Echoes From the Campfire

A man…should be like iron, not steel. If steel is heated too much it becomes brittle and it will break, while iron has great strength. Yet it can be shaped and changed by the proper hammering and the right amount of heat. A good man is like that.”

                         –Louis L’Amour  (The Iron Marshal)

       “For whom He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.”
                         –Romans 8:29(NKJV)
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Remember the little saying that was used so often that it became trite?  “God is good–all the time, and all the time–God is good.”  It became a device to get people’s involvement, and was used by some a little too often.  However, it is true.   In Psalm 111, we see the goodness of God displayed.  

          5 — He has given food to those who fear Him; He will ever be mindful of His covenant.
          6 — He has declared to His people the power of His works, in giving them the heritage of the nations.
          7 — The works of His hands are verity and justice; all His precepts are sure.
          8 — They stand fast forever and ever, and are done in truth and uprightness.
          9 — He has sent redemption to His people; He has commanded His covenant forever:  holy and awesome is His name.
        10 — The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom; a good understanding have all those who do His commandments.  His praise endures forever.  (NKJV)

Review last Monday’s study on Psalm 111.  I want to start with verse 4 as we read His wonders are to be remembered.   “God’s works are identified as wonders, which are usual but which are beyond the ordinary course of events” (Steven Lawson).  When we see His wonders, we are left in “wonder.”  Then that verse states that God is gracious and full of compassion, therefore, He is very kind to you. (Wood)
     Verse 5 shows that He provides food for His people.  But it goes further than that, God sustains us (Wood).  He gives us our daily bread, and He also clothes us, provides us with the necessities of life.  Paul states that “God shall supply all your need…” (Philippians 4:19)  I like what George Wood says, “Because God remembers your hunger–for food, security, relationship, or fulfillment–He will provide the ‘bread’ on the day you need it.  Don’t panic that tomorrow’s bread is not yet on your plate.”  God is good!
     Look at what He does for us in verse 6, He enlarges us.  We are never diminished, but He is ever expanding the territory of our lives, enlarging the sphere of influence (Wood).  The enemy will try to lie to you, but we know that if we obey God we will never have less than what is needed.  God is good!  
     God is faithful, we can always depend upon Him.  He is there in the midst of every and any situation, and His works are “verity” (justice, truth, faithful).  He will fulfill His promises.  Lawson describes it in this way, “God’s acts are just, meaning always right and equitable.  Moreover, all His precepts are trustworthy, meaning infallible, dependable, and they will surely come to pass.”  He is not a tease, one who dangles a carrot in front of you, urging you to take a swipe at it.  No, He is faithful and will never lead into temptation or give an illusionary fantasy to guide you.  We can depend upon Him–for He is good.
     The greatest good He has for mankind is seen in verse 9.  His greatest work, His greatest gift–redemption.  God provides redemption for His people.  The NLT renders it this way, “He has paid a full ransom for his people.  He has guaranteed his covenant with them forever…”.  His work of creation is great; His miracles performed on our behalf make us wonder, but above all His greatest work was to provide for our redemption.  He is good–“holy and awesome is His name”!
     The wisest thing we can do is praise the Lord.  This reverential fear “the necessary prerequisite of all wisdom…”.  The sobering awe of God is the beginning of wisdom; that is, the starting point and first principle of wisdom.” (Lawson)  This psalm ends where it begins–praise the Lord!  When we look at the world, we know that God is sovereign.   When looking upon any and all situations of your life–know that God is sovereign.  God is working for you, and He is working through you.  It may not be apparent, and the end result might not yet be seen, but remember that He is faithful and dependable–He is good!

               “O give me faith, and faith’s increase;
               Finish the work begun in me.
               Preserve my soul in perfect peace,
               And let me always rest on thee.”
                          –Charles Wesley

 

Echoes From the Campfire

There’s no enemy quite as bitter as a friend who’s turned against you.”

