Insights

Insights

Psalm 62:5-8

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 9, 2011

Be with us today, Lord, help us to be wise and godly, to think truth, to put on the armor of God and to obey what we know to be right. May we have joy in Jesus and choose to let go, hold on and rise above. I praise you for all that you are doing, all that you are going to do.

I praise you also for your wonderful Word and the power of it in our lives. Psalm 62:5-8 is such a helpful passage

Psa 62:5  “Find rest, O my soul, in God alone;” [This is a command, in contrast to verse 1 where the same truth is given as a statement “My soul finds rest in God alone,” telling us where rest is possible. In verse 5  we are called upon to make a choice to find our rest in You, Lord. We need to turn away from what we naturally pursue for rest: getting what we want, resolution of situations and tensions, positive reactions of people, removal of conflict. The fact is that any of these solutions can be fleeting and superficial, while finding our rest in you is a solution that is long, deep, powerful and eternal. Help us to willfully, volitionally find our rest in you, alone.]

“my hope comes from him.” [Again, this statement is a bit different from verse 1 (“my salvation comes from him”). Here is the offer of hope, the possibility of receiving what we desire. We need to turn from the desire, to the One who can give it.  As it says in Psalm 37:4 “Delight yourself also in the Lord and He will give you the desire of your heart.”  You are to be the focus of our affections, then You can give us good things, knowing that they will not become idols.

You are giving us great responsibility and possibility here, Lord. Romans 15:13 clarifies this:  “May the God of hope give you all joy and peace as you trust in Him (there is our part, trusting, finding our rest in Him), so that your lives may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.” As we trust, the power of the Spirit comes; as we find our rest in you, Lord, then you pour out all kinds of blessings in our lives.]

Psa 62:6  “He alone is my rock and my salvation; he is my fortress, I will not be shaken.” [This is an exact copy of verse 2, repetition of the truth of where real security lies, and if I seek refuge there, I will not be shaken, no matter  how traumatic the events.]

Psa 62:7  “My salvation and my honor depend on God;” [We so naturally seek our salvation in our own efforts, and our honor from the opinions of others. However, both of these actually depend not on us or others, but on God. He has provided salvation for eternity, and for every day. He is the One who has given us honor, making us children of the Creator of the Universe, giving us special work, granting us undeserved membership in the Kingdom of light.  What else could we desire? Yet we tend to seek salvation and honor elsewhere. Forgive us, Lord, help us to seek salvation and honor only from you.]
“he is my mighty rock, my refuge.” [The unshakable, unassailable, unconquerable God is the One to be trusted. When all else seems to fall apart, He is there, unchanging, reliable, good, wise and trustable.]

Psa 62:8  “Trust in him at all times, O people;” [There is that command again: “Trust!”  When we trust we can rest. And this is possible all the time. You are sufficient, Lord, you are faithful, you are absolutely trustable.]

“pour out your hearts to him, for God is our refuge.” [It is right, good and necessary to tell you all our fears, desires, feelings and thoughts. Then we can fill our hearts with Truth and Faith. Then we are safe in your refuge. You will never reject us for being honest with you—you know all about us already—and you are delighted when we are open, transparent and truthful with you. You desire to be our refuge, you call us to yourself, and in you we are safe.]

Help us, Lord God, to trust in you more and more, to find our rest, our refuge, our salvation, our safety, our joy in you. You are worthy of trust, you are worthy of praise, you are worthy of worship. May my life give you honor and glory today as I trust in you alone.

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Heavenly Wisdom Part 7

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 4, 2011

<Read Part 6

Heavenly wisdom is impartial. This means that in my dealing with others, I must not play favorites. It is so easy to do this, especially as a leader. There are always those who are hardworking, cooperative, non-confrontational and helpful. It is easy to favor these people who are pleasant to us. And there are also always those who are unlikable, perhaps prickly or uncooperative, and it’s so natural to quietly shove them off to the side. But this is not heavenly wisdom.

Two commands that expand on this come to mind. First, “Love your neighbor as yourself.”  (Matt 22:39) I should be impartially as gracious to my neighbor as I am to myself. That’s a pretty high standard!

