wrote these words for the choir director, it’s clear he was thinking back on his own life when he had been in a dire situation, one in which he didn’t know if he would live or die.  He did live, and so the psalm ends in praise to God for preserving him and being his refuge.  But the promise of preservation is for all of God’s people.  We might be saved like David was, able to live many years, or we might lose our lives like Stephen, but that doesn’t mean God does not preserve us, for we have been given eternal life.

The Brief Statement of Faith of the PC(USA) begins, “In life and in death, we belong to only comfort in life and in death?  The answer is, “That I am not my own, but belong—body and soul, in life and in death—to my faithful Savior Jesus Christ.  He has fully paid for all my sins with His precious blood, and has set me free from the tyranny of the devil.  He also watches over me in such a way that not a hear can fall from my head without the will of my Father in heaven.  In fact, all things must work together for my salvation.  Because I belong to him, Christ, by His holy Spirit, assures me of eternal life and makes me wholeheartedly willing and ready from now on to live for Him.  “I commit my Spirit” ought to be our response to the fact that in life and in death, we belong to God and in response for all that Jesus has accomplished for us.  Biblical scholar J. Clinton McCann Jr says, “Into Your hands I commit my spirit” can be said as, “I turn my life over to you.”  Our lives already belong to God, but committing our spirit to God shows that we acknowledge this fact, and both willingly and with hope surrender ourselves to God. 

Unlike us, Jesus was fully in charge of His own death.  He had told Pilate that Pilate couldn’t take His life unless He, Jesus, permitted it.  Jesus had preached as recorded in John 10 how He lay down His own life only to take it up again, and “No one takes it from Me, but I law it down on my own initiative.  I lay it down, and I have authority to take it up again.  This commandment I received from My Father.”  When Jesus said, Father, into your hands I commit My Spirit,” He was reiterating that He was surrendering His life to the Father.  The Romans and the Jewish leaders were only the means by which Jesus died. But they were not in control of Jesus’s death any more or any less than you and I were.  Jesus’s last breath was His to surrender.  Jesus died on purpose with purpose.  He died to accomplish all those things stated in that first answer to the first question of the Heidelberg Catechism.   

The last words that Jesus spoke before His death were not the first time that He had committed His spirit into the Father’s hands.  From the time He entered humanity, Jesus submitted Himself to the Father.  He constantly sought the Father’s will and obeyed it.  He lived in the Father’s hands and He died in the Father’s hands.  His life is a model for us that we can make the same commitment any and each day of our lives. 

The sentence “Into your hands I commit my spirit” is not the only forshadowing of Jesus’s life we see in the psalm.  David speaks of being falsely accused.  Jesus had been falsely accused of blasphemy.  The psalm says, “My eye is wasted away from grief, my soul and body.”  Jesus was the “Man of Sorrows.”  But unlike the psalmist, it was not His iniquity that caused His pain, but ours.  The psalmist speaks of being rejected by and repulsive to his friends and neighbors.  With the exception of John and some of the women, the disciples fled when Jesus was arrested.  But the psalmist also confesses, “My times are in your hands.”  And at the beginning of each stanza confesses that he trusts in God.  God orders everything from our births to our deaths to everything in between—times of abundance and times of scarcity, times of doubt and times of surety, times of hardship and times of ease.  The writer of Ecclesiastes words it, “To everything there is season:  a time and a purpose under heaven.”  In life and in death, we belong to God. 

What about you?  Do you commit your life into the Father’s hands in times of affliction?  What about all the time?  Everyday?  With every moment of your life?  Is Jesus truly Lord of your life?  I see people who claim to love Jesus, but they really haven’t fully committed themselves into the Father’s hands.  The Bible study group is working on Lesson 4 in our study, which looks at the expectation of suffering in the life of a disciple.  It is far more normal and to be expected that one who is really committed to following Jesus will suffer.  Even in our world today, far more believers are persecuted for their faith than not.  One of the passages we are looking at is I Peter 4.  The chapter ends with verse 19 which says, “Therefore, let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to a faithful Creator in doing what is right.”

A test of whether or not we have committed our souls to God is will we do the right thing even when it costs us dearly. 

            Committing our spirits into God’s hands doesn’t mean all of our problems will go away. As Craig Broyles writes, “God does not automatically or instantaneously solve problems.”  However, not submitting to Christ’s Lordship doesn’t mean that we will have less problems. In fact, I guarantee it will mean more because you will be working against the Holy Spirit instead of in cooperation with the Spirit.  Have you ever thought of your problems as God’s problems to fix?  David did.  He didn’t blame God for his problems in this psalm, but he does expect God to do something about them.  He knows his problems are way too big for him to solve on his own.  He ask God more than once to “deliver me,” “rescue me quickly,” “save me,” “don’t let me be put to shame,” “make your face shine upon your servant,” (that’s a prayer for God’s blessing and favor), “let the wicked be put to shame,” “let the lying lips be silent.”  All of these are requests for God to solve his problems.  Committing our lives into the Father’s hands is “letting go and letting God be God.”

               Despite all the hardships and suffering, God is good and has great goodness stored up for those who fear Him, those who commit their spirits into His hands.  The apostle Paul considered all of his many sufferings as “light and momentary afflictions” compared to the eternal weight of glory he would experience.  In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus says, “If a son asks his father for bread, will the dad give him a stone?  Or if he asks for a fish, will he give him a scorpion?  If you, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good things to those who ask Him!”  God has good things to give us.  When you worry about what God might take away and use it as an excuse to not surrender to God, you miss out on all the wonderful things God would have for you.  It is God who wants the best for us.  It is the world that harms and takes away, and it is the devil who comes to “steal, kill and destroy.”  God is worthy of our trust.  Jesus is worthy of our total devotion.  Will you like Jesus, David, Stephen, Peter, and Paul and so many others “commit your spirit into His hands?”