                    –Elmer Kelton  (Jericho’s Road)

       “Rise, let us be going.  See, My betrayer is at hand.”
                    –Matthew 26:46 (NKJV)
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“Beware the Ides of March,” so said the soothsayer to Julius Caesar, at least according to Shakespeare.  If you have read the play you know that this is the day that Julius Caesar was assassinated by the mob, led by his friend Brutus.  Brutus the betrayer.
     If you read Dante’s, “The Divine Comedy,” especially the section known as “The Inferno,” you will find that it was Dante who depicted different levels of hell.  Whether there are or not has led to much speculation and discussion, but it does lead to interesting reading, and it is thought provoking.  I do want to point out the lowest, deepest, most foul level, according to Dante, is that in which he placed, or saw, the most despicable sinners–Brutus and Judas.  Both known as the greatest betrayers in history.  Hmmm, wait a minute, that would leave room for one more, the greatest betrayer of all–Lucifer.
     Let me show you another betrayer; the one who betrays himself.  James speaks of the hearer of the word, “For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man observing his natural face in a mirror; for he observes himself, goes away, and immediately forgets what kind of man he was.” (James 1:23-24, NKJV).  Many students that I knew kept a mirror in their locker.  I would ask them why they look at themselves each time they open their locker.  Did they forget what they looked like from the last time?  Perhaps a pimple popped up or they had something stuck in their teeth.  Why is it that we continue to go back to a mirror, is there something we didn’t see the first time?  Or it is that the mirror might be betraying us?
     The self-betrayer is a dangerous person.  He can easily ruin his own life by doing so.  Here are some examples of the person who believes lies about themselves.  (Borrowing from Richard Dresselhaus)  
               “I am unloved.  That’s a lie.  God loves you…and so do others.  I’m uncertain of my eternal salvation.  That’s a lie…as long as you are abiding in Christ.  No one can erase your name from the Lamb’s book of life.  I am unattractive.  That’s a lie.  God made you.  So fix yourself up…and live with confidence.  My life doesn’t count.  That’s a lie…if you are living a life of obedience to the commands of Jesus.  Life is unfair.  That’s a lie.  Live for Jesus…and life is good.”
This is a short list, and true, others are deceiving and betraying you by saying these things, but you are betraying yourself by believing them.
     Then I think of the times that I have betrayed the Lord.  It was Judas who betrayed Jesus to the guards.  John writes, “And Judas, who betrayed Him, also knew the place; for Jesus often met there with His disciples.” (18:2, NKJV)  Matthew depicts the scene this way, “And while He was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, with a great multitude with swords and clubs, came from the chief priests and elders of the people.” (26:47, NKJV)  Yes, it was Judas, one of the twelve, one who had walked beside Jesus, had shared food with Him, had slept around the same campfires.  But look at who he brought:  a multitude, the temple guards from the chief priests.  Were they not betrayers as well?  The leaders of the people; the ones to whom the people looked for spiritual guidance sent guards to arrest the only one who could actually do so.  Wasn’t that betrayal as well?
     How many times have I promised to do something for the Lord and failed–isn’t that betrayal?  How many times have I had to go to prayer in repentance?  Stumbling and falling along the way–the narrow way.  I said I would take up my cross, but there have been times I let it fall, and I pushed it aside.  Betrayal!  But there is something that John wrote; something that we should cling to when this happens for it is only real betrayal if we grovel in our sins.  It is only betrayal if we do not again pick up our cross.  John said, “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” (1 John 1:9, NKJV)  Betrayal would be if we didn’t recognize our sin and did not go to the Master.  “[But] if we acknowledge and agree with God that we are sinners, He is faithful and righteous and will forgive us [of] our sins, and will cleanse us from every kind of iniquity and wrong.” (Harbuck)  
     That gives me hope.  We could stay in the dust and boohoo that we failed.  Or as many do, we could try to hide our sin, or say that it wasn’t really that big of a deal.  We read in Matthew that Judas was remorseful (27:3-5) but that is where is stopped.  He stopped with remorse and did not continue with repentance.  If we do the same, then we are betrayers as well.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

I think there is something here, something more than all you see and feel…it’s in the wind…. But you do not know what music is until you have heard the wind in the cedars, or the far-off wind in the pines.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Conagher)

       “For behold, He who forms mountains, and creates the wind, Who declares to man what his thought is, and makes the morning darkness, Who treads the high places of the earth— The Lord God of hosts is His name.”

