Echoes from the Campfire

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

Let the sign speak to you. They have much to tell you, but you must look, listen, and learn.”
                    –B.N. Rundell  (Last Chance Gulch)

       “It is better to listen to rebuke from a wise person than to listen to the song of fools.”

                    –Ecclesiastes 7:5 (HCSB)
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Sometimes we have the tendency to read over Scripture without really looking at what the Holy Spirit is trying to tell us.  Proverbs 4 begins with some vital information regarding how to live with instructions to parents and children.

          1 — Hear my children, the instruction of a father, and give attention to know understanding.
          2 — For I give you good doctrine:  do not forsake my law.
          3 — When I was my father’s son, tender and the only one in the sight of my mother,
          4 — He also taught me, and said to me:  let your heart retain my words; keep my commands, and live.   (NKJV)
(ESV)
          1 — Hear, O sons, a father’s instruction, and be attentive, that you may gain insight,
          2 — for I give you good precepts; do not forsake my teaching.
          4 — he taught me and said to me, “Let your heart hold fast my words; keep my commandments, and live.”

     Instead of dead-beat dads and those who have abandoned the family it would behoove fathers to speak like this to their children.  It would change society if fathers would take up their role and responsibilities and teach their children properly.  Think of the difference it would make if fathers would teach their children properly.  Down deep it is a spiritual problem.  J. Vernon McGee writes, “The real difficulty is that in man there is not that love and longing for God and for the things of God.”  If man truly loved God they would desire that their children would also love Him.  
     Parents are responsible for the existence of their children:  conception, nurturing, education.  “The child is given to its parent by God in its undeveloped moral condition, but God retains His own inheritance in the gift.  He looks for nurture, for cultivation.  He demands from the parent such a fulfillment of parental duties as will ensure Him that His gift shall grow of more and more worth in the moral universe.” (J.L. Flores)  
     However, there is a second requirement presented–Listen!  The neglect of listening to instruction is a sin against self, society, and God.  It is up to the child to receive the Word and instruction of their parents and cherish it.  There must be the willingness to be taught, for a computer mind is not enough to make it through this world and into eternity, wisdom is needed.  Wisdom, proper teaching/instruction should be taught from one generation to the next.  It is the way to preserve truth, heritage, and traditions.  
     The father is depicted as giving good doctrine, or precepts.  Know this, that good doctrine, instruction in life, brings good character.  However, is starts with the right concept of God.  J.L. Flores reminds us that there “can be no right feelings towards God unless there has been right teaching about Him.”  That, first of all is the responsibility of the home, not the state.  Listen – without good character the result is bad character.  Without the proper knowledge of God there cannot be good character.  Flores states, “A man must know God as He is before he can begin to follow Him.  There must be a true mirror to give correct reflection.”  But if the father, the mother, is not diligent in their teaching and if the child does not care to listen the result is a confused, chaotic society.  
     This world is a big, bad, mad, and evil place therefore–LISTEN!  Get wisdom, hold fast to it, then live the life properly as you have been taught.  Someone has used the illustration that God is calling out to us, “Come and get it.”  First is the call for salvation, to accept Jesus Christ, and second, is the call to believers to gain understanding from God’s Word.  The primary item on the menu in Proverbs is that of wisdom–come and get it.  Embrace the security, honor, and beauty that it offers.  Realize that most of society’s problems are a mistaken view of God and the lack of proper teaching to the children.  A mistaken view of God brings with it soul disease.  
     Know this that is it up to us as parents and as “students” to give out God’s Word, to listen to God’s Word, and then to obey it.  “There’s a price to pay if you want to know God’s truth and obey it.” (Wiersbe).  There is also a price to pay, an eternal one, if the truth of God is not accepted.  Listen now and obey.

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

The stillness and darkness became most oppressive.”
                    –Zane Grey  (The Lost Pueblo)

       “His life is the light that shines through the darkness—and the darkness can never extinguish it.”

                    –John 1:5  (TLB)
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Psalm 143 is a plea for help, yet at the same time one of trust.  As you read this psalm, think of the “enemy” that is chasing you.  It is a person, a habit, sin, sickness, or something else.  Then be like David and take appropriate action, by first coming to the Lord.

