We Will Rejoice!

“This is the day the Lord has made; we will rejoice and be glad in it.” Psalm 118:24

Oh, glorious day! The past few days have been days mixed with sun and clouds with an occasional shower. April is known for its showers which bring May flowers, but this year has been a little unusual. The May flowers arrived before the April showers, due to our mild winter. Many times things don’t turn out the way we expect them to turn out. We often form pictures in our minds about the way we think things will work out in the grand scheme of things; and then they turn out totally opposite of what we thought the end result would be.

Today is Friday, April 13^th, and my mind is returning to Friday, April 13^th, 2001. It was a day to become etched into the very core of my being and never forgotten. It was a day that turned my life and that of my family around and spinning. The day we observe as Good Friday, fell on that day, on that particular year. 

This was the day and the year that my children and I received the news that my husband (their father) had a tumor the size of a grapefruit in his right lung. We knew that he was ill, but this wasn’t at all what we were expecting to hear. Our world was crushed that day. Life as we knew it would never be the same. We had hopes and ambitions that would never come to fruition, in the way in which we had anticipated. The darkness of that day was the darkest we as a family had ever experienced and it was Good Friday. It was Friday the 13^th. I can’t even put into words the crushing pain of that day! I remember that my husband couldn’t tell his mother and sent me with that horrible news. I walked to her house, my heart pounding and blinded by the tears. It wasn’t until I mouthed those words, that the dam broke and I sobbed uncontrollably.

My mind turned, as it does this day, to the disciples of Jesus. Their Lord had been crucified and things hadn’t turned out the way they thought they would. They loved Jesus and he had been taken from them. All their hopes and dreams were crushed that day. They were experiencing that horrible pain of loss, which one can’t even describe in words. They were full of fear and anguish, with an uncertain future. I was thinking on that particular Saturday, in 2001, of what it must have been like for them. I didn’t know what was going to happen either and was filled with fear and uncertainty. It was the message of Easter which gave me the strength that I needed to make it through the days to follow. I remember still, standing with my husband and children on that Easter Sunday. I remember how the words of those Easter hymns and songs took on even more meaning….

“Because He lives…

      I can face tomorrow…

 Because He lives…

    All fear is gone…

 Because I know…

  He holds the future…

Yes, Our Lord lives! He takes away our fears…because we know He holds the future!

Things didn’t turn out as I had imagined they would in my life.  My husband and I had many plans, dreams and thoughts concerning ministry and other things. It wasn’t according to our plan for him to die so young, before things were fulfilled in our lives. It was the same with the disciples. It may be the same with you as well. Maybe things haven’t turned out according to the way you saw in you mind or dreamed it would happen. Our God is not finished with us yet! He is still working out His plan in places where we don’t see.

The day of which Psalm 118 speaks, is the new day that our Lord and Savior ushered in through His death and His resurrection.  It is a day which He has made possible for us to enter, through the remission of sins, by the blood of His New Covenant.

We will rejoice and be glad in it!

To be continued…

He Has Provided A Way

I’m sitting on a little upstairs porch this afternoon and I’m watching the birds flying back and forth past the windows. They are eating the remaining holly berries which are now dropping to the ground. I’m marveling at the Lord’s provision. At the same time I’m also contemplating the events that the Christian community is observing this week, while our Jewish friends are busy preparing for the Passover. The observance of Passover begins at sundown this Friday night. This year it falls on the same day we are observing our Savior’s death on the cross.

I’m reading about Jesus teaching the people with parables, knowing that His time was approaching. After Jesus had finished teaching the people, He said to His disciples, “You know that after two days is the Passover, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified.”  The chief priests, the scribes and the elders were plotting to take Jesus by trickery (or deception) and kill Him. Little did they know that Jesus knew about their plotting and that He didn’t need to be tricked, He was planning to give Himself willingly on our behalf!

As I was looking over the scriptures to meditate on them, I came upon these verses, which struck a cord in my heart…

“And when Jesus was in Bethany at the house of Simon the leper,

 A woman came to Him having an alabaster flask of very costly fragrant oil,

 And she poured it on His head as he sat at the table.”

It just hit me in a new way, this woman’s devotion to her Lord. She was putting Him first above all things and serving him with all her attention. The disciples were critical, but Jesus honored her by saying…

“Assuredly, I say to you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be told as a memorial to her.”

Our love and devotion to Jesus is what He desires above all things! Is He first and foremost in our lives? Are our hearts wholly His?

