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The approaching darkness

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 17, 2025 Respond
As time approached for his death, Jesus had other pressures come on Him.
He had to interact with the one who would betray him, a sad, awkward situation, knowing thatin betraying Him  Judas was choosing Hell.
In the last supper, His disciples still didn’t get the things He was teaching them.
And then there was the great battle in the Garden where He was utterly distressed as a human being, facing the horrors before Him.
This was followed by the betraying kiss, the arrest, the degrading trip to the High Priest.
There he suffered the mocking and beating from the soldiers.
This was followed by the unbelief and attacks of the Jewish leaders, those who failed to recognize His majesty
Then the trip to Pilate, and to King Herod, being mocked all through it.
And finally the flogging. This is far worse than we can imagine:
The whip  of leather straps with bone fragments tied to their ends, ripping away the skin and flesh, exposing the bones.
And last was the crown of thorns, pushed down on His head, causing the blood to flow down his face.
In accepting that crown, Jesus took on Himself the heavy, ugly curse Adam brought on all of us, causing  the land to produce thorns.
And these events opened the way for the far worse suffering that was to come, which we will contemplate tomorrow.
Picture: Jesus facing His sacrifice for the world
May be an image of 1 person
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The Savior who endured

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 16, 2025 Respond

What else did Jesus submit Himself to in order to redeem us? Gleaned from the gospels.

Coming from the pure, sinless and glorious atmosphere of Heaven,
He  made Himself vulnerable as a human being to the attacks of Satan, especially after fasting 40 days..
He agreed to live in the midst of widespread, ugly sin: idolatry, immorality, religious hypocrisy, cruelty, and exploitation of the weak and poor, to name a few.
Like Lot, He must have been vexed and afflicted  by  all this sin, but unlike Lot, never sinned Himself.
He constantly and selflessly served the ungrateful,  unthankful and self-serving crowds that followed him.
He endured scorn, graciously from many, even from His own earthly brothers.
He bore up under false accusations and personal attacks, like after preaching in Nazareth.
He was grieved daily by His slow-witted and self-centered disciples.
He was willing to endure abandonment and betrayal by his disciples, but did not abandon them.
He was willing to wait all those years before beginning ministry, and then patiently waited for the climactic ending.
What a gracious, great and glorious Savior, who unnecessarily gave all  to redeem His wicked enemies!
Picture: Jesus patiently teaching His slow learning disciples.
May be an image of 6 people
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The power of trusting God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 11, 2025

More on “Don’t forgive and forget” (you can’t anyway), but “Forgive and Rewrite.”

Three examples from my own life. First a dramatic one.

While working in a foreign country, one my disciples turned me into the police, along with other believers. We were all arrested, and put on trial with the threat of a 7 year prison sentence for sharing our faith.

In this I forgave my wayward disciple. Then as the Lord has taught me to do, I thanked him for the situation and for what He was doing, although I did not know his plan yet. In the end, And when the trial finally came, the prosecuting attorney declared that we had done nothing wrong and had a legal right to share our faith. That decision ushered in a decade of freedom to share the gospel widely. God had a plan!

Second a very mundane one. Recently in an application for permission for a project, the bureaucracy put some big requirements on me, ones I felt were unjustified. But again, I forgave them, thanked ‘God for it, remembering that He always has a plan. In complying with the demands, three good things resulted: I met a man who came to the Lord, another fellow heard the gospel clearly, and I ran into two of my high school friends and shared the gospel with them, too. All of this would not have happened if the “unjust demands” had not been placed on me!

Third was a very painful one. Over many years a relative did many damaging things to me and my family. Remembering the ways that in the past God had worked good through difficulties, I forgave him, thanking God for this situation. We asked for wisdom in how to respond and prayed for God to work. Then this relative ended up in a difficult situation and we were able to help him. This then eventually led to a restored relationship and in the end he became my best friend!

To forgive and rewrite frees us to be the instrument of good to all those around us. Remember the steps of this:
1) forgive your offender in obedience to God. Col 3:13
2) Remind yourself that God has a plan in this, laying out the course for us. Heb. 12:1 James 1:2-4
3) offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which honors God and opens the way for Him to show you His salvation. Psalm 50:23
4) Affirm your trust in God, remembering that He always has a purpose which you may not see yet. Psalm 23:6
5) Remember how he has worked out things for you in the past. Psalm 143:4,5
6) Ask Him to give you wisdom and insight in this situation. James 1:5

Picture: forgive as you have been forgiven, knowing God is at work.

