October 25, 2012

Posted on October 25, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 71:15, 18 My mouth will tell of your righteousness,
of your salvation all day long,
though I know not its measure.
Even when I am old and gray,
do not forsake me, O God,
till I declare your power to the next generation,
your might to all who are to come.

This Psalm has no attribution, but the author obviously had a long and close relationship with God. The thing that stands out to me in verse 15 is that we don’t have to know everything about God to talk about Him – even talk about Him all the time! Japanese in particular seem to want to know everything about Christianity before “entering the religion,” to use their phrase. However, we cannot know every-thing about God by very definition, since He is infinite and we are finite. I’m reminded of something my father said frequently in evangelistic situations: “Give all you know of yourself to all you know of Christ.” We don’t know everything about ourselves, much less about Christ, but that shouldn’t paralyze us. Likewise, not knowing everything shouldn’t keep us from sharing what we do know. That’s where verse 18 comes in, because the current generation of Christians needs to share what they know of Christ, or there might not be another generation. It is a beautiful thing to see faith communicated from generation to generation within a family, but this certainly isn’t limited to that. “All who are to come” isn’t limited to blood kin! The history of Israel and Judah is filled with examples, both good and bad, of such intergenerational communication, or the lack of it. What it all boils down to is, let others know what You know of God, so that they can have a head start in learning more and more of Him.

As I am reminded frequently, I am the product of many physical generations of people who knew and loved God, and I have benefited greatly from that. However, if I fail to communicate what I have received, through my ancestors as well as directly from the Lord, I will have to answer for it. As Jesus said, we are responsible for all we receive, and I have received much. (Luke 12:48) At the same time, I am not responsible for how others receive what I offer them freely. I am to speak the truth in love and never in pride, as clearly and in context as possible, but what they do with what they hear is their business. That can be a hard one, emotionally. I so want others to know the loving Savior I know, and when they reject Him it can be very painful for me. However, I must not let that stop me from telling them about Him! I must commit myself and my hearers to God, and trust Him with the outcome.

Father, thank You for the privilege of telling others about You. It is a joy, especially when they receive what I say gladly. I pray that by the power of Your Spirit I would be more and more effective in communicating the good news of Your kingdom, both to those who are not yet saved and to those who are growing in faith. May I also continue to grow in knowledge and faith, so that I will always have a fresh supply for those to whom You send me, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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October 24, 2012

Posted on October 25, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 68:19 Praise be to the Lord, to God our Savior,
who daily bears our burdens.

This is such a simple little verse, yet it speaks a profound truth. First of all, it starts with praising God. I have noticed that people who regularly praise God are much happier than those who don’t. It’s not that God is some twisted megalomaniac who has to “have his strokes” all the time, it’s that praising God helps us take our focus off of ourselves and place it on Him. I have noticed, in my regular visits to the mental hospital, that whatever their specific problems, almost all of those patients are excessively self-centered. It has rightly been said that the unexamined life isn’t worth living, but too much introspection is hardly good for us. David goes on to give a very down-to-earth reason for praising God: He daily bears our burdens. That is significant in itself for two reasons. First is that He would bear them at all. Why would the Creator of the universe take on burdens for the sake of His creation? However, the entire Bible is a record of how much He loves us, His creation, culminating in the gift of His Son, so that we may be rescued from our own sin to be able to fellowship with Him for eternity. (John 3:16) Jesus Himself put this burden-bearing very clearly and explicitly, as is recorded in Matthew 11:28-30. It is all the more remarkable that, as David points out, He does this daily. We tend to go to God for what we consider “big stuff,” not understanding that He’s willing to deal with whatever we will yield to Him. That’s not to say that we can be irresponsible and lazy, because our participation is very much called for. However, He will do the “heavy lifting,” if we will allow Him to. That’s why He’s our Savior!

I’ve certainly experienced God bearing my burdens, but that’s not to say I’m completely consistent in yielding them to Him. Every time I lie awake at night, mulling things over in my mind, I am reminded that my faith and trust aren’t where they should and could be! As much trouble as I’ve had learning and practicing the truth of this verse, I have no room to look down on others who are struggling with it. However, at times my heart breaks for them, as I see them staggering under loads that God is so ready to lift. Everyone has troubles of various sorts, just as Jesus said (John 16:33), but if we can trust God enough to release things to Him, we can have peace and joy even in the middle of whatever we are going through.

Father, thank You for this reminder. I’ll be seeing several people who fall into this category today, in hospitals and elsewhere. Help me be an open channel of Your grace to them, encouraging them and lifting them up, so that they will be enabled to take their eyes off of themselves and fix them on You, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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October 23, 2012

Posted on October 25, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 65:5 You answer us with awesome deeds of righteousness,
O God our Savior,
the hope of all the ends of the earth
and of the farthest seas.

