S.M. Wibberley’s Blog

This morning, Lord, I feel far from you. Thank you for this opportunity to walk with you by faith, not feeling close, but knowing that you are there, within me, around me, loving me, even though I don’t feel it.

As you have been transforming me through worship, you have deepened my emotional grasp of your love for me through lifting my soul to you. This strongly reinforces the intellectual knowledge of your gracious acceptance of me as your dearly loved son in whom you delight. I am like the baby in this picture, being fed by you  while I hold onto your finger, .knowing I am perfectly safe in you

In this growth you give

a rest,

a security,

a certainty of my relationship with you which is filled with

forgiveness,

gracious correction,

firm direction,

deepening knowledge,

a joyful walk and

light-filled days, no matter what is happening around me.

This all gives me a desire to obey you, to please you, to love you, to avoid grieving you. Help  me to live that way today.

 

“’Because he loves me,’ says the LORD, ‘I will rescue him; I will protect him, for he acknowledges my name.’ “ Psalm 91:14

 

You, Lord Jesus, are a wonder, able in your incarnation to combine the unimaginable:

you were both God and man,

heavenly and earthly,

infinite and finite,

all-knowing and in need of teaching, perfect and yet learning obedience.

No one else could have united these mutually exclusive opposites!

I exalt you for your wisdom, your insight, your ability to understand  things that we cannot unite even in our farthest imagination. You are the complete One, the perfect One, the holy One, the worthy One.

 

Foe example,. Psalm 91 says, “Because You have made the LORD Your dwelling place—the Most High, who is my refuge— no evil shall be allowed to befall you, no plague come near your tent” (Ps. 91:9-10 ESV).  But then I think of Job, a man who made you his refuge, yet he suffered great tragedy, heartache, sickness, pain and problems both with his wife and his “friends.”

 

This is hard for us to understand. So, we must turn to you, Lord Jesus, as you have a bigger and better view of things. Your understanding of harm or evil is different than ours. Evil or harm is not what makes us uncomfortable or disappointed or in pain, but evil and harm are what damage us spiritually, what drive us away from you. As we make you our refuge, you are always there to protect us from spiritual harm.

Sometimes you lead us through the valley of the shadow of death, just as you were led by the Spirit into the desert to be tested. That was certainly not a pleasant time, but it was necessary so you could be the perfect Savior. And so with us, as we move through different testings we can know they are designed to mature, deepen and train us so we will be “perfect and entire,” as it says in James 1.

Help us to always strive to see things from your point of view, Lord, and to always offer the sacrifice of thanksgiving so we can rest in you, knowing that you will protect us from true harm.

“Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10

My disciple leaned towards me, his face very serious, “You know that lesson on spiritual warfare? Let’s do that again next week. It’s too important to cover just once!”

It was a joy to hear such a statement from a fellow who had never really been interested in reading or studying the Word. The lessons of Ephesians 6:10-18 have been very useful for my disciples—and for me. Knowing who the enemy is, how God has equipped us and how to use these weapons has clarified a lot for all of us.

We have had plenty of opportunity to apply this knowledge because spiritual warfare is an everyday reality, especially  in the Middle East. “Be strong in the Lord and the power of his might. Put on the whole armor of God that you might be able to stand against the wiles of the devil.” Ephesians 6:10

 

Fighting the true enemy with prayer and praise, with truth and trust, with whole-heartedness and obedience is the only way to true victory. This adventure of the last two years with expulsion, return, staying in the midst of uncertainty, applying for a visa knowing it could mean another, perhaps permanent expulsion–all of this has been confirmation of the importance of waiting on God in prayer and faith and not giving up. In the spiritual battle, he who persists in the power of God wins.

 

Prayer: “Lord, help us to take up and use your spiritual armor every day. Guide us in fighting the true enemy with your truth and praise. Help us to join you in what you desire to accomplish in our lives today. Amen.”

 

The third name of God we will look at is “Adonai,” which is translated as “Lord.” It is written with small letters to distinguish it from “LORD” for Jehovah.

The meaning of Adonai is that He is truly our Lord. He is the Sovereign One, the Master of all. Adonai deserves absolute obedience and demands it. He also promises to provide all that is needed so we can obey Him. He gives both direction and provision.

When we call Him Lord, Adonai, it is a declaration of surrender to Him. It is like calling Him “Boss,” but in a much more powerful way, for He is King, God, the Ultimate Authority.

When Moses was arguing with God in Exodus 4:10 about leading the Israelites out of Egypt, Moses slipped and called Him “Adonai:” “And Moses said unto the LORD, O my Lord, I am not eloquent, neither heretofore, nor since thou hast spoken unto thy servant: but I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue.” But, once Moses called Him Adonai, he had essentially already surrendered!

And so should we submit to our wonderful God, Adonai, committing oursleves to obey Him no matter what. Adonai will respond by giving us all the help we need to follow Him through wherever He takes us!

Adonai is our powerful, wise, loving and gracious Lord. To follow Him is the greatest adventure in life!

In spoken worship there are two main aspects: thanksgiving and praise. Thanksgiving focuses on what He has done for us, and praise on who He is in His character.  Here are some examples from my prayer journal, both praise and thanksgiving.

“Praise you, Lord God, Creator of heaven and earth, the sea and all that is in them. Truly you are high and powerful, majestic and mighty. I praise you, O God, for your great and rich love, for your wide and deep wisdom and your positive and pure power.

You are able to bring together those aspects which are opposites and seem to contradict each other: unity and diversity, truth and love, justice and mercy, righteousness and forgiveness. Praise you, Lord God, that you have revealed this to us in your Word.

