July 14, 2015


Psalm 52:9 I will praise you for ever for what you have done;
in your name I will hope, for your name is good.
I will praise you in the presence of your saints.

Once again I am struck by the richness of reading Scripture in multiple languages, because each will bring out facets that aren’t so obvious in another. Here, the Japanese specifies that the “waiting in hope” is done in the presence of God’s saints. People can see when we’re trusting God consistently, and it’s often easiest for those who have the same hope to recognize it. This is actually a vital way that believers encourage one another, because we all have dips in our “faith level,” and seeing a brother or sister who is standing strong is a very real encouragement. Then on another occasion, we might be the one who is strong, encouraging them. (Hebrews 10:25) Also, where the NIV just says God’s name is “good,” the Japanese uses a phrase that is defined as “affectionate; loving; tender; merciful.” (This is the same term that came up on the 6th.) We really miss out when we fail to grasp that for the Biblical writers, “name” was an expression and extension of character and personality. The name of Jesus is “above every name” (Philippians 2:9) because He is above everyone and everything else, by every measure. As it says in Proverbs 18:10, the name of the Lord is a strong tower, not as some magical incantation but because He is strong, in fact omnipotent. The better we remember that, the easier it is to wait in hope for Him.

Any time I read a passage like this I have to examine myself as to how well I am following it. I talk to people all the time about how they need to trust God all the time in every way, but then I am all too prone to come up a little short in the faith department myself. It isn’t easy when attendance isn’t what it has been and people I thought were strong either waver or stumble. I’ve got to remember that it isn’t people who are strong and reliable, much less myself, it is the Lord, the Creator of the heavens and the earth. I am to walk in trust and obedience, abiding in His love through obeying His Word. (John 14:15, 23-24) I am to be active in that obedience, but not running off on my own trying to make things happen if He has not directed it. I am to wait in hope for Him, in all peace and joy.

Father, once again I’m back to what You told me years ago now, to rest, relax, and rejoice. Help me never use that as an excuse for laziness, but help me likewise never think I can do anything without You. May I fulfill my place in Your plan fully and perfectly, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 13, 2015


Psalm 43:3 Send forth your light and your truth,
let them guide me;
let them bring me to your holy mountain,
to the place where you dwell.

Many people seek guidance from God, but they often forget a fundamental point: God’s guidance will always lead us to Him. Not only is that our ultimate destination, it is also the ultimate good. There is a beautiful old hymn, Lead me to Calvary, that takes up this point, but even Calvary isn’t the ultimate destination, because Jesus is no longer on the cross. We can’t gain real intimacy with God apart from Calvary because we have to put on the righteousness of God in order to approach Him, but we aren’t to stop at the cross. We are to come boldly to God because of the cross and what Jesus did for us there, but where we come to Him is before His throne. (Hebrews 4:16) This is not “triumphalism,” thinking that we don’t have to suffer, but it is remembering that any suffering we might experience isn’t the end of the story. The darker things get around us, the more clearly we need to remember that in Christ we are already more than conquerors. (Romans 8:37) The whole point is, get close to God! Another old hymn puts it this way: “I am Thine, O Lord, and I heard Thy voice, and it told Thy love to me. And I long to rise in the arms of faith and be closer drawn to Thee.” That is really what the Psalmist is saying here.

I have known of God’s love for me from the point I knew of my parents’ love for me, and that is an incalculable blessing. However, my response to that love has been anything but consistent. I have ignored it and I have taken it for granted, but I’m not sure I’ve ever really doubted it. It’s been somewhat like the air I breathe. However, it doesn’t take long underwater, or even in a tear gas chamber, like I went through in Army training, to appreciate the air you breathe! I need to be fully aware, appreciative, and responsive toward God’s love all the time, drawing closer to Him as He shows the way. Yesterday I spoke on “Refuge,” talking about where we turn emotionally when things get tough. That certainly needs to be God, as far as I’m concerned, but I should not wait for things to get tough! As the Lord said through me yesterday, I need to be on close enough terms with Him every day so that when anything comes up, my automatic and gut-level response is to turn to Him. For that, He will give me all the light and truth I need!

