–Elmer Kelton  (The Far Canyon)

       “Therefore, brethren, stand fast and hold the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or our epistle.”

                    –2 Thessalonians 2:15 (NKJV)
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          “Then Abraham breathed his last and died in a good old age, an old man and full of years, and was gathered to his people.  And his sons Isaac and Ishmael buried him in the cave of Machpelah…”  –Genesis 25:8-9 (NKJV)

     I have often wondered about Isaac’s and Ishmael’s relationship in later years.  Ishmael must not have lived too far away for he was able to come and help bury Abraham.  There is nothing said negative in the narrative, so could we gather that they were at least cordial to each other.  I do doubt that they had a close relationship or had any bond.  Ishmael lived to be 137 and there is a verse that says, “He died in the presence of all his brethren.”  Barnes seems to think that he died among Isaac and the sons of Keturah, while others lean toward the meaning of it being Ishmael’s own family.  Interesting, a good novel for someone to write.
     It is not clear where Isaac was living after his marriage to Rebekah.  Some seem to think that he stayed with Abraham, while others believe that he moved away when Abraham married Keturah.  Was it his doing, or that of Rebekah if this was the case?  So far, in the life of Isaac, we have seen very little after his willingness and faith in being the sacrifice.  It seems he lived a very ordinary life, much like most of us–the ordinary, common life of existence.  We know he was the child of promise, and that he was blessed for Abraham’s sake.  But from what we know he did not take anything to excess.
     However, he was concerned that Rebekah was barren.  He knew of the promise.  He must have had a relationship with the Lord for the Bible says, “Now Isaac pleaded with the LORD for his wife, because she was barren; and the LORD granted his plea, and Rebekah his wife conceived. (Genesis 25:21, NKJV).  We have to be careful with the types, but here again we see “two.”  The conflict first between Ishmael and Isaac, and now the conflict with the sons of Isaac:  Esau and Jacob.  Could it be a shadow of the conflict between Satan and Jesus?  A thought, but I don’t want to take it too far.
     Right from the beginning, in fact, in the womb at birth there is conflict.  The Lord told Rebekah that there was fighting in the womb.  As the boys grew, as is not uncommon, one leaned toward his mother, the other toward the father.  Genesis 25:28 states, “And Isaac loved Esau because he ate of his game, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” (NKJV)
Not wanting to spend time with the conflict of Esau and Jacob, I do want to show that right off the get-go they fought, and connived, and sought their own selfish ways.  They both did their own thing and we do not see anywhere in their early lives that they sought after God.  Did Isaac not lay out a good example?  We do not read in Scripture of Isaac worshipping like Abraham or building altars.
     “Thus Esau despised his birthright” (Genesis 25:34, NKJV)  What a terrible statement!  What a shame!  Was he not proud of his heritage, of Isaac and Abraham?  Did he not understand the importance of the birthright and the idea of the promise?  Of course, we know that Jacob was to be the one to pass on the Messiah’s seed, but to despise the meaning and the heritage of one’s family shows the self-centeredness of Esau.  In the depiction of Genesis 25:29-34, we also see the covetousness of Jacob and how he was the deceiver.  Interesting thought, Satan is the deceiver.  He used deception in the Garden to lure Eve and that continues to be his foray.  Here we see Jacob, and not only here, to be a deceiver.  Jacob’s life will change later, when he is given a new name.  It reminds me of the song, “for there’s a new name written down in glory…”  Paul writes, “That you put off, concerning your former conduct, the old man which grows corrupt according to the deceitful lusts, and be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and that you put on the new man which was created according to God, in true righteousness and holiness.” (Ephesians 4:22-24, NKJV)

 I felt sorry that Luciana and her children had to be in court to testify.  I knew Judge Klaser would make things easy for them, but Henricks had hired a weasel-eyed, spindling shyster of a lawyer, Milton Fordham.  For once I was there to testify and not be the arresting officer.  Sheriff Gold was back in town and would be acting as bailiff, since Mateo was the marshal, and also it was his family that was primarily involved.  Desiderus Luther was the prosecuting attorney, a relative newcomer to Durango coming not long after the Rev. Chapman.

       Both Mateo and I had tried to get the name of the third man, but Hendricks wouldn’t budge and kept tight-lipped.  I rode out hoping to find tracks, but he was elusive.  As the trial started I made sure to watch in case he happened to appear.

       When Enrique was called to the stand, I sort of cringed.  Fordham tried to show him as an ignorant, dim-witted Mexican who was not able to testify properly.  It was hard to tell what Luther was thinking, his face was so dead-panned.  He asked Enrique, “Do you go to school?”  

       “Yes, sir,” came the boy’s reply.

       “I want you to help me out,” said Luther kindly.  “What’s eight times three?”

       “I object!” yelled Fordham.  “That has nothing to do with the case.”

       Luther turned toward Fordham, his thumbs hooked in the waist of his breeches.  “You brought up the issue that he was ignorant, I was just following up with a question to prove otherwise.”

       Fordham’s face twisted as he spoke, “You could have coached him with the answer!”

       Luther’s face broadened into a large grin.  “Then Counselor, you ask him any number you wish.”