The second command, “Do to others what you want them to do to you,” (Matt. 7:12) is as rigorously demanding. If I want others to be considerate, I must be. If I want them to be gracious and understanding, so must I. If I want them to be forgiving, so must I. If I want them to treat me with respect and justness, I must do the same to them–first. And if I am to confront others where they need it, I must be willing to accept confrontation from them.

Another passage that gives us a glimpse at this truth is in James 2:3,4

“If you show special attention to the man wearing fine clothes and say, ‘Here’s a good seat for you,’ but say to the poor man, ‘You stand there’ or ‘Sit on the floor by my feet,’” have you not discriminated among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts?”

There is no room here for playing sides, cultivating favorites or avoiding confrontations with those close to us when it is needed. Heavenly wisdom deals even handedly, treating each person with grace, courage and respect, caring enough to confront when necessary.

Read Part 8 >

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Heavenly Wisdom Part 6

Published by S.M. Wibberley on November 1, 2011

<Read Part 5

Heavenly wisdom is full of mercy and good fruit. This is its fifth quality.  On a human level it is so natural for leaders to hang on to control, to say no, to micro manage, to please and exalt self.  Heavenly wisdom, on the other hand, looks for ways to say yes, to be kind, to help others be successful, even if it costs me.

Heavenly wisdom if full of goodness, bearing the four fruits of the Word: the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22,23), the fruit lips giving praise to God (Heb 13:15), the fruit of good works (Titus 3:14 KJV) and the fruit of souls won to Christ (Prov. 11:30).  Whichever fruit is needed, the one with heavenly wisdom will bring it out.

It is a pleasure to be around one with such wisdom. Knowing that he or she is merciful and full of good fruit, it is easy to accept direction, correction or confrontation, for these are done in grace, mercy and kindness.

I must ask myself periodically, “Am I full of mercy? Am I as merciful with others as I’d like them to be with me?  And what kind of fruit am I giving to others? In their relationship with me do they find love, joy and peace, patience kindness and goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control?

I pray that God will constantly work in me so these aspects of heavenly wisdom will flow continually from me to others.

Read Part 7 >

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Heavenly Wisdom Part 5

Published by S.M. Wibberley on October 31, 2011

<Read Part 4

Fourth, Wisdom is “submissive.”  Other translations say, “gentle.”  Strongs says the Greek word can mean “mild, moderate, patient.” The idea is that we are gracious and approachable, willing to listen to what others have to say, giving serious consideration to their input. This encourages others to talk with us, seeing us as safe, gentle, moderate, patient. They know they will be heard and their ideas considered.

It also implies that if they have a better idea than I do, that I would give up preference for my own solution and go with theirs. For me this happened often during the first year of my marriage. It was humiliating to see that my wife had a better idea than I did about 80% of the time! But by swallowing my pride and accepting her idea, complimenting her on it and going with it made our marriage better, our ministry better and my leadership better!

It is pretty obvious why this quality of submissiveness/gentleness comes after being “sweetly reasonable.” Gentleness and submissiveness to better ideas will naturally flow out of sweet reasonableness.

The opposite of this is when I try to draw my self-worth and significance from being right and in charge.  With this attitude, the point of life is to reach my goals. And I will use others to get there, trying to get others to be submissive but not consider this quality at all for myself.

Yes, wisdom is first of all pure, then peace loving, sweetly reasonable and then submissive/gentle. These make life full of grace and good fruit instead of competition and strife. None of these preclude hard work, moving towards goals and achieving, but they make the process entirely other, they make it, well, heavenly.

> Read Part 6 >

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Heavenly Wisdom Part 3

Published by S.M. Wibberley on October 26, 2011

< Read Part 2

James 3:17 goes on to say, “Heavenly wisdom is…then peace loving….”  It is amazing how often I can do things that are not peace loving: make a negative critical comment, be contrary, not cooperate, be selfish instead of thoughtful, make jokes that derail a conversation or meeting.   It is not our nature to be peace loving, it is our nature to seek our own significance and security.

Think about what these words mean: “peace loving.”  There is a deep desire to have peace, to bring about peace, to nurture peace, even if it is costly to me personally.  It means loving Jesus more than I love my own way, for He is our peace.

Often we are not peace loving because we don’t have peace ourselves. We are unhappy, discontent, angry, complaining and self-centered. We need to establish peace within so we can pursue peace without.