“Thank you that you have given us the tremendous privilege of being your children, bringing us from being your enemies ensnared by sin and transforming us into your sons and daughters clothed in righteousness. To know you is a stupendous privilege beyond understanding and comprehension, priceless and pristine; we are overwhelmed by this high and undeserved grace.

“Thank you that you have watched over us through a very difficult year, one in which your grace, protection and guidance have shone in the dark events that surrounded us, that could have overwhelmed us but your shining grace carried us through.

“Thank you for the future ahead—nothing guaranteed except your love, for all is in your hands, not our plans–but all is in your heart of goodness, shown in your doing what is best and loving for us, although it may be hard. Truly, God, to live with you is a never-ending opportunity for growth and deepening.”

Prayer: “Lord God, help me to praise you in my quiet time, to praise you throughout the day and on into the night. May praise be the keynote of my life, for you are worthy. Amen.”

Jehovah

Today we look at the second name of our God: Jehovah, translated as LORD.

Jehovah is the self-existent One who is holy, hates and judges sin, but loves the sinner. Here are four truths about Jehovah (Yahweh).

First, He is “self-sufficient.” He lacks nothing and needs nothing. He is perfect, fully orbed and totally independent of all He has created. He is love and must love, but He has no need for anyone else, for He has the beautiful relationship of the Trinity.

Second, Jehovah is holy. That means in Him there is no sin, no negative, no darkness, no wrong in His person, words, actions or thoughts. As such, we can know that no evil will ever come from Him. The Jews considered Him so holy that they did not speak or write His full name in order to honor Him.

Third, He hates sin and must punish it. There is a penalty for every sin, the greatest sin being refusal to believe in His beloved Son, Jesus. He will rightly judge every sinfand met out righteous punishment on all who refuse to enter His refuge of forgiveness.

Fourth is His inexplicable love for sinners. There is no reason what -so-ever for Him to love the twisted, ugly, rebellious, destructive ones (that includes us) who caused the death of His Son. His love is illogical, against all reason, contra-conditional–but it is real. Jehovah loves every person who has ever lived and will live, and opened the way for all to believe, if they are willing.

All of this should spark a great love for Jehovah in us , whose love is inexplicable and unfathomable, but very true. In Him we can trust fully, completely, unreservedly.

The Names of God, Number 1  Elohim: translated as “God.”

This first is used in Genesis 1:1  “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.” Each name of God has a meaning and Elohim means “the strong and faithful One who swears and is able to keep His word.”

Strength:

He shows His power in creation: breathing the stars, gathering them into galaxies,  putting them each in their place, naming each one. He stretched out the canopy of the universe; hanging the earth on nothing; giving it the perfect spin and orbit. His power is infinite, all pervasive, unconquerable and unending.

Faithfulness:

Elohim shows His faithfulness in promising and then providing Salvation. He planned it before creation, worked it out through history with Abraham, Joseph, Daniel, Isaiah, Joseph and Mary and others, bringing His Son into the world at the right time. Elohim is utterly faithful, always keeping His promise so we can trust Him, He always has more than enough power to bring His promises to pass.

Revelation:

Elohim is also the first hint of the trinity in the Bible. In the Hebrew language there are two plural forms for nouns. One is for two objects, the other for three or more. Elohim is plural for three or more, pointing to the trinity. And this is quickly underscored when Elohim says, “Let us make man in OUR image,” not “in my image.”

He is worthy of worship, of obedience, of surrender. Elohim, the triune God, Creator of all, Provider of salvation for all His enemies! Let us surrender and rest in His being Elohim.

We sadly live in a time of great division. In this situation we as followers of Jesus should work towards healing these divisions. One thing we can do to  make this happen:

Stop being offended!

As you know, being offended has become  a national past time with people looking for things to be offended about. And even being offended for others who aren’t offended themselves!

What did Jesus have to say about this?   How should we act in such a toxic society?

Col 3:1 “Set your affection on things above, not on things on the earth.”  rather than on protecting our honor or feeling good.  1

“Bear with each other and forgive one another if any of you has a grievance against someone. Forgive as the Lord forgave you. “Col 3:13 That’s a pretty inclusive statement

“And over all these virtues put on love, which binds them all together in perfect unity.” Col 3:13,14  and  “love covers over a multitude of sins.” 1 Peter 4:8

The truth is, we can all easily be offended, but we can also choose not to, to overlook an offense  and pave the way for healing of relationships and divisions. And we can also encourage others to stop being offended. Let’s follow Jesus and do it!

 

Complaining is the way to unhappiness. The opposite is also true: gratitude is the doorway to happiness.

The Bible has a lot to say about this. In the OT the Lord was often angry with the Israelites for complaining, punishing them with snakes, fire and then 40 years in the wilderness.

On the other side, God does not just encourage thankfulness, He commands it: “Give thanks in all things for this is the will of God concerning you.” I Thes. 5:18 In fact, giving thanks, especially when we don’t feel like it is a high level of worship.

There are important results flowing from the choice to give thanks and have gratitude. One is that in avoiding complaining and refusing to speak negative comments, things are lighter; I literally find myself having more light. I stand up straighter, enjoy life more and have an increase in joy.

Second is that we don’t “pollute” the thoughts of those around us with complaining. I don’t tell my wife what I’d like to complain about, instead I tell God about it. This spares her from darkness and burdens like resentment, anger and taking up offences. This is important in all relationships.

And lastly, in our present society people are looking for things to be offended about, we don’t need to give them more reasons to be so.

I encourage you to walk in the light, think in the light, speak in the light. And be a light to those around you by being thankful, having gratitude in all things, good or bad, pleasant or difficult.

Picture: be a light in the darkness.