“HE SHALL STRENGTHEN THINE HEART!”

 

Psalms 27:14                 (KJV)

“WAIT ON THE LORD: be of good courage, and “HE SHALL STRENGTHEN THINE HEART”: WAIT, I SAY, ON THE LORD.” 

There have been MANY times where I have had to TRUST in this passage of Scripture, especially in my “busyness” following the Brain Hemorrhage!  But this morning during my “quiet time” my EYES were OPENED to SEE things from a different perspective!!

GOD had to place me into a seventeen day coma in July of 2007 to disengage me from “this world” and all of its entrapments.  It wasn’t as if HE couldn’t do it in another “quicker” scenario, BUT HE used a two and a half week PAUSE to MAKE me SEE precisely WHO was IN CONTROL….OF EVERYTHING!!!  

ALMIGHTY GOD, the CREATOR OF THE UNIVERSES, “could have” simply SPOKEN, as HE did during CREATION, and I would have been “HEALED”!  Yet HE ELECTED for me to SLOWLY heal the brain leak over an extended period of time to magnify HIS power and CONTROL, not only of my life, but over EVERYTHING!!!

Fast forward ten years later and GOD was WORKING……yet AGAIN!  A “brain hemorrhage” was taken care of, so HE decided that a quadruple bypass surgery would be HIS next achievement!  Four days after surgery I was released from the hospital!  During my first post-surgery “check up”, the heart surgeon exclaimed that my heart was VERY strong and that I should live to be in my 90’s!  

The CREATOR certainly didn’t need “a dirt dumb country boy” to display HIS CONTROL OVER EVERYTHING, but HE DID, and without consulting me!!!  I am SO UNWORTHY, and HE IS SO MERCIFUL!!!  All I can say is that “HE SHALL STRENGTHEN THINE HEART” might not be what my heart surgeon was referring to, but I AM SO BLESSED to have HIM ABIDING IN my life….FOR HIS GLORY!!!

“GOD IS LIGHT!”

 GOD IS LIGHT!  Without HIS LIGHT, “darkness” prevails…..but ONLY when GODS LIGHT isn’t being SHOWN BY HIS SERVANTS!!!  

(Matthew 5:14-16)

“THE LORD WAITS!”

Isaiah 30:18                 (ESV)

 Will Be Gracious

    “[18] Therefore “THE LORD WAITS” to be gracious to you,

        and therefore HE EXALTS HIMSELF to SHOW MERCY to you.

    For the LORD is a GOD of justice;

        BLESSED ARE ALL THOSE WHO WAIT FOR HIM.”

Trying NOT to convolute THE WORD OF GOD with thoughts from a mere human, “THE LORD WAITS” to be gracious to me!!  I don’t NEED to understand how or why, I simply need to TRUST in the FACT that “THE LORD WAITS”, and in doing so HE EXALTS HIMSELF!!!

“SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND!”

 

Genesis 11:1-9                 (ESV)

The Tower of Babel

“[1] Now the whole earth had one language and the same words. [2] And as people migrated from the east, they found a plain in the land of Shinar and settled there. [3] And they said to one another, “Come, let us make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” And they had brick for stone, and bitumen for mortar. [4] Then THEY SAID, “Come, LET US BUILD OURSELVES a city and a tower with its top in the heavens, and let us MAKE A NAME FOR OURSELVES, LEST WE BE DISPERSED over the face of the whole earth.” [5] And the LORD came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of man had built. [6] And THE LORD SAID, “Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is only the beginning of what they will do. And nothing that they propose to do will now be impossible for them. [7] Come, let us go down and there CONFUSE their language, “SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND” one another’s speech.” [8] So THE LORD DISPERSED THEM from there over the face of all the earth, and they left off building the city. [9] Therefore its name was called Babel, because there THE LORD CONFUSED THE LANGUAGE of all the earth. And from there THE LORD dispersed them over the face of all the earth.”

