No man or woman passes my cabin in a month.  But I am never lonely.  I love these vast canyon walls towering above me.  And the silence is so sweet.”
              –Zane Grey  (Call of the Canyon)

    “Then they are glad because they are quiet; So He guides them to their desired haven.”
              –Psalm 107:30 (NKJV)
————————
Very few of us enjoy solitude.  Most folk like to be with the crowd, the noise and excitement; to be alone, shut away from everything might seem nice for maybe an hour.  Take the phone away for an hour and see what happens.  Think of the reason that you go to church; it is not for solitude, but most people say the most important thing about church is fellowship.  Folks just can’t handle solitude, yet it is important that we seek and cherish times of solitude.  Jesus often sought solitude.

         “Now in the morning, having risen a long while before daylight, He went out and departed to a solitary place; and there He prayed.”
                   –Mark 1:35 (NKJV)

I came across the following thoughts on solitude in my reading this week.

         “Solitude is the garden for our hearts, which yearn for love.  It is the place where our aloneness can bear fruit.  It is the home for our restless bodies and anxious minds.  Solitude, whether it is connected with a physical space or not, is essential for our spiritual lives.  It is not an easy place to be, since we are so insecure and fearful that we are easily distracted by whatever promises immediate satisfaction.  Solitude is not immediately satisfying, because in solitude, we meet our demons, our addictions, our feelings of lust and anger, and our immense need for recognition and approval.  But if we do not run away, we will meet there also the One who says, ‘Do not be afraid.  I am with you, and I will guide you through the valley of darkness.’  Let’s keep returning to our solitude.”

With all the turmoil in the world and in our nation, there is a need for solitude.  I am not talking about escaping the world, for Jesus never did that, but he found time to be alone with His heavenly Father.  If Jesus needed that how much more do we need it!

Never give up to the desert or to any of its minions!  Never cease to fight!  You must fight to live—an’ so make that fight equally for your mind an’ your soul!”
              –Zane Grey  (Wanderer of the Wasteland)

       “There is no fear of God before his eyes.  For he flatters himself in his own eyes, When he finds out his iniquity and when he hates.  The words of his mouth are wickedness and deceit; He has ceased to be wise and to do good.  He devises wickedness on his bed;
He sets himself in a way that is not good; He does not abhor evil.”
              –Psalm 36:1-4 (NKJV)
—————————
I want to take another look at compromise this morning.  How often do people forsake truth for tolerance?  They give over to emotions and feelings versus holding firm to conviction.  Does happiness takes precedence over obedience to the Word of God?  We are called to obey rather than to give in to the tide of political correctness.
    Briefly, take a look at the first chapter of Judges.
         1:6 – mutilation was a pagan practice (hmmm, i.e, abortion).  Judah began to draw its standards from the people around them–only partial obedience.
         1:19 – they began to trust in iron chariots rather than God–diminished power is the result of diminished faith.
         1:21 – Benjamin failed to drive out the Jebusites.
         1:29 – Ephraim failed to drive out the Canaanites.
         1:30 – Zebulun allowed the Canaanites to dwell among them and become forced laborers.
         1:31 – Asher dwelt with the Canaanites.
         1:33 – Naphtali did not drive out the inhabitants.
         1:34 – Dan was forced into the mountains, and later on Dan ceases to exist as a tribe.  They are no longer recognizable because of their compromise.
Rather than whole-heartedly obeying God, they did so only in part.  They compromised.  Perhaps one of the saddest commentaries in Scripture can be found in Judges 2:2-3 (NKJV).

          “‘And you shall make no covenant with the inhabitants of this land; you shall tear down their altars. But you have not obeyed My voice. Why have you done this?’ Therefore I also said, ‘I will not drive them out before you; but they shall be thorns in your side, and their gods shall be a snare to you.’”

This country was founded upon Biblical principles, but to look at much of what is happening now it is easy to see that many of these principles are being bent, twisted, ignored, or forsaken.  Listen!  Compromise always leads to Catastrophe!
    Take a look at 2:5, “Then they called the name of that place Bochim; and they sacrificed there to the Lord.” (NKJV)  The word “Bochim” means “weeping.”  Compromise will bring you to a place of weeping.  There will be brokenness because of half-hearted devotion and obedience.  Don’t blame the government–the Democrats or Republicans–for our dilemma.  Blame the people, especially half-hearted believers who have led the nation to weeping.
    Someone has said that the most miserable people in the world are professing believers who will not commit themselves to the Lord.  We are getting to the point, however, where there are those who prefer not to be called “Christians,” and I can see why for they have removed Christ from their life.  They are no longer Christ-like.
    But, on the brighter note–there are those blood-bought believers who are standing up to the test.  They are not giving in to the world, or the devil.  Walk away this morning with, not a song on your lips, but one etched deep in your soul.

              “When we walk with the Lord
               In the Light of His Word
               What a glory He sheds on our way!
               While we do His good will,
               He abides with us still,
               And with all who will trust and obey.