Peace, of course starts with God, with having good, open communication with Him, having no unconfessed sin, being filled with the Spirit. Regular confession, repentance, surrender to Him brings a growing store of peace into our lives.

Then there is peace with ourselves. How often my discontent stems from unhappiness with myself: my mistakes, my failures, lacks and shortcomings. If I don’t face these things, evaluate them biblically, confess them to God, receive His forgiveness—and then forgive myself, I will not have peace.

My discontent with myself has frequently come from unrealistic expectations of myself, looking for perfection, or a least fewer mistakes.  This is part of the natural desire to gain a sense of significance through my performance. But I need to accept the fact that I am human and therefore will make mistakes. I need to, of course, seek to do better, but must also accept that perfection will always elude me, and that my significance does not come from performance, but from God’s love for me. I need to admit my failures, forgive myself as He has forgiven me and move on.

Then there is peace with others. If I am harboring hurt, anger or a desire for revenge, then I am not going to have peace. I am not loving peace. I must have a fresh grasp of my own sinfulness (see my sin in my unforgiving attitude) and forgive others as God has forgiven me.

Having peace with God, with myself and with others will nurture my love for peace, my commitment to be a peace carrier in each situation.  I will have no need to compete, to wrench my significance from others, or to find my security in having control over the situation.

If we love God and love peace,  we can love others.

Read Part 4 >

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Heavenly Wisdom Part 2

Published by S.M. Wibberley on October 25, 2011

< Read Part 1

Wisdom is first of all pure.  Purity is foundational to what we do, and purity starts with surrender to God’s standards—the word “confession” means agreeing with Him, that is being of the same mind with God on what is right and what is wrong.

Purity starts, I believe, primarily in our motives.  If our motives are impure, that taints all that follows. As one of my friends is fond of saying, wisdom is doing the right thing, for the right motives, in the right way, at the right time.  All else may be right, but if the motives are wrong that can negate all the other good.

For instance, a teen-age boy faithfully attends every meeting at church, including prayer meeting. He is doing the right thing at the right time in the right way. But, since his motive for being there is hit on the girls, it negates ever other good aspect—and ruins it for others, too.  Motives are important.

In my own life, I’ve found that in any decision I make there are usually mixed motives: negative ones, neutral ones, good ones.

In making an important decision, it has proven very profitable to sit down and write out before God the motives from which I want to make this decision. As I give the Holy Spirit time to work, He often brings out motives I was unaware of.  It is important to be honest here, as we naturally tend to hide, even from ourselves, the negatives that drive us. To name them takes courage and commitment to truth.

After listing out my motives, I can evaluate these in the light of Scripture, agreeing with God on whether a motive is right or wrong or neutral. Then in prayer I specifically reject the negative and neutral motives (naming each before God), and commit to act only out of biblically sound motives.

For instance, in wanting to be on time for meetings, I have the following motives.

1. I want to be more effective for God.

2. I want to be a good example to others.

3. I want to respect their time.

4. I want to be comfortable and unrushed.

5. I want them to think well of me.

The first three motives are positive, the fourth is what I would call neutral, more focused on self than on pleasing God. The last one is definitely negative, being basically fear of man.  I had to confess the neutral and negative motives as wrong, rejecting them, and determine to act out of the positive, purer motives.

This bringing of our motives into the light of God’s presence and purifying them with the water of the Word means we are joining God in what He is doing rather than striking out on our own and thereby making  ourselves vulnerable to attacks by the enemy. Pure motives put us on the right track and provide us with protection.

>Read Part 3

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Further Thoughts On Psalm 27:1

Published by S.M. Wibberley on October 20, 2011

“The Lord is my light” [When all is dark, when I can’t see the way, when confusion reigns and I don’t know what to do, you shine your light on the path, Lord Jesus. You are light itself, so your presence brings light, whether we can see it or not. At the right time we will be enlightened. Praise you for your faithfulness in showing us the way, illuminating us with what is needed.]

“And my salvation.” [You, the Star Breather, the Earth Spinner, the Dawn Bringer, the History Ender, are at work in great power, in deep wisdom and in unquenchable love to bring what is best within a broken world

Truly you protect on every level: eternal, temporal, spiritual, intellectual, volitional, emotional, physical, financial, social, vocational. You shield, you deliver, you provide, you warn, you rescue, you embrace.  Why? Because you are love itself, you cherish your children, you delight in me, you choose to love in spite of what I am. I praise you with humility before your goodness, with shame for my unbelief, with wonder for your gracious forgiveness, with joy for your undeserved love, with enthusiasm for your delight in me, with deep thankfulness for your marvelous, rich, positive and good character.

