Scripture: 1 Samuel 17:40 “Then he took his staff in his hand and chose five smooth stones from the brook and put them in his shepherd’s pouch. His sling was in his hand, and he approached the Philistine.”
According to 2 Timothy 3:16 “All Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness”
For that to be so, each verse of the Bible (the only Scripture for Christians) must consist of three layers: Contextual, Contemporary, and Christological. That is, what it meant in the context in which and for whom it was written originally, how it applies to the person reading/hearing it today, and how it applies to JESUS Christ, since (as He said), the Scriptures are foundationally about Him. (John 5:39).
It’s with these thoughts in mind that the phrase “smooth stones” struck me (no pun intended) in the story of David and Goliath.
The true story of the young shepherd who killed the gigantic enemy of Israel is one of the most well known stories around the world, to Bible Believers and non-Believers alike. And everyone knows David used a slingshot to kill the giant. But why does the Bible emphasize that they were smooth stones that David chose to use?
The contextual sense is intuitive. You can guess that smooth stones would fly better from a slingshot than oddly shaped ones and you’d grab the smoothest stones you could find, too.
The Hebrew word for “brook” suggests that this was not just any water formation but was in the bottom of a gully formed from the water running over the same path for a long time. The context in the chapter repeats this happened in a valley. And the Hebrew word for smooth (pronounced khal·lük’ ) even sounds like running water that would smooth stones over time.
And that brings us to the contemporary issue. Unless you’re a slingshot hunter the above information isn’t very helpful until you consider that it has a practical, spiritual side for handling the issues in your life. Goliath was a real, powerful, seasoned warrior nearly 10 feet tall being opposed in face to face combat by a real, young shepherd. And the future king of Israel literally killed Goliath by throwing a rock that sank into Goliath’s forehead. That mustn’t be spiritualized away by talking about “giant” problems in your life as if the physical battle never happened. But in addition to the battle that happened historically we can apply the principles to what we face today. The significance of the smooth stones David used is in the well-worn way we can apply today.
David alludes to this when he says earlier in the chapter that the same GOD Who gave him victory over the lion and the bear will give him victory over this evil oppressor and opposition to the people of GOD. Just as water wore the useless stones into smooth usefulness, the situations in your life are preparing you to be a tool in the Hand of GOD to accomplish His purposes. Every act of the Spirit in and through you, every situation that washes over you is smoothing the useless away and fitting you for your destiny, even if it is for eternal things you will not know until then.
Follow the well-worn way of faith that those of the Bible followed and you’ll find the victory they found through the same GOD Who not only saved them but uses the smoothness they were worn into to be of use to you.
Finally, what does all of this have to do with JESUS? As the Jewish song Deyenu says, “It would have been enough” if we could just depend on GOD to transform our situations. But He did more. The Bible says that because the Son of GOD, JESUS Christ, came to earth to live as GOD in flesh, He was tempted in all ways as we are as a man of sorrows and well acquainted with grief. The circumstances of life washed over Him as well, and though He never sinned, He knew what it was to be obedient even to death on the cross though His humanity cried out against it. Knowing the faithfulness of the Father smoothed away the horror of JESUS literally enduring Hell for us so that JESUS chose to save us in spite of the pain and shame. And because He bore our sins in the process we have become the smooth stones to defeat the works of the enemy of the Kingdom of GOD. JESUS transforms not only our circumstances, but us, to be like Him.
The wearing of the water made stone fit for David. The wisdom of the well-worn way of faith can equip us to use every situation to GOD’s Glory. And with the willing, JESUS transforms us through His faithfulness and obedience into the Children of GOD.
Engage!
Proverbs 3:5, 6 “Trust in the LORD with all your heart and do not rely on your own understanding. Acknowledge Him in all your ways and He will direct your paths.”
The captain of the Starship Enterprise, having decided upon the mission, seats himself in the throne-like captain’s chair, decisively points a finger forward, and shouts, “Engage!”
In its various meanings, “engage” is one of the most wonderful words in the English language. The common element in all of the definitions is being involved in or having an influence upon something, whether at work or in relationships or Life in general. And all of these meanings are involved in the Scripture for today. Though we’ll only cover a few for brevity’s sake (please, no applause!).