There are times when I don’t UNDERSTAND HIS-STORY!  GOD can make HIS PLAN perfectly clear, but apparently I am unable to SEE what HE intended.  My standard mode of operation has normally been to get my instructions and THEN to go FULL SPEED AHEAD with what I “thought” I SAW as HIS PLAN???

But is that what the Children of Israel experienced in Exodus 14 on the banks of the Red Sea?  No, they HAD TO WAIT for GOD to split the Red Sea for them to, not only flee from the enemy, but so that GOD could demolish the enemy at the bottom of the Red Sea!!!  Had the Israelites tried to escape before GOD parted the Red Sea, the outcome DEFINITELY would have not been as effective.  

The “land of Shinar” (v. 2 above) was also known as Babylonia, present-day Iraq and parts of Syria.  An uneducated person might see this area as arid and undesirable.  When it is revealed that the Tower of Babel is just south of modern day Baghdad, Iraq it caused my EYES to be OPENED to SEE things more clearly!  

Humanity DOES NOT have the capability to manufacture a “way to GOD”!! JESUS HIMSELF says in John 4:24 that “GOD IS SPIRIT”??  Why then, do we even try to find a SPIRIT with our physical bodies on a physical earth???  

GOD says in Genesis 11:7 that our CREATOR will “go down there and confuse their language, “SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND” one another’s speech.”  GOD ALONE is the ONLY ONE WHO is able to OPEN our EYES and permit our EYES to SEE TRUTH!!!  The people of Babel were unsuccessful in their efforts, something that ALL OF CREATION will SEE!  JESUS, THE CREATOR, says in John 6:44 that “No one can come to ME UNLESS the FATHER WHO sent ME draws him. And I will raise him up on the last day.”  

ALMIGHTY GOD has made things “SO THAT THEY MAY NOT UNDERSTAND”…….and it will be that way until HE OPENS OUR EYES!!!

“BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE!”

 

Hebrews 13:5                 (ESV(

“[5] Keep your life free from love of money, and “BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE”, for HE has said, “I will never leave you nor forsake you.””

Recently I was thinking about an appointment I have with someone further in town, AND how I “could” stop by a pastry shop and buy an Apple Fritter!  Anyone that knows me can testify that I DO NOT NEED an Apple Fritter, but the desire was there just the same.  Instead of “my desire”, I instead ate an apple and banana for breakfast and abstained from eating something that I probably didn’t need!  

This brought my mind to an interview I watched recently with a Southern Gospel singer who said that the LORD was telling him that HE had him where he currently was “for this season in your life”!  

GOD doesn’t make ANY mistakes!  HE also doesn’t put us in situations where HE has not already been……AND USES FOR HIS GLORY!  King David probably “thought” that he had gotten away with his indiscretions with Bathsheba, that is until she informed King David that she was pregnant!  Then he began to try and cover up his actions, which only made it worse!  Ultimately his successor to the Throne of Israel was a child GOD BLESSED him with…..through Bathsheba AFTER they were married and lost the first child in the birthing process!!!

The lesson King David learned through his failure brought him the successor to the Kingdom of the nation of Israel.  GOD HAD A PLAN, and David’s son, Solomon, was part of that PLAN!  King David had to suffer through the humiliation of his infidelity with Bathsheba, THE DEATH OF THE INFANT FROM THAT ACT, and the turmoil of the existing sons, all because he couldn’t “BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE”!!!  

May I WAIT ON THE LORD,and BE PATIENT, and “BE CONTENT WITH WHAT YOU HAVE”, FOR HIS GLORY!!!

“THE ANGEL OF GOD!”

 

Exodus 14:19-20                 (ESV)

“[19] Then “THE ANGEL OF GOD” WHO was GOING BEFORE the host of Israel moved and WENT BEHIND them, and the pillar of cloud moved from before them and stood behind them, [20] coming between the host of Egypt and the host of Israel. And there was the cloud and the darkness. And it lit up the night WITHOUT ONE COMING NEAR THE OTHER ALL NIGHT.”