God is so righteous, so holy and pure, that it’s scary, or ought to be. It’s interesting that we speak of “acts of God” only in relation to natural disasters, not acknowledging that good things are His doing, too. God allows the scary things to encourage us to turn our hearts to Him, to recognize that He is “God our Savior.” Just yesterday I watched an interview with a rock musician who hit bottom in his life but then cried out to the God he had known from a distance, and he discovered He was near after all. Now he’s written a book about it! That’s what David was talking about in the second half of this verse, because God is the only trustworthy source of hope. David had no idea of the “ends of the earth” or the “farthest seas” when he wrote this, but he knew God well enough to be sure that there could be no other real hope. God does not “pick on” anyone, but our sins and the sins of others have stored up a mountain of consequences, and sometimes those hit us. If we will indeed turn to God and cry out to Him in repentant faith, we will find that He is “God our Savior” indeed.

This is, of course, central to the Gospel I preach. It is interesting and deeply important that since the earthquake, tsunami, and nuclear disaster in Northeast Japan, evangelistic efforts have met with unprecedented success. The people have literally been shaken enough that they are looking for and open to a Savior, and rejoice when they find Him. I was with a family from that region last month, and will see them again this weekend. I should not think that they will be as resistant as those I work with usually, but lead them boldly to repent and believe in Jesus Christ as Lord. That will be a powerful witness to everyone in the group, even those who are not from that area. I also need to be bold in presenting Christ to those in this area who are experiencing life-shaking circumstances. They too, perhaps are better prepared to let go of the things that have held them back, so that they may take hold of the one thing that will take them forward to eternity.

Father, thank You for this reminder and encouragement. I see signs all around me of Your plans, Your hand at work, and I am deeply grateful. Help me not miss any of Your appointments, but rejoice to fulfill my part in what You are doing, whatever that might be, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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October 22, 2012

Posted on October 22, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 52:8 But I am like an olive tree
flourishing in the house of God;
I trust in God’s unfailing love
for ever and ever.

Having just talked about someone who trusted in material things and practiced evil, David here presents himself as an example of the opposite of those things. Two things strike me about this verse. The first is David’s choice of an olive tree as a metaphor. As trees go, olives aren’t that impressive, but they have two important characteristics that apply here. The first is that they are fruitful, which makes them valuable. In David’s time, containers of olive oil were literally used like money at times, so in a sense you could call them money trees. Olive oil was and is a very useful commodity. The second thing about olive trees is that they are very long-lived. There are trees today that are over 1,000 years old, still producing a crop every year. In his metaphor, David places the olive tree in the house of God. At the time, the temple had not been built, and there were no trees inside the tabernacle, so this is obviously just talking about closeness to God. Also, trees are planted; they don’t wander away. David’s commitment to God wasn’t an on again, off again thing. He stresses that in the last part of the verse, and the phrase he uses for “forever” is “from age to age without limit.” Each of us goes through various “ages” in our lives, from childhood to young adulthood to middle age to senior years, and many in between. Some people seem to limit their “religiosity” to one or a few of those, but David was placing no limit on his commitment. That’s an example for us all!

I like to think that I am such an olive tree, but my value is determined by my God. As a pastor, I need to encourage “olive tree like” characteristics in the believers. I particularly need to help them understand that they won’t be fruitful unless they are planted, in the Word of God and in the Body of Christ. Some take in little or no spiritual nourishment on a daily basis, and then wonder why their lives seem fruitless. Others attend church “when they feel like it,” and again wonder at their lack of productivity. I need to help them understand the principles that apply, that are actually obvious for anyone to see, but which we often overlook. I am to be an example and a guide, watering the trees in my olive grove, so to speak, and encouraging all to go deeper in Christ.

Father, thank You for this beautiful word picture. Help me be more and more fruitful, both in the fruit of the Spirit and in souls brought into Your kingdom, for Your pleasure and glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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October 21, 2012

Posted on October 22, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 51:10 Create in me a pure heart, O God,
and renew a steadfast spirit within me.

