Echoes from the Campfire

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

If a body takes out to follow a made trail down over the hills, he’d best hold to that trail… Most of the trouble a man finds in the mountains is when he tries shortcuts or leaves a known way.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Treasure Mountain)

      “Be careful to obey all these commands I am giving you. Show love to the Lord your God by walking in his ways and holding tightly to him.
                    –Deuteronomy 11:22(NLT)
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Psalm 102 started with gloom and despair then moved into the faithfulness and patience, and greatness of the Lord.  To finish we see a challenge.  We, whatever generation you find yourself in, are to leave a record for future generations.  Believers are to leave a godly heritage and legacy to those coming up.  They are to fill the gap and it is the responsibility of the older generations to teach, guide, and provide the means for them to do so.

          18 — This will be written for the generation to come, that a people yet to be created may praise the LORD.
          19 — For He looked down from the height of His sanctuary; from heaven the LORD viewed the earth.
          20 — To hear the groaning of the prisoner, to release those appointed to death.
          21 — To declare the name of the LORD in Zion, and His praise in Jerusalem.
          22 — When the peoples are gathered together, and the kingdoms, to serve the LORD.
          23 — He weakened my strength in the way; He shortened my days.
          24 — I said, “O my God, do not take me away in the midst of my days; Your years are throughout all generations.
          25 — Of old You laid the foundation of the earth, and the heavens are the work of Your hands.
          26 — They will perish, but You will endure; yes, they will all grow old like a garment; like a cloak You will change them, and they will be changed.
          27 — But You are the same, and Your years will have no end.
          28 — The children of Your servants will continue, and their descendants will be established before You.”  (NKJV)

       What does your biography say?  Was it a broken road, a road full of failure?  Or was it a road of battle and victories; overcoming adversity?  Most likely it was a mixture, but the important thing is that God kept you.  That is your testimony.  God looks down from heaven to view you upon your journey, in fact, we have the Holy Spirit (Paraclete) with us along the way to guide us, to help us, to comfort us, to chastise us and give us direction.
       The people were looking forward to the end of captivity in Babylon.  Then a new people came along, the Persians.  They must have wondered where God was in all of this.  Yes, He said He would discipline the nation, but now has he forgotten His people?  Here the Psalmist says with a resounding cry, No, God is looking down at His people.  I imagine the people had their problems in the midst of being held captive.  Look for example at Daniel, after leaving Babylon, he went to Persia where he would one day enter the lions’ den.
       The Psalmist reminds us that God does not change.  In the midst of life’s journey–God is there and He does not change.  Through life’s journey, we may have pain, sorrow, and heartache–God is there and He does not change.  Along the road there may be vicious attacks and the lions’ den may be our destiny, or a fiery furnace–God is there and He does not change.  “God will forever remain the same, immutable in his divine person and unchangeable in his eternal purpose.  Because the Lord does not change, his future work through his people will be established.” (Steven J. Lawson0
       If you see the church caving into the world it is your duty, your obligation to remain strong and stable.  This is your legacy to those that follow.  If it seems as if the nations rage against God it is your responsibility to be a light and salt to those around you.  Live in hope; live in faith.  Tell the stories of God’s faithfulness from Scripture; tell the stories of His faithfulness in your life.  No matter what, remain faithful and this will be recorded for future generations.

               “In heavenly love abiding,
               No change my heart shall fear;
               And safe is such confiding,
               For nothing changes here.
               The storm may roar around me,
               My heart may low be laid;
               But God is round about me,
               And can I be dismayed?”
                         –Anna L. Waring

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Never give up. Life is too important. You find a way to fight for every second of life.”

                    –C.J. Petit  (Luke)

