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The Path of Peace

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 26, 2019

Zechariah continues in Luke 1, declaring that Jesus will come, “to guide our feet into the path of peace,” as in this picture leading us ever closer to the light of your love.

How wonderful you are, Lord Jesus, to call us to the path of peace: peace with you, peace with ourselves, peace with others. You, as the King of Peace, have bought this peace with your death and resurrection.

We praise you for this marvelous gift to us, which we must reach out and take by trusting you: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace AS YOU TRUST IN HIM, so that you may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit” (Rom 15:13).

And we can trust in you because you are our Sovereign Lord who has redeemed us, saved us, has a plan for our lives and will carry us through with you to the end of history, on into eternity.

Praise you, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, that you have made this known to us through the revelation of your written Word, through Jesus, the living Word, and through the Spirit using the convicting Word in our lives.

We could never have known peace without your revealing the way of faith to us–salvation through the forgiveness of sins apart from the law, fully dependent on your finished work.

Praise be to you that we can today walk in peace–peace in our thoughts, will, emotions and relationships–because you, Lord Jesus, are our Prince of Peace, our King of Peace, our Presence of Peace.

Praise you that as we rest in you, accepting your forgiveness, forgiving ourselves and forgiving others, we can be channels of peace to those around us, letting your light of grace and mercy shine out of us. Help us to so brightly shine today that there will be more and more glory for you in our lives!

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The Lord of Light

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 25, 2019
Here is a beautiful message in Luke 1, spoken by Zechariah, addressing his son, John the Baptist:
 
“you will go on before the Lord to prepare the way for him,”
 
[and so John did, sent by God for stirring up the people’s desire for righteousness.]
 
Luke 1:77 “to give his people the knowledge of salvation through the forgiveness of their sins,”
 
[This was a new truth, for the Jews thought that through the keeping of the law they could be saved. However, as it says in Romans 3, “But now a righteousness from God, apart from the law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify.” This is a mystery revealed in Christ; it is the perspective of God, different from the tradition of the Jews.]
 
Luke 1:78 “because of the tender mercy of our God,”
 
[And this new way, the costly way of Jesus, is opened because our God is gracious, tender and merciful towards His enemies. We exalt you, O Lord, our God, for your kindness, your grace, your loving goodness towards us when we deserve the opposite.]
 
“by which the rising sun will come to us from heaven”
 
[Praise you, Lord Jesus, that you, as the Son and the Sun, the Dayspring and Morning Star, came down to us from heaven to be with us in our desperate, depraved and deceived state.]
 
Luke 1:79 “to shine on those living in darkness and in the shadow of death,”
 
[We are born into the devil’s kingdom of darkness, unable to find our way without revelation. We were under the curse of death, living in the land of the dying, walking in fear, stumbling through life, unable to understand, for: “…the way of the wicked is like deep darkness; they do not know what makes them stumble” (Prov. 4:19). But then you, Lord Jesus, the bright and shining Son, came to open our eyes. You are “The true light that gives light to every man….” (John 1:19).
 
Now, because you have come, Lord Jesus, “The path of the righteous is like the first gleam of dawn, shining ever brighter till the full light of day” (Prov. 4:18).
 
You have given us sight, and we can choose to use it or not. As we walk with you, you give us more light every day, for “Blessed are those who have learned to acclaim you, who walk in the light of your presence, O LORD” (Ps. 89:15). Help us to walk in the light of your gracious and good presence today, Lord, that we may be light carriers to all those around us.
 
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Trip to Syria, 1981

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 24, 2019
 
Our little ministry team of six began to meet together regularly. Dan and Nancy and Betty and Dolly were still in full time language study while Barbara and I were very involved in the work of the foundation with nationals Charles and Henry.
One big positive in this situation was that I was not teaching English anymore. When I was expelled, I’d lost my job, my work visa and my residence permit, so we now stayed on tourist visas.
 
I talked with the foundation’s lawyer about getting another job but he told me that it would be impossible, because the government would never give another work and residence permit to someone who had been expelled. However, he did not know the Sovereign Lord we served.
 
For the time being we just made an exit every three months to renew our visas. This was the boys’ favorite time of our stay in our country, as we often made our exits to Cyprus and had to “suffer for Jesus” on the beach for a few days!
 
At the end of December in 1981 we decided to make our next visa renewal exit to Syria. We got our visas from the Syrian embassy in and set off in our faithful little VW down toward the Mediterranean coast. There we turned towards the East and followed the coast towards the biblical city of Antioch and then into Syria.
 
