Talk of JESUS .com

Tag: death

  • Hear my prayer

    Hear my prayer

    Psalm 39

    12 “Hear my prayer, O Lord,
    and give ear to my cry;
    hold not your peace at my tears!
    For I am a sojourner with you,
    a guest, like all my fathers.

    13 Look away from me, that I may smile again,
    before I depart and am no more!”

    HEAR my prayer… my cry… see my tears. Is this sentiment at all familiar?

    I am a sojourner with you. I have no place here. The welcome of this guest is worn thin and all my ancestors have passed this way, yet not remained.

    Look to me, Lord.

    I’m NOT smiling here. 🙁

    WHY?

    Surely my journey through this life has some purpose. Show me, before my journey is finished and I am no more.

    Yes, we are sojourners – travelers though time in a timeless creation of Almighty God.

    Why should the Lord look away from one who just lives for a blink of an eye in His eternal timelessness?

    3     My heart became hot within me.

    As I mused, the fire burned;
    then I spoke with my tongue:

    4 “O Lord, make me know my end
    and what is the measure of my days;
    let me know how fleeting I am!
    5 Behold, you have made my days a few handbreadths,
    and my lifetime is as nothing before you.
    Surely all mankind stands as a mere breath! Selah

    “And now, O Lord, for what do I wait?
    My hope is in you.
    8 Deliver me from all my transgressions.
    Do not make me the scorn of the fool!

    Transgressions? (Now there’s a word you don’t hear on the news.) What’s a transgression?

     pesha` – transgression, rebellion

    rebellion even against God; guilt of transgression; punishment for transgression

    Am I a rebel against the Cross of Christ Jesus?

    Oh, Lord!

    10 Remove your stroke from me;
    I am spent by the hostility of your hand.
    11 When you discipline a man
    with rebukes for sin,
    you consume like a moth what is dear to him;
    surely all mankind is a mere breath! Selah

    Surely all mankind is a mere breath!

    Consider again, the Lord’s rebuke,

    The refining fire of His righteousness.

    It is the Lord who rebukes. The Lord our Father disciplines His children. (Do not look upon us in Your wrath, O Lord.)

    It is the Lord who corrects the sins of His loved ones. The Lord corrects mankind for our sinful nature. It is the fire of the Lord’s love which burns away our unrighteousness. It is the Lord who consumes our iniquity like a moth caught in the flame. A man or a woman is perverse and depraved; our iniquity and guilt deserve the punishment of our iniquity before a God and Father who IS Holy.

    How will a child of the Lord endure the wrath and punishment of Almighty God?  Selah. 

    “Hear my prayer, O Lord,
    and give ear to my cry…

    Psalm 39

    Matthew 26

    “My soul is very sorrowful, even to death…

    “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.”

    “My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done.”

    46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand.”

     

  • How Should Christians Respond to Grief? – 2

    How Should Christians Respond to Grief? – 2

    In my previous post on grief, I ended with a series of questions about how Christians generally respond. I did not get many responses so I would like to briefly answer my own questions in hopes that it provides some insight for those who may not have much experience dealing with grief.

    1. Let’s look for a moment at the case of Job and how his friends reacted to his tragedy:

      When three of Job’s friends heard of the tragedy he had suffered, they got together and traveled from their homes to comfort and console him…Wailing loudly, they tore their robes and threw dust into the air over their heads to show their grief.  Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and nights. No one said a word to Job, for they saw that his suffering was too great for words. (Job 2:11-13 excerpts)

      We often give Job’s friends a hard time for their words in later chapters but before they “spoke inaccurately” about God, they sat with Job for 7 days without a word and mourned with him. One of the biggest lessons I learned in school and in my internship was the power of presence. It is often more powerful than any words could ever be.

    2. This will probably go against the instinct of most people but your first comment should NOT attempt to be one of comfort, it should be one of support. When you are dealing with someone who has just recently lost a loved one or gotten a divorce or gone through any kind of struggle, they do not want to hear “it’s ok” because to them, it’s not ok. They often need to hear FIRST that their situation is difficult and they have a right to be sad.
    3. The next thing they need to know is that they’re not alone. They need to HEAR it but it is even better if there is a tangible way to SHOW it. At the church I attended when I was in college, there was an entire committee just for providing food for people who had a sickness or death in the family and another committee for sending cards to members of the church for all occasions, happy and sad. In that small town Baptist church, people always know they are cared for and are not alone but, in a lot of churches, that kind of awareness of individual situations is not there. When you know someone is having a rough time, can you offer to get them groceries or make a meal for them? Maybe you can offer to babysit their kids so they can have alone time. Even something as simple as giving them a non-judgmental listening ear has incredible value. There are many ways, verbal and practical, to help show people that they do not have to go through a difficult situation without support from other believers.
    4. Now, we can remind them of the HOPE we have in Jesus. BUT, be careful how you word that. Don’t discount the fact that what they are going through is difficult but you can tell them that there is a light at the end of the tunnel, even when they can’t see it. Remind them that God blesses those who mourn and that He does promise eternal life for whoever believes in Him but just remember as you tell them that this life is still painful and it’s ok for them to mourn that.
    5. Finally, don’t just pray FOR them, pray WITH them. I am convinced that when tragedy strikes, people either draw closer to God or they push Him away but they never stay in the same place. You could be that influence that pushes them towards God instead of away from Him. I am much less likely to pray when I am in my “Life isn’t fair” mindset so having someone else pray with me is a good way to re-focus on God’s character and his presence in that moment.
  • Why Not Saul?