May be an image of 2 people

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Don’t try to forgive and forget

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 10, 2025

You’ve all heard the saying, “Just forgive and forget.”  This is NOT a biblical concept. First, we cannot physiologically forget; events are imprinted in our minds and stay there. Second God does not forget, He chooses not to remember our sins.  Third, the Bible advocates a different approach: forgiver and rewrite.

This is based on the fact that God has a plan to use whatever He allows into our lives, pleasant or painful, we can look at unhappy experiences differently, from God’s point of view.
A prime example of this is Joseph: betrayed by his brothers, sold into slavery (basically a death sentence), sold again to become a household slave. I believe that from the time Joseph was sold until  he arrived in Egypt, he chose to trust God, to rewrite the painful actions of his brothers. How do I know this? Because he was not bitter: he was a good worker, pleasant, positive and responsible. Bitter people are not like that.
Then you  know the other happenings: falsely accused, thrown into prison (where he again was positive, helpful and kind), forgotten for two years. Finally when he was brought before Pharaoh he was humble, saying that he couldn’t interpret dreams but that God could. Then after his father died, his brothers fear revenge, but Joseph told how he rewrote their cruelty: “You intended to harm me, but God intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.” Gen 50:10.
 
What about us, how do we “rewrite” a painful event. Here’s how.
1) forgive your offender in obedience to God. Col 3:13
2) Remind yourself that God has a plan in this, laying out the course for us. Heb. 12:1 James 1:2-4
3) offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving, which honors God and opens the way for Him to show you His salvation. Psalm 50:23
4) Affirm your trust in God, remembering that He always has a purpose which you may not see yet. Psalm 23:6
5) Remember how he has worked out things for you in the past. Psalm 143:4,5
6) Ask Him to give you wisdom and insight in this situation. James 1:5
 
Tomorrow I will give you some examples of applying this.
 
Picture: As God led Moses, so He will lead us.
May be an image of fire
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Lavish Love, a Great Truth

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 9, 2025

Some truths we get used to, take for granted, and focus on the ordinary.

But we shouldn’t let that happen,

we should meditate on these amazing truths, wonder at them, revel in them.

Here’s one to practice on.

“See what great love the Father has lavished on us, that we should be called children of God!” 1 John 3:1

What a marvelous, life altering, lavish reality.

In a world where we are constantly denigrated, looked down on and belittled,

Knowing this truth lifts us up, encourages us

and leads me to rejoicing and delighting in being your child, Lord.

in being held by your right hand,

in being guided by your counsel,

in being swept along by you to the end of history

and into your heavenly home,

to be there for eternity, worshiping, praising, glorifying the One True God!!!

 

“Guide me in living in the truth that you, LORD God, are my Great, Eternal Father!

That you love me as your child, chosen, forgive, adopted, dearly loved.

Turn my eyes from worries, fears and apprehensions

to your might and wisdom, victory and future.

Today may you be glorified in my life, my attitudes, thoughts, words and actions as I trust in you! Amen.”

Picture: How Jesus loves us!

May be an image of 1 person, baby and smiling

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Our Perfect God

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 8, 2025

“Great is the LORD in Zion; he is exalted over all the nations. Let them praise your great and awesome name—he is holy” (Ps. 99:2).

Truly you are worthy to be exalted over ALL the nations, for you are the maker of EVERY nation: “All the nations whom you have created will come before you, O Lord, and glorify your name” (Ps. 86:9).

Your name, Lord God, is worthy of praise, for it is truly great and awesome. You are Yahweh (LORD),

the Holy One,

utterly other,

spotless, clean,

free of any corruption within or without,

unable to sin,

shining in glorious purity,

full of goodness, righteousness and love,

empty of all evil, darkness and negativeness,

Hater of sin and Lover of sinners.

You, LORD, are absolutely worthy of praise, because of your perfect character, your powerful deeds, your persistent love.  So, we bow before you in humility, we rise up in obedience, giving you honor, rejoicing and delighting in being your children.

Picture: the Creator of all holds us in His hands.

May be an image of map

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Our Almighty Lord

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 7, 2025

This was written 20 years ago, but is very applicable to today.

