For the difference between a man and a boy is the willingness to do a man’s work and take a man’s responsibility.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Killoe)

    “Now if any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives to all generously and without criticizing, and it will be given to him.”
              –James 1:5 (HCSB) 
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    I read a book a few years back by Phil Robertson, titled:  “Happy, Happy, Happy.”  But look around you, how many Christians look like they’re happy?  They have to go to “celebration” service, hop around a little, do a jig, or through the rest of the week they head to their local trough to get a drink like the rest of the world to say they’re “happy.”  One reason they chase after false-happiness is that they have not focused on real happiness.
    I truly believe that Ted Dekker had it right when he said, “This life is powerless to satisfy our dreams of great happiness and pleasure.  These dreams can be satisfied only in a mind-bending reality that awaits us in the next life.”  The church has lost sight of heaven.  Oh, there may be a song, now and then for they are rare in the modern church genre, that speaks of heaven, but overall, Christians don’t look upward; they tend to look outward.  Dekker goes on to say, “Christianity has become preoccupied with finding true pleasure and happiness and purpose on earth rather than in the age to come.”
    The claims of a Christian do not match up with their life and actions.  Their lives are very much the same as the lives of those without the church.  When people look at them they wonder why they should want to change their life–it is the same as the so-called Christian.  There is nothing to distinguish the Christian except their talk as they do the same things as unbelievers.  Where is the holiness?  Where is the separation?  Where is the fight against the world?  C.S. Lewis said that, “We are far too easily pleased.”
    Now, of course, you realize that I am speaking of generalities–there are those who are fighting the good fight of faith.  There are those who “dare to be a Daniel” in a vile, evil world.  But the norm seems to be an emotional, rushed filled sense of happiness that only lasts as long as the rush continues.  How often to you think of the beauty of heaven?  Of meeting with Christ and loved ones who have gone before?  
    Ted Dekker states that, “Most Christians are asleep to the bliss of the afterlife.”  The pleasures of this life are dependent on the passion of the next life.  Dekker continues, “Unless we become desperate for the bliss of the next life, we will never enjoy this life.”  This life must be bathed in an obsession for eternity.
    Maybe one of the things that we all should do as a resolution is to get a glimpse of eternity again.  To long to be with Jesus.  Maybe sing some of the songs of old that speak of heaven for “how beautiful heaven must be…”.
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Notice:  If you go to Amazon you will find that my first book has a new title, “The Journals of Elias Butler,” along with a new cover.

Can’t ignore it [the past]; can’t forget it.  What you can do is move beyond it.”
              –L.C. Matthews (The Promise)

    “Don’t be deceived: God is not mocked. For whatever a man sows he will also reap, because the one who sows to his flesh will reap corruption from the flesh, but the one who sows to the Spirit will reap eternal life from the Spirit.”
              –Galatians 6:7-8 (HCSB) 
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Pardon me friends, but somehow I went from Psalm 11 to Psalm 13 completely skipping over 12.  I’ll remedy that this morning.  So let’s take a look at this set of verses (from the HCSB).  See how close they resemble life today.

         1  Help, Lord, for no faithful one remains; the loyal have disappeared from the human race.
         2  They lie to one another; they speak with flattering lips and deceptive hearts.
         3  May the Lord cut off all flattering lips and the tongue that speaks boastfully.
         4  They say, “Through our tongues we have power; our lips are our own—who can be our master?”
         5  “Because of the oppression of the afflicted and the groaning of the poor, I will now rise up,” says the Lord.
“I will put the one who longs for it in a safe place.”
         6  The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver refined in an earthen furnace, purified seven times.
         7  You, Lord, will guard us; You will protect us from this generation forever.
         8  The wicked wander everywhere, and what is worthless is exalted by the human race.

I get sick of the media with their “flattering lips.”  They let them flap continually, saying very little truth, but speaking empty, hollow words.  These are people without integrity who seek only their own agenda, their time of fame and glory.  G.K. Chesterton cried, “From sly speeches of men, deliver us.”
    David is bemoaning the fact that there are no faithful people left.  The RSV puts it this way, “Faithful have vanished from among the sons of men.”  He sits there, crying, “oh what shall I do?”  His life has taken on hopelessness and God doesn’t seem to want to answer.  The voices speak flattery and falsehoods, who do you trust?  This side says this, and then the other refutes it–where is the trust?  If is often easy to identify with this aspect of David’s life.
    However, God finally speaks.  He ignores David’s cries for Him to even the score; his pleas for retribution, but He does say He will arise and protect him.  God is our protector no matter who is speaking.  In this day when vileness is flaunted and God’s Word is scorned He will still guard those who trust in Him.  God will keep us secure; count on it.