Father, thank You for the privilege of drawing close to You morning by morning like this. Help me demonstrate the blessings of such a lifestyle so winningly that many others will be drawn into it as well. It amazes me and it grieves me that so few of Your children seem to pursue the intimacy with You that is available to them and that You desire. I ask You to pour Your Spirit out on this church to draw us all closer to You, to be obedient, effective children indeed, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 12, 2015


Psalm 42:5 Why are you downcast, O my soul?
Why so disturbed within me?
Put your hope in God,
for I will yet praise him,
my Savior and my God.”

This refrain, appearing twice in this Psalm and once in the next, is powerfully direct. People today often laugh at the idea of “giving yourself a talking-to,” but actually we talk to ourselves all the time. Freud even tried to formalize it with terms like ego, super-ego, and id. The world would be a better place if people took this idea seriously, because God gives each of us a conscience, and we need to listen to it! Here, the Psalmist is faced with some pretty depressing circumstances, probably as almost everyone is at times. He knows intellectually that God is still God, but his emotions aren’t keeping up with that knowledge. That’s why he’s being firm with his emotions, pointing out the truth of God’s reliability. As Jesus said, the truth will set us free, even from the grips of depression. (John 8:32) Many would protest that depression doesn’t yield to logic. In a sense that’s true, but we’ve got to start somewhere, and choosing to appropriate truth is that place. Expecting to say a few words and be done with depression is foolish, but choosing to wait in hope for God will get us through just about anything. It’s that element of hope that is key. We don’t have to see what the ultimate solution will be, because that’s not given to mankind to be able to do. (Many people try, but looking back at various projections and predictions can be pretty amusing reading.) That’s why we have to choose to believe, to trust, to hope. The devil does all he can to hinder that, but for the Christian, the One who is in us is far greater. (1 John 4:4)

I’ve had various struggles with depression over the years, and in college I even tried to end my life over it, so I certainly don’t speak casually here. I have learned that nothing trumps the plain fact of God’s absolute reliability. Certainly my own weakness doesn’t trump it. I’ve come to the conviction that many of us think our weaknesses are greater than God’s strength. How could that be? God, who spoke the universe into existence, can certainly do anything He likes with anything He made. I have learned that God can use even me and my circumstances to bless others and bring Him glory. I have learned that the various compound names for God in the Old Testament (now there’s a rich, blessed study) are all true, that He’s our Provider, our Healer, our Righteousness, our Helper, and all the rest. That makes it much easier to wait in hope for Him, and forms a firm bulwark against depression. As a pastor, I’ve learned that simply demonstrating the reliable love of God gets through to people in the fog of depression far better than haranguing them over how foolish they are being. Speaking the truth simply, briefly (!) and in love works wonders, but only when a framework of love has been established.

Father, thank You for Your grace toward me over the years, and for the privilege of being a channel of that grace to others. I pray that everyone in this church would indeed be able to take their eyes off of themselves and fix them on Jesus, (Hebrews 12:2) so that we will not lose hope at any point, but walk in the peace and joy that You intend for us, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 11, 2015


Psalm 39:4 “Show me, O Lord, my life’s end
and the number of my days;
let me know how fleeting is my life.”

I can’t say I was aware that this verse was in the Bible – it certainly wasn’t underlined – but the desire to know our lifespan is common. However, David approaches the question from a slightly different angle, that of reminding himself how insignificant he is. None of us know how long we will live, with the exception of people facing scheduled executions. Even people who have been pronounced terminal with some disease often live longer or shorter than the doctors expected. However, physical life itself is a terminal condition, and we do well to remember that. If we do not remember both that we are here for a limited time and that we are here for a purpose, then we will fritter away our time and lose a great deal, on many levels. We don’t like to accept that we are transients on this planet, but we do want to have a sense of purpose, a sense of accomplishment. That will not come fully until we accept that we are created beings; we are not here by chance any more than we willed ourselves into existence. To know our purpose, we have to know our Creator, and getting to know our Creator is actually our biggest task on this earth. We have many secondary tasks, and those differ with each individual, but the primary task for anyone ever born is to know God and respond to Him in love and obedience. Realizing that brings peace that can be had no other way, and it releases us from all sorts of pressures. God has indeed prepared tasks for each individual, (Ephesians 2:10) but He has also supplied the abilities and resources necessary for those tasks. If we will press in to know Him, then everything else will fall into place.

