Thursday, January 20

Thursday

When my heart was grieved and my spirit embittered, I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before you.  Yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.  You guide me with your counsel, and afterward you will take me into glory.  Whom have I in heaven but you? And earth has nothing I desire besides you.  My flesh and my heart may fail, but God is the strength of my heart and my portion forever.  Those who are far from you will perish; you destroy all who are unfaithful to you.  But as for me, it is good to be near God. I have made the Sovereign LORD my refuge; I will tell of all your deeds.   – Psalm 73:21-28

The passage above describes the Psalmist (Asaph) as he looks back over his struggle and doubt.  He is reflecting on how foolish and shortsighted he was and how blind he was to the goodness and faithfulness of God.  One of the things that strikes me most about this is that Asaph is willing to reflect and think deeply about what his condition was and how got into such a mess. 

It’s one thing to cry out to God for mercy and help when you are in the midst of a crisis.  It is another thing to pause and consider (after the help has come and the crisis is over) what you can learn and how you can grow from that experience.  Many of us are familiar with the quote from the ancient Greek philosopher Socrates, “the unexamined life is not worth living.” but how many of us are actually taking the time to examine our lives in the presence of God?

Asaph was willing to examine his life and to honestly face himself.  This is a difficult thing to do.  We do not like to do this. We do not mind working our way through our problem, but the minute we get relief we want to move on and forget about whatever it was that troubled us.  We do not go on to face up to what led us to this, what made us act like this.  That is why many of us keep going through the same problems over and over again.  Do you ever feel like you keep making the same mistakes, having the same doubts and struggles, or dealing with the same issues over and over again? 

I remember hearing a story (I have no idea if it is true) about a man who had worked for manufacturing company for 25 years.  A higher-level management position opened up that he really wanted, so he applied for the job.  He was turned down and when he later discovered that a person who had only been with the company for one year was hired instead of him, he was furious.  He stormed into the boss’ office and demanded to know why he was passed over.  He said, “why would you give this job to someone with only one year of experience when I have had 25 years of experience?”  His boss looked at him and calmly replied, “you have not had 25 years of experience, you have had one year of experience 25 times.”

The point is that most of us are too busy and distracted to take the time to really reflect and examine our lives before God.  We are not yet too far into the new year, how many of you have reflected on the lessons God has taught you over the past year?  We rush from one activity to the next, from one week to the next, from one year to the next, and we wonder why we often seem stuck in our spiritual lives.  Asaph has given us a window into his heart as he reflects on his life and on his spiritual struggles.  He saw what had caused his doubts.  He understood what led him to question God.  He saw how foolish and ignorant he was.  I am sure that this was not the last time Asaph ever had a question or a spiritual struggle.  However, I can’t help but wonder if he ever had this particular struggle again, my guess is that he probably did not. 

Did you notice in the passage above the amazing way that Asaph describes his ignorant condition and the moment when he realized that God was still with him?  He says that he was senseless, ignorant, and a brute beast before God.  Then comes the incredible realization; “yet I am always with you; you hold me by my right hand.”  The minute he came to realize his low place before God there comes an instant reassurance to his heart.  He realizes that God still loves him, God has not cast him aside.  Suddenly he grasps the fact that though he is confessing his stupidity and his ignorance before God, God has not cast him away; he is still with him, he still loves him, he still holds him and supports him!

He now realizes that it was God’s hand that had kept him from going over the brink when he was losing his footing (73:2).  It was God’s hand that held him even when he felt like he was losing his faith.  It was God who prompted him to enter the sanctuary and to worship.  Even when he despaired that God may have abandoned him, it was God that held him by his hand all along!  Notice that Asaph also says that God will guide him with His counsel.  He is looking ahead with a deep assurance and security because of what he has learned from looking back.  He knows that he can trust God despite his circumstances and despite how things might look in the moment.  God will continue to guide him all of his life. 

Do you know that God is holding you even now?  Do you realize that right now, in this very moment God has you secure in His grasp?  Regardless of what your current circumstances are, no matter what you are thinking or facing or doing, God has not and will not abandon you!