Although I am “Brain Damaged” from the Brain Hemorrhage almost 20 years ago, my memory from my childhood is still pretty good!  One afternoon a thunderstorm came up and my family was in our house while the severe weather was making its presence known!!  A bolt of lightning flashed and the electrical breaker box “clicked”, and that was ALL I needed to cause me to run up to my grandparents house, maybe 200 feet away!!  

The Children of Israel were not so close to a secure place as I was, where they could “run and hide” from their enemy!  But their security wasn’t in a place, it was in “THE ANGEL OF GOD” WHO was GUIDING and DIRECTING their journey to the Promised Land!  They just didn’t UNDERSTAND WHO was GUIDING and DIRECTING their way!

From ALL OF MY PAST EXPERIENCES, no one should have a better understanding of WHO protects and guides me than this old country boy!  “THE ANGEL OF GOD” is ALWAYS with me, but I have to remind myself of that phenomenon more often than I should!!  The Children of Israel had just been delivered from Egyptian captivity, yet they were unwilling to TRUST “THE ANGEL OF GOD” to keep them from “the enemy”!!

There IS NOTHING that is BIGGER, NOTHING STRONGER, and NOTHING MORE COMPLETE than the LOVE and PROTECTION of “THE ANGEL OF GOD”!  HE moves all around us to secure us, EVEN WHEN we are unaware of HIS PRESENCE!!  There is NOTHING more secure than “THE ANGEL OF GOD”!!!

2,000 years ago!

 2,000+ years ago humanity went to bed thinking, some maybe even BELIEVING, that all HOPE was lost!!  

HOWEVER, when THE PLAN GOD was working on was carried out, THE HOPE WAS, AND STILL IS, IN THE CROSS!!!

 

“THE PEOPLE BEGAN COMPLAINING!”

 Numbers 11:1-3                   (HCSB)

“Now “THE PEOPLE BEGAN COMPLAINING” openly before the LORD about hardship. When the LORD heard, HIS anger burned, and fire from the LORD blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. So that place was named Taberah, because the LORD’s FIRE HAD BLAZED AMONG THEM.”

It can be a bit easier to write about the sins of others, because their “punishment” is probably what they deserved!  But when I examine the sins of myself and the repercussions of those sins, the “punishment” takes on entirely different meaning!  I want to BEG for MERCY, because the suffering is not only on me, but on my most precious wife!  

The place where GOD was “dealing with” the complaints of the Israelites was “named Taberah, because the LORD’s FIRE HAD BLAZED AMONG THEM.”   Taberah literally means “Consumption, Burning, Cleaning Out”!  The Children of Israel had recently been delivered by their CREATOR from Egyptian captivity, and THEN GOD consumed the Egyptian army at the bottom of the Red Sea!  And THEN GOD provided manna every morning for them!  And THEN GOD provided water from a rock to satisfy their thirst!  If PROOF of HIS PROVIDENCE wasn’t enough for them to SEE via all of this, what else was it going to take???

But I am CERTAINLY NOT any more able to SEE HIS BLESSINGS than the Israelites were in the day!  Not only did I survive a “massive brain hemorrhage” in 2007, but less than a month after being released from the Rehab Hospital my doctor wrote “However, he has had a remarkable recovery that could only be defined as a MIRACLE FROM GOD”!

Almost ten years later I survived quadruple bypass heart surgery with amazing success and results!  Almost three years later from that surgery I had another “heart attack” as the “bypassed blockages” broke loose and went through my heart.  When the cardiologist “heart cath” the next morning, he reported that my heart had ABSOLUTELY NO BLOCKAGES!!  He was amazed, and I simply WAS NOT surprised!!!

The Israelites had experienced more than plenty of MIRACLES for them to KNOW WHO WAS IN CONTROL!!  Should I NOT be WELL AWARE WHO is in CONTROL of my life, and EVERYONE ELSE’s life???  I pray that “THE PEOPLE BEGAN COMPLAINING” will not be said about me as I await the DELIVERANCE to the PROMISED LAND!!!

