–Louis L’Amour  (Brionne)

 

       “Let integrity and uprightness preserve me, for I wait for You.”
                    –Psalm 25:21 (NKJV)
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Like it or not some of the things that happen to us come from the Lord.  All the things that happen to us He allows.  I don’t understand totally, but life brings problems, the devil brings problems, we cause our own problems, and at times the Lord chastises us through our problems while other times He is wanting to build our character.  In the midst of our situation, sometimes we make a promise to the Lord–a vow.  The second portion of Psalm 66 praises God for He keeping power and His deliverance along with the aspect of paying vows that were made.

          8 — Oh, bless our God, you peoples!  And make the voice of His praise be heard.
          9 — Who keeps our soul among the living, and does not allow our feet to be moved.
         10 — For You, O God, have tested us; You have refined us as silver is refined.
         11 — You brought us into the net; You laid affliction on our backs.
         12 — You have caused men to ride over our heads; we went through fire and through water; but You brought us out to rich fulfillment.
         13 — I will go into Your house with burnt offerings; I will pay You my vows,
         14 — Which my lips have uttered and my mouth has spoken when I was in trouble.
         15 — I will offer You burnt sacrifices of fat animals, with the sweet aroma of rams; I will offer bulls with goats.    Selah  (NKJV)

       Have you noticed that there is trial before victory?  You have to run the race, you have to train hard, before you can expect to win any awards.  Life is the same.  One thing that all should learn–experience is a great teacher, but it gives the test before teaching the lesson.  Don’t fall into that trap.
       Fire refines–the hotter the fire the better.  Far too often we give the devil credit for our problems, and yes, he is often the one who brings them to bear.  However, the Lord is there so that our feet will remain steadfast.  You thought you couldn’t bear the load, and yet, look at you carrying all that weight.  You thought you couldn’t cross the raging torrent, yet look where you are standing–on the other side.  F.B. Meyer said, “The fire of affliction fetcheth it [grace] out.”
       Look back at the trials, burdens, and difficulties in your life.  See what God has done.  If He did it before, will He not keep you now in your present situation?  But wait one minute–don’t forget to pay your vows.  Perhaps you promised the Lord something in the midst of trouble.  Have you made good on that promise?  Don’t fear the fire, but don’t forsake to pay your vows.

                    “Here, in thy courts, I leave my vow,
                     And thy rich grace record;
                     Witness, ye saints, who hear me now,
                     If I forsake the Lord.”
                              –Isaac Watts

                         –Elmer Kelton  (The Buckskin Line)

 

       “So teach us to number our days, That we might gain a heart of wisdom.”
                         –Psalm 90:12 (NKJV)
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Have you ever asked yourself, What is the purpose of life?”  Or maybe a better question, What are you doing with your life?   There are so many expectations for life–what others think, what your parents think, what the politicians and media think, what you think, and most importantly–what does God think.  What is expected of you?  Are you living up to your potential?  Have you even considered what your potential is?

               “Most men live lives of quiet desperation.”
                              –Henry David Thoreau

               [Life is] “an onion–you peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.”
                              –Carl Sandburg

               “The basic fact about human experience is not that it is a tragedy, but that it is a bore.  It is not that it is predominately painful, but that it is lacking in any sense.”
                              –H.L. Menchem

Do any of the above fit your view of life?  Are you that discontented?  Maybe you a feeling what Solomon said, that life is vanity–all is vanity.
       We live in a world of lies.  Let’s take a look at a few of them:

               1)  Laugh and the world laughs with you.  Cry and you cry alone.
               2)  Every day in every way our world is getting better.
               3)  There’s a light at the end of every tunnel.
               4)  Things are never as bad as they seem.

And according to Epictetus, “If you don’t like the terms [of life], it is always in your power to leave them.”
       “‘Everything is meaningless,’ says the Teacher, ‘utterly meaningless!'” (Ecclesiastes 1:2, NLT)  The term “vanity” or as the NLT translates it, “meaningless” is used 38 times in the Book of Ecclesiastes.  It literally means “breath”–anything that is transitory.  W.J. Deane puts it this way, “The vanity of all humans and mundane things, and the oppressive monotony of their continued recurrence.”  What goes around, comes around.
       Life can get that way but there is an answer, there is a cure–life in Jesus Christ.  “Vanity alludes us to the uselessness and emptiness of life which is not lived in fellowship with God, and in accord with the divine will.” (Harper)  In this crazy, insane world we have hope in Christ.  LIfe apart from Him has no meaning and cannot produce true happiness, therefore, it might truly be called vanity/meaningless.  Without Christ human desire is never satisfied.

               “Our lower aims and possessions become vanities to us only when we seek in them that supreme satisfaction which He who has ‘put eternity into our hearts’ designed us to find only in Him and in serving Him.”
                              –Samuel Cox
 
       Without Jesus Christ in our lives Solomon is correct in saying, “What profit has man left from all his toil at which he toils under the sun? [Is life worth living?]” (Ecclesiastes 1:3, Amplified)  As I get older I look at those who want “things” and I wonder–why.  More and more I see people seeking for the “good life” or for what they deem might be the good life and forsake the Giver of life.  The seeking after things is some of the saddest things of human life–the errors which divert men from their true aim, and plunge them into various and growing misery.

                    –Louis L’Amour  (We Shaped the Land With Our Guns)

       “Do not be bound together with unbelievers; for what partnership have righteousness and lawlessness, or what fellowship has light with darkness?”