(Tune in tomorrow for the final installment this week as we look at the aazing ending to this beautiful Psalm…)


Jeff Frazier

Wednesday, January 19

Wednesday

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.  But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.  For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.  They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.  Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.  From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.  They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.  Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.  Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.  They say,  “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”  This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth.  – Psalm 73:12-15

So far this week we have looked into the heart of Asaph (the author of Psalm 73 and a worship leader in ancient Israel).  We have seen his struggle with the injustice in the world, his frustration over the wealth and success of ungodly, and his feeling that God has been unfair to him.  One of the things that I love most about this Psalm is the raw honesty of the Psalmist.  Asaph readily admits his personal jealousy of the prosperity of the wicked, he confesses his crisis of faith over his doubts, and he even admits his total inability to make sense of it all.  He has hit a roadblock in his faith because he has come to the end of his own understanding.  He cannot think his way out of his doubts (none of us can).  Most of us need something, or someone, beyond ourselves to find our way out of our deepest doubts and questions.

When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me till I entered the sanctuary of God; then I understood their final destiny.  – Psalm 73:16-17

These two verses are the turning point of the entire Psalm.  Up to this point Asaph has been stumbling along in the dark of his own doubts.  He could not find his way out…until he entered the sanctuary of God.  In other words, when he humbled himself and began to worship God, his perspective began to change. By going into the sanctuary he means he came before the presence of God. He actually went into the temple, which was the symbol of God’s presence with His people.  When he did that, he began to see things from God's point of view.  He began to shift from natural thinking to spiritual thinking.  Asaph’s real problem was he had been thinking only from a natural, earthly perspective, and not from a spiritual perspective.

The trouble with "natural" thinking is that it is always centered on us.  Self is always the center of the natural man and he is forever reacting according to his feelings.  Natural thinking is  governed by our feelings, our moods, and the way we emotionally react to our circumstances.  When that happens to you, your range of vision is narrowed down to only your immediate circumstances, and to how you feel in the moment, you really cannot think beyond this.

This is what worship and prayer are for, to help us see our lives and ourselves accurately, from God’s point of view. When you come to church, or pray, or read the Bible, you are not coming merely to find some inspiration or some words of comfort; you are coming to have your eyes opened, so that you can see things as they really are.

Asaph begins to truly “see” only when he comes into the sanctuary, into the presence of God, because there he begins thinking spiritually.  Spiritual thinking is centered on God.

So, how do we enter the sanctuary today?  According to the New Testament, we ourselves are the sanctuary. God lives in us. We enter the sanctuary when we study and apply the truth of God’s Word in our lives.  We enter the sanctuary when we meet & worship together with other Christians.  We enter the sanctuary when we talk and listen to God in prayer.  We enter the sanctuary when we serve and give to God and others. 

Enter into the sanctuary of God today!


Jeff Frazier

Tuesday, January 18

Tuesday

This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth.  Surely in vain have I kept my heart pure; in vain have I washed my hands in innocence.  All day long I have been plagued; I have been punished every morning.  If I had said,  “I will speak thus,” I would have betrayed your children.  When I tried to understand all this, it was oppressive to me.  

 – Psalm 73:12-16

Asaph (the author of Psalm 73) has been expressing his struggle with the injustice he sees in the world.  He cannot understand how God can allow people who reject him to do so well in life.  He is admits his inability to reconcile how God can be good and faithful and just, and yet allow such unjust things to go on.  Asaph is not the first guy in history to struggle with this by the way.  Many people (Christians and non-Christians) have wrestled with this problem.  We have to admit that the existence of injustice is a difficult and troubling problem for those of us who believe in God. 

However, if you look closely at the passage above, Asaph gives us a peek at the real root of his struggle.  He is not just objecting to the injustice that he sees “out there” in the world around him, he is objecting to the injustice that he is believes he is experiencing in his own life.  Notice how many times he talks about himself in the passage.  He says “in vain I have kept my hear pure…all day long I have been plagued.”  In other words, it is not just that the wicked are winning that bothers him, it is that he is not getting what they have!  Ahh, now we see the heart of the matter.  Asaph thinks that life (and God) are not fair. How have you struggled over the apparent unfairness of life?  Asaph feels that he doesn’t deserve the troubles he is facing.  If anyone should be struggling, it should be those who reject God, not those who are faithful believers like him!

