The Camels are Coming! Man, Get ready for your Rebekah!

And Isaac went out to meditate in the field at the eventide: and he lifted up his eyes, and saw, and, behold, the camels were coming. Gen 24:63  

‘And Abraham was old, and well stricken in age: and the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things’, so chapter 24 of Genesis begins in one of those scenes most beloved by pastors on marriage and the search for a wife. But what strikes me, or what would seem discordant at first, is the expression that God had blessed Abraham in all things. Really? But Abraham had only one legal child so far, only one! And at 100, he was still very far from being called a grandfather, or even the father of many nations! And yet the Bible writer says, ‘the LORD had blessed Abraham in all things’! Now does that not, in our own time, sound merely like a rich hyperbole?

But then it was a camel country… and it was a desert without roads… it was agrarian… and it was the land where a sower went forth to sow… and yet it was the land where God had blessed Abraham in all things! Now is there a parent today who is worried that his own beloved son, like Isaac, does not seem to be anywhere in a hurry to end his deafening loneliness? Then please get your camels and gifts ready! And then bring in your trusted servant and let him hit the road immediately and may God go with him!

And God had blessed Abraham in all things! And it was only fair therefore that Abraham should’ve blessed his son… Fathers …God has blessed you in all things… spoil your wife, but also bless your sons! God created men and blessed them…so they would spread the blessings… ‘And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing…. and kings shall come out of thee…’ (Gen 12:2;17:6).  

And so the camels came for Isaac at last… and so the journey of his blessings got in its right shift right here, and so was the birth of a nation’s destiny readied, and so were the blessings which were vouchsafed to Abraham by his almighty God about to take a new turn…but that only happened because there had been Sarah to begin with…and Rebecca! ‘The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem: And let thy house be like the house of Pharez, whom Tamar bare unto Judah, of the seed which the LORD shall give thee of this young woman. So Boaz took Ruth, and she was his wife… And the women her neighbours gave it a name, saying, There is a son born to Naomi; and they called his name Obed: he is the father of Jesse, the father of David ’ (Rth 4:12-13,17). 

‘The book of the generation of Jesus Christ, the son of David, the son of Abraham’ (Mat 1:1). 

And so was Abraham blessed in all things as a matter of fact: ‘Even as Abraham believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness. Know ye therefore that they which are of faith, the same are the children of Abraham.  And the scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the heathen through faith, preached before the gospel unto Abraham, saying, In thee shall all nations be blessed. So then they which be of faith are blessed with faithful Abraham’ (Gal 3:6-9). And may your own blessings too continue to bless others like Abraham’s and even long after you have left to sleep with your own fathers!

 And so are you still very far away from your own blessings as yet? Get a Rebekah! As it is written, ‘Whoso findeth a wife findeth a good thing, and obtaineth favour of the LORD’ (Pro 18:22). And so Isaac brought his wife into his mother Sarah's tent, ‘and took Rebekah, and she became his wife; and he loved her: and Isaac was comforted after his mother's death’ (Gen 24:67). Guys, the camels are coming! So stop meditating and look yonder… isn’t that a train of camels raising the dust of history and coming specifically for you? Stand up then… and be ready to embrace your bride!

 

 

The Word of God as the Joy of God!

‘neither be ye sorry; for the joy of the LORD is your strength.’ Nehemiah 8:10

For years I had struggled to understand what Nehemiah meant by the term ‘the joy of the LORD’, but now thank God I understand! A week ago I made a poor decision, and, at the time it seemed so bad that I ranted, I puffed, and I huffed but to no avail! Yes it was a stupid decision initially and from all standpoints, though at the time I made it I never saw this (and isn’t this the road we travel all the time in life?) Sometimes revelations only follow after a failure and never before! And yet, later, that poor decision proved quite profitable in the end! So it wasn’t fate or bad luck, but God’s providence which was in full work after all! And suddenly I recalled something even more liberating... Over the last two weeks what had I been preaching on, if it wasn’t joy? So where had my sorrow come from? And suddenly I saw how Satan had craftily played me! For two weeks I had sang about joy, so where was mine? Why could I not live with the same medicine I was so enthusiastically prescribing to others? And with that flash of light my joy was restored!

And from that time the Holy Spirit just began to rain on me these wonderful nuggets of encouragement (pray, why had I not seen them before?)