I think this one verse, along with this Psalm as a whole, reveals why David was “a man after God’s own heart.” (Acts 13:22) David knew that he needed to be cleaned up, and he knew that he couldn’t do it for himself, so he asked God to do it. That’s the very core of getting saved, according to the New Testament Gospel! Even long before the cross, David grasped that God was holy, he wasn’t, and if he was going to be acceptable to God, God was going to have to do something about it. It was not being irresponsible for David to ask God to create a pure heart in him, because he knew he couldn’t do it himself, and that his old heart was past cleaning up. He knew from painful experience that his current spirit was shaken by all sorts of external circumstances, so he asked God to strengthen him. We are prone either to want to fix ourselves, or to give up and say, that’s just the way I am. Neither attitude is appropriate for a child of God. We need to keep pressing into Him, asking and allowing Him to clean up all the “toxic waste” that’s in us, whether we recognize it ourselves or not. If we will do that, we will indeed be “transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory,” as His Word promises. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

This is a truth I have sought to communicate throughout my ministry, with varying degrees of success. Japanese are great ones for wanting to clean themselves up, or conversely, deny that they have a problem. Of course, neither attitude accepts the grace of God. That puts me in the position of depending on the grace of God myself, because I know the job needs to be done, and yet I cannot do it in my own strength. That’s actually not a bad place to be! I am never to let the magnitude of the task cause me to give up, or to be less than diligent, but rather look forward to how God is going to solve these problems that are totally beyond me. He has given us a vision of Omura once again being the foremost Christian city in the nation (next year marks the 450th anniversary of the baptism of the first Christian feudal lord in the nation), but taking the city from where it is now to that condition is totally beyond my abilities. I need to praise God and look forward to what He is going to do! In that, I need to be faithfully committed to Him, fully obedient in whatever part He has for me to play in what He is doing. If I will do that, then many will indeed stop their rebellion and their striving and turn to Him in repentance and faith, for their salvation and His glory.

Father, thank You for this reminder. You’ve taken me from personal salvation to societal transformation as I have written, and I didn’t expect that. Keep me from failing to receive anything You do because of failing to expect and/or recognize it. Keep me open to all that You are doing in me, so that I may be fully available for all You want to do through me, for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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October 20, 2012

Posted on October 22, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 51:6 Surely you desire truth in the inner parts;
you teach me wisdom in the inmost place.

Psalm 51 is very rightly famous, because it is David’s response after Nathan confronted him over what he had done in relation to Bathsheba and her husband. (2 Samuel 11, 12) Considering the usual royal literature of the day, it is unprecedented that the incident is recorded at all, so much so that it is a strong confirmation that the Bible is a book God caused to be written, rather than merely human fare. In those days, kings had the authority to do anything they want­ed, but that of course didn’t mean it was right. It took great courage for Nathan to confront David, but he knew the man he worked for, and his judgment was born out by David’s response. The thing is, David had a personal relationship with God. Obviously he strayed badly from that relationship in this instance, but he came back to it. David knew that any interaction with God had to be based on truth, as he says here. Platitudes wouldn’t cut it. He also knew that he was devious, if left to himself. Therefore, in his repentance, he asked God to teach him what he needed to know. (The NIV says “you teach me,” but the Japanese makes it a request.) If we are to be people after God’s heart, as David was, we too need to acknowledge that we can’t do it right on our own, we’ve got to have God’s help, and we can’t get that by putting on any kind of false front.

I am as tempted to hide my failures as anyone, but God has graciously called me to account time and time again. God already knows everything about me, but I must choose to be transparent, not trying to hide anything but being quick to repent. That’s not to say that I’m to “let it all hang out” with everyone around me, because that would not be beneficial. However, I am never to pretend sinless perfection, but rather acknowledge that I am as in need of the grace of God as anyone. I must constantly be open to God’s instruction, letting Him teach me what I need to know about myself, about Him, and about anything else that’s necessary.

Father, thank You for instilling the principle of absolute honesty in me. That’s something to be grateful for, rather than proud of. Help me be an open channel for Your truth at all times, but always speak it in love as You direct, rather than spouting it off just because I know it. May I lead many out of the lying traps of the enemy, so that together we may walk in Your truth for Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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October 19, 2012

Posted on October 19, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 50:21 These things you have done and I kept silent;
you thought I was altogether like you.
But I will rebuke you
and accuse you to your face.