It took us two days to reach the border, the last part being through a mountainous area where we were stopped several times by soldiers who searched the car, counted our money and asked lots of questions. We found out later that this was an area known for smuggling as well as for terrorist activities.
 
We reached the Syrian border in the evening and passed through the first formalities without any problem. However, on the Syrian side the policeman looked at our passports and shook his head. “There is a problem,” he said. “You have a tourist visit, but your wife has a transit visa.”
 
“What does that mean?” I asked.
 
“You can re-enter your country, but your wife must go to another country first.”
 
I took the passports and looked at the visas. “They both look the same to me,” I said.
 
The policeman pointed to the Arabic script on the page, “Look here, see this little mark on yours; it is not on your wife’s. That’s the difference.”
 
We could not go back to our country without getting entry and exit stamps to Syria, and if we went into Syria how would Barbara get back? I went out and told Barbara about it.
We took it to the Lord and began by praising Him for the situation, thanking Him for what He would do and asking for guidance. As we were praying, a man came and told me to come back inside.
 
The policeman asked for our passports again, “I will help you,” he said. “But you must go to the police in the city where you will stay and have this transit visa changed. Ok?”
 
“OK!” I said, and praised God for His quick answer.
We passed through the border and drove to the nearest city. Syria had earlier been under French control, so many people spoke French. I was looking forward to having Barbara make use of her considerable French studies to be our interpreter here.
 
However, when we came to a hotel, Barbara could not remember one word of French! Her newly learned other language had covered it over! So I had to make arrangements for a room using pantomime.
 
The next day we went to the police and were not surprised to find several other foreigners there, also having their transit visas changed to tourist visas. It seems it was part of an agreement between the embassy and the border in an attempt to get bribes. But the Lord had used that merciful policeman to protect us from having to give any.
 
That day we went to a small coastal town and rented a summer cabin right on the beach for the week. It had a kerosene water heater, which blew up the first time we used it, spraying black soot all over the bathroom!
 
We noticed that there were a lot of small spots on the wall and wondered what they were. In the evening we found out, for after we turned out the lights, the mosquito hordes came out of now where and we had a long battle to deal with them all, adding more spots to the wall.
One interesting thing about this trip was the great difference we saw between the culture of our country and Arab culture. Our nationals are curious, ask lots of questions and are quick to offer help and hospitality to strangers. The Arabs simply ignored us. It was like we were invisible!
 
We were approached by only one local, an Armenian nominal Christian. He took us under his wing and dragged us to a number of places. One was to a farm where the owner gave us a nice meal and in the evening we drank tea around a big, roaring fire. It was wild and romantic.
 
On the way home our headlights picked up a man standing beside the road. He had a beard and long hair, was dressed in shabby jeans and held a machine gun. He waved for us to stop. I stepped on the gas and kept going.
 
Our local “friend” said, “You should have stopped, that was a policeman.” Could have fooled me! I was not going to take a chance on a lonely dark road in the middle of nowhere with someone holding a big machine gun!
 
On our trip back into our country we went through a Syrian police check and all of the men had beards, long hair, and shabby blue jeans, both pants and jackets. Our guide had probably been right.
 
It was a real pleasure to come to the our country’s border and pull up to the customs man, to hear him say, “Welcome, we found your coming pleasant!” We were back to the land of hospitality and visibility!
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Wow, What a God!

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 23, 2019
As I face the unknowns of this coming day, I praise you, Lord Jesus, for what you will lead me through, and for what you will allow. I praise you that I can rest in you, in your wonderful, marvelous, majestic and mighty Character, sparkling in holiness, shining in purity, glowing in love, radiating forgiveness.
 
You are perfect, wise, absolute, gracious and righteous. You are trustable, loving, firm and good. You are the One and Only to be exalted and worshiped. In you there is no evil, no fault, no wrong, no error. In you there is only goodness, righteousness, purity and holiness.
 
Therefore, to you belongs praise, to you belongs trust, to you belongs obedience. I bow before you now, surrendering myself and my desires to you in worship, I lay them on the altar of your love, and ask that you will do what you desire with each one. Fulfill what is good, deny what is not.
 
Guide me in joining you in what you are doing. One way I can do this is by “boasting in my weakness” (2 Cor. 12:9) so that the power of Christ can come upon me. Another way is by offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in and for whatever comes (Ps. 50:23), keeping up the shield of faith.
 