In you I am safe, in you I am secure, in you I am significant. In you is all I need. Praise you that you are the Savior to the uttermost for those who believe in you.]

“whom shall I fear?” [With a God like you watching over me in love, tenderness, forgiveness and power, who else should have sway over me? Who else should I fear and respect in obedience? Who else could bring real damage to me when you filter out what is truly harmful? You only are the One to be feared, to be obeyed, to be revered.

Praise be to you in all, Lord Jesus, Redeemer of all, especially of those who believe.  I praise you now for what you have planned for my life today, I delight in your love, rejoice in your provision, revel in your perfect character. May you be exalted today in my life, for you deserve glory, honor and praise in and for all things. ]

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Psalm 29:10 The Lord Rules

Published by S.M. Wibberley on October 19, 2011

Psa 29:10  “The LORD sits enthroned over the flood;” [You O Yahweh, Creator, Sustainer, Ender of All, you sit above the flood of time, the flood of events, the flood of nations and peoples. You are unchanging, without age, without growth or alteration, for you are perfection itself. You are Almighty, All knowing, All seeing. You dwell outside of time, you reign over time, and will end time. You are the Most High, the Undefeated King, the Everlasting God.]

“the LORD is enthroned as King forever.” [There is no end to your righteous rule, your dominion extends through all eternity, your power will never diminish, your plans will always work out. No one can defeat you, no one can fool you, no one can out think you. You are the Savior, the Judge, the Pardoner and the Lord. To you belongs all honor and glory and awe. To you belongs obedience and fear and love.]

Psa 29:11  “The LORD gives strength to his people;” [You, in your good graciousness, draw us into your embrace and share your power with your people, even though we deserve the opposite. We are by nature rebels, evil, worthy of punishment, failure, suffering and death. But in the Lord Jesus Christ, we are called, cleansed, claimed as your people, commissioned and equipped to special service, and cherished as your children. You pour your strength into our lives: spiritual, intellectual, volitional, emotional, physical, social, financial. We can move forward when all human resources fail. Praise you, Lord God, for all your gracious love and provision. You are totally worthy of honor, of worship, of obedience.

“the LORD blesses his people with peace.” [You, Lord Jesus, are the Prince of Peace, the Source of Peace, the Purveyor of Peace. I praise you that in your willing sacrifice for our sins, you bought us peace, peace with you, with ourselves and with others. I praise you for the power of forgiveness you have placed in our hands, the power to move against what is natural in this twisted world, to forgive as you have forgiven us, to do what is high, gracious, freeing and healing.

You, Lord God, richly bless us by bringing the possibility of peace into our world.  Help us to take it up and use it, confessing our sinfulness to you and receiving your forgiveness, forgiving ourselves, forgiving others as you have forgiven us.  Praise be to you, Lord God, for your marvelous love displayed in your loving, gracious, transforming forgiveness, offered to all, efficacious to all who receive it.

I praise you for your love that is higher than the heavens, wider than the universe, longer than eternity, deeper than all space. You are worthy of our worship and love, our praise and honor, our surrender and obedience. May we live in these today, exalting your name before the nations, the unseen hosts and the domain of the devil. To you be honor in all, Lord Jesus.

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Thankfulness For God's Good Care

Published by S.M. Wibberley on October 8, 2011

Thank you, Lord God, for your provision of a good night’s sleep.  I praise you for your powerful working in us on the very practical levels—you care for us wonderfully, persistently, lovingly, graciously.  It is especially warming to think of your loving care when we see it in contrast to what we deserve. I give you honor and glory for your powerful, persistent, perfect agape Love.

Thank you, too, Heavenly Father, for what lies before us today: partially planned on our part but in fact unknown to us, while it is fully planned and totally known by you.

What an amazing thought: you have gone through the day of each one of your children, billions of them, preparing in detail, planning individualized lessons, guidance, protection, chastening, blessing and provision for each one.  And you do the same for the elect, as well as similarly pouring out your goodness and attention on those whom you know will never believe.