                    –Amos 4:13 (NKJV)
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               “The wind knows the songs of cities and canyons,
                The thunder of mountains, the roar of the sea.
                The wind is the taker and giver of mornings,
                The wind is the symbol of all that is free.”
                         –John Denver

In this, the last study on the symbol of the wind I want to bring forth again the verse from John.  Jesus uses this idea for a power that is felt but unseen.  “The wind blows where it wishes, and you hear its sound, but you do not know where it comes from or where it goes. So it is with everyone who is born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8, ESV)  This shows the unseen power and work of the Spirit, but also the sovereignty of God and implies that no one can control His sovereignty.  We cannot see the working of the Spirit within a man, and it is God who chooses who and how to work.
     But, then, there are four directions from which the wind blows.  My Grandpa had a saying that I’ve heard in various forms:  “Wind from the West, fish bite the best.  Wind from the East, fish bite the least.  Wind from the North, do not go forth.  Wind from the South blows the bait in the fish’s mouth.”  Truth or folklore?  I guess it depends upon the fisherman, for when Grandpa went he most always came back with something; it may not be the limit, but there was usually something for the skillet.
     The East wind  is often depicted as a wind of destruction.  In the Middle East it is referred to as the “sirocco” and even worse as the people of Lebanon call it “the poison wind.”  In Scripture it was an east wind that blasted the grain in Pharaoh’s dream (Genesis 41); it brought the locusts upon Egypt (Exodus 10:13).  Job said it was the east which that carried the wicked away (Job 27:21)  Ezekiel depicts the east wind as the work of God’s judgment in the withering of the fruit trees (Ezekiel 17:10; 19:12).  It was also the east wind that blew on Jonah until he fainted (John 4:8).  F. E. Marsh relates it this way, “The Spirit of God comes sometimes as an east wind, breaking and discomforting, till like Jonah we faint with despair.”  When tribulation comes it may be the east wind blowing on our souls to develop the spiritual man and our character.
     Then there is the West wind of deliverance.  The east wind brought the locusts and it was the west wind that drove them away.  Jesus says that from the west comes the refreshing shower (Luke 12:54).  “The Spirit of God comes in the effectiveness of His power and drives away the locusts of evil, and in the shower of His grace to refresh the weariness of the saints.” (Marsh)
             “There’s a blue norther comin’ in
              I’ve never been so cold,
              How I hate that wind…”
                    –R.W. Hampton
     I’ve been in some of those blue northers.  They come up quickly from nowhere bringing cold weather.  Job alludes to this when he says, “Cold cometh out of the north.” (37:9)  No wonder we are told not to go forth to fish when the wind comes down from the north.  That wind can bring misery to the bones.  But that wind also brings fair weather (Job 37:22).  Yes, it may be cold, but the storm is gone.  No matter where we are in life the wind of the Spirit can invigorate the soul.
     Then there is the wind that comes in from the south, the wind of pleasantness.  Elihu says that the “garments are warm, when He quieteth the earth by south wind. (Job 37:17).  In the Song of Solomon we read that it is the south wind that “blow upon my garden, till the spices thereof may flow out.” (4:16)  What are these fragrances, these aromas that are stirred up by the south wind?  The odor of intercession (Revelation 5:8); the frankincense of a consecrated life (Matthew 2:11); the spikenard of love’s devotion (Mark 14:3); the incense of grateful worship (2 Chronicles 29:11); the fragrance of lowly adoration (Song of Solomon 1:12); the aroma of holy character (Psalm 45:8); the sweet smell of generous help (Philippians 4:18), the perfume of a faithful ministry (2 Corinthians 2:14-16). (Marsh)  
       Yes, God is sovereign and the wind is but a symbol of the Holy Spirit in that sovereignty.  The wind suggest the Spirit’s active operations.  As F.E. Marsh so ably puts it, “He is the Begetter of the new life, He is the Sustainer of the life He begets, He is the Purifier of the heart, He is the Active Opponent of the flesh, He is the Sanctifier of the saint, He is the Worker in service, He is the Leader in worship, and the Producer of the fruit of love and the fruits of Righteousness.”  When you see the wind blowing through the trees smile at the work of the Holy Spirit in your life.  Upon the breath of the breeze upon your neck think of the gentle touch of the Spirit working and guiding you.  Even in the roar of the storm do not fail to see the Spirit, for He is at work in the storms that come upon your life.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

