Author: Rick (Page 16 of 37)

“He who dwells in the shelter of the Most High will abide in the shadow of the Almighty.” Psalm 91:1

The traffic in Lincoln City, Newport, and Depoe Bay is often formidable  and the crosswalks are challenging because a person could grow old waiting for the flashing walk sign or not grow old at all trying to cross without one! Combine that with the influx thousands of drivers of various skills, it is a challenge to walk and drive on the coast on weekends at certain times of year. As a sidelight, I heard that the reason the baseball teams were named what they were in LA was because the pedestrians there were either dodgers or angels. The analogy is theologically weak, but you get the point. It is not much different on the Oregon coast.

A few years back Elaine and I decided to cross the road and get a bite to eat in a restaurant. We pushed the walk button to cross the main road (45 mile an hour speed limit) and waited and waited. We had go through two crosswalks to get to the restaurant that was catty-corner to us anyway, so hunger drove us to cross the less busy road in spite of the flashing wait sign. There was no danger because… well, it is too hard to explain, but believe me, there was no danger. So we got to the other side and waited to cross the busy road once more. Finally we got the okay from a friendly flashing light and crossed. All of a sudden we heard a huge noise and I looked over and a large truck had lost its load of metal pipes at the intersection. When he stopped, all the pipes (and there was a bunch of them) shot off his rack, over the hood, through the crosswalk and into the intersection. They were big, heavy, and sharp. If anyone would have been in the crosswalk, they would have been surely injured and maybe worse. An army of men piled out of the truck and started gathering up pipes. It dawned on me that had we waited we would have been in that crosswalk when everything took place.

We were okay and it did not spoil our appetites, but it really made us think. What part does God play in our daily lives when it comes to protecting us. When we are safe is He protecting us and when we are hurt, He is not? Why does one person die in an accident and another survives? Why is one prayer seemingly answered and another seems to sit dormant for years. What’s going on here? Do we live on God’s roulette wheel of happenings and once in while we just get the black ball in the right or wrong slot?

We live in an unstable world populated by unstable people governed by an unstable, rebellious angel. There is a popular cliché that says “The safest place is in the center of God’s will.” However, does that mean when something bad happens we are outside of God’s will or if we seem to be protected we are obviously in God’s will. The Word (and experience) seems to say otherwise. Was Paul not in the center of God’s will when he was stoned, beaten, and imprisoned? Do missionaries suffer and Christian martyrs around the world shed their blood because they are out of God’s will? Or what about the reprobate who seems to enjoy God’s protection for a time- is that person in God’s will? What, then, is the need to be in God’s will if suffering and protection seem to be so random.

Well, because it is not random from God’s viewpoint and that is the viewpoint that counts. One my favorite passages on this subject is found in Daniel 3:16-18: “Shadrach, Meshach, and Abed-nego answered and said to the king, O Nebuchadnezzar, we have no need to answer thee in this matter. If it be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace; and he will deliver us out of thy hand, O king. But if not, be it known unto thee, O king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the golden image which thou hast set up.”

Basically, these three men of God said, “God can deliver us and if that is part of His plan, okay. But if he does not deliver us, it doesn’t change anything. He is still God.” I believe there are things that will happen because they must happen and there are things that can change because they can change. I believe there are things that may go one way if we neglect our prayer and another way if we do pray. I believe that God has possible scenarios that will play out depending on our prayer life, people involved, His sovereign will, and our free will. Do I believe that, as the above Psalms verse states, we were sheltered by God. Yes, but the incident and its outcome did not determine the sheltering. If we remain close to Him He will protect us regardless of what happens to us. His protection is beyond what we can see. We are limited to seeing today, seeing our own lives, and cannot see the entire scope of humanity like God can. Is God God because He did not allow a pipe to hurt us? No, God is God because He is God regardless of our situations.

God’s umbrella of protection is over us if we are in Him, but sometimes we have to share it with others and sometimes we may even have to give it to someone else because they need it more. I may have to step out in the weather so someone else can be brought to where he or she needs to be. God knows and I don’t. I just need to trust that He will do what I would do if I had the mind of God. Remember, when we step into eternity and have so much more knowledge, we will never look at God and say, “I don’t think I would have done it that way.” I think we will probably say something like, “Well done, good and faithful Master,” and shake our heads in amazement at His wisdom.