Lest Satan should get an advantage of us: for we are not ignorant of his devices. 2Co 2:11  

My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations. Jas 1:2

And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose. Rom 8:28

In every thing give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you. 1Th 5:18 

Pray without ceasing. 1Th 5:17 

Rejoicing in hope; patient in tribulation; continuing instant in prayer. Rom 12:12

Rejoice evermore. 1Th 5:16 

Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations: That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ: Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory: 1Pe 1:6-8

But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; 2Co 4:7-9

And that was how the same medicine that I had dispensed to others came back to heal me! Trials are good because they also check our pride, as Paul pointedly noted, ‘And lest I should be exalted above measure through the abundance of the revelations, there was given to me a thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan to buffet me, lest I should be exalted above measure’ (2Co 12:7). In the end I learnt that there was nothing special about me, but that I was just another ‘unprofitable servant’ before him!

So what is ‘the joy of the LORD’? It is everything his word says he is! He says ‘I AM’ so whatever one lacks in life God declares that he is precisely THAT THING at that time… and so he is love, joy, peace, patience, mercy, comfort, wisdom, protection, shelter in storms, shelter for weary souls, provider, protector, rest, savior, teacher… Father…shepherd, joy, bread, he is life, the way, and the truth! – ‘And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free’ (Joh 8:32). And so ‘the joy of the LORD’ tends towards liberation of a person always, unlike Satan’s which always leans towards sorrow and enslavement. Ah God! That I would be free for life! And how true is your word that I can do nothing without you! So now fill me O God with this joy now and forever more!

And Here Cometh the Joy of an Abundant Life!

 

The thief cometh not, but for to steal, and to kill, and to destroy: I am come that they might have life, and that they might have it more abundantly. Joh 10:10  

And ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Joh 16:20 

Weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning. Psa 30:5

It is something that immediately strikes you, the way Scripture juxtaposes sorrow and joy, weeping and joy, sackcloth and gladness - as if joy is something that travels a long way before it bursts out in the open – and so the psalmist would sing (and joy always flares up in a song, doesn’t it?), ‘And he hath put a new song in my mouth, even praise unto our God: many shall see it, and fear, and shall trust in the LORD’ (Psa 40:3). And immediately it becomes an expression of deep contentment, deep appreciation and deep satisfaction, so that, joy by design, can only come from God. Some days though it is too deep for words that it can be mistaken for pain…

And that has always been the form and trajectory of the Christian joy. It broke out suddenly in the world in the middle of the night, where some were asleep while others made merry, and nearby, a woman soiled with blood, and her pain being followed by a star, poetry and gifts, she cuddled her new born joy ‘wrapped in swaddling clothes, lying in a manger’. And so joy became ‘God with us’, as ‘a multitude of the heavenly host’ broke out in praises…‘saying, Glory to God in the highest and on earth peace, good will toward men.’ This is the cup of ‘mercy promised to our fathers’ … It is the ‘knowledge of salvation unto his people by the remission of their sins’, and it is the light promised ‘to them that sit in darkness and in the shadow of death’ - and who is become the guider of ‘our feet into the way of peace.’ So count the mercies, count the love, count the benefits, and count the promises… ‘But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life’ (Joh 4:14). And truly there is no one who can exhaust this cup! And finally isn’t this the joy which the whole world sings at the end of every year? ‘Fear not: for, behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.’ And this, in summation, is the source of our abundant life in Christ Jesus…and whose abundance continues up to this day finding expression in the many Bible Schools, Colleges, Universities and Seminaries, and in the various missionary works, churches, in the faith based schools and hospitals, in the faith based NGO’s and in the faith based media (Radio, TV, magazines, newspapers and book publishing).

The rest of the abundances in the world are chiefly measured in pleasure…and which is a poor substitute for joy…and this is where Satan excels in lying, stealing, killing and destroying peoples’ lives… like how the prodigal, in his quest for joy and an abundant life, would end up in bondage instead. But in contrast, his elder brother (even while being home at his father’s place!) misses his new song… and he turns out to be more lost than his prodigal brother…and while to the outside world the elder’s life might look like an abundant life…but in reality his loneliness is staggering… And so our prayer this evening is that God may open our eyes to see the differences in these things, and that our own lives might abound even more in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as we know that, in him, our labour is not in vain.