         Prayer:  “Lord Jesus, help me to be like You–honest.  Keep me from mistrusting everyone just because someone has let me down.  I thank You because Your word can always be relied upon as truthful.  I know you will keep me secure.” (George O. Wood)

On a late afternoon when the clouds gather around the peaks and the lightning begins to play its games over the mountain meadows, the high country is no place to be, but it can be spectacular to watch from a safe distance.  At such times the hills can be alive with a sound that isn’t music, but it has a magnificence of its own.”
              –Louis L’Amour  (Passin’ Through)

Now all the people witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off.”
              –Exodus 20:18 (NKJV)
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    I’ve been in the high country during some of those terrific, magnificent lightning and thunder displays.  It is a tremendous sight, awe-inspiring, but also frightening.  The lightning flashes and then the thunder rolls shaking the very ground upon where you are standing.  You must run from it to seek shelter, but you do not want to miss the spectacle.
    I believe that is why when God speaks to us that it is usually in the small, quiet voice.  If not, we would quake and not hear what He has to say, but be more interested in the grandeur which is displayed.  If He spoke aloud as He did at creation we would not listen.  One day we shall see Him as He is, and I believe hear Him when He speaks.
    A trip to creation gives us a snippet of His voice.

              “How wonderful, O Lord, are the works of your hands!  The heavens declare Your glory, the arch of sky displays Your handiwork.  In Your love You have given us power to behold the beauty of Your world robed in all its splendor.  The sun and the stars, the valleys and hills, the rivers and lakes all disclose Your presence.  The roaring breakers of the sea tell of your awesome might, the beasts of the field and the birds of the air bespeak Your wondrous will.  In Your goodness You have made us able to hear the music of the world.  The voices of loved ones reveal to us that You are in our midst.  A divine voice sings through all creation.”
                          –Traditional Jewish prayer

Dare you take the time to visit, then do not waste it; take the time to listen.  Listen to the song that comes by the wind through the leaves of the trees.  Listen to the singing of the water as it babbles along in a small brook.  Hearken to the call of the hawk as it courses through the sky seeking its prey.  There are so many sounds.  I remember walking up in Maryland.  Suddenly, a loud “pop” as a high-powered rifle, only louder, cracked behind me forcing me to turn in wonder as I saw the trunk of a very large tree, shatter thirty feet above the ground.
    Here is a little devotional study.  Look at all the times that God met with people on mountains.  See the characteristics of the event.  For example, Moses in receiving the commandments; or the Mount when God spoke in the presence of His Son and Peter, James and John.

Twilight fell.  The stars came out white and clear.  Night cloaked the valley with dark shadows and the hills with its obscurity.  The blue vault overhead deepened and darkened.  The hunter patrolled his beat, and hours were moments to him.  He heard the low hum of the insects, the murmur of running water, the rustle of the wind.  A coyote cut the keen air with high-keyed, staccato cry.  The owls hooted, with dismal and weird plaint, one to the other.  Then a wolf mourned.  But these sounds only accentuated the loneliness and wildness of the silent night.”
              –Zane Grey  (The Mysterious Rider)

    “And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand. My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.” 
              –John 10:28-29 (NKJV)
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Trust me–God is everywhere.  He is with you in each and every circumstance.  The uncertainties of life become certain because He is there with you through them.  We may know the theology that God is omnipresent, but do we sincerely practice it?  I trust that you have a morning devotion and prayer time, however, throughout the day you should revisit them.  Yes, while at work, while traveling, while doing the untold chores of the day, take time to revisit the Lord for He is there.
    David understood this and refers to it in many Psalms, such as 73:23, “Nevertheless I am continually with You; You hold me by my right hand.” (NKJV) and Psalm 16:8, “I have set the Lord always before me; Because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.” (NKJV)  There may be a crowd around you, yet you can engage in a solitary thought.  You may have someone at your desk, yet you can lean back and contemplate this thought quickly.  Someone has said that we ought to make a “chapel in our soul” so that at a moment’s notice we can make a quick visit.  We cannot be too busy to turn aside to God for a moment.
    Francis de Sales states, “If we become familiar with close, private exchanges with God, the thoughts of our mind will become more beautiful.  This is not at all hard to do.  You can do it anytime and anywhere.  It is not inconvenient even for the busiest person.  This little turning aside spiritually is but a moment of relaxation.  Instead of interrupting our work, it will help us to work more productively.  It is like taking a little refreshment during a journey.  Far from interfering with progress, it energizes us.  A little rest, and then we can travel better.”
    Use the things around you to reflect upon.  Become familiar with the Scriptures for they are there to help us along the way.  I was watching the bluejays and cardinals searching for food along the ground yesterday morning.  The thought was there that the even the sparrow has a home (Ps 84:3) and that not one of them falls to the ground without the Father wills (Matthew
10:29).  Let the Holy Spirit quicken your mind.
    God is there, right there where you are, meet with Him.