At work, an employer engages an employee upon hiring. But it doesn’t stop there. A good supervisor will ensure that employee also feels engaged in the work, has a vested interest in the mission. Though we might flinch at the analogy at first, we all want, even need, to have the cog in a wheel sense of engagement, that our presence would be missed and the work of others would suffer for lack of our influence. We need to be connected. And that synergism acts toward the good of the whole.
And most people know the joy of being engaged in a family, tied to common interests, histories and goals and the horizons of a common future in a romantic relationship. We even call the process “engagement” when finding love suddenly becomes being in love and the impetus of loving and being loved by another drives us forward, together, to make a common history of shared memories.
It was love that had GOD create humanity, and seek to be engaged in the progress of their lives. And from the beginning, even before Eve or sin came into the world, Adam was given rewarding work to do in the garden and influence upon it and every other living thing upon the earth, to name and enjoy them.
With the coming of sin came seperation between GOD and humanity. The cogs no longer meshed as they should. The world and everything in it became corrupt. The answer to get back to GOD could only come by becoming intrinsically different than the corrupt world. A whole different wheel that, like GOD, could be in the world but not of the world. JESUS Christ, as the Second Person of the Godhead, fully GOD yet fully human, is the only way that could happen.
By belief in the death, burial and resurrection of JESUS on their behalf, Believers become Christians, engaged with/to JESUS. And it’s because He seeks to be engaged…involved with and betrothed to…us. His concerns become our concerns just as ours, like our need for eternal life to bring us back to the Father who sent Him, are His. As a woman accepting the offer of engagement from a man, all that is needed on our part is to accept.
And that changes everything. We now have the ability to be in (influencing but not controlled by) the world but not of its corruption because it is the Holy Spirit, Third Person of the Godhead, living Christ’s Life through us. As in human betrothals, we suddenly act not out of what it can do for us, but how it will affect the Beloved and those the Beloved cares about. In the case of our Beloved Savior, that means using His Love in us to do acts of love by engaging ourselves in meeting the needs of others. But none of this is possible without His Spirit engaging our whole lives by accepting Who He is and what He has done for us.
He gives us the strength to act on trust of the Beloved, even though we don’t always understand what He is doing, because He has poured out His Life for us in order pour His Life into us. And through us. Our choices and desires become affected by wanting to please and be with the Beloved. So we seek His approval and guidance and want to be wherever He leads.
JESUS, the Captain of our souls and the King of Kings for all eternity, challenges and calls to us: Engage!
Psalms 79:9 Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of thy name:
and deliver us, and purge away our sins, for thy name’s sake…80:19
Psalms 80:19 Turn (Restore) us again, O LORD God of hosts, cause thy
face to shine; and we shall be saved.
Crud-entials
From raising babies to training puppies, human beings reinforce a
mistaken idea that can ruin their earthly lives and threaten their
eternal lives. That’s the idea of “good boy” or “good girl.” Because
we reward our children for doing what we want, and our puppies for not
going potty in the house, we get the mistaken idea that we earn all of
the good things we have in life. But that just isn’t so.
GOD says throughout the Bible that there is no good in humanity since
Satan tricked the first couple in the Garden of Eden into choosing their
own ways instead of GOD’s. Sometimes, as with Abraham, He will “credit” behavior to us as “righteous”, but even that is tainted with our
selfishness. JESUS says there is “none good but God.” Even when we do the “right” thing, there is some “what’s in it for me” element involved.
Rather than credentials to earn the good things of life, our best
actions are considered “filthy rags” (literally used tampons in the
Hebrew). They’re not credentials but “crud”-entials. We have all of
the good things of Life purely because GOD chooses to grant them to us.
These two Psalms, 79 and 80, were probably joined as one originally.
They were written and sung in the middle of torment by oppressors. The
children of Israel had been abused by captors and enemies and begged for
help from GOD over and over again who allowed them to come up for air.
Then they once again took pride in themselves, turned from GOD again,
and got submerged into slavery again to learn the bitter lesson that
they were not their own and could be owned (”pwned” these days) by other
humans being manipulated by their own evil desires spurred by Satan or
they could acknowledge their true master as GOD. But then they slipped
up and ended up in the same predicament again.