 

 

The Joy which No Man can Take from You

And ye now therefore have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.  Joh 16:22

Joy is not exactly happiness, but a deep contentment. Happiness is ephemeral. It shows on the face shortly before it vanishes. But joy is subtle. It operates in the heart, and it may even be felt in the blood. Joy is divine, and it is a revelation much more than a feeling. But first let us hear what others have to say on the nature of joy.

‘Joy, not grit, is the hallmark of holy obedience. We need to be light-hearted in what we do to avoid taking ourselves too seriously. It is a cheerful revolt against self and pride.’ Richard J. Foster

‘The Lord gives his people perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to him.’ Dwight L. Moody.

 To pursue joy is to lose it. The only way to get it is to follow steadily the path of duty, without thinking of joy, and then, like sheep, it comes most surely unsought, and we "being in the way," the angel of God, bright-haired joy, is sure to meet us. Alexander MacLaren

Joy is distinctly a Christian word and a Christian thing. It is the reverse of happiness. Happiness is the result of what happens of an agreeable sort. Joy has its springs deep down inside. And that spring never runs dry, no matter what happens. Only Jesus gives that joy. He had joy, singing its music within, even under the shadow of the cross. S.D. Gordon

Thou wilt shew me the path of life: in thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. Psa 16:11  

But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, Galatians 5:22

If you have no joy, there’s a leak in your Christianity somewhere. Billy Sunday

Joy is Strength. Mother Teresa

Joy is not necessarily the absence of suffering, it is the presence of God. Sam Storms

I'm not going to get upset. I'm not going to let people steal my joy. Joel Osteen

Joy can mean different things to different people: ‘Poor food and water for dinner, a bent arm for a pillow - that is where joy resides. For me, wealth and renown without honor are nothing but drifting clouds.’ Confucius. Respect them. It gives them joy, and it steals nothing from you.

Finally it is impossible for a Christian to be truly joyful without prayer, without contentment, and without an attitude of thanksgiving.

"Prayer changes us in ways that we never thought would be possible. When we are unhappy, prayer can lift our hearts and fill it with unspeakable joy." Julia Bristol.

"When the Christian praises and gives thanks to God, this not only pleases God, but it enriches the Christian's life with joy." Rick Warren

"Joy is a choice based on being content regardless of circumstances. Understanding what encourages joy in your life can help you cultivate it and build up your resources for when circumstances are difficult." M. Ahlers

"The reality is that this is how you know if you're getting closer to God: more kindness, more gentleness, more joy, more peace, more patience." Matt Brown.

 "Happiness is not in the mere possession of money; it lies in the joy of achievement, in the thrill of creative effort." Franklin Roosevelt

"Live for today, but hold your hands open to tomorrow. Anticipate the future and its changes with joy. There is a seed of God's love in every event, every unpleasant situation in which you may find yourself." Barbara Johnson

"Joy can be real only if people look upon their lives as a service and have a definite object in life outside themselves and their personal happiness." Leo Tolstoy

"We all have battles to fight. And it's often in those battles that we are most alive: it's on the frontlines of our lives that we earn wisdom, create joy, forge friendships, discover happiness, find love, and do purposeful work." Eric Greitens

 "There is more joy to be found in owning less than can ever be found in pursuing more. In a world that constantly tells us to buy more and more, we often lose sight of that." Joshua Becker

 And Finally One can Never Separate Joy from Loving.

"A joyful heart is the normal result of a heart burning with love." Mother Teresa. 

‘Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things… Charity never faileth.’ 1Co 13:7, 8 

Jesus’ disciples were sorrowful because they thought he was going away forever, never to be seen by them again. But he calmed their fears perfectly: ‘I will not leave you comfortless: I will come to you.’ And may you too be surprised today by his joy, and may it be your strength now and forever, life without end, Amen.

Self-denial, Restlessness and the Meaning of Life

Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Mat 11:28 

Few subjects stir the heart of humankind like the question ‘What is the meaning of life?’ Certainly it is not a question which comes up in every day conversation, but certain occasions force it upon the lips, like when the pitcher in the home has broken (or where the daughters of music have gone silent), and where the feelings of worthlessness and failure ran amok. But without doubt this famishment starts in childhood and it doesn’t stop until we breathe our last, ‘Where did I come from?’ asks the restless child, ‘And where did God come from?’ he asks next. And now we are breathless about where Corona came from and when it will end.  Something burns inside the heart – and since we can’t reach the heart through the visible eye – we usually lend the eyes to the mind – and there it keeps us awake in a flame of scalding questions. We are starved. And we can only end that hunger through knowledge... But who will give us the answers?