       “Is there not a cause?…  Let no man’s heart fail because of him; your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”
                    –1 Samuel 17:29, 32 (NKJV)
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I was fortunate that from the age of two onward, I was told or read the stories from the Bible.  My aunt either told them told me, or read them to me, and they were certainly brought to my attention in Sunday School.  I must have heard the story of David and Goliath over a hundred times because of this and subsequent sermons.  Now I may have heard this somewhere before but it really didn’t stick in my thoughts until the other evening when I was reading a book by Alan Redpath.
       I have always imagined Goliath strutting around, mocking the armies of Israel.  When you read about his appearance he must have been something to behold.  He was clothed in brass, and he was a majestic sight.  Then add to his image that of his weapons.  Wow, what a specimen, and he knew it.  Not only was he a great warrior, but he was arrogant.  “Look at me,” he would proclaim, and he did so in the sight of Israel’s army for forty days, challenging, mocking, and scorning them.
       Satan is much the same.  He strides through cities and countries in marvelous garb.  It may be an ideology, it may be modern education, it may be evolution, it may be postmodernism, or any numerous other ideas.  The modern mind is brought to the strutting being with his flashing garb of whatever it may be.  He looks at Christians and mocks them.  And much of the time we are like the army of Israel–pathetic.  Fear grips us, compromise looks alluring, what could it hurt.  Think of COVID and remember how the nations quaked in fear.  “They were a people in covenant relationship with God, but actually in the bondage of fear before Goliath and all that he stood for!” (Redpath)  Paul writes, “Whose minds the god of this age has blinded, who do not believe, lest the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine on them” (2 Corinthians 4:4, NKJV).  Man will believe the giants around him, but not the word of Almighty God.  How foolish!  Satan, like Goliath, defies the people of God.  
       I always wondered why Saul, the king, a warrior in his own right, did not go out to face Goliath.  Wasn’t that his responsibility?  But Saul, by this time had forfeited the anointing of the Holy Spirit that was once upon him.  Disobedience, dabbling in the things of the world, things he was told not to do, Saul was quaking with the rest of the army.  One the scene a champion.  The giant was calling, “Give me a man!” (1 Samuel 17:10)  David appears and in the larger sense, Jesus appears.  Yet he was scorned, by his brethren, especially Eliab.  Hmmm, why didn’t Eliab go face Goliath?  He ridiculed David, “Eliab’s anger was aroused against David…I know your pride and the insolence of your heart, for you have come down to see the battle.” (1 Samuel 17:28, NKJV)  A picture of our Lord, “He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11, NKJV)  Isaiah said, “He is despised and rejected by men, a Man of sorrows and acquainted with grief…” (Isaiah 53:3, NKJV)
       David was a picture of the Lord Jesus Christ, who overcame the “giant” (Satan) at Calvary.  Know this, as it was with Goliath, who cried, “Give me a man!”  The same is true of Satan, give me a man.  The battle was to be decided by representatives of each side:  Goliath–Satan; Jesus–church of believers.  Satan, the giant who sneers at the Church, and on the scene comes a man.  He doesn’t look like much.  He is not arrayed in magnificent armor.  All He has is the Word of God.  He will face this giant for us.  I am amazed that Saul even allowed David to go fight.  After all, he was a representative.  If he was killed then the Philistines would prevail and Israel would be their slaves.  But Saul sends him out, his brothers are angry with him, but he doesn’t care–he has a mission.  The world didn’t care about the coming of Christ–ah, but He had a mission.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Want of money was a thing he never experienced and never understood. He had been broke often, but he had never been poor.”
                     –Elmer Kelton  (The Good Old Boys)

       “There is one who makes himself rich, yet has nothing; And one who makes himself poor, yet has great riches.”

                     –Proverbs 13:7 (NKJV)
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               “For the poor you have with you always, but Me you do not have always.”
                         –John 12:8 (NKJV)

               “So He called His disciples to Himself and said to them, ‘Assuredly, I say to you that this poor widow has put in more than all those who have given to the treasury.'”
                         –Mark 12:43(NKJV)

               “For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sakes He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich.”
                         –2 Corinthians 8:9 (NKJV)

Poverty is not a lack of money!  In my experience with life, with people, with students I have seen many times the statement by Jesus in John put to use.  It is very apparent in our society today.  Foolishness abounds, folly is rampant!  In my study of Psalm 119, two things that are apparent:  the seeking of knowledge and obedience.  
       I came across a very good piece of information written by a friend of mine, Anne Landry.  She does a good job of briefly explaining poverty.  

               1)  Academic poverty — you can’t learn if you can’t be disciplined.
               2)  Emotional poverty — you feel useless, unwanted, and you have unwarranted anger.
               3)  Mental poverty — you allow the mind to become lazy and unaware of its surroundings thereby giving way to inability to think, recall and to focus.
               4)  Social poverty — you become a complainer, an agitator causing the loss of respect and friendships.  You also begin to blame others for your difficulty.
               5)  Spiritual poverty — you forget to allow God to give you what you as a child need in your life at this time.  Believing God for what you need is not just for adults.  God loves you and wants what is best for you.  He wants you to have joy and peace.

