Signs of Peace

Riding through a neighborhood last week, I passed a house with two little boys in the front yard.  Guess what they were doing??  Playing!!  They were playing and laughing, oblivious to the world around them.  It made me smile and gave great joy to my heart to watch them.  It reminded me of how seldom I see that sight.  I've thought about this often over the years.  When my children were young, mothers were scared to let children out of their sight.  However, when I was young fifty plus years ago, I played all over my neighborhood.  My mother whistled for us kids to come home to lunch.  Then we went out again and when supper rolled around, mom whistled again.  And if it was summer, we went back out after supper and played until ten o'clock.  Times are, indeed, changing.

So what's my point?  God, too, knows the joy we receive from the sound of children playing.  Zechariah reports good news from God to His people.  They had been oppressed by other nations, war, loss and hopelessness.  But through Zechariah, He lets His people know that peace will again return.  And what is one of the sweet characteristics of peace?  "And the streets of the city will be filled with boys and girls playing in its streets."  (Zechariah 8:5)  What a wonderfully personal God we serve.  It makes my heart soar to read all the details He desires for those He loves and protects.  Let us rest in His sovereign protection as we hope for the better day to come.

"HELL!"

A young mother tells of going to kiss her young daughter goodnight.  Approaching her child's bed, she hears her sobbing!  The mother asks her daughter 'what is the problem?'  The daughter leans in to the mother, cups her hands  and whispers in the mother's ear, "HELL!"  The mother thinking she misunderstood asks, "what?!!"  The daughter again whispers, "HELL!"  The mother asks why is she crying, what has occurred in regard to hell that is making her sad.  The daughter responds, "I have sinned many times lately and I'm afraid of hell."

Two verses come to mind as I heard this story: "unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven."  Matthew 18:3    "...knowing therefore the terror of the Lord we persuade men..."  2 Corinthians 5:11

Well, and one more: "Jesus, said, 'Let the little children come to me, and do not hinder them, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to such as these."

Let us again be pained with the wrath of God that will ultimately send us to "hell" unless we  repent.  Let us as believers be all about turning sinners toward Christ.  May they experience in their hearts like this little child, a holy fear of "hell"!!

Truth or Consequences

In the 40's and 50's, there was a radio show and eventually TV show called, "Truth or Consequences".  It was a game show in which the contestant had to correctly answer a question or suffer the "consequences" of a wrong answer through a zany or embarrassing stunt.  I thought of that show as I read Zechariah, chapter seven.  God tells the people through his prophet, Zechariah, that they are to live out their lives in true, heart-righteous obedience or suffer the consequences.  However, these consequences are much more serious than the TV show's zany and embarrassing ones.

I fear I'm not thinking right in regard to a serious and holy God.  Committed meditation on the facts of God through His word are called for here!!  And this is just what He is calling His people to do through the prophet.  Consider what happened to your fathers, He tells them.  When I told them how to live, they did not obey.  (see last post: Deaf Hearts)  Now this is what happened to them: Great wrath from the LORD of hosts, I would not listen when they called, I scattered them with a storm wind, and their land became desolate.

Praise God for His prophets who committed to telling the whole truth and nothing but the truth with His help.  We, too, have His help.  And let us not become weary or oppressed by this truth.  The very presence of His Word to teach us these things shows His love for us is as strong as His wrath against the sin in us.

Deaf Hearts

  As a continuation of the last post, I will again use the term "solemn".  As believers, we must be all about living and speaking Christ to unbelievers!  But as we do this, we must also be much about watchfulness of our own hearts.  For while I used the last post to propose the condition of the heart without God, the passage from Zechariah actually refers to the heart that had supposedly been submissive to Him.  These five characteristics were being lived out by God's own people!

We must be much in prayer for our hearts to be devoted to obedience or we may find ourselves manifesting some or all of these traits: refusal to pay attention, turning stubborn shoulders, stopping ears from hearing, making our hearts like a "diamond" and in so doing, hearts not hearing: deaf!  And what are we missing with deaf hearts?  The law and the words which the LORD of hosts has sent by His Spirit through the former prophets.

It is a "dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God" (Hebrews 10:31).  This is solemn truth indeed but a needful reminder.

Diamond Hearts

"But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder and stopped their ears from hearing.  They made their hearts like flint so that they could not hear the law and the words which the LORD of hosts had sent by His Spirit through the former prophets; therefore great wrath came from the LORD of hosts. And just as He called and they would not listen, so they called and I would not listen," says the LORD of hosts; but I scattered them with a storm wind among all the nations whom they have not known.  Thus the land is desolated behind them so that no one went back and forth, for they made the pleasant land desolate."(Zechariah 7:11-13)  Solemn words!  "They refused to pay attention...turned a stubborn shoulder...stopped their ears from hearing...made their hearts like flint".  The ESV translation says, "they made their hearts diamond-hard".   As a believer, I think, "why do people work so hard to go to hell."  But then I'm arrested by another thought, "there go I apart from God's grace!"  My attitude must be as the apostle Paul, "Paul began devoting himself completely to the word, solemnly testifying to the Jews that Jesus was the Christ."  God grant me power, wisdom and the compassion and love of Christ.  Guide me in devoting myself completely to the word and solemnly testifying to unbelievers that Jesus is the Christ, the Savior of the world and He is The only Rock that can crush a diamond and make it shine!  Praise Your Holy Name!!

"Sound Living"

The word "sound" by definition is "good condition; not damaged, injured, or diseased".  I believe most all people desire their life to be "sound".  In fact, I would like for my life to be "sound as a bell" according to the definition given: "in perfect condition".  The Bible gives us advice as to how this can be a reality.  And as I read Morning of Charles Spurgeon's, Morning and Evening, July 4th, I can think of no better way to put it than he:  "'Sanctify them through Thy truth; Thy Word is truth.' (John 17:17)  The passages of Scripture which prove that the instrument of our sanctification is the Word of God are very many.  The Spirit of God brings to our minds the precepts and doctrines of truth, and applies them with power.  These are heard in the ear, and being received in the heart, they work in us to will and to do of God's good pleasure.  The truth is the sanctifier, and if we do not hear or read the truth, we shall not grow in sanctification.  We only progress in sound living as we progress in sound understanding.  'Thy Word is a lamp unto my feet and a light unto my path.'  Do not say of any error, 'It is a mere matter of opinion.'  No man indulges an error of judgment, without sooner or later tolerating an error in practice.  Hold fast the truth, for by so holding the truth shall you be sanctified by the Spirit of God."

AMEN!!