    Why Not Saul?

    The scene above is much later in life after the Lord has rejected Saul as King and he asks a witch to speak with the dead Prophet Samuel. 1 Samuel 28

    It’s too late. The die is cast. What happened? How did Saul lose favor with the Lord?

    Earlier (before it was too late)…

    1 Samuel 15:1 One day Samuel said to Saul, “It was the Lord who told me to anoint you as king of his people, Israel…

    The Lord Rejects Saul

    10 Then the Lord said to Samuel, 11 “I am sorry that I ever made Saul king, for he has not been loyal to me and has refused to obey my command.”

     Consider that you may be anointed by the Lord, yet later rejected.

    In just ten verses of 1 Samuel 15 we witness both the anointing and the rejection of King Saul. The Lord had chosen Saul to lead his chosen people.  All seemed to be going Saul’s way as the anointed King of Israel; but then the Lord rejected him.

    Why would the Lord anoint a King and later reject him?  Why not Saul?

    The indictment of the Lord against Saul is much more serious than we would imagine.  It seems that in victory, what Saul explains away as a simple misunderstanding is inexcusable in the eyes of the Lord.

    From the time the Lord had led the Hebrew people out of Egypt they had demonstrated their stiff-necked resistance to doing what was right in the eyes of the Lord; so why such a harsh penalty for Saul for just one act of partial obedience by His newly anointed King?

    Hear well Samuel’s reprimand of Saul from the Lord:

    Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams. 23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols. So because you have rejected the command of the Lord, he has rejected you as king.”

    OBEDIENCE. Now there’s a word we resist. Submission: BOW down to the will of GOD and NOT the will of your SELF.

    Some christians will proclaim grace again and again, before remembering repentance and obedience.  Yet sometimes God will reach the limit of his patience with us.

     +

    Saul Pleads for Forgiveness

    24 Then Saul admitted to Samuel, “Yes, I have sinned. I have disobeyed your instructions and the Lord’s command, for I was afraid of the people and did what they demanded. 25 But now, please forgive my sin and come back with me so that I may worship the Lord.” 26 But Samuel replied, “I will not go back with you! Since you have rejected the Lord’s command, he has rejected you as king of Israel.”

    +

    Perhaps you would argue that this is the God of the Old Testament — God B.C. — God before the grace of the cross.

    Recall then, the disobedience of Ananias and Sapphira. God is the same today, yesterday and tomorrow. (You recall it from Hebrews 13:8  Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, today, and forever.) Recall also that Christ Jesus said: “Before Abraham was even born, I AM” John 5:58

     GOD judged Saul — as God judged Ananias and Sapphira — as God will judge you and me — and as God will judge every claimant of Christ and every disobedient soul.

    So let us examine with more diligence the sin of Saul by which he lost his anointing by God. Listen! Obedience… (I’m sure we get the idea.)

    Submission: that is, bow down to God’s will in place of your will of SELF. Hear the warning of 1 Samuel 15:23

    23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.

    What does it mean for you to say: Jesus Christ is LORD?

    Are you a stiff-necked rebel?  Judas was a rebel.

    Do you worship something other than the Word of God? Like Saul, do you build monuments to your SELF?

    Money? Power? Position? Status?

    Are you stubborn for your freedom to do whatever YOU wish?

    IF so, you worship idols.

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    In these last days and in this season of much false worship, let us not overlook the comparison of the Lord that rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft.

    Let’s not overlook the dark nature and 21st century reality of witchcraft (so easily dismissed as fanciful myth by those too stubborn to worship God).

    Later Saul would consult a witch to speak to Samuel from the grave, as in the scene depicted above in the 19th c. painting by Edward Henry Corbould.

     

     What is witchcraft?  

    From the Hebrew in 1 Samuel 15:23 & other verses:  qecem – divination, witchcraft; 

    1. of false prophets

    The root word of the New Testament word for witch is: pharmakeus.

    False contact with the dead OR false prophesy OR false cures – drugs, vitamins, natural treatments of the earth for remedy to God — ALL prevalent in these last days.

    And the consequence of the sins of idolatry and witchcraft are well documented in the Revelation of Jesus Christ to John:

    Revelation 21:8 “But cowards, unbelievers, the corrupt, murderers, the immoral, those who practice witchcraft, idol worshipers, and all liars—their fate is in the fiery lake of burning sulfur. This is the second death.”

    SO BECAUSE YOU HAVE REJECTED THE COMMAND OF CHRIST… (fill in the blank…)

    +

    You with ears to hear: Do NOT say, “Thus says the Lord,” when the Lord has not said.”

    Do NOT say, “I follow Jesus,” when you worship your SELF.

    Do NOT say, “I have given myself to Christ,” when you have held back your heart from the LORD.

    Listen! Obedience is better than sacrifice, and submission is better than offering the fat of rams.

    23 Rebellion is as sinful as witchcraft, and stubbornness as bad as worshiping idols.

    So because you have rejected the command of the Lord…

     

     I pray that it is not too late for your obedience, submission and return to the cross of Christ Jesus, our Lord and savior.