To my knowledge I’ve never underlined this verse in my Bible before, but it really struck me just now. God, speaking through the Psalmist, is calling the wicked to account, giving them an opportunity to repent lest they be destroyed, and He points out a fatal fallacy that trips up many people. We tend to look at ourselves and think, “this is what God’s like,” instead of looking to God and thinking, “He is my Creator and worthy of all my love and obedience.” Even the Bible uses many anthropomorphic expressions to describe God, because otherwise we would have no frame of reference, but that doesn’t mean He is like us in our weaknesses and lusts. That’s the kind of deity portrayed in Greek and Roman mythology, not to mention many other religions, but it certainly doesn’t apply to the Creator of the Universe. As He pointed out to Isaiah, His thoughts and ways are incalculably higher than ours. (Isaiah 55:9) People do all they can to try to pull God down to their level, and it just doesn’t work. On the other hand, God chose to come down to our level, in the Person of His Son, so that we could know Him better. One of the miracles of the incarnation is that Jesus was fully human, yet did not succumb to the weaknesses that come with the territory. Down through the centuries the devil has put out the lie that Jesus was as lustful and devious as we are, and modern media have put that into books and movies, but it remains a lie. We cannot escape God’s command to “Be holy, for I the Lord your God am holy.” (1 Peter 1:15-16)

This is an issue I deal with all the time, sometimes openly and more often in people’s assumptions. I need God’s wisdom to counter it, because my own can’t do the job. This is a problem not just for non-believers, it’s a problem for Christians as well. If our conception of God is too much like us, we will fail to believe He can do so much more than we ever could. That’s a big problem, because if God is no more trustworthy than we are, why should we trust Him? I need to seek to help people understand that God is so much higher than we are, but He loves us anyway. They need to have both parts of that firmly in their hearts, if they are to stand effectively as His children.

Father, I address You so frequently like this that sometimes I forget what a miracle it is that I can do so. Forgive me. Help me also remember how much higher You are than I am, and therefore rejoice in Your grace, mercy, and love. Help me convey Your Gospel more and more effectively to more and more people, so that Your family may grow more and more as You desire, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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October 18, 2012

Posted on October 19, 2012 by jgarrott

PS 40:3, 10 He put a new song in my mouth,
a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see and fear
and put their trust in the LORD.
I do not hide your righteousness in my heart;
I speak of your faithfulness and salvation.
I do not conceal your love and your truth
from the great assembly.

When God’s people praise Him, when they proclaim His manifold goodness, people take notice, and they are drawn to acknowledge God themselves. I am impressed that throughout the Bible, people were expected to talk about God, to share their faith with one another and with those to whom it was news. Deuteronomy 6:4-9 is a strong word about the centrality of God’s Word, and by extension our faith, in our lives. It starts with the Shema, the prime declaration of any devout Jew: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord your God, the Lord is one.” Then it goes on to give what Jesus said was the greatest commandment, which is to love God with all that we are, and then it talks about how that should influence our lives, causing us to think and talk all the time about what God has said to us. We get worked up about evangelism and our failures in relation to it, when if we would live the way God had Moses tell the Israelites to do, people would continually be drawn to the God we worship. David knew that, and he practiced it. By his creating praise songs and singing them, many came to trust God. That’s pretty effective evangelism! He was not one to hide what God had done for him. We tend to worry someone will think we are bragging if we talk about how good God has been to us, but that won’t be a problem if we are bragging on God. If our focus is on “God did this for me,” then there’s no benefit, to ourselves or anyone else. However, if we properly let people know that “God did this for me,” then people are drawn to seek Him for themselves.

There are various cultural barriers to this in Japan. The Japanese are positively paranoid about bragging on a personal level, and on top of that, are reticent to share personal details with others. That can led to intense loneliness and isolation, and is a factor in the high number of suicides. The choice to be open and vulnerable isn’t easy in any culture, but it is perhaps doubly difficult in Japan. Japanese sometimes envy foreigners for their openness, but they find it difficult to emulate. Cathy has had some remarkable results in small English Conversation classes for ladies by using English as a tool to teach them to talk about themselves and to listen to each other. There have been some very strong friendships forged among her students! As a pastor, I need to translate that to opening up to talk about faith. We have numbers of people who love the Lord and have experienced His grace and blessings, but they don’t know how to talk about it. I need the wisdom of the Holy Spirit to help them open their eyes to see the possibilities and believe that God can use them in that way.

Father, this is a totally unexpected message You’ve given me for Sunday! Keep me from preaching it at people. Rather, help me share Your heart and my heart, so that people may grasp the vision of how You want to use them to draw many into Your kingdom, for Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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October 17, 2012

Posted on October 19, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 37:39-40 The salvation of the righteous comes from the LORD;
he is their stronghold in time of trouble.
The LORD helps them and delivers them;
he delivers them from the wicked and saves them,
because they take refuge in him.