Asaph himself does not deny this, in verse 3 he says that he “envied the arrogant when he saw the prosperity of the wicked.”.  He was envious of them.  He wanted what they had (wealth, fame, power, beauty, etc.) and he felt that he deserved it more.  He knew about injustice before this.  He was aware that good people sometimes suffer and wicked people sometimes prosper in life.  However, it was not until he was one of those “good people” suffering that it really began to cause him to doubt God. 

I have a friend who has been out of work for over a year.  He lost his job when his company restructured and it came as a total shock to him and to his family.  He told me that he thought his position with the company was safe because his employers told him that he would not be affected by any changes.  My friend also told me that he knew about job losses and the rising unemployment numbers in our economy long before he lost his job.  He said that he was only mildly interested such economic statistics…until he became one of those statistics!  He has shared with me how he has dealt with feelings of personal failure, bitterness, inadequacy as a father and husband, and insecurity about the future, all because of losing his job.  He has cried out to God in anger, and confusion.  He has asked God why a thousand times.  He has pleaded with God to help him find a job.  He said that God has his attention now in a way that He didn’t have it before he lost his job.  He is asking God questions and listening to God more than ever before.

Perhaps this is what God has really been after all along in my friend’s life.  Perhaps it is what God is after in your life too.  Our doubts and questions and struggles can either become a barrier between us and God or they can become the bridge by which we connect to Him in a deeper way.

Oh God, you have never been unfair or unkind to us.  You have given us far beyond what we deserve, beyond what we could ever imagine.  You have given us forgiveness and the promise of eternal life.  If You had treated us solely on the basis of what was fair and just, we would be eternally doomed.  Forgive us God, for our selfish complaints and short-sighted understanding.  Teach us to trust You at all times and in all things
 – Amen.


Jeff Frazier

Monday, January 17

Monday

Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.  But as for me, my feet had almost slipped; I had nearly lost my foothold.  For I envied the arrogant when I saw the prosperity of the wicked.  They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.  They are free from the burdens common to man; they are not plagued by human ills.  Therefore pride is their necklace; they clothe themselves with violence.  From their callous hearts comes iniquity; the evil conceits of their minds know no limits.  They scoff, and speak with malice; in their arrogance they threaten oppression.  Their mouths lay claim to heaven, and their tongues take possession of the earth.  Therefore their people turn to them and drink up waters in abundance.  They say,  “How can God know? Does the Most High have knowledge?”  This is what the wicked are like — always carefree, they increase in wealth.            - Psalm 73:1-12

One of the things I love most about the Psalms is their raw honesty.  They hold nothing back, from anger and pain, to joy and exaltation – it is all there.  The author of this Psalm is a man named Asaph.  Asaph was a worship leader for God’s people the ancient Israelites.  Here in Psalm 73, he opens his heart to God (and to us) by expressing his very real struggle with doubt.

Doubt is not something that most of associate with our heart or emotions, most people think of doubts as being intellectual objections or questions about God.  G. K. Chesterton wrote in his classic book Orthodoxy, “our doubts often masquerade as much more intellectual than they actually are.”  While it is true that doubts are often expressed as intellectual questions or arguments, at the core, they are often issues of the heart. 

Doubts can be caused by any number of things; grief, loss, pain, failure, even peer pressure.  For Asaph, his doubts come as the result of the injustice he sees in the world.  He was struggling with the apparent contradiction between what he believed about God - that God was good to the upright and to those who were pure in heart - and his experience in life.  He was envious, he said, of the arrogant, and disturbed by the prosperity of the wicked. That prosperity seemed to him to be a direct contradiction to what he had been taught about God.  He had been told that if you are "upright and pure in heart," then God would be good to you, take care of you, and watch over you.  But instead this man was finding his own situation to be difficult and very discouraging, but the wicked around him, the ungodly (that is always the meaning of "wicked" in the Psalms), were prospering and everything was going well with them.  He just could not reconcile this.  It troubled him so terribly that it created deep resentment, envy and doubt in his heart.  This in turn became such a threat to his faith that ultimately he found himself threatened with a complete loss of faith.  His feet had almost slipped, he had come to the place where he was almost ready to renounce his faith.