But we need not grapple, and we need not be anxious, all we need do is believe that old, old God of the Bible again. For it is in him that Jesus offers this timeless comfort, ‘Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest.’ And Augustus the theologian and Bishop grunted, “Thou hast made us for thyself, O Lord, and our heart is restless until it finds its rest in thee.”

The queen of Sheba was a great woman ‘from the south’, and she heard the fame of Solomon, but she didn’t rest there, she embarked on a journey to far Jerusalem to find out the truth for herself. How far have you gone in your search for the truth? And this was her testimony after she met and saw Solomon herself: ‘It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity exceedeth the fame which I heard’ (1Ki 10:6-7). No doubt you are restless about what this present life portends, for who isn’t? And no doubt you have heard the fame of Jesus Christ since you were born, but now why don’t you go to him ‘personally’ to find out the truth for yourself? For ‘behold, a greater than Solomon is here’, he says. And now you don’t need to go very far to Jerusalem to meet him, for he is right here where you are right now, and ‘even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, the word of faith, which we preach.’ Open that Book and you will meet him. The answer lies in me, says Jesus. The answer lies in self-denial, self-denial, and self-denial. ‘Deny what you know, and I will teach you things you have never known.’ But you cry this is very painful! And he says, ‘Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit’ (Joh 12:24). 

 

·      Do I worry about life? He says ‘I am life.’

·      Do I worry which way to go? He says “I am the way.’

·      Do I wonder like Pilate ‘What is truth?’ Jesus says, ‘I am the truth.’

·      Do I worry what I will eat? He says ‘I am the living bread which came down from heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever…’

·      Do I worry about what I will eat? He says, ‘Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?’ 

·      Do I worry about children? He says, ‘Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the LORD.’

·      Do I worry where I will live in future? He says ‘Let not your heart be troubled: ye believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father's house are many mansions: if it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you.’

·      Do I worry that I have nothing? He says ‘Take heed, and beware of covetousness: for a man's life consisteth not in the abundance of the things which he possesseth.’ 

·      Am I sick? He says ‘I am the LORD that healeth thee’.

·      Do I worry how I should believe all these? He says, ‘It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.’ 

·      Do I worry that I am thirsty still? He says, ‘But whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.’ 

Sir, give me this water, that I thirst not, neither come I hither to draw! 

 

Self-denial as the Will of God: Part two: A high calling, its Meaning, its Benefits, and the Pitfalls of a Self-willed Life

 

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: but whosoever will lose his life for my sake, the same shall save it. Luk 9:23-24  

Every believer in Jesus Christ has been called to his life and to the full enjoyment of all that he has promised to us. That change is radical because it is both a death and a resurrection into new life which takes place, as it is written, ‘Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new’ (2Co 5:17). Elsewhere Paul calls it ‘high calling of God in Christ Jesus’ because it involves things of above, as it is written, ‘If ye then be risen with Christ, seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God. Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth. For ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God’ (Col 3:1-3).  

 Some of the Chief Benefits of the Life of Self-denial Are:

·      It enables us to see ourselves for who we really are. Self-love hides our ‘secret faults’, but these come out when we are alone with God in prayer or worship.

·      It fixes our minds on what is important. Life is filled with many distractions. And many times it is only in times of adversity like this that we are aroused into new possibilities that we never knew we possessed before. We become, in the end, who we really are – and what God meant us to be. As it is written, ‘Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and shew thee great and mighty things, which thou knowest not’ (Jer 33:3).  Trouble came, and in coming, we cried unto God, and he answered, and he showed us mighty things which we didn’t know before. Forced into humility by circumstances like this…we have become far wiser than we were before. And we thank God for it.

On the other Hand the Pitfalls of a Self-willed Life are Many, and include the Following:

·      A self-willed life regards self as the beginning and end, and because they are not open to any other perspectives, they die very poor. Solomon had it all, and who can be richer than a king in this life? But it left him poor. With a thousand women at his fingertips Solomon felt immensely his own loneliness.