David is here stating a pretty basic principle, but we do well to think about it and not just pass it over. In a sense it is a description of what constitutes a righteous person. Everyone has times of trouble, just as Jesus stated. (John 16:33), but what distinguishes a righteous person is that when they come, instead of seeking human help in one form or another, they turn to the Lord. This comes out in both verses here, where God is their stronghold, and where they take refuge in Him. That’s why God is ready to save them. It is amazing how slow most people are to turn to God. We like to think we can do stuff on our own, and don’t like to acknowledge our dependence on Him. We are indeed to make good use of the resources that He has supplied, but there is a big difference between relying on those resources and relying on the One who provided them. As it says in verse 40, the Lord saves the righteous precisely because they take refuge in Him. I am reminded of the derisive comment about “people who cling to their guns and religion.” Righteous people would cling first to their God (religion), and also to the tools they had been given, which in the US would include guns.

I’ve never owned a firearm, but that is simply because of having lived most of my life in Japan rather than the US. I have been given a wide variety of other tools, however, and I appreciate them. That said, my reliance must first and always be on the Lord, and not on anything else. Abilities, material resources, and all the rest are from God by His grace, and I must acknowledge that and give Him thanks and praise. However, my focus must be on Him, or I will not be able to see and use all of those other things correctly. As a pastor, I deal with people all the time who are in practically every variety of trouble. I am to seek to help them recognize the resources they have been given, but to do that, I must first turn their attention to God. I have encountered a good bit of resistance to that! People think, and say, “but I need a job,” or “but I need money,” or “but I need medical treatment.” All of those things might be true, but what they need first is a right relationship with the God who created them, relying on Him so that they may line up to receive His provision. I am not to be distracted by the seemingly urgent, but understand that for myself and for those to whom I minister, the most urgent need is a right relationship with God.

Father, thank You for how You have worked this truth into me over the years. Thank You for the example I saw in my parents as I was growing up. Thank You for the various tools You have placed in my hands. Help me be a good steward of each one, without placing it even for a moment ahead of You. Help me get through to the many hurting people around me, especially those who are consumed by their troubles, and help them lift their eyes to You and learn to trust You, so that Your plans for them may be fulfilled, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Hallelujah!

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October 16, 2012

Posted on October 19, 2012 by jgarrott

Psalm 37:3-4 Trust in the LORD and do good;
dwell in the land and enjoy safe pasture.
Delight yourself in the LORD
and he will give you the desires of your heart.

There is so much thoughtful, meaningful content in the Psalms that it becomes problematical to choose which verses to expand when writing devotionally, and Psalm 37 is certainly a good case in point. Verse 4 here is well known and often quoted, but not practiced nearly as often. However, it is rightly paired with verse 3, and the Japanese translation gives fresh insight as to what sort of lifestyle delights in the Lord. The first line is very straightforward, as well as very important. If we don’t trust in God, then our good deeds aren’t worth much, but as James pointed out, saying we trust God but then not doing good deeds is empty. (James 2:14-17) It is in the second line of that verse that the Japanese and the NIV differ. Where the NIV says “enjoy safe pasture,” the Japanese says “nurture integrity.” That certainly fleshes out the picture of someone who “delights in the Lord,” as verse 4 so famously says. If we are truly delighting in the Lord we will be doing all we can to be pleasing to Him. That is when He will indeed give us the desires of our hearts, because our prime desire will be to please Him. People have been quick to seize on verse 4 as a way to “get God to give them stuff,” when that very motive is a violation of what these two verses are saying. Repeatedly in this Psalm David contrasts the wicked with the righteous, and the contrast is striking indeed. However, the way to get the blessings David writes about is not by demanding, but by trusting obedience.

This is something I, of course, need to remember myself, but it is also something that as a pastor I frequently need to communicate to others. I just had a phone call from someone who hasn’t begun to understand and accept this truth. He was thinking that he would catch me off guard and get me to agree to do something that I have said in the past I could not do for ethical reasons, and when he found I could not be manipulated, he hung up. His life has been a case study in the immense damage a person can do, to themselves and to others, by be­ing totally self-centered. I consider him pathetic, yet he has brought all of his troubles on himself. Even now, if he would take these two verses to heart and live them out, his life would turn around, but I hold little hope for someone so set in his ways. I am not to give up on him, but neither am I to think that I can or should change him; only the Holy Spirit can lead to genuine repentance. With him and with everyone else, I am to keep myself available so that the Holy Spirit may do the Father’s will through me for their blessing.

Father, thank You for this reminder, and for the “nurture integrity” translation. I can think of several people who need that encouragement even right now. If this is what you want me to speak on this next Sunday, plant and confirm the message in my heart. In any case, help me communicate it lovingly and effectively to those who need to hear it, so the devil’s schemes may be defeated and people set free to walk in all that You intend, for their blessing and Your glory. Thank You. Praise God!

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