“…your Father in heaven….causes his sun to rise on the evil and the good, and sends rain on the righteous and the unrighteous.”  Matt. 5:45

You are truly the God of Grace, the God of Greatness, the God of Goodness. Such care, such compassion, such cherishing, such comprehensive love—it is found in no one else.

To you belongs all glory and honor, all praise and applause, all worship and exaltation, all obedience and reverence, all fear and love.  We fall to our knees in wonder, we bow down in awe, we rise up to give you honor in belief and obedience.   May you be exalted in our lives today.

 

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Over The Edge In Love

Published by S.M. Wibberley on September 5, 2011

He ran, stumbling, panting, lungs searing, mouth dry, the bear not far behind. Catching up, probably, but he didn’t dare look back.

Bursting out of the bushes, he saw the edge of the cliff too late and plunged over, falling headlong into the abyss, rolling as he went, unable to control his fall in any way.

Just as suddenly as he had fallen,  he was jerked to an abrupt stop. He almost blacked out from the snap. He looked over his shoulder to see that his backpack had caught on a small tree.

He hung there, still gasping for breath. Above him he could hear the bear pacing at the edge of the cliff, it’s ground-shaking growls raising goose bumps on his arms.

He looked up; he was only about 8 feet below the edge of the cliff, just out of the bear’s reach. He looked down and then closed his eyes. It was a sheer drop of hundreds of feet.

Shortly the bear stopped growling and he could hear it scuffling away in the bushes, then silence.

He hung there helplessly, humbly, hopelessly, alone. He tried to reach behind him to grasp the little tree, but to no avail. He could do nothing, nothing to help himself.  He shouted, “Help me! Somebody, anybody, help me!”  There was no answer.  He hung his head in despair.

Time passed, but how much was hard to tell, 15 minutes? An hour?

“Hey, down there, are you alive?” came a voice from above.

He was startled out of his dark thoughts. “Yes, yes, I’m alive, but I stuck here on this tree!”

He could hear the person take off his backpack, “Ok, I can see how you are caught on it. Here, I’ll throw a rope down to you. Hopefully when I pull you up I can loosen you from the tree.”

The rope slapped down on his shoulder and he was able to grab it.

“You will have to hold tight, I’ve put a knot on the end to help you get a grip,” said the voice. “I’m going to pull you up now. You only have to hold on, believing that I can do it.”

The rope tightened, pulling his arms over his head, then his whole body began to inch upwards.  Then stopped.

“I can’t lift you off the tree, you are stuck. See if you can roll to the side and free yourself.”

He tried not to look down while he leaned to the left, then the right. His grip was sweaty and tense.  He felt himself come loose from the tree, swinging to the side, free to fall into the abyss or be pulled up.

“Ok, I think I’m free now,” he panted.

The rescuer began to pull again and he was drawn up, inch by inch, twisting as he went until he was facing the cliff.

He felt the edge of the cliff on his forearms, then his eyes cleared the edge and he could see his rescuer.  The small man had the rope looped around a stubby tree to give extra leverage and was pulling hard, leaning backwards towards the cliff, beads of sweat on his forehead.

Then he was up to his waist, then over the edge, this time on the safe side of the cliff. He let go of the rope and rolled over to get further away from the edge.

His rescuer, still pulling with all his strength fell backwards as the rope came free, plunged over the cliff and disappeared from sight. He did not get caught on a tree. And the cry of anguish did not come from the rescuer but from the rescued.

He sat up, groaning, thankful to be alive but shaken to the core and overwhelmed with shock. Putting his head in his hands, he groaned, “I killed my rescuer! My selfish impatience caused him to die! My life for his death!”

++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

So it is with us. Satan pursues us to the edge, we fall over, God catches us, Jesus comes to our rescue, sacrificing Himself because of our foolish sin and selfishness. He dies while we are snatched from the jaws of death and given a new chance at life.

Knowing this, our whole being should change direction. Our passion should be for our rescuer, the core of our being should be one of thankfulness, of love of obedience to the One who died for us.

Our first love for Jesus can well up each morning as we remember how He sacrificed Himself, as we think of what He has saved us from, how He continues to save us every day in the wilderness of this world.

How great is my first love?

 

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