S.M. Wibberley’s Blog

Psalm 31:6 “I hate those who cling to worthless idols;”

[How about us? how often do I cling to some worthless idol—which is anything I demand to be happy, anything I put ahead of seeking your will and submitting to it. It can be something as simple as wanting a bowl of popcorn so much that I will shut off myself from you in order to have it. And there are many other such idols in my life–whatever I think I need to be happy.

Clinging to idols is looking back into the darkness from whence we were redeemed instead of facing the light of wisdom and goodness and grace that comes from you. Praise you, Lord God, that you expose these idols to us one at a time and help us to let go of and repudiate them so we can live in the light of your truth, declaring with David,

“I trust in the LORD.”

[This is a choice, a willful rejection of all else, including worry, fear, and negative thinking. It is a launching out over the abyss of the future, swinging out on the three-strand cable of Truth, Love and Grace, trusting you to do what is best.

Praise be to you, Lord God, for what you will do today, for how you will watch over us, protect us, equip us, train us. You expose us to the battle, help us to stand and fight alongside you while you fight for us.

To you belongs all honor, all credit, all glory, all praise. May my life bring you more of each of these today, O Great and Mighty One, my heavenly Father, my Lord Jesus, my Spirit of holiness. Amen.

Picture from the past with little Josh; leaving all, God provided more!

Psalm 31:5 “Into your hands I commit my spirit;”

[These were the words of David in difficulty, and the words of Christ on the cross; they should also be the daily words of every one of us believers.

As we commit our spirit to you, Lord Jesus, we are surrendering our life, our future to you, giving you permission to lead us through whatever you deem best and at the right time to take us out of this world. We can trust you and thank you now for what you will do.]

“redeem me, O LORD, the God of truth.”

[This is a great admission of our need to be purchased back out of the kingdom of darkness.

And, because you, Lord Jesus, are the God of truth, we can wholeheartedly run to you, the High and Holy One, the Mighty One who knows and sees all. You are pure and merciful, righteous and forgiving, just and redeeming.

We can trust you, for if you, the Most High, the Final Authority, the Great Judge have declared that all in Christ are forgiven, cleansed, holy and dearly loved, then we are redeemed indeed!]

So we proclaim “Into your hands I commit my spirit….”

 

Psalm 31:2 “be my rock of refuge, a strong fortress to save me.”

[Praise you, O Lord God, that you are consistently with us: you have made yourself our Refuge by redeeming, adopting and embracing us.

You have made yourself our Rock of stability in a world of uncertainty, the personal Refuge of every one of your children.

And you are our strong Fortress that we can run into at any time to be protected in whatever way you deem best. We can trust you.]

Psalm 31:3 “Since you are my rock and my fortress, for the sake of your name lead and guide me.”

[Yes! Because you are my rock and fortress, I have hope! There is help! There is hindrance for my enemy and his plans! You will answer and act for the sake of your holy Name.

It is wonderful that we can appeal to you on this basis—for when you lead and guide us, our lives become for you a source of glory and honor, praise and acclaim.

May we follow your guidance, thinking of giving you more honor; may we be trusting and obedient so that you may have more glory for your Name.]

You are sparkling in your purity, Lord Jesus, generous in your grace, marvelous in your majesty, great in your goodness, overwhelming in your wisdom and dazzling in your greatness.

To delight in you is to enter into a fuller reality, to let the shadows of our natural thoughts and values fade into the background, as the light of Truth and Love from your inner beauty shines into our hearts.

Such gazing on your beauty brings transformation and joy, a deeper grasp of your acceptance and forgiveness of us, and a solid sense of the security of being your child.

You are delightful, you are delectable, you are decidedly wonderful and as I bow before you, all else pales and falls away. Only your gracious, glorious and good presence remains.

To know you is so inexpressibly sweet and so overwhelmingly powerful at the same time.

I choose to delight in you, Lord Jesus, rejecting the tinsel of this world, along with my pride and self-centered sinfulness. For In you I am forgiven, in you I am cleansed, in you I am accepted, in you I am unconditionally and eternally loved. What more could I want? May you be delighted in every moment.

“…delight yourself also in the Lord….” Psalm 37:4

I want to delight in you, Lord Jesus–you who were on earth simultaneously while being both entirely God and entirely man—both finite and fully infinite.

You were the Creator and the carpenter.

You were the star breather, and the table maker.

You were the galaxy former and the sawdust sweeper.

You were the history maker and the box builder.

You were the one who set up kings and took down tools from your carpenter’s rack.

You were the pivotal person in all history and you were the sharpener of chisels.

You were the owner of all the universe and lived on the gifts of others.