       Fordham gave a little jerk, then smugness took over his countenance.  “Bah, okay, he can do math.”

       “Are you conceding that he is not ignorant?” inquired Luther, now looking at the Judge.

       There was no answer forthcoming.  Judge Klaser had to repeat to which Fordham agreed that Enrique was not ignorant.

       The more I watched and heard Milton Fordham the more I thought of him as a low-down scum.  Several times Luther had to object to his line of questioning as it either referred to the low view he held of Mexicans or his attacks on either myself or Mateo.  Finally, even Judge Klaser had enough and warned him in no uncertain terms that neither I nor Mateo was on trial.

       Lawyer Luther called Alejo to the stand as his last witness.  I think he did it for effect.  Alejo was still badly bruised and his one eye was still blackened.  He had some trouble walking up on the witness stand due to several broken ribs.  

       “I object!” came the whiny holler of Fordham.  “That boy wasn’t at the kidnapping.”

       Luther sharply turned, pointing his finger at the lawyer.  “Counselor, must I remind you that kidnapping is only one of the charges brought against your client,” he uttered forcibly, then paused, moving toward the defendant and the lawyer.  “Did I hear you say it was a kidnapping?”

       “Uh, uh, I meant alleged kidnapping,” he muttered.  He turned to the Judge, “Your honor, he’s badgering me.”

       Luther turned away for a moment then to the jury.  “My apologies, I thought I heard him make a statement about the kidnapping.”

       It didn’t take long for the jury to decide that Ben Hendricks was guilty of all charges.  Judge Klaser gave the sentence of fifteen years hard labor in the Colorado State Penitentiary at Canon City.

       With the sentence Hendrick turned to Fordham.  “You said nobody would believe these Mexs.  You lied!”  Then he threw himself at Fordham, striking him with his handcuffed fists knocking him to the floor.  Then he leaped in the air, coming down hard on the lawyer from whom came a loud groan.  By the time he was down hitting him with his cuffs Charlie had tried to pull him off and finally had to thump him on the head.

       Judge Klaser began to hammer with his gavel.  “Add to that fifteen years–a day.  Court is adjourned…”

                    –Louis L’Amour  (The Man From the Broken Hills)

       “The sun also rises, and the sun goes down, and hastens to the place where it arose.”

                    –Ecclesiastes 1:5 (NKJV)
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       “The primary occupation and chief preoccupation of all saints should be rendering to God.  This is to be every believer’s all-encompassing focus in his life,” states Steven Lawson.  Psalm 113 calls on each of us to praise the Lord.

          1 — Praise the LORD!  Praise, O servants of the LORD, praise the name of the LORD!
          2 — Blessed be the name of the LORD from this time forth and forevermore!
          3 — From the rising of the sun to its going down the LORD’s name is to be praised.
          4 — The LORD is high above all nations, His glory above the heavens.
          5 — Who is like the LORD our God, who dwells on high,
          6 — Who humbles Himself to behold the things that are in the heavens and in the earth?
          7 — He raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the needy out of the ash heap,
          8 — That He may seat him with princes–with the princes of His people.
          9 — He grants the barren woman a home, like a joyful mother of children.  Praise the LORD!  (NKJV)

No matter where you are in life, the highs or the lows, know that God is there.  When you feel that God has lost track of you somewhere along the way, know that He is watching your every breath.  George Wood gives some wonderful advice, “You must learn to distinguish how you feel from what you know.”  So many people, especially in the Pentecostal/Charismatic world tend to give way to feelings, their emotive self.  Feelings are not always to be trusted, and there are some people who are definitely more prone to show their feelings.  We do not live or go by feelings.  They are wonderful, but they should be viewed as an effect not the deciding factor.  Emotions may lead you astray and you might not feel like praising the Lord.  Guess what?  Praise Him anyway!
       Praise (hallel) in verse 1, literally means “to be bright, to shine, to be splendid, to boast.”  Lawson says that “It carries the idea of an exuberance, radiance, jubilance, or celebration.  It means to light up for God, to be radiant for God, to be shining forth for God, to boast in Him, to brag in Him.”  Know that praise is an exercise of the will.  It is something that we may not feel like doing, but we do it because God is worthy.
       Praise (barak) in verse 2, means “to bend the knee, to kneel down, to bless.”  We are to kneel before Him in submission.  Who are we to think we are superior to the great God of the universe?  Today many will view the eclipse–something that God put in motion at the beginning of time.  When you view the eclipse today, think beyond it and praise the One who brought the laws of physics and science into existence.  Praise Him for He is far beyond an eclipse of the sun.  The man who dares to say there is no God is in dangerous territory, for he is actually saying that he does not have to bow to his Creator.
       Speaking of the sun, look at verse 3.  “From the rising of the sun to its going down” we are to praise the Lord.  Thus, we are to praise Him all day long.  This verse also implies that wherever the sun is we are to praise the Lord.  Whether in Texas or Timbuktu, we are to praise the Lord.  Whether in the morning hours as the sun rises in the East or at noontime we are to praise the Lord.
       The next several verses tell us the causes for praise.  He is exalted over the nations.  There is no place over which He is not the sovereign God.  If you want to believe in ET, aliens from outer space know that if there is such a thing, they are under His sovereign control.  In fact, His glory goes beyond what we know about the cosmos.  It is above the heavens and beyond the universe.  There is no one like the Lord.  No one can come close to compare to Him.  Lawson puts it this way, “No one is higher than God, as high as God, or even slightly lower than God.  He is infinitely higher than His creation, transcendent above, towering in glory.”  Yet this mighty God, takes the time to look at the things of earth; He takes the time to watch your every step, in fact, He even counts the hairs on your head.  He raises those in anguish whether temporal or spiritual.  
       The devil likes nothing better than to get our focus on our problems and woes and take them off the mighty God.  He loves to bring the fog of life into our situations so that we do not look to the great God.  The opposite should actually be the case.  In the midst of our woes, tough times, and trials we should praise the Lord all the more.  Our eyes will move from our situation and issues and will go back to its rightful place–looking squarely upon the Lord.  Recall the words of the early saint, Augustine, “Man’s chief work is the praise of God.”