The Feast of Unleavened Bread drew near, which is called the Passover; and when Jesus hour had come, he sat down with His twelve Apostles. He said…

“With fervent desire I have desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer; for I say to you, I will no longer eat of it until it is fulfilled in the kingdom of God.”

It is with a fervent desire He desired to eat this meal commemorating the deliverance of His people from Egypt. This is the love that he had for his Apostles and which He has for us. It is a fervent desire to share in this meal and He desires we all share in it! He calls each and every one of us to share in it and we can! This particular meal was commemorating the deliverance of us all! A deliverance from sin and death into His kingdom.

It was while they were eating that Jesus took the unleavened bread, blessed it, broke it and gave it to His disciples and said,

“Take, eat, this is my body”

“Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, ‘Drink from it, all of you, For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins.”

Jesus not only said, “This is my blood”, but He said this is My blood of the new covenant.”

What glorious news!  The Lord has provided a new covenant in His blood….for all of us! His body being the sacrificial lamb!

Let us minister to Jesus, giving Him our full attention and devotion this day! He has instituted a new covenant in His blood, by the sacrifice of His own body. He has called us all to enter in by faith!

“For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16

A Persevering Faith

On the morning of March 29^th I wrote…

I’m gazing out my window this morning at clear blue skies! The rain of yesterday has ceased and the wind has dissipated the clouds of earlier this morning. Those clouds greeted me with the morning light, as I was up before the dawn. My mind and my spirit tormented by the circumstances of life at the present time. I questioned God and sought for His answers. His Holy Spirit then began dissipating the clouds hanging over my life. The wind of His Spirit began clearing my mind, like the winds outdoors which clear the sky. The ornamental pear trees are now in full bloom, giving the town the appearance of a ‘Spring Wonder Land.’ All I can do is gaze at all the delights of Spring from this side of the glass. My very bad allergies keep me from entering in to enjoy it fully.

In the same way, the circumstances of life can keep us from fully entering in to those things He desires for us. They distract us and avert our attention from Him. I realized this upon awakening this morning. I was imagining myself stuck in a hole, struggling to get out and feeling trapped. It was then that our most precious Lord and Savior gave me a flash back of an image I had seen on-line just yesterday. It was an image of a man in Georgia, who had fallen into a muddy pit of clay. He was buried alive, yet still living. As I watched the video of it, a chill ran down my spine and I thought, “How awful!” I watched as firefighters were pulling him out. He was moving in slow motion. He apparently had been there for some time and had become exhausted from the struggle to get out. He was completely caked and covered in the muddy clay, barely able to breathe. His features couldn’t even be seen. After the Lord brought this scene to my mind, I thought, “Yes, this is me! I’m buried alive, yet still living, unable to get myself out of the pit, too weak from the struggle and hardly able to breathe” Immediately, I thought of Psalm 40…

“I waited patiently for the LORD;

 And He inclined to me,

 And heard my cry.”

The Lord always hears our cries when we wait on Him! He calls us to not only wait, but to wait patiently! Waiting isn’t easy, that is for sure. We aren’t just waiting, but we are waiting for the Lord. He is right there and He listens to us. We are not alone. He hears the cries of our hearts!

“He also brought me up out of a horrible pit,

 Out of the miry clay,

 And set my feet upon a rock,

 And Established my steps.”

Oh, that image is vivid in my mind! I see those firefighters taking hold of that man’s weak arms to lift him out of that horrible pit, that miry clay. In the same way our Lord takes hold of us to lift us from the pit. The pit can be the circumstances of our lives or sin which so easily entangles us. We struggle and squirm only to be pulled further down and encased in the miry clay. We become exhausted in trying in our own strength to free ourselves. All the while we have a Savior standing near. He never leaves us in the pit, but He lifts us up, gives us renewed vision and helps us to stand. We need to wait patiently for Him and call out to Him, rather than struggle. He will turn to us and hear our cries. He will not only bring us out, but He will also set our feet upon a rock, so that we won’t slip back. He is the rock. Jesus is the Rock of our salvation! We look to Him and our steps are established and steadied.

“He has put a new song in my mouth-

 Praise to our God;

 Many will see it and fear,

And will trust in the LORD.”

Just as I’m writing this, evening is falling and there is a mocking bird singing outside the window. I’m reminded that He has given us a new song to sing! A song of praise! A song of praise for who He is, what He has done and who He is to us! We may not yet have come to the other side of those trials or difficulties, but we can offer Him praise for being there and for the hope that we have in Him. Many will see and be amazed and know that they can trust in Him as well!

