Psalm 49 - No Need to Fear

Death eludes no one. We may not enjoy thinking about death, but unless we grasp its reality, we will fail at life.

Psalm 49 does well to help us fight off fear of the triumph of bad fortune. The rich and poor alike will someday no longer physically exist on the earth. The smart and stupid alike will face the grave. The beautiful and not so beautiful will see the same fate. The foolish fail to recognize the futility of earthly gains in wealth, power, pleasure, and prestige, but the wise surrender to God’s supreme authority.

We do not have to fear even the tyrants who are bent on destruction   They too will soon pass. We also do not have to fear the loss of beauty, position, and reputation, when our trust is in God Almighty. He is our protection and provision. Our heavenly Father looks out for us far better than we can even look out for ourselves. The Psalmist puts it this way,

“So why should I fear in bad times,
    hemmed in by enemy malice,
Shoved around by bullies,
    demeaned by the arrogant rich?

Really! There’s no such thing as self-rescue,
    pulling yourself up by your bootstraps.
The cost of rescue is beyond our means,
    and even then it doesn’t guarantee

Life forever, or insurance
    against the Black Hole.”  (Psalm 49:3-9: The Message)

 

There is One who came to rescue. Jesus is our Refuge. Jesus conquered sin and death, and now lives to bring us into eternal safety.  “But me? God snatches me from the clutch of death, he reaches down and grabs me” (Psalm 49:15; The Message). The Bible shows us that Jesus conquered death once and for all. When we trust in Jesus for our salvation from this earthly mess, death no longer has its hold on us. We can live in the security of Father’s house, eternally, starting right now.  To find out more about how Jesus did this, read 1 Corinthians 15:50-57. 

            A phrase repeated throughout the Bible is “fear not.”  Jesus himself often spoke this command to his closest disciples. When God is near, we have nothing to fear. When Jesus is Refuge, our security is huge. When Holy Spirit is leading, on green grass we are feeding. Faith drives out fear. Let faith arise. Faith arrives, and fear disappears, the more we focus on the heavenly in place of the earthly things.  

When it looks like the grave may be the end of it all, we do well to heed Christ’s words recorded by Luke, “straighten up, and lift your heads, because your redemption is drawing near” (Luke 21:28). Because God is near, there is no need to fear. If we are surrendered to him, we are secure in Refuge.

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Family Forever

Adult children who forsake their parents seems to be more common in recent times. It is evidently an age-old problem however, since Solomon addresses it in the Proverbs.  “Whoever robs their father and drives out their mother, is a child who brings shame and disgrace.” (Proverbs 19:26; NIV).

One of the ways so-called “cancel culture” manifests, is by cutting off relationship with a person(s) deemed unlikable or unworthy for some reason, even if no rational reason for harm is present. It should go without saying that this is a practice opposed to godliness and biblical truth.  But it is amazing to me how much I hear of people who call themselves Christ-followers who simply refuse to communicate with people they once called friends. This becomes even more egregious when the person(s) cut off is a family member(s). And when parents are cut off by their children, it is especially “shameful and disgracefull” as the Proverb puts it.

God is a God of reconciliation. God calls his followers to be ministers of reconciliation (2 Corinthians 5). Offense is inevitable in the context of the broken world in which we live. At times we may be on one side of offense or the other; the offended person, or the offending person. But God calls us to forgive always, and reconcile whenever possible. Since it takes two to reconcile, and we can’t control the other person(s), we must be committed to pursue making things right in our own hearts to the greatest degree possible. Reconciling leaves no room for “cancelling” or deeming someone (or a situation) irredeemable. 

we are called to treat people with honor and respect (Colossians 3:13). A person’s identity is not the same as their behavior. Even if a person’s behavior is bad, and guilt is real, God can forgive upon their confession and repentance.  and so In condemning bad behavior, we must value the person as a child of God and worthy of His redeeming grace. When people do things that irritate or hurt us, silence and avoidance is not an option. We must try to not allow wounds to fester, so that relationships are not halted by unresolved conflict.

This is especially true in family, as our closest earthly relationships. God ordained family for survival  and training of the young, contribution to community as adults, and sustainability for the human race. As humans we do not have a choice who our parents are. We are born to parents of God’s choosing  and into family by God’s design. We may choose who we want our friends to be, but our blood relatives are chosen for us.

Thus, any ill treatment and dishonoring by adults towards their parents can be viewed as an act of rebellion against God. In fact, this is so important in God’s sight, that it is included as one of the ten commandments (see Exodus 20 and Deuteronomy 5). The importance Is emphasized even more by Paul making a direct quote (of the Old Testament scriptures) to the Ephesian church, “Honor your father and mother, which is the first commandment with a promise,  so that it may go well with you and that you may have a long life in the land” (Ephesians 6:2-3; HCSB). Life going well is directly linked to how one treats their parents.