In these two verses, though, we find the answer to that question Paul
asks in Romans 7:24 “Who will rescue me” from doing exactly what I know
from experience I should not do and not doing that what I know I
*should* do? It is purely GOD.
GOD is our Salvation. He is our rescuer. That is why JESUS was born.
If we could do the right thing in our own power we wouldn’t need Him.
But we can’t so we do. And why? For the glory of His own Name.
This would seem prideful if it were anyone but GOD speaking. Humans
would be prideful and wrong to do something for their own glory. That
is what got Satan in trouble and what gets us in trouble every day. But
since GOD is the only One WORTHY of Glory, it is not only fitting and
right for Him to do things for His own glory, but to our benefit.
Because He invites us to trade identities with Him. Our “crud” is
passed to Him by the cross when we give ourselves over to Him
completely. He transfers our identity, like a credit card going through
a cash register, into credit on our account. But His blood pays the
charges and we are given a receipt in His Name giving us all of the
benefits of His never having sinned. Now we have the right to enter
into Heaven because we have the receipt. We have the Name applied to
us. We have His Life applied to us. And whatever life we have now is
in His identity of honor, not ours of bad choices. So His Glory is now
our glory.
He washed us clean, he purified us, for His own Name’s sake. If he had
done it in the name of any created thing, that would be as faulty as the
person who keeps failing. But because He never fails, His Name is pure.
Because He is the only totally honorable One, He is the only One whose Name is reliable. He is the only One who can and does restore us and
His face shines upon us as our Heavenly Father.
Glory Train
Song:Glory Train
Genesis 47:9 “And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
One of my earliest memories is from when I was about two years old, sitting on a chair in a hallway in New York, and my father putting what I now know was a cast iron train engine on my lap and leaving me sitting alone in the hall with it.
He obviously intended to delight me with a toy. But that huge metal thing, about the size of a man’s forearm it seems, was so heavy it hurt my legs and terrified me, thinking no one would come back for me and I’d never get it off.
Life is like a train ride we wake up on without knowing how we got there or our destination. Unless we know the intent of the One who gave it to us, what was meant to be a delightful adventure can become a terrifying experience.
In today’s Scripture passage we read a statement the Jewish patriarch Jacob makes to Pharaoh of Egypt. Joseph, Jacob’s son, had been sold into slavery as a boy by Jacob’s other sons, Joseph’s jealous half-brothers.
Over the years, GOD had watched over Joseph and made him the most powerful man in Egypt (perhaps the world) besides Pharaoh, King of Egypt.
Joseph had gotten Egypt through a famine taking place throughout Egypt and Israel and as a reward Pharaoh allowed Joseph to bring his entire family (father, little brother and all of those half-brothers who once hated him) into Egypt to eat, live and survive.
And when Joseph introduces his father, Jacob, to Pharaoh, this statement about his long and bitter life is what Jacob says to Pharaoh.
GOD had given Jacob miracles throughout his life. He had literally seen angels going up and down into Heaven. And he had lived a long while and seen his sons and grandchildren blessed. Yet with the same breath Jacob complains about how bitter his life has been, he complains that it hasn’t been long enough. He didn’t understand the greatness of the adventure he had been given or where his life would lead.
For Jacob is one of the names with which GOD Himself identifies Himself throughout the rest of the Bible. “The GOD of Abraham (Jacob’s grandfather), Isaac (Jacob’s father) and Jacob.” So great were the lives and adventures of these three that GOD and those who had faith in Him until this very day name those names and claim that the GOD Who could be trusted to overcome any trial and work miracles for them is just as trustworthy today.
You and I are pilgrim passengers through Life today. Do you know where your trip is taking you? Do you know where your eternal soul will get off when your body can carry you no further?
JESUS Christ has prepared a place for you. He has an adventure for you to live in this Life, if you are willing to trust your Life to Him, and He has purchased with His own Life, death and resurrection a trip Home to be with GOD the Father forever when this adventure is over.