“Indeed, my plans are not like your plans, and my deeds are not like your deeds, for just as the sky is higher than the earth, so my deeds are superior to your deeds and my plans superior to your plans.”  Isaiah 55:8,9

I like to think of myself as okay. Not great, but at least okay. I am probably not the only one who likes to think that way (not about me, but about themselves!). It is comforting, I guess, to look around and believe that there are a lot of people worse than we are. But today I was looking at these verses in Isaiah and I realize that the word “your”  in these verses was talking about me. Not the other guy, but me. My deeds are not like God’s deeds. My ways are not God’s ways. In all ways, His ways are superior to my ways.

This reality can be fairly depressing if we ponder it. We fall short in all ways. Not just some of us, but all of us! Well, it would be depressing if the story stopped there. But God does not stop there and leave us with no hope.  Almost every part of the Bible is about hope. It tells us how we can triumph in spite of our misguided ways. The Bible gives us hope in a world of hopelessness. Psalm 46:1 says that “God is our refuge and strength, an ever-present help in trouble,” which is so much more comforting than “I am my own refuge and strength and I can rely on myself in times of trouble.” Since my ways are not God’s ways, to rely on myself is a losing proposition.

A few years backI took back a couple of inferior rafts that I had bought for camping. I upgraded to one (not two cheap ones, but one good one) that actually floats. I thought it would be a good investment, especially for whoever is in the middle of the river in it. (Never go cheap on eye surgeons or rafts.) Our ways are like those rafts. They are inferior and regardless of how fast or slow the leak is, our ways will eventually “leak.”  Like the rafts, we cannot patch them on our own. We can try to fix things up, but it will never work. I had to get a new raft, just like we have to become new creatures. We can’t patch up the old, we must become new. That can only be done through Christ.

I like to think some of my ways are good. But no matter how good I think they are, if they are mine, they fall short of the perfect ways of God. What I need to do is to know God well enough to know His ways. When I start becoming more like Him, my ways will start to come in line with His ways. Some of us will go through life trying to patch one thing up after another. We leave God sitting over to the side, waiting for us, while we patch hole after hole, only to have the next one spring up. When we do that, we are just kicking the can down the road. The fix will be temporary. The only permanent fix is to give ourselves over to Christ and allow Him to make things new. By the time some of us are old we are floating in a pathetic raft barely staying afloat made up of more patches than original raft.  We paddle around wondering why we are so stressed, while a brand new one with our name awaits just in reach.

Many people want to try to do their own thing and try to align God with them. That would be like coming back to camp and instead of pulling ourselves to shore, we try to pull the shore to us. The shore, like God, is fixed. We must be the ones that move. If God’s ways are superior to ours, why should He come to us. It is logical that we go to Him. Unfortunately, the common practice is for us to do our own thing and then try to say that is God’s way as well.

On one of our camping trips with the kids and grandkids I was out in the river and my raft started sinking. I realized that I was probably going to go down with both ends of the raft above my head closing  like a giant clam.  Between screams for help,  I thought how much better it would have been to have a raft that holds air. Now I have one because I purchased one. The good news is that if we want to get rid of our inferior ways, we don’t have to make a purchase.  Our new ways have been paid for in full, and all we need to do is to receive them. Paul’s prayer for the Ephesians was the same prayer we should pray for ourselves. “(I) am asking God, the glorious Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to give (me) spiritual wisdom and insight so that (I) might grow in (my) knowledge of (Him).  (I) pray that (my) heart will be flooded with light so that (I) can understand the confident hope He has given to those He has called—His holy people who are His rich and glorious inheritance.”  Now that’s how you fix a leaky raft.

“Be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving each other, just as in Christ God forgave you.” (Ephesians 4:32)

Forgiveness is one of the most profound acts of grace we can extend to others. It mirrors the heart of God, who forgave us completely and undeservedly through Christ. Yet, forgiving someone who has wronged us can often feel like one of the hardest things to do. We wrestle with pride, hurt, and the fear of being vulnerable again.

Jesus addressed this struggle directly when Peter asked how often we should forgive someone. His response—“seventy times seven” (Matthew 18:22)—was not a numerical limit but a call to boundless forgiveness. Why? Because God’s forgiveness toward us is equally limitless. Every time we fall short, He remains faithful to forgive, inviting us into His grace anew.

When we forgive, we are not excusing wrongdoing or pretending it didn’t hurt. Instead, forgiveness is a decision to release resentment and trust God to bring justice in His perfect timing. It’s freeing ourselves from the chains of bitterness and allowing His peace to fill our hearts.

One powerful example of biblical forgiveness is Joseph forgiving his brothers (Genesis 45:1–15).

Joseph’s brothers had betrayed him by selling him into slavery out of jealousy. He endured years of hardship in Egypt, including slavery and imprisonment, before God elevated him to a position of power as Pharaoh’s second-in-command. When a famine struck the land, Joseph’s brothers unknowingly came to him in Egypt to buy food, not realizing he was the brother they had wronged.

