Category Archives: Morning Thoughts

Morning Thoughts (Luke 11:7)

Morning Thoughts,

Morning ThoughtsLuke 11:7, "And he from within shall answer and say, Trouble me not: the door is now shut, and my children are with me in bed; I cannot rise and give thee." 

This morning, persistence and perseverance to see a good thing through to the end is more of a rarity than the norm.  In days gone by, people were more determined to finish what they started, but sadly, the crumbling culture has made the days of the here and now a lot of starts with very few finishes.  Scripture abounds to encourage and exhort the disciple of Christ to see paths of righteousness to fitting and proper conclusions.  Paul – in illustrating the point by pointing to gardening with sowing and reaping – encourages people not to faint and become weary in well doing. (Galatians 6:9) To persist in upright things, we need to take courage and strength that the Lord will be with us and supply all our need to do those things that are pleasing to Him.  

Our study verse comes in the midst of a discussion on prayer, and Christ is in the midst of illustrating points He made in the opening verses in laying out the model prayer.  After giving the foundation points of what prayer should entail and include, Christ analyzes the points to show forth the touching nature of our God in heaven.  Our verse is in an illustration that starts in verse 5 continuing through verse 8.  The story illustrates the prayer point in verse 3 of requesting our daily bread and natural needs. 

The essence of the story is that if someone needs something and asks a friend, how will the friend respond?  What if the circumstance and timing of the request is non-ideal?  If a man asks his friend for help in the middle of the night, it is possible that even a friend will tell him to come back at some other time.  If it is midnight, the house closed up, and the children in the bed, the friend could respond unfavorably and not fulfill the request of his friend needing 3 loaves of bread.  The illustrative story concludes by Christ saying that if a man was persistent enough in asking, the person would rise and give his friend what he needs: not because of their friendship but just to get rid of him.  If someone you knew was knocking on your door at midnight asking for something, you might not initially rise up, but if they kept knocking and knocking, you would then give them what they were asking just to be able to get back to sleep and leave you alone. 

What does this illustrate for us in prayer and tell us of God's mercy?  Though we are commanded to pray without ceasing (I Thessalonians 5:17) and pray always not fainting (Luke 18:1), does God require of us to do such before He will finally answer?  Does it take 17 attempts at a minimum before God will finally rise up and give us what we need?  What is His present circumstance and situation when we make the request?  If we can find the answers to these 2 questions, I believe we will find some of the most touching concepts that deal with our Heavenly Father's interactions with us here in this world. 

To answer the first question, we need not go far to find the answer.  God does not require multiple attempts before even considering granting our request.  Now, we should be ready always to ask and repeat our request, but consider verses 9-10 of this same chapter.  Christ said that if we ask, knock, and seek, then we shall receive, be opened, and find respectively.  The succeeding verses after that starting in verse 11 show the touching nature of a natural father with his children.  If his son asks him for something that is good, he will not in turn give him something that is evil.  Rather, the natural father will give his natural son what he needs.  Christ then puts it in perspective: how much more shall our Heavenly Father do for us?  Notice in this lesson that it only speaks of knocking, seeking, and asking in a singular sense.  Though it does us good to request often (it reinforces our dependence and reliance upon God), it is not the bulk of asking that affects an answer.  In James 5:16, we are told that the effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much.  How many men?  One.  How many prayers?  One.  One prayer from one man (of good, upright character) is all that is necessary to bring about a very positive outcome. 

Knowing that our Father is so merciful that we do not have to worry about Him behaving like the friend in the story that might not initially arise to give us, what about the answer to the 2nd question: what is His present circumstance and situation when we make the request?  The answer to that question is found in our study verse, and I freely admit that this thought has deeply affected me recently to consider the magnitude and weight of its implications.  Christ said in the story that the man who is being sought is in bed with his children at the midnight hour with the doors now shut.  Many times, our needs and distresses come in the midnight hours (most inopportune moments and darkest periods).  Though we should be careful to implore our Father for guidance during the day hours (periods of better times), our highest times of need come in dark stretches.  Though the midnight has profoundly affected us in our pilgrimage, where is He?  What is He doing? 

There is no way that I could possibly summon the will to define what percentage of God's family is still in this world or yet to come into this world versus the percentage that is now already with Him in heaven.  I simply have no idea.  However, after close to 7,000 years of human history, combined with all that Scripture declares, it is easily seen that there is already a sea of multitudes there with Him now.  These heirs of grace sing unto Him right now in the heavenly portal.  Their praise is perfect, matchless, and without end.  Combined with these dearly bought souls, our Father has the abiding presence of His only Begotten Son on His right hand and the bands of celestial servants – angels, cherubims, and seraphims.  This collection of beings resides with the Father in a place that knows no defilement.  Perfect and spotless in every way. 