I give you glory and honor, Lord, praise and exaltation for what you are doing in all the uncertainty and uncomfortable situations before me, for how you will use them for your glory, for how you will defeat the powers of Satan and carry us on into the glory of your coming return.
 
Help me to rest in these Truths and in your goodness. I thank you for the continued unsettledness within, flowing from the uncertainties without, for this reminds me further that my trust must be in you, not in outcomes.
 
May I have “clean hands and a pure heart” throughout this day, and thereby give you glory before all those around me. Praise be to you in all. Amen.
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Basking in the Beauty of Jesus

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 22, 2019

You, Lord Jesus, are the King of glory, the God of goodness, the Prince of peace, the Shepherd of supply, the Lord of Love, the Light of life and the Bride-groom of beauty, reflected in the beauty of the flowers in the picture below.

You are the Creator of All, the Sovereign of Eternity, the Shield of your sheep, the Stronghold of safety, the Fortress of faith, the Rock of reliability, the Arm of our armor, the Source of support, the Giver of grace, the Provider of power, the Widener of ways and the Protector of all who take refuge in you.

Praise you, Lord Jesus, Savior of the universe, Redeemer of all people, Transformer of all who believe. You are active, powerful and on time in answering the cry of all who submit to your leadership.

You are deeply caring, wisely working, godly in guiding, persistent in protecting. You are the only One we can trust–all others and all else are shifting sands.

Praise be to you for your lavish love, your gracious goodness, your wise work, your firm faithfulness, your cherishing in chastening, your reasonable rebuking, your taking us through trials, your shepherding through suffering, your working through our weakness, your maturing us through miserable times.

You are marvelous, Lord Jesus, you are majestic, you are mighty, you are magnificent, you are worthy of worship and deserving of dedication. “I call to the Lord who is worthy of praise and I am saved from my enemies” (Psa. 18:3).

Praise be to you, Lord Jesus, gracious God, King of glory. May you be honored in my life today through faith, obedience, kindness, patience, wisdom and grace. Amen.

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The Wisdom of God’s Chastening

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 21, 2019
As Barbara and I pass through the valley of the shadow of her depression, we can rest in God, knowing that “…the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and he chastens everyone he accepts as his son” (Heb. 12:6). This present suffering has brought out wrong thinking and values from my wife’s past so they can be corrected. This is proof that you, Lord, love us by taking the time to discipline us for our good.
 
I praise you, Lord, for your loving work in us, on us and through us, pointing out sin, wrong thinking, negative attitudes and unbiblical beliefs that keep us from really living: “…we have all had human fathers who disciplined us and we respected them for it. How much more should we submit to the Father of spirits and [really] live!” (Heb. 12:9).
Thank you for chastening us through difficulties so that we might share in your holiness. Thank you for correcting us, even though it may be painful, so that we might respond with faith, confession, surrender and obedience, thereby receiving the fruit of peace and righteousness (Heb. 12:9-11).
 
Praise you, Lord, for your care, your consistency, your chastening to bring patience and power, fullness and fruitfulness, maturation and more (James 1:2-4). Truly you are the perfect Father: wise, loving, good, firm, persistent and forgiving.
 
I praise you that you are wonderously full-orbed in ability, perfectly rounded in personality, flawlessly balanced in your characteristics and wholly complete in your holiness. In your rich wisdom, you leave out nothing good when working in our lives–all that is needed comes: pressure and pleasure, loss and love, defeat and delight, wrenching and rest.
 
I praise you for what you allow, for what you send, for what you bring. You are wise, you are good, you are loving, so we can trust you fully, praise you consistently, obey you whole-heartedly.
 
Today I want to praise you persistently, Lord, through rain and shine for your wonderful work in my life. May I glorify you by cooperating with you, joining you, obeying you all through this day.
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Psalm: 24:9-10

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 20, 2019
 
Psalm 24:9 Lift up your heads, O you gates; lift them up, you ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in.”
 
[The repetition here from verse 7 shows how important it is to open the way for God’s entrance into our lives. And why would anyone not want to open up to the King of glory? Well, unfortunately, in our selfish and deluded desire to be independent and in control, many refuse to open up so that the Lord of glory may come in.
 
How foolish! For you, Lord God, bring only what is good, only what is a blessing, only what gives true freedom (from sin, self and Satan), only what brings joy and grace in the end.
 