          1 — Hear my prayer, O LORD, give ear to my supplications!  In Your faithfulness answer me, and in Your righteousness.
          2 — Do not enter into judgment with Your servant, for in Your sight no one living is righteous.
          3 — For the enemy has persecuted my soul; he has crushed my life to the ground; he has made me dwell in darkness, like those who have long been dead.
          4 — Therefore my spirit is overwhelmed within me; my heart within me is distressed.
          5 — I remember the days of old; I meditate on all Your works; I muse on the work of Your hands.
          6 — I spread out my hands to You; my soul longs for You like a thirsty land.       Selah     (NKJV)

     David is telling us that no one could ever pass God’s inspection.  We are all unrighteous before Him, and unless we come to the point of repentance we are in sore trouble.  However, with repentance there is hope, for when God looks at us He sees not our unrighteousness, but the righteousness of His Son.  David is depending upon God’s faithfulness to answer him in his need.
      Whatever the enemy is, it has crushed David.  He doesn’t feel like he can go on and is down in the dirt.  The “woe is me, nobody loves me…” syndrome is upon him, “he might want to go eat some worms.”  George Wood says that David is facing, “The nighttime of the soul brings the despair of unanswered questions.”  He is like the dead, robbed of the pleasures and enjoyments of this life.  He is crushed, overwhelmed, devastated mentally, emotionally, and spiritually.  
     Then, thank the Lord there is always “then.”  Then David remembers how God was with him in the past.  He remembers God’s word and how God has brought him through many trials.  Have you ever been thirsty to the point of not thinking of anything but a cool, quenching drink of water?  David finds that his soul is parched like the arid desert longing for the refreshing rain that comes with the Holy Spirit.  “When your inner life is cracked and dry, it’s time to lift your hands in supplication and surrender.” (Wood)  
     In times like those that David faced, and I’m sure that each of us has faced such times at least once in our life, we need to turn back to the source of our strength.  Return to the God of our salvation.  Charles H. Spurgeon said that we should, “Delight yourself in all your heavenly Father’s handwork, and make it to be a ladder by which you climb to Himself.”  Trust Him in the dark times–know that He is there.

               “Still to the lowly soul
               He doth Himself impart,
               And for His dwelling and His throne,
               Chooseth the pure in heart.”
                       –John Keble

 

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

You can learn much from observing the world about us. But, most people travel too quickly and don’t take the time.”
                    –Cliff Hudgins  (Viejo and the Locoweeds)

       “For still the vision awaits its appointed time; it hastens to the end—it will not lie. If it seems slow, wait for it; it will surely come; it will not delay.”
                    –Habakkuk 2:3 (ESV)
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Time!  I’m running out of time.  Out of time to get done the things I want to leave behind.  No, nothing’s seriously wrong with me other than that old outlaw time is wearing down on me.  Have I done everything on my “bucket list”?  I never have made one of those.  Oh, sure there are/were things I would like to do, but too many people who make bucket lists go out of their way, spend too much money and time on doing them that they forget the more important things in life.  In fact, the time spent on fulfilling their own desires might be put to better use in the kingdom.
     Time, we cannot really understand it.  Solomon speaks of it saying that there is a time for everything.  Time, something that binds us to this earth.  Time, something we often do not use wisely enough.  Time, something that God expects us to be good stewards of–we are to “redeem the time…” (Ephesians 5:16).  The CEV translates it this way, “These are evil times, so make every minute count.”  If we are to make every minute count and if the days are evil, then to counter that we should be doing good to the best of our ability.
     Even harder to comprehend about time is that of eternity.  We have a minute grasp, but our feeble brains cannot grasp it for it is beyond and outside of time.  The words of Jesus come to mind, “‘I tell you the truth,’ Jesus answered, ‘before Abraham was born, I am!'”  No wonder there was contention, who besides God is beyond time?  No one–Jesus was making an emphatic statement.
     Time, something that man cannot reverse.  Oh, they try.  There are creams and pills, and foods along with supplements.  There are all types of experiments to try to keep the body from the rages of time, the wrinkles, the crevices in the brow, the aches in the joints…  Someone said that “Human beings are apparently prisoners of the movement of time in one direction.  We are, with some limitations, able to move about in space as we wish (or as we must), but we cannot do so in time.”
     Time makes us move along with it.  “There is no way to right a past wrong, recover a missed opportunity.  The future is unknown and unknowable until it becomes the present; there is no way to guarantee that it will be as we wish it to be.  The only time in which we are free to move–the only time we have–is the present.” (Richard Luman)  But look again at the words of Jesus.  He is not bound by time.  Think of it, He is in time, yet He is also outside of time.  He is here, right now, in the present, but He is also back in eternity past, and is in the future (and beyond?).  Time was created by God but it does not have a hold on Him; it is not a condition of His existence.  
      Today, right now, is the day of salvation.  Today is given to each of us–not tomorrow and yesterday is gone.  What you do today is important.  Your choices today will determine your eternal destiny, that region that is beyond time.  Choose wisely–Christ is waiting to answer your cry.  We are in time, but our souls and spirits will go beyond time either into eternal glory with Christ, or to the depths of eternal damnation that is for those who reject Him.  We must face the consequences of time, but in this life and in eternity.  However, Christ is there, in one manner of speaking to “redeem us from time.”  We should pray, “Lord, give us time.”  Then we should also add, “Make us good stewards of the time you have given us.”