How easy is it for a friend today to have a pleasant circumstance and not initially rise up to help another?  Even though his pleasant environs do not come close to matching the beauty and majesty of heaven, it is easy to see someone behaving in such a manner.  Consider God.  He has many children in the bed with Him right now.  Their environment is pleasant without measure: boundless seas of peace, love, and harmony.  It is a place that knows no midnight like our lives do now.  However, though surrounded by all that perfection with countless children in the bed with Him, He still rises to give us those things that we stand in need of. 

One of the most humbling things to consider that should elicit the highest thanks we can muster is that our prayers – lowly though they seem – find their way into a place of perfect praise and endless majesty.  A survey of the heavenly portal that John saw in Revelation 5 shows a collection of all the beings that we have previously mentioned.  However, in addition to that, John saw golden vials that contained the precious odors of the prayers of the saints.  Friends, though midnights come, consider how merciful He is.  He rises from ultimate peace in a place of perfection to assist us daily in those things that we need daily.  He does not do so because we "just won't leave Him alone."  He does it because He loves us beyond comprehension.  Does this make you want to call upon Him more and thank Him more often?  It does for me.  However, let us call upon Him often not thinking we will see greater effects but because we realize just how much we need Him and know how merciful He has been to us. 

In Hope,

Bro Philip

Morning Thoughts (Exodus 32:4)

Morning Thoughts,

Morning ThoughtsExodus 32:4, "And he received them at their hand, and fashioned it with a graving tool, after he had made it a molten calf: and they said, These be thy gods Israel, which brought thee up out of the land of Egypt."

This morning, there is so much to distract the child of God from his devotion and thoughts of Christ.  Recently, I read a report that more than 60% of people in this country spend more of their waking hours on their cell phone than any other activity.  Every day the distractions increase, become easier to engage in, and sweep up large chunks of our time.  More often than not, activities such as these are not intrinsically sinful, but the prolific occurrence of them makes them so.  In recent meditations and writings, I have been reminded once again that the greatest threat and enemy to a church or individual is idolatry.  When something takes an equal or higher position to our Lord, His kingdom, and His service, we have fallen prey and guilty once again to one of the most heinous offences before the Almighty.  As Scripture declares, idolatry revolves around a basic motivation: covetousness. (Colossians 3:5) Whenever we want something for ourselves more than doing for the Lord, we have idolized that person or thing that we covet after.  However, one of the utterly amazing things about idolatry is that by standing back a bit and viewing the scene objectively, idolatry is seen better for how it really is: completely and totally ridiculous.

In the passage our study verse resides in, we can look at many different circumstances that make our study verse seem all the more surreal.  However, by the end of the lesson, the surreal nature of it will take on a much more painful tone: injuring our own silly and prideful notions.  Moses is currently on top of Mt Sinai with the Lord receiving the 10 Commandments and other patterns of worship directly from the Lord.  He has been up there so long that the people's impatience grows into convincing Aaron to make them an idol, which he does in our verse.  By taking their gold, he makes a calf, and fashions it into – doubtless – a naturally good-looking piece of craftsmanship.  The sight of this craftsmanship incites the people to proclaim this non-living piece of metal a god that delivered them out of Egypt.

The more I consider this scene, the more I find that makes an objective observer's gaze both sad and amusing.  Let us take note of a few things in this scene that make their actions all the more foolish.  Simply because Moses had been gone up into the mount for a long time, they decided to choose a different path based on how they felt.  Their statement was that they did not know what had become of Moses (Verse 1), so they were going to do things that they felt were right.  Friends, that is always a dangerous road to start down, and consider how much they still had before them to prove to them they did not need to choose a path of their own making.  Though Moses was still in the mount, the mountain still had a cloud upon it denoting that the Lord was still in their midst.  This sight of the mountain was go great and terrible that even Moses himself feared, but the people even moreso. (Exodus 24:16, Hebrews 12:21)

Whether day or night, they always had a pillar of cloud or pillar of fire to guide them and show the Lord's presence with them. (Exodus 13:21) Therefore, no matter how many days and nights it took Moses on their mountain, they had every evidence necessary that God was still with them.  In fact, they were shown whether to stay camped or arise and move based on the pillar's movement or lack thereof.  So, if the cloud and fire had been stationary all the while that Moses was on Sinai, then they had no reason to even think that it was time to go anywhere.  Looking at the evidences that God had placed, one could reasonably say, "God was manifest all around them, above them, before, and beside them."  Truly, He had set great signs and wonders to show forth His glory in their midst so that it would seem impossible that someone in such a position could doubt, stray, or turn from the right path.