Because we see only part of the train tracks now, it sounds insane to trust that there is greater light on the other side of the tunnel than the light we have seen on this side of the tunnel. So we want to make up our own itineraries though we have no knowledge and very little control over where the train of life is taking us.
But JESUS, Who came from the Father and is the only One Who has gone beyond the tunnel of death and returned to bring us with Him through it to eternal Life, knows. He has done all that needs to be done. He is all we need, if we will abandon the heavy baggage of our own ways which only lead us off track and give ourselves over to Him. Then the Holy Spirit becomes the conductor of our hearts, helping us day by day to follow JESUS Home.
The Glory Train is waiting. The cost is your life of a dead end track in exchange for a never ending adventure that seems heavy and frightening until you realize the destination and that the Father Himself brings you there.
All aboard!
“If the Son sets you free, you will be free indeed.” – John 8:36
I love the United States. It is the most blessed country on Earth besides Israel, the land GOD chose for Himself and second only to Israel it is the country GOD Himself was most active in founding.
Today is the Fourth of July, Independence Day in the United States, celebrating that official declaration of itself as a free nation. Pastors in pulpits all over the US and military Chaplains all over the world are standing beside United States flags preaching about freedom today, some with sermons based on this same text. Some famous ministers, sons of great immigrant preachers, have built entire ministries around freedom and patriotism. But, unless they distinguish between political and Spiritual freedom, they are wrong. In fact, some of them are still prisoners themselves. Because political freedom is a wonderful thing but it has nothing at all to do with Spiritual freedom except to the extent that some of its patriots may have been Christians. And that political freedom makes Spiritual worship as groups easier.
The most enslaved martyr in a mud pit somewhere who trusts in JESUS Christ would be more free than the President of the United States if that president were not a Christian. Because, as JESUS Himself declares in the Gospel of John and in this quote in particular, only He as the Son of GOD, the image of GOD in flesh, can set human beings free. And the only freedom that counts is freedom from sin (and as its consequence, death).
Without freedom from individual addiction to choosing disloyalty to GOD over your own so-called rights, you are a slave to anything other than GOD. Freedom of speech is not free at all if the speaker is still a slave to sin because every word is tainted with treason agai nst the One who created and offers freedom. Free exercise of religion is not true freedom because GOD Himself ordained that only He be worshipped as the GOD of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob and as JESUS Christ, the Only Begotten Son. To guarantee other worship is not offering freedom but facilitating slavery to idolatry.
Political freedom is right and good. The United States was founded on the precepts of the Bible, and by some true Christians who were truly free. But true, Spiritual freedom has had nothing to do with the political rights of Life, Liberty and the Pursuit of Happiness, as wonderful as those things are. True freedom is Spiritual: Spiritual Life, which only JESUS can give, Spiritual Liberty which He bought with His own Life on our behalf, and the Spirit’s Pursuit of Happiness which can only be found by His indwelling Holy Spirit seeking to share the Love of GOD with others, which JESUS brought about by His resurrection.
Political freedom? By all means. Thank GOD for it. Literally. Fight to keep it. Die for it if necessary. Seek it for others. But understand that you will die a slave to the enemy of your souls, who makes Hitler look like a schoolgirl, and spend eternity in Hell while the chained prisoner who can only kneel to JESUS in her soul is free, unless you can say from your soul and mean it: “I recognize no Sovereign but GOD and no King but JESUS.”
Serving others through His Holy Spirit in you is the only way you will be truly, Spiritually free. Free indeed.
Sinfulness is not that you act twisted from time to time but that you are by nature a corkscrew when you’re meant to be a butterknife.
The Gospel is when we accept that JESUS became the butterknife we couldn’t be on our behalf & live in His knifeness rather than our corkscrewness
John 16:32 (Amplified Version) “But take notice, the hour is coming, and it has arrived, when you will all be dispersed and scattered, every man to his own home, leaving Me alone. Yet I am not alone, because the Father is with Me.”
If you feel isolated and lonely, there is good news for you. We were never meant to be alone. GOD never designed us to be. He is Triune, One yet Three, in some way we can’t understand but have labelled Perichoresis because it is what JESUS Himself describes of Himself and the GODhead. GOD has never been alone, but always has fellowshipped Father, Son, Holy Spirit, each distinct yet fully each other, One. One yet eternally with the ability to love another because He is Love; the Father loving the Son yet always being the Father and the Son being the Only Begotten yet One with the Father; and the Holy Spirit being the expression of the Son in us to the Glory of the Father. One GOD.