You are unfathomably amazing, wonderfully awe inspiring, fully beyond comprehension. To delight in you is to approach the essence of life, the meaning of existence, the light of eternity. Help us to delight in you every day, all day, fulfilling the purpose of our lives.

Picture: Phantom Galaxy, 13 million light years from earth

 

Last night in our Christmas Eve service this verse was read:

Isaiah 9:6, “For to us a child is born, to us a son is given, and the government will be on his shoulders. And he will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.”

I was struck how this is a clear a statement of the Trinity.

The Trinity, of course is a mystery, unfathomable for a human being: One God in three Persons. Each one God, each one different, each one playing a distinct role. Like in salvation where the Father plans, the Son carries it out and the Spirit finishes it up.

Some would say this is a New Testament construct. But, there are strong hints and foreshadowing of this mystery in the Old Testament. Look at this verse mentioned, Isa. 6:9:
“…a son” This is THE Son, Jesus
“ …who is called Wonderful Counselor” This is the Holy Spirit.
“…Mighty God,” The One God with three Persons
“…Everlasting Father,” The Son is the Father
“…Prince of Peace” the title of the Son.

Having a Triune God is very important. If God were only one, since He is love, he would need someone else to love, making him dependent on his creation. But the relationships within the Trinity are all He/they need. This makes Him truly God, independent of anything He creates.

There are other hints at the Trinity, beginning with the first verses in the Bible. “In the beginning God created the heavens and earth.” The word for “God” here is “Elohim.” In Hebrew this is a plural word, and specifically a plural for three or more—just like the Trinity!
Then in verse 26 God says, “Let us make mankind in our image, in our likeness,” Not my or mine, but us and ours, again pointing towards a plural, to a relationship between two or more.

In Genesis 3:23, after Adam sinned, “…the LORD God said, “The man has now become like one of us, knowing good and evil.” God spoke of “us”, not “me” again hinting of the Trinity.

In Genesis 18:3 Abraham looked up and saw three men standing nearby. Then in Genesis 18:6 “One of these three spoke…. Then the LORD said to Abraham, “Why did Sarah laugh and say, ‘Will I really have a child, now that I am old?’ Is anything too hard for the LORD? I will return to you at the appointed time next year, and Sarah will have a son.” Obviously this is Yahweh, one of the great names of God. He showed Himself as three men, and speaks as the one Lord.

And in Genesis 19 in the story of the tower of Babel, God says, “Come, let us go down and confuse their language so they will not understand each other.” Us, not me. Again the plural, not of majesty but of fact.

So God reveals Himself slowly to humans, beginning with the first verse in the Bible to let us know that He is one God and three Persons.

Then in the New Testament, this revelation is taken step by step to new levels. In John 5:17-47 Jesus makes over 15 statements of how He and the Father are one, both sharing the same names, authority and traits, while each also has distinct roles.

Praise God that He is three Persons in One, making Him truly God, the One we can depend on. The Trinity is like this picture: the light of the sun, the moon and its reflection in the pond: Father, Son and Holy Spirit.

God is an inveterate gift giver. He loves to pour out goodness on His children and Christmas is a good time to remember that.

One of the gifts He’s given us through Christ is the privilege of personal worship and the powerful positives that flow from it. Such worship is focusing on our triune God, praising Him for who He is, standing in the light of His presence, looking away from the temporal to the eternal, setting our hearts on things above—these all give Him glory and bring transformation in our souls.

Romans 15:13  lists out other gifts our good God loves to give. “May the God of Hope….” and that is what you are, Lord: the God who is hope itself, who brings hope, who calls us to hope—a hope which is a rock-solid certainty based on your unchanging, perfect character—you promise and you deliver.

Praise you for your desire to fill your children “with all joy and peace….” This says so much about you, my Lord God. Not just some joy and peace, but all joy and peace. You give us a joy that is unquenchable, unalterable by the difficulties, tragedies and suffering in life, because you, the unchanging God, are its source.

You give us a peace that is sure and sound, deep and dynamic, restful and responsible. As we confess and receive forgiveness, you give us peace with you, peace with ourselves, peace with others—a vibrant peace, a powerful peace, a renewable peace, one which can be restored each time we sin. You are truly the God of joy and peace, giving us in abundance these deep qualities every person longs for.

Then comes our part: “as [we] trust in him….” Praise you, Lord, for the gift of the role you have given us in having this joy and peace. We must trust, believe, live in the truth of who and what you are. As we look away from the problems, aggravations, disappointments and difficulties of life and look up to you, it is clear that we can trust you in all that comes to us. You are the Great Shepherd, the All-Powerful King, the Everlasting Sovereign, the Ruler of the universe, the Lord of Glory, the Spinner of the earth, Bringer of the dawn, the Beginner and Ender of time.