               “He can raise the poor to stand
               With the princes of the land,
               Wealth upon the needy shower,
               Set the smallest high in power.
               Who is like our God most high,
               Infinite in majesty?”
                          –Josiah Conder

                    –Nehemiah 6:9 (HCSB)
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              “Now David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
                          –1 Samuel 30:6 (NKJV)

Yesterday we saw the revelation that came to Peter.  He was frustrated when the Lord asked if he “loved Him” (agapao).  Peter realized that he could not agapao the Lord, or anything else, without the Lord living within him.  He will more fully come to understand this when the Holy Spirit fills him as we see in Acts chapter 2.  Only with God in us can we truly love as He did.
       I wrote that to bring our attention to David.  I have always, in my mind, thought of David with New Testament thinking.  He understood the concept of grace and mercy; he knew that the Lord would be with him in his daily life as well as in his trials.  Here, in 1 Samuel, we see David and his men coming back to Ziklag finding that their families had been taken; their possessions either burned or stolen.  Included with this kidnapping were David’s two wives.  David is under attack; he is at his wit’s end–but notice, he “strengthened himself in the Lord his God.”
       David was in a desperate position.  He had been hiding from Saul among the Philistines and actually takes up arms for them.  He is not trusted by them and they insist on sending him back to Ziklag before the battle against Israel.  There are many things we can learn from this situation.  First, let me use the words of Alan Redpath, “Like David, the Christian often finds himself in the wrong camp, going along with the wrong company.  He has lowered the standard, and he excuses himself by saying that you must be as like the world as possible; you must imitate ungodly people and not let them think that you are peculiar or unusual.  Then he discovers to his humiliation that there comes a point where the unbeliever, who holds a higher standard for the Christian life than he does, suddenly turns to him and says, ‘What do these Christians here?'”
       I have heard the excuses and reasons for the lowering of standards, and it is nothing but uncut baloney.  Look like the world, act like the world, drink like the world, smell like the world–hmm, but be of the world.  However, the world is looking for someone who will stand for what they believe.  Many years ago I was in a wedding for a friend.  At the reception they passed around the champagne to toast the new bride and groom.  I turned my champagne glass over on the table and lifted my water.  The lady serving the champagne chided me saying that it was improper and an insult.  I wondered, “an insult to whom?”  Sometime later my friend came to me and told me that he and his wife were watching to see if I would compromise or stand firm in what I believed.  See, we are a living letter, giving testimony all the time to those around us.
       The second thing, and what I really wanted to bring out today is the above verse.  When we have compromised, become complacent, given in to curiosity what can we do?  Strengthen ourselves in the Lord.  When trials come, depression and despair hits, and we find ourselves in the dumps of life, what can we do?  Strengthen ourselves in the Lord.  When life seems to be crumbling in front of us, there is fear and trembling all around, and perhaps we even have those who would want to do us harm, what can we do?  Strengthen ourselves in the Lord!  
       Here is the key–notice what David did at this low point:  He strengthened himself in the Lord, then went to the Lord and inquired about what he should do.  He was not put out to pasture, he was not put aside on a shelf, or thrust in a corner or put on probation.  “So David inquired of the LORD, saying, ‘Shall I pursue this troop?  Shall I overtake them?’  And He answered him, ‘Pursue, for you shall surely overtake them and without fail recover all.'” (1 Samuel 30:8, NKJV)  David inquired of the Lord, the Lord answered, and David obeyed.  “Pursue!”  Don’t sit moping about; don’t be singing the blues; don’t be moaning, “Woe is me…I should go eat some worms.”  Pursue!  Pursue what God has for you.  Do not neglect His calling, His purpose for your life.
       Where do you find yourself today?  The call of culture today hollers for tolerance, but at what price?  “The pursuit of peace is not to become the pursuit of peace at any price. Some of us need to take care that our distaste for conflict and confrontation does not lead us to pursue peace at the cost of righteousness.” (Alistair Begg)  Instead of lowering the standard, lift it up.  Strengthen yourself in the Lord, no matter the situation–that is part of growing in grace.  Christ is not only the Author of our salvation; He is also our Sustainer.