HELP OF HEARTBEATS: GOD says in Genesis 2:18, It is not good for man to be alone. And from the very beginning GOD gave animals as helpers to him. So from the beginning of creation mankind has been given what I call the Help of Heartbeats…other living creatures.
Do you have a pet? Whether it’s a dog or a bird, a rabbit or a snake, most people realize that the companionship of another living creature is a blessing. Perhaps it’s a farm animal to help with labor or a cat companion but the human heart has a need to give and care and pets fill that need of another heartbeat we can feel in ways that not even fellowship with GOD, Who is Spirit, can do. There is no reason for you to ever feel lonely. GOD created animals to help you overcome it. Find one suitable for you.
HELP OF HUMANITY: Even the companionship of animals has its limits, though, so GOD provides the help of humanity. Nothing in creation is suitable for a man as mate except a woman. They were literally designed for each other. And most people are called to become a couple, the man and wife as helpmates to get through life as one. But even couples, as well as singles, need other human beings to learn, communicate, grow and live. Most countries have government systems in place which, flawed as they are, have humans helping other humans in need of food, shelter, clothing and companionship even if no family or friends can or will help. If you feel the isolation of need, reach out to agencies that exist to help you. They can and will.
HELP OF THE HOLY SPIRIT: The greatest help of all, though is the help of GOD Himself. Not only did the Father love us so much that He gave His Son to live, die and rise from the dead on our behalf to bring us back to the Father by securing the eternal life we threw away. But the Holy Spirit Himself lives in Believers to comfort us and help us get through Life until we’re Home with GOD in Heaven where JESUS represents us as He lives in and through Believers on earth. Whether you realize it or not, you need eternal life. And that is only possible through accepting GOD on His own terms, in relationship with Him through JESUS Christ. Even if you don’t believe or understand it, give yourself over to Him and ask Him to show you the way to Himself. He will.
HELP OF WHOLENESS: And finally, we have the help of wholeness. As Believers we are never alone but are one member of the Body of Christ made up of other Believers throughout the world. Even JESUS prayed for you, that as a Believer you would be united with all other Believers from throughout time in unity, just as He and the Father are One. And Paul reminds us that every Believer goes through the same struggles as you are going through. We can find comfort in the same comfort they found and share ours with them. Read the comfort GOD provides through the Bible. Attend a Bible-believing church where you can experience the fellowship of others who are seeking as you are. You are not alone.
GOD has given you the Help of Heartbeats in other living creatures, the Help of Humanity in other human beings and perhaps one special person as your spouse, the Help of the Holy Spirit through a new life in JESUS Christ and 24/7 companionship into eternity and the Help of Wholeness as a member of the Body of Believers.
Feelings of isolation cannot last because the reality is you are not alone. You are never “I” but “we”, just as GOD meant all of His children to be thinking of themselves, joined to Him and each other and reaching out in His love to others.
______________________
SCRIPTURES:
Genesis 2:20
John 8:16, 29
John 14:18
John 16:32
John 17:20
1 Corinthians 10:13
2 Corinthians 1:4
Hebrews 13:5
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Fathers Day is meant for any man who didn’t just plant seed but supports growth, provides shade & shines as an example of manhood
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“Don’t get trapped, Sir
In debates about the rapture
That only stir more trouble than their worth
It really doesn’t matter
If it’s pretrib, mid or latter
If we are living out the Gospel while on earth”
JESUS, fully GOD & fully man, born of a virgin, lived the sinless life we couldn’t, died the death of punishment we should have, payed our debt & rose from the dead, living & giving us eternal Life with the Father forever. When we are called by His Spirit to trust Him for that, we are born again, long to stop doing what He disapproves, & to tell others the same good news. He is coming back for us. To debate details only divides Believers when it doesn’t matter since we should be living as if it will be any moment anyway.
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Though no one cares about me, let me care about You and let others see Your care for them through me.
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