Recently finding someone dead, still seated at his dinner table, really brought this into sharp focus. He was 82, in declining health, and a firm Christian, so I’m sure it was a relief and even a joy for him, but dealing with everything he left (since he lived alone and had little family) has really driven home the insignificance of material things. I have already outlived my father and look well set to outlive my mother, but that’s hardly a good measure of the value of my life. My focus needs to be on getting closer to my Lord and being more accurately and instantly obedient to Him. There are things I would like to do and things I would like to accomplish, but all of those fade to insignificance when compared to knowing God. The thing is, one of the things I have been given to do is helping others know more of God, to draw close to Him as I desire to do. That is to be my second priority, after drawing closer myself. Everything else is to be evaluated as to how it relates to those two goals, those two purposes. It’s the second of those that makes me want to stick around on this earth. If my only thought were being close to God, then in heaven there’s nothing to keep me from Him. However, this life is the only chance I have to introduce others to the salvation I am experiencing, so I want to make full use of it. Along the way I have and will have various opportunities to tear down the devil’s works, (1 John 3:8) and I don’t want to miss any of those. With those priorities in place, I can live in peace and assurance for as long as the Lord keeps me here.

Father, thank You for all You are doing in, around, and through me. Help me recognize each specific task You have for me and do it with my whole heart, not being distracted by fluff, either good or bad, but keeping clear focus on You, Your kingdom and Your righteousness, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 10, 2015


Psalm 37:8-9 Refrain from anger and turn from wrath;
do not fret—it leads only to evil.
For evil men will be cut off,
but those who hope in the Lord will inherit the land.

This is very appropriate advice for this day in which we live! Temptations to harbor anger abound. There is a place for righteous indignation, as Jesus showed when He drove the merchants out of the temple, but what David is talking about here is letting anger fester, mulling it over. That’s where “revenge killings” and “honor killings” come from. We’ve got to remember that God has said, “Vengeance is mine.” (Deuteronomy 32:35) It is when we try to do God’s job for Him that we get into the deepest trouble. The Bible is filled with assurances of reward, good for good and evil for evil. At the same time, the Bible also tells us to be sure our criminal justice system works well, neither acquitting the guilty nor punishing the innocent. It is very sad indeed to see the judicial system corrupted, as it certainly is in many instances. The recent incident of a man with multiple convictions being released and then committing apparently random murder is a case in point. The demons controlling him were unrestrained, and they escalated things. Such situations call for good people to be active, certainly, but at the same time we have to remember that “The anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God.” (James 1:20)

I have noticed in myself the rather ironic tendency to get angry that I’m angry. I don’t enjoy anger, but it does happen, and when I realize that I’m angry, that fact in itself makes me more angry! Such a cycle certainly doesn’t produce the righteousness of God. I need to remember what Paul said, quoting Psalm 4:4. “In your anger do not sin.” He followed that up with practical advice: “Do not let the sun go down while you are still angry, and do not give the devil a foothold.” (Ephesians 4:26-27) This is exactly what David was talking about, because if I nurse anger I open myself up to the devil and that leads to evil, certainly. When I recognize anger in myself I need to turn first to God, being honest before Him about my anger and asking Him to show me what the real cause of my anger is. Often it’s not the immediate circumstance at all, but something previous that I had covered over. Anger produces various physiological responses in me, with adrenaline release and other things. When possible, I need to work those off with such things as physical exercise, but especially when that’s not possible I need to ask God’s help in dealing with the situation and my response. Anger at being angry doesn’t solve anything! I need to acknowledge my own humanity but not use it as an excuse, rather depending on God instead of on myself.

