The Hidden Day

" It is to the glory of God to conceal a matter, but to the glory of kings to search out a matter."
                                                                                                                               Proverbs 25:2

     The days in which we live are no less than fascinating! If you were to open your Bible and place the headlines of the news, side by side, the two are becoming essentially indistinguishable. There are many prophetic signposts that are being fulfilled now on an increasingly frequent trajectory: wars and rumors of wars, persecution of believers, weather careening out of control, sin abounding, rejection of Israel, and for the first time ever the gospel is being preached throughout the world!
     The reason God gave us prophetic signposts was so that we could discern the fact that Jesus will be returning soon to this earth to gather those people who belong to Him. We are barreling closer and closer to the end of this age, which will ultimately climax in the complete chaos of the seven year tribulation and the second coming of Christ.
     Many Biblical scholars, who are far above my pay grade, cannot definitively agree if the rapture will occur before the tribulation, at the mid-point of the tribulation, or at the end of the tribulation which also coincides with the second coming of Christ. However, for several reasons (not the least of which is hope), I believe that Jesus will rapture the Church prior to God's judgment being unleashed upon this earth. As beloved children of God, we are not destined to endure His wrath and judgment. (1 Thessalonians 5:9).
     No one can ever know with certainty when The Lord will return but there are definitive patterns that we can recognize Scripturally and throughout the life of Christ. One pattern is noted in the Jewish Feast days. Christ was crucified on the Feast of Passover, buried on the Feast of Unleavened Bread, and raised on the Feast of Firstfruits. It is reasonable to assume this pattern will continue.
     There are two Scriptures that speak of the rapture that also reference a trumpet sound (1 Corinthians15:51-52 and 1Thessalonians 4:13-18). Because of these references, there are many who believe that Jesus will return for His people on the Feast of Trumpets, which is also called Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year). This year, Rosh Hashanah falls on September 25 through September 26th.
     Rosh Hashanah is also called 'the hidden day'  because it is actually celebrated for two days because of the uncertainty about observing this holiday on the correct calendar day. It is the only holiday celebrated for two days in Israel. The reason it is shrouded in uncertainty is because it actually falls on Rosh Chodesh, which is the new moon itself. Therefore, it is completely impossible to know exactly when the New Year begins. According to rabbinic tradition, the two days are observed as one long day (yoma arikhta) to rectify this uncertainty. Within the Feast of Trumpets, God has actually hidden a day!
     Will Jesus return this week? I have no earthly idea! I do know that the night is coming and I do know that God wants us to be prepared. In Matthew, Chapter16, Jesus calls the religious leaders foolish and hypocritical because they cannot even discern the times in which they live. In Matthew, Chapter 24, Jesus teaches the disciples how to tell time...
     In a Matthew, Chapter 25, Jesus differentiates between those believers who are wise and those who are foolish. All Christians would profess to follow Jesus, honor Jesus, and be waiting for His return. Herein, lies the distinction: what we profess with our lips versus the reality in our hearts and lives. The sincere Christians are truly wise in the affairs of their souls and know that true grace is the source of their salvation. Wisdom portends that the light of Christ within us would shine continually before all men, especially as we see that glorious day approaching...
     If we are not intentional and resolute during these times in which we live, we will become careless. Carelessness precipitates spiritual decay. The Bible tells us that many will procrastinate and seek admission into heaven when it is too late and the door is shut. This becomes increasingly easier to do when we witness extreme atrocities on a daily basis. Justification of our disobedience requires no effort whatsoever when we can always point to another whose sin situation is more grave than our own.
     Peter exhorts us,
"Therefore, beloved, looking forward to these things, be diligent to be found by Him in peace , without spot and blameless; and consider that the long suffering of our Lord is salvation- as also our beloved brother, Paul, according to the wisdom given to him, has also written to you, as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things, in which are some things hard to understand, which untaught and unstable people twist to their own destruction, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures.
You therefore, beloved, since you know this beforehand, beware lest you also fall away from your own steadfastness, being led away with the error of the wicked; but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
                                                                                                                                     2 Peter 3:14-18
     The day of The Lord is at hand! Every day that passes hastens us toward the conclusion of God's Kingdom Calendar. Because the time is late, we need to live in the light of His return. We need to intimately know Jesus as both our Lord and our Savior. We need to live our lives with no regrets! We need to become radically obedient! We need to be a light to those who do not know Jesus. We need to minister to our families and our friends. All the while, we need to train our ears to listen for the heavenly blast that originates from God's holy trumpet!!!