Therefore, we choose to open our hearts, our lives, our wills to you, as widely as the amphitheater in the picture here. We commit ourselves to giving you praise, to giving you the glory due your name, lifting you up by obeying your Word, resting in your goodness, thanking you in all.]
 
Psalm 24:10 “Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty—he is the King of glory.”
 
[You, O Yahweh, are the Lord of Power, the God of Might, the Ruler of Majesty, the Commander of all the hosts of Heaven. There is nothing good you cannot do, there is nothing wise you will not do, there is nothing evil you can ever do.
 
To you belongs all glory, for you are Creator and King, Ruler and Redeemer, Lord and Leader of all who will come to you. Therefore, to you I bow down today and submit myself in obedience to your Word, to your Spirit, to your Way so that you may have more glory.
 
I proclaim your power and your strength, your goodness and your grace, your wisdom and your holiness, your purity and love. To you be rich and deep glory, ever expanding honor, and endless praise. May only positives flow from my life like a great fountain to you today, giving you ever increasing exaltation, pleasure and joy, my Lord and King. Amen.”
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Psalm 92:12-13

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 19, 2019
“The righteous flourish like the palm tree and grow like a cedar in Lebanon. They are planted in the house of the LORD; they flourish in the courts of our God.” Psalm 92:12,13
Praise be to you, Yahweh, the great I AM, the self-existent, eternal, unchanging, holy and perfect One—and paradoxically, the Lover of sinners. While your qualities of righteousness, holiness and justice dictated the necessity of judgment, condemnation and punishment, you chose, through your own suffering, to have mercy triumph over justice, to have grace trump punishment, to have love overrule wrath. You called us rebels to yourself, cleansed us, transformed us into new creatures and adopted us into your family, making us righteous in Christ.
 
You planted us in your courtyard, making us flourish, sprouting lush, green leaves of praise to shade those around us, and succulent, delicious fruit of the Spirit for others to taste.
 
You make it possible for us to get our roots deep down into the wonderful water of your Word so even in drought we can remain green, bearing our fruit in its season, and being successful in whatever you call us to do (Psalm 1:3).
 
You are the great Giver of good, supplying what is needed to keep your children growing, maturing, bearing more and more good fruit. You have provided all that is necessary for living a godly life and for overcoming the evil of the world (2 Peter 1:3).
 
In your wisdom and grace, your great patience and kindness, you leave it to us, your children, to draw this living water up through our roots by reading, studying, meditating on your Word, to remain in your courts, to abide in the vine and to bear your fruit.
 
To those of your children who keep their roots growing down into the water of the Word, you promise: “They will still bear fruit in old age, they will stay fresh and green…” (Ps. 92:14). As we grow old, lose our physical abilities, have less strength, hear and see less, and may seem to dry up on the outside, we will still bear good, rich, delicious fruit for those around us: the fruit of the Spirit, the fruit of the sacrifice of praise, the fruit of good works, the fruit of people coming to Christ—which is just the opposite of what happens if we live naturally rather than supernaturally. And you cause us to remain fruitful so that we can declare “the LORD is upright; he is my rock, and there is no unrighteousness in him” (Ps. 92:15).
 
To you, O God, be honor and glory and praise. To you be worship, adoration and magnification. To you be power, might and exaltation. You are worthy, you are glorious, you are Elohim, the triune God, the Creator and Sustainer of all.
 
Prayer: “I bow before you, Heavenly Father in admiration; I rise up in enthusiasm; I go forth to wholeheartedly worship you through obedience. May your name be honored today in all I think, say and do, my beloved God. Amen.”
–from EDIFIED!
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Romans 15:13

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 18, 2019
 
Thoughts on Romans 15:13: “May the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace, as you trust in him, so that your life may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
 
Let’s look at each aspect of this verse.
 
“May the God of hope”
 
[Our God is the source of all we hope for, the spring of all positive possibilities, the well of all goodness, the fountain of hope. We should look to no other, put our hope in no other.]
 
May He “Fill you with all joy and peace”
 
[Joy and peace are what we all long and strive for, but fail to get on our own. Our heavenly Father, however, stands ready with ALL joy and peace, eager to pour them into our lives, if we will only join Him in the process, as the next phrase tells us.]
 