Father, the whole issue of anger is complicated. I have seen many lives ruined by mishandling of anger, both in “letting it all hang out” and in suppressing it until it comes out in such things as anorexia and suicide. Help me be a channel of Your truth and wisdom to people so that we may not be caught in the devil’s traps but rather walk in the abundant life that You provided for us in Christ, (John 10:10) for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 9, 2015


Psalm 33:20-21 We wait in hope for the Lord;
he is our help and our shield.
In him our hearts rejoice,
for we trust in his holy name.

It’s interesting that the Japanese specifies, “Our souls wait in hope for the Lord.” It is also interesting that this is one of the few places the NIV does specify “wait in hope,” rather than just “wait.” “Wait in hope” is a fairly common Japanese compound, and it seems very expressive to me. Waiting without hope is resignation and despair. We often have to wait for God’s timing, but much of the time we do so impatiently. This is not that, but rather knowing that God’s solution is going to be better than anything we could have come up with, and it will be in time. This is not necessarily passive; rather, it calls for active participation. If we are waiting in hope for God, then we will be doing all we can to be ready for His answer when it comes. I am reminded of the farming community in the American Midwest that called a prayer meeting because of a drought, and only one little girl took an umbrella. The drought was broken, and I think it may have been because of that little girl’s faith! California is in the grip of a severe drought right now. Water usage rules aside, the only real solution will be a shift in the weather patterns, but California has led the world in active defiance of God in a number of areas, so “waiting in hope” for them would involve repentance at the very least. Most of us operate on a much more personal scale, but the principle of waiting in hope is applicable on every scale. It involves recognizing that God is indeed our “help and shield,” and nothing else will do the trick. Many people depend on government to be their help and shield, but that is actually idolatry. God can and does use governments, but when we place the government ahead of God we are spitting in God’s face.

It is interesting and timely that this passage has come up when I was already sure the message for this coming Sunday was to be on “Refuge,” talking about where we go, emotionally speaking, when things get tough. These two verses express the desired outcome of what I expect to say! I have tended to retreat to various things over the course of my life when things have gotten difficult. Thankfully, neither alcohol nor drugs have been among them, but the principle is the same. I’m still learning to turn first to God, rather than falling back on Him once other things have proved inadequate – as they always will. I still have room to grow in “waiting in hope” on my Creator, even though I am very familiar with Isaiah 40:28-31. It is interesting to me that the most traditional English translation, the KJV, renders verse 31 as, “But they that wait upon the Lord,” and the NIV says, “but those who hope in the Lord,” but no English translation I’m aware of expresses it with the compound, “wait in hope.” I wonder why not? As a pastor, I need to lead all the believers in placing God first in all their priorities: desires, hopes, expectations. It is only when we do that, that we will walk in the peace, joy, and satisfaction that He intends for us.

Father, You know who is struggling and how. I ask You to speak Your truth into each heart to set them free from the lies that are tying them in knots. May they let go of all the negative “what ifs” and choose to trust you, waiting in hope on You, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 8, 2015


Psalm 31:23-24 Love the Lord, all his saints!
The Lord preserves the faithful,
but the proud he pays back in full.
Be strong and take heart,
all you who hope in the Lord.

Life is filled with all sorts of things to get us down, and the devil is constantly trying to deprive us of joy, or of any of the other good things the Lord has for us. It is important to stand against the devil’s onslaughts, as James said, (James 4:7) but the key to doing that is in the first part of what James said, that is, to submit to God. It is when we focus on God, as David is exhorting us to do here, that we are able to resist the devil. Nothing else will get the job done! It is when we live life as training for and a foretaste of heaven that we walk in all the Lord intends for us. Frankly, there is no end to the depressants available to us, on the news and elsewhere. Some people choose to avoid those things, so they think, by turning inward and focusing on personal pleasure and convenience. That is ultimately futile and leads to the emptiness described by Solomon in Ecclesiastes. Others give up hope, period, and “live lives of quiet desperation,” as someone has said. The only real solution is focus on God and His Son Jesus Christ, who out of overflowing love provided salvation for everyone who will receive it by faith. David didn’t know about the cross of Christ, except perhaps in glimmers of prophetic revelation, but he knew God from experience, so he tells us, “Love God!” It is indeed those who wait in hope for the Lord who can be bold, who can strengthen their hearts.