·      Other times we occupy ourselves with too many things, and one can die without knowing why they were here in the first place. It’s not that Solomon did nothing, but that he did too many things. He almost lost himself in his own forest.

·      Sadly realizations like this come to us when we have advanced in years… and it is then we start rushing to leave a legacy. Fortunately God is ever merciful, and he gives us our desires! Sometimes you just have to hate a part of you in order to make any headway in life.

·      Self-love can easily morph into self-idolization and self-worship, and finally one can reach the heights of a narcissist without realizing it.

·      Solomon may have had such a person in mind (or even himself) when he prophesied, ‘Because I have called, and ye refused; I have stretched out my hand, and no man regarded; But ye have set at nought all my counsel, and would none of my reproof: I also will laugh at your calamity; I will mock when your fear cometh; When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; when distress and anguish cometh upon you’ (Pro 1:24-27).  

·      Self-worship will eventually degenerate into self-delusion. ‘He gave them over’ says scripture, and that is a fearful place to be. God gives them over to their own devices. As it is written, ‘And for this cause God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie: That they all might be damned who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness’ (2Th 2:11-12).  

·      There are no breaks to the reprobate. But a believer knows his boundaries. The fear and knowledge of God shields him from such excesses. The believer gives himself over to God to be led by him like a sheep instead. A self-willed person knows no such humility.

O LORD, correct us, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring us to nothing.  

Self-denial as the will of God – Part One:  The Definition

 

And he said to them all, If any man will come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me. Luk 9:23 

 

We know the accent in the world is not on denying oneself but accepting oneself. But God’s insistence is on denying oneself or loving oneself less if one would be his true disciple. The topic however shouldn’t raise eye brows, because most of life’s disciplines actually demand it. Parents deny themselves daily. Only the young seem to want everything in life, but even them, reality soon catches up with them as it did with us when we grew up. People in love deny themselves all the time, and certainly no one can survive in a marriage without it. We save money for a rainy day and that too is self-denying. Even a spendthrift comes to appreciate sooner or later the value of self-denial. Only a miser’s self-denial is extreme.

 

A Christian life too is a disciplined life because it carries with it a purpose, method and goal. The purpose is to be changed or transformed, and the method is sanctification or God’s work in us through the Holy Spirit, and the goal is what John Piper calls future grace, but which can also be called future glory. However for purposes of this and future articles, in this piece I will dwell chiefly on the definitions… and later in part two I will branch out to various practices and benefits of self-denial.

 

So the following is a general review of persons and their given types of self-denials in life. I will begin with the life of a sportsman, because it is here where the practice is felt most poignantly if he has to win. He has to deny himself many pleasures, and he has to indulge himself rigorously in daily exercises. Even the food he eats (and rest and sleep) have all to be controlled. Next are the philosophers or searchers of truth. They too have their own forms of exercises to stick to assiduously – like reading. They are forever students in the literature of life – and they have to study it. The next group (and or related to these) are writers. They never lack a pen and a notebook wherever they go. And they have to wake up even past midnight if they are struck by a so called revelation. They have to put it down. An idea often comes only once, and if he misses it he may rue it for the rest of his life. They loath unnecessarily talk, because it interferes with their thinking. And they have a natural antipathy for parties. It’s why writers make poor conversationalists, poor speakers and sometimes even poor lovers. Their minds – and silences – are their best friends.

 

But in the Bible it was Paul the urbanite who borrowed heavily from the imagery of the race and sportsmen…The sportsman, says the apostle, enters in a race to win and not to lose…(1Co 9:24-27). And so is a Christian, he ‘beats’ his body (some unfortunately took this literally!) so he may win the race that is set before him. And so are we too who are called believers. We are in the world but we are not of the world. Ours is a high calling. And it is in this world that we are called to shine as a light so that the name of our God may be glorified. To do this we must be transformed, and in the process of transformation (or regeneration) we have to lose much that was our prized old nature of sin and self. But if he doesn’t ‘die’ he will impede us in our progress of perfection. Christian life is a joyous life, it is a new life, it is an exciting life and it is eternal. Much therefore lies at stake if we don’t daily grow in this grace and the knowledge of God (2Pet 3:18). It is our calling. It is our practice. It is our boast. So help us God to love it, to desire it, and to embrace it because it is only in you that we can begin to understand the meaning of this life – and the meaning of our own selves.