“As you trust in Him”
 
[This is our part: if we trust, we are given joy and peace; but conversely, failure to trust equals no joy or peace. If we don’t trust Him, we are, in our pride, trusting in ourselves. This means we are cutting ourselves off from His grace. “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble” (James 4:6). But if we humble ourselves and trust in Him, rather than trusting in ourselves, or some leader, or the goverment to supply what we need, then He has many blessings for us beyond joy and peace, as the last phrase tells us.
 
As it says in Psalm 68:6 “…he leads out the prisoners with singing (those who follow Him in trust out of the dominion of darkness into the Kingdom of light); but the rebellious (those who do not trust Him) live in a sun-scorched land (where there is no peace, no joy, no hope).
 
“So that your life may overflow with hope by the power of the Holy Spirit.”
 
[As we trust God, we can then join Him in a new dimension, becoming “carriers of hope,” to all around us. We can be people of hope, just as He is the God of all hope–a hope that will splash over on all those around us. We will be “hope empowered” by the Holy Spirit, becoming more and more like Jesus, the God of all hope.
 
So let’s trust our eternal living God, follow Jesus, offering the sacrifice of thanksgiving in each situation and thereby become infused with joy and peace. Then we can become springs of hope, rivers of hope, carriers of hope to all we meet today and every day.
 
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More 1981 Adventures

Published by S.M. Wibberley on March 17, 2019
 
We left Adam’s house that afternoon a lot later than we had planned, and it wasn’t long before it was dark. I wanted to press on as long as we could, but the Lord had other plans.
 
Along a lonely stretch of road, my headlights picked up two large sheep dogs, their tails curled over their backs, iron spiked collars on their necks to protect them from wolves. I slowed down, as you can never tell what animals may do.
 
They were off on the left hand side of the road, but just as I got to them, one crossed over in front of us and I was unable to avoid him. After the car struck him, he rolled off to the side of the road.
 
I felt bad about hitting him and wondered if he would survive but wasn’t about to stop and get out in the dark with a large wounded animal. Those dogs can be very fierce. Besides, I had something else to contend with. The impact had rearranged the front of the car and my headlights were now refocused: one shone off up in the air to the right, the other down and off the road to the left. We were not going to get very far that night!
 
I drove slowly to the next town, praising God that nothing worse had happened. We found a hotel and got some rest. The next day we made it back home before darkness came.
 
Shortly after our return from the east, I ate a overly ripe peach and got really sick with diarrhea, vomiting and a high fever. Just after I became ill, two single German women came to visit and set the scene for a cultural clash between Barbara and me.
 
For Germans, any guest has definite priority over family. In addition, in Barbara’s family culture if family members got sick, they were tolerated, but it was clearly communicated that they were being a bother, so they’d better hurry up and get well.
 
In my family culture, however, if you were sick, you were waited on hand and foot and treated like royalty. These contrasting viewpoints had not been much of a problem before now but the arrival of the guests caused Barbara to slip back into German mode, bringing on a conflict.
 
Barbara was busy being a good German hostess, taking care of every need of our guests, while I, from my point of view, was hovering on the edge of death in the bedroom. I was unable to eat, wracked with chills, barely able to crawl to the bathroom when the need arose, as it did often and violently. I was thirsty, but my hand was shaking so much from my chills and fever, that before I could bring a glass of water to my mouth, most of the water sloshed out onto the floor.
 
Every few hours Barbara would come in to poke the pile of blankets and make sure I was still alive underneath them.
During those two or three days I lost so much weight that I looked like a walking skeleton. My wedding ring fell off my emaciated finger and I didn’t even notice it.
 
When the guests finally left and I got well enough to have a coherent conversation, we had a little chat about priorities. Barbara had been sincerely unaware of neglecting me, and was very sorry. Being a good listener and teachable wife, that never happened again.
 
Shortly afterwards it was my turn to be the host. My parents wrote to say that they would come to visit in September as Dad was going to Paris to run in a half marathon. He had given up motocross at age sixty-three and had found more attention and admiration in the runners’ circles.
 
He told us that after Paris they’d come to see us for a couple of days. A couple of days! I understood Dad’s love of moving on quickly, but to come all that way and stay only a couple of days?
 
We finally convinced them to stay for a week, and it was a good time. Dad went out running each day on the streets of our city and usually ended up with a crowd of little kids tagging along behind him—very few people in our country were runners back then.
 
We took a trip down to some of the many biblical sites to give them a taste of the rich history of the area. They were duly impressed and were very glad that they’d come.
Pictures: Dad in Paris, Dad and Nat, all of us in front of our house. Note how skinny I am after my sickness
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