This is certainly timely! The experience of discovering one of the members of this church dead, and then having to deal with all of his stuff, since he had very little family, kind of set me up, and then a real flurry of scheduling things, along with some church members who are losing some skirmishes in spiritual warfare, had me feeling pretty down. The answer, as always, is to lift my eyes to my Lord and praise Him, because He has not changed and will never change, and He is more than worthy of all praise, honor, and adoration. As I have told others countless times, all I need is a change of focus. I think some of the people who know me, in this church, even, would be shocked to know that I need to be exhorted to keep my focus on God in praise and worship. Things, that is, material and temporal objects and circumstances, can distract from that, and that’s my current difficulty. I need to “build [myself] up in [my] most holy faith” (Jude 1:20) and rejoice in God!

Father, thank You for this Word of encouragement this morning. I certainly needed it! Thank You for pointing out that each of the things confronting me is not so large individually; it’s the aggregate that got me down. Thank You that even if they were big, they would still be no problem for you! Help me indeed rest, relax, and rejoice in You, allowing You to deal with the issues and deal with me, so that I may be Your agent of blessing for everyone around me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 7, 2015


Psalm 25:14 The Lord confides in those who fear him;
he makes his covenant known to them.

For those who want to get close to God, to hear what He has to say and walk with Him, David has very simple advice: fear Him. To us today that seems counter-intuitive: how can we get close to someone we’re afraid of? It’s all a matter of our understanding of fear. I’ve done a good bit of electrical work. I’m not “afraid of” electricity, but I have a healthy respect for what it can do, good or bad. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t make connections securely and safely or understand the principles behind such things as 3-way and 4-way switches. We are prone to think of God very much like Santa Claus, and that’s no way to get close to Him. The Japanese translation of this verse specifically says “is friendly/close/intimate with,” where the NIV says “confides in.” It is actually the character for “parent.” Another way of saying it would be, “God is Father to those who fear Him.” We have trouble grasping that to the extent that our physical fathers failed to mirror Father God. In other words, everyone has some degree of difficulty with it, because no human father is perfect. However, a salient feature of a good father is discipline. Hebrews 12:7-11 expresses that clearly, but society today has left many fathers afraid to discipline their children, and both the children and society as a whole suffer for it. A child in a truly healthy family will delight in being with their father, but at the same time will not want to make their father angry! That is the sort of relationship David is talking about here. It is sad and ironic that he didn’t succeed very well with his own children, but that doesn’t negate the truth of what is written here.

My father wasn’t perfect, but he was pretty high up the scale, and I have benefited from that all my life, in more ways than I could say. I was certainly not the best possible father to my children, but we do have a good relationship now that they are parents themselves. As a pastor/spiritual father I am continually presented with challenges, particularly because I don’t have such a clear framework for discipline. I can admonish, but I can’t really punish. I find that when believers are involved in things they know aren’t the best that they withdraw from me, and sometimes even from the church. That hurts them more than it does me, but it’s painful enough for me. People say they want to hear from God like I do, but they don’t have the fundamental commitment to obedience that is involved in “fearing the Lord.” I don’t have the wisdom or strength to solve each situation, so I have to stay open and humble before the Lord, speaking and acting as He directs, rather than just whatever occurs to me.

Father, You know those who most concern me right now, and You love them more than I do. I ask You to convict them as they need it, as well as give them a revelation of the forgiveness that fully available and waiting for them, so that they may be brought into the intimacy with You that You desire, for their benefit and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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July 6, 2015


Psalm 25:8-9 Good and upright is the Lord;
therefore he instructs sinners in his ways.
He guides the humble in what is right
and teaches them his way.