This might sound like an extreme reaction, but Asaph is really a lot like us.  He is questioning if following God with his life is really worth it.  I think there are many Christians who struggle with this very question, but are afraid to admit it.  Perhaps you have had this doubt.  Perhaps you have wondered if God is really good, and why He seems to let the those who reject Him succeed and those who follow Him struggle.

If nothing else, at least this Psalm teaches us that it is not wrong to doubt or to have serious questions about God.  Asaph was a worship leader in ancient Israel and an author of Scripture, and yet he had doubts!  The very reason we have this amazing Psalm is because Asaph was willing to express his doubt and be honest about his struggle.  As we will see, it is his honesty before God that will become the path through his doubts to a greater vision of God.

Too many Christians think that doubting is somehow wrong or sinful, that we should not question God, because He would be angry with us for our disbelief.  But the most famous doubter in all of the Bible was (you know) Thomas.  In John 20, the disciples who saw the risen Jesus tell Thomas about it.  But Thomas is a hard case, and he isn’t going to be taken in by such a fantastic story.  In fact, he refuses to believe that Jesus is risen unless he can touch the very wounds in hands and side.  When Jesus shows up a week later (John 20:26-28) He doesn’t condemn Thomas for doubting, he doesn’t tell him that he is disqualified from being a disciple for his doubts.  Instead, Jesus tells him to place his hands in His wounds.  Jesus meets Thomas at the place of his doubt, but he does not leave him there.  John tells us that after Thomas had touched Jesus’ wounds, he fell to his knees and cried, “my Lord and my God!”.  The amazing thing is that he came to this realization of Jesus through his doubts!

Take a few moments to pray and/or write your biggest questions and doubts about God.  Like the psalmist, tell God what troubles you and what you don’t understand.  He will not reject you for your doubts, and you might just find that He will lead you through them to a deeper understanding of His love.


Jeff Frazier

Friday, January 14

Job 19:25-27

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him with my own eyes – How my heart yearns within me!

The Bible says that Job was “the greatest man of all the people of the East.” He was “blameless and upright, he feared God and shunned evil.” He also happened to have a large happy family and was fabulously successful. Then, as the story goes, due to Satan’s desire to destroy his love for God, Job suffers cataclysmic loss.

He loses his household servants.

He loses his herds of sheep, cattle and camels.

He loses his children – all 14 of them.

And finally he loses his health – his body covered with feverish boils and blisters.

His physical condition becomes so repulsive that his own wife tells him he should just “Curse God and die (Job 2:8).”

When Job’s three friends come to visit him they are so overwhelmed by his appearance and suffering that they sit in silence for seven days before speaking a word.

There was never a better man than Job.

There was never a man who suffered more loss than Job.

There was never a man who deserved that suffering less than Job.

But suffering, pain and loss still invaded his life.

The Book of Job is not easy to read. It begins with the story of Job’s almost unimaginable losses. But then comes chapter after chapter of arguing between Job and his friends about the causes of his suffering. Everyone tries to explain WHY all these bad things have happened; everyone tries to establish blame.

At the end of the story God finally speaks – but he doesn’t’ explain to Job WHY all this has happened to him. God doesn’t answer the dozens of questions that Job and his friends have tossed his way. He simply demonstrates who he is – and that is enough.

At the depth of his suffering and sorrow, Job makes a statement to his friends that sounds like the prayer of a man who has no where else to turn for hope – but a man who has hope nonetheless.

I know that my Redeemer lives, and that in the end he will stand upon the earth.

And after my skin has been destroyed, yet in my flesh I will see God;

I myself will see him with my own eyes – How my heart yearns within me!

