Don't Be Late!

Do you know of someone who is notoriously late? I mean they are late for everything. If they were coming to pick up a check from Publishers Clearing House for a cool million dollars they would be 15 minutes late. (that is bad!) In fact some of their family might even say "you're going to be late for your own funeral."

All of us know someone like that. In reality being late is not usually a life or death thing. It is not normally something that we should be proud of but it is not always critical. However there is one area where being late is an issue. Where later is not better than early. We see it nestled in a beautiful Psalm. Psalm 63....Read it with me...

O God, You are my God; Early will I seek You. My soul thirsts for You; My flesh longs for You in a dry and thirsty land where there is no water.

The phrase I want us to focus on today is "Early will I seek You." Now this can be interpreted in many different ways. I want us to reflect on a few of these in our time today.

We should seek God early.....

1) In Life.... Years ago I heard of a statistic that has stuck with me through the years. It gave the age and percentages of who and when people came to faith in Christ. It said that 85% of Christians surveyed had trusted Christ before the age of 18. 14% had trusted in Christ before the age of 65 and 1% had after the age of 65. Can you see that the vast majority had come to Christ at an early age.

Many who did not come to Christ when they were young have told me they wish they had. I remember one dear lady who had been through several marriages who shared with me that she wished she would have known earlier. She even offered to speak to our teens to share what a difference HE would make if they would give their lives to Him. We should seek God EARLY in our lives...

2) In Troubles.... When we are going through difficult times we should seek HIM early. Far too many times we are days into our struggle before think about seeking HIM. Why do we fret and struggle with our problems when we have a friend that sticks closer than a brother? Jesus Himself says this to us....

Come unto ME all who labor and are heavy laden and I will give you rest.... Matt. 11:28...

We should seek HIM early when problems arise and troubles catch us by surprise. Turn to HIM first and seek HIS wisdom and graces.....

3) In Decision Making.... How many times we just "make" the decisions of life without even consulting our great God. We wrestle with the what's and the how's of decisions and make them without consulting HIM or HIS word. HE tells us to...

Trust in the LORD with all your heart, lean not unto your own understanding, in all your ways acknowledge HIM and HE shall direct your paths..Proverbs 3:5-6

We should seek HIM early in our decision making process and save ourselves a lot of pain and struggle. He longs for us to turn to HIM and seek HIS wisdom. HE will lead us and guide us when we look to HIM for direction!

4) In the Day.... Now this is what I believe is the primary principle I see in this passage. We should come to HIM early in the day. Each day has its own issues, Its own struggles, its own decisions. Seeking HIM early will establish our hearts first thing each day. It will set the course of our day with HIM not only in mind but in the drivers seat. When we start each day with our Lord it is amazing how it fills me with HIS peace. IN fact Matthew 6:33 sets the priority for us...

Seek ye first the kingdom of God and His righteousness.....

5) In Salvation.... You know that there is the awful reality that some will put off the most important relationship decision of their lives until it is too late. They actually are deceived into thinking that they can wait and wait they do..... until it is too late. Salvation is NOT to be delayed.

We must deal with this all important question. What will we do with the claims of Christ on us? What about those scriptures that say "you must be born again" and "there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus?" What will we do with what they communicate? Do not delay. Do not believe you can put it off another day. No man knows the day nor the hour when death will come. Once we close our eyes in death, it is too late. So my friend if you have not received the free gift of eternal life come to Christ today....

So, when it comes to our relationship with our Great God we should plan to NEVER be late. No matter which area, we should NEVER be late. May we seek HIM early, each and every day......

You'll be glad you did!!!!
Blessings
Bruce

Details

Have you ever filled out a check, attached it to your bill and then mailed it in? Of course many of you have! But have you ever received the same check back in the mail after a few days returned to you because you forgot one little detail..... You forgot to sign the check! Well, if you haven't, you've missed one of the egg in the face moments where the evidence is before you....We missed a very important detail.

Did you realize that God is into details? Now I am not talking about signing a little check that in light of eternity, is so insignificant. But I am talking about the details of our lives. Minute' details that we are so often NOT privy to. Today's treasure is found in the book of Deuteronomy, chapter 7...

No, do not be afraid of those nations, for the LORD your God is among you and he is a great and awesome God. The LORD your God will drive those nations out ahead of you little by little. You will not clear them away all at once, otherwise the wild animals would multiply too quickly for you...7:21-22

The children of Israel were making their way on their journey to the promised land. God is reminding them of all the nations they had already seen HIM crush before them. HE knew that even more and greater nations and challenges were before them. He knew they would fall prey to fear of these mighty nations. So what specifically does He say...

1) DO NOT BE AFRAID... Looking into their future He knew one of their enemies was going to be fear. It's a dreadful enemy. It can surface in many ways and many places. For them it could have been the sheer size of their enemy. Or the number of warriors they possessed. Or even the type of artillery they had prepared. Or perhaps their past brutality on other nations. God said....(in Bruce's paraphrase of course) NO PROBLEM!!! Why? Because the LORD YOUR GOD is among you! HE is Great and AWESOME!

Fear is really about focus. If we are focusing on the enemy, the opposition, the problem or circumstance we will lose focus of HIM! God said....look to HIM! Look AT HIM! HE can and will turn certain defeats into victories!!