                                           HAVE A BLESSED ROSH HASHANAH !!!!!

"No one knows the day or the hour..."          ( Matthew 24:36)

Immeasurably More

"All that looks like reality to us is dependent on God.  There is creation and Creator, nothing more.  And creation gets all it's meaning and purpose from God."
                                                                                                             John Piper


     There are many promises contained within God's Word. As His children, it is imperative that we not only know these promises but that we also believe them and receive them as our own. At times in our lives, we will even have to contend for these promises in the midst of adverse circumstances. It is God's grace that enables us to cling onto these promises when it feels like all of hell is trying to snatch them out of our hearts and minds. It is "from the fullness of His grace we have all received one blessing after another. When we are empty, His life rushes in to fill us to the brim." (John 1:16).
     From God's perspective, it is more important what He accomplishes in us than what He will ultimately do through us. Because we are His workmanship, created in Christ to do good works (Ephesians 2:10), who we are will always supersede what we do. When we allow God to do a mighty work within us, He will eventually do a mighty work through us. God can and will do immeasurably more in us and through us than we can ever ask or imagine! This is a promise God has given to His children:

                 " Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, 
                    According to His power that is at work within us, 
                    To Him be glory in the Church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations,
                    Forever and ever! Amen. (Ephesians 3:20-21).

     In order for God to accomplish immeasurably more in our lives, we must realize He will do it by His own ability. Whenever we say, "Now unto me" instead of "Now to Him" we are in big trouble! The fruit of this mindset is to be crushed underneath the weight of it or to continually be puffed up and prideful. Often, what God will do will not look the way we imagined it to look. Carl F. H. Henry describes it like this, " Not your responsibility, but your response to God's ability."
     Twelve years ago, Brent's body was ravaged by rheumatoid arthritis. Pain wreaked havoc every moment of the day and night. Immobility was his companion and worry began to dominate his thoughts. He was taking four medications and his symptoms were worsening. There were days he had to cancel all of his scheduled surgeries because he could not even move his wrists. We fasted and prayed for several months and we believed that God was going to heal him. We sought counsel from specialists and heeded their instruction. We did what we could do and trusted God with what we could not do.
     Healing did not appear in the way we had imagined. One morning, Brent awoke and was violently ill. He had a fever that was above 104 degrees, which is very dangerous for an adult. He was hospitalized for several days and we were all very concerned. His attending physician ordered many tests to ascertain the etymology of this pesky culprit that was causing debilitating symptomatology. All of these circumstances were beyond our comprehension. After all, we prayed and we believed and it appeared that our situation was devolving instead of improving.
     There were, however, things that were far above our level of knowledge and understanding. At this point, we had a choice to make-- would we receive God's grace and continue to trust or would we throw our hands up in frustration? The apostle, Paul, explains this phenomena, "And God is able to make all grace abound to you; that ye, having all sufficiency in everything, may abound unto every good work." (2 Corinthians 9:8).
     At the exact time we were contemplating a career change, due to necessity, God's provision swooped in in a most unusual way! We did not know that Brent's diagnosis of mononucleosis would reverse the effects of his rheumatoid arthritis. Physicians told us this was remission, but we declare that God has eliminated his R.A. through deletion! For the past twelve years, Brent has had no recurrence of R.A. or its' debilitating symptoms. God's life rushed into our lives and filled us to the brim!
     Sometimes, we limit our prayers because we don't really understand how good God's heart toward us really is. At other times, we pray faith-filled prayers but fail to understand everything that God wants to accomplish through our circumstances. We minimize God by how we pray when we focus on the here and now. We put God in a box, and it is to our detriment. We need to fully grasp the fact that God's heart for us is to do immeasurably more in our lives than we could ever imagine!
F.F. Bruce says, "It is impossible to ask God for too much. His capacity for giving far exceeds His peoples' capacity for asking or even imagining."
     God's activity defies our boundaries or parameters. God is a God of action and He wants to blow our minds in what He wants to do in us and through us to impact all of eternity. When our trust, faith, and hope are solely in God (and the idols in our lives are obliterated), we will see God move in mighty ways. Examples of faith-filled prayers may be:
          "God, give us the opportunity to do big things for you!"