“Blessed is the man who makes

 The LORD his trust,

 And does not respect the proud, nor

 such as turn aside to lies.”

We are so blessed when we make the Lord our trust! The word here for ‘respect’ means “has not turned to”. We are to turn to the Lord, to cry out to Him, rather than to the proud who think that they have all the answers or who have turned aside to lies. Our confidence needs to be in Jesus! This many times means waiting on Him, rather than losing patience and looking to the “quick fix” that so many look for.

“Many, O LORD my God, are Your

   wonderful works

 Which You have done;

 And Your thoughts toward us

 Cannot be recounted to You in order;

If I would declare and speak of them,

 They are more than can be numbered.”

The best thing to do, when we are in the pit of despair, is to start recalling all of His wonderful works! We need to begin recounting all those things which He has done while we have been waiting. There is an old chorus with these words, “Count your blessings, name them one by one; and it will surprise you what the Lord has done!” Let us remember our blessings and start counting. His thoughts are always toward us and He is ever mindful of us. How awesome is this to think about! His thoughts of us are more than can be numbered. Now doesn’t this make you feel loved and cared about even now!

The next portion of Psalm 40 is quoted in the book of ‘Hebrews’ of the New Testament in the Scriptures. Here the writer inspired by the Holy Spirit writes…

“You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings.

   But you have given me a body to offer.

You were not pleased with burnt offerings

  Or other offerings for sin.

Then I said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will, O God-

   As it is written about me in the scriptures.’”

Throughout the Old Testament we can find references to Jesus and who He is. This is a reference to Jesus and what He has done for us. What better time for us to meditate on this portion, then when we are approaching the Passover observance; and are coming up to the day in which we remember His sacrifice, on our behalf, upon the cross of Calvary? Jesus had prayed in the Garden of Gethsemane, “Not My will, but Your will be done.” The Scriptures go on to say in Hebrews 10, verses 8-12…

“First, Christ said, ‘You did not want animal sacrifices or sin offerings or burnt offerings

 or other offerings for sin, nor were you pleased with them.’ (though they are required by the law of Moses). Then he said, ‘Look, I have come to do your will.’ He cancels the first covenant in order to put the second into effect. For God’s will was for us to be made holy by the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ, once for all time.”

“Under the old covenant, the priest stands and ministers before the altar day after day, offering the same sacrifices again and again, which can never take away sins. But our High Priest offered himself to God as a single sacrifice for sins, good for all time. Then he sat down in the place of honor at God’s right hand.”

Our High Priest is Jesus, our Savior! He is the one standing above that pit of despair and hopelessness, ready to hear our cry and to take our arms and help us up! We can go right into the presence of God, sprinkled with the blood of Jesus. He has put into effect a new covenant, in His blood. The scriptures say to hold tightly to Him, not wavering in hope, but trusting in Him to keep His promise. We are to encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near. We need to keep our eyes on Jesus, the one who perfects our faith.

The Psalmist David goes on to speak of those things the Lord has done for him and to declare His faithfulness and salvation. He calls upon the Lord’s tender mercies, His lovingkindness, His truth and His covenant promise to preserve him. He says, ‘Be pleased, O Lord, to deliver me; O Lord make haste to help me!” for his heart fails him and he is beside himself with anguish. He is still in that pit of miry clay, but he is looking forward to the Lord’s covenant promise. He is waiting for that deliverance and is speaking out of faith. There are those around him who mock him saying, “Aha, aha!” and the Psalmist David says….

“But I am poor and needy;

 Yet, the Lord thinks upon me.

You are my help and my deliverer;

Do not delay, O my God.”

The Hebrew word here for ‘poor’ means afflicted, one whose outward condition makes him needy, one who is depressed, lowly and humble. Are you in the pit as David was? Our Messiah has come to preach good news to the poor. To be of lowly position doesn’t indicate a lack of faith. (Read Hebrews chapter 11- about the heroes of the faith and what they endured)  David was still in that pit, waiting with a persevering faith for his deliverance, when he wrote this psalm.

Do you feel like you are stuck in a muddy pit of clay? Are you exhausted by the struggle? Are you too weak to get out? Do you gaze through the glass desiring to enter in?

The good news is that Jesus has died and risen from the dead! If we have turned to Him to save us, then we are sprinkled with the blood of the new covenant. We may enter in! He is standing nearby and He is reaching out to us. Wait patiently with a persevering faith!  Our deliverance is near!