Echoes From the Campfire

by Ira Paine, Posted on

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 the sound that isn’t music, but it has a magnificence of its own.”
                    –Louis L’Amour  (Passin’ Through)

       “Then the Lord will be seen over them, And His arrow will go forth like lightning. The Lord God will blow the trumpet, and go with whirlwinds from the south.”
                    –Zechariah 9:14(NKJV)
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I am in the process of organizing and cleaning up some of my Bible studies.  In completely redoing Habakkuk one verse keeps coming back to my mind.  Note, that prophecies in the Old Testament could have dual purpose:  first, it was for the people of the time, and second, it could be eschatological in nature.  Let’s ponder for a while Habakkuk 1:5.

          “Look among the nations and watch–be utterly astounded!  For I will work a work in your days which you would not believe, though it were told you.”  (NKJV)
          “Look among the nations! Watch! Be horrified! Be frightened speechless! For I am accomplishing a work in your days— You would not believe it even if you were told!” (NASB)
 
Be astounded, be frightened, be speechless–something is coming.  Regarding the time it was a prophecy against Judah.  God was raising up the Chaldeans to judge the evil of the inhabitants of Judah.  But then, chapter 3 is also eschatological in nature.  God gives a glimpse of the future to Habakkuk.  How much of this Habakkuk understood, I don’t know, but he was told to be ready and to be astonished, and to realize that he would not understand it all.
     Daniel was given a more specific and detailed glimpse into the future, and it made him sick.  Daniel 8:27 states, “And I, Daniel, fainted and was sick for days…” (NKJV)  In chapter 7, he was grieved because of the vision, and in chapter 10 he says that he has no strength left.  The things that Daniel saw not only did something to him spiritually but they affected his mind, emotions, and physical body.
     What is it that could be so astounding?  What is it that would make a man, such as Daniel, sick upon seeing it?  Here’s a little homework assignment–read Revelation.  Don’t try to decipher all the things in the book, but look at what is going to take place.  In the “Seals” there is destruction and death.  The “Trumpets” strike at nature.  We know that nature “groans and labors” (Romans 8:22), but after the time of the Tribulation, the curse will be removed.  The 5th Trumpet speaks of “locusts” rising from the bottomless pit to torment man.  Think for a moment of the sounds that will come forth during this horrendous time.  There will be moaning and groaning, along with screaming and howling.  Man will feel the pain and torment of his evil ways.  The 6th Trumpet tells that the angels that were bound at the Euphrates will be released to kill one third of mankind.  These are only the Seals and Trumpets, the Bowl Judgments are yet to come.  Can you get an idea of what Habakkuk and Daniel might have seen?  Can you understand a little bit better why God tells Habakkuk that he would be astounded and won’t believe what is being told him?  Can you see why Daniel might have become sick for several days?
     Now, get this!  Man is so foolish, so stupid!  Revelation states this after the 6th Trumpet, “But the rest of mankind, who were not killed by these plagues, did not repent of the works of their hands, that they should not worship demons, and idols of gold, silver, brass, stone, and wood, which can neither see nor hear nor walk.  And they did not repent of their murders or their sorceries or their sexual immorality or their thefts.”  (9:20-21, NKJV)  Not just stubborn or foolhardy, but stupid and blasphemous.  Now is the time of salvation!
     One more thing that might have astounded them.  A couple of weeks ago, Annie and I were sitting in the living room, when POW!!!!  There was a lightning bolt that hit thirty feet in front of the house.  The flash and sound were at the same time and it got the attention of both of us as well as our two cats.  POW!  The flash was bright!  Annie said she could smell it.  Now, I turn to Revelation 4:5, “And from the throne proceeded lightnings, thunderings, and voices…”  It will not be a little lightning show that we see in the sky or the rumblings that follow.  It will not be fireworks, but it is a CRASH!  A brightness that we cannot understand, comprehend, or handle.  The throne of God is glorious beyond all imagination.  It is a horrifying sight in one manner of speaking; frightening because it is where the power and glory of Almighty God sits.  It is the place of the majesty of God, the Judge of the universe.