Have you ever run into the mindset (or had it yourself), "If I could see the things the Bible talks about, I wouldn't doubt, and my fears that I struggle with would be taken away."  I have encountered many people with that mindset, but interestingly, the people that did experience these things were guilty of the same doubts, fears, and stumblings that we have today.  Even with God evidently all around them, they still idolatrously ran after their own fallen and frail ways.  Lest we come down too harshly on these wayward people (though they justly deserve consternation for their actions), Paul clearly makes a point that we are very much like them. (I Corinthians 10:1-13) Though we should learn not to do many of the things that they did, we still are guilty of the same things with a similar set of circumstances.

One might protest here, "Preacher, I've never crafted a golden calf and called that my god that delivered me."  Nor have I.  However, idolatry comes in many forms, but every time, we have a set of manifest circumstances like they had that make our decisions seem even more foolish.  No, we do not see a mount that burns with fire and has a cloud of glory descend upon it like they saw on Sinai that day, nor do we have a pillar of cloud and fire that tells us when to move and when to stop.  However, consider what we do have all around us.  The Lord promised that He would continue the ordinances of the sun and moon by day and night. (Jeremiah 31:35-36) Every day that we live, the sun rises and sets during the day, while the moon continues as a light by night.  Why do these ordinances remain?  God commanded them so, and whether in the day or night, we have clear evidence that God still rules and reigns on His throne.  Just as they had the pillar by day and night, we have the firm promise that ordinances will be seen in heaven that declare to us that God is in our midst.

In looking at what we do have today as opposed to that day at Sinai, Paul describes much of what we have in our mountain (Zion) that supersedes Sinai in many respects. (Hebrews 12:18-24) While we do not see literal smoke and fire upon a literal mountain, our worship in Mount Zion shows more glory than they had then.  We do not have literal tables of stone written on by the finger of God like they did then, but our Book has more glory and sureness than they did then.  Our mountain has the glory of the Lord in the descending of the Holy Ghost (I Peter 1:12), and the Bible of God's word from which we preach was Divinely breathed into existence by God's inspiration.  Every time the Lord takes a mortal man and blesses him with power from the demonstration of the Holy Ghost and accompanies that power with assurance to the hearts and souls of the saints, we experience more glory and majesty than they had that day. (I Thessalonians 1:5)

What about falling into idolatry?  We so often put things before our eyes that end up commanding the lion's share of our time and attention.  Though we have daily reminders through the creation that God is still here and reigning as He promised, we forget Him often through our journeys of life.  Though He has blessed us with awesome power and majesty in the mountain of His church, we neglect so often to honour that glory with our presence, prayers, and/or energy.  We might find a reason not to be there, or when we get there, we might find a reason to worship and praise Him with little to no energy of service.  Is this any different than making a molten calf and calling it your god?  Not really.  Consider.

The result of making this idol was that the people ate, drank, and played before it (Verse 6).  It became a source of entertainment and fulfillment of fleshly pleasure for them, and should it have remained long enough, they would have followed it whithersoever it went.  So are the idols of today.  They become the source of people's entertainment and fulfillment of fleshly pleasure.  Whether it pertains to recreation of sports and leisure, occupation of job and moneymaking, or relationships of family or otherwise, each idol serves to source our entertainment and fulfill some fleshly longing.  Again, many of these idols are not intrinsically bad just as molten craftsmanship in that day was not synonymous with idolatry.  They become so when we attach levels of appreciation to them that no one or nothing deserves outside of God Almighty.

Friends, we have countless evidences in the creation that God still rules and reigns.  We have countless evidences in His church that He will meets with us in a place of glory.  No matter how impatient we may get over the circumstances we face, let us never give in to delusions of grandeur from self-centered thinking.  It leads to idolatry every time.  We will – as creatures – worship something.  It may be ourselves or our own worth, but we will worship something.  May we contain our worship to the One that truly delivered us from ourselves and the cruel mastery of Egypt's blackness.  He has not left us, and the evidences are tremendous.  Finally, when we read accounts like this one and think of how foolish these people appear, may we step back and observe our own paths.  To someone reading an account of our activities, how foolish would we look to them?  Let us adore Him for all that He has done, is doing, and will continue to do for all eternity.

In Hope,

Bro Philip