Going between languages produces some interesting insights. The term the Japanese uses here where the NIV says “good” is exactly the same as the first line, in Japanese, of What a Friend We Have in Jesus, which is probably the best-loved hymn in Japan. One Japanese-English dictionary defines it as “affectionate; loving; tender; merciful.” Just saying “good” seems flavorless in comparison! That said, the point of what David is saying here is that God teaches sinners because of His character, not just swatting them but showing them both their error and how to get it right. The other side of that is that we have to be humble enough to know we need such instruction. If we are that way, then He will show us His very own way, which is guaranteed to be right and have the best possible outcome. Most people agonize over major decisions, knowing that their choices really do make a difference. What is lacking in a majority of those cases is humble submission to God. If we really understood the character of God we wouldn’t hesitate so much to trust Him! We have to recognize that we are sinners, that our natural tendency is to depart from God’s path, and then repent, that is, decide to do differently. In this case, that means seeking God’s way and following it.

I’ve had a complicated relationship with this truth most of my life. I grew up knowing the facts about God but appropriating only the smallest fraction of them in my daily living. God has loved me enough to let me stumble, so that I would learn that I can’t get it right without Him. He has also led me in ways that I would not have imagined, and they have been better than I would have planned. As I deal with others I am often reminded of how I have been, and I desire for them a shorter path than I took! I am to be “affectionate, loving, tender, merciful” and upright as an extension of His character, so that they may be led to repentance and faith, for their salvation and God’s glory.

Father, You those with whom I deal better than I do, and You certainly know their needs better than I do. Help me be fully submitted to You, not thinking that because something worked with someone in the past that it’s the way to go this time, but seeking You and listening to You. I pray that I would be fully available to You so that the people of this church and the people of this city would be led to full devotion to and fellowship with You, for their salvation and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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July 5, 2015


Psalm 9:10 Those who know your name will trust in you,
for you, Lord, have never forsaken those who seek you.

There are many kinds of trusting. The phrase used in the Japanese translation here means “find refuge in and depend on.” That’s pretty descriptive, I think. We find refuge in all sorts of things – “comfort foods” come to mind – and we depend on even more. Many people have an academic awareness that God is more worthy of that than anyone or anything else, but that awareness remains largely theoretical until it is tested. For too many of us, God is pretty far down the list when it comes to actually finding refuge and depending on something. This verse illustrates a linguistic/cultural shift that can cause misunderstanding of quite a few Biblical passages, and that is the meaning and inference of someone/something’s name. Throughout the Bible, a name is a representation of the character and core reality of a person or thing. That’s why it was so significant that Adam was told to name the animals. (Genesis 2:19-20) Today we tend to just tack Jesus’ name onto our prayers, when Jesus’ instructions to pray in His name meant to pray in line with His character and who He is. In this verse, “knowing the name” of the Creator meant really knowing Him, in a vital, ongoing relationship. We cannot know Him fully on this earth, but the correct starting point is expressed here: seeking after Him, inquiring of Him. The better we know Him the more we will want to know Him, in a beautiful, ongoing cycle.

I have been blessed to know of God literally all my life, as a child of missionary parents. However, really knowing Him personally has been, and continues to be, an ongoing process. I find my flesh still tries to take refuge in things other than God, and occasionally in things that are in direct opposition to God. I still get anxious at times, as though I were in charge of things or I had to make them happen by my own strength and wisdom. However, the Lord has brought me through time after time when there was no way I could do the job myself, but He has done it through me, or sometimes even in spite of me! Those experiences weren’t necessarily enjoyable at the time, but as it says in Hebrews, they “produced a harvest of righteousness and peace.” (Hebrews 12:11) I’m not to complain or rebel at such circumstances, but rather give thanks, and I am to seek to lead others to do likewise. Really knowing God is more than worth it!

Father, the past two weeks have been hectic to say the least, and the rush isn’t over yet. Help me accept this too as training from Your loving hand, and rest, relax, and rejoice in You even while I’m running full speed, so that You may receive all the glory as Your will is accomplished on Your schedule. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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