                    –2 Corinthians 6:14 (NASB)
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How to Live in a Pagan, Apostate, and Foolish World

Key Verse:  “We know that we are of God, and that the whole world lies in the power of the evil one.”  –1 John 5:19 (NASB)

Friends, look around–look at the turmoil, fear, and torment that many face.  Look on the faces of your neighbor or colleague to see if you can find hope.  Ahh, it is so wonderful that as children of God we have an assurance, a hope that the Holy Spirit is with us–He is our “Comforter,” in these trying times until death or the return of the Lord.

               “By this we know that we abide in Him and He in us, because He has give us of His Spirit.”
                              –1 John 4:13 (NASB)

               “And hope does not disappoint, because the love of God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit who was given to us.”
                              –Romans 5:5 (NASB)

       This is the nature of the Christian life.  We are of the Spirit.  Because of that we see life differently than those in the world.  We have a different perspective and a different lifestyle.  Our aim is to please the heavenly Father.  We understand that we should live a righteous and moral life, and that we have a relationship with God because we are part of His family.  We abide in Christ and He abides in us.  WOW!
       When we were born again, we were placed in a relationship with Jesus.  We possess a Christian life, eternal life, and begin to see things through the eyes of the Spirit.  This does not come immediately–sooner for others than some.  It is a growth process just as in any relationship.  It comes through knowing His Word, through obedience to His will, through being nurtured and molded by the Holy Spirit.
       Give yourself a little test to see how much you are abiding in Christ:

               1)  What are the things of greatest concern, of greatest interest to you?
               2)  Do you rush for the Bible the same way you rush to listen to the news or to social media?
               3)  Are you concerned with the health of your soul?  Do you exercise it; eat properly?
               4)  How well do you know God?  Do you know Him better than entertainers, sports figures, or others in the news?
               5)  Are you interested in eternity, or is your mind on earthly things?

Friends, children of God — this is enough for this morning.  We are to abide in Christ.  We are to let the Holy Spirit work in and through us.  I will close and say for you to contemplate on the following:

               “Brethren, join in following my example, and observe those who walk according to the pattern you have seen in us.  For many walk, of whom I often told you, and now tell you even weeping, that they are enemies of the cross of Christ, whose end is destruction, whose god is their appetite, and whose glory is in their shame, who set their minds on earthly things.  For our citizenship is in heaven, from which also we eagerly wait for a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.”
                              –Philippians 3:17-20 (NASB)

                    –Stephen Bly (Throw the Devil Off the Train)

       “The Sovereign LORD is my strength!  He will make me as surefooted as a deer and bring me safely over the mountains.”

                    –Habakkuk 3:19(NLT)
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I don’t understand!  I don’t understand why there is so much suffering in the world; yet at the same time I do realize it is because of sin.  I don’t understand why this person dies, while another lives; yet I do realize that God is sovereign.  Sickness, suffering, sorrow, terror, hatred, bitterness, depression, and on I could add to the list–what a world we live in today; yet it all goes back to the sin issue.  Sin, the issue that man does not want to deal with; yet at the same time it is what Jesus came into this world to defeat.
       There is an old hymn, written during the Depression (wouldn’t that be an interesting study–to look at the songs written in the church during the Depression), in 1937 by W.B. Stevens.  Bad things happen to God’s people.  Trials, temptations, testings come in one form or another.  Why–I don’t understand?

               “Tempted and tried we’re oft made to wonder
                Why it should be thus all the day long,
                While there are others living about us,
                Never molested tho in the wrong.”

Sounds like the Prophet Habakkuk questioning God.  Why do the wicked seem to prosper?  Why does it seem that God’s people seem to suffer?   When are You going to do something about it, God?

               “When death has come and taken our loved ones,
                It leaves our home so lonely and drear;
               Then do we wonder why others prosper,
               Living so wicked year after year.”

I don’t understand!  Yet in our walk with God, He assures us that He is with us, that He cares for us, that He will be with us in all the situations we face in life.  This song, “Father Along,” has in recent years been much maligned.  It is said to be a dirge, a song that depresses, yet when I look at it, read and contemplate the words, what I see is the answer to, I don’t understand.  I see hope and faith in this song.  The words of the Prophet again come to mind:  if there is nothing left, if my bones are decaying, if I see distress upon the land, though there is pestilence and famine–“Yet I will exult in the LORD, I will rejoice in the God of my salvation.” (Habakkuk 3:16-19)
 
               “Faithful till death said our loving Master,
                A few more days to labor and wait;
               Toils of the road will then seem as nothing,
               As we sweep thru the beautiful gate.”

One day, and I’m not sure we’ll understand it all then either, but we will not care.  Our focus will be on the Lord as He calls us home.  Ahh, the word “home.”  This world tries to hold us, tries to test us, and often we get tempted to build a permanent dwelling here.  But listen!  Our home is being hammered right now on the streets of glory.  One day…

               “When we see Jesus coming in glory,
                When He comes from His home in the sky;
                Then we shall meet Him in that bright mansion,
                We’ll understand it all by and by.”

                                            Farther along we’ll know all about it,
                                            Farther along we’ll understand why;
                                           Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine,
                                           We’ll understand it all by and by.”

Grasp hold and hang onto that one phrase–“Cheer up, my brother, live in the sunshine.”  Don’t get down, look and focus on Jesus.  Let the Holy Spirit truly be your Comforter.  In the midst of the cloudy days, continue to live in the sunshine.  Don’t let the devil steal your joy, your peace, your faith.  One day…