2) YOU WILL BE VICTORIOUS... This is HIS PROMISE to them. Now I love that. Many promises in life are broken but NEVER a promise from our wonderful GOD! That is why we should learn and lean on those promises. They are the ONLY ones to NEVER be broken. Notice the next portion of this verse however. He even tells them that their victories will be one by one or as HE says little by little.

I often tell those whom I counsel that sometimes God gives us home runs (complete and absolute, one shot victories) but most often HE gives us a single at a time (baseball terminology for those non baseball types). We want Home runs and HE gives us singles, one base at a time. We cover the same territory but not nearly as fast nor as easy as we would like. Sometimes we know why HE does this as in James 1:2-5 to grow us to maturity but often we do not get the full detail of what HE is doing.

In this passage God shares with them why HE is not going to give them quick, total victory all at once. ..."The wild animals would multiply too quickly for you." WHOA....This is powerful. They hadn't even considered any of that. All Israel saw was the enemy before them. The Nations who dwelt in the land. BUT God saw all the obstacles to Israel even those years down the road of their journey.

Isn't that just like our God? He see's so far in our future that HE orders today's events to not only prepare us but also to protect us. Israel would have gotten complete and total cleansing of the land if they had their way and then they would have brought the wild animal dilemma upon themselves. People would have been killed, maimed and fear would have gripped their lives as the wild animals would have overrun them.

So, when it doesn't seem like God is hearing or answering your prayers fast enough. When it doesn't appear things are happening in the fullness you desire, aka "homeruns" it may be because your loving Father is protecting you or even your next generation, your children. You see, He is into details....Trust HIM with and in the events of your lives....

You'll be glad you did.
Blessings
Bruce

The Tragedy of Unbelief

Then the LORD said to Moses; How long will these people reject Me? And how long will they not believe Me, with all the signs which I have performed among them?
Numbers 14:11

My mind goes back to seasons past when I have had the privilege of teaching someone to swim or to dive into a swimming pool. So many times I have coached them to jump or to dive and they would literally freeze on the side of the pool. Knowing that they would not drown because I would have never let that happen, I would call for them to come on in. Now to me the pool was as safe as them standing on the side of the pool. But to them it might as well have been them standing on a 100 foot cliff in Hawaii. Their struggle was not one of facing death, or extreme danger but simply of UNBELIEF.

Unbelief itself is extremely dangerous. In fact it can be downright deadly. As in our text today the children of Israel were facing a deadly enemy. It was not however in the promised land but was in their hearts. It was the enemy of faith.....it was UNBELIEF.

Here is the situation. God had led His children to the brink of the land He had promised them before He took them out of Egypt. Their journey had them standing before this new and exciting land. They had sent in 12 spies to check things out before continuing their journey. When they returned, there was a division among them. Ten of the spies reported all the negatives they had seen while only 2 saw the opportunity before them.

This created quite a stir in the congregation. They began to say and even do all sorts of things in their fleshly confusion. Their journey had moved from one of faith now to one of fear. From one of dependence on God to one of dependence on themselves. Our text today is God's view of this whole situation. Let's examine what He has to say...

1) He saw their actions as rejection of Him. Now this is important. When they moved from walking by faith to walking by sight they also moved from trusting Him to rejecting Him. Now I know we do not see anywhere where they specifically say that but it is clear that that is true. HE had promised to give them that land. Their refusal to just go was a rejection of God's promise thus a rejection of HIM!

We need to remember that in our personal journey's of faith. God often challenges us and leads us to places where we will have to exercise faith. In fact He says..."without faith it is impossible to please Him." Heb 11:6 We must be careful to follow HIM implicitly and without delay. Why? To delay is to Deny. To deny is to reject!

2) He saw their rejection as Unbelief. Rejection is the action and Unbelief is the real issue behind their actions. What was really going on was they just plain did not believe that God could do what HE promised. They saw people "stronger than we, a land that devoured its inhabitants, men of great stature and giants in the land." Numbers 13:31-33 The real issue was that "their" god was not big enough to "handle" their perceived problems.

It is obvious that they were not looking to the true God that had led them safely through but to a god of their own mind. Unbelief usually worships at that alter. An alter of a lesser god who does not have the power, wisdom or ability to go beyond our feeble understanding and ability.

Unbelief focuses on something or someone other than the true and living God. God even shows that in what He says....with all the signs which I have performed among them... He is simply saying that with all the evidence HE has provided for them regarding His promise and provision they are basing their decision on something else. HE had provided all the evidence needed for belief and they rejected Him and chose a different path. This is a tragedy!

But, before you condemn them to eternal hell, better look into the mirror. Don't we all have that same tendency? What promised land has HE led you to? What step of faith is HE asking you to take? Where is HE expecting you to conquer an enemy, face a giant or trust His promise? From personal experience I know HE loves for us to have to lean hard upon HIM. He often takes us to situations and circumstances we cannot control to cause us to face this crisis of faith. To find in HIM our all in all!

May I suggest you and I make a covenant together. Let us agree to walk in simple childlike faith and dependence upon God. Paul says it best..."if God be for us then who can stand against us." Rom 8 Let us trust His promise, His heart and His leading. "We are more than conquerors through Him who loves us." We must believe to receive and you will never receive unless you believe. Do not become the latest tragedy of unbelief.

Trust Him today. Depend upon Him. Believe what He has said and act upon it!
You'll be glad you did!
Blessings
Bruce