 

 

Christmas was not only a time of new beginnings, Christmas changed everything!

Christmas meant that God no longer dwelt only in the temple, He dwelt with man as Immanuel.

Christmas meant that God no longer only spoke through men, He now spoke directly to us.

Christmas meant that God’s relationship with us was no longer based on the law, but on love.

Christmas meant that He no longer related to us through priests, but became our priest himself.

Christmas meant that the Spirit was no longer just for special people, but for all those who believed.

Christmas brought the work of the Spirit to convict the world of sin, righteousness and judgment.

Christmas moved us from keeping the law to living in God’s love.

Christmas crystalized the truth that salvation comes by faith, no more sacrifices in the temple.

Christmas was the start of a great outpouring of grace.

Christmas meant that the Light of Life now would shine on every person.

Christmas was the beginning of the church.

Christmas brought the corner stone of the church into the world
.
Christmas made it possible for the true temple to be made of living stones rather than rocks.

Christmas opened the way for unifying Jew and gentile

Yes, Christmas changed everything and we get to live every day in those differences. Christmas should fill us with gratitude for the goodness of God!

Some more thoughts on this season.

Christmas is a time of new beginnings.

It was the beginning of the next step in the great plan of redemption, foretold for thousands of years.

It was the beginning of John the Baptist

It was the beginning of Joseph and Mary’s life together.

It was the beginning Jesus’ life on earth as a human being.

It was the beginning  of the new dimension of Jesus ‘submission to the Father.

It was the beginning  of a new  little family.

It was the beginning of a new stage of spiritual warfare on earth

It was the beginning of attempts to eliminate the Messiah, starting with Herod..

It was the beginning of The announcements of the Savior,

To Mary by Elisabeth

to all around by Zachariah in his prophecy at the birth of John .

to the shepherds by the angels,

to the Magi by the star

to Mary and Joseph by Simeon and Anna in the temple.

It was the beginning of Jesus fulfilling hundreds of prophesies about him, the early ones being:

Born of a virgin

Born in Bethlehem

Coming out of Egypt

Growing up  in Nazareth

It was the beginning of the Light coming into the world that was to shine on every person.

It was the beginning of healing, grace, love and life Jesus brought for many.

And these beginnings all started an avalanche of other events that continue to today:

The coming of the Holy Spirit

The age of the church

The writing of the New Testament

God rescuing us from the dominion of darkness.

Millions being swept in to the Kingdom of God

And the hope of spending eternity in Heaven with Jesus.

Yes, Christmas was the beginning and we are privileged to be living out the continuation.

A good truth to celebrate at this time of the year.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas, a time of obedience. Here is the third and fourth example of people submitting to God, obeying what He had to say in spite of all the forces of tradition, culture and fear of man, and thereby playing significant roles in the great plan of salvation.

First we have  Zechariah. Even though an angel appeared to him, coming directly from the presence of God,  Zechariah doubted his word,  and therefore was struck dumb until the birth of John. Fortunately, he learned his lesson. After John was born and his wife wanted  to name the baby John, but the relatives and neighbors objected. By custom a child is named after someone in his family; calling him John was a breach of tradition and normalcy. But  Zechariah obeyed what the angel had told him and wrote, “His name is John!”

How about us? Are we willing to obey God when it contravenes tradition, culture and the ideas of those around us?

Second we have Joseph, a good and righteous man. He found out somehow that his fiancé was pregnant—what a shock!  “…but before they came together, she was found to be pregnant through the Holy Spirit.” However, Joseph, being a good man, faithful to the law, thought to divorce her quietly, protecting her from public disgrace

But after he had considered this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, “Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit.”

Joseph, unlike Zechariah, obeyed  immediately, “When Joseph woke up, he did what the angel of the Lord had commanded him and took Mary home as his wife” And, contrary to custom, “he did not consummate their marriage until she gave birth to a son. And he gave him the name Jesus.”

A second time Joseph immediately obeyed the command of God: “An angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream ‘Get up,’ he said, ‘take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him.”

Joseph didn’t hesitate a moment. He awoke, “got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt” thereby foiling the plans of Herod and Satan to eliminate the Savior.

Then, a third time God spoke to Joseph in a dream. “After Herod died, an angel of the Lord appeared in a dream to Joseph in Egypt and said, ‘Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.’ So he got up, took the child and his mother and went to the land of Israel.”

Obedience in the face of tradition, the law, irrationality, fear and danger–this is what God used to preserve the life of the Messiah. Joseph’s obedience played a huge role in you being saved today.

What will God do through our obedience to Him? Let us follow in the footsteps of these people who were instruments in the hands of God.