Sometimes I just have to shake my head when I see the antics of those around.  Look at the stupidity of the nonsensical talk regarding gender.  Think of the time wasted in Congress over hearings regarding the finding of aliens.  Oh, and the money wasted; they call it pork-barrel spending.  
       Paul understood what wealth, true wealth was.  He wrote to the Philippians, “Not that I speak in regard to need, for I have learned in whatever state I am, to be content:” (4:11).  Then again to Timothy, “Now godliness with contentment is great gain.” (1 Timothy 6:6, NKJV)  Rich, poor, in-between, contentment is what Paul learned.  If all you have is beans to eat, be content.  Contentment drives away the attitude of poverty.  Some, who have enough, think they need more–that is a type of poverty.
       The man who gains the whole world, but loses his soul is a poor, wretched man indeed (Matthew 16:26).  Jesus tells us, “For where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. (Matthew 6:21, NKJV)  Real treasure, as well as poverty begins with the heart.  What is wealth anyway?  Paul declares that because Jesus came to us in our poverty (spiritual) we became rich when we accepted Him.  
       Sometimes, no, many times, my patience is pushed to the edge by those of foolish minds, by the “poor” who walk among us.  When I look at the foolishness presented by the media, I want first to show anger, then to cry, then pity comes forth, but then I see the realization of the truth of God’s Word.  Our riches and wealth are in Christ Jesus.  In Him, I have all I need.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

People’s struggles and heartbreaks must be for some good end.”

                         –Zane Grey  (Captives of the Desert)

       “It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I may learn Your statutes.”
                         –Psalm 119:71 (NKJV)
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               “We are assured and know that [God being a partner in their labor] all things work together and are [fitting into a plan] for good to and for those who love God and are called according to [His] design and purpose.”
                          –Romans 8:28(Amplified)

               “And we know that all that happens to us is working for our good if we love God and are fitting into his plans.”
                         –Romans 8:28(TLB)

Last week I wrote regarding the goodness of God; that He is good.  I want to continue in that vein this morning.  He is good!  I can’t get that out of my mind.  I am constantly saying to myself throughout the day and if I wake up at night that God is good.  He was good to me yesterday and also my yesteryears.  He is good to me today, and I know that He will be good to me tomorrow.
       I want to share some thoughts I found in reading Charles Bridges (1794-1869).  He was a very renowned minister in England and was one of the leaders of the Evangelical party in the Church of England.

               He is good–He is goodness.  Good in Himself–good in His essence–good in the highest degree.  All the names of God are comprehended in this one of Good.  All the acts of God are nothing else but the effluxes of His goodness distinguished by several names according to the object it is exercised about.  When He confers happiness without merit, it is grace.  When He bestows happiness against merit, it is mercy.  When He bears with provoking rebels, it is patience.  When He performs His promise, it is truth.  When He commiserates a distressed person, it is pity.  When He supplies an indigent person, it is bounty.  When He supports an innocent person, it is righteousness.  And when He pardons a penitent person, it is mercy.  All summed up in this one name–Goodness.  None so communicatively good as God.

       The Psalmist declares, “You are good, and do good; teach me Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:68, NKJV)  Because God is good to us we should seek to learn more of Him, of His nature, of His character, of His goodness.  Because He is good and we belong to Him, we should then seek to do good. (Matthew 5:16)  Truly, we cannot be good like the Lord, but through us people should see His goodness because we are good.
       It is because He is good that we receive His blessings.  It has nothing to do with our goodness.  He cares for us, He bestows His goodness.  When I think of His goodness I think of all the times He has cared for me; in the good and the bad, He was there and He cared and He was good.  The song by Charles Weigle comes to mind:

               “If my heart could tell a story
               If my life would sing a song
               If I have a testimony
               If I have anything at all

               No one ever cared for me like Jesus
               His faithful hand has held me all this way
               And when I’m old and grey
               And all my days are numbered on the earth
               Let it be known in you alone
               My joy was found
               Oh my joy, my joy.”

God is good–all the time.  And all the time–God is good!