          "God, do so much more in me than I could ever think or imagine!"

         "Thank you, God, for your indescribable gifts!"   (2 Corinthians 9:15).

     When we are in Christ, His power is at work within us. During this time in our world, God desires to increase His power in all the earth. In order for His power to increase, we must decrease (John 3:30).  As we decrease, God will accomplish what only He can do. When we truly know God and are willing to hand everything over to Him (through obedience), He will multiply His goodness in our lives. Resurrection power is what will manifest as a result of this outpouring. Paul tells us:

     "I pray that the eyes of your heart may be enlightened in order that you may know the hope to 
     which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in His holy people, and His
     incomparably great power for us who believe. That power is the same as the mighty strength
     He exerted when He raised Christ from the dead and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly
     realms, far above rule and authority, power and dominion, and every name that is invoked, 
     not only in the present age but also in the one to come."  (Ephesians 1:18-20).

     We can encounter the grace of God in such a way that we can believe that He will do immeasurably more in and through us by His power. The result of this faith is that God will be glorified through our lives in a significant way that will impact eternity. We want to give our lives to the things that are only possible with God. This is not for us; it is "Now unto Him".
     In a world that grows darker by the day, we each have an opportunity to partner with The Lord so that our lives will become immeasurably more and He will be glorified in the world during an unequivocally wicked generation. God's Word promises that He will be glorified. This begs the question in each one of our lives:  "Will we decrease so that He may increase and reflect His glory through our lives?"


"For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of The Lord as the waters cover the sea."
                                                                                                                                      Habakkuk 2:14

Better Than A Superhero

Our family loves superhero movies!  Although the plots are predictable, there is still something thrilling about seeing the evil villain defeated by the winsome, heroic protagonist with powers that exceed those of mere mortals.  With three young grandsons, we are often compelled to see the latest exploits of Captain America and his cohorts.  Jackson, who is eight years old, refers to himself as the Marvel aficionado. Even our fifteen year old daughter, Abbie, has a pair of Marvel shoes that she proudly wears to high school.

From a Biblical perspective, King David may have been viewed by some as a hero of sorts.  After all, he defeated Goliath with a small smooth stone. Known as a righteous King (in the lineage of Christ), an acclaimed warrior, musician, and a poet, David exhibited a combination of many common qualities that aren't necessarily linked to one another.  He was as unique in his gifting as he was in his calling.  And even "God testified concerning him: 'I have found David, son of Jesse, a man after my own heart; he will do everything I want him to do.'" (Acts 13:22)

As King David neared the end of his life he wrote Psalm 18.  It is quite possibly the last Psalm he penned.  This Psalm is known as the Grateful Retrospect, because he chronicles his journey with the Lord with a grateful heart overwhelmed with the marvelous mercies of God.  I would imagine that the last words someone would pen would be the most significant--possibly their own personal epitaph that emphasizes the most significant things they have learned.  

Interestingly, David had penned a very similar song prior to writing Psalm 18.  It is found in 2 Samuel 22, after God delivered David from the hands of his son Absalom, who had tried to kill him.  It is almost impossible to conceive of how heartbreaking it would be for your own child to try to take your life.  Not only had God delivered David from the murderous hands of Absalom, but David had just gotten the horrible news that Absalom had been killed.  This, also, had to be a very reflective moment during an intensely heartbreaking time.