“The LORD reigns, let the nations tremble.” Psalm 99:1a

As we face the great uncertainties of the future with many negatives going on in the world, it is so good to know that you, O Lord God, reign!

You are mighty, powerful, strong, undefeatable, impregnable and untouchable—

You are the Most High, the Final Authority, the Measure of all truth.

You will triumph, you will win, you will defeat your enemies, you will reign forever.

You are unstoppable, unquenchable, undefeatable.

There is no wisdom, no insight, no plan that can succeed against you.

The nations–and we–must tremble before you, for you are our Mighty Ruler, our just Judge, the One we will come face to face with to give an account of our lives.

And this is the One who watches over us, we the children He redeemed and adopted. We are safe in His grip!

Picture: Our God created this and much more!

May be an image of outer space

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Let Go, Hold On, and Rise Above

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 4, 2025

Life is full of bumps, some big, some small. These bumps can absorb all our attention so we fail to see the big picture.

Colossians 3:1&2 gave me a totally different perspective on this: “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, SET YOUR HEARTS ON THINGS ABOVE , where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. SET YOUR MINDS ON THINGS ABOVE, not on earthly things.”

The life bumps are in reality a small part of the big picture, which is life with the Creator of the Universe, and joining Him in HIs great plan. Every bump is part of that plan and has a purpose. So, when discomforting things happen, we can choose to LET GO, HOLD ON AND RISE ABOVE the difficulties of life.

Let go of what we can’t keep anyway, what is temporary, what we can’t control.

Then we can choose to hold on to the great heavenly truths: We belong to Jesus, we have eternal life, we have all the worth we could ever want, as well as purpose, meaning, protection, a hope and a certain future. In the light of these truths which are from above, the bumps in the road look even smaller.

And as a result, we can rise above the negatives, the worries, the insults, the hurts of life. We choose instead to remember who we are, who we belong to and where we are going. These are so much greater than any hurt, difficulty or disappointment.

Keep that in mind: Let go, Hold on and Rise above, setting your minds and hearts on things above.
And practice it in the small things (being cut off in traffic) so you will be ready for the big things (being betrayed, denigrated, slandered or rejected).

Letting go, holding on and rising above lets’ us live on a higher plane with Jesus—just what He wants!

For a more complete presentation on this, check out the video on it at EdifyingServicesPublishing.com

May be an image of text that says 'Learn to: RISE ABOVE HOLD ON LET GO GO'

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Our Help and Shield

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 3, 2025

More riches from Psalm 33:

“We wait in hope for the Lord, He is our help and our shield.

In you our hearts rejoice, for we trust in your holy name” (Ps. 33:20,21).

Praise you for what will come today:

good things from your hands,

wise things from your mind,

loving things from your heart,

challenging things from your will,

grace-filled things from your compassion.

“May your unfailing love rest on us, O Lord, even as we put our hope in you” (Ps 33:22).

Help us to hope in you alone. For You, O Triune King, are worthy of worship and praise, even before we see what will happen, for you are:

good and gracious,

wise and wonderful,

strong and sure, true and trustable.

 

Prayer: “You, Lord, are worthy of receiving glory from my life toda;

may I be a glory-giver, by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving, in all not a glory-stealer by complaining.

May I hope in you.

May honor flow to you today from my attitudes and actions, my words and worship. Amen.”

For further good input check out the resources (books and videos) at EdifyingServicesPublishing.com

Picture: As God helped and shielded David, so He does us.

May be an illustration of 2 people

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Our all-seeing Father

Published by S.M. Wibberley on April 2, 2025

Wonderful thoughts from Psalm 33

“The plans of the Lord endure forever and the purposes of His heart through all generations” (Ps. 33:11).

You, Lord, never tire of carrying out your plans;

you never fail to attend to every detail;

you never are caught by surprise.

You are the God of completeness and competence, care and concern;

you know exactly what is happening all the time.

“From heaven the LORD looks down and sees all mankind;

from his dwelling place he watches all who live on earth—

he who forms the hearts of all, who considers everything they do” (Ps. 33:13-15).

Praise be to you, O Lord God for your omniscience, your omnipotence, your omnipresence.

You see all, know all, calculate all, consider all and are able to do all that is good, no matter the cost to you.

With this knowledge we can rest in your love, your wisdom, your knowledge and you goodness.

May our response be, “Teach me your way, Lord, and I will walk in your truth….” Psalm 86:11

Picture: God’s way through the desert

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