It takes more than just blood to make a family. It takes love.”
                         –Elmer Kelton  (The Way of the Coyote)

        “Men and brethren, sons of the family of Abraham, and those among you who fear God, to you the word of this salvation has been sent.”

                         –Acts 13:26 (NKJV)
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We looked last week at the promise of Isaac’s birth and how Abraham, before Isaac was born, tried to take matters into his own hands.  In this portion of the Bible we can easily see two types, and I must say that we have to be careful about using types.  They are definitely there, but some read too much into them, instead of just looking at the truth in them.  Isaac is a type of Christ–he is the child of promise, just as Jesus was the child of promise–the promised Messiah.  See also the words to Sarah, “Is anything too hard for the LORD?” (Genesis 18:14, NKJV) and compare it to the words given to Mary, “For with God nothing will be impossible.” (Luke 1:37, NKJV)
       With the birth of Isaac there is great rejoicing and celebration.  God had fulfilled His promise.  However, during this Sarah saw Ishmael mocking the baby–the focus was no longer on him, but had shifted to Isaac.  Michael Bells shows the real conflict, “The human nature mocks the heaven born nature and that is why Christians experience huge conflict in their souls.”  Ishmael represents the carnal or human nature, while Isaac is the son of promise.  Oh, just an important side-note here:  “Now we, brethren, as Isaac was, are children of promise.” (Galatians 4:28, NKJV)  Don’t take this lightly, and do not feel insulted when mocked for Isaac was also mocked.
       Sarah now rejects Ishmael and tells Abraham to get rid of the boy.  The matter was greatly distressing and displeasing to Abraham for there was a relationship between father and son.  In this, God had to comfort Abraham telling him to send the boy and his mother away, but promised that Ishmael would be the father of a great nation. (Genesis 21:8-21)  Abraham experienced a heart-breaking trial, but the flesh, the carnal, must be cast off.  Yes, it was hard in the natural, but there was a more important spiritual lesson to learn.  “Isaac and Ishmael cannot live and fellowship together for they are at enmity one with the other.” (Bell).  God has to speak to Abraham, as He does to us if there is a conflict with the natural.  
       Abraham, and Sarah, had tried to take a shortcut to the promise, and now there is a problem.  We should realize from this that there are no shortcuts to the promises of God; we cannot get to Heaven by taking shortcuts.  Isaac, in this situation, is a type of the Church.  He has a privileged position, he is the heir to the promises and inheritance of God.  The riches of God are only available to legitimate heirs, not those of the world and therefore, those who are not believers will be sent away just as Ishmael was.
       Take time this week to read Galatians 4:21-31.  Briefly it states that Abraham had two sons:  the one by a bondwoman, the other by a freewoman.  The end of this portion of Scripture says, “Nevertheless what does the Scripture say?  ‘Cast out the bondwoman and her son, for the son of the bondwoman shall not be heir with the son of the freewoman.’  So then, brethren, we are not children of the bondwoman but of the free.” (Galatians 4:30-31)  Do not become confused with your right as a child of God.  Do not become entwined with the natural but remember who you are in the spiritual.  The seed of the world (Ishmael) must be driven out and not accepted.