In both Psalm 18 and 2 Samuel 22, David acknowledges particular characteristics of who God is to him.  Love and gratitude flow from David's heart as he is apparently overwhelmed at the goodness of his God. David says:

"I love thee, O Jehovah, my strength.

Jehovah is my rock, and my fortress , 

and my deliverer; my God, my Rock in 

whom I take refuge, my Shield.

The Horn of my salvation, my high tower.

I will call upon Jehovah, who is worthy to be 

praised.  So shall I be saved from mine enemies."

Psalm 18:1-3

The intense emotion in which David wrote can only be compared to the love and gratitude expressed by a mother who sees and holds her newborn for the very first time.  He recognizes that it is only God that has saved, defended, and delivered him.  David also realizes that his identity in God was more important than every accomplishment in his life.  He addresses himself as a servant and God as the the One who graciously delivered him when he chose to trust and obey.

He describes God as follows:

My Rock

Strength, Security, and Stability

Psalm 19:14 and Psalm 42:9

My Fortress

A high place of defense

1 Samuel 22:4 and 2 Samuel 5:17

My Deliverer

Depicted as a storm that appears like a warrior in a chariot, carried swiftly by a cherub

Genesis 3:24, Exodus 25:18, Ezekiel1

My Shield

God's protection and a symbol of the King

Psalm 3:3, Psalm 28:7 and Deuteronomy 33:29

The Horn of My Salvation

Strength and Messianic connotations

Luke 1:69, Deuteronomy 33:17, 1 Samuel 2:1, 1 Kings 22:11

My Stronghold or My High Tower

Military term of protection

1 Samuel 24:22, 2 Samuel 23:14

My Place of Refuge

Safety and security in the midst of distress

Psalm 19:14, Psalm 31:2-3, Psalm 62:2

Having been exiled to a cave for ten years while King Saul pursued his life may have been the catalyst for David using these military terms.  However, it is truly a song of praise and victory given in response to God in a consistent blend of worship and witness of all that God had done for him.  It is a tribute that honors and glorifies the most important relationship in David's life.  

Seeing God as both a Savior and a Defender, we too should extol Christ as our Savior that has defeated the ultimate villain--He did so on the cross.  There are no villains now nor in our future that are more than what Christ has already defeated.  Yet still, our culture yearns for a Savior.  Almost every movie has both an evil villain and an heroic savior.  That is epitomized in our superhero movies.  The thing I appreciate the most about superhero movies is that virtually every story has an ordinary person that has something extraordinary happen to them that results in a great ending.  (The exception would be the Man of Steel movie in which the hero is born with his powers and is sent here  to save the world.)

Interestingly, two men (Joel Shuster and Jerry Siegel) who were children of Jewish immigrants developed the character of Superman in the late 1930's.  This character was a counterpoint to what was happening in Nazi Germany.  This superhero was created to challenge the Nazi's teaching of racial superiority known as the 'uberman'. 

What I love about the extraordinary coming to ordinary people is that this is God's heart for each one of our lives.  He is determined to reward our obedience and to enlarge the territory He has given to us.  God delighted in David because even though the troubles in David's life continued to increase, David never forgot God's promises to him.  He advanced from a 'tight place' into a 'large place'.  

God also equips us when we are submitted to Him. He prepares us in advance for what He is calling us to do.  God will take whatever time is necessary to prepare His servants:  thirteen years for Joseph, forty years for Moses, and forty years for Joshua.  The lessons David learned in exile helped God to shape him into a great warrior, compassionate leader, and a godly man.  

When the extraordinary meets the ordinary, God is glorified.  When God is glorified the impact is eternal.  When our lives effect eternal significance, we have succeeded in walking in relationship with Christ by receiving love from Him and reciprocating it back to Him.  

John Piper says it like this:  "To love God does not mean to meet His needs, but rather to delight in Him...."  David delighted in God and God delighted in David.  Not because of David's works or because he never sinned but because David believed God's promises and knew who God really was.  When we really know God, we know that He is unequivocally better than a superhero!