Life Here and There

I was deeply moved by today’s reading from J. Sidlow Baxter’s devotional, Awake My Heart. He speaks of the mysteries of life, what W. A. Criswell used to call “the imponderables of God.” Baxter mentioned birth, life, personality, human experience, Satan, eternity, etc. All of these are unexplainable. We can begin, but we can never conclude any definition of them.

Baxter goes on, however, to quote an unnamed old Puritan as saying, “Never let what you don’t know disturb your faith in what you do know.” Further, Baxter proclaims that “breaking into all this mystery comes a glorious, transfiguring fact which not all of these problems can discount: it is THE FACT OF CHRIST. He is a certified historical fact; a supremely significant fact; an experientially realized fact….”

We live in a highly skeptical age. To deny this is to prove that one has his proverbial head in the sand. We live in the age of the offensive atheist, exemplified by authors such as Richard Dawkins, who espouses a near hatred of conservative Christianity and writes it off as idiotic nonsense that should be put to an end. In the mix, Christians find themselves wavering and doubting.

So, what do we do with our big questions? I don’t know about you, but I believe God can handle our biggest questions. He has answers. Whether He will provide them or not is within the divine prerogative of God. But in the midst of all of the mysterious, imponderable concepts of spiritual, eternal things lie the rock solid, unbreakable truths of Christianity. In the words of Paul, “And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory.” (1 Timothy 3:16)

“Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time; casting all your care upon him, for he careth for you.” -1 Peter 5:6-7

Those are the words I used to read about 30 seconds before I would preach. Now they ring in my heart naturally. It has been said that people place the fear of public speaking right up there with death! For me, confidence does not come naturally and yet I have grown to enjoy and thrive in speaking from my pulpit every week. The source of my confidence, however, may surprise you. I don’t use public speaking gimicks or tricks. I don’t picture everyone in their underwear (I’m wondering how it is that so many people actually recommend this???). I simply visualize two things: one is my big God, and the other is an audience that needs what I have to say.

You see, preaching is the delivery of God’s words through a human personality. I came to grips with my inability to present God’s message on my own a long time ago. If left up to me, I’d stumble and bumble through an eight minute presentation, then go hide somewhere in shame. But when I realize that God is up to something great within the hearts of my listeners, I can’t wait to share what He’s given me in the study. It’s actually thrilling to watch Him work.

My confidence is rooted first of all in the identity of my God – He’s big, audacious, and radically committed to seeing His truth spread throughout all the world for His own glory. Second, my confidence is rooted in my identity as His child, His called Ambassador, His earthly spokesperson, His mouthpiece. God never calls the qualified, He qualifies the called. What is the source of your confidence in life? For me, it’s the fact that I’m called and the One who called me backs me up! He’s ready any moment to rescue me if I’m ready any moment to speak for Him. Are you ready to live in total God-confidence?

“But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”—2 Corinthians 4:7

When I was a kid, I collected baseball cards. Occasionally I would hear a story of someone who discovered some old cards tucked away in a special place. One such story relates to a man who found an old rusty coffee can that contained a T-206 Honus Wagner card from the early 1900’s. He sold it at auction and the famous hockey player, Wayne Gretzky and his coach split the cost of $451,000. What a treasure… in a coffee can.

We walk around every day with the gospel in our hearts. The gospel is perfect and life-changing. It is God’s message of good news and it has the power to convert people from lost to save, to radically transform lives for all eternity. Why would God entrust such great wealth to us? So that the “power” might be of God, not of human beings.

It’s quite easy to persuade people to join a movement or to follow a charismatic personality. It’s quite another to be the humble servant, pointing people to the all-powerful God of creation and to His perfect Son, Jesus Christ. What a treasure!!

I grew up in a staunchly conservative Southern Baptist church, where I first heard the gospel and received Christ as my Savior. I was baptized by Doug Riley, a man who was committed to the faithful proclamation of God’s inerrant Word. Many of my heroes in the faith are or were Southern Baptist leaders.

I have benefitted greatly from W. A. Criswell’s heart for the preaching of the Word of God in its perfect entirety. I’ve been inspired to be a more wise and well-equipped leader by Dr. Adrian Rogers. The scholarly works of A. T. Robertson and John Broadus have taught me much about preaching and about the message of the New Testament. I’m thankful also for many of today’s leading Southern Baptists who are holding a firm line on having a strong commitment to an orthodox belief in the Scriptures as God’s inerrant self-revelation.

(more…)

“Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted in me? hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God.” -Psalm 42:11

Depression seems to be such a widespread issue today. It could be that it is simply talked about more than ever, but it seems that the statistics point to an overwhelming increase in reported cases of depression. I believe that depression is a part of life for a large number of people, and always has been. King Saul and King David are two examples of men who suffered depression in their lives. Often theirs was connected with a period of sin and rebellion, but for David, as he wrote Psalm 42, this was not the case.

David asked the question that many people who suffer from depression today ask, “Why? Why am I so down, so upset?” I don’t know that David ever found an answer to why his soul was disquieted within him. I do know that David found a healing solution that King Saul never discovered – praising God from the depths of depression.

David proclaimed, I don’t know why my soul is distraught, but I’m going to praise God anyway and He will be the health of my countenance (my personality). In other words, there may be no real cure for depression, but God can still be praised and He will be the balm that brings a soul-healing. So often today, we handle depression with medication before we search for unconfessed sin, before we work on the relationship with God, and before we search the soul for an answer.

There are times when medication may help the unexplainable depression that comes to a person’s soul as a result of a chemical imbalance. But shouldn’t we search for the possible spiritual cause first? King Saul’s depression was soothed by praise music. I don’t believe Saul was saved but there was a therapeutic effect brought on by the act of praise. David proclaimed as well that praise was wonderful medication for the soul.

God has given us the technology and wisdom to find medical cures for many psychological issues. I’m not for ignoring those medical discoveries, unless we use them to mask over our need for a searching of the soul. Let us first ask the Almighty to try our hearts, to search our souls, and to enlighten us to a possible spiritual cause. Then let us repent of sin and praise His name and let medication be the final step after a spiritual revival.

I shall yet praise Him who is the health of my countenance and my God!