“GOD SO LOVED!”

 

“GOD CREATED!”

 ‭‭Genesis‬ ‭1‬:‭26‬-‭27‬.                (HCSB‬‬)

“Then GOD said, “Let US make man in OUR image, according to OUR likeness. They will rule the fish of the sea, the birds of the sky, the livestock, all the earth, and the creatures that crawl on the earth.” So “GOD CREATED” man in HIS OWN IMAGE; HE created him IN THE IMAGE of GOD; HE created them male and female.”

Contemporary English Version

“So GOD created humans to be “like” HIMSELF; HE made men and women”. 

There are many times when the pace of living in “this world” becomes so “frenetic” (marked by fast and energetic, disordered, or anxiety-driven activity!) that we CANNOT SEE that we are moving faster than we are CREATED to exist!  Humanity is seemingly always trying to make or do something bigger and better than what we have, to make an impact while we are allowed to be on earth?  In REALITY, life is but a “vapor” (James 4:14) and then we “vanish”!!!

Why did “GOD CREATE” an insignificant human such as me, when I was going to grow up to be running SO FAST that HE was required to SLOW me down……FOR HIS GLORY???  Before the foundation of the world (Ephesians 1:4; 2 Timothy 1:9-10), GOD CHOSE me to travel the path (life) that I am fulfilling.  I could NEVER have dreamed or imagined so many DRAMATIC twists and turns, but HE had never left me, NOR FORSAKEN me (Hebrews 13:5)!  

On January 08, 1978, when HE rescued me from my choices, I couldn’t have FATHOMED that HE would have such a beautiful, GODLY woman PREPARED for me?  The two sons that HE blessed us with a FAR MORE than I could have imagined!  The four grandchildren are FAR MORE than words can possibly describe. All of these BLESSINGS are solely because “GOD CREATED” me and I AM HIS!!

“GOD CREATED” me IN HIS IMAGE, and I am CHOSEN to REFLECT that IMAGE!  In my “weaknesses”, HE is made strong (2 Corinthians 12:9).  I am not CALLED to be anything other than what HIS CALLING is for me.  “GOD CREATED” me for HIS GLORY, and I NEED to reflect that IMAGE!!!

“YOU KNOW!”

Psalm 139:1-3                 (ESV)

Search Me, O GOD, and Know My Heart

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

    [1] O LORD, YOU have searched me and known me! 

    [2] “YOU KNOW” when I sit down and when I rise up;

        YOU discern my thoughts from afar. 

    [3] YOU search out my path and my lying down

        and are acquainted with all my ways.”

This morning during my “quiet time”, my mind was running wild with things, mainly worldly things, that were in my plans for later on today in my life.  But very quickly I reminisced about July 09, 2007 and being dumbfounded by my legs not holding me up!  I was trying to pull myself back on top of my bed, but was literally trying to compute why I couldn’t walk???

Almost 20 years later I can CLEARLY SEE that GOD was NOT surprised, nor was HE wondering if I would make it through the next 19+ years with VERY few disabilities.  My lovely wife seemed to KNOW, but all of the nurses, therapists, doctors and other medical professionals thought that she MUST HAVE BEEN “afflicted”!!

While “YOU KNOW”, O GOD, humanity DOESN’T have a clue, therefore FAITH IN YOU is our ONLY HOPE!  “YOU KNOW” our paths and our struggles.  “YOU KNOW” are strengths and our weaknesses.  “YOU KNOW” EVERYTHING, so what makes me think that “I can assist YOU” when you CREATED simply by saying LET IT BE!!!

“YOU KNOW” that I love YOU, but I am moved to tell YOU MORE AND MORE!!!  “YOU KNOW” what I must do to be COMPLETE IN YOUR PLAN, so I will TOTALLY TRUST IN YOU!!!  After all, “YOU KNOW”!!!

“WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME!”

 

John 17:20-26                 (ESV)

“[20] “I do not ask for these only, but also for THOSE “WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME”through THEIR WORD, [21] that THEY may all be ONE, just as YOU, FATHER, are in ME, and I in YOU, that THEY ALSO may be IN US, so that the world may believe that YOU have sent ME. [22] The GLORY that YOU have given ME I have given TO THEM, that THEY may be ONE even as WE are ONE, [23] I in THEM and YOU in ME, that THEY may become PERFECTLY ONE, so that the world may know that YOU sent ME and loved THEM even as YOU loved ME. [24] FATHER, I desire that THEY also, WHOM YOU have give ME, may be with ME where I AM, to see MY GLORY that YOU have given ME because YOU LOVED ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD. [25] O righteous FATHER, even though the world does not know YOU, I know YOU, and THESE know that YOU have sent ME. [26] I made known to THEM YOUR NAME, and I will continue to make it known, that the love with which YOU have loved ME may be in THEM, and I in THEM.””

Normally I capitalize any word that IDENTIFIES DIETY, as GOD, JESUS, and the HOLY SPIRIT are certainly WORTHY to be elevated far above my humanity!  However, this morning as I was “editing” this text, I felt I had to CAPITALIZE we WHO BELIEVE that JESUS CHRIST died for our sins, because HE now LIVES in our bodies!

This text of Scripture is part of what is subtitled “The High Priestly Prayer”, and my life doesn’t reflect JESUS enough to warrant being recognized as a BELIEVER?  As the Apostle Paul writes in 1 Timothy 1:15, “The saying is trustworthy and deserving of full acceptance, that CHRIST JESUS came into the world to save sinners, of whom I am the foremost.”  The King James Version says “I am chief”!!  

Observing THE CRUCIFIXION through “this lense”, it opens my EYES to SEE how much I am LOVED by MY CREATOR!  HE CHOSE (Ephesians 1:4) ME BEFORE THE FOUNDATION OF THE WORLD, FULLY KNOWING that I would be as pitiful as I am, TO GLORIFY HIS NAME!!!  JESUS went through the TRAGEDY OF THE CROSS just because of me!

There are MANY times that I have to be reminded that I AM CHOSEN!!!  Being WORTHY isn’t something that I would EVER be mistaken for, but I am CHOSEN BY HIM to be ONE of HIS!!!  JESUS prayed for me in HIS HIGH PRIESTLY PRAYER when HE prayed for THOSE “WHO WILL BELIEVE IN ME”!!!  I AM BLESSED BEYOND MEASURE!!!

“LET HIM HEAR!”

 Matthew 13:9                 (ESV)

“He who has ears, “LET HIM HEAR.”

 Have you ever heard of an account of someone hearing a lecture and they weren’t affected by the words that they heard?  It was as if they didn’t hear the same thing from the teacher that others and the impact of the teacher was seemingly “null and void”?!?

JESUS had just been TEACHING people who were coming out to SUPPOSEDLY hear his MESSAGE?  HE went into a boat and delivered the WORD, but NOT EVERYONE who was listening TRULY heard what was being said.  It was as if they COULD NOT HEAR the words that JESUS was speaking???

It is becoming CRYSTAL CLEAR to me that I CANNOT move through a day without HEARING from my CREATOR!  It is CLEAR to me that I am IN NEED OF A SAVIOR and my dependence upon HIM is becoming more and more evident.  Most days, I have a NEED to “get my fix” from JESUS, and I think that is what HE is saying that we need to do……DEPEND ON HIM!!!

The MOST IMPORTANT thing for this “brain damaged” person is to BE CHANGED by HIS WORDS!  The song ringing in my mind is “I’m so tired of being stirred, but not being changed”!!!  I need to TRULY HEAR THE MESSAGE that HE is delivering to me!  “LET HIM HEAR” what HE IS SAYING TO ME!!!