                    Trust and obey, for there’s no other way
                    To be happy in Jesus, but to trust and obey.”
                             –J.H. Sammis

I declared war on Satan a long time ago and it’s his work you’re about tonight.”
               –Elmer Kelton  (Badger Boy)

    “And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience.”
               –Ephesians 2:1-2 (NKJV)
———————-
“Three things led to death in the jungles of Vietnam,” was told me by several combat veterans of that war.  These three things were:  complacency, curiosity, and compromise.  The same is true of the battle against Satan and his evil followers.  The Book of Judges touches on each of those deadly pitfalls, but I want to take a minute and look at compromise.  Once a person begins to compromise it is hard for them to stop.  

         “In those days there was no king in Israel; everyone did what was right in his own eyes.”
                    –Judges 21:25(NKJV)

Why do we see chaos, confusion, horror, and terror along the streets of America?  One reason is that there is no “King” in America.  Taken and pushed aside is God.  A forgotten relic of days gone by.  Oh, He might have been important once; yes, He might have helped us in times of trouble in the past, but now; now we are more enlightened and know what to do…  And look where it has gotten us when we began to do things that were right in the eyes of man.
    Over and over God had to send someone to help Israel when they began to lower their standards and compromised with the people around them.  God always presents an opportunity for repentance and revival, but people have to be ready to accept and stopped compromising.  Gary Inrig wrote, “Unless we grab hold of the great principles of spiritual living…we may find ourselves to be spiritual dropouts, mere spectators at the climax of the invisible war between God and Satan or, even worse, spiritual casualties.”
    The shootings that are seeming to become part of the norm, are caused by moral collapse.  When a large portion of the nation clamors that they have the right to murder unborn infants, how can they be appalled by someone else being murdered?  When man turns away from God’s law, how can they know what is right?  Inrig continues, “Much more than I want to admit, many Christians live, act, and choose as if God’s Word had never been written.”  People are doing right in their own eyes!
    Drag queens in libraries and schools of elementary children are applauded.  The gay lifestyle is accepted and they flaunt their lifestyle and dare others to contradict them, the gender confusion and I could go on.  And we wonder why things happen in America?  Moral collapse–people doing right in their own eyes.  To turn our backs upon God eventually will bring disaster.
    We are fighting those who do not want to obey the laws of the law (i.e., the Constitution), but demand that sharia law should be their law.  I often wonder why those come to the U.S. for freedom from the lives they were living in other countries and then demand to live under the laws of the country they came from.  Hmmm, one thing for sure it is doing right in their own eyes.
    God does not allow compromise.  You cannot read either the Old or the New Testaments and realize that.  Come out from among them, separate yourselves, having nothing to do with the world, make no covenant with them…  What have we done?  The opposite, in the name of tolerance and political correctness we have compromised.  A clever, evil scheme by the devil that is centuries old.
    We must be committed to serving a sovereign God.  One that declared that compromise with heathen and pagan people will not be allowed.  There can be no covenant with the enemy for the enemy was still the enemy.  There is much danger in compromise, in doing things that are right in your own eyes.  Heed the words of God in Exodus 23:32-33 (NKJV).

        “You shall make no covenant with them, nor with their gods. They shall not dwell in your land, lest they make you sin against Me. For if you serve their gods, it will surely be a snare to you.”

Once you find the life you were meant to lead, it sure feels good.  And you better stick with it.”
              –C. Wayne Winkle  (Judd’s Journey)

    “He who finds his life will lose it, and he who loses his life for My sake will find it.”
              –Matthew 10:39 (NKJV)
———————–
Verse 8, caught my attention right off.  Let’s put a New Testament slant on it.  Do you love to attend church?  Do you enjoy the word being preached to your soul, or is it a drudgery to go?  Or take it one step further; since our body is the temple of the Holy Spirit – how well do we take care of it?  Is it tarnished, does graffiti adorn its walls, is it defiled by the things you take, eat, drink, or watch?  Hmmm…
    Let’s take a look at verse 6-12 of Psalm 26 (HCSB).  It’s such a powerful, insightful chapter in the Word of God.

         6 – I wash my hands in innocence and go around Your altar, Lord,
         7 – raising my voice in thanksgiving and telling about Your wonderful works.
         8 – Lord, I love the house where You dwell, the place where Your glory resides.
         9 – Do not destroy me along with sinners, or my life along with men of bloodshed
        10 – in whose hands are evil schemes and whose right hands are filled with bribes.
        11 – But I live with integrity; redeem me and be gracious to me.
        12 – My foot stands on level ground; I will praise the Lord in the assemblies.

Do we tend to take the Lord for granted?  Here is David, he cannot be satisfied with serving God in private for he must go to the sanctuary directly to the altar to praise the Lord.  The altar–oh my, how many churches still have altars?  In fact, there is a clamor from the more enlightened, sophisticated crowd that altars are archaic, and only belong in the Old Testament.

         “I love thy Church, O God!  Her walls before thee stand,
          Dear as the apple of thine eye, and graven on thy hand.
          For her my tears shall fall, for her my prayers ascend;
          To her my cares and toils be given, till toils and cares shall end.”
                    –Timothy Dwight

Again we see the similarity of Job and David.  Even in the midst of evil schemes and the wickedness of the world they both proclaim they live with integrity.  Another similarity, even though they say they are individuals of integrity, they both understand the need for redemption.  They/we all need the grace of God to be poured out upon us.
    True worship builds confidence, resolve, and trust that will help us get through the snares of evil.  True worship helps us maintain our integrity.  True worship shows our humility.  We need to worship with passion, not foolishness.