Life will not go well for anyone who tries to cut off relationship with their parent(s). And cutting off their children’s relationship with their parents (their children’s grandparents) is especially dishonoring. Besides their parents, the second  most important relationship in a child’s life is their grandparents. For parents to deliberately withhold or discourage their developing child’s relationship with their grandparents is acting in contempt of God’s order of things. An obvious exception is when the grandparent(s) pose some sort of harm to the children. But simply having a conflict with the parents, should not preclude their children from having a relationship with their grandparents.

Recently, I’ve encountered a number of parents with adult children casting the parents out of their lives (for no rational reason), and refusing to want to reconcile. This month is when we celebrate the birth of the King of Reconciliation. Jesus “came to seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). Whatever was lost through conflict and separation, God can mend. Jesus saves. But it takes willing hearts.

Christmas is meant to be a time to celebrate with joy, the arrival of the Savior of the world. I pray that during this season, steps toward healing broken family relationships can be taken. I pray the joy of family unity will be restored by the power of what Jesus accomplished by coming to this earth and redeeming mankind.  For those reading this and not having family struggles, please pray for those who are experiencing seemingly unresolvable conflict. When one person in the family hurts, the whole family hurts. When one family hurts, it contributes to a community of hurting families .  Many hurting families contribute to hurting churches, communities,  and a hurting nation. Pray for God’s people to be His  reconcilers, as family forever.

by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry

Jesus Is the Gate

We live in a distracted, and distracting, world.  People become confused by all the conflicting voices clambering for attention. Unfortunately, many of the voices are not based in truth, and therefore, mislead, misguide, and mistreat many people. So how does a person discern a truthful voice from an untruthful one?

For a follower of Jesus, there is a sure first step towards answering this question. In John 10, Jesus is teaching his disciples on this topic. “Jesus said again, “Truly I tell you, I am the gate for the sheep. All who came before me are thieves and robbers, but the sheep didn’t listen to them.  I am the gate. If anyone enters by me, he will be saved and will come in and go out and find pasture.  A thief comes only to steal and kill and destroy. I have come so that they may have life and have it in abundance” (John 10:7-10). Surrendering our whole heart to God’s order of things, and Christ’s teaching specifically, is the only way to know truth (John 8:31-32).

Jesus uses the example of tending sheep because it was a very common practice in the time he lived on earth. Sheep are interesting animals. They flock together, and they respond only to one person as their shepherd. The only way they will make a move from one place (field or pen) to another, is by following the lead of their known shepherd. Without their shepherd they are lost and unable to function.

Jesus likens sheep to people. Left to their own devices, people will become lost and directionless. Jesus speaks of himself as a shepherd and a gate when he says, ““Truly I tell you, anyone who doesn’t enter the sheep pen by the gate but climbs in some other way is a thief and a robber.  The one who enters by the gate is the shepherd of the sheep. The gatekeeper opens it for him, and the sheep hear his voice. He calls his own sheep by name and leads them out.  When he has brought all his own outside, he goes ahead of them. The sheep follow him because they know his voice.  They will never follow a stranger; instead they will run away from him, because they don’t know the voice of strangers”  (John 10:1-6).

So how do we hear the voice of Jesus in the midst of all the other voices in the world?  God speaks through his Holy Spirit. We must first, listen for his voice. Listening is a skill that can be developed. Listening can be hard work. Resisting the temptation to assume we already have heard what we need to hear (and know what we need to know), can cause us to miss a necessary directive from God. Hearing from God begins with what he has already spoken in the Bible. The Bible is God’s voice, and listening to what it says means we believe and obey it without exception. The entire Bible is written to reveal who Jesus is, and how we should respond to him.

If we are truly in the “sheep fold” of Jesus, we surrender to his authority as the Gate. We yield to his leadership (shepherding and gate keeping).  He calls the shots.  He tells us where to “graze.”  That is, allow our body, mind, and soul to only feed on things that are wholesome and healthy. Behaviors the Bible condemns, we condemn. Behaviors and people the Bible honors, we honor. Abundant blessings accompany this kind of lifestyle.

We recognize however that the “thief” (the devil and evil in the world) is a real opponent. The aim of evil is to “kill, steal, and destroy” as the verse above warns us.  Evil presents in many voices. Failing to listen for, and hear God’s voice, leaves us vulnerable to going through the wrong gate. Not following God’s ways also makes us vulnerable to being destroyed by the thief’s evil ways.

Following the voice of Jesus puts us on the correct path. Jesus is our Shepherd. Jesus is the Gate to open and close opportunities for good or evil to triumph. The Gate governs our “coming and going” (spoken of in the verses above), and is the everyday activities of life being run through the filter of obedience to the Bible as the Word of God. The Gate guides us into refuge and protects us from the thief’s destruction. May we thank and praise Jesus the Gate, for his saving power. He died on the cross to save us from our sin condition, and was resurrected from death to life so we can have an eternal life in communion with God.

I need Jesus to be my Gate every day, and I pray that all reading this will recognize and yield to his gate-keeping as well.

 by Ed Hersh, Blue Rock BnB Healing Ministry