Somewhere I heard someone say, “God never wastes our pain.” I believe that is true – and that’s why Job can maintain such faith and hope in the midst of his suffering. Our Redeemer lives. Our Redeemer does not waste our pain. Our Redeemer can and will transform our suffering into his good and his glory – therefore we can not only come to God with out pain – but we can some to him in hope as well.

Brian Coffey

Thursday, January 13

Psalm 22:1-5

My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, so far from the words of my groaning?

O my God, I cry out by day, but you do not answer, by night, and am not silent.

Yet you are enthroned as the Holy One; you are the praise of Israel.

In you our fathers put their trust; they trusted and you delivered them.

They cried to you and were saved; in you they trusted and were not disappointed.

Sometimes the smallest and seemingly insignificant words are the most important words. The first few verses of Psalm 22 contain words like “God,” “forsaken,” and “groaning.” Those words are followed by words like, “enthroned,” “Holy One,” and “saved.” All extremely important words but for me the most important word just might be that little three-letter word, “Yet.”

“Yet” means that despite this that has happened, something else is still possible. “Yet” means that even though it may seem, from my human perspective, that the pain that I am experiencing is both endless and irredeemable, from God’s perspective that is not so.

Many years ago one of our sons displayed some troubling and unusual physical symptoms following a family trip overseas. A specialist told us that it was possible that he had contracted a disease that could possible damage his heart if untreated – and the only way to know was to do a blood test. So I held my 4-year old son in my lap as the nurse approached with what had to look to him like a giant needle. As she put the needle to his arm he looked up at me and with his eyes full of tears and fear wailed, “Daddy, why are you letting her do this to me!?”

How could I explain the possibility of disease to my little boy? How could I explain that it was because I loved him that I allowed the nurse to put the needle in his arm? All I could do was hold him even more tightly and whisper in his ear, “It’s going to be O.K. buddy; I’m here, I love you, I’m not going to let you go, it’s going to be O.K.”

It strikes me that, in a way, that’s what David is telling us in Psalm 22. Unspeakable pain has come into his life, yet he trusts that God is good. He feels alone and forsaken, yet he will trust that God is with him. He doesn’t see how anything good can come of his situation, yet he will trust that God can and will redeem his pain into good.

I, for one, am thankful that God invites me to be honest with him – about my pain, my questions, my fears and my doubts. But I am also very grateful for that he also has given me that little word, “yet!”

Brian Coffey

Wednesday, January 12

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express. And he who searches our hearts knows the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit intercedes for the saints in accordance with God’s will. Romans 8:26-27

On July 18, 1988 I received a phone call that changed my life and my understanding of prayer forever. My brother Joe called with the horrible news that our youngest brother John had been killed in a tragic traffic accident. While I had learned about the grief process through my graduate studies as well as through pastoral experience – I discovered that going through it yourself is a different matter. I also was surprised that part of the grief process for me was that I struggled to pray. I had been a Christian most of my life – and pastor for several years – but for months I found it almost impossible to pray. I couldn’t still my mind or heart long enough to form coherent prayers. It seemed that all that came out was pain. Sometimes, to be honest, I didn’t want to pray. But I found I could write. So I wrote; page after page – notebook after notebook – filled with memories, sadness and anger. But still I couldn’t pray, at least not the way I had prayed all my life.

Looking back on those difficult days from the perspective of time, I now understand that what I felt at the time was a prayer-less time in my life was actually a prayer-full time. I think I learned something about what Paul is talking about in Romans 8. Read the words again:

In the same way, the Spirit helps us in our weakness. We do not know what we ought to pray for, but the Spirit intercedes for us with groans that words cannot express.

Paul is telling us that, in some mysterious way, when we are at the end of our ability to cope, at the end of our understanding; when we have no more words to pray and when we can only groan and cry – that the Holy Spirit actually translates our pain into an eloquent prayer of faith to the Father who hears and understands! Much like a parent might scoop up a weeping child and simply hold them until the tears subside, so also our God promises to love us, be present to us, and to hear all our prayers – with or without words.

Brian Coffey