Joseph had every reason to exact revenge. Instead, he chose forgiveness. In a deeply emotional moment, Joseph revealed his identity to his brothers, saying:

“Do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.” (Genesis 45:5)

Joseph recognized that God had used even the evil intentions of his brothers for a greater purpose—to save countless lives during the famine. He chose to see his circumstances through the lens of God’s sovereignty rather than through bitterness.

Joseph not only forgave his brothers but also provided for their needs and their families. His forgiveness restored their broken relationship and exemplified the grace and mercy of God.

This story reminds us that forgiveness often requires seeing beyond the offense to God’s greater plan. It encourages us to release resentment and trust that God can bring redemption even from the deepest pain.

This morning, we should ask God to reveal any areas where unforgiveness may linger in our hearts.  We should offer those situations to Him, asking for the strength to forgive as He has forgiven us. Remember, forgiveness is not about the one who hurt us —it’s about our obedience to God and the freedom He wants for us.

Here is a front pocket prayer that we should keep handy:

Father, thank You for the forgiveness You’ve given me through Jesus. Teach me to reflect Your grace by forgiving others, even when it’s hard. Help me release any bitterness and trust You with my pain. May my heart reflect Your love and compassion today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.

I was listening to an interesting debate awhile back. It was between an atheist and an evangelical. One of the atheist’s defenses for social evolution apart from God was his belief that our society has grown beyond the violence of past centuries. He went on to say that the 20th century was the most peaceful century in history. I guess he was sleeping in history 101 when they covered WWI, WWII, the Korean War, the Vietnam War, and the other 27 Major conflicts of the 1900’s. Historian Eric Hobsbawn said in his book on the 1900’s, “the 20th century was the most murderous in recorded history. The total number of deaths caused by or associated with its wars has been estimated at 187 million, the equivalent of more than 10 per cent of the world’s population in 1913.” He went on to say that the century experienced very few periods of worldwide peace. It seems to me that the twentieth century isn’t the best time period to reference while extolling the peaceful progress of humanity.

In fact, as I examine history, I see not the progress of humankind, but the plight of humankind and that is just another reason why I believe the Word of God. History portrays more realistically the Bible’s explanations of man and the world around him than any atheistic philosophy I have ever read. The idea that this world, life, and culture are evolving for the better in any way is a pipe dream. Peace on this earth can only be found in one place, and that is in the Lord Jesus Christ. All other peace is fragile, fleeting, and in the long run, fake. In Jeremiah 17:9 we are told, “The heart is more deceitful than all else And is desperately sick; Who can understand it?” Later in Matthew 15:19 we see that man has a heart problem, “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, fornications, thefts, false witness, slanders.” These comments on man seem to match what I see in the news a lot more than an atheistic view that we are building societies of peace and justice.

It seems to me that atheists are caught in the middle of their own beliefs. They assume that Godlessness will lead to more order, more peace, more ethical societies, but why should it? If we are just organic with no real moral compass, why shouldn’t we press for power? Why shouldn’t the biggest, strongest, most powerful be in charge. If the meanings of such words as life, murder, rights, and more are allowed to change from generation to generation, culture to culture, place to place, then there is no standard of right and wrong and everyone can make his own rules. If everyone can make his own rules, why wouldn’t he make rules that benefit himself.

On the other hand, if there is some kind of altruism that sometimes is found in humans, why should it be there? Would we, people just made of matter, without spirits, without souls, without a creator, ever choose to be decent in this survival-of-the-fittest world we live in. Conscience does not evolve but is part of our inborn knowledge that there is something, no, Someone greater than we. Either we are a soulless part of the animal kingdom and have excuse to be selfish because we rightfully fight for power (see Hitler, Stalin, Pol Pot, etc), or we are separated from the animal kingdom by a conscience not found in any other creature because we are “fearfully and wonderfully” made.

Romans 10:3 is right: “There are none who are righteous, no, not one.” That is pretty plain. Romans also tells us that, “All have sinned and have come short of the glory of God” and “the wages of sin is death” but what is the good news- “The gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We will not evolve into “good” people and we will not evolve into a “good” society. We can only replace the bad nature with a good one, and that only comes through Christ. “Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; old things have passed away, and look, all things have become new.” Until all things become new through Christ, this world will not get better. The bottom line is this: We are created with a knowledge of right and wrong but without the power within ourselves to enforce it. We will continue to ignore what is right until we are filled with He Who is right. That is not evolution of our world, but revolution in our souls. We must go against our natural tendencies for evil and be filled